We thank God for the opportunity to minister in Dakar Academy although it is very different from ICA. Bob has a Bible and a World Cultures class. It is unique because there are Muslim and Hindu students in these classes and this gives a rare opportunity to share the gospel and teach Biblical values. We live in town about 1/2 mile from the school (for now – this is still temporary). This is different from the ICA campus in the country where we walked across a little campus road to our school. It does gives us ample opportunity to meet African people and use our French that we are learning.
The news of the past few days has had us on an emotional roller coaster, and we’re still waiting for the end of the ride. On Monday, our director, who is on campus at ICA, communicated the following good news to us:
“The UN relief workers are still sleeping in (one of the dorms) and they now have about 100 tons of food (rice, fish) stored in some classrooms and the chapel. They plan to start distributing it in town on Tuesday…they have some trucks on the upper field ready to go in town for distributing foods. Medcins du Monde also has several tons of medicine stored on campus, in the Korean studies room. They are looking to set up an outpost in Katiola or Dabakala to help with relief work as well but are storing their supplies at ICA for now…it is kind of exciting to see that the campus is being used for something good in all of this. It should also help secure the campus if/when the French ever leave. They will hang a UN flag if that happens which will effectively declare ICA as a neutral humanitarian post.”
How amazing God is! We simply ask for protection of our campus and our stuff and He not only does this, but He feeds and blesses the community from our campus; ICA continues to be involved in a form of outreach even though we’re not there. Our director and business manager may be a part of some of these distributions.
But then today we hear that about 20 officers and soldiers from ECOWAS (African peace-keeping forces) are coming in to ICA by helicopter today to arrange the transfer of the campus into their hands once the French leave (middle of December). We do not want this; these forces have a reputation for looting (in Liberia, etc.) that may be worse than what can be expected from local people. Our director is not sure what jurisdiction they have, and whether claiming our campus as “a neutral humanitarian post” will make any difference. Having armed soldiers on campus would open it to attack as well as looting.
It seems providential that the food arrived just days before ECOWAS contacted the French about our school. We ask you to pray specifically that God will continue what He started with the humanitarian efforts; He does do these kinds of things – Jesus fed the 5000. Thank you for your prayers in this matter.