November 2002

Vol. 2, No. 6

Ina azumi? (How is your fast?—said during Ramadan.)

This has been an incredibly full month for me. Normally that is good because being busy means that you are doing interesting things, meeting interesting people, and hopefully making important contributions.

First of all, let me follow up last month's report and say that I had three weeks of good health from mid-October until the second week of November. Then I developed some sort of head and chest cold that left me with a runny nose, sore throat, and cough, making sleep difficult. Undoubtedly it is related to the seasonal change when the winds shift and start bringing in all sorts of new dust from the Sahara Desert. An experienced missionary from Maryland told me that the first year is the worst one, as your body must learn to cope with its new environment and all the new bugs and allergens that come with it.

Ramadan, the Muslim holiday observed by fasting during the day, started here on the morning of November 6, and it has brought many changes in daily living. Maradi has several Muslim sects of fundamentalist Muslims and they each try to out do each other with their observance in Ramadan. That means they have differences about what time daybreak actually begins and sunset arrives. That means that between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. there are about three different mosques in my neighborhood that all try to out do each other with prayers, sermons, and music over their loudspeakers to rouse their followers to the mosque and to ensure that people are awake and eating before the dawn comes. The word "cacophony" aptly describes the noise, and even with earplugs, it is tough to sleep through.

Now that the evenings are getting cooler and the days are not so hot, Niger is starting to get more foreign visitors. They are here for a variety of reasons, often related to development projects, volunteer efforts and yes, even some tourism. Meeting these people provides an interesting change to the normal routine and can sometimes lead to some interesting opportunities. One person who was recently in Maradi was Dr. Dov Pasternak, an Israeli researcher, whose work in drip irrigation systems is responsible for farms in the Israeli desert that produce such high quality vegetables throughout the year that they are exported across the world. He now has an appointment with the International Cropping Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to introduce drip irrigation units to Niger. Unlike in conventional irrigation systems, with drip irrigation, water slowly drops out only where plants are, ensuring none is wasted. I was quite fortunate to spend three days with him, and his Ethiopian colleague in late October. They have a "garden-size" irrigation system that would be perfect for the Bible School students at Dogon Gao since it could work with hand-filling a small reservoir with water twice a day. They would help the students gain some important year-round income, as well as learn new farming skills. I am already searching for funds to buy these units since I know this will be my first project for the students and we can begin irrespective of the season.

I also hosted Gar Kelley, "mission enabler" for West Africa with the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. for a week. It was a good, but exhausting, experience (I got my cold, then). We saw almost all of the EERN's (Evangelical Church of Niger's) educational facilities and started to discuss what resources the PC(USA) might be able to offer to help these schools grow and develop. There seems to be unlimited possibilities, but it will take a lot of organizational effort to describe and detail, plan and administer how we want these projects to proceed. I feel like after Gar left, my workload in Niger had doubled! Nothing wrong with staying busy, but I realized that my year of transition/adjustment is coming to an end and the real work is coming with a roar! Also, since we reviewed all of the church's activities with Gar and what my role will be with these projects, I certainly have a much clearer sense of what is expected.

Gar was just my first visitor. We are confirmed of having 12 Reformed Church of America volunteers who will be coming to Niger from January-March in three separate teams! One of my primary responsibilities is to help in hosting these folks and to coordinate with the local church the projects that they will be working on. After having Gar here for a week, I know that I have my work cut out for me! However, since there hasn't been much progress on my house, it is looking more and more likely that they will be involved in completing it

The other RCA missionary (Barbara) and I are getting some full-time help for our work. The EERN hired Usman as our assistant. Usman is 31, speaks English, French, Hausa and Fulani and has work in maintenance at a mission hospital and as a driver in other jobs. He is very mechanical and has a good sense of design and function and seems quite responsible. He started working for us the day Gar Kelley arrived and he has already proven to be quite valuable in helping us navigate through life in Niger, since he knows all the roads, all the markets, and who does what. I lived with his sister and her husband when I first arrived in Niamey (Ba'ra and Chako Cherif), so I know he comes from a good family.

Prayer and Praise Requests

• Keep praying for my good health and that none of these colds, allergies, and stomach problems that seem to come and go will ever be serious. Pray that my body will be able to adapt to all the changes here in Niger.
• Pray for missionaries and Westerners throughout the Muslim world, as the likelihood of an Iraq-U.S. war continues to become more likely. Pray that God will protect us from danger and that He will show us what to do if a war or other hostilities arrive.
• Praise God for the employment of Usman. I feel much better having him around and am certain he will help us work smarter and better. He is a Christian, but pray that he will view his work as more than just a job, but as a chance to serve God with his skills and talents. (Also, now that he is employed again, he is considering marriage!)
• Praise God for all the wonderful people he introduces into my life and for showing me how their ideas and talents can be incorporated into my work and the ministry here.
• Pray for the school at Maza-Tsaye. This literacy center was once a functioning farm, but now it functions neither as a school nor a farm, despite a lot of potential. We are having meetings to decide its future use, which may focus on a one-year course of practical skills such as farming, agro-forestry, rural mechanization, and food preservation. We certainly need wisdom and guidance.

Yours In Christ

Thomas R. Johnson
Community Development Missionary
Reformed Church in America/Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)