The Sahelian

 ”Moms in Touch” is a group of Moms who meet together on Thursday mornings to pray for Sahel students and staff. They have been very active this year and been an encouragement to all of us. Last week all the staff had a big surprise during our staff in-service time. We entered the staff lounge and immediately saw a table set full of ice-cream toppings. Once we were all there they pulled out vanilla and chocolate ice-cream and we thoroughly enjoyed our ice-cream sundaes with more toppings than we knew what to do with! Today the Moms went to all the classes to let the students know they are prayed for every Thursday and invited them to give specific prayer requests. There are now nicely decorated boxes around campus available for students to put requests into. Then today the Moms surprised all the students by giving out frozen tampicos during recess time. We are all thankful for the prayers and great encouragement from our Moms in Touch group! ~Aunt Kathy

Bullying! What is bullying all about? What does it mean to bully someone? Does bullying just involve hitting somebody till he or she bleeds? Is it just something physical? No! Absolutely not!

Yesterday in assembly, Uncle Brian (the director of Sahel Academy) shared some memories of his growing up years in Liberia - his memories of bullying. He told us a story about him and his friends when he was young.

His friend Billy was weak and was always sick. Jimmy was a bully and he always picked on Billy. Billy was always hurting. Uncle Brian and a couple of his friends felt that what was going on was plain injustice, but none of them had the guts to stop Jimmy.

One day, however, Jimmy took Billy’s bike and was riding about on it with Billy trying to follow on his heels. Uncle Brian got so mad that he told Jimmy to stop it. Jimmy did not listen to him, so he lunged at Jimmy on the bike. Unfortunately, his arm got stuck in the wheel. He was hurt, but he had stopped Jimmy from bullying Billy.

To cut a long story short, Uncle Brian, assured each and every one of us that the staff of Sahel Academy wants to make Sahel a safe place for every student. He advised us to talk to a staff member or our parents if we ever get bullied in any way. He also charged us to take a stand against bullies and to stop bullying before it gets started. The story struck a chord in the hearts of all who heard its powerful message. ~Susana, Antony, Adam

Bible study is one of those things that I (and hopefully everyone) look forward to each week. It is a place where we not only get to talk about God?s word, but get to grow together as brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the things that makes me look forward to Bible study each week is the fact that each of our groups becomes so incredibly close and somehow we feel that we can share almost anything with each other. Bible study provides a safe place to be vulnerable and to learn about who we really are.

Last night, Bible studies began. We split up into groups by both gender and grade:

In the past Bible studies have been a very encouraging time for me. God has showed me a lot about myself and how to love like Him. Not only that, but it is a time when I can just relax and forget about all of the things that are bothering me. I am really looking forward to what God is going to do in Bible studies this year! ~Tam

Today, Pastor Dave invited those who had birthdays in the months of July and August to his house, out near the American Embassy. There were around 10 people who showed up, eager to begin the festivities!

As we all waited restlessly for dinner, we chatted and shared things about the week with those that were around them. At long last, Uncel Dave emerged from his house and announced that dinner was ready! He then selected people to go first based on the date of their birthday!

The dinner was very exotic! Tacos were on the menu and everyone was eager to start making their favorite taco out of almost every topping available! Everyone indulged in the great fun of making tacos: putting on topping after topping as if the dinner was a food contest.

Soon afterwards, it was time to eat the cake! We all huddled into the room and gathered round the cake! The pastor told each of us to blow out one candle. After each one of us had successfully blown out one candle, we each got to partake in the delicious and decorative cake!

Next, was sharing time. We each had to share some information about our birth. Mine was pretty funny because at the time of my birth, I was kicking like a soccer-ball in my mother?s stomach!

We ended the night by playing a game I had never heard of. This game was called speed uno. It took a while after Uncle Dave told us how to play, but I eventually caught on. Soon afterwards you could feel the adrenaline of the intense game soak into your mind. You were always thinking ahead of what to do and you had no time to lose. It was a do or die situation!

The dinner was a great event to start off the school year and was a kind gesture from Pastor Dave and Aunt Anora that made all the July/August people leave feeling special and happy.  ~Jonathan

The actual event did not begin until 3:20, but all day long the entire school was talking about the teams and the competition that was to come. Red, Blue, Yellow and White shirts were prevalent in the classrooms and hallways. Every team had pride in their colors and their team members.

At 3 o?clock, the final bell rang and everyone got ready in nervous anticipation. Tents were being set up and rules read over by the team captains, score-keepers and referees. Each team was organizing their members so that they could score and defend well. Many parents arrived and found a spot to sit and watch the games. The heat was high, and the humidity added to the heat, did not help to ease the nervousness for the games to start.

