When we returned from our short (1 year) time in Niger, West Africa we brought a lot of bits and pieces with us. They say that once you have been to Africa it gets into your blood and I’d have to agree. Close to ten years later I still have my African pieces hanging up around my house and they are treasured. Each one has a memory attached (I’m a person of layers, hate having things for the sake of it). The hat you see Miss L wearing below is one of those treasures.

Its an original Fulani hat, worn by the Wodaabe of West Africa. The one she is playing with is a smaller version acquired after one of the dorm students at the school we taught at (Sahel Academy) didn’t want it. I have a much bigger one hanging on my wall which we bartered for and paid only around 4000CFA (at the time this equaled about $16AU). We got to meet many Fulani people as well as many of the missionaries who work tirelessly with them. Maybe I’ll share more about the Fulani people in the future. For now, this hat is a playhat for Miss L but I love that it has meaning attached to it.

I hadn’t forgotten about this little series, just hadn’t gotten around to moving to the letter ‘E’ until now so here goes. E is for things such as English teaching, ESL teaching, Economics, Evangelism and Epidemiologist. There are so many SIM opportunities in each category (except the last one, only one of those is currently needed) that I have decided to list the opportunities under job type rather than individually this time.

English Teachers (either teaching language or the subject) are needed in the following places;

Asia-Pacific
Mongolia
Paraguay
Sudan
Peru
Bolivia (ESL)
South Korea
Thailand
Ethiopia
Angola

Elementary (primary) school or other Educational opportunities can be found in;

Ethiopia and here also Economics Teacher
Niger
Peru
Pakistan
SIM International (in the USA)

Opportunities including Evangelism (and discipleship/church planting/Bible Teaching/Children’s Ministry) are needed in;

Ecuador
Mali
Namibia
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Singapore
Tanzania
Thailand

The last two ‘E’ opportunities are for:
An Epidemiologist in Angola
and
an ELWA Radio Administrative advisor in Liberia

I hope that you can find an opportunity to serve God in amongst all these ‘e-opportunities’. Don’t forget, the entire list of SIM needs can be found here.

So, its time for another opportunity instalment, this time those starting with ‘D’. You will once again find a range of options for serving with SIM overseas in this list. Perhaps you are waiting for God’s direction as to where he wants you, read on and something may jump off the page!

Doctor and Leprosy Programme Manager

As a doctor managing the leprosy program at Danja’s Centre de Sant’ et de Leprologie and introducing Jesus to each person you treat, your influence in Niger is beyond your imagination! If you would like to see people come to faith in Jesus, this is a fabulous opportunity.

(We visited this centre in 2000 and it’s quite an amazing place!)

Danja operating table (2000)

Director of Library Services for JETS

In Nigeria SIM still has a significant role in outreach and in leadership training as well as many other ministries. We work closely with our partner church. Jos ECWA Theological Seminary (JETS) trains men and women for spiritual leadership in Nigeria. The Director of Library Services is a key person to keep the seminary progressing toward a top quality theological institution in the country and the continent.

Dorm Parents for Murree Christian School – Pakistan

Come and be dorm parents for children whose families live and work in Pakistan. Murree Christian School has reopened, and we need dorm parents for the next school year. This is a vital role!

Database Programmer- MS Access (VBA/SQL)

Are you a tekky who would like to use your gifts to further the work of God in the world? SIM is fully committed to the use of relevant information technology to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of its ministries and administration. We use a mix of commercial software and custom-developed applications.

In this role, you will be the main developer in the International Systems project team and will need to identify, understand, and prioritise requirements for modification development, bug analysis, coding, implementation, training and documentation.

There are of course plenty of other opportunities starting with ‘D’ such as more
Doctor’s needed in Angola and Niger – Galmi and Maradi,
Dakar Academy Teachers (Senegal),
a Dentist in Liberia, Africa,
in the area of Discipleship and Training of Women in Ghana,
a Dialogue Language Progam Instructor in Bangaldesh
a Dorm Parent Assistant in Niger,
Dental Hygienist in Nigeria,
Discipleship and Mentoring in Sudan,
Development Director for Hillcrest School in Nigeria,
Director of Carachipampa Christian School in Bolivia and
a Director for a Community Development Project in Bangladesh.

All available opportunities can be seen here and SIM Australia’s website is here.

