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Malaria is endemic to the area, but it is quite easily treatable,
especially in its early stages and the medicine is readily available.
Two other missionaries in the Maradi area had recently come down
with malaria, so I was pretty much expecting it. I took the three
days of required pills, along with a tea made from the leaves
of a local plant and the headache went away with no other symptoms
developing. Now, because I didn’t take the malaria blood
test, I really don’t know if I had it or not. It is possible
I just had a bad headache. However, it is really impossible for
anyone to live here a long time without experiencing malaria at
least once. So, I hope that is the closest I get to it for a while.
Life in Maradi is going to be a bit more challenging than in
Niamey or in Zinder. The communication infrastructure is in bad
shape, for example. It may be months before the church office
gets a fixed phone line installed that will allow me to hook up
to e-mail and get on the Internet. I can use private telecenters
(little businesses that are like privatized phone booths), but
they are expensive and inconvenient. Also, Maradi is a bit isolated
from the church decision-makers, which means it takes a lot longer
to get simple things done, as approval and funds have to come
from either Niamey or Zinder. Life just operates at a slower pace,
here, and people seem more traditional, too.
Culturally, Maradi is distinct from other Nigerien towns. Located
close to the border with Nigeria, it is a "cross-roads"
town that depends on border trade and rain-fed agriculture. It
has its origin as a "refuge" for Hausa people who were
fleeing forced Islamization 300 years ago under the jihads of
Usman dan Fodio, a local Fulani chief who united much of the region
under Islam. Indeed, you can still find some traditional Hausa
religions practiced here and although most people would now claim
to be Muslim, many practice a syncretic form that mixes folk religion
with Islam. Maradi, is actually well-known locally for the wide
variety of Muslim sects that operate in the area, from the very
liberal to the very fundamentalist. Generally, they give each
other more problems than they do the Christian population. In
fact, this time I’m attaching a photo of me with some Koranic
school teachers.
One of the advantages for me in the Maradi is the presence of
a rather large, Christian missionary community. The non-denominational
Serving in Mission (SIM—formerly Sudan Interior Mission),
the Catholic Church, the Assemblies of God and several Pentecostal
groups have various ministries that operate here and World Vision,
a Christian development and relief organization, also has a large
presence. This community tends to gather at the Maradi Club, a
private club built by French colonizers, each Saturday for swimming,
tennis, and a light meal. SIM also has an English-language Bible
Study that meets on Sunday evenings. However, the English is sometimes
a bit difficult to understand with missionaries coming from Australia,
New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Canada, England, Congo and the
United States!
While I tried to get into a routine of visiting the Bible School
at Dogon Gao twice each week and studying Hausa, I quickly learned
that it was going to be a while before work was going to get started
again on my house. So, I decided October was going to be a good
time to take two weeks of vacation, to recover a bit from my illnesses
and to enjoy the big city of Niamey again. So, that’s where
I’m at right now. I’ll return to Maradi shortly.
Here are my prayers and praises for this month:
- Give praise for the extended rainy season that much of Niger
has experienced this year. While the rains arrived a month late,
they have lasted almost a full additional month, which should
give the population better food security.
- Give praise that we have received funds to send Dr. Addo Mahamane,
the EERN’s Educational Chairman to Lansing, Michigan, for
three months to improve his English, to study Christian education
in the U.S., and to develop a relationship between a Reformed
Church classis (regional body of churches) and the Nigerien
church. I’ll provide more details on this later.
- Give praise that we have been given permission by the Reformed
Church of America to create a "Church Capacity Building
Fund" for the EERN which will allow for the purchase of
communication and computer equipment and also for much needed
training and workshop opportunities. We really need to make
some key investments in people and equipment for the Church
in Niger to well-manage its programs and activities.
- Please pray for my health and safety. It is tough to get much
done when you don’t feel like yourself!
- Please pray for the completion of my house and for the three
work groups (from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Ankeny, Maurice
and Sioux Center, IA) that are planning to work on the house
or nearby school buildings in early 2003.
In Christ
Tom
Thomas R. Johnson
Community Development Missionary
Reformed Church in America/Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Serving l'Église Évangélique de la République
du Niger
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