Coming Home

It’s hard to return home – a nice, relatively large, warm or cool (my choice), comfortable home – after being in one of the poorest nations in the world. It’s hard to not feel guilty fretting over the grocery list when I have a pantry full of food that will feed us for many weeks, and my neighbors in Niger work today to pay just for their next meal. It’s hard to sort through several bins of hand-me-down clothes for Frazier knowing he will never be able to wear it all because there’s so much when I can remember holding a Nigerien child in an orphanage with a torn dress and no diaper or underwear to cover her. I pray the perspective God gave me in Niger will not leave me. I pray He will stop me in my tracks when I start to whine or complain about meaningless things. I pray that I will be a changed woman, so that I can live in a way that is more meaningful for my children and those around me.

I had seen Geoff’s pictures from his trip in February, but until you see it in person, you can’t EVEN imagine it. Almost every moment I was in awe of what I saw as it was so vastly different from what I know in the U.S. What we think of as poverty here is not even comparable to what poverty means there. That doesn’t make the struggles and pain here in the U.S. less – they are simply just different.

I am overloading this post with pictures in an attempt to describe our trip – a trip that started with an unexpected surprise (or maybe “mistake” is a better word!) that we made the best of. 

So, the "surprise" was that we fell asleep next to our gate in Paris (to go to Niamey, Niger) and missed our flight...so, we spent the evening in Paris and had a good nights rest to ensure we were ready to go when we left for Niger the next morning. There are only a few flights to Niger every week and thank the Lord there was one the next day. We will never live this down. 

As a side note though, I needed that day. My nerves were a mess because family and friends were nervous about us going to a mostly Muslim country so close to all of the Embassy protests that had started the week we left. God knew I needed a day to step back and prepare. 

Geoff had never been to Paris, and it had been more than 10 years since I had been there. God gave us a gorgeous day to hit the highlights during our evening there. It began with a Croque Monsieur at a cafe next to the Church of Notre Dame and the Seine River. 

After a late lunch and a gelato treat we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower along the river. I couldn't resist a picture of Thomas Jefferson (founder of UVA). I'm sure there is no statue of the founder of Virginia Tech in Paris...just saying...

The beautiful Seine River.

A pretty bridge along the river.

And the Eiffel Tower at sunset. I really wanted to take Geoff to the top, but the line was incredibly long, so we enjoyed it from the bottom with a yummy crepe. 

From the moment we were (finally) on the plane, I couldn't believe what I was seeing as we flew over parts of the Sahara Desert. Here is the view from the plane as we prepare to land in Niamey. It's illegal to take pictures of the airport, military, etc.

We spent most of our time in Niger with Rodrigo (pictured here with Geoff) and his wife and son Juanita and Nathan. They are missionaries from El Salvador that have been living in Niger for close to 10 years. They are incredible individuals that not only have a huge heart for the people of Niger but can also speak 3 fluent languages (English, Spanish, French) and switch back and forth so easily. I was so impressed by this! Geoff and Rodrigo are standing in front of a school built by Schools for Niger, a Chick-fil-a organization. Rodrigo is the Field Director of the LINK and part of his job is to oversee the LiveTen24 (which you've probably heard Geoff and I talk about because we so strongly believe in it) funds and projects.

Before we arrived, there had been severe flooding in Niamey, and many Nigeriens lost their homes and all their belongings. This is a home that had been destroyed. 

We helped with 2 famine relief projects while there related to the flooding where sacks of rice were given out. Funds from LiveTen24 provided rice for families temporarily living at the grounds of this school. They reside in makeshift homes that I don't think we as Americans can really imagine living in. 

We tested out a new boat ride company with Rodrigo (most of the mission teams that come to Niger go on a boat ride to see the country from another angle and just take a break from the mission work). This is a typical home we saw throughout the parts of the country we were in. And can you see how brown the water is from all the erosion and flooding?!

It really is a beautiful country though. 

Our "uniforms" while there - long skirts and loose t-shirts for me and pants and a LINK t-shirt for Geoff. It's really important to the LINK that we respect the Nigerien culture, and I agree! 

A typical sight while driving through the city - people walking and a lot of trash. 

Another typical sight - donkeys carrying hay, millet or another type of grain. Driving in Niger (or even riding as a passenger in my case) is like nowhere else I've ever been. No one seems to obey traffic signals or signs and you are competing for road space with camels, donkeys, herds of goats, sheep and cows that seem to have no owners and other crazy drivers and riders on bikes, motorcycles, mopeds, backs of vehicles, etc. Sometimes, i just had to close my eyes. 

One of the focuses of LiveTen24 is clean water, so we went with Rodrigo to visit a new well that had recently been put in a village with LiveTen24 funds. 

A home or a shop - either way, this picture says so much about the conditions there. 

Another visual of the country - donkeys, women covered, a goat in the background. 

It was so incredible to see these beautiful creatures.

They let us get so close!

This is outside of the city where there are tons of small villages with no electricity and no clean water. You often see women walking carrying stuff on their head (that is a skill!), holding a child's hand and carrying another child on their back.       

Beautiful Nigerien women.

We enjoyed church in an African village near the medical clinic that we were privileged to help with. The pastor spoke in French, another man translated in the local language, and we listened through headphones as someone else translated in English. I'm holding Nathan, Rodrigo and Juanita's son, here. We are outside in the heat, but these people were excited to worship God. We did a lot of clapping and hip shaking!

After church on Sunday, I experienced one of my favorite moments of the trip. We went to an orphanage also supported by LiveTen24 and hung out with the 70+ children there. Going to an orphanage = many tears. These children were so excited to see us. We have some friends adopting one of the young girl's there, so we brought a few outfits with us to see what size she was since she will be moving to the U.S. in just a few weeks. WOW! 

Even with the language barrier, the kids know what a smile, a touch and just playful movements mean. This little boy hung close to me and Geoff the whole time we were there. 

We brought nail polish and Silly Bandz with us, so after the children sang some songs, and we introduced ourselves, we painted nails! This is the beautiful face of Layla - she is sponsored by a friend of ours from church, so it was really neat to be with her in person and give her some love. 

How sweet is this?

Our last day in Niger we were privileged (and I really mean that) to be a part of the medical mission team that came from our church (with some team members from other states). Geoff and I are prepared to go with our scrubs (UVA colors, I might add). 

A traffic jam on the way to the clinic - a herd of cows!

Never in my life will I forget this day. Geoff took pictures on another camera that we will share later, but on the opening day of the medical clinic, there were about 600 people waiting to be seen (there were 11 members on the medical team). And we were in a basic clinic with no electricity or air conditioning and very basic supplies, but we had willing hearts, medical knowledge and a great big healer (Jesus) on our side. Armed officers were literally beating both men and women in an attempt to control the crowd. It was a terrible sight as you realized the desperation of these people. While this was by far the hardest day, it was definitely my favorite because I know we impacted so many lives both physically and spiritually.