Africa? Niger? What's up?

Since telling people (or through the grape vine) about our decision to move and work in Africa, there's been a lot of interesting responses - mostly of the positive "wow" type of response. Niger in particular is a challenging place in its own ways, not withstanding that the UN rated it as the least developed country in the world (2006).




Since more than a year ago, before we were married, Christine and I discussed about the future and about working abroad, we both have that in our blood and background. We both speak the same 3 languages, we've both lived in Africa. We are also thinking that it would be good to more daring in our early years of marriage prior to having kids.



Where is Niger? Please see the map and look in the middle for the light green country. French and two African languages (Hausa and Djerma) are the official languages of Niger. We will definitely be using French the most and hopefully pick up some Hausa which is the dominant language of the local people.

In early July I flew down to North Carolina for an interview with Samaritan's Purse, after several phone interviews. In mid August, Christine and I went out there for an orientation, and we have a Canadian one later in Calgary. My job will be working with the Country director in Niger to oversee projects there and to look into how we can address other needs there and how we can plan and finance those new projects. Once upon a time in the 90's I had worked with Cause Canada in West Africa and in Guatemala, and that will be good past experience for this new challenge.

Both of us have given our resignations at work, my (Tim) last day was on Aug 7th, and we are rapidly tackling numerous tasks to try and be ready for a late Sept move to Africa. Our plan and commitment is for one year there. I usually don't like to commit to much beyond 1 year at a time (with special exceptions!) so we'll see where we are at in 12 months time.

What is Christine up to? Her plans are to be finalized, but she plans to teach at the Sahel Academy in Niamey. Sahel Academy is an English speaking Christian international school for grades K-12 with students from 14 different countries. The school is located near the Niger river in the main part of the city. This will be a great new opportunity for Christine and one of her dreams! Certainly should be different from teaching big classes in the GTA (Toronto).

There's more we could talk about the "why" question, why we are making this change. There are many contributing reasons. For Tim: having my life count for more than the rat race, the opportunity to serve God and help people, and tackle challenging needs in the world. For Christine: contributing to community development in Africa through her background in education and her interests in sustainable agriculture and environmental protection.

It's an exciting time, but also much change and upheaval which can bring about some stress and other feelings I suppose. Lots of "leaving" that we need to do. Permanent leavings: leaving work, leaving our home/lodging, selling Christine's car, giving away our pets (large tropical fish)... Temporary: Leaving behind the proximity of friends and family, leaving Canada, snow, lakes, sports we typically play, leaving behind familiar foods, comforts, places...
Once we get to Africa our time will be filled with much exploration and new preparations in the short run, so the first month should be fun and the next one may be harder, who knows?

Things we retain! Communication with friends and family (being hopeful!), God's spirit in our hearts, each other, good memories, good health (being hopeful!), experience and wisdom, and some personal effects.

Ways to support us or our work:

1. Pray for us.
2. We'll be very glad to hear from you!
3. Christine will be looking for support for her teaching work at Sahel Academy.
4. You can also donate to the work of Samaritan's Purse. Note that I personally do not need additional funds for my support/salary.

Departure from Canada: Sept 24, 2007