I am going..................................................Sorry, power outage again...................................Okay, I am going to....................................... say...............................................................................................
Power is.......................................................................................... very...............................................Frustrating.................................................I want to...................................................break something. We have a break. Power is on for awh.........................................................ile......... Power..............................................goes........................................... off................................................heat........................................... bad........................................very................................................... bad.........................................................................................................................................................................................................Forgot what I .............................................................was writing.... about..............................................................Oh......................Yeah............................Niger.................................................................... power..........................................................................................................................gotta love it.
I should..........................................................................quite while...............................................................I am behind.
Actually this reminds me of our Skype conversations.
Blessings to all.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
I am going..................................................Sorry, power outage again...................................Okay, I am going to....................................... say...............................................................................................
Power is.......................................................................................... very...............................................Frustrating.................................................I want to...................................................break something. We have a break. Power is on for awh.........................................................ile......... Power..............................................goes........................................... off................................................heat........................................... bad........................................very................................................... bad.........................................................................................................................................................................................................forgot what I .............................................................was writing.... about..............................................................Oh......................Yeah............................Niger.................................................................... power..........................................................................................................................gotta love it.
I should..........................................................................quite while...............................................................I am behind.
Actually this reminds me of our Skype conversations.
Blessings to all.
Power is.......................................................................................... very...............................................Frustrating.................................................I want to...................................................break something. We have a break. Power is on for awh.........................................................ile......... Power..............................................goes........................................... off................................................heat........................................... bad........................................very................................................... bad.........................................................................................................................................................................................................forgot what I .............................................................was writing.... about..............................................................Oh......................Yeah............................Niger.................................................................... power..........................................................................................................................gotta love it.
I should..........................................................................quite while...............................................................I am behind.
Actually this reminds me of our Skype conversations.
Blessings to all.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Good Friday
Just some thoughts as we go through Easter.
As always the weather is a major factor in this country. It is really, really, really hot. During mid day you can just feel the constant intensity of the heat on your skin. All you want to do is run and hide in the shade or inside, but these are not even a relief. We have not had any moisture since last August. The temperature is about 105 degrees.
Lest we forget, with hot season comes the all too frequent power outages. Not long ago my sister told me about earth day, or something like that, where everyone was to turn off power for 1 hour. What a difference there exists on this planet between civilizations. We are trying to get power to stay on while there are others trying to get people to use less power. It is amazing how a room becomes immediately hot once power is off and there are no fans running.
Friday we butchered a sheep for our Sunday group Easter meal. We bought the sheep on Wednesday and had him in a small enclosure. One day he did break free but with the help of others we were able to round him up. Interesting how eveything is used. We didvided the organs and inards so that various locals could benefit and they were quite ecstatic. We gave the head and some liver to Sara and Sani. She has shared the cooked liver with us which was very tasty. Just hoping the head does not come back as a special treat. Grace actually cooked up some of the side ribs and gave to the night guards. We will barbaque the rest and serve at the Sunday meal.
Death seems ever present here. A truck delivering goods struck a child on the road. Another truck ran over a mother and child. In another case a vehicle moved into the wrong lane and struck a vehicle. A group of church ladies were returning from a retreat when their vehicle went off the road and flipped. One lady was killed. With each situation there is great sadness but the people perservere and maintain the strength to embrace life. They are such an amazing people to be amongst.
This Saturday morning there are workers doing work on our home. As we go out they come to great us and shake our hands. They love the fact that they have work and they are just so hospitable.
Grace went to the market the other day and then stopped briefly at Sara's place. Sara then took her to meet other people in the village around her. In the village we are the parents of Sara and Sani and that gives us acceptance in the village.
As I have stated in the previous blog, we want to try to help the local school. Friday we received delivery of a long awaited container from North America. On that container were two new generators. While we are all excited about the generators, we were more excited about the packing crates. We immediately asked for the packing crates because we could use the lumber to remake desks for the kids at the school.
Sunday is a joint service at Galmi for the EERN and UPEN church, which are both evangelical Christian Churches. There will be a lot of people and it will be a very long service, but it is Easter and that is what we should be doing. Giving praise and honor to our God for what He did for us on Good Friday.
Blessings to all
May you all have a wonderful Easter
As always the weather is a major factor in this country. It is really, really, really hot. During mid day you can just feel the constant intensity of the heat on your skin. All you want to do is run and hide in the shade or inside, but these are not even a relief. We have not had any moisture since last August. The temperature is about 105 degrees.
Lest we forget, with hot season comes the all too frequent power outages. Not long ago my sister told me about earth day, or something like that, where everyone was to turn off power for 1 hour. What a difference there exists on this planet between civilizations. We are trying to get power to stay on while there are others trying to get people to use less power. It is amazing how a room becomes immediately hot once power is off and there are no fans running.
