There is one medical doctor at
the center, a Congolese, who is an employee of the International
Leprosy Mission. He has general clinics twice a week that are
open to the public, but otherwise he busies himself with leprosy
work. The Center does have two nurses, who really see the majority
of the local patients on a daily basis and there is also a drug
dispensary and an eye clinic. This is primary medicine and not
real exciting or complicated work. Anything serious, including
childbirth or surgery, is referred to the Maradi General Hospital,
about 15 miles away. Yet, it is a good place to get experience
and to better understand the realities of rural health care in
a developing country, like Niger. We are staying in the same Center
staff apartment that I lived in before, so it feels like home.
My hope is that these two months will give Aïchatou a better
idea of what kind of health ministry she would like to be involved
with in the area after her studies are finished. Work has again
resumed on our Dogon Gao house, but it isn't yet finished, nor
is the addition fully funded.
I was particularly glad to return to the Maradi area, because
it is here where I had the greatest amount of work to do. We have
been making a lot of progress on launching a micro-credit project
and on December 8, Steve Salowitze of FARMS International (www.farmsinternational.com)
will arrive in the country to meet with our supervisory loan committee
in Maradi. These six men and women will be responsible for administering
the small loans and upholding the program's guidelines, which
include recipients agreeing to donate 10 percent of their profits
from their loan projects to the work of the church. This program
has the potential to be a real milestone in the life of the Nigerien
Church by making it more self-sufficient and less dependent on
outsiders for local church work. In a way, we are totally acting
on faith with this because the entire initial loan amount has
yet to be raised.
Normally, Steve wouldn't conduct this training unless there was
definitely enough money to start the Nigerien program, but two
things happened. First, he was unexpectedly invited to come to
Senegal in December (which has direct air connections to Niamey
and that makes a trip here rather affordable) and then, secondly,
in late October a regional U.S. presbytery invited FARMS to apply
for exactly enough funding for us to begin work. So, while everything
looks positive, we still need prayer to make it all a reality!
I've also been working with the Dogon Gao Bible School's new
board of directors. Prior to June, the School operated under the
general council of the EERN and never had a separate governing
board. We have been authorized to open a banking account, which
we did just last week. It is rather a cumbersome process. Not
only did we need lots of forms and letters, but we also needed
to have photographs of all the signatories, plus a notarized photocopy
of their national identity card. Finally, we needed 250,000 francs
($454) just to open the account for the initial deposit—no
small matter for a school and church where everyone operates on
a month-to-month (or day-to-day) basis. Again, God is good. When
I arrived in October, there were two gifts for the Bible School
from current and former SIM missionaries and volunteers. With
these funds, not only were we able to open the bank account, but
also, we had enough money to add a bathroom to the professors'
duplex (yes, in 15 years, they have never had a bathroom), built
interior doors for the professors' homes (they were using curtains
for privacy), buy a 100-meter nylon rope for the school's 50 to
55 meter-deep well (their old rope had deteriorated) and re-equip
the classrooms with solar lighting (the original solar panels
work, but existing batteries and lighting fixtures are no longer
functioning).
As I stop and reflect on my work, I ask myself "What value
am I giving the church? Is this the best use of my time and talents?"
I think it is, at this point in time. I'm doing a lot of project
coordination, but my day-to-day work is materials-, funds- and
goods-sourcing. The Church in Niger needs someone who can launch
these projects. The most difficult thing about Niger is getting
something new started because of the high "transaction costs"
involved. What are "transaction costs"? Well, this is
a term I learned in graduate school that sums up all the details
that need to be arranged before a transaction can take place.
It includes everything from the price of a phone call, to assuring
that your money is really going to be safe in a bank when you
deposit it to guaranteeing that the person you hired for a job
will actually do it—and if he doesn't, there are enforceable
consequences.
Central to this is trust with key individuals, but almost as
important is good communication—making sure that everyone
understands what needs to be done and that they have adequate
resources to do what is required. As I've said before, communication
is relatively expensive here. Few people have cars, phones, emails
or even access to a postal box. I've got all those things, plus
I have broad enough job duties and my expenses are reimbursable
so that I can usually act rather quickly. As a missionary, people
tend to trust me—I haven't yet given them a reason not to
(I think!). I'm in a unique position in the Nigerien Church and
I'm using it to advance the church's own agenda in a way that
would have been slower and often more difficult if done by Nigerien
Christians, who aren't as well resourced. Yet, we are all working
together for a common purpose and I act only after consulting
church leaders. I know, however, that as things progress, I'll
probably be doing less of this day-to-day kind of sourcing and
transition more to people and leader training, so that Nigerien
Christians will be doing these same things in the future.
Now, if you managed to slug through that last paragraph, you
will be rewarded with some big news! Aïchatou and I are expecting
our first baby around May 1! We've recently passed the three-month
stage, have had an ultra-sound done in Niamey and everything seems
to be progressing fine.
Your prayers will be appreciated as we approach this big event!
Prayer requests
- Pray that Aïchatou and the baby will be fine for the
next six months. We've been battling colds and allergies because
of the change in seasons (the northern winds bring Saharan dust
now), so please pray for good health for our whole growing family.
- Thank God for our time together in Danja and pray that he
will use this period for us to develop a common sense of our
future mission activities. Pray that Aïchatou will further
develop her medical skills and become more confident in making
diagnoses and in prescribing treatments.
- Pray for our upcoming micro-credit training in December. Pray
that Steve Salowitz will arrive safely and in good health. Pray
that the six Nigeriens who will lead this effort will fulfill
their responsibilities and serve as godly role models for Christian
micro-credit. Pray for the local policies, decisions, and precendents,
that they establish will determine the success of this project.
Pray that adequate funding for fully launching the project will
arrive.
- Pray for the two couples and one work team that are now planning
to come to Niger between January and March. Pray that their
needs will be met.
In Christ,
Tom and Aïchatou |
