Sannu/ Barka jem tout le monde ! (Hausa/Fulfulde greetings to everyone !)
I am in Zinder, on my way back from a great trip way out East near the Chadian border. I was in a town called Diffa, a "regional capital" in Niger which is actually quite small compared to the other regional capital cities like Zinder, Maradi, and Tahoua. One might guess that the reason Diffa is small and has very little infrastructure is because it is over 1300 kilometers from Niamey, and of course the roads are not exactly great, so it's a 2-day bus ride any way you cut it.
It was totally worth the trip for me, because I went to Diffa to interview a woman named Hadizatou Issa, who has founded several different women's organizations to help the women of her remote, somewhat isolated community and who is just a rockstar of a person. Everyone in the region (aka hundreds of kms around Diffa) knows her by Iyaye, which means "mother of everyone" in Fulfulde, her mother tongue; this title is fitting considering she has six grown children, is currently raising few little grandkids, and she also has (it seems) scores of people in Diffa who call her their mom and who are always stopping my her hut to say hello.
I spent 4 days in Diffa with Iyaye and interviewed her about her life and work, and also just had fun cooking with her and walking around the town with her daughters and napping under a tree in the afternoon heat. I had the chance to attend a weekly women's meeting at her house, where about 30 women gathered to collect money for the "caisse" or communal banking account, which they use to finance small projects or help a sister out with starting a donut making business or sending a kid to a bigger city to go to school, etc. The relationship between these older women (by older I mean 40s and 50s because it's Niger and by my age women have a few kids, may be married and divorced, etc.), many of the widows, was just amazing to see. They work so closely together and help each other out and care for each other's kids and support each other, I don't know how else to describe it but amazing and inspiring. Not to sensationalize things, but I did find it interesting that in two different households I visited, 2 widows were living together with a bundle of kids; turns out they were co-wives and their husband died. Iyaye said that they get along just fine and work together to raise their kids.
When I left Diffa yesterday morning at 5am, I was sitting next to the high school director (Diffa only has 1 high school) who, surprise, knew Iyaye because her sons went to the high school and she was the leader of the parent-teacher association. He said, "I am certain that if she had gone to school, she would be very far from here today." Iyaye speaks 5 languages, including French, fluently despite being illiterate and never having attended school. I thought this was a pretty telling quote.
This morning my Peace Corps friend Jamie and I were supposed to catch a ride out to another friend's village. I wanted to go out there to chat with people about the "exode" phenomenon and hopefully write a little story about it; "exode"= men leave their village and go to Nigeria or other coastal countries like Ivory Coast in search of jobs and money, sometimes they don't come back for a few years, sometimes they come back with HIV/AIDS etc. It's an interesting issue and I'm excited to learn more. Anyway, my friend Paige is building a school in her village and her builder was supposed to drive out for a meeting this morning, so he was going to pick us up at 9 am. We felt lucky because usually it is an hour long bush taxi ride then a 2 hr walk through the sand in the blazing heat to her village. Turns out no luck today; at around 11 am the builder rolls up to the peace corps hostel on his motorcycle and says sorry, his 4x4 broke down yesterday so there is no car to take us . . . well now we are waiting out the heat and plan to do the 2hr sandy walk around 4 pm. C'est la vie, whatever, it will be nice if we ever get to the village. I am headed back to Niamey on Friday, which will bring the number of day-long bus rides to a whopping 4 in the last 10 days! As they say here, Wallai, KAI! All this bus time has given me the chance to muse about the wonders of Nigerien public transport, although you might not be interested, I need to vent, so I think I shall muse about this on my blog next time I write ;) I will also post pictures from beautiful Diffa!
Hope all is well and email me and tell me what you are up to!
Cheers,
Mags
p.s. Guess what? I am leaving Niger in a little over six weeks. Boo, that is crazy, I don't know if I will be ready to leave my home of the last 7 months, it's treated me pretty well!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
More pics!
Greetings,
Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:
Street scene in St. Louis, that blue and yellow vehicle is a type of public transport called a car rapide
My tailor Sherif with his wife Alhousseina and his daughter Ghaicha on his 38th birthday, we watched the sunset and had dinner on the Niger river to celebrate:
Rocking Tuareg band at the wedding last weekend:
The family with our Senegalese friend Allasane, at the top of nice hill overlooking Dakar, we were visiting an awesome lighthouse:
Niamey's Petite Marché, center of lots of activity!
Family in pagne:
Cheers,
Maggie
Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:
Street scene in St. Louis, that blue and yellow vehicle is a type of public transport called a car rapide
My tailor Sherif with his wife Alhousseina and his daughter Ghaicha on his 38th birthday, we watched the sunset and had dinner on the Niger river to celebrate:
Rocking Tuareg band at the wedding last weekend:
The family with our Senegalese friend Allasane, at the top of nice hill overlooking Dakar, we were visiting an awesome lighthouse:
Niamey's Petite Marché, center of lots of activity!
Family in pagne:
Cheers,
Maggie
Monday, April 7, 2008
Tuareg wedding of the century rocks Niamey
Oyiwen/Greetings,
I did just post a way-too-long blog entry, but I couldn't resist writing again. Yesterday (Saturday) I went to the most AMAZING wedding, no offense to other cool weddings I have attended, but this was the probably the most ridiculously awesome wedding that I have ever attended, I have never experienced anything like it!
The first cool thing about the wedding was that the "jeune marie" is someone I know well, one of Habsou's sisters who works a lot at Tin Hinan, Habsou's women's NGO in Niamey, which I hang out at a bit when I'm in town. Her name is Ramatou. This was the first Nigerien wedding where I knew the bride well; I have been to lots of weddings but usually with friends, so I didn't necessarily know the bride and groom well.
