Nigeria!

I just got back from the most incredible two-week trip to Nigeria to visit my uncle and his family who live in Jos, and also to see some other SIM ministries in the area. It’s hard for me to fully describe how much I enjoyed my time there meeting new friends, scrubbing in on surgery with my uncle, and eating good food every day among other things.

The main difference I noticed just driving down from Maradi was how GREEN Nigeria is! It has already started raining there, while we are still waiting for some good heavy rains in Niger. Nigeria is much more developed…they have more money, businesses, a better education system, and a lot more people. I guess I wasn’t really expecting so many differences, so I kind of experienced a little bit of culture shock myself!

Finally, they spoke ENGLISH! It was so refreshing to be able to talk freely in English and communicate well. I was able to use some of my Hausa, but people were really impressed that I knew even some Hausa you don’t really need to learn it there to get by.

My cousins Marie and David in Jos

The Ardills' backyard

Clouds means rain...yeah!

With my new friends Moussa and Haoua

Hausa Phrase of the Day:

Some noted differences between “Niger Hausa” and “Nigerian Hausa”

Niger vs. Nigeria

“lahiya” vs. “lafiya” (health)

“maraice” vs. “yamma” (afternoon)

“ruwa” (pl.) vs. “ruwa” (masc.) - (water)

“iska” (masc.) vs. “iska” (fem.) – (wind)

Currency difference:

Niger – francs (CFA)

Nigeria – Naira

- in Niger they use the “dala (like “dollar”) system” in which one “dala” is five francs. So something that costs “dala hamsin” (fifty dala) is actually 250CFA. In Nigeria, they don’t use “dala”. Fifty Naira is exactly that…50N.