Rising from the Ashes

A letter from Claire Zuhosky serving in Niger

July 2015

It has now been three months since the fire and it feels like recovery is finally starting to take hold. As I look forward to moving into a new place, I am excited for the opportunity it will provide me to get to know people on a new level by inviting them into a house of hospitality.

The last couple of months in Niger have proven to be quite difficult but bearable; due to it being the hot season, there have been many days and nights without electricity, no water to bathe with, and plenty of sun. So much sun and heat have infinitely increased my understanding of human sweat glands. The way that this heat affects most people is that you are extremely sluggish, trying to achieve most of the day’s work in the afternoon. At night you pray earnestly that the electricity stays on to keep the fan going or, as many Nigerien families do, you take your mattress outside and sleep under the stars. I am very thankful that I have been able to find relief from the heat by going to the local pool—without it I am most sure I would be only a white glob on the black pavement of Niger.

Some of the teen youth I work with; we all go to the same church

It is an exciting time for the youth of Niger as they prepare for their National Youth Conference to be held in the beginning of August in the capital city of Niamey. It will be a time for all Christian youth within Niger to meet as an assembled body, to worship together, to learn from scripture, and to enjoy a time of fellowship. Imagine, if you will, being the minority religion, one Christian teen among a sea of Muslims, not having the freedom to express your spiritual nature as you would like in all situations, but through this conference you get to experience the body of Christ in such a manner that you understand the concoction of grace, power, love, and victory that lives within you in a new and profound way. There should be about 500 to 700 students in total who will attend the conference, with at least 300 of those students coming from Maradi. The students look forward to this event for multiple reasons—ultimately it is an opportunity to worship God and to grow in their faith, but it also provides an avenue in which to see family that distance makes it hard to keep in touch with. I am very much looking forward to attending this event with the youth, lifting them up with prayer and encouragement all along the way. I also have been working with a group of about eight men to help plan a regional youth meeting to occur in the area of Maradi at the end of July. This will be a four-day event in which the youth are involved in the following activities: worship, Bible presentation, sports, and drama.
I am excited to report that I have passed the third level (B1) of the DELF/DALF French Language examinations and will begin to prepare for the next test (B2) to occur in November. We have taken a month off from language studies so that my fellow students and teacher who are Muslim can devote their attention to observing their most holy of holidays, which is called  Ramadan. This holiday of 30 days is celebrated as the time in which the Quran, their holy scriptures, was given to them. They fast from daybreak to sunset, having a large meal in the morning prior to fasting and one at night to break the fast together. During their fast they are not to eat, drink, have sexual relations with their husband or wife, or gossip. Fasting is seen as a way to break away from the sins of the world and it is to be a time of prayer and reciting the Quran. During Ramadan I have seen many men at the mosque reciting prayers and the Quran as I pass on the street. It is next to impossible to find food vendors on the street during fasting hours so you must prepare your meals at home, and the hours in which stores are open vary. But there has been no hostility toward Christians, and when I greet my friends I wish them a good holiday. The Christian community in Niger likes to use these 30 days as a time to pray for their fellow brothers and sisters who are of the Islamic faith, that they will see Christ in a new and profound way.

My French teacher, who I absolutely love, and have enjoyed getting to know!

One of my close girlfriends here in Niger, a young woman, recently broke up with her boyfriend and did not eat anything for five days. Some of this trauma was obviously losing someone she loved very much, but even more it was her lack of hope and utter desperation in thinking about how this breakup would affect her future. She was not able to finish school as she struggled academically and she had told herself the only way she was going to survive life was to marry this man. Scars like this affect me deeply when I think about the opportunities Niger holds for its teens and especially its women. If she could be given the skills she needs to provide for herself, what type of women would she then be? What type of creativity would ooze out of her? Niger is a hard terrain, difficult to traverse even for its most advanced wandering nomad. There must be a Youth Center here in Niger, where teens can come and learn different vocational, parental, and life skills in order to prepare them for a brighter future. So that a whole life does not get thrown away because someone breaks up with them. Dreams like this take a lot of planning, discernment, and financial backing, but dreams like this most definitely come true—they have come true all over the world and now it is Maradi, Niger’s turn. Please join me through your prayer and financial support as we lift up the youth of Niger to a level playing ground where everyone’s future is blooming with new Light.

Prayer Requests:
• Please pray for the youth of Niger, that the Lord would provide people to come alongside this dream for a Youth Center and provide us with His vision! That the Lord would provide people who would like to donate to the construction and formulation of a Youth Center.
• Please pray for the youth of Niger as they prepare for both the regional and national youth  events, that it would be an opportunity for teens to come to Christ and for them to solidify their faith. Please pray for their safety as many are making a 10-hour trip by bus to participate.
• Please pray for permanent housing to be finalized.
• Please pray that I may fully recover from the fire: financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That the Lord would work through this event in ways that only He can so that all glory and honor would go to His name.
• Please pray about the financial shortfall of PC(USA) World Mission. For more information on World Mission’s current financial status and ways in which you can aid please visit:  http://bit.ly/1cgHkGj.

Your Sister in Christ,
Claire Zuhosky, M.Div.
Youth Center Development Specialist
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 133