Compound interest

In Niamey our group is safely nestled in an SIM guest house, with showers (usually hot) and shared accommodations with a roommate. The guest house is within the safe confines of a walled compound. When our teaching sessions begin at the local school called the Sahel Academy, we make a five-minute walk to the compound surrounding the school and its adjacent buildings.

To enter the Sahel compound, we must past through an iron gate guarded by one or more local security officers. We feel protected within the walls, which were erected by the American Embassy following the horrors of 9/11. While we teach the children, apart from the daily heat (which is quite comfortable this time of year), it doesn't really seem like we are in Africa. But the five-minute walk tells us otherwise.

Between us and Sahel there are crudely constructed huts and Nigerien children in rags. The irony is not lost on us. While local Nigerien citizens suffer in horrible poverty, fatigued Christian workers rest and recuperate within the compound. In addition, just beyond the SIM compound is the approach to the bridge over the Niger River.

Crossing the bridge exposes one to odd sights, such as vehicles narrowly dodging bicycles and donkey carts piled full of wood. Women cross the river carrying large loads on their heads. Motorcycles compete with trucks that hold human cargo, and with old SUVs and rusted cars. Next to the bridge, women are doing their laundry in the shallow water at the river's edge.

What can you do? Giving food or money to one Nigerien will almost instantly draw a crowd of one hundred or so, looking for more. There is such need here, you just don't know where to begin. We, in the comfortable parts of the world, must all work together in a concerted, well organized effort to reduce poverty and famine here, and make Niger a much better place to live.

We encourage you to visit Niger, if you get the opportunity. You will never be the same.