Every year at Christmas time we get an opportunity to bless
others. At Dakar Academy, this happens a few ways.
The first is through the National Workers Christmas Party.
Every year a party is thrown for the national workers. The national workers are
Senegalese (and possibly some from other African countries) men and women who
help the school run. They are janitors, cooks, maintenance, guards, wood
workers, mechanics, and gardeners. They and their spouses are invited to an
evening where they receive gifts, listen to a band, dance, eat, and are
presented with the gospel message. Some of the national workers know Jesus as
their personal Savior, but the rest are Muslim.
The entire school gets to help out with this party in
various ways. The elementary students are asked to bring milk powder, the
middle school students are asked to bring sugar, and the high school students
are asked to bring a can of coffee.
Each of these items is then given in a gift
bag to each national worker. The staff are requested to bring in 2 dozen
cookies which then give divvied out onto plates which are also part of the
gift.
We also have an envelope available for the staff to give donations. This money is used to buy more gifts, to help
with costs of the party, and is given simply as money. One of the gifts we
often buy is phone cards – a very valuable commodity around here! Parents also
get involved a bit. Last year and this year we have had a parent who works at a
hair factory, so for these two years he has given hair – hair to be used as
extensions for the women for doing their hair.
I have never been to this party, but from what I understand
it is always a big hit. And I pray every year that when they hear the gospel
message, they will believe it as truth and accept Christ into their heart.
The next opportunity is to give office supplies. We do a lot
of business with the post office and the police des etrangers. The police des
etrangers is the aliens/foreigners office. They are the office we deal with
about visa and residency issues. In order to avoid having to buy a costly
Senegal VISA every 3 months we apply for residency. This is a long and
complicated process that some people don’t see the end of before they leave –
but maybe that will be another blog post. Anyways, a few years ago we gave
these offices a box of pastries as a Christmas gift and a thank you for their
help. The message we received back was thanks but they would rather have office
supplies than pastries. So every year the business office puts together a box
full of office supplies. This box includes pencils, red, black, and blue pens,
scotch tape, glue, large and small paper clips, envelopes, rubber bands, white
out, staples, and post-its.
These are items we take for granted because we can get them
so easily – we have the money for it. But for them, they may not be able to
good quality versions or enough for everyone in the office. So it is our hope
and prayer that we may bless them through these simple items.
