Today we had quite the experience going to Maradi to view the Total Eclipse of the Sun. Marie, Maimouna, Yoko, Moumouni, and I depart from Galmi at 6:30 arriving at 9 a.m. We had tea and carrot cake with Ruth and Lois. At about 9:30 the eclipse started. We took are trusty little solar shades and went outside to take a peek. As it was going to be an hour before the total coverage we went back inside and carried on with our meeting. We sang our new song about washing hands, face, eyes, and feet, to the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat. It's a simple little ditty that the children and women will enjoy. Then we had some skits to share that hopefully make people aware of their values and how that affects their lives. That was fun to see what each group has come up with. We talked about different difficulties we have with the villages. Struggles are similar.

In between each item we'd slip outside to check on the progress.
I shared a lesson on team building using the animal characters to show the types of behavior that are not conducive to team building. We evaluated what we thought of each other. I didn't spend anytime on positive behavior, that will have to be done at another time.

There it happened: the Total Eclipse of the Sun. I'm not sure what those other rings are in the picture.

As it was occurring the weather go cold; I had goose bumps. It was a bit breezy and strange. People were outside on the streets as usual. Then they were sending children inside as they had been told to do on the radio.

That's as dark as it got; like at dusk just before it's totally dark. That was at 10:30 a.m. It's truly amazing to observe God's handiwork. It's a great reminder that everything God made and the way it was made was very intentional. Creation is not something random at all.

After the moon started to move off the sun, we went back and finished up our meeting. We enjoyed a meal of rice & beans, with lamb. Then everyone was free to do whatever until we'd depart for Galmi at 4:30. We made it back safe and sound at 7:00 p.m. The rest of the day was hazy; even though we were driving in the west we did not see the sunset due to the haze. Hope tomorrow is a sun shiny day --both inside and out, and for you and me! Many blessings.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Maradi with my team (five of us) to view the eclipse. Maradi is in the 100% strip. That means there should be darkness, which is estimated to be for 2.5 minutes. I'm excited about taking the team there and hope it will be a good time of being together doing something mostly none work-related. Team-building. Although we are going to meet up with the other team in Maradi who are involved in community development like we are. We'll have an exchange time, sharing recent happenings, new things we're doing, and I'll be doing a lesson on team building. This will probably be for 1-2 hours, after the viewing of the eclipse. Then we'll have free time for visiting and shopping. The drive to Maradi is about 2 1/2 hours and we hope to be back before dark which is around 7 p.m.

Pictures, Part II

Camel riding in Tchinta:

Lake Tabalak which is long, like 10 kms.

Darren with my friends in Magaria:

My friends in Lawaye, eating mangoes! Yummy, yummy.

Jamilou and Ouma, my daughter!

February, part I

This month has been full with Darren, my nephew, visiting me. First I went to Niamey to meet him at the airport on February 10. We spent a few days in the city visiting the National Museum, the open market and the supermarket, taking him to my routine places I visit and do my shopping. He didn’t get much of a Niger cultural exposures going to the American Recreation Center where we bought Nachos, Hamburgers, and Dr. Pepper. (Got me another case of 24, to split with Linda). On Monday, 13 Feb, we hired& filled a taxi along with a Swiss student nurse, who’s here for 6 months, with all our baggage and the co-op purchase and the ice chest of 10 pounds of fresh strawberries!

Darren has spent some of his time helping install some new computers and troubleshooting computer problems for others. He’s been a great asset for us. I’ve enjoyed having him hang out at my place, eat lunches and dinners with me, and set up my new laptop he brought. He’s taken lots and lots of pictures. I keep giving him suggestions of what to take as I’ll get a CD of the 1000+ pictures. Stuff I never get around to taking. My own photographer!

We made a weekend trip to Tchintabaraden, 30kms north of Galmi, on the edge of the desert (but still not desert). Bruce and Robin Walton live there with their 8 children ministering to the Tamajeq people. Sunday is market day, so after the church service we walked through the market. Darren bought all the necessary apparatus for making the Tamajeq green tea. (Maybe I can use these things when I’m on Home Assignment). Later he got to try some in the bush where we rode camels. The church is a small group of believers who meet under a millet stalk shelter. We sang in Hausa & Tamajeq. The sermon was in Tamajaq and translated in Hausa for us, and then I translated it to English of Ruth, a pediatrician from Rhode Island. Bruce translated from Tamajeq to English for Darren.

In the afternoon we drove 20kms out to an encampment where Bruce keeps his 5 camels. From there they had to go look for them and bring in the 3 males so we could have a ride. Ruth, Darren, and I were led around for a little bit. Then Darren, Bruce, and one of the older sons went riding. I followed on foot with the camera. The weekend was relaxing, being out of our usual environment and with a large family where we really enjoyed being together.

Pictures to come.