A Dry and Weary Land

I like hot weather. Since I developed sinus problems in my 20's, I always seem to function better when it's hot outside. Since my parents moved from Canada to Memphis, Tennessee when I was 4 years old, I've always looked forward to summertime. In contrast, my wife, Jen, grew up in Hanover, Pennsylvania and loves the changes of season in north America especially autumn or the falling of the leaves. Therefore, when our family first moved to the central Nigerian city of Jos in 2001, the highland climate of Plateau State was cool most of the time and pleasant for Jen.

When Jen and I decided to move from Jos to Maiduguri in 2005, we knew that we would have to adjust to a climate change. However, we had no idea exactly how hot that the semi-arid climate of northeastern Nigeria would be. We arrived in the middle of the rainy season which was a bit deceiving as the problem in Maiduguri appeared to be flooding because of a lack of drainage. Yet, when the rains ended in October, we began to understand what every Nigerian talks about when they point to Maiduguri as the hottest spot in the nation. From 7AM to 7PM, no one would be caught out "under the sun" without an umbrella, long clothes for protection from sunlight, or a small plastic bag of "pure water."

Jen and I quickly noticed that all of the green leaves, green grass, or any green foliage was rapidly turning brown. It was as if all of the ground had become sand in only 2 weeks from the conclusion of the rainfall. We hardly saw any open-air market stalls where locals were selling fresh vegetable produce. Big, tall trees that provided shade were few and far between and those few refuges of shade were always occupied with people under their canopies. We began to empathize with the plight of the semi-arid farmer as we planted flowers only to see them wilt away.

Nevertheless, I don't think that anything could have prepared us for March, April, and May in Maiduguri. Immediately when the harmattan sandy winds from the Sahara ceased in February, March brought bitterly scorching days of 120F+ daily. We felt like we were walking around in an oven every single day with no refuge because we had could ill afford to buy diesel for our generator to power our air-conditioner. At night, it was difficult to sleep because we would toss and turn in our own sweat longing for a breeze. The March to mid-April heat was dry while the late April to May heat was humid progressively becoming more muggy each day.

After constructing our water reservoir at the INTERCEP farm in March of 2007, we noticed a unique phenomena. The water hauled in via tankers from a commercial water company would dry up as soon as it was unloaded into the reservoir. As we raised plant beds at the INTERCEP farm in April of 07, any water released through the drip irrigation tape had to be applied by 6AM or 6PM, otherwise, it would quickly evaporate. Our struggle to water the vegetable crops from March until the first rains of June of 07 was unbelievably arduous. Thus, when the first rains arrived in abundance by July of 07, it was a time to celebrate God's provision.

God has blessed us to see his abundant mercy in a dry and weary land as people are able to grow vegetables in the desert through drip irrigation. We would be blessed by your partnership in bringing the water of life!