Let Me Tell You About Where We’re Going - #3

Continue reading for info on Niger and a rabbit trail about mac and cheese.
This post will be the 3^rd and final post in the series with info about Niger. In the last 2 posts, I touched on the demographics and location. In this post, I will be writing a little bit about government and a little bit about the economy. I will possibly add in some other random facts that I found interesting.

Government:

So, to start off, the full country name for Niger is actually the Republic of Niger. The country was named after the one main waterway that passes through it, the Niger River. In 1958 the Republic of 

Niger was founded, and in 1960, the Nigeriens officially declared independence from French rule.

The system of government in Niger is a semi-presidential republic. What does that mean? Good question. Before I used my handy-dandy fingers to peruse Wikipedia, I also had no clue. After a few minutes of perusing I nearly found out how mac and cheese is processed, so I had to click “back” a few times and get on track again. Well, really I didn’t make it that far on Wikipedia, but I did get sidetracked by other interesting articles more than once. Anyway, a semi-presidential government, specifically that of Niger, has a prime minister appointed by the president, a cabinet who is also appointed by the president, and said popularly elected president.

The flag of Niger is orange, white, and green, etc, etc. Here’s a picture because those speak louder than words. Fun fact: My husband bought our own Nigerien flag about a month after we knew where we were going. It is currently hanging three feet from me, and I have to say, it adds a certain amount of fun to our living room.

Economy:

I could give you numbers about the Nigerien economy all day. No really, I looked up Nigerien economy and my screen was flooded with a lot of numbers, and it looked like a lot of math to interpret them all and make them more interesting for you. So some of the simple numbers of the 

Nigerien economy are as follows:

•          90% of the active labor force works in agriculture. The other 10% in industry and services.
•          The unemployment rate as of 2015 was 5.1%.
•          63% of the population is living below the poverty line. This was an older statistic, but from what I have heard, it is still relatively accurate.
•          In 2016, the exchange rate was 605.7 CFA Francs to 1 U.S. dollar. Their currency is backed by France and is used by 14 former colonies.

Random fun facts to finish off our time:

•  Only 2.2% of the population have access to Internet. For reference, in the United States 74.6% of the population have access to internet. If you just said “wow,” then we both said the same thing.
• Out of the 18,949 km of roadway, only 3,912 km of it is paved.

I hope you weren’t bored out of your guard by reading all these fascinating facts. I know I wasn’t, and as a bonus I got to do some extra research on mac and cheese. Okay, still joking about that one.

Until next time!

-The Thunders

Psalm 46:10 - He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

All written facts on this post were derived from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise mentioned.

Let Me Tell You About Where We’re Going – # 2

In my last post, I wrote about some basic location and environmental facts of Niger. This is building off of that post, so if you would like a refresher please see the last post in December. Today we will be diving into some fun facts about the demographics of the country.

Population and Language:

Niger has a population of 20,658,000 with 36 people groups. Of those groups, the most predominate are the Hausa and Zarma/Songhai. A majority of the population is also under the age of 25.

Since the 1960s there has been a steady emigration of Nigeriens to other West African countries. The lack of adequate arable land and water, cause people to leave for countries with a more stable economy where they can find work.

A farmer examining once arable soil, that is now mostly useless after a drought in 2005.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger#/media/File:Niger_Farm_sand_tv_16aug05.jpg

A sobering statistic I found in my research was that almost 40% of children under the age of 5 are underweight. My heart hurts when I hear this, and I long to eventually be able to help this statistic diminish in even a small way.

French is the national language, although I have been told it is a second language to most. Other widely spoken languages are Hausa and Djarma. Our family will be going to school to learn French, so that we can live in the culture, and engage with the local people. I am really stoked to be learning a second language, as I have always wanted to, but I never was able to practice any language enough to retain it.

Religion:

Islam is the largest religion in Niger at 94.3%. The other small percentage is made up of beliefs indigenous to West Africa and Christianity.

Literacy:

There is often a lack of adequate educational opportunities in Niger, which has led to a low literacy rate. 19.1% of the adult population is known to be able to read and write. 27.3% of males can read and write and 11% of females. Most students are only in school for 5 years before they look for employment or have to drop out for other reasons.

A primary school classroom in Niger.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger#/media/File:Niger_primary_school_MCC3500.jpg

I realize completely that these facts may be far more interesting to me, then most of the people reading this. If you made it this far, let me just say that I am so proud of you! Way to stick it out. Finding out about new places fascinates me, and I am excited to bring you all along on this journey with our family.

Keep checking back for more updates and facts about where we are going!

-The Thunders

Matthew 12:21 - “In his [Jesus] name the nations will put their hope.”

All written facts on this post were derived from the CIA World Factbook and the Joshua Project