Niamey News

Post Field Ponderings

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:14:57 GMT

When you come back to North America you are certainly in for a jolt after being surrounded by dire poverty. These jolts catch you by surprise, and can really jar you! Going to the supermarket and having to choose from 150 brands of cereal. You sense in your interactions that society is by a "cult of efficiency" and doesn't have alot of time for relationships. You get upset when you hear people complain about the 401 K not getting enough interest for their retirement, when you live among people who are trying desperately to put food on the grass mat today. It's a good thing you can go to God with all this stuff; where else could you go? While there are things that jolt you, you also despise yourself for slipping into the same materialism you despise in others, when you've seen people living joyfully with so little. You play mental games with yourself thinking, yeah I owe it to myself to get a new cell phone, after all I've been deprived of so much past 3 years. I hope all these paradoxes and contradictions drive me and I hope you the reader to kneel before God and cry out to him, to heal us, answer us and save us.

Real Issues

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:19:40 GMT

I'm writing because I must. Niger once again appeared the lowest on the UNDP's development index. This index takes into consideration various indicators to determine how developed a country is. On the BBC radio I heard today that 1 in 4 Africans are obese. An exasperated woman from Makurdi, Nigeria sent the BBC a text message, "We're are you getting your statistics from! Everyone I see around me looks pretty thin!" I concur with her comment! Africa's most serious problems are not obesity, they are hunger, malnutrition, poor education, lack of good governance, and high HIV infection rates. It amazes me how people live with such dignity in such trying circumstances. There is much westerners can learn about living from our African brothers and sisters. We need to be working hand in hand to address these huge issues. It's the good news of the coming of Jesus Christ that has the power and hope to address these problems that seem to have no solutions. A group of pastors and community development workers we are working with are looking at these issues. Though they have very little education, they are engaged in working with communities to search for solutions to these problems. In January 2007 we will be having a formation on leadership with community development facilitators and pastors. These steps are small and never easy but they are making a difference.

Jared's Recovery

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 19:07:40 GMT

Jared, our 2 year old son came home on Monday late afternoon from the hospital. He's started to recover from a rare condition called pupura rhumatoid. He was walking with a gimp and not using his hands at all. Now it's Sunday and he's walking with hardly a noticible limp at all and he's using his hands. Every once and a while he'll still complain of pain in his feet or hands and he gets tired much more quickly but give him his bottle and his out for an hour.

The kids have a week left of vacation before they start school again. They seem to be ready to start again. I'm not sure I am it means getting up early with the kids and getting in to the rythm of early mornings. I'm not much of an early morning person.

We just had the pastor and his wife of our church over for Sunday dinner, it was nice talking with them. He's a really good guy and I think in a quiet way is challenging some of the elders in their perception of power. Usually on Sunday I go out with the kids for the childrens Sunday school and I told him that the Sunday school teachers aren't teaching any Bible stories and are just doing songs. I said it would be better if the teachers would begin with prayer and a bible story and then do the singing.

Sofo, the soap stone carver I work with, has been reading the NT that I gave to him and is almost finished reading it. Friday he said he would like to go to church. I am going to talk to one of the missionaries who works with the Tuaregs and ask him to suggest a church for him to go to. Continue to pray for him.

Today while we were sitting in church I noticed a mouse running along the side of the wall. He ran towards the congregation and then all of a sudden realized that there were people and he ran back but then he saw the choir and he didn't know what to do but he saw someones purse on the ground so he hid. He kept trying to escape and would run one way and then another until he decided he was going to take the plunge and he ran straight at all of us women sitting on the right side of church. It was so humourous to watch because you could see the path of the mouse by the way the women lifted up their feet of the ground. We all tittered but church kept going as if nothing happened. The mouse did make it out the door unscathed and is free.

How's that for Sunday morning worship?!

Jared's Condition

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 18:59:03 GMT

Jared our 2 year old son came home on Monday late afternoon from the hospital after suffering from a rare condition called pupura rhumatoid. He was walking with a gimp and not using his hands at all. Now it's Sunday and he's walking with hardly a noticible limp at all and he's using his hands. Every once and a while he'll still complain of pain in his feet or hands and he gets tired much more quickly but give him his bottle and his out for an hour.

How's that for Sunday morning worship?!

