News and adventures of Tim and Christine Mattimoe in Niger Africa, working for Samaritan's Purse and the Sahel Academy (SIM Niger) 2007-2009.
We appreciate your encouragement, prayers, and donations to the work. The top 10 best things about being here in
| 10 - | You can sing ♫ “I’m walking on sunshine ♫” every day as it’s true, every day is sunny. |
| 9 - | Fish?! There is actually local fish here!! (albeit no ocean or lake). Capitaine is the local |
| 8 | We have a playful dog! And a sweet cat. No tropical fish though. |
| 7 - | Traveling and seeing fascinating new places like |
| 6 - | Big treed courtyard – a nicer yard than we had in |
| 5 - | No rat race! Easy pace of life. Living a simpler lifestyle. More time for spiritual reflection. More time for writing blogs J |
| 4 | Strong community. It’s a highly social close Christian community. We get asked out for dinner more often than when we are in |
| 3 | I get to work with goats! J Interesting new work – Tim with his director role and Christine with new teaching context. |
| 2 | Adventure and interesting things in abundance. There are many fascinating, exciting, scary, and peculiar (sometimes unpleasant) things too see or experience everyday. |
| 1 | We are helping people |
10 worst/tough things about being here:
| 10 - | Sweating from just standing still. Hot and dry. No rain whatsoever(not until May thereabouts) |
| 9 - | My feet are strangely orange all the time (from the sand). Sand everywhere. Imagine living on a beach with the tide out about 1000 miles. |
| 8 - | “I’ll come at 9AM Monday” sometimes means “maybe I’ll come Monday some time, or maybe it’ll be Tuesday or Wed, I’ll just show up sometime this week unannounced”. Getting used to cultural differences. Death is also common here too. |
| 7 - | Limited opportunities for playing sports. Having to be conservatively dressed at all times (Christine can only wear shorts or pants in private or when around other Westerners.) |
| 6 - | We have very little for English radio stations and no TV. I do listen occasionally to BBC Africa. However there are places with satellite TV. |
| 5 | Finding coffee mugs and hangers was like a treasure hunt. It’s challenging to obtain/purchase many basic household things. Simple tasks around the home take longer (no dishwasher or microwave and the gas oven has no temperature control). |
| 4 | Driving. Drivers and driving are a half mad chaos, aggressive drivers competing with donkey or human pulled carts and motorcycles, goats and animal herds crossing the street, little traffic control. Tim drives, Christine is sticking to being a passenger. |
| 3 | Plenty of warm frothy camel milk and French baguettes if you’re into that, but little to none of certain foods we used to like eating. No sugar-free ice cream! No sushi, not many other favorite foods or healthy alternatives. |
| 2 | The concern of getting sick and about medical attention. Malaria! Taking pills (everyday for Christine). So far we are fairly healthy though. |
| 1 | Far away from family and friends in |
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