Home - It's Where Your Heart Is - And Your Wallpaper ISN'T!

"Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."             Psalms 23:6

We have had a HUGE chunk of God's love and goodness over the many years of our lives, and although we know we will eventually have an eternal home, while we are here on earth we must have a space to occupy which forms the framework of the lifework God has created us to do.  For so many years (about 33 of them) that "space" has been the home in which we raised our children, also known as, "Too much wallpaper, Mom; It looks like Elmer's Pancake House!"  Who doesn't love a dining room with walls like this:
                                         

"Fruit of the Spirit" Wallpaper

But alas, we had to sell it.  3500 square feet included six bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, LOTS of wallpaper, AND an inground swimming pool trampoline!  But . . . none of that was revealed in the real estate description:  “Lovely larger home” . . . “bonus room” . . . “fresh paint and carpet throughout.” (We had to remove ALL the wallpaper - and BTW, they lied when they said it is “strippable!”) . . .  And after it no longer looked like my home, the house sold - and for an appallingly small amount of money.  But, I have become OK with this because . . Africa.  Although our dwelling here is FAR more than adequate, I believe I am in the beginning stages of learning to live more modestly and with less.*  And taking a cue from the realty profession, here are some homes in Africa, described using  "realtor-speak" (starting with our current residence):

"Lovely attached home in gated and guarded community. Tin roof outside and in.  Open concept gives spacious feel to this popular 'tiny home.'  Master suite with upgrades, including pink and blue toilet, seasonal hot water,  and mosquito netting for queen-size bed. Wall-to-wall concrete throughout, with plenty of floor ventilation, allows seasonal critters continual access.  An animal lovers delight!  Appliances include newer stainless steel refrigerator and microwave, and vintage stove. Moderate HOA dues include dual-function community pool/hot tub (March to September), and multiple fireplaces throughout the community. 

Open Concept

Community Fireplaces

Vintage Stove

Compound Pool/Hot Tub
(If you get enough children to run one direction around the pool,  you can bask in the illusion of  a jetted spa.)

Venturing out of the "gated community" will allow you to view further residences in the area, which, I have to admit, have far fewer amenities than I am used to, however a realtor might still showcase their best feature(s) using phrases like these:

Straw Walls

"Newer studio with (very) open layout.  Solar access throughout.  Has 'zero bathroom option'."

A Window to the World - or Africa - or Your Outside Wall

"With fresh stucco - OK, mud and bricks - throughout, this compact dwelling includes a view."

Bedroom

"Lovely one-bedroom home". . .  OK . . . "Lovely,  one-room home with bed - for sitting, eating, AND sleeping.  Create close family with this charmer!"

Sheep and Goats

"Multiple-function dwelling features large, user-friendly entry.  Easy access available for wheel chair or herd of goats.   Surpasses ADA requirements." 

With all these housing options here, let me just say, "It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood!"  The sun always shines and there are always children playing . . . or following . . . or wanting you to take a photo so they can see what they look like!

Neighbourhood Children

*So . . . about the "modest living, and with less" . . .  I had hoped that in the process of living away from the western world, I would gain some clarity about how we should go about finding a place to live, but I believe that is not as important as finding a purpose for the rest of my life.  I know enough about myself to believe I can make a "nest" wherever God puts me, and I gained some ideas about both the "purpose" and the "nest."  I like "nice" as much - or even more - than the next person (OK, I get ridiculously jealous over beautiful homes),  but I always return (mentally) to what I really believe:  "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."  (Matthew 8:20 - on the cost of following Jesus, meaning that one cannot depend on a "pre-planned" life, let alone dwelling.)  Unfortunately, foxholes and nests in southern California seem to increase by $100,000 for every bedroom added - AFTER a base price!!!  Perhaps we shall be following Jesus to North Dakota . . .

What You See is . . . Well . . . You Have to Look For Yourself . . .

"You are looking only on the surface of things . . . "

2 Corinthians 10:7

While this quote from the Bible is part of a passage in which Paul is defending his ministry, it also stands alone as an observation of how we live life.  Even though this is the third time we have descended the steps of the plane, and been stunned by the wall of heat that "smacks us" in the face, I find I continue to process and seek to understand the world that I just entered.  Niger is so different from the western world - in distance AND culture, and yet, our hearts seek the same things - love, respect, value, meaningful work, and a desire to know the God that created us.  I always seek to know what is "under the surface" and go home with more questions than answers.  BUT - in the journey,  there is much that amazes, surprises, and makes me laugh!  For example . . .

 IF you have a chair, you want to keep it at all costs, so you had better know how to sew!  And if you were wondering where you will ever use those Boy Scout knot skills you acquired, it would be to attach the sticks stabilising the legs!

I wonder how the sheep stays up there when this tanker takes corners.  I guess if it gets too windy for him, he can always climb down the ladder and ride on the bumper!

Somewhere there must be a formula for this related to height of a camel and width of its load!

Room for a few more . . .  or chairs . . . or tires!  This is how they roll . . . or roll OVER!

Niger version of Starbucks "drive-through!"  Niger's "sweet tea" has a reputation all its own!

