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Visiting Ayorou

I recently returned from spending 10 days with my brother in Niger, West Africa. Mark and his wife Parker have been living in the village of Ayorou for about 18 months now. I had planned for a while to visit them sometime in 2008, but the timing of this trip came about because Parker is pregnant with their first child. She had to leave the country a month before the delivery to travel to Senegal, where there is good medical care. Mark couldn't go with her the entire time, so I went to Niger in between Parker's leaving the country and Mark's joining her. And in case you're worried about a pregnant Parker being alone in a foreign country, her Mom flew to Senegal to be with her before and after the baby comes.

So Mark and I had just over a week of brother time. I got to see first-hand what life is like with 8 hours of electricity a day. What 120 degrees feels like, and what an amazing refreshing treat a glass of cool water can be. Men and women who live today almost exactly as they have for hundreds of years, and for whom the concept of the future has no meaning, only survival for another day. Children that will instantly melt your heart, and whose smiles almost make you forget the harsh realities of disease and need that they face daily, with over half the population age 15 or younger.

And in the midst of it all, God doing amazing things. Answered prayers. Meeting Isa, the first ever adult Songhai believer in the village of Ayorou. Seeing Mark communicate in French and Zarma/Songhai and share the love and truth of Christ with so many people, and how they respect him. And, as Parker put it, feeling like I left a piece of myself in Africa.

  

I rode on the donkey cart with these boys to get water from the river. I had no ability to speak to them, and no idea at that point where we were going. Quite an experience!

      
I got to baptize Yacouba in the Niger river, an amazing blessing!

  
Chillin' with camels & giraffes!

     
Hanging out with my brother: a restaurant in Niamey, at the top of Mt. Kandadji, and... sewing?

A shack, literally on the side of the road, where we had breakfast one morning. Mark brought this man some eggs from the city, and worked it out that we got a breakfast of omelettes and a yummy hot chocolatey drink as payment.

Sitting in the shade during the hot part of the day. Everything basically shuts down between 1-4pm. The white girl in this picture is a volunteer with another mission team who is also in Ayorou.

  
We gave out dresses that were made by some of the women from First Baptist Church in Franklin, KY, my parents' church.

    
Three kids who stole my heart: Sakina, Bushira, and "Z".

    
Hanging out at Mark's compound with the kids.

I could go on forever (and probably already have for too long). As you can probably tell, I'm very glad I made this trip. Mark and I had a great time together, my eyes were opened, and I fell in love with Ayorou and the people there.

For more: here's my complete photo set and also a blog post that Parker wrote about my visit.

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