Nos mondes sociaux

Our social worlds.  Someone asked about our “social life” here in Niamey.  We seem to live in two worlds here.  One is the world of expats and the other is the world of the Nigerians.  It’s not that they don’t mix because they do but our experiences with them, except for prayer time and coffee break, have been somewhat separate.  For example…

Our expat world is primarily at the SIL center.  There are two families of four that are translator families.  One lives on the center the other in town.  There is a lady from South Africa who has been doing literacy projects that lives here and has for a number of years.  Also, there are our friends Barb and Mary and Stan’s family of three. Then there is a couple from the US that has been here for 10 days and will be leaving soon.  They all speak English and French.

We go shopping, out to eat, church, and to the recreation center with them.  We spent a lot of time with the broader expat community here during the NUTS softball tournament.  People came from Burkina Faso, 6 hours away, just to play softball in the sun for two and a half days.  While the play is going on, the rest sit in the shade and talk.  Other than softball, we haven’t spent much time at the rec center.

This weekend we had dinner with the center’s expat group on Friday at a nice restaurant.  With kids there were 16 of us.  For some reason the conversation at our table got around to duck tape so I couldn’t help telling the Duck Joke. This particular restaurant will no longer be on our eating out list.  Then Saturday night went to a dinner/fundraiser at the Sahel School put on by the seniors (and their parents).  It was a Mexican meal that was really well done but all expats.  See Picture below. 

Our Nigerian world is quite different.  We aren’t with them quite so much but when we are the experiences are significant.  For example…

A lady who attends our Prayer Time and coffee break works on literacy at the center so we don’t see much else of her.  She’s the one that sings her prayers, brought us dinner one night, and is making Sally a skirt.

Another lady, who speaks English, is the receptionist at the center.  Sally and I spent about an hour talking to this lady about her job here and she was delightful.  Both of these women dress in these colorful outfits with matching headscarves. 

I got to know a young man who is Toureg and Muslim.  He works on Bible translation.  Go figure.  When I first met him he had a turban like cloth around his head.  All you could see were his eyes and yet you could tell they were smiling.  We don’t speak any of the same languages but we still have fun together.

We had lunch with Hauwa, the lady that cooks some meals and cleans for us.  She speaks four languages but none of them are English.  We had a great time with our French books out trying to communicate.

We went to dinner at the home of an African woman who prays with us.  Fortunately we went with the couple that was here for only a few days and they spoke French.  This was just a wonderful experience.  The lady that invited us had her mother come out and “talk” to us.  She looked sad and withdrawn.  We found out she took English for one year about 40 years ago.  So we began to talk English with her.  She lit up.  There was a huge change in her personality when we were giving her the English definitions for words.  Sally got out her picture book and used English words to point out people, like daughter, son, grandchild, etc.  She would write them down in French and English and then pronounce them in English.  She loved it.  Then our hostess’s young friend came with her baby.  She had just ridden 24 hours on a bus and then was going to ride another 36 hours to see her family, stay 5 days and then make the return trip.  She spoke English and was delightful.  We also heard from our hostess’s sister who had lost her job and was evicted from her home.  She was living with her sister.  It was an evening we will not forget.  

Finally, today we went to a small village about 50 miles from here for a baptism.  This trip warrants a separate blog, I’ll just say we were into the culture.

Expats or Nigerians, Christians or Muslims people have been warm and helpful.  We are blessed to have the opportunity to get to know them because both the expat world and the Nigerian world are so different from the Edina world.

Vie Quotidienne

Daily Life

We are routine people.  Human nature being what it is, we are no different in Niamey.  We are up at 6:15 – walk at 6:20 for ~50 minutes.  We would like to do an hour but even at that time of day the humidity makes it a challenge.  Actually we are just grateful that we are able to exercise.  Coffee, devotions, and breakfast of cereal and milk and then our workday begins.

Elgin is helping with fiscal year end accounting tasks and Sally runs errands with the staff for supplies or does odd jobs around the center.  Errands entail going to many different “stores” – sort of stores, more like kiosks – often not being able to get exactly what one is looking for.

