Bush Trip

We haven't been out to the bush in AGES...whenever we did that food distribution, I think it was sometime this summer, I can't remember. It seems like whenever we have a trip planned there is another "incident" just before our planned trip and then we're grounded in Abalak. Well, a few weeks had passed after the most recent kidnappings in Niamey and we were allowed to go out, but with armed guards, of course, and just for the day. Still, we were thrilled for the chance to go and to show my mom a bit of the bush.

It turned into a really windy day. This picture was taken shortly after our arrival, it was pretty windy already but the landscape had yet to be covered in dust.
About half-way through our visit one of the men brought in a baby goat for Micah to pet. And then he says, "It's for Micah." Oh my! He looks really young, I thought to myself. Turns out the baby's mother had died a week ago and sure enough, he was not yet weaned. And just days before we were leaving for Niamey. Luckily, I have a friend whose mom has some goats with babies so I sent it home with him until we get back and I can buy him a new mama.

As it was super windy, and there weren't actually too many people living at the actual site, we ended up spending much of the day in this little one room building drinking tea and eating dates. Later in the day the wind let up a little and we walked to the seasonal lake (rain runoff from the rainy season) where the people get their drinking water, water their animals, and...farm catfish. Crazy, I know, catfish in the middle of the desert. Donnie was very excited. He actually bought some and went home and fried them up. One happy cajun that night, he was.