Friday we butchered a sheep for our Sunday group Easter meal. We bought the sheep on Wednesday and had him in a small enclosure. One day he did break free but with the help of others we were able to round him up. Interesting how eveything is used. We didvided the organs and inards so that various locals could benefit and they were quite ecstatic. We gave the head and some liver to Sara and Sani. She has shared the cooked liver with us which was very tasty. Just hoping the head does not come back as a special treat. Grace actually cooked up some of the side ribs and gave to the night guards. We will barbaque the rest and serve at the Sunday meal.
Death seems ever present here. A truck delivering goods struck a child on the road. Another truck ran over a mother and child. In another case a vehicle moved into the wrong lane and struck a vehicle. A group of church ladies were returning from a retreat when their vehicle went off the road and flipped. One lady was killed. With each situation there is great sadness but the people perservere and maintain the strength to embrace life. They are such an amazing people to be amongst.
This Saturday morning there are workers doing work on our home. As we go out they come to great us and shake our hands. They love the fact that they have work and they are just so hospitable.
Grace went to the market the other day and then stopped briefly at Sara's place. Sara then took her to meet other people in the village around her. In the village we are the parents of Sara and Sani and that gives us acceptance in the village.
As I have stated in the previous blog, we want to try to help the local school. Friday we received delivery of a long awaited container from North America. On that container were two new generators. While we are all excited about the generators, we were more excited about the packing crates. We immediately asked for the packing crates because we could use the lumber to remake desks for the kids at the school.
Sunday is a joint service at Galmi for the EERN and UPEN church, which are both evangelical Christian Churches. There will be a lot of people and it will be a very long service, but it is Easter and that is what we should be doing. Giving praise and honor to our God for what He did for us on Good Friday.
Blessings to all
May you all have a wonderful Easter
Sunday, April 1, 2012
School
I was never particularly fond of school. If I had to go to school here in Galmi I think I would despise school. Not long ago a friend of ours, A, took us to the school he teaches at. The experience was an eye opener. There are about 600 students attending the school. In North American terms it would be a junior high school. Called college here.
There are 4 teachers for 600 students, in 4 levels, and all the various subjects they teach. The teachers use the students text books to teach from. There are no teacher guides. There is 1 single set of text books for each subject. The books are extremely old and worn out. Students did not have text books either, which is more a case of families being unable to afford the books.
As we walk through the school ground, which is on a bit of a barren, wind swept hill we look at some of the classrooms. A number have partial walls and no ceiling. A wall is painted as a blackboard. In one room there are a few desks with actual writing areas, except the wood is old, worn and warped. Same with whatever seats there are left.
A couple of classrooms have no desks. The children sit on rocks. No writing desk. Can you imagine sitting on rocks through class, all day.
It was a hot and windy day and a number of classrooms had absolutely no protection from the elements.
After completion of the college level these students would write exams to try to qualify for entry into the next school level which would be the equivalent of North American high school. Of the 600 students about 5 will get that far. The conditions are difficult, the resources are lacking, and the people do not see value in education. The teachers frequently go on strike because they do not get paid.
We hope that we can help alleviate some of the problems that exist by helping repair or make school desks and by providing better quality text books for the instructors. A was quite excited when he heard we would like to help. This is a public school, not the local Christian school. We feel we can show the love of Christ to these people by helping them get a better education.
Please pray for us as we make plans in this area.
There are 4 teachers for 600 students, in 4 levels, and all the various subjects they teach. The teachers use the students text books to teach from. There are no teacher guides. There is 1 single set of text books for each subject. The books are extremely old and worn out. Students did not have text books either, which is more a case of families being unable to afford the books.
As we walk through the school ground, which is on a bit of a barren, wind swept hill we look at some of the classrooms. A number have partial walls and no ceiling. A wall is painted as a blackboard. In one room there are a few desks with actual writing areas, except the wood is old, worn and warped. Same with whatever seats there are left.
A couple of classrooms have no desks. The children sit on rocks. No writing desk. Can you imagine sitting on rocks through class, all day.
It was a hot and windy day and a number of classrooms had absolutely no protection from the elements.
After completion of the college level these students would write exams to try to qualify for entry into the next school level which would be the equivalent of North American high school. Of the 600 students about 5 will get that far. The conditions are difficult, the resources are lacking, and the people do not see value in education. The teachers frequently go on strike because they do not get paid.
We hope that we can help alleviate some of the problems that exist by helping repair or make school desks and by providing better quality text books for the instructors. A was quite excited when he heard we would like to help. This is a public school, not the local Christian school. We feel we can show the love of Christ to these people by helping them get a better education.
Please pray for us as we make plans in this area.
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