Food seems plentiful in the city but we are told that the drought like conditions does cause big hunger issues in the more rural areas.

The city street markets are full of fresh tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, papaya, onions, bananas, watermelon, apples and oranges.  Mango season is June – August so we missed that.  I’m told broccoli season is comingJ  We stop at least 3 grocery stores every time we go – stock is limited and you can’t always get what you want.  There is only one store that sells the cereal we like and it is often out so I am learning to buy several boxes at a time!  Then another store has the bread we like.  And so it goes.

Beef i.e. hamburger is used a lot.  Actually the food is much like a Minnesota hot dish – pasta, rice or potatoes, with vegetables, meat and some kind of sauce to hold it all together.  Every meal seems similar to the one before.  So not exciting food but we are managing.

I am now cooking – very simple things – boring things actually.  I had Michele send me a banana bread recipe, as the bananas get ripe faster than we can eat them.  It calls for Quick Oats and I found it, surprise, surprise.  So I did my first baking but the oven isn’t set the same and I had it too hot.  We ate it but hopefully the next batch will be better.  At home I put chocolate chips in my banana bread and they don’t have those here.  So I cut up chocolate bar – not as good but will have to do.

We just recently hired Hauwa – a beautiful Benin woman – widowed, mother of 7 children - to do some cooking.  She also bleaches the vegetables and sweeps the tile floors and does the laundry – there is a washer but clothes are hung on a line.  Having her cook is wonderful as cooking on a gas stove in this heat is even hotter!!

So from a food standpoint Elgin is surviving, close but still surviving.

God Speaks in Many Languages

We are reading Jesus Calling as our devotional every morning even looking up the accompanying verses.  We do this at home too but with no TV or busy schedules to interrupt us we are more attuned.  It always amazes me how often the words for the day are so applicable to our lives. 

As we noted before, we have prayer time with the staff every morning Monday – Friday.  They have set days to pray for each staff member and their families and then whatever special needs are requested.  It is a rich time to hear prayers in French, Hausa and English – in song and spoken. Scripture is read in French and English too. 

Today at prayer time we started with Ps 23.  God, who is always pursuing us.  God, who is always with us in the quiet, in the green pastures, and in the deep valleys.  It reminded me once again, “God is Enough.”

Then there is SIL whose mission is to translate languages that do not have a recorded language, ultimately producing the Bible in the native tongue.  This came about when the founder of SIL was asked by a local person in Guatemala – “If God loves me so much, how come he doesn’t speak my language?”  The founder believed that God does speak all languages and that people need to be able to read the scriptures in their own languages.  This has led to issues of literacy that are also a concentration of SIL and the center where we are.  Literacy then leads to education and that to empowerment – all with the larger purpose of reaching people with the God of love. 

Makes me think of Young Life and how the purpose there is to speak God’s language in a way that speaks to young people.  Not only does God speak English, He talks “teenage.”  He talks whatever language we need to hear.  From my Beth Moore study, God speaks the language of the heart.  It is so good to be reminded of how big our God is and how many languages of love He speaks, and He doesn’t even have Rosetta Stone.

The Economics of Niamey

I had a chance to observe the Grand Marche (the big market) a couple of days ago as I tagged along with Barb when she was shopping for backing for new curtains.  The Marche was quite an experience and really impressive.  As you walk down the narrow hallway (4 ft) about every six or eight feet there is a new “merchant”, on both sides.  They hang their wares in high rows because the stalls aren’t very deep.  As a result, the sun can’t get through so the hallways are rather dark and shaded.  Not letting the sun in helps keep the heat down.  So it is a trade off between light and heat.

Where we started was the men’s clothing section.  There are no signs to tell you this but you could tell from the merchandise in the stalls.  Each stall had one person in it.  Some were alert, some were sleeping, some were getting ready for prayers by washing their feet in the hallway, and some were chatting with their neighbor.  Each person would say the same things about their merchandise as the person next to them, not much, just that it was the best.  As you walked down the hallway, you would see the same basic merchandise in stall after stall.  Maybe the shirts would go from 5 stalls of short sleeve button in the front shirts, to 5 stalls of a mix, to 5 stalls of golf shirts, etc.  But much of the clothing was the same.  We walked a long way down one hallway and then turned to go back on another.  I was told we only scratched the surface of the Marche.  There had to be thousands of stalls and thousands of individual merchants.