On Friday night, my friend Alice and I went to visit Ramatou at Habsou's parent's house. Ramatou had just had her hands and feet covered in beautiful, intricate henna, but she was mad b/c she thought the design had too many "lines" in it, and apparently Nigerien dudes don't like that kind of henna much; maybe she just had some wedding-eve jitters. Alice and I watched a crew of ten women peel and chop potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and other veggies for a couple of hours (seriously). The quantities of food they were preparing were absurd, and one of the marmites was large enough to fit an ENTIRE SACK OF RICE THAT IS 50 KILOS! And Habsou said they were using the meat (and everything else, brains, etc.) from an entire cow for the occasion. Anyway it was impressive. People get stressed about weddings in the U.S. but often people have food catered for a wedding with 200 people, instead of cooking it themselves . . . not Nigeriens! We left the house after midnight; the women were still chopping and I don't think any of them got much sleep, considering that the fatia (religious ceremony) started at 8 am.
I didn't make it back to the house where the wedding was happening until 11 am (I had to visit some neighbors and have 3 rounds of tea with them, which takes a while), but when I arrived, the party was popping. Men were milling around outside the house, incense was billowing out of the big salon, women were still cooking, others were eating, babies were crying and laughing, toddlers were running, and somewhere in the back, some women were doing the traditional Tuareg wailing. And there was a mini concert with sweet Tuareg instruments (violins, little mandolins) going on the porch. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely (minus the crying babies), and it was just a great party. There were two old women who were literally hopping up and down as they encouraged a young man who was using a gigantic stick to pound millet in the giant-sized pot over a smoky open fire. I stuck around long enough to eat 2 meals and greet everyone I knew at the wedding, plus make some new friends. Then I had to go home to regroup and change outfits, because the women said I was dirty. If there is anytime an unmarried woman is supposed to look saucy in Niger, it is at a wedding! If the marriage is not an arranged one, I think the most likely place to meet your husband is at a wedding. This isn't a huge concern of mine, so I actually just went and bought a wedding present (colorful plastic platter, large metal bowl) and didn't shower and came back.
When I got back there were over a hundred people in the street (not paved, more like the desert, overrun with too much damn sand), spilling out of a large tent, rocking out to a loud Tuareg guitar concert. Ghaicha (Habsou's daughter) found me and dragged me first to say hi to Ramatou, who was still hiding in the bedroom (the bride can't come out until 9 pm or so, when the husband's family comes to take her to the groom's new house), and then she led me back to the concert and pushed me into the tent. Suddenly I was in the middle of a rocking dance party, mostly women wearing beautiful clothes plus some random kids and then men poking the head in. There were three electric guitarists, a drummer with a nice drum set, a fancy guy in a boubou and turban, and a bunch of amps. The musicians don't usually play together but got together for the wedding and they were amazing. I tried to take capture the mood with photos but it wasn't really possible. After an hour or so of dancing, yelling, clapping, etc., I emerged from the tent super sweaty and got a ride with a friend on someone's moto, through the deep sand to the main road, so of course we fell off once but ca va. The party wasn't even close to over when I left at 6 pm, but I was tired and wanted to go swimming.
The point is, I cannot believe how hardcore these Nigeriens were about partying it up at this wedding. It was a total blast for everyone but the hidden-away bride, who will hopefully get to watch the festivities on video later.
These kind of days are my favorite kind in Niger, the ones where I am doing something fun and ridiculous that I have never done before—shaking my tailfeather with Tuaregs of all ages while speaking Tamashek and holding a baby?—and then I think, what the heck am I doing? Is this actually happening? Then I feel really lucky to be here and get sad about the thought of leaving ;(
Hope all is well wherever you are, and that you have the chance to shake your booty ("bouge ta fes" en Francais) this weekend!
Here's a picture from the Tuareg wedding with my Tuareg moms, Habsou (left) and Fatima (right)...notice their matching wedding uniforms and the appliqued guinea fowl on the straps of my shirt:
And here's a cute pic of my real Mom and me at a bird reserve near St. Louis, Senegal:
Xoxo, Maggie
I did just post a way-too-long blog entry, but I couldn't resist writing again. Yesterday (Saturday) I went to the most AMAZING wedding, no offense to other cool weddings I have attended, but this was the probably the most ridiculously awesome wedding that I have ever attended, I have never experienced anything like it!
The first cool thing about the wedding was that the "jeune marie" is someone I know well, one of Habsou's sisters who works a lot at Tin Hinan, Habsou's women's NGO in Niamey, which I hang out at a bit when I'm in town. Her name is Ramatou. This was the first Nigerien wedding where I knew the bride well; I have been to lots of weddings but usually with friends, so I didn't necessarily know the bride and groom well.
On Friday night, my friend Alice and I went to visit Ramatou at Habsou's parent's house. Ramatou had just had her hands and feet covered in beautiful, intricate henna, but she was mad b/c she thought the design had too many "lines" in it, and apparently Nigerien dudes don't like that kind of henna much; maybe she just had some wedding-eve jitters. Alice and I watched a crew of ten women peel and chop potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and other veggies for a couple of hours (seriously). The quantities of food they were preparing were absurd, and one of the marmites was large enough to fit an ENTIRE SACK OF RICE THAT IS 50 KILOS! And Habsou said they were using the meat (and everything else, brains, etc.) from an entire cow for the occasion. Anyway it was impressive. People get stressed about weddings in the U.S. but often people have food catered for a wedding with 200 people, instead of cooking it themselves . . . not Nigeriens! We left the house after midnight; the women were still chopping and I don't think any of them got much sleep, considering that the fatia (religious ceremony) started at 8 am.