The money from all my sales is still going to the work of SIM each month. As I’ve mentioned before, the money for the months of May and June goes towards Bikes for Pastors in Ghana, Africa.. With just a couple of weeks left in June I thought I would mention this again.

I fully believe that God is in control of my sales and interestingly I had more sales in May than I have ever had before followed by a total of zero sales in June. The timing of this is amazing as June has been crazily busy with moving house and trying to prepare for our new baby.

The last sale I had was May 30th, we moved June 2nd. Interesting.

The total of sales so far for these two months is $US331.50. If I do sell anything over the next week and a half I have managed to find places for my creations and also the packaging I would need to post them so it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Custom orders however won’t be accepted for quite a while.

So, what does $331.50 buy for the Pastors in Ghana? It buys 5 and a half bikes for them!! Wouldn’t it be great to make it to a total of 6 bikes? If you are intending to purchase anything from one of my online shops, now is the time! Just $30US more in sales will complete the aim.

As a tempter, here’s a couple of the items found in my Etsy shop:

Out in the bush in Niger (west Africa) is a place called Galmi and SIM has a hospital there. We visited Galmi and stayed on the hospital compound in 2001 for the national life conference that SIM holds every year.

The trip out there was very bumpy, the potholes were often over a metre wide and much of the time we drove off road (alongside the main road on the dirt). Driving through Africa you are sure to see some interesting sights such as these:

The hospital itself is nothing like our hospitals here in Australia. Entering the building for a tour isn’t something you do if you have a weak stomach.

Here’s my friend Janella and I outside the front gate:

and a mother with her sick baby:

as you can see, I will never complain about waiting rooms at the doctors here in Australia again from the waiting room there (which is fairly standard I was told):

Why the nostalgic post about somewhere I visited over 6 years ago? Because a friend of ours who worked in Niger while we were there has been working on a website for Galmi and its gone live recently. The website is:

Galmi Hospital

This is one of their photos from the site. It reminds me of something our missionary tour guide told us while there, that one of the most common injuries at the time was from Fulani men who had fallen out of a tree and hurt their foot. They were trying to collect food for their herd and often would walk on the injured foot for days before treatment.

If you have a minute, please have a look at their site. Feel free to leave comments on what you think of it here and I’ll pass them on to our friend.

I’m enjoying playing around with this mosaic maker from flickr’s big huge labs. I thought I’d share this one that I did. Its a mosaic of some photos taken while we were in Niger with SIM in 2001. There were a few pics of some paintings I did in the flickr folder I used too so they are here as well!

1. Amanda and Fulani Lady, 2. African boy, 3. Michael and Fulani baby, 4. Fulani lady with baby and Amanda, 5. Fulani2, 6. Hadiza, 7. African lady beauty, 8. Lonely child, 9. AMANDA UP ON CAMEL, 10. Schoolkids close up, 11. Nigerien classroom – Maradi, 12. Michael with schoolkids, 13. Galmi gate

I have been posting a lot about my polymer clay creations here this year and just wanted to take a minute to summarize a few things completely outside of that. I suppose to be honest, creating and being creative is an integral part of my everyday and this year I have been trying to get my Etsy and Wahmania (and now Mintd) stores up and running.

There are however other facets of my life that I would like to share. I’m sure that you’ve probably figured out what they are by now but here’s a summary of the things that I’m passionate about besides Etsy and selling my polymer clay.

1. God. Underlying all my decisions, behaviour, attitudes and reactions is God who reminds me gently when I’m off kilter or acting selfishly. No matter how undisciplined I might get as far as reading my Bible, its ingrained firmly in me that I need to pull myself back into line.

2. Family. My hubby, daughter, parents, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, in-laws and extended family are all very important to me. Our family is very close and yet most of us live very far apart. This is very hard but something I have accepted as I believe my parents and brother and sister-in-law are following what God has laid on their hearts to do (they are all missionaries in Papua New Guinea). Yay for Skype!

3. Missions. I have always been passionate about seeing others around the world hear the good news that they are not alone in this world. When I say always I mean since I was a little kid. Whether its SIM or another mission doesn’t matter to me. I also believe strongly in a holistic approach to this. There is no point in preaching at someone that Christ died for them and loves them if they have no food, water, education, skills or shelter. In order to really tell someone that Christ loves them you must first display this love GENUINELY. If someone chooses not to accept that Christ died for them then that is their choice. It makes me sad though.