Then on the streets leading to the Marche there were stalls, carts, and people selling much of the same stuff.  If you were selling shoes, your shoes looked like everyone else’s shoes.  If you were selling SIM cards, and there were many who did, your SIM cards were just like everyone else’s. 

Across the street from the Marche at one point were at least two blocks of vender stalls that were selling cotton material.  Each stall had rolls and rolls of material lined up around it.  At one point we walked between the stalls, away from the street, and behind the stalls was a whole other level of stalls and behind them was another, four or five deep.  All selling cotton material.

Then we went to a “store” that was selling cotton material.  It was jammed with rolls of pretty much the same material as we saw in the stalls.  The store was hot and musty.

Finally, we went to a new store that had just been built and it carried Bed, Bath, and Beyond like products.  It was air conditioned, had big aisles, and away from the busy streets.  It was empty.  I was told only NGOs shop there because the locals don’t use many of the products they sell and because the locals don’t have the money.

My reaction to all of this is that it is entrepreneurial capitalism of the first order.  Everyone is his own businessman.  There are no corporations.  No franchises.  It doesn’t appear that any two people are working together.  The thing that is missing is any concept of marketing.  The ones that come closest to having any marketing are the beggars who drag along their crippled sister or blind mother to get sympathy money.  No one is selling products that are better or different than someone else.  The only visible differentiation is in the haggling over the price.

I am sure new products get introduced into this system but I have yet to see any reference to “new” anything.  In fact, there is no reference to any thing: there are no signs of any kind.  Can you believe a world without advertising?  It is beyond my comprehension.

If I compare Niamey economics to American economics I see one major difference.  Niamey has capitalism, that is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit in a competitive environment, and it has aggressive entrepreneurs just like in the US.  Niamey has some of the elements of marketing, like personal sales, distribution, and promotional pricing like we have in the US.  Yet the economics of Niamey aren’t nearly as successful and orderly as in the US.  Why?  What is lacking is advertising.  Advertising is what made/makes America great.  If you can’t communicate the distinguishing features of your products or services from someone else your entrepreneurial drive and competitiveness goes out the window. 

I always suspected this.  Just thought you’d like to know.

Life in Niamey

We thought the since the last post was a little heavy, we would lighten this one up.

Here are some pictures of some of the activities in Niamey.

First, over the last two weeks about 20 SIL people from nearby countries have been learning Translation 101.  These are the people from the local villages who go back and record the language and then they bring it back here where NGOs, who can't travel, help them put it in writing.  They had a graduation ceremony and Sally and I helped pass out the certificates.

 Sally went to an orphanage with the son of a friend of ours who lives here.  Kids in their school go on a regular basis.  The girl holding the baby on her lap is also a child of SIL parents.

 This is a picture of Sally's "seamstress."

One of our jobs is to go shopping.  This is the Petit Marche.  At 4:00 it is chaos.

 Finally our church.  In English.

Joy

The word for today is Joy.  The French word for Joy, is Joy.  (I can learn this kind of French vocabulary)

We’ve been wrestling with conflicting things we’ve heard in the last few days and we thought we would share them with you.

Sunday morning we listened to a sermon by Tim Keller on “Missions.”  He used John 17:13-19 as his text and talked about the need for Jesus’ disciples to get out and serve, and when we do that, it will bring “joy” to our lives.  Joy!  Not comfort, but Joy.  It struck us that it seems like we are always seeking joy in our lives and here is a way Jesus says is a fool proof way we can get it.  Joy should be a by product of ‘getting out.”

Then we went to church Sunday night and the sermon was on “Not giving up.”  The man who was giving the sermon asked, “How many of you at one time or another have just wanted to give up and go home?”  Just about everyone raised their hands.  Most of these people are missionaries who have given most of their lives to be here or places like this, yet were not always feeling joy.  If anyone is going to feel the joy from “getting out” then these people should be feeling it, yet, it’s not always there.

