delicious desert...not dessert

You set your people free, and you led them through the desert. ~Ps. 68:7

Though a month has passed since I took a little up to northern, desert-y Nigeria, it was such a cool trip I couldn’t pass on sharing the experience with y’all. (note: pictures were pretty much all taken by Kav, and you can see more by clicking HERE http://picasaweb.google.com/naekix/NguruTrip

So...I was supposed to be running a camp in Gombe, but due to the ridiculous cycle of teacher strikes, it was cancelled. What better to do with my free week than join my buds Katy and Kav for an adventure up in the desert?! Right. So off we were on the 8 hour drive to northern Nigeria-destination: Nguru in Yobi State where “Ma and Pa W.” (kinda need to substitute names for security) are serving among various desert people groups. Ironically, Nguru is actually called the Wetlands because of this crazy lake/marsh area located miraculously close to the Sahel Desert. Our first day there, we took a guided canoe ride through the wetlands with Hasan Hasan, a friend of Ma and Pa and the equivalent of a park ranger.
The wetlands are extra snazzy because they serve as a pit-stop for THOUSANDS of birds migrating to the Middle East and Serengeti in December. August was more like nesting season, so we weren’t mobbed by flocks, but it was still way fun cruising around, taking pictures and learning all about this unique eco-climate.

One cool thing about the North is that there are a TON of Baobab trees that a person can find all over West Africa, they are EVERYWHERE!! Anyway, if you don’t know what one looks like here is a pictureMost people recognize them from the movie The Lion King—you know, the tree that Rafiki,the monkey lives in. Right. The neat thing about the Baobab tree is that its roots grow like its tree branches should grow. In Senegal, the Wolof people tell an old story of the Baobab tree. The story goes in the garden of Eden the Baobab tree was one of the grandest trees in the garden--full of color and life and beauty. The Baobab tree knew that he was beautiful (had to be a he because females never think they’re beautiful) and got a little too proud and conceited. Seeing as God couldn’t have pompous trees in Eden, God disciplined him and turned him upside down in hopes that he would not be so proud. I guess it worked because now there is only a few short months where the tree has leaves and they look like roots just growing wherever they please. Baobabs get massive as you can see. I personally think they still look really cool...wonder what their roots look like.

Now, just a word about Ma and Paw...they are the only white folks for 4 hours in any direction. They’ve been there in Northern Nigeria for over 15 years and though fruit of their work comes slowly and often unknown, they have amazingly positibe, vibrant attitudes. One of the things they do is to up to the sand dunes near the Niger border to minster to nomadic groups who often bring their camel caravans through the area. So our 2nd day, we jumped in the truck and bumped our way 2 hours north. Using only a GPS (road quickly deteriorates and notable landmarks are non-existent) we made it to the highest dune in the area. Ma and Pa often go here because there are two nearby oasises (is that the right plural form? Oasi? Anyways...) Katy, Kav, and I were like kids in a candy shop on these absolutely gorgeous dunes. The pictures shows the sort of fun we had.

So we didn’t actually get to meet up with any camel caravans (my dreams of riding across the dunes with a turban Arabian Knights style has yet to come to fruition), BUT, we did meet some beautiful fulani people and Pa got a chance to share The Story and give out a device that tells a 80 min story from the very start of Creation to the death of The Man that gave His life for the entire world. The cool thing about this device (they are a pretty penny, about 40$) is that one its solar powered! ha.. and two it has anywhere from 3-7 different languages! AMAZING!! So whomever Paw gives this device to, they can share the story over and over again and again because it needs no batteries!! PTL for technology yeah???
Alright, so after fun on the dunes and lunch down in the oasis, we started to head back to Nguru. There we were, bumping along through millet fields singing “Bare Necessities” from Jungle Book and BAM! Our truck lodged itself on a stump in hit a deep, soft mud pit. When we opened our doors, water greeted us just 2 inches from the bottom of the door.
One of the miracles of Africa is that even if you think you’re in the middle of nowhere, get stranded and people will show up. We had been there maybe 10 minutes with 2 guys come strolling by, one named Alhaji Muhammed. Immediately they dropped their farm tools. Upon primary survey of the scene, Alhaji told the other, Ka je ka kawo yara daga gari (=Go and get the kids from the village). So to our rescue, about 8 boys come running down the path...and by boys, I mean no older than 12...not very encouraging. But they were enthusiastic so we set to work. About 45 mins later, we hear a big cargo truck chugging towards us, heading to town. Thinking our savior has finally arrived, we flag them down and negotiate a price. The driver goes back to his truck AND DRIVES AWAY! We all stood there in disbelief—never have I ever met a Nigeria who wasn’t willing to help a bature out. Alhaji Muhammed smacked his lips, shook his head in disgust at his people, and decided this was going to require more people. He told a boy to run back to the village (have I mentioned it’s nearly a kilometer away?) and bring everyone. Meanwhile, storm clouds are rolling in and I’m contemplating the best sleeping arrangements for 5 people in this truck.Sure enough, 30mins later, jogging down the lane is the entire village’s male population, fresh out of the fields. We cheer and clap for them and being dudes, they all jump around, pound chests, make grunting noises, and flex muscles. Alhaji gives a motivational speech and organizes the team and soon everyone is hard at work...caked in mud. After an hour of digging mud, draining water, chopping at the stump under the front, and spinning tires-- freedom! You can bet there was great rejoicing.
note the mud-caked faces. Alhaji Muhammed is the guy on the far right

Upon taking pictures, Alhaji had 2 requests: 1)to take me as his [3rd] wife and 2) for us to return with these pictures someday. We deliberated awhile, and then opted for door number 2. [see newsletter or epilogue for how that turned out]

Once again, we’re on our way, but darkness is closing in, and we only have GPS way-points till we get to the powerlines, which normally isn’t a problem in the day light when one can easily keep them in view till the semi-paved road is reached. Just when we start to get really nervous about our blinded sense of direction, a van heading towards town comes bumping by. Ma commented, “I know it may not look like it, but that van right there is an angel sent to guide us.” Sure enough, we were able to follow the van most of the way until it made a stop and we felt confident. Just when we thought we had mastered the art of detouring around the water holes and numerous pits of death, we found ourselves stuck once more in a mini-pond, disguised as a tall grass. **sigh** Now we’re in complete darkness and if there’s a village around, everyone’s in their homes. 1 minute goes by and what do we hear, but a big truck coming back from town. Would you believe it was the SAME truck that dissed us earlier that day?? True story. We flag down the driver and once he sees who we are says, “Kai, you all have suffered today!” Then, without hesitation, he straps the tow-rope on and yanks us out of the pit. Talk about serving a God of grace and second chances! The truck driver also informed us that the road back to Nguru was “not good” (read- “mean armed robbers are known to target drivers on that road). GREEEAAAT. Once we got to the town, we stopped by the police station and they assured us many patrols were on duty on the road. I’m happy to report that we had NO problems. God seemed to even fill in the myriad of potholes that had jostled us on the way coming. Amazing, no?

The Lord led his people through the desert. God's love never fails. ~Ps. 136:16