My Journey in Niger: April 2006

out west

Earlier this week I headed out West to spend some time in a Fulani village with a fellow missionary. It was a great experience, as I got to learn more about the Fulani first-hand.

This village has about 400 people, all living in grass, mud, or millet stalk huts.

Throughout the day women were at the well pumping water for their families, dishes, baths, and animals.

Inside a woman’s hut, you find her display of bowls containing their drinks and foods.

They drink a lot of fresh cow milk and water with ground millet. Everyday they eat a ground millet or corn paste with a baobob leaf sauce. They nearly never eat meat.

My audience

One day I hung out with a family, where I observed and attempted to participate in several different daily chores. At one point I took over an old ladies’ work, which was to cut millet stalk in order to make a bed. Everyone gathered around as I strained to cut the stalks with a knife that was as sharp as a butter knife.

It’s not Lake Martin

This is a lake inside the border of Burkina Faso that is completely dried up. From afar, it looked like a full lake, but as you can see, there is not a drop of water. After the first rain, it will fill up though. It has yet to rain since I have been here, thus as you can imagine, it is very dry. Every time we cross the Niger River in Niamey, there is less and less water. Soon the river will be nearly as dry as this lake.

the attack duck

I go to one section of town several times a week to buy fruits & veggies and to visit the tailor. Well this one vendor harasses me each time, trying to sell me all his jewelry. Now I have a solution…my friend, mister duck!

I simply poke mister duck out at the vendor, insisting that I don’t want to buy anything from him.

The duck came from a nice man at one of the markets. We went to a different market last week, and one man kept following us around with this duck-like thing. I caved in and bought the duck, only because this vendor was hilarious! But now, the duck has become very handy.

les fantasies du mumu

I got back from out West late Wednesday evening, when Hillary told me she found out about a salon that does manicures and pedicures in Niamey. Sure enough, yesterday I went with Hillary and some other gals to get a pedicure.

We went not knowing what to expect, but it was really nice. The salon was air conditioned, the pedicure was great, and they did indeed sterilize all of the equipment. The only thing they were lacking was the nice full body massaging chair, but that’s okay because the pedicure cost me a total of $6 US dollars!

all joking aside

So I have a problem. Those of you who know me know that I love to laugh. And I mean Laugh. Really loud, all the time. Laughter is the solution for just about everything, in my opinion.

Well today in Fulfulde class, Hamani told me something that the Fulani believe about laughter. Get this…

Laughter chases away good angels.

(so besides the fact that the Fulani think i will be chasing away the good angels, Hamani says they don't laugh a lot, because its just not a good thing to do)

...what am I going to do about this???

another sandy story

Saturday I taught Sarah how to drive a stick shift. She did amazingly well for her first day. You know its one thing for someone to learn to drive a stick, but another to do that in Niger. So much more to keep in mind: animals, people, all sorts of vehicles, military police, round points, and the lovely sand.

Well the sand really caused Sarah no problems, but then as we were leaving the tailor that evening I got us stuck in the sand. What a good example I am. After locking the tires and putting the truck into 4-wheel drive, nothing happens…okay getting embarrassed. There were about 30 men standing around staring at us. I simply wave and smile. The tailor comes out to see what is wrong…hello can you see the tires? Well after telling me he doesn’t know how to drive and knows nothing about trucks, several guys come over. Two different guys attempt to drive the truck out of the sand and were unsuccessful. Whew, I was starting to feel better since I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get it out. Then what do you know, a nice car pulls up (fancy car) and this big man gets out, asks “What’s wrong?” (in perfect, American English.) He gets up in the truck, drives it out, and walks away. I yelled “thanks” as he pulled off. Weird. But God is so good.

Easter in Niamey

Happy Easter to all. Yesterday I celebrated Easter with the English speaking community of Niamey at a sunrise service. It was blessing to gather with fellow believers for worship on Easter morning. The Blessings, Sarah, Danielle, and I enjoyed a nice Easter lunch, with Reese’s chocolate eggs and some cute Easter napkins. Thanks to Mom, I have some decorations for all the holidays. The little things make all the difference in the world sometimes.

Easter lunch: beans, fries, mac-n-cheese, pork chops, cornbread, and Reese's eggs....plus, cute additions!

Sunday afternoon Sarah and I went to visit a new friend at her church. We went to hang out with their youthlike group. It was so encouraging to see Nigeriens my age praising the Lord through dancing and singing. Don’t tell on me, but I actually joined in on the dancing for a short while.

fulfulde class

monday we began fulfulde class. i am so thankful & excited that we have finally started to learn the language of the sokoto fulani.

ever had class outside in 110 degree weather???

fulfulde has 84 pronouns. 84! craziness.

Pray that the Lord will bless us as we study and attempt to learn this language. The more Fulfulde I know, the more the Sokoto Fulani will hear about real life.