Niger's version of "off-roading?"  Perhaps scenes like this serve as realistic reminders of what speed and over-loading a vehicle can lead to.  It is surprising to see that there are many versions of this along the  main road! 

It is overwhelming how large the African continent is!  Look at all the countries whose size could fit inside the size of Africa!

A Land of Many Contrasts!

Yes, There is a Driver  Here . . . Somewhere!

Where Life Happens
Roadside Business = No Set-Back Laws Here!

Sheep Transport

"How" is more the question here than "what!"  Perhaps somewhere there are instructions about how to transport sheep efficiently - "Put one leg of each sheep through your luggage rack!"  (Almost no one in Niger has "luggage," anyway!)

So Many Choices!

Let's see . . . Do I want "regular screen" or "a-little-wider-screen?" "Bent screen?  "Computer Screen?" How about "no screen?" (That would be just a box!) You need a "flat screen?"  Don't see one, but I am sure this shopkeeper would be happy to make one for you, if you can wait a few minutes!  Bottom line: Nothing is wasted here; EVERYTHING has potential!

Owning the Road --- BIGTIME!!!

Compare the height of the truck with the man standing next to it!  There are many roll-over accidents that happen in Niger.  This might be why.

Again, as I look past "the way things seem on the surface," I realise the people of this country possess many positive qualities that allow them to survive in such a harsh environment.  Among those qualities are resourcefulness, willingness to work hard, perseverance, lack of "entitlement" (listen up, western world!), friendliness, and helpfulness! 

So . . . just because your country is often the lowest on the human development index, it does not mean the people are!  It just means people here have a LOT to overcome to survive and thrive, and it is rewarding and revealing to see how they do that with kindness and an ever-present smile, and often laughter (at/with us)!

The BUSH

"And how, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? 

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And how can they preach unless they are sent?"

Romans 10:14-15

God never ceases to amaze me!  (Well, of course - He's GOD!)  And here, in Africa, is a place where God's word is revealed most obviously and personally to me.

A Disneyland Bush?

I have often heard people refer to "the bush" as in:  "Pray for us.  We are going to the bush tomorrow."  "We are now living in the bush."  "We went to visit some people in the bush." A little imagination might produce any of the following:

An Ordinary Image of a Bush

What Bush is to a Portlander

Imagining an African Bush

An Actual African Bush - Niger Has No EPA

I knew we were not going to see any of the lovely green bushes, and we have no lions here, but the last one, with all it's well-intended protection, was a likely encounter, but not the whole experience!  So . . .  the "bush" in general refers to "wild, uncultivated country," but in Africa that is not quite true.  People work hard to tame and cultivate nature for the survival of all - man first, then the "environment." Here "bush" refers to people living in a small group of modest huts or mud-brick dwellings far from a city or main road, where the primary mode of transportation can be found attached to your legs - with or without shoes!  And yet they have cell phones . . . 

Mini back-story:  In the weeks before Christmas, our Sunday evening "compound church" offering was dedicated to purchasing food and necessities for evangelists, pastors, and their families living in remote villages, or "the bush."  These locations can be 3-4 hours away;  Africa is a HUGE continent!!!

Bush Dwellings

In the week before Christmas we experienced both the reality of "the Bush" and the verse above from Romans, as we went with our close friends, C and N, to "the bush" to deliver one set of christmas gifts. Lest you are visualising camels, donkey carts, or walking, let me just say we went via Toyota Land Cruiser, and for that we quickly became very thankful!  Visualise "Indiana Jones" meets Machu Picchu!

Now our friends had been to this "village" before, but there are no road signs, posted speed limits, or markers indicating how much farther to the next Starbucks or Motel 6, because, well . . . Africa.  So we "exited" the highway, which here means "turn your car 90 degrees to the right, go down the ditch, wind through millet stubble, and search for something looking like a dusty one-lane road."  So far, so good.  Soon the dusty one-lane road turned into a dusty NO-lane path, which became a dusty trail, and we were --- LOST!  Or so it seemed to me!

In God's economy, "lost" is really an opportunity to experience a divine appointment, and God never disappoints!  We "happened" to spot one man working around a tree a few yards off, so C stopped to ask the whereabouts of the people we were going to see.  Soon the man's son appeared, then a friend, then some more men, and handful of children - from where, I could not tell!  First stubble, then a tree, and a man, and now a whole group!  It was amazing!  But more than amazing numbers, was that C was able to converse with them - in their language - and was able to personally share the meaning of Christmas, and put a chip containing events from the Bible in at least one cell phone (Remember? Africa - shoes - 0, cell phones - 1!)  I realised this "adventure into the bush" was another reminder that NOT everyone in the world has heard about Jesus, despite all our technological wonders and savvy in the western world.  Like Romans 10 points out, they can't pray to God if they haven't heard, and they cannot hear unless someone comes to share!

We soon found the village and people we were looking for, and they were so happy to see and greet us, and so thankful for the rice, fabric, and other gifts.  We all (about 12-15 people) sat around on mats in their main room (about the size of a modest western bathroom), conversed, and shared drinkable yogurt, which was an added treat!