But the heat did not matter. The games had started; the sweat began pouring. I can remember the excitement in the air. Scoring, passing, and defending for a whole afternoon; what could be better than that?

The first game was Blue-Red. Claire scored the first goal of the tournament. Every one was fresh and excited to play. As the afternoon progressed, each team played the three opposing teams once. By 6 o?clock, Blue team was in the lead and it was time for some fun. The teachers and parents decided that they wanted to play a game. Then, the students wanted to play against parents. It was a lot of fun to hear laughter and see parents, students and staff getting along so well.

The elementary children got to play kickball during the soccer tournament and the Red team came in first place. After all these games, everyone took a break for a wonderful potluck dinner. There was plenty of food to go around, and the socialization was great. The younger children ran around, very excited about the people and the amount of good food.

After the potluck, the games resumed. First, Red and Yellow played each other and Red won, passing onto the Final games. Immediately after, White and Blue played, with White winning and going onto the finals. There was a consolation game where the two last place teams played each other. Yellow won the game against blue, unfortunately, since I have great pride in my Blue team! I also must add that Blue only won through penalty kicks.

The final game was intense, Red and White both containing very competitive players. In the end, Red won the entire tournament, with the final goal scored by Rufus.

All in all, the day was very fun and everyone kept very good attitudes despite the heat and the competitiveness. Congratulations to the Red team! ~Suzanne and Trae

Remember the far corner of the Sahel campus by the river and the gardens - where the snakes lived and the brush was piled? Well, now a beautiful new house has filled that area, turning that side of the campus into what is now very much a staff residential area.

Ground was broken on the house in the late fall of ‘06 and the work progressed quickly under the supervision of Jonathan Moore. The goal was to have it finished by the end of June so that our family could start to move in during the summer while school was on break. They finished right on schedule; the first of July, my husband Brian and Chad Winsor started to do the inside finishing wood work. They built the closets and bathroom vanities, then our family started moving in. Once we had beds in place, we started to sleep there and used the Whites house in the duplex for cooking. The guys worked hard for two weeks straight and in that time were able to do all the woodwork, finishing up with the kitchen cupboards. Thankfully, my parents came to visit and help as there was much more work to do such as sanding, varnishing, raking rocks from the yard, leveling ground, gardening, moving, cleaning, etc. We worked all summer trying to get settled and once school started felt pretty much moved in. We still have more work in the yard and various finishing touches to take care of in the house, but the major things are finished.

We absolutely love our new house! It is great to be so close to school. We can all just walk over to school; no more 15 minute drives (on a good day) to school and back every day. It is a beautiful house and beautiful setting. There is a terrace facing the river with a refreshing river view. The terrace is already one of our favorite places. We love to just sit there soaking up the beauty around us and the river flowing by. It is a nice size house with a very open feel. One thing we really wanted was a living area big enough to entertain a crowd. The house had its first crowd test on Wednesday as we hosted a welcome party for Zoe, our youth pastor’s new baby girl. There were around 50 people there to celebrate and use the new terrace - it didn’t feel too crowded at all! We are very thankful for the privilege of getting to live in such a beautiful house. We are still working on making it look finished as we plant grass, flowers, hedges etc. So, how about a visit? You would be surprised how quickly a corner can change in a short amount of time! You are welcome, so come stop by for a cup of tea and a tour! ~Aunt Cathy

This Saturday was the first youth group activity of the year. We started off with some outdoor games. First we divided up into two teams and played “crows and cranes” and then everyone had a shot at the shoe toss. We finished off outdoor games with an exciting game of “steal the bacon.”

Inside, after having our fill of cookies and brownies, Pastor Dave effectively confused us all. After playing “confusion” and getting to know one another better, the worship team led us in several songs. Many people also gave testimonies about their summer and the exciting things God did in their lives. Pastor Dave talked about how our perspective changes the way we view our world and then we closed with a time of prayer at about nine o’clock. Overall I think the event was a great way to start off the year and was a lot of fun. ~Matt

School began this very rainy morning at Sahel Academy with an assembly to introduce this year’s theme: Daily Eternity. We want to work together on living each day as if it counts in eternity - because it does! Our theme is taken from Col. 3:1-2 which says, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

At the close of the assembly, we celebrated the life of one who personified our theme in her daily life, but who went to live with the Father in heaven this summer - Helene Zoolkoski. We have planted a tree on the south side of the dining hall, along with a plaque which says: "In Memory of Helene Zoolkoski, Parent-Teacher-Friend".

Join in our prayers for Chris, Elisheva, Zebadiah, and Joel Zoolkowski as they return to the states tonight to continue rebuiding their lives without their parent (wife), teacher, and friend.