I didn't make it back to the house where the wedding was happening until 11 am (I had to visit some neighbors and have 3 rounds of tea with them, which takes a while), but when I arrived, the party was popping. Men were milling around outside the house, incense was billowing out of the big salon, women were still cooking, others were eating, babies were crying and laughing, toddlers were running, and somewhere in the back, some women were doing the traditional Tuareg wailing. And there was a mini concert with sweet Tuareg instruments (violins, little mandolins) going on the porch. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely (minus the crying babies), and it was just a great party. There were two old women who were literally hopping up and down as they encouraged a young man who was using a gigantic stick to pound millet in the giant-sized pot over a smoky open fire. I stuck around long enough to eat 2 meals and greet everyone I knew at the wedding, plus make some new friends. Then I had to go home to regroup and change outfits, because the women said I was dirty. If there is anytime an unmarried woman is supposed to look saucy in Niger, it is at a wedding! If the marriage is not an arranged one, I think the most likely place to meet your husband is at a wedding. This isn't a huge concern of mine, so I actually just went and bought a wedding present (colorful plastic platter, large metal bowl) and didn't shower and came back.
When I got back there were over a hundred people in the street (not paved, more like the desert, overrun with too much damn sand), spilling out of a large tent, rocking out to a loud Tuareg guitar concert. Ghaicha (Habsou's daughter) found me and dragged me first to say hi to Ramatou, who was still hiding in the bedroom (the bride can't come out until 9 pm or so, when the husband's family comes to take her to the groom's new house), and then she led me back to the concert and pushed me into the tent. Suddenly I was in the middle of a rocking dance party, mostly women wearing beautiful clothes plus some random kids and then men poking the head in. There were three electric guitarists, a drummer with a nice drum set, a fancy guy in a boubou and turban, and a bunch of amps. The musicians don't usually play together but got together for the wedding and they were amazing. I tried to take capture the mood with photos but it wasn't really possible. After an hour or so of dancing, yelling, clapping, etc., I emerged from the tent super sweaty and got a ride with a friend on someone's moto, through the deep sand to the main road, so of course we fell off once but ca va. The party wasn't even close to over when I left at 6 pm, but I was tired and wanted to go swimming.
The point is, I cannot believe how hardcore these Nigeriens were about partying it up at this wedding. It was a total blast for everyone but the hidden-away bride, who will hopefully get to watch the festivities on video later.
These kind of days are my favorite kind in Niger, the ones where I am doing something fun and ridiculous that I have never done before—shaking my tailfeather with Tuaregs of all ages while speaking Tamashek and holding a baby?—and then I think, what the heck am I doing? Is this actually happening? Then I feel really lucky to be here and get sad about the thought of leaving ;(
Hope all is well wherever you are, and that you have the chance to shake your booty ("bouge ta fes" en Francais) this weekend!
Here's a picture from the Tuareg wedding with my Tuareg moms, Habsou (left) and Fatima (right)...notice their matching wedding uniforms and the appliqued guinea fowl on the straps of my shirt:
And here's a cute pic of my real Mom and me at a bird reserve near St. Louis, Senegal:
Xoxo, Maggie
Friday, April 4, 2008
Fick Family Adventures in Senegal
Salut tout le monde,
I returned to Niamey on Monday after an AMAZING time in Senegal, and I intended to write about the trip on Tuesday, but then things got busy and now it is Friday…c'est la vie, this week I got some work done saw my Niamey pals and Tuareg family, who I had missed, and also go swimming in the Olympic-sized pool! The pool is actually 1 cm short of 50 meters, apparently someone made a petit mistake; oh well, I still enjoy doing a few laps, and it's officially the only way to exercise now that hot season is seriously under.
Now, details on the Vacation of Greatness, where to start…I guess with just how awesome it was to see my parents and my little brother Charlie after a darn long time apart! It was so nice to have all of us together, and especially to reunite in Senegal, because (1) I wanted my family to see why I liked living in Africa so much and (2) We actually spent more time together because there weren't distractions like Blackberries, iPods (well we did have those), work, etc. My mom did remark that at times it was a bit claustrophobic for the 3 non-Francophone Ficks, b/c they could only speak to each other, whereas I could speak to Senegalese people…I for one enjoyed being the mouthpiece for the family, you all know that I like to talk;) I realized how hard it is being a translator, but it was definitely good practice for me! I had to think of accurate translations of my favorite phrases, such as "incha'allah" and "wallAIHI!"
I arrived in Dakar a few days before the family arrived, so I was charged and ready to go when they arrived at 5:30 am on Monday morning. Good thing our hotel wasn't ready, it was a great excuse for me to drag my exhausted parents and brother all around Dakar, to the top of the minaret in the Grande Mosque, down the fancy new oceanfront boulevard ("La Corniche"), and into delicious patisseries .
We spent a few fun days in the capital, and a highlight was hanging out with Allasane, a nice Senegalese student who was a friend of an American professor who I met in Niamey (West Africa is really quite small once you get to know it un peu!). He took us to the top of a lighthouse called La Mamelle, where we could see the whole city and Westernmost point of Africa, and we also enjoyed some tasty yassa poisson, a traditional Senegalese dish of rice and fish or chicken topped with sauteed lemon and onion sauce, together at the West African Research Center.
We also visited Ile de Gorée, an island with old colonial buildings just off the coast of Dakar. Gorée was a former holding site for captured people on the way to the Americas to become slaves, and there is an though-provoking museum there. We met a saucy lady named Mariama who slapped me on the butt when I was bargaining with her for a necklace for my mom; I ended up getting a sweet purple complet/skirt-top set, and mom even got one necklace for free! Mom, Dad, and Char: Mariama says hello, I went back to greet her when I was back on Gorée the weekend after you left.