Sitting in a Corner of the House in the Bush

Before we were to leave, a chief needed a medicine check and a woman who recently gave birth was also attended to (C is a doctor in Galmi Hospital).  And just as we were gathering for the drive home, there was a traditional "photo session" with all the children clamouring to be in the picture - except one little girl who kept hidden behind her mother and peeked at me several times, trying to get up the courage to look for more than one second! I was puzzled until later when I looked at my exposed arms, and realised how absolutely WHITE I was/am in the intense sunshine!  The sun had filtered out any yellow in my skin and she thought I was a GHOST! (In this photo, she is the little black head peeking out from behind the woman on the far right!)

Children Dwelling in the Bush

For some reason, the appropriate expression when having your picture taken is "solemn." Despite the somber appearance, these children were otherwise happy and active and excited for the diversion of strangers in their midst! Happy to oblige!

Talk Is Cheap . . . But Communication is Challenging!

         "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is
          helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit
          those who listen."      Ephesians 4:29

"Same ol', same ol'." "Just hangin' in there." "Meh."  "It's blue Monday." "Get lost."  Responses to "How are you,"  heard all the time  anywhere in the U.S.  And these are called "greetings"??? I have never heard anything equivalent to these "come-backs" here in Niger!  I think it's partly because greeting a Nigerien has a predictable pattern and requires a standard response:

          "Sannu."  (Hello, how are you?)  "Ina kwana?"  (How was your sleep?)

          "Lafia", "Lafia Lo."(Well, good.)
          "Sai an jima!" (See you soon!)

It is a cultural mandate to greet before any conversation.  And if you pass someone, you MUST greet them!  No hiding engrossed in your cell phone!  No just "waving" (which has a protocol of its own - another story!). No "two-thumbs-up." (In fact just keep you hands in your pockets!) No pretending you're a deaf-mute.  And I think life for people in Niger is difficult, and probably never-boring, so negativity and apathy are almost meaningless.

I love how social most people are!  Nigeriens seem to continuously be in conversation with someone, and love to laugh.  Our beautiful houseworker, Tchima, laughs every day at my failure to learn her language of Hausa!  I laugh, also, because she tries so hard and we gesture so much, and I am a hopeless case!

I have learned two things about communication:
1 - I tend to use a LOT of idioms when I talk, and pretty much nobody outside the US  understands idiomatic talk.  Example - Me: "Well, you hit that one out of the ballpark," means "You were more than successful in your endeavour." Meanwhile the Nigerien is climbing the wall and looking to find a ball out on the road!  Me - "quick as a wink," means "very fast", but a Nigerian might think I am flirting, which would be a MAJOR offence and embarrassment!  So I am trying to catch myself before I speak.
2 - Gestures are not always helpful because they are cultural, also.  This was revealed to me one day when Tchima was trying to say something about sleep and she kept putting her hands low and moving them back and forth, while I was putting mine together like praying and laying my head  against my hands.  Nigeriens do not all have beds; a mat on the floor is where many sleep - if they even have one, so she was using her gestures to express sleeping in Niger, while I was showing the standard US gesture for sleep!

So, I plan to be more intentional about my learning some conversational phrases, and in so doing, honour, her and keep myself out of hot water . . . idiomatically speaking, that is!

Tchima and Barb

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Clay is More Than Play-Doh

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."  Isaiah 64:8

Hahahaha . . . . . It's funny, really ---in retrospect.  Two Americans riding in on shiny white horses (OK . . . no horses . . . just AirFrance), swords gleaming in the scorching Sahara sun, ready to change the world!  Whack!  There go the streets of garbage!  Slash!  Clean water for everyone!  Flash!  Young girls have homework, not babies!  Whack!  Slash!  Flash!  Our work here is done.  Now where is that sunset we must ride off into?!  Oh, yeah, it's hidden (just like our humility and our compassion), behind that ever-present, ever-invasive, red desert dust!

Heh, heh . . . So . . . maybe it isn't so funny when I remember how naive we were about life in a third-world country (now called a "two-thirds-world" country), and our power to effect change.  That was 2010.  We were full of answers to questions no one was asking.  Naive is a nice word --- implies "innocence" and "inexperience."  But "judgemental" doesn't wear as attractively.  So, we closed our mouths and opened our eyes and ears and worked at what we came here to do.  I came to teach children.  Phil came to cook for me (and work with technology and pray in the hospital, and work with the director in the office).  But in God's reality, we came here to be changed - to have our character moulded like clay, to become more like the One who created us.  And when we had the opportunity to return a second year . . . well, let's just say that "red Sahara dust" had invaded more than just our home; Africa and the beautiful people of Niger had invaded our hearts, and by the end of 2012, this place we lived felt like home, and the people on the compound with whom we lived and worked,  felt like family!  And then we left . . . but not really.  Our bodies left, but Galmi was never far from my mind and heart.  I knew sometime I would return. . . . 

Soaring Over Galmi

If you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to support us, visit simusa.org/give, or

                  Make check payable to SIM and send to SIM Donor Care, PO Box 7900, Charlotte, NC 28241

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