Tensions

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 15:04:44 GMT

There is tension in the air these days in Niamey. Growing frustration with the government spills over into weekly demonstrations. Thankfully this hasn't yet resulted in violence. But thing are especially charged today since the opposition organized a mass march on the residence of the president, to give expression to the mounting frustration. We decided to stay home instead of riding on camels to a village with our Canadian friends, Crystal and Melinda. There is reason for people to be frustrated, food prices are high once again and there is possibility of another famine in Niger since the rains came so late. There are some things that the government can do nothing about. Food and commodity prices have alot to do with world markets. But it is the poor person who is trying to feed a family today that suffers. Sometimes it seems that it is only God who remembers the poor. And so we continue to pray to him. We are in need of such a great redemption.

Ardell's Surgery

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 06:32:28 GMT

When Ardell was in college, she was playing broom ball one day when someone accidentally let go of their broom and after hurtling through the air it landed in Ardell's front teeth. It hit with such force that it knocked her two upper from teeth, with some of the shards ending up in her gums. Ardell's wonderful dentist, knowing she was a poor college student did all her dental work for free. He put in two posts into the bone and fitted two false teeth on them. Unfortunately Ardell has had alot of problems with these teeth; teeth falling out, infections, etc.

After feeling some pain in her mouth here in Niger Ardell went to a French dentist here in Niamey. The x-ray showed there was an infection in the gums that was progressing to the bone. We've heard some dental horror stories from people who have gotten surgery done here. Our son Ariel had a cavity, got it filled and not long after an infection developed. Dentistry here is not what it should be, and we were advised by Ardell's dentist in Grand Rapids Michigan and a dentist in Nigeria that Ardell should go to the US for the surgery. We checked into getting the surgery done in South Africa but the airline ticket was 1,000 more than flying to Chicago! Ardell's brother Dennis is housing her and Jared in Grand Rapids.

So in the space of a week Ardell and Jared were able to get a flight to Chicago. She travels with our youngest son Jared. We are hoping to get some of the respiratory problems his been suffering with checked out. Mean while Daddy, Brennan, Ariel and Kina remain in Niamey sans mommy! We don't have a copy of the movie Mister Mom. I wish we did. But we have the help of supportive missionary friends and Nigerien friends like Aunti and Tio. And most of all God is our help in all of life's funny situations.

We want to thank you for your prayers for us at this time. We see God's hand at work in how Ardell was able to get tickets so quickly. We will keep you posted on how the surgery goes and how the family is doing.

Tuareg Soapstone Artisans

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 13:45:22 GMT

It is Friday morning and I am eager to get the kids to school so that I can go to the Tuareg soapstone carvers and continue my apprenticeship. I began my apprenticeship when I went to their corner to buy candlestick holders. I was intrigued by their work. After greeting them I asked if they would mind if I came to learn from them, they thought it would be wonderful; and so my first Friday started by making a simple egg. I have moved on to making chickens, ducks, camels, elephants, donkeys, and decorating boxes with intricate carvings.

These artisans work so hard. They arive each morning at 8 am and often do not leave until 6pm. They do not have many customers who come. Sometimes while I am there Friday morning no one will come at all. I began to wonder if there wasn't a way to get them involved in some form of free trade. Sofo is the representative of the twenty plus artisans who work at this particular site. I sit with him and Acham, we talk about the news of Niamey, problems of life, our differences during the month of Ramadan, and the harshness of life. Still they are always giving; each morning when I arrive we have a pot of Tuareg tea or two or three with peanuts. Tuareg tea is very strong and by mornings end I feel as if I've drunk 10 cups of coffee.

While working with Sofo I began to think about the internet and its possibilities. At first I thought it would be great if they could create a site where they could sell their goods direct but the intricacies of law and money seems beyond what they would be able to do on their own with limited literacy. Then I thought perhaps a Free Trade organization would be interested in helping them. I have contacted a few, we will see what happens. If anyone has any ideas on how to further help these artisans get their products sold please contact us.