Then one of our new friends here expressed just how hard it was and how tired she was.  To us, if you have spent 20 years of your life in Niamey, you get to feel tired.  But according to Jesus, aren’t you also supposed to feel joy?  She is tired, not joyful.  I’m not sure “joy” has been the emotion that tops the chart for us either.  Was Jesus wrong?

We think the answer lies in the word joy.  It has two meanings.  Each meaning can have a great impact on our worldview.  The meaning of joy that Sally and I were using was one of pleasure.  Some other words with this meaning are happiness, bliss, and ecstasy.  This definition is about us and how we feel.  I have to tell you, you don’t always feel this joy in Niger.

The other definition of joy is delight.  With delight, you don’t “delight” something; you take delight “in” something.  The focus of the delight is not you it is the thing you take delight in.  Our expectation of joy had the wrong focus.  Tim Keller is still a good preacher and Jesus was not wrong.  Getting out doesn’t always make us feel happier, getting out gets us closer to Jesus so that we can increase our delight in him.

The people here are not always feeling pleasure and happiness but they sure have a delight in the Lord.  Maybe Jesus was trying to tell us that when we feel unhappy or overwhelmed the best cure is to get out (out of ourselves) and find delight in the Lord by serving wherever he might send you.

But there’s a worldview lesson here too.  If our worldview is a belief that our lives should be filled with times of pleasure and happiness we will experience the highs of those times when we feel joy, but we will also feel those times when we don’t.  However, if our view is a belief that our lives should be lived so that we take delight in the Lord, then no matter where we are emotionally, we can do things to find a joy in the Lord.

We’re working on changing our worldview while we are here.  The change doesn’t come easy.

Siestes l’apres-midi

One thing that Elgin knew a little bit about before we came but is new for me is the Siestes l’apres-midi – or the afternoon nap.

The afternoon nap begins right after lunch and depending on how fast your gobble down your food it starts around 1:30 and goes until 2:30.  We go back to work at 3:00.

The reason for this afternoon nap is like all hot climates – it is just too hot to work.  Everything shuts down – especially oneself.  So we turn the air-conditioner on a bit in our bedroom and nap!  I am thinking this could become a habit!

Elgin and I have found ourselves to be creatures of habit.  To us, adding Noodles to our lunch option in addition to Chipotle was not easy.  However, one aspect of getting out of our comfort zone is losing many of our habits and gaining new ones.  The afternoon nap is one of our gains. But here are ten habits we have been forced to lose:

1.     We love movies and movie popcorn.  There are no movies in Niamey so there is no movie popcorn.

2.    We love coffee.  Our coveted four-cup percolator really only makes two cups and after a morning walk there is only time for one pot and who wants hot coffee.  There is no Caribou in Niamey.

3.    We love a glass or two of wine at night.  There is wine in Niamey but not at the Center.

4.    We love a cool bedroom at night.  Our bedroom is not cool.

5.    We love dry cleaned clothes.  There is no dry cleaner in Niger.

6.    We love to read the paper in the morning and watching the news at night.  There is no English paper in Niamey. and besides we couldn’t get it if there was one.  We do not have a TV.

7.    We love being with our kids and grandkids almost every day. They aren’t in Niamey and we can only see them once in a while on FaceTime.

8.     We love our iPhones and have been totally dependent on them.  They don’t work in Niamey so we don’t even carry them around.  Elgin uses his as an alarm clock.

9.    We love to go out to eat.  Since we can’t drive we seldom eat out.  This has the consequence of more cooking “in” that is “in” the heat.

10.  We love being on the go.  Our life right now is really slow and limited pretty much to the Center.

It is funny how the things we thought were so necessary to our lives can be tossed aside so easily.  Except for the kids, there isn't much we can't do without, and do so surprisingly with ease.  It's the people we miss, the community, our friends, and the church.  It is missing these things that really get us out of our comfort zone.