Human Development Index

I mentioned this last year, but it bears repeating.  Niger is lowest on the Human Development Index (HDI).  The HDI is a “composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development”.  In other words, Niger has the lowest standard of living in the world.  It is not the poorest – that would be Malawi.  Niger is only the 4^th poorest – second is Burundi and third is Central African Republic.  Notice where all of those are?

I was talking to my translator about fishing the other day.  I didn’t start the conversation, because I am not an avid fisherman, but when he learned I lived close to a lake he wanted to know all sorts of things.  How many fish can you catch?  Can you catch them with a net? Etc etc.  I explained fishing limits, and barbless hooks and catch and release and salmon runs.  He seemed a little bewildered by all the rules.  He asked if there were lots of police around to enforce the rules, and what if someone just decided to take way more than their limit?  He seemed to think that system would never work in Niger because “no one is honest”.  I pointed out to him that he was being honest right there, and perhaps there just needed to be more people like him.  Niger is land locked, so there is no ocean fishing, and the rivers are mostly dried up.  There is a bride on the way to the market that looks like it should go over a river, but perhaps I have just never been here when there was enough rain to have a river.  Right now, it is dry as a bone under that bridge.

They do have cel phones and cel towers.  Practically everyone has a cel phone, and minutes are relatively cheap.   It is a strange contrast seeing where they live and the cel phones they have.  I did get a hospital cel for when I am on call, but it is supposed to be for work use only, so I haven’t called back home on it.  You can still use skype and whatsapp and viber, but the internet is at least as unpredictable as the power, so one must be prepared for the call to suddenly get cut off without warning.

AirTel is the cel carrier in Galmi

Proverbs 19:17 ESV

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.