Famine

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 13:43:23 GMT

Maybe on the news recently you've seen pictures of malnourished children from Niger. Some areas of Niger are indeed in the grip of a famine this year. In the southern central part of the country around Maradi - Tahoua there are 160,000 children suffering from severe malnourishment. The first picture on the blog is of a woman and child roasting grain that won't be ripe until the end of September in order to have something to eat (Maradi area). The second picture is of a hungry Fulani girl who was trying to sell us some cheese to get some cash for food (Tahoua area). The main cause of the food shortage was that last rainy season's rains started late and stopped early. Much of what did grow was destroyed by a locust infestation. The government of Niger together with technical assistance from some nongovernmental organizations has a system to determine whether or not a famine exists. But this system seemed to have failed to predict the severity of the famine especially in certain localities. When a response did come forth, the distribution of the food aid was hampered by corruption and it was too little too late. Instead of the food going to the people who really needed it, some of it was bought up by merchants and sold for a profit. Coupled with the food shortage the International Monetary Fund forced the Nigerien government to abandon it's price controls for staple foods to encourage so called "free market forces." This drove prices up until there was a riot in Niamey then most of the price controls were scaled back. All the same, merchants hoarded grain in response to the famine and this bought prices up. So though the famine does not directly affect us here in Niamey it does indirectly affect the people who live here with higher prices for food. Just to give you an example of how that might affect a family: a person we know makes 50,000 CFA a month (about USD 120). One 50 kilo bag of rice costs 20,000 CFA (USD 40). His family consumes one bag a month so you can imagine what a heavy burden this is on the family income. The preferred staple, millet is priced at around 30,000 CFA (60 USD) right now. How has CRC-Niger responded to this food shortage? CRC-Niger has been monitoring the famine with her partner churches ACEN and EESN, enabling them to respond to the famine with the resources they have access to. CRC-Niger's vision is to work for a long term, stable food supply in the communities of our partner churches. Like Joseph's response to the famine he foresaw in Egypt, CRWRC is helping communities develop grain banks to provide a long term response to drought. Poor harvests are common in Niger due to poor soil and insufficient rain fall amounts. Every year 1 out of every 5 children dies in Niger because of poor nutrition and inadequate water supply. We try to work with the communities over the long haul to ensure they have enough food even when there is a drought. This includes developing better farming methods. We are also responding with CFGB to get food to those who need it most. The tiny church in Niger is also responding. A couple of weeks ago most of the churches in Niamey put on a concert in which 700,000 CFA was raised for famine relief. What can you do? You can definitely pray. Pray with us that food and medicine will reach the people who need it. There are many children in danger of dying from malaria and diarrhea because of mosquitos and dirty drinking water. Pray for the people who are using the famine as an opportunity to make themselves rich; pray for repentance. Pray for continued rains and a good harvest so there will be enough food for next year. Friends from the ACEN church who are farmers say they need the rains to continue till the middle of September. People worry the rains are tapering off early again this year. You may want to give a gift to CRWRC or World Vision to feed those who need food now. You may want to give a gift to CRWRC - Niger to help make sure there is a long term approach to drought and famine in Niger. I hope now you have a clearer understanding of what has been happening in Niger. May God help all of us to be like Jesus who when he saw the crowds, had compassion on them. May He give us wisdom to exercise that compassion in the best way possible.

Dust Storm

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 15:23:56 GMT

I was on my way to the office in down town Niamey when I saw a huge, and I mean huge dust cloud approaching. If you have ever seen the dust storm in the movie Hidalgo it is not much of an exageration. As I got out of the truck the storm hit. Immeadiately sand got into my eyes and hair. I managed to struggle against the wind into the building and noticed that everything was completely black outside; darker than the night. My Nigerien colleague Haruna was in the office and we both expressed our amazement at the storm. It was pitch dark for about 15 minutes; with the wind whistling around the building. Then the sky turned red. Ten minutes later it started to pour and all the sand that had blown into the street was washed away. Outside I heard shouts of joy and singing. Young men were dancing in the streets, celebrating the coming of the rains... It was an experience of the awesome power of God and how small we human beings really are. It was also an experience of the exilaration that is possible in the desert. An incredible experience indeed.

Ready to Take Off

Sat, 19 Mar 2005 14:45:49 GMT

We have just two weeks in our French course left here in Ngaoundere, Cameroun. People ask us if we are happy with where we are at with our French. Our answer is, oui et non. We feel like we can communicate at a basic level. But we know we have alot further to travel to be where we need to be. Life here in Cameroun has been wonderful; baguette, cool climate on the Adamoua plateau, a pool nearby. It will take some adjusting getting used to a much hotter, drier climate in Niger. But we are very excited about the move. Our son Brennan keeps asking when we are moving to Niger. The excitement for all of us is building. Joanna Vreeken, a colleague in Niamey, has been house hunting for us. She's found some beautiful places; though expensive by African standards (see the picture). What excites us most is we have been preparing for months now to go to Niger and participate in the lives of the people there and share the good news of God's love with them; and now that time when we arrive is almost there! We hope to leave Cameroun early April 2005 and arrive in Niamey the 3d week of April after tying up some loose ends in Nigeria.