May 2005
Vol. 4, No. 12
Hello everyone!
I think this newsletter will be more of a housekeeping nature,
as I have lots of little updates to share with you to “get
you up to speed” with our work, lives, and ministry.
I was surprised at how many people were interested in my last
newsletter when I wrote about the demonstrations against “The
Expensive Life in Niger,” so here’s what happened:
The government did agree to relent a bit and decided not to impose
the 19 percent value-added tax (VAT) on flour, milk, and utility
bills under a certain amount (assuming that the poorest people
could barely afford electricity and water now, let alone an increase).
However, they refused to take the VAT off of sugar (requested
by anti-tax protestors) and to consider lowering the 19 percent
rate to something more modest. This VAT also went on fuels for
the first time, thus making diesel and gas even more expensive
than before (about $3.60/gallon for diesel and $4.00 for gas).
We have a family friend who is carpenter and drives a taxi on
the side. With the VAT, he has had no new orders for his woodworking,
and with the high fuel prices, he isn’t needed to drive
taxi, so he’s in a world of hurt.
In other news, the Nigerien government has recently launched
a call for international food aid, because low stocks of grain
from 2004 have created a food emergency in several parts of the
country where people literally can’t afford to buy food.
A sack of millet, the country’s main staple, is twice as
expensive as it was last year—it went from $20 to $40—and
will only feed a family of 10 (average household size) for about
4 weeks. The Evangelical Church of Niger (EERN) and Reformed Church
World Services are going to see if we can’t find a way to
help some of the EERN’s rural pastors, who often earn only
$40/month (or less), obtain some food aid.
In the last letter, I also mentioned about our new primary school
student sponsorship program. Click here
for more information. Several people wrote me to ask what donors
would receive in exchange for sponsoring a child, as organizations
like World Vision, CARE, etc often sent pictures and letters from
the child. That was a good question, one we had discussed during
planning, but which we had failed to include any information on
in the brochure. Our intention is to keep things simple and to
ensure that the funds go toward the school on behalf of the students
and very little to administration. However, we will try to produce
twice-a-year reports that would include the names, the school
activities, and group photos of the sponsored students that all
donors could receive by email (thus avoiding large postage expenses).
No person would receive the name of an individual child as their
“sponsored child” but would instead know that they
are supporting a Christian school and could thus keep a school
in their prayers. However, if, when viewing the reports you see
a name or a photo that calls out to you, you can certainly consider
that “child” as one who is benefiting directly from
your help.
On the home front, in late April, Aïchatou and Marie-Florence
went to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Zinder (about 12 hours by
road from Niamey) while Aïchatou is waiting for the medical
school to recommence. They took the bus there and I joined them
about 10 days later when I traveled to Zinder for a meeting about
our goat herd at Dogon Gao. Marie finally started to get acquainted
with her grandparents as well as her Zinder cousins. She has started
to become very social this past month and her vocabulary has really
grown. Here’s the current inventory of words she can say:
In Hausa: ruwa (water), baba (father) foto
(picture) no-no (mother’s milk/breast); In French:
attends! (wait) pigeo (pigeon), bonbon
(candy), jus (juice), voila (there it is). In
English: milk, baby, and oh-oh In all three languages she knows
“mama,” “amen,” and “no!”
She’s also getting good at a few animal sounds like “baa,”
“moo,” and “woof.” I’m sure I’m
forgetting some and I didn’t list the words she understands,
but can’t yet pronounce. To see a 12-second clip of her
walking and talking click here.
It's a Windows Media Audio/Video file (extension WMV) 387 KB in
size.
I have re-started my Hausa language classes in early May. I’m
meeting with a teacher who is charge of a literacy program in
the government and who has written a Hausa–French dictionary
and several other papers on the Hausa language. Right now we’re
meeting for about two hours a day, six days a week. It is stretching
my brain, but I’m glad to use my time this way. Besides,
his office is air-conditioned and it is great to be there on these
hot afternoons.
We actually have had three rains during a one-week period in
early May that provided us some much needed relief from the hot
season. Unfortunately, the rains haven’t returned and we’re
now hotter and more humid than before! The power cuts have become
more frequent, particularly in the night, which doesn’t
make sleeping any easier.
And now the big news! We have been trying to find the best next
time to return to the United States for our home assignment as
we try to balance Aïchatou’s studies, my work, and
everything else. This week Aïchatou went to the doctor and
verified that she’s expecting and is due in late October!
This actually confirmed for us that we should return to the United
States now and have this child in America—specifically we’ll
base with my parents near Oskaloosa, Iowa! While we haven’t
yet picked the precise dates, it looks like we’ll arrive
in the United States in late August and stay until after the Christmas
holiday season.
As far as visiting you and your churches while we are back, Aïchatou
will only be able to travel in limited amounts as her pregnancy
advances, but I should be available most weekends to visit your
churches. I also hope to finish my PhD dissertation proposal during
this period. So, there’s a lot we will try to do, but we
are both looking forward to this time in the United States.
We’ve sent our program to Kathy DeKock of the Reformed
Church of America’s speakers’ bureau. Email her at
kdekock@rca.org or call her
at (800) 722-3705 or (712) 737-3719 x16 if you're interested in
having me come and speak.
So, that’s where things stand right now. It is nice to
have a little more clarity on what we should do next.
Prayers and praises
- Please start praying for good rains for Niger. Some farmers
have already planted after the rains of early May, and there’s
the risk that their seeds will die if no more rain comes. There
are also fears that insects will eat the seeds.
- Pray for Niger’s food situation and overall poverty.
Work and food are scarce in much of the country right now. They
estimate that three million Nigeriens will need food aid in
the next few months (that’s one-fourth of the population).
- Give praise that we are expecting our second child and pray
for the mother and the baby during this time.
- Pray that we will find the motivation to continue our studies
(Hausa, Ph.D., medicine, etc.) so that we may be better equipped
to do our ministry.
In Christ,
Tom, Aïchatou and Marie-Florence
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
316 |