4. Some General and Less Serious Passions. Op (thrift) shopping, Moleskine doodling, painting, drawing, playing with Keziah, white chocolate, malted milk, jam donuts, patterns, damask, being tidy, journaling, traveling, Africa, watching Survivor, watching the amazing race.

Ok, so if you didn’t really know me, now you’re getting a little closer. I may sound as if all I talk about is my Etsy shop but the truth is, that would be number five on the list of true passions, it just so happens that I find it easier to blog about it!

For the month of May the PCAGOE (see title) had the theme of using polymer clay plus one other medium for their monthly challenge. As I am a painter as well and recently experimented with using paint on clay I couldn’t resist this for the theme.

I created a piece of artwork which shows the similarities between African and non African women.

I’ve painted the face and features and added gold earrings.

There is more to this than a nice picture. The bright blue space behind her has writing in it. It reads:

To Do
Collect;
water
wood
maize

and on the right:

Pound Grain
Cook maize,
Feed man and Kids.
Rest.

Its for sale on my Etsy store site which can be found here - Polyclarific

Soon it will be listed on the PCAGOE website along with all the other entries for voting which can be found here: pcagoe site

I’ve seen this meme around the place and wondered if I’d eventually get tagged. I did today by Etsa Sketch (check out her blog and shop, her work is fantastic!).

Rules
1.List seven random facts/habits about yourself
2.Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
3.Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.

Ok, heres the 7 random facts (with added piccies for fun!):

1. I have always had an interest in other cultures. When I was a kid I collected dolls in national costume starting with a gorgeous Hawiian doll my Aunty brought me back from her travels. I then wanted to be a translator or liguist. We did end up travelling to around 13 countries since we got married including some of the usuals (UK, USA, France) and some less commonly travelled ones – Papua New Guinea, Benin and Niger (those two are in West Africa). We were doing missionary work teaching in a MK (Missionary Kid) school in Niger and visiting my parents in PNG (who are missionaries there). We are now involved in an international mission called SIM.

Chicago USA – Navy Pier (1998)

Papua New Guinea (2001)

2. I love to be creative. I have to create every single day or I go nuts. I have a background in painting mainly in acrylics and oils and did a BA Arts (Visual Arts – Painting) from 2002-2004. I have never had a ‘proper’ exhibition (I’m a bit of a chicken) but feel that I could if I tried. I’ve tried my hand at calligraphy, beading, pastels, watercolour, scratchboard, folk art, paper art, printmaking, sculpture, illustration, mixed media, murals, backdrops, knitting, hand sewing and more recently took up polymer clay work. This is my current passion although I know I’ll return to painting one day (first love and all that).

Start of a pastel Painting (Girl from Say, Niger, pronounced Sigh)

3. I am an organiser. I have to be organised to function. I tidy my house anyway even though no one is looking, mainly because I go crazy if there’s mess. I have done a secretarial course (one requirement was to prove that I could use a stapler so no, it wasn’t hard) and have worked as a secretary a few times.

4. I love white chocolate. Thats all I have to say about that.

5. I’m a fan of Tom Hanks. Everyone who knows me well knows this. I know most of his movies (fav being Forrest Gump) and have collected quite a few, even the more obscure ones. I just think he’s one of the best actors in the world. Oh and and once again, thats all I have to say about that.

Michael sitting on a bench at the Viacom Store in Chicago, similar to the Forrest Gump one

6. I’m a bit of a loner. I can go for days on my own and keep occupied.

7. I’m a Christian. I chose to accept Christ when I was a kid and this relationship with God grew more when I was in high school. Some influences have been my parents and their example to me, reading stories of the old missionaries, especially George Muller, attending Girl’s Brigade and going to Bible College (by choice).

Girls Brigade fonomarie 1990 (I’m third from the left in the front row – I’m short so I’m always in the front row!!)

Ok, I tag: My sister-in-law Candy at Burns Abroad, Jeremy at JeremyinAfrica, Suzy at Diuranta, Kate at Two Little Banshees, Simon at SIMMISSION, Jenise at JPatPurses and Jay and Janella at The JayRod

When I saw the PF theme this week this is the photo that came to mind. This was taken while we were visitng the West African country of Benin while we were short-termers with SIM in Niger. We went there on a holiday with another family. Apparently they are burning their crops but I’m not sure about the details behind it.