Meals on Wheels

The month of Ramadan began the end of May and ended the 25th of June.  Since this month includes fasting from sunrise to sunset, the University closed it's cafeteria where the noon meal can be purchased for 15 cents per student.  Normally the streets are lined with women cooking and selling food, but during this month the streets were empty of the "fast food" options as well.

To make matters worse, it is the end of the school year which means lots of exams and extra pressure.  As we began to think about our Christian students and how to help them, Tom came up with the idea of making sandwiches for them each day.   As we asked our students about it, they came up with only 2 sandwich options:  ground beef and omelette.  And so began 15 days of sandwich making (weekends they were on their own!)

We made between 32 and 40 sandwiches per day, depending on what we "guess-timated" the crowd to be.

Tom's job was to walk down to the local bakery and buy the bread.  Each loaf made 2 sandwiches.

 The omelettes  included lots of onions, green peppers, garlic and tomatoes, if available.  So cutting up the veggies took a bit of time each day.

 On the "omelette" days, Saratou, fellow staff member, came to help.  On the "meat" days I could manage by myself.

 Cracking eggs, cutting up the vegetables, cutting the bread open and spreading on the mayonnaise  were the first steps before cooking the eggs.  

Obviously, they were more like scrambled eggs than omelettes.

Then we wrapped them individually and they were ready to go to campus.

We had informed the students that they could find our pickup under a tree near one of the classrooms between 12:00 and 12:30 Monday through Friday.  Since we didn't know how many would come on a given day, it was first come first serve.  We also had bags of cold water along.

It was such a fun time to visit with the students each day.  Some came almost every day, others came from time to time.  We often ran out of sandwiches, which always made me feel terrible.  

On Wednesdays, I packed up 4 sandwiches and took them to the group of girls I meet with weekly. After our Bible study it was time to eat! 

 One day, we arrived at 12:02 and one of the students  already had his phone out to call us to make sure we hadn't had a break-down.  Oh, that they would be as much on time to all the other meetings!

The final day 40 sandwiches were gone in 11 minutes!  And we needed at least seven more.  It was a lot of work but so worth it.  I don't think I will eat omelettes for a while!

Easter Sunday Under the Mango Trees

Happy Easter to each of you from all of us here! 

Easter Sunday was such a special celebration this year with our little church.   We transported chairs, huge amounts of food and water, a grill, microphone and keyboard and other items to make our Resurrection Celebration special.  

We followed a walking path through vegetable gardens, now mostly done producing, to a grove of mango trees beside the river.  It's rare to find so much shade anywhere else in Niamey!   As I walked,  the constant noise of traffic was gone and I could hear birds singing and my thoughts turned towards that glorious morning when the women hurried to the tomb and found that Jesus was indeed risen!

Our youth group had cleaned up the area and it was perfect for our worship service.

We had special numbers by the children, the youth choir and the women's group.  New clothes for Easter Sunday is important here too!

After a great message from one of the pastors, the socializing began.  We love our church family.

Little circles formed under each mango tree.  The shade was so welcome.

The food preparation and service was organized and perfectly executed.  A lot of work.  

The grill was going throughout the service.

Plates of potatoes, chicken and bread were filled and served to all.

It was a perfect time for those unmarried, but courting couples to find their own mango tree and visit undisturbed, while being properly chaperoned, of course!

The Niger River was on the other side of the mango grove.

The celebration continued all day.  Some went home to take a nap and then the games started at 5:00. We moved to Sahel Academy with their lovely field of green grass for the sports.  There were races for all ages, (the women decided to have a dance competition instead of racing!)

And of course soccer matches.  Women first (a very short game) and then the guys.

Blessed Easter to each of everyone of you!

The Country Missionary Visits the City Missionary

We both have our roots in Whitewater, KS.  We grew up together, went to the same schools and church and we're cousins (Mennonite style).  She came to Africa in 1984 and we came in 1986.  For years we have talked about getting together ON the continent.  Finally, it worked.  Yes, April is not the best month to visit Niger as it is the hottest month of the year but when you talk as much as we did, the heat passes by unnoticed.  Kinda. Mostly. Not really.  

Meet Chris. She is a missionary in a city in Guinea and doesn't enjoy all the creature comforts we do. She is a REAL missionary!  😉  We showed her what it was like to live in the capital city.  I didn't take pictures of everything we did but here is an overview.

 I absolutely love to walk around the market close to our house.  So many sights and smells.  Walking past these spices always makes me sneeze!  But the colors are magnificent.

We even taste-tested a new seed.  

It just so happens that there is a fabric boutique at the far side of the market; I have found that all paths lead to the fabric! Gorgeous colors!

 It would have been soooo impolite to leave without buying some!

 Sunday morning we got dolled up and walked the mile to church.  There I got to introduce "ma petite soeur" (my little sister) to our little group.

We had great plans to share our campus ministry events with Chris, but Monday morning trouble broke out at the university. We could hear the tear gas grenades from the house.  By evening the dorms had been closed and the students were forced to leave the campus until further notice.  We were super disappointed to not be able to introduce Chris to our students and have her participate in our Bible studies and weekly meetings and our Easter outreach.

Tuesday we walked across the John F. Kennedy Bridge, which spans the Niger River.  This river  actually starts in Chris's country of Guinea.   She could send a message in a bottle to me if she really wanted to!  The water is way down now in dry season and the sandbars are making it possible to walk across many parts of the river.

The local laundromat on the banks of the river was in full swing.  An hour later, the green part of the picture was covered with clothes drying in the sunshine.

  A bottle of "real" coke was always in the plan but a can of pepsi at an air-conditioned restaurant was actually quite good on that hot afternoon.

 
We loved hanging out with the neighbors.

We had our weekly staff team prayer meeting so Chris could meet our staff team.

 Souvenir shopping with the Tauregs who make lovely nativity sets.  Chris is a good "bargainer."

One very special treat for Chris was to meet a couple of her former 5th grade students from the school where she taught in Nigeria years ago.  Two of those students are now missionaries here in Niamey.  Beth is the first grade teacher at Sahel Academy.  She also visited with a couple of the teachers she taught with years ago in Nigeria.  Fun times!

The days flew by and we never ran out of things to talk about.

Thanks so much for coming, Chris!