Tailless Geckos and Pirogues of Pumpkins: a day in the life of Niamey

Salaam Aleikum tout le monde,

First, I am VERY sorry if this blog seems boring so far b/c there are no pictures, but I PROMISE i will get my act together and post some asap, I have been snapping some of my homestay family and also very covertly in town (it's not always ok to be whipping out the camer and shooting away downtown, so I have to be careful), so I'll get them onto computer asap.

I decided I should fill you all in on my impressions of Niamey so far, because I don't think I have really done that (apologies to any peeps that have already been to Niger, and also I must say that I haven't been here that long so I am no expert) . . . this capital city is unlike any capital I have ever been to, mostly because it feels as if a bunch of wide, open boulevards and colonial trees (you know, the white painted ones) were plopped onto a red, sandy Sahelian plateau.

Niamey is rather "chill" as African cities go; sure, there are the big bustling markets and intense cab drivers, but with the heat, and especially with Ramadan, you can see many people sprawled out on mats taking a break around 2 p.m. or so (I would too if I was fasting in 95 degree heat!). There is also the beautiful, reddish brown Niger River, which separates the Universitee Abdou Moumouni from the heart of the city . . . at any time of day you can see people bathing or washing clothes, riding on pirogues, transporting loads of produce, and so on. I watched the sunset from a kind of expatty hotel the other night and I will post a pic of that soon. Niamey is not huge, and it's not too hard to navigate, since there are good landmarks such as "chateaux"/water towers and stadiums which every "taximan" knows. Taxi riders are good for learning new greetings in Hausa and Zarma, and also for having funny discussions about marriage, democracy, etc.

I have been told that Niamey is very different from the rural parts of Niger, which does not surprise me given my preconceptions of what life might be like for people living in the "most underdeveloped" country in the world. Although you can try to ignore signs of poverty if you put blinders on, these signs are fairly evident: children sniffing glue, clearly malnourished toddlers, kids picking through garbage, and the list goes on. However, this by no means is a sad place. I'm not trying to oversimplify things, but it does seem to me that family is very important here and that people make do with what they have, and above all, stand by their family and loved ones, which I think is wonderful and powerful. I have certainly seen this realized with my homestay family here . . . last night my homestay mom and I went to visit her parents; we walked over there (just down the street) at about 9:30 p.m. (it was a nice night with stars and a little moon), stayed for a half hour, then walked back, and it is these types of visits and interactions that make Nigerien culture pretty darn cool. My homestay family spends so much time together, and with tons of family/guests over, it is unbelievable!!

This is getting long, but I just wanted to give a laundry list of the things I have seen in the last 24 hours: many tailless geckos, huge boats (pirogues) stuffed with Cinderella-liked GINORMOUS pumpkins (you make sauce with them), whole wheat bread at the best boulangerie in town! Three camels strolling down the street, a bustling Ramadan bazaar, a random kid peering in my concession just to say hi, and when I was in a taxi, we hit two gendarmes on a moto, they were not very pleased but they were fine, we weren't going too fast. Oh, and when I was buying a chocolate bar yesterday, a french/lebanese not sure which guy told me I was fat, and then my homestay mom told me I had lost weight since arriving, hmm, people love to talk about that stuff here.

Ok, time to walk to the franco/nigerien cultural center, I am going to try to read this crazy long book on the Tuaregs in French in preparation for an interview with a major dude Tuareg historian. Bon weekend!

xoxo
Mags