Transition

In October 2009, Rog and I felt that God was leading us to move to Niamey, Niger. Nine months later, in July 2010, we moved to Québec City from Edmonton to learn French for a year. After 10 months of language, we moved back to Edmonton for 2 months to prepare for the "big move" to Africa. At the end of July 2011, we arrived in Niamey, Niger. We lived in a guesthouse for 3 months as we awaited renovations of our house and the arrival of our container. November 1, 2011, after what feels like years of transition, we moved into what we hope to call our home for the next 4 years. I am trying to hold on lightly to the things that tie us down to this world. It really is all just "stuff"...but it DOES feel so good to have our own stuff and to be in our own space. Here are some photos of our last month. 

Rog gets a little visit from a grasshopper. If you look at the other pictures, you will see one of the crazy infestations we had. It was actually quite sad as many crops were destroyed by these critters and this was to be food for the Nigeriens for the year! This year is predicted to be a famine year (again) for Niger. 

This was the second flat tire we had in 3 days...different tires, but unfortunately, we had not gotten a new spare tire to replace the first one that we used...so a bit of a delay, but learning and experiencing many new things here (like we can pay something equivalent to a dollar to have our tire fixed!)

Tried to inconspicuously take a picture of the camel....and Frédérick and Patricia (teammates from Québec) posing to make it not so obvious.

our container arrives!!! it is too big to get into our yard so has to be parked in front of our house.

have seen many camels recently...especially transporting these "sekko" on their backs. Sekkos are used to cover huts for shelter.

our team got to participate in a week long seminar and here we are trying to get a picture of all the participants

the container arrived, but it took a few days to get it cracked opened. There were medical supplies that were shipped on the same container (took up about 2/3 of the space) and these supplies will be used to help out hospitals in outlying areas...in order to get to our personal stuff, all of the medical equipment had to be moved aside...it was a BIG task and took all day

this is just the beginning...we needed a place to store all of the equipment before having it shipped off to the proper places, and what better place than our spacious yard! 

included in all of this donated equipment... a CAT scanner!!! delicate equipment moved by many delicate hands. Thankfully, there were only sore muscles after all of the moving that day and no big injuries

the yard starts to fill up

Our kitchen! We have been truly blessed with the conveniences of nice cupboards and a pantry! Everything here, I have discovered, has to be covered as there is a film of dust on everything by the end of the day. (Even things that are in the cupboards!) Unfortunately, after a year of the weather here, the doors will not close and open properly...but I will thoroughly enjoy these nice cupboards while they are nice!

Nathan and Bennett playing among the medical equipment. Nathan is so excited to  have sand to play with...our very own sandbox that is the entire yard!

Our team gathers every two weeks to practice telling stories from the Bible...here are the kids all lined up and listening (well, kind of...)

Nathan and Jaelyn sitting in our new kitchen in our foldable chairs (so glad we brought them in the container, as we have yet to get real chairs!) 

After getting through the medical equipment, our "stuff" gets brought in! 

Here is a picture of the locusts?grasshoppers? look carefully and you will see some VERY large ones!!!

the guy that came to install our a/c unit (yes, we are totally spoiled and have installed one in one of our rooms, but it has been cool enough that we have not turned it on!) has a goat in his car waiting patiently for him...

After 3 months in Niamey, we get to move into our new home and Nathan gets to spend his first night in his own room! November 1, 2011

Jaelyn in her bedroom...soo excited to have her own space and not have to share with her brother!

Nathan gets to play in the sand everyday now!

our bedroom

Rog has been hard at work developing a solar hot water heater for us...I am so proud of him! He has done a great job and the kitchen one is now installed!

He is so excited to get free hot water into the kitchen that he says (and I quote) "it makes me want to do the dishes!"

last week was Tabaski...thousands of goat/sheep were killed and cooked over a fire all day. It is a holiday here, like Christmas is to us in North America. Many of them do not know the meaning behind the fête, they just like the idea of partying, much like us in North America when it comes to Christmas! But I believe the holiday had to do with them celebrating that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, at the altar. The Bible says that God provided a ram in lieu of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Interesting differences....

We went to the village of Kongu today where our team has provided grain aid. They wanted to thank us and so held a ceremony for us. Rog has been mistaken for Tim's son in the past, and I wanted to get a picture as they truly resembled each other today....

a couple of cute ladies we met, the one on the right is one of the chief's two wives (Halima may have been her name) and the one on the left was quite a chatterbox. Her name is Jemma.

They had bought milk fresh from a cow to offer to us for the festivities!! mmmm.....

some camel riders we saw on the way

For those of you who do not know what a "yoke" is....this is it...to be yoked to someone or something...these animals are yoked together. We saw a couple of them that were completely struggling against each other and it was totally futile. Just made it harder for them both. Jesus tells us to take on HIS yoke and to learn from him...how much easier life would be if we did not struggle against His yoke!

Kristi is well loved in the village of Kongu...especially by the kids!

This is Abdoulaye (wearing the traditional Fulani shirt on the right) who is the chief's son and he is standing with someone  I did not catch the name of. He wore this motorcycle helmet the entire time (about 3 hours) while we were in the village and so we endearing labelled him "motorcycle man". 

Just a cute kid with a runny nose

This man rode in on a donkey while we were all sitting around...thought it made for a great photo opportunity! Living life here has definitely changed my perception of "normal"

This little girl was walking around like this and I just had to take a picture of her...notice the distended belly. All of the kids in this village that we saw had this belly (many much worse) from malnutrition.

This little boy's name is Souleyeman. He is so cute but severely malnourished (as you can tell because his hair is turning orange). Seemed surreal to me, as I was sitting today, that I live here. These are places that you only see and hear about. This kid could be the next poster child for World Vision! BUT WE LIVE HERE!! Just a bit crazy....

a picture of the gathering...trying to find shade in the midday sun...

it is 38C outside and we saw 4 guys wearing toques...in all fairness to them, the nights get down to 22 C now

Do not do this at home, kids! We were done the ceremony and it was time to leave...but the villagers wanted rides back into the city! Needless to say, there are no seat belt laws here in Niamey....