A Day for Fortifying

There is nothing that a teacher hates more than a rainy day when you've got kids bursting with energy who need to get out and run.  Thursday was just such a day.  It probably started raining at around 8 am and didn't stop until just before 2:30 pm when school let out.  One of our teachers who keeps track of the rain said we received about 2 inches of rain in that time period.  By the time we headed home, the Niger river, a river that just that morning had been significantly lower than the top of the dike, was now dangerously high and bursting with fast moving water.  Friday classes were cancelled as a precautionary measure.  Overnight, the river level which had read 5.4 meters on Thursday morning, rose to 6.1 meters.  Friday was a day for fortifying.

Fortifying

 

 

walls,

 

 

the gate,

 

 

the berms,

 

 

and the dike.

 

During the night on Thursday, the river breached the dike to the north of the bridge in the Lamorde quartier, a neighbourhood where several of our workers reside.  One said the water was up to his walls but had not yet entered.  He said that Jacques, whose story you might remember from last year, had already evacuated his family because their home had been flooded.  Please pray for God's protection and provision for these men, their families and the Nigerien people who are once again facing the devastating loss of their homes and crops.

 

A walk along the dike on our side of the bridge

 

 

finds the water lapping against its restraint 

 

 

like a bathtub threatening to overflow.

 

 

We have done just about all we can to prepare and so we wait and we pray that the things that have been done to fortify the walls around our two campuses will work.

Saturday Morning Update:  After posting this we heard the news that the river went down 15 cm overnight.  That is a huge answer to prayer!