Here's a picture of my Mom and me and Mariama when we were haggling about the price of the things we wanted to buy from her:
And here's a picture of us after we had agreed on the price and were friends again:
After Dakar we headed North with our trusty taximan Badian, a delightful dude who has seatbelts in his cab -- never see that in Niger! We got stuck in a HUGE traffic jam on our way to St. Louis because we were traveling on Mouloud, aka the Prophet's Birthday, and there were thousands of people coming back from a pilgrimage to an important mosque…wallai it was fun to see so many people in so many types of transport!
I am getting longwinded, so I'm going to resort to bullet point highlights to round out the description of our vacay:
· St. Louis is another old colonial town with a kinda weird vibe, but Char got a rockin patchwork boubou called a "baillefal"…not spelling that right but I encourage you to look up the history of the different Muslim sects in Senegal, there is definitely something about the baillefal men, I believe they are part of the Touba sect. Also, Mom got a little sick but she kept a smile on her face and got well in time to go to an awesome bird reserve, where we rode in a pirogue and learned about the environmental history of the river and ocean and spit of land (sorry I'm not so biologically-oriented, it was really cool though). We got to chill in a Mauritanian tent and drink 3 rounds of Senegalese sugary-minty tea, also excellent.
· After a few days in St.Louis, we cruised down to the Petite Cote, South of Dakar, and landed at this "funky and rustic" seaside hotel covered in seashells. The views were nice, but not everyone was a fan of the well water system, which meant showers weren't so possible (no biggy though). There was also a ridiculous amount of blatant sex tourism, which was a bit of a turnoff. Not to make light of this, it's a big issue in Senegal and the Gambia, and it's mostly white European women who fund the industry. Gross.
· Next we went to another beach town called La Somone and stayed in a nice little house with a cute pool, steps from the ocean, running water, etc., much more our style. Dad ran a lot one day, Mom did too (natch), Char and I slept a lot, and all of us got a lot of sun. It was nice to be in a quiet, not-too-touristy town, but we did enjoy going into Saly-Portugal, which is a rather luxe resort town with some nice amenities.
· On the family's last day in Senegal, we got stuck in a 3-hour traffic jam on the way back from the beach (good thing Dad wasn't driving!) and then did an awesome job getting some more colorful clothes made for Charlie and Dad by our new tailor friend.
· It was definitely sad to say goodbye to my parents and Charlie, but we had a wonderful trip and I am already looking forward to seeing them in August at home on Bainbrdige, incha'allah.
After the family left, I stayed with my cool friend Leigh, who is on an awesome yearlong grant called the Watson fellowship (watsonfellowship.org). She studying reproductive rights in four countries: Peru, South America, Senegal, and Turkey. She's almost done with her time in Dakar so she was a great tour guide for me; we took the crazy crowded car rapides (hard to explain, bus-like, painted blue and yellow, you jump in the back like you would get in a paddy wagon, you trip over people, you bang on the metal wall to get out…) and also ate the best Lebanese sandwich of my life (if you have ever been to West Africa, you know how omnipresent Lebanese cuisine is). I also had fun chilling with the Senegalese Fulbrighters, who showed me a bit of the Dakar nightlife, wallai, those Dakarois are stylish, daring fashionistas if I do say so myself! I could have done without the blasting techno music but it was a blast nonetheless.
It is great to be home in Niger, it really does feel like home here now. Next week I am "voyage-ing" out to Diffa, a stone's throw from the Chadian border, thus VERY FAR AWAY from Niamey and it will be a painful journey. More on why I am doing this next time!
Hugs to all and thanks for reading!
Maggie
I returned to Niamey on Monday after an AMAZING time in Senegal, and I intended to write about the trip on Tuesday, but then things got busy and now it is Friday…c'est la vie, this week I got some work done saw my Niamey pals and Tuareg family, who I had missed, and also go swimming in the Olympic-sized pool! The pool is actually 1 cm short of 50 meters, apparently someone made a petit mistake; oh well, I still enjoy doing a few laps, and it's officially the only way to exercise now that hot season is seriously under.
Now, details on the Vacation of Greatness, where to start…I guess with just how awesome it was to see my parents and my little brother Charlie after a darn long time apart! It was so nice to have all of us together, and especially to reunite in Senegal, because (1) I wanted my family to see why I liked living in Africa so much and (2) We actually spent more time together because there weren't distractions like Blackberries, iPods (well we did have those), work, etc. My mom did remark that at times it was a bit claustrophobic for the 3 non-Francophone Ficks, b/c they could only speak to each other, whereas I could speak to Senegalese people…I for one enjoyed being the mouthpiece for the family, you all know that I like to talk;) I realized how hard it is being a translator, but it was definitely good practice for me! I had to think of accurate translations of my favorite phrases, such as "incha'allah" and "wallAIHI!"
I arrived in Dakar a few days before the family arrived, so I was charged and ready to go when they arrived at 5:30 am on Monday morning. Good thing our hotel wasn't ready, it was a great excuse for me to drag my exhausted parents and brother all around Dakar, to the top of the minaret in the Grande Mosque, down the fancy new oceanfront boulevard ("La Corniche"), and into delicious patisseries .
We spent a few fun days in the capital, and a highlight was hanging out with Allasane, a nice Senegalese student who was a friend of an American professor who I met in Niamey (West Africa is really quite small once you get to know it un peu!). He took us to the top of a lighthouse called La Mamelle, where we could see the whole city and Westernmost point of Africa, and we also enjoyed some tasty yassa poisson, a traditional Senegalese dish of rice and fish or chicken topped with sauteed lemon and onion sauce, together at the West African Research Center.
