Tabaski

Tabaski is the festival in Niger where Muslims celebrate how Abraham didn't have to kill his son Ishmael because God sent a ram in replacement. About two weeks before this holiday the streets of Niamey are filled with rams. Rams strapped to the roofs of bush taxis, riding on motorcycles (especially hilarious when your sitting at a stop sign next to one and it takes a dump on the guy holding it), and wandering along the side of the road. This festival is a pretty big deal.  Almost as big as Christmas in the US.

Early in the morning this past Sunday, the city was calm. Then it began. The rams were slaughtered and set up to roast all day. They are roasted outside of the gate along the side of the street. In my opinion, this is just getting more dust on the meat and making it a bit more grainy, but I'm not roasting. The air of Niamey grows thick with smoke as everyone has a large fire for the roasting. My friend Lisa took some great pictures when she went out. Hope you enjoy them!

It's a bit of a prestige thing to have a large number of rams roasting outside your house. I equate it to the obnoxious house on the block that loves Christmas WAY TOO MUCH and wants everyone to know that.

Yup. Those are testicles hanging there, just...hanging there...

Fun Times in Niger

It is Harmatan season. That time of year when it doesn't rain a drop but the wind blows like the dickens and brings all of that lovely Saharan sand down our direction. No big dust storms yet, but the sand is certainly piling up in the streets. Here's a picture of one of our students hanging out in a dry river bed.

Galmi is a town about 6hr drive east of Niamey. We have a hospital there and it acts as a rest stop for missionaries heading out east. I got the chance to lead a group of kids out there this past month. We went out for a weekend and organized a retreat for all of the homeschool kids in east Niger. It was fun to have the kids and their families there from many different organizations, yet enjoying each other's company. Here's a picture of a few of the girls at Picnic Heights, one of the outings we took them on. The scenery behind them is very beautiful, but you can't see it for the dust.

We also took the students to church during our time in Galmi. Here is our entire group in front of a village church we attended. As is normal for visitors in a village church, our group was asked to sing a few songs, so we sang "Amazing Grace" in both English and Hausa. Some of us had to read the Hausa as we had no idea what we were saying.