I love beans!

This past week was a busy week, both exciting and exhausting! It began on Monday with a woman from a Hausa village appearing in the doorway of our hut and thrusting her baby girl into our arms. None of us speak Hausa but we could tell just be looking at the child that she was completely malnourished. She refused to eat or drink anything we gave her. She looked about 6 months old but later we found out she was 14 months!!! With Melissa and the Chief translating for us we were pretty sure that the baby has some kind of intestinal worms but there are symptoms of other sickness as well. She is currently being treated at the Guidan Roumdji health clinic, where she can be tested for malaria. Please keep her in your prayers!!!

Also, this week, the chief “acquired” another child. That makes an even dozen!! His name is Sahabe and he appeared out of nowhere this week. He is actually the second oldest son of the chief’s first wife, Jimma. For the past 3 months we never even knew that he existed- neither did our supervisor. He has been out herding cattle throughout Niger all this time and he finally returned. The Fulani originally were a very nomadic tribe, taking great pride in their cows and traveling throughout the year to give them the best land to feed off of. These days, however, the tribes have become much more stationary. Though they still send out family members during parts of the year to herd their cows and goats in better grazing lands. Sahabe had been given that responsibility and has just returned. What a surprise it was for him as well to see three white American females living among his family J

I spent hours in the fields this week picking beans with the wives and children. It is surprisingly meticulous work, bending and searching through all the dead underbrush. The women do all their work while carrying their littlest babies upon their backs. I do admire them so! We got to enjoy a little bit of the fruits of our labor by the end of the week and those beans tasted wonderful. The Fulani enjoy beans and rice mixed together with a little oil, salt and tonka (red pepper)!

We gave the chief a bible that had been translated into Hausa, the only language he can read. He was excited and started reading some of the gospel of Luke this week.

Hippos and the U.S. Marines

This past weekend I attended the United States Marine Ball in Niamey. There were six marines in attendance as well as the U.S. ambassador to Niger, the honored guest of the evening. I got to eat STEAK!!! And, although perhaps we were the only sober people in the place, we missionaries went crazy on the dancefloor! Brittany and I danced all night :)!

I also got a chance to tour the Niger river in search of one of the world's most deadliest creatures: the hippopotamous!!!! We rode in a 60-foot covered canoe with three men and a little boy who only only spoke french and zarma. But we all had a common interest in finding a hippo. We saw a mother and her baby, however the pictures we took look like black specks in the water so i wont even attempt to post them.

Reverse Culture Shock

This week I had to travel back to the the capital of Niger in order to renew my expiring visa. This is where I experienced “reverse culture shock” for the first time ever. I was unaware of how fast I’ve adapted to my new lifestyle in the bush and how removed from the “American lifestyle” I have become. Arriving in Niamey gave me quite a shock. The two-story government buildings might as well have been skyscrapers. Everything seemed larger than life- like I was seeing it all threw a set of new eyes. I witnessed women without headwraps and others wearing pants. I felt overwhelmed and I started crying. I also cried the next day when I watched parts of the “The Today Show” on the first television I’ve seen in months and then once again when I walked into a room and heard the familiar sounds of a college football game blaring from a TV screen- it wasn’t OSU but I was excited anyways. I had many conflicting feelings from watching the news and comercials- homesickness mixed with disgust and discomfort at the media’s propaganda and sensationalism. I know that coming to Niger has changed how I view the world and everything in it as well as how I view myself. Coming home in a couple months will be challenging and I expect I will struggle to balance the things I learned here with the “American” culture I have been brought up in. It is all a part of me now. I just wonder how I’m going to react the first time I step into Walmart or Giant Eagle!!!

I also had a chance to see some giraffes this past week. They are an endangered species- only about 120 of them in West Africa. We a had a guide who only spoke French and Zarma so communicating was interesting. However, after off-roading for about 40 minutes we came upon and family of giraffes. They looked just like the one from the Toys R Us commercials. We watched them until they got uncomfortable with us and ran off. How cool it was to see them roaming free in their natural habitat!

Barka Sala!!!

This week we celebrated the end of Ramadan in the village of Toda with the chief of Ly On Kara, the Chief of Toda and the King of the Fulani. We attended their prayer ceremony in the morning and then ate with the King’s family as they broke their fast. I tried cow tongue for the first time ever and it wasn’t too tramatic- just kind of chewy! It was nothing compared to chutum- the chunky soured milk that the Fulani eat EVERY DAY!!! The best part of the celebration was when we went back to Ly On Kara and women from all the different compounds came over to the Chief’s compound to visit. They were dressed in their brightest most colorful skirts and headwraps, feet and hands dyed from henna and unibrows penciled in. They all performed traditional Fulani dances for us. It was beautiful and I loved being a part of it all. Afterwards, the women wanted us to show them some American style dances. So we did the Macarena (because it seemed like an American song in that moment lol) and the electric slide but their favorite was the Chicken Dance!!!! Some ladies were crying because they were laughing so hard!!!

