Niger: Day Six, Part Two

As we left the village for the last time, I was already starting to get sad about only getting to see Fati one more time. I was very excited, though, about the gift I had to give her.

Earlier that morning, I had brought some cards, with the intention of having everyone sign them to give to thank each of our translators. They were cards from Africa that were given to us by Southern before we came. I hadn't looked at them until we got on the bus that morning. There were four cards and envelopes in the pack we were given, with each card depicting a different scene or person from Africa. Well, as I was pulling the cards out, I saw that one of the cards had a big picture of Fati on it. I couldn't believe it! There are millions of people in Africa, and the one person I had developed a special bond with was now staring back at me. I was so excited!

I decided that I was going to write a note on the inside of it, have Cephas translate my note into Zerma (the language spoken by the Songhai people) on the other side and then give it to Fati. Cephas was so sweet for doing this for me. The excitement was building up inside of me as we came to the ferry. Kids there love digital cameras. They think it's so fun to see the pictures we take of them afterward. I would imagine that a lot of these kids haven't seen themselves too many times, if at all. I don't know that there are many (if any) mirrors there. So I could just imagine how special it would be for Fati to have this card--a picture of herself that she could keep.

My note to Fati read:

Fati,

I am so glad I got to meet you. I am thankful God brought us together. You are my friend, and I love you. God loves you more, though, and He wants you to know Him. I may not get to see you again, but if you trust in God and believe that Jesus died for your sins, then we will get to see each other again in heaven. I will miss you and will be praying for you.

Love, Kelli

I was thankful to see Fati when we arrived at the ferry. As soon as she came over to our bus, I tucked a bag full of our leftover food from the trip onto her tray. Some of the guys distracted the other kids so they wouldn't see.

Ryan also bought some cola nuts from Fati, both to help her out but also so we would have some to remember her by. Ryan bought four, but she insisted on giving him seven. We were so sad when these cola nuts were later confiscated in New York. We declared them, and the first guy we came to verified that we just had nuts and said it was no big deal. We thought we were in the clear, but we later came to another man who asked to see them. Ryan got them out of my backpack and gave them to the man. He then motioned us to keep going. We asked if we were going to get the nuts back, and he said no. We were pretty disappointed, especially because we were led to believe we could keep them.

Anyway, Cephas then came over to the back of the bus so I could give Fati her card. It was so neat to see her face as she opened her card. Cephas told her about how I had received that card in America before I came to Niger. He pointed out to her the dress she was wearing so she could see that it was an old picture (not something I had taken while we were there). He then read to her in Zerma the note I had written.


Afterward, we just hung out as we waited for the ferry. I recorded a video of Ryan and Cephas singing and dancing to/acting out one of the worship songs we sang in the village. As I was recording, there were several kids standing around watching. When the guys finished the song, I filmed it again with the kids doing it as well. It was pretty cute.

We then walked back toward the bus. Fati disappeared for a few minutes, and when she came back, she had two bags of ice water. She gave one to me and the other to Ryan. It was so sweet, and it meant so much to me that she wanted to bless Ryan with one as well. I never ceased to be humbled by this sweet girl's generosity. We inconspicuously cleaned the bags off so we could drink them. Remember, our bodies can't handle the diseases that these people are constantly exposed to. We then tore a hole in them so we could drink them. Fati also found some chunks of ice to give me. For a moment, I was at a loss as to what I should do with the ice. I couldn't eat it or suck on it, but I didn't want her to think I didn't like this gift.

One of the guys let me borrow a handkerchief to put the ice in. I then made a game out of it by touching the children's cheeks and hands with the cold handkerchief. Some of them almost acted like it hurt in that they would reach out to touch it and then pull their hand back really fast. I don't know if this was part of the game to them or if it was just genuine shock from touching something so cold when they're not used to it. This little game continued throughout the ferry ride. The kids seemed to enjoy both the attention and how it cooled them off.

There were several times that I would look over at Fati and see her pulling out her card. She kept showing it to the other children--you could tell she was so excited about it.

We didn't get back on the bus in time to ride it off the ferry, so Fati and I held hands and walked off, toward our bus. I was so sad to leave her, and as I write this I am once again unsuccessfully fighting back tears. I leaned down and gave her a hug. We did our special little handshake that we had been doing all week, and then I climbed back into the bus. I reached out of the window and held her hand as we slowly started to drive off. A couple other kids grabbed onto my hand too. Fati was worried these kids were going to hurt me by not letting go when they needed to. She let go of my hand to push theirs away so I wouldn't get hurt. I kept waving to her until she was out of sight. I had kept a smile on my face the whole time, but as soon as she was out of view, I started crying. I was so sad knowing I may never see this sweet girl again. It was amazing how attached I had grown to Fati in such a short amount of time. We weren’t always able to talk (because there often wasn’t someone to translate for us), but it was always fun just sitting together.

I was left desperately hoping that the Holy Spirit would move in Fati's heart and cause her to trust in God. Even still I long to see this girl, and I pray that we will be reunited in heaven (if not before then).

Anyway, it was a difficult ride back to Niamey. When we arrived, we said our goodbyes to our translators and then dropped them off. That was pretty sad too.

That night we joined the Hurst team and the Wombles in going to a restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was pretty incredible. It was so clean and modern looking--it was like a whole other world. It was just like a restaurant you would find here in the States, but it was set in the middle of this really poor country. Ryan and I sat at a table with Eric (a guy from our trip) and Brad and Sally Womble. We really enjoyed our time getting to know them better.

We then headed back to the guesthouse, where we all prayed and said our goodbyes to the Hurst team, who was heading to the airport.





We had one more day left in Niger, but in a sense, it felt like our trip was over. We wouldn't be going to the village the next day, Hurst had left, so we'd pretty much said all of our goodbyes.