Flooding Rains, Willing Hearts, and God’s Provision

The climate of Senegal is tropical but it varies broadly across three zones. The northern zone has a desert climate with very little rainfall, the central zone is warm and semi-arid with an average annual rainfall from 24 inches on the Atlantic coast to 14 inches in the eastern interior, the southern zone is a tropical savanna climate with rainfall of about 59 inches yearly. Senegal’s rainy season starts in mid-June to early July and lasts until October. From October – June there is virtually no rainfall except for the occasional, but rare, sprinkle.

GO currently has five sponsorship schools located in the central of Senegal. Two schools are in the capital city of Dakar located on the Atlantic coast (Le Bon Samaritain and ERS); one school is about an hour east in Thies (John Huffman). Further inland there is one school in Koalack (Georges Flattery), and finally, even further east, is Bethesda School in Kaffrine.

In mid-July, one of GO’s Senegal partners shared a concern about the rainfall. The rainy season had not started and there was fear of drought and ruined crops. On July 27, we received a message from Senegal that rains had finally come but with a vengeance to the Kaffrine area dropping nearly 7 inches in less than a day leaving flooding and destruction behind. The flooding affected over 10,000 people. Crops were overcome by water, millet supplies were washed away and homes were destroyed. The waters could not recede because the rains had slowed but not stopped. Bethesda School and the adjacent church were flooded with three feet of water and the school sustained significant damage.

One of GO’s missionary friends from Kaffrine said, “I just talked to a friend in Kaffrine and asked about the flooding. She said, ‘it is the worst flood in town in 50 years’ – in the courtyard of our house (in Senegal) the water was up to her (tall!) husband’s neck. The power has been off… and it has continued to rain so the water is not going down very quickly. Thankfully, it happened during the day and although many huts and walls have fallen down no one was killed.”

Within hours after these first messages, Bethesda’s headmaster sent these pictures showing the flooding in Kaffrine and later, once the water had finally receded the damage to the school.

Immediately GO organized a plan for flood relief, sending out a plea to our Senegal partners, sponsors and supporters. We shared the need for flood relief and our concern for two new classrooms that were in the process of being built to accommodate the rapid growth of students.

Over the course of the next few weeks, God provided beyond what we had expected. We needed to raise $2200 for the damage repair, but our sponsors and donors went above and beyond, donating over $4400!  Because of your generosity, we were blessed with enough funds to not only repair the flood damage but to finish one of the new (and badly needed) classrooms.

The 2016-2017 school year started on October 3 in Senegal and, although Bethesda started about a week late due to the flooding, they were able to receive children for the new school year. Thank you to all who shared the need, prayed for God’s provision, and donated toward the flood relief! Without you, Bethesda would not have been open in time for school this year.

If you would like to know more about the projects at Bethesda School please visit the project page.