Vol. 2, No. 2

Sannu da aiki (Greetings at work)

It was nice to hear "Sannu" again after leaving Niamey and moving to Zinder in early July. Sannu is the Hausa equivalent of "Hi." When I was a visiting graduate student in Zaria, Nigeria, in 1991, I heard "Sannu" everyday on the streets. Not at Niamey, the capital, where Hausa speakers use a more formal "Ina kwana?" (How was your sleep?—but used like "good morning") or "Ina yini?" (How is your day?). I was told that "Sannu" isn’t appropriate in Niamey. I had a similar problem between Québec French and Nigerian French. In Québec, one always greets another with the informal "Salut" (Hello), but in Niamey, they prefer "Bonjour" (good day). I suppose it’s a little like me saying "Howdy" in Iowa only to get a strange look when I use it in Michigan or New York.

Anyway, these are good examples of the regional variations languages often have. Hausa is the same. Because it is spoken widely in West Africa, there can be a number of differences on how it is spoken. Here they talk about western or eastern Hausa, but in actuality there are many more distinctions than just two. I’ve already discovered that in Zinder they often prefer other words than what I learned in my Nigerian Hausa textbook. This just adds another little wrinkle to trying to learn a language. Just to complicate matters further, my Hausa tutor here is constantly telling me "But they use a different word for this in Maradi"—which is where I will soon be living!

My last two weeks in Niamey were quite hectic. As is typical, when people know you are going to leave, many requests start pouring in. Often they are invitations for meals and for time to say goodbye, but there was also a fair amount of work to do with the church. For example, I put together a PowerPoint presentation on the church’s Christian education objectives for Niger. (If you or your church would like a copy please e-mail me and I will have Reformed Church of America’s Missions e-mail it to you.) I also did a little bit of shopping in preparation for moving to electricity-less Dogon Gao, such as buying a used refrigerator that runs on bottled liquid propane gas, and buying a used gas stove.

I left Niamey on July 2, 2002, with four others from the local church—no shortage of company for this trip! We had time to stop and see the progress of the construction on the duplex where I will be living at the Dogon Gao Bible School. It was quite impressive how much was done since I had visited in late May. It needs a roof and windows and all the interior work must still be done, but it should be ready for me to move into by late August. I really think I’ll enjoy living there. It is remote, but no more remote than the farm where I grew up in rural Iowa. In fact, there are approximately 60-70 people on the school grounds, so there’s no chance of being lonely. If we are able to get electricity to the site (there are lines two kilometers away), it will really be quite comfortable.

In Zinder I am now staying with the family of the Rev. Harouna Labo, the president of the Evangelical Church of Niger. Zinder is the nation’s second-largest city (not the third, as I reported earlier) and is one of the oldest cities in the area, with a traditional Muslim ruler (king) called an emir who even has a palace (see photo). Located in the south central portion of the country, Zinder is very close to the desert. When the French first colonized Niger they had their administrative capital here for 30 years, but moved to Niamey in the 1920s when finding adequate water became difficult. Even today, despite a modern water system, Zinder still has problems supplying the population with water.

Niamey was just starting to cool down when I left, and Zinder is still hot because the rains haven’t come on time. This was the first June that most people could remember when there wasn’t a major rain (the normal rainy season is June-September, with almost no rain outside of those months). Since I arrived there have been two rains and before that, three dust storms. The dust storms can be the harbingers of rain. Often, before the first rains come, there will be windstorms that last between 15-45 minutes and leave a lot of dust in the air—these can be the fronts of thunderstorms, which do bring rain. However, we had dust storms that just brought dust, which means every square inch of your house is covered with dust and for me, it meant a couple of days of continuous sneezing. Staying another month in Niamey was starting to look pretty good!

Since coming to Zinder, I’ve developed a pretty simple routine. My mornings are spent at Rev. Labo’s office, and my afternoons are spent with a Hausa tutor, Madame Rahilia Mahammadou. In addition to being the president of the largest Christian denomination in the country, Rev. Labo is also the owner of an office supply/photocopy center/bookstore in Zinder. It is not at all uncommon in Niger for church officials to have other sources of income and their church activities to be largely volunteer endeavors. Madame Rahilia is quite fascinating, having been trained as an "animatrice rurale" or rural community organizer. Besides tutoring me, she is working on several Hausa literacy projects with the church and has been busy writing simple Hausa books to teach newly-literate women about hygiene, child-care, good food preparation, and storage and other important life skills. The goal is to teach these subjects in the churches. Sundays are spent at two churches—the long-established Hausa-language church and a newer, French-language church start.

This upcoming month will bring some interesting travel. Four or five leaders from the church and two missionaries (including me) will go to Jos, Nigeria, to study how the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) and other Christian non-profits conduct educational and development ministries in Nigeria. Nigeria is much more developed than Niger and has a much longer history of Christian presence. We are hopeful that we can bring back many ideas that will be useful to the church in Niger. Also, travel is great for further developing relationships among the seven of us. And for me, Nigeria also means a week in an English-speaking country!

Here are my prayer and praise requests:

• Please give praise for the many administrative and program budget things that have come together in the last month that will make a huge difference in how I can conduct my work in Maradi. God has really provided by giving me the support I need to do the kind of things that are on my heart to do. I’ll explain more in future letters as the details get worked out.


• Please pray for rain for Niger, specifically in the Zinder-Maradi area.


• Pray for the leaders of the Evangelical Church of Niger as they lead the church in developing its capacity for ministry.


• Please pray for our travel to Nigeria for approximately five to eight days, beginning on August 5, 2002. Also pray for our personal safety in Nigeria, as it can be the scene for spontaneous violence.


• Give praise that my 77-year-old grandmother is home after being hospitalized for a minor stroke. Pray that she will recover from any effects of her illness and that doctors will be able to adjust her medications correctly.

Thomas R. Johnson

Community Development Missionary
Reformed Church in America/Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Serving l'Église Évangélique de la République du Niger