Have you ever had a dream/a goal so big that you could not envision its inception, much less its completion? Have you ever waited for years to see it germinate? Have you ever thought it could never ever happen? Have you pursued the dream?

Today, we were with one of our folks who has had a big dream; has dreamed this dream for years; has planned and thought and prepared ... and waited.

The dream is to build a school for young women; a school where they could gain academic skills, learn hand-working skills, gain computer skills, be taught to read in their own language as well as French, the language in which most schooling is done, be prepared to be wives and mothers knowing good nutrition and health, receive knowledge of the Bible, and become young women who have a love of their traditions and language and land.

This school would be a safe place where girls would not have to bribe to receive grades; a safe place from being preyed upon by teachers for sexual favors in trade for grades.

This school is still a dream. War has come to Ivory Coast and funding is difficult to impossible to procure when a country is at war. No one wants to invest in a country at war with the inherent instability.

But girls are still growing older one year at time, war or no war. 

The churches in northern Ivory Coast have donated land for the school. The churches have banded together to form committees to plan the construction, the curriculum, to oversee the work. In December the first stage was completed; the wall is built around the property; an important first stage in most construction projects in Ivory Coast.

Today, the ground is bare, the walls stand without gates, the goats wander through the openings. There is no more money for the buildings or schoolroom equipment.

But the dream still exists in the hearts and minds of our colleague and many others in northern Ivory Coast. Those living in the neighborhood of the school talk with pride about the school that is coming to their area. 

Parents hope, girls wait. Our colleague continues to believe that God will provide the necessary money. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for." Hebrews 11:1-3

Fairy tales end with " ... and they all lived happily ever after ...".  We do not know the end of the school dream. The last verses of Hebrews 11 are "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

We wait to see what God has planned.