This past week I had my first experience in taking a “Bush Taxi” into the city. On the way to Maradi, my team of three was joined by a dozen other Hausa men, women and children in the back of a truck. We shared raisins and orange tictacs (which they confused for medicine) with everyone and they attempted to teach us a few words in Hausa. It was a good exchange!! In Maradi we get to swim in the private club, eat fries, drink cold beverages, use internet service, and go to the post office, bakery and grocery store. I always feel spoiled and but I am very thankful every time I jump into that pool!

Life in Ly On Kara was a bit slower and even hotter this week. We took a map of the world around the village as we went to visit the different compounds. Many people were shocked to see how many places existed in the world. They couldn’t comprehend the existence of so many continents and large bodies of water because many people only know their own village and have only traveled as far as they can walk in one day. We taught the children that the earth is round and that we had to take several airplanes to travel from America to get to Niger. They were excited and amazed to learn about this.

We visited Toda, another Fulani village that is located several kilometers down the road. They wanted Brittany to look at one of the children there who had been severely burnt by a hot mixture of milk and millet. It was a little baby girl, about one year old, who kept trying to crawl even though she had 2nd and 3rd degree burns all over her legs and feet. Even though Brittany is a paramedic in the States, she has more medical training than most of the doctors here in Niger! She helped clean the wounds, put antibacterial ointment on them and then bandaged the legs. Then we instructed her family how to care for the wounds each day until they heal. We will be bringing them more medical supplies each day when we check on the baby.

Ramadan ends next Tuesday and every village will be celebrating in their own fashion. Ly On Kara will be no exception!!! The chief and his children have promised to show us Fulani songs, dances and games when they break their fast on that night! After Ramadan, my team will focus more in the upcoming weeks on teaching English and health/ hygiene lessons in the village. There are also several people interested in hearing stories from the Bible.

Never a dull moment

This week I had the opportunity to travel to a neighboring Fulani village, Marafa, and have henna done on both my hands and feet!!! Many West African tribes believe that henna is beautiful and it is performed on women and children for special occasions such as weddings and to celebrate the end of Ramadan. The Fulani do their henna differently than most, however, because they dye the entire soles of their feet and their toenails as well as the tip of each finger on their left hand. (The left hand is considered unclean in this culture and not used for eating, waving, or offering an object to anyone.) First the Fulani clean the feet and hands, and then use a razor to cut up electrical tape into intricate patterns which will be placed on the sides of each foot and on the palm of the hand. They pound their own henna, and then use an ammonia based salt mixed with ash to change the color from deep orange to black. The entire process takes hours to complete, but the result is a unique design which lasts several weeks.

Our village also held a baby naming ceremony this week! When a child is born, it is not given a name until 7 days later during a morning celebration. The father of the child will choose a name, whisper it into the baby’s ear and tell the religious elder of the village. It is the religious elder who then shouts out the baby’s name for the rest of the family and neighbors to hear. The mother and the baby stay inside their hut the entire day and are not seen by anyone. They shave the baby’s head and pour a mixture of water and milk over the child as an act of initiation into the Fulani tribe. Then, they slit the throat of a sheep as a sacrifice to Allah and the meat is distributed among the different compounds of the village. Since it is currently Ramadan, people hung out in the chief’s compound all day until sunset and then celebrated with food and tea.

My teammates and I have taken turns with fever and stomach illness these past couple weeks. The heat is insane and it is becoming daily routine that an ant crawls up my skirt and bites me in the butt. So life in the village is a challenge each day- but I am filled with the Joy of the Lord and He is my strength!!! I welcome each morning as I rise with the sun and I am thankful for each exciting experience. I look forward to the upcoming weeks as we visit in the village and continue to form relationships with the people we meet!

Life in "The Bush"

This week, my teammates and I moved out into a Fulani village, several miles outside of Guidan Roumdji, called Ly On Kara. This little village sits in the middle of millet and corn fields and consists of 10 small compounds. It is definitely NOT on the map!!! We live in a hut inside the Chief's compound along with his two wives and 12 children. I sleep outside under the stars every night, enclosed in a bug net and surrounded by chickens, cows, camels and a horse. Life is much slower in West African villages but the women and men work hard in the fields, pounding millet and drawing water from the wells. We rest during the hottest part of the day. This month is Ramadan and many of the people are fasting during the daylight hours. They wont even drink water or swallow their own saliva. I have to be very careful to eat and drink in the privacy of my own hut or behind a tree!

I have been given the Fulfulde name "Tetdari" which means my mother gave birth to me on a cold day.