We also visited Ile de Gorée, an island with old colonial buildings just off the coast of Dakar. Gorée was a former holding site for captured people on the way to the Americas to become slaves, and there is an though-provoking museum there. We met a saucy lady named Mariama who slapped me on the butt when I was bargaining with her for a necklace for my mom; I ended up getting a sweet purple complet/skirt-top set, and mom even got one necklace for free! Mom, Dad, and Char: Mariama says hello, I went back to greet her when I was back on Gorée the weekend after you left.
Here's a picture of my Mom and me and Mariama when we were haggling about the price of the things we wanted to buy from her:
And here's a picture of us after we had agreed on the price and were friends again:
After Dakar we headed North with our trusty taximan Badian, a delightful dude who has seatbelts in his cab -- never see that in Niger! We got stuck in a HUGE traffic jam on our way to St. Louis because we were traveling on Mouloud, aka the Prophet's Birthday, and there were thousands of people coming back from a pilgrimage to an important mosque…wallai it was fun to see so many people in so many types of transport!
I am getting longwinded, so I'm going to resort to bullet point highlights to round out the description of our vacay:
· St. Louis is another old colonial town with a kinda weird vibe, but Char got a rockin patchwork boubou called a "baillefal"…not spelling that right but I encourage you to look up the history of the different Muslim sects in Senegal, there is definitely something about the baillefal men, I believe they are part of the Touba sect. Also, Mom got a little sick but she kept a smile on her face and got well in time to go to an awesome bird reserve, where we rode in a pirogue and learned about the environmental history of the river and ocean and spit of land (sorry I'm not so biologically-oriented, it was really cool though). We got to chill in a Mauritanian tent and drink 3 rounds of Senegalese sugary-minty tea, also excellent.
· After a few days in St.Louis, we cruised down to the Petite Cote, South of Dakar, and landed at this "funky and rustic" seaside hotel covered in seashells. The views were nice, but not everyone was a fan of the well water system, which meant showers weren't so possible (no biggy though). There was also a ridiculous amount of blatant sex tourism, which was a bit of a turnoff. Not to make light of this, it's a big issue in Senegal and the Gambia, and it's mostly white European women who fund the industry. Gross.
· Next we went to another beach town called La Somone and stayed in a nice little house with a cute pool, steps from the ocean, running water, etc., much more our style. Dad ran a lot one day, Mom did too (natch), Char and I slept a lot, and all of us got a lot of sun. It was nice to be in a quiet, not-too-touristy town, but we did enjoy going into Saly-Portugal, which is a rather luxe resort town with some nice amenities.
· On the family's last day in Senegal, we got stuck in a 3-hour traffic jam on the way back from the beach (good thing Dad wasn't driving!) and then did an awesome job getting some more colorful clothes made for Charlie and Dad by our new tailor friend.
· It was definitely sad to say goodbye to my parents and Charlie, but we had a wonderful trip and I am already looking forward to seeing them in August at home on Bainbrdige, incha'allah.
After the family left, I stayed with my cool friend Leigh, who is on an awesome yearlong grant called the Watson fellowship (watsonfellowship.org). She studying reproductive rights in four countries: Peru, South America, Senegal, and Turkey. She's almost done with her time in Dakar so she was a great tour guide for me; we took the crazy crowded car rapides (hard to explain, bus-like, painted blue and yellow, you jump in the back like you would get in a paddy wagon, you trip over people, you bang on the metal wall to get out…) and also ate the best Lebanese sandwich of my life (if you have ever been to West Africa, you know how omnipresent Lebanese cuisine is). I also had fun chilling with the Senegalese Fulbrighters, who showed me a bit of the Dakar nightlife, wallai, those Dakarois are stylish, daring fashionistas if I do say so myself! I could have done without the blasting techno music but it was a blast nonetheless.
It is great to be home in Niger, it really does feel like home here now. Next week I am "voyage-ing" out to Diffa, a stone's throw from the Chadian border, thus VERY FAR AWAY from Niamey and it will be a painful journey. More on why I am doing this next time!
Hugs to all and thanks for reading!
Maggie
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wallai! Ca fait TROP longtemps!/ it's been a while
Howdy everyone,
Well, a couple people have emailed me lately asking if I have fallen off of the face of the earth, or settled permanently in the desert among the nomads, so I decided it was time to stop being lazy and update my blog! In fact, I am still in Niamey and doing quite well. Sorry for being out of touch for quite a while; my main excuse is that I have been doing a lot of writing and using my laptop a lot, so when I have free time I prefer not to spend it staring at the computer screen. But again, sorry for not writing for so long and I hope you will find your way back to my blog and say hi!
Since it's been so long since I've written, I don't quite know where to start. I guess I'll start with what is most fresh in my memory—the Advanced English class I visited tonight at the American Cultural Center. The nice guy who directs the English language program at the ACC asked me to come speak to one of the English classes, and so I showed up at 7pm like he said and found a very nice Nigerien woman as the teacher, who spoke English quite well. At first I thought the class was incredibly small (there were only 5 students), but 15 more showed up after the sunset prayer. There were 5 women in the class and about 15 men, and they looked to me to be mostly in their late 20s or 30s, some older. This makes sense because the English classes at the ACC are not free, and of course not everyone can afford to pay for them, especially not young students, and also this was the advanced class. We had a lively discussion about the U.S. elections, and at one point one of the students came to the board and explained to the class the issue with the superdelegates in the Obama-Clinton race. Someone had asked about the primary election, and I avoided going into the details of the superdelegates because I didn't want to confuse everyone and was already concerned that it might be difficult for them to understand me. I was wrong, because the student got up and spoke English twice as fast as I was speaking (still slower than my normal speed ;)) and explained the delegate process perfectly. It is incredibly impressive to see how much people here know about the U.S. elections; if Americans knew even a fraction as much as other world ctiizens about different political systems, the world would be a different/better place in my opinion.
