Messages from
Niger

Wednesday, January 21, 2004
More greetings from West Africa! Yesterday we observed classes at Tibiri School and today we conducted staff training and inservice sessions for the five teachers. We had a great time and we hope the staff did, too. They were very responsive and we were able to communicate easily with Tom doing the interpreting. They are a hard working dedicated staff. They teach and manage their classrooms under spartan conditions and with many added responsibilities because Tibiri is also a boarding school. The EERN would like to expand Tibiri School by adding a middle school. That's one of the proposals that Ted and Dr. Addo have been investigating.

I put our laundry outside the door this morning and when we got home it was all washed and hanging out on the clothes line to dry. When I went to get the clothes off the line I was surprised how hot the direct sun was! Would you believe it.....I borrowed an iron from the Guest House and ironed Ted's shirt! Since we have been doing our own cooking I've had to be creative with menus. Our few packets of Lipton rice and noodles have come in handy! Today I wanted to stop for some carrots but didn't have the opportunity. I think we will have cooked carrots tomorrow night with Lipton chicken fried rice.... the package says it cooks in seven minutes! There are always homemade breads and bagels available in the "self catering" kitchen. Someone told us where to buy Quaker oatmeal and that has been great for breakfast. I understand that the guest house in Niamey will have shops and restaurants nearby.

Ted sends his greetings, he's doing some office work right now. Tomorrow we go back to Tibiri School for the second day of teacher training. We leave Maradi on Friday morning to return to Niamey. That will be a long day. It is a ten hour ride with a variety of road conditions.

It is really hard to believe that it is cold and snowy in Michigan; we have really enjoyed the sun and temperature here. Many here wear heavy jackets because they think this winter weather quite cool.
We are blessed by your prayers and we feel God's guidance.
Love,
Eleanor