A Weekend to Remember

Our first trip into the interior of Niger!  


We had arranged the night before to have a taxi pick us up at 4am to catch the bus at 5am.  We went with our African national director and his wife and their 2 year-old boy.


The 11-hour trip didn't seem too long as there was always something to look at as we rolled by:
           villages. 
           onions and more onions.
           herds of camels. 
                    

The bus stopped several times for the Muslims to pray and we made two bathroom stops ( I won't even attempt to describe those outdoor stalls.  Fortunately, for odor reasons there were no roofs and we each had a tea kettle of water.  Use your imagination!!). 

Laundry soap produced across the border in Nigeria. 

At our up-country destination, we were met at the bus stop by the missionary who had planned and organized the Weekend to Remember marriage conference.  They have a huge burden for the marriages in Niger.  The divorce rate is very high in the Muslim communities and this culture affects the church negatively as well.  


There were 30 couples who showed up for the first session.  Tom, Akora (CCC Niger national director) and I taught the sessions.  Tom did the majority of them and I taught the two designed for the women only.  


We spoke in French, which more than half of the audience understood, and it was translated into Hausa for those who didn't speak French.  They were all ages and from all walks of life.  What an incredible opportunity to show them Biblical principles that cross cultural lines.  

This little girl's name is Hulda; her parents attended the conference.  
Now we know there are two Huldas in the world! 

Saratou translated my French into Hausa.  

 The message that caused the most discussion was Sunday's talk on forgiveness.  The comment was made repeatedly that in traditional Hausa culture men don't ask their wives for forgiveness.  Needless to say, the challenge from God's Word was powerful and discussions were animated.  

Several ladies cooked our meals of spaghetti or rice or couscous.  Tasty, good food. 

Tomatoes and Peanut Butter

Cook a couple of sliced onions in some oil in a pan. 

 Add some chopped tomatoes. 

Voila! the sauce is ready for rice or couscous or beans! 

 As my Nigerien friend said, " as long as we have onions and tomatoes we can make a sauce."  Sometimes we add a bit of chopped meat and/or peanut butter, serve it over rice and that makes it a dish fit for a king! Just ask my kids. 

Tomatoes are in season now and coming into the city literally by the busload.   The outlet is at the market close by our home so a friend and I decided to skip the middle man and purchase our tomatoes "en gros."   

Fortunately, my friend had her vehicle so I didn't have to transport them back on my head!  

The tomatoes made great sauce and salsa.  My only problem was I had none of my canning supplies here.  Nor did I have extra plastic storage containers.  So I froze it all in pans, cut it in squares and re-froze it in plastic bags.  As long as Tom doesn't mistake it for brownies we'll be okay.  

I suppose Americans eat peanut butter like our African friends eat tomato sauce.  In the early 90's when we lived in Central African Republic, peanuts were abundant.  Melissa's first way of earning money was making and selling peanut butter to other missionaries using our Oster Kitchen Center blender we had received as a wedding gift.  In Ouagadougou, our pastor's wife had a peanut butter machine and we could buy it from her, a dishpan at a time. 

Here in Niger, getting peanut butter is a bit more complicated so I decided to see if my Bosch blender was up to the task.  But I had forgotten how time consuming making peanut butter from scratch can be.  All the recipes that I read on-line started from peanuts you buy at the store that are shelled, skinned and roasted already. 

It took awhile to find shelled peanuts in the market but thanks to Tom's searching, I now have a source.  

After sorting through the raw peanuts,

 I roasted them for a bit  in the oven and then began the arduous task of taking all those pesky red skins off.  That was a great thing to do during the "Friday night at the movies" time.   

Saturday morning, since there was no breeze to help me, I set up my artificial wind to blow all the red skins down the driveway. 

The blender worked perfectly and I now have enough peanut butter for a while.  No orders, please! 

  P.S.  I still prefer Skippy!