I was also using my notorious "Franglais," a combination of French and English plus a few local expressions in Hausa and Zarma, until the teacher said, "Maggie, please, we speak English here"; oops. Another funny incident occurred when we were talking about Barack and Hillary and I said, "Do you think the American people would really elect a woman as their president?" I said this because I have had many discussions with Nigeriens about the elections, and sometimes (not always), men will say something like, "but seriously, the U.S. is too powerful, there is no way that a woman could handle that position." I just wanted to see what these English students thought, and to my delight, they laughed and said, "Are you crazy? Of course a woman could be President!" and "Come on, why not?" I am personally rooting for Obama, but it did make me happy to hear that these people were okay with the idea of a female president. The English students also enjoyed the pictures of my family and friends and couldn't believe that Charlie is my "little brother."
Since last I wrote, I have been trying pretty hard to research and write newspaper articles to send to international papers. I have written about street food, African fabric (called pagne), the taxicab scene in Niamey, a camel ride in the desert, and I am currently working on a story about "les anciens combatants," Nigerien soldiers who fought for France in World War II. I'm very excited because in April I'm going to a town called Diffa, in the far East of the country and practically on the Chadian border. I am traveling there to interview (and write kind of a profile/portrait story about) a cool woman who started an NGO to help widows of armed conflict in Niger; she is illiterate but speaks French and Hausa and a few other languages, and is quite well known in Niger. It will take me two solid days on the bus to reach Diffa, and in April it will be around 120 degrees F in the shade, but it should be worth it to get to hang out with this lady for a few days. To be honest, it's quite possible that none of these stories I have mentioned will be published, but this is a good learning experience for me and I want to give this journalism idea a try before doing something drastic like moving to a random city and doing an unpaid internship with a newspaper! I'll let you know if anything comes of this silly plan…
I think I've had amoebas/stomach bacteria/giardia/whatever you want to call it twice since I wrote last. That's okay though, people here are so ridiculously nice that when you tell them you're sick they come over and visit you and bring you food, although the last thing you want is food. They also give you advice about how to kill the parasites; I think the craziest advice I received was from a Peace Corps volunteer, who told me to fast for 24 hours to starve the bacteria and swallow whole cloves of garlic (I didn't eat for a while but I couldn't make myself do the garlic thing). I'm making a Niger scrapbook and I put the Fasigyne pill box in it. Fasigyne is a serious parasite-killing drug that makes you want to lie under your ceiling fan all day long. To my credit I only laid under my fan for a few hours yesterday and then forced myself to go get some things done, but only because I am going to Senegal on Friday and need to tie things up before then…oh yes, on Friday I am going to Dakar, Senegal, where I will see my parents and my brother Charlie and it will be a delightful wonderful vacation! It will be the Fick Family's first "sejour en Afrique"/ visit to Africa, so I am trying very hard to make it a great one, in hopes that they will return to visit me again if I end up staying here a bit longer! ;)
Besides writing articles and thinking about new topics and emailing away in hopes of something working out, I have been enjoying weekend yoga with some friends, little trips to Sunday markets, pirogue rides on the Niger river (including hippo sightings!), and especially entertaining guests at my house. Well, it's not my house, I share it with two lovely roommates, and it couldn't be more fun. We have outfitted the place with plenty of plastic mats for optimal lounging potential, and we have great speakers which lead to interesting dance parties; a recent memorable one involved my 45+year old Tuareg friend Fatimata shaking her booty to some Coupe Decalé (look up the music videos on youtube) while her teenage daughter Leila and my homestay sister Ghaicha whipped their braids around at a frightening speed…here's an okay photo of the scene:
I also had an unexpected visitor (who I shall not reveal in the blog), which was fantastic because I got to play the role of Niamey tour guide. Because I've spent the past two months in Niamey, I feel more at home here now than in the beginning of my project when I was traveling around the country a lot. It was great to show my friend my favorite places (a Cameroonian restaurant, the Grand Marché) and introduce the visitor to my friends. Highlights were going to the Grand Mosque, going on a tour of a fabric factory (truly a dream come true), a full moon picnic on the sand dunes outside of Niamey, and tutoring my Tuareg family's kiddos in English.
Today I was reading my friend Becky's awesome blog (she is in Indonesia on a Fulbright), and she was commenting on how generous people are in Indonesia, and the idea of communal/collective vs. individualist societies. It is also true in Niger that people are willing to do almost anything to help other people, and this is not an exaggeration. For example, it is considered rude not to offer what you are eating to other people in the room who are not eating. If you compliment someone on her earrings, she will probably reach up and take them off and try to give them to you. I think it is doing me a lot of good living in this communally oriented society, because (I hope) it is making me more cognizant of the needs of others, even if just in small ways. People here set such a good example of generosity and consideration for others, so it is a blessing just to be around this culture. I try to think of nice "cadeaux"/gifts to bring to my friends' houses, whether it's a bottle of ginger juice or a kid's coloring book, and now I don't even think twice about showing up at someone's house unannounced; I think the rule here is, as long as you say "salaam aleikum" before you enter, you are always welcome. I hope that I will come back to the U.S. and continue these practices, even if my friends and family find them bizarre! I really like having visitors and being a visitor and making people feel welcome, so I hope that I will remember how much fun I had doing these things in Niger and not let myself get stressed out or forget how easy and fun it is to just hang out on the floor on a plastic mat (although I don't know yet how I will transport my beloved plastic mats back home!)
