Hello all. I can hardly believe that my time here in Nigeria is coming to an end. I have been so blessed while being here and will always cherish the memories I made over the summer. I travel home in one week so please keep me in your prayers. The past couple weeks have been filled with rain, every day. Since it is rainy season here (they just have two seasons--dry and rainy) it rains at least once a day if not more. This has led to me being cold in Africa which I didn't think was actually possible. I have been wearing my sweatshirt for the past couple of days and understand now why Nigerians say that it's a cold that creeps up on you. This makes all travel, even into town, very tedious because it's much harder to see while driving since most cars don't have working air systems.
Since dad arrived back here most of my time has been spent with Bola working on the NIFES project. What I have been doing is transcribing all the recordings we did in Benin. Let me tell you, while it's not been the most exciting work it is necessary. Bola has started calling me 'Ms. Kentucky' which consequently everyone else has caught onto, so now everyone calls me Ms. Kentucky! The rain makes me incredibly sleepy so each afternoon I have tried to take a nap. I can't complain though since I love to sleep.
This past weekend was by far the most exciting thing to happen in weeks here. We got to take another road trip, this time to the north. I decided while I was here that staying in one city wasn't enough, I needed to see the North, the South and everything in between! And that is just what we did. The countryside is more beautiful than I can describe and the further north we went, the more mosques popped up and I started seeing camels-so cool! This trip consisted of my father, Colin, Nuhu (Hausa for Noah) and Emmanuel-two pastors with ECWA, and I. We were going to do an outreach to the Kambari people, which is a tribe that covers a good portion of the country. We visited one small tribe out in the bush. And when I say the bush I mean, a dirt road at best through rivers and forests. It was awesome. We drove for almost an hour off the main road when we finally came up on the first huts. They are farmers so their different families have clusters of homes around their farms. We went all the way to the back to the chief of this particular town. Immediately all the children came out and just stared. That's what I love about African kids, they're so fascinated by seeing white people all they can do is stare. And if you try to say hi or touch them then run away screaming. It's awesome.
Their life there in the village is very sad and I was very excited to be part of the first outreach to them. We learned that their number one need is clean water and education about waterborn diseases. They have little or no access to good water and the water they do get from the nearest bore hole is few and far between. As a result, they suffer from diseases such as Malaria, dysentary, and TB. Most all of the children were naked, and the women were topless. But I was glad to see the men fully clothed! They don't speak English out that far, so we mostly listened to Emma talking in Hausa with them, although that isn't their main dialect. Dad got out the MT4 which fascinated them and I think the education that will come from it will be lifesaving. They are affected by HIV even that far out which was sad to hear. Their marraige practices allow for stealing of wives so if one husband gets infected you can see the reprocutions. I loved staring at them as much as they stared at me. Please pray that the content developed will be perfect in educating them and spreading the gospel. We spent most of the time there talking with the pastor who has been there for over a year, and only five or so people have accepted Christ. Please please pray for their hearts and minds to be open in the months to come.
Unfortunately, my time here at the internet cafe is running out so that's all I have time for today. Thank you for reading and pray for my last week here, that I can make even more of an impact than I thought possible. God bless!
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