Ok, this entry has gone on for quite long enough, so I will wrap it up now. Thanks for the emails and letters, I love being in touch and promise to send you a postcard with cool stamps (of President Tandja, of camels) if you send me your address! One more thing: I'm going to SE Asia and China from mid-June to mid-August, then I'll fly home to Seattle. Then after a few wks I will probably move to 1 of 2 places, both start with Ds and one is in the U.S. and one is in West Africa, but who knows we'll see. In the event that you are my friend or family member and have the intention to be in any of those places I mentioned—Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seattle…--DO let me know so we can get in touch! And (if my money is not all gone, incha'allah I won't spend it all in Asia) I may need to make trips to other U.S. cities (San Fran, DC, NYC) to find friends that I miss a whole lot, so if you want, email me if you wouldn't mind a visitor in mid-late August.
I will try to post more frequent updates, and I will definitely post some pics after the Fick family reunion au Senegal! Unfortunately I lost my camera in a taxi recently, so I don't have too many fun pics to share, but I'll leave you with one I took in February in a small island village in the middle of the Niger river up near the Malian border, where someone expressed their love to someone else with a creative wall painting. Don't ask me why it's in English, but it's pretty cool:
And just one more, taken by my friend Alice of her friend's little son, how can you not love this little fellow?
Sai an jima/ see you soon (in Hausa),
Mags
p.s. it's only March so I'm not going to start any serious complaining about hot season just yet, but if you are bored, check out the high temps in Niamey. At least mangos are abundant and cheap now.
Well, a couple people have emailed me lately asking if I have fallen off of the face of the earth, or settled permanently in the desert among the nomads, so I decided it was time to stop being lazy and update my blog! In fact, I am still in Niamey and doing quite well. Sorry for being out of touch for quite a while; my main excuse is that I have been doing a lot of writing and using my laptop a lot, so when I have free time I prefer not to spend it staring at the computer screen. But again, sorry for not writing for so long and I hope you will find your way back to my blog and say hi!
Since it's been so long since I've written, I don't quite know where to start. I guess I'll start with what is most fresh in my memory—the Advanced English class I visited tonight at the American Cultural Center. The nice guy who directs the English language program at the ACC asked me to come speak to one of the English classes, and so I showed up at 7pm like he said and found a very nice Nigerien woman as the teacher, who spoke English quite well. At first I thought the class was incredibly small (there were only 5 students), but 15 more showed up after the sunset prayer. There were 5 women in the class and about 15 men, and they looked to me to be mostly in their late 20s or 30s, some older. This makes sense because the English classes at the ACC are not free, and of course not everyone can afford to pay for them, especially not young students, and also this was the advanced class. We had a lively discussion about the U.S. elections, and at one point one of the students came to the board and explained to the class the issue with the superdelegates in the Obama-Clinton race. Someone had asked about the primary election, and I avoided going into the details of the superdelegates because I didn't want to confuse everyone and was already concerned that it might be difficult for them to understand me. I was wrong, because the student got up and spoke English twice as fast as I was speaking (still slower than my normal speed ;)) and explained the delegate process perfectly. It is incredibly impressive to see how much people here know about the U.S. elections; if Americans knew even a fraction as much as other world ctiizens about different political systems, the world would be a different/better place in my opinion.
I was also using my notorious "Franglais," a combination of French and English plus a few local expressions in Hausa and Zarma, until the teacher said, "Maggie, please, we speak English here"; oops. Another funny incident occurred when we were talking about Barack and Hillary and I said, "Do you think the American people would really elect a woman as their president?" I said this because I have had many discussions with Nigeriens about the elections, and sometimes (not always), men will say something like, "but seriously, the U.S. is too powerful, there is no way that a woman could handle that position." I just wanted to see what these English students thought, and to my delight, they laughed and said, "Are you crazy? Of course a woman could be President!" and "Come on, why not?" I am personally rooting for Obama, but it did make me happy to hear that these people were okay with the idea of a female president. The English students also enjoyed the pictures of my family and friends and couldn't believe that Charlie is my "little brother."
Since last I wrote, I have been trying pretty hard to research and write newspaper articles to send to international papers. I have written about street food, African fabric (called pagne), the taxicab scene in Niamey, a camel ride in the desert, and I am currently working on a story about "les anciens combatants," Nigerien soldiers who fought for France in World War II. I'm very excited because in April I'm going to a town called Diffa, in the far East of the country and practically on the Chadian border. I am traveling there to interview (and write kind of a profile/portrait story about) a cool woman who started an NGO to help widows of armed conflict in Niger; she is illiterate but speaks French and Hausa and a few other languages, and is quite well known in Niger. It will take me two solid days on the bus to reach Diffa, and in April it will be around 120 degrees F in the shade, but it should be worth it to get to hang out with this lady for a few days. To be honest, it's quite possible that none of these stories I have mentioned will be published, but this is a good learning experience for me and I want to give this journalism idea a try before doing something drastic like moving to a random city and doing an unpaid internship with a newspaper! I'll let you know if anything comes of this silly plan…
I think I've had amoebas/stomach bacteria/giardia/whatever you want to call it twice since I wrote last. That's okay though, people here are so ridiculously nice that when you tell them you're sick they come over and visit you and bring you food, although the last thing you want is food. They also give you advice about how to kill the parasites; I think the craziest advice I received was from a Peace Corps volunteer, who told me to fast for 24 hours to starve the bacteria and swallow whole cloves of garlic (I didn't eat for a while but I couldn't make myself do the garlic thing). I'm making a Niger scrapbook and I put the Fasigyne pill box in it. Fasigyne is a serious parasite-killing drug that makes you want to lie under your ceiling fan all day long. To my credit I only laid under my fan for a few hours yesterday and then forced myself to go get some things done, but only because I am going to Senegal on Friday and need to tie things up before then…oh yes, on Friday I am going to Dakar, Senegal, where I will see my parents and my brother Charlie and it will be a delightful wonderful vacation! It will be the Fick Family's first "sejour en Afrique"/ visit to Africa, so I am trying very hard to make it a great one, in hopes that they will return to visit me again if I end up staying here a bit longer! ;)
Besides writing articles and thinking about new topics and emailing away in hopes of something working out, I have been enjoying weekend yoga with some friends, little trips to Sunday markets, pirogue rides on the Niger river (including hippo sightings!), and especially entertaining guests at my house. Well, it's not my house, I share it with two lovely roommates, and it couldn't be more fun. We have outfitted the place with plenty of plastic mats for optimal lounging potential, and we have great speakers which lead to interesting dance parties; a recent memorable one involved my 45+year old Tuareg friend Fatimata shaking her booty to some Coupe Decalé (look up the music videos on youtube) while her teenage daughter Leila and my homestay sister Ghaicha whipped their braids around at a frightening speed…here's an okay photo of the scene:
I also had an unexpected visitor (who I shall not reveal in the blog), which was fantastic because I got to play the role of Niamey tour guide. Because I've spent the past two months in Niamey, I feel more at home here now than in the beginning of my project when I was traveling around the country a lot. It was great to show my friend my favorite places (a Cameroonian restaurant, the Grand Marché) and introduce the visitor to my friends. Highlights were going to the Grand Mosque, going on a tour of a fabric factory (truly a dream come true), a full moon picnic on the sand dunes outside of Niamey, and tutoring my Tuareg family's kiddos in English.
Today I was reading my friend Becky's awesome blog (she is in Indonesia on a Fulbright), and she was commenting on how generous people are in Indonesia, and the idea of communal/collective vs. individualist societies. It is also true in Niger that people are willing to do almost anything to help other people, and this is not an exaggeration. For example, it is considered rude not to offer what you are eating to other people in the room who are not eating. If you compliment someone on her earrings, she will probably reach up and take them off and try to give them to you. I think it is doing me a lot of good living in this communally oriented society, because (I hope) it is making me more cognizant of the needs of others, even if just in small ways. People here set such a good example of generosity and consideration for others, so it is a blessing just to be around this culture. I try to think of nice "cadeaux"/gifts to bring to my friends' houses, whether it's a bottle of ginger juice or a kid's coloring book, and now I don't even think twice about showing up at someone's house unannounced; I think the rule here is, as long as you say "salaam aleikum" before you enter, you are always welcome. I hope that I will come back to the U.S. and continue these practices, even if my friends and family find them bizarre! I really like having visitors and being a visitor and making people feel welcome, so I hope that I will remember how much fun I had doing these things in Niger and not let myself get stressed out or forget how easy and fun it is to just hang out on the floor on a plastic mat (although I don't know yet how I will transport my beloved plastic mats back home!)
Ok, this entry has gone on for quite long enough, so I will wrap it up now. Thanks for the emails and letters, I love being in touch and promise to send you a postcard with cool stamps (of President Tandja, of camels) if you send me your address! One more thing: I'm going to SE Asia and China from mid-June to mid-August, then I'll fly home to Seattle. Then after a few wks I will probably move to 1 of 2 places, both start with Ds and one is in the U.S. and one is in West Africa, but who knows we'll see. In the event that you are my friend or family member and have the intention to be in any of those places I mentioned—Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seattle…--DO let me know so we can get in touch! And (if my money is not all gone, incha'allah I won't spend it all in Asia) I may need to make trips to other U.S. cities (San Fran, DC, NYC) to find friends that I miss a whole lot, so if you want, email me if you wouldn't mind a visitor in mid-late August.
I will try to post more frequent updates, and I will definitely post some pics after the Fick family reunion au Senegal! Unfortunately I lost my camera in a taxi recently, so I don't have too many fun pics to share, but I'll leave you with one I took in February in a small island village in the middle of the Niger river up near the Malian border, where someone expressed their love to someone else with a creative wall painting. Don't ask me why it's in English, but it's pretty cool:
And just one more, taken by my friend Alice of her friend's little son, how can you not love this little fellow?
Sai an jima/ see you soon (in Hausa),
Mags
p.s. it's only March so I'm not going to start any serious complaining about hot season just yet, but if you are bored, check out the high temps in Niamey. At least mangos are abundant and cheap now.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
New pics!
Habsou giving a speech at her NGO's (Tin Hinan) Graduation ceremony for the first group of women who have made it through the training, skills building, and literacy classes that Tin Hinan offers. They began their training in Feb. 2006, so they have worked hard for this day.
Class photo!
My good friend Ruki and me in the Petit Marche, this was while I was shadowing an awesome streetfood vendor while she made her weekly purchases
Class photo!
My good friend Ruki and me in the Petit Marche, this was while I was shadowing an awesome streetfood vendor while she made her weekly purchases
just checkin in
Hello everybody,
Happy late Groundhog’s Day and Super Bowl Sunday weekend! Okay that was a weird beginning to a blog post, but those were two things I thought about this past weekend so I thought I would mention them…in fact, these American cultural landmarks made me realize just how far I am from home, but not at all in a bad way, in an exciting way! I’ll explain.
On Sunday, after spending most of the day in fragrant (that’s a nice way to put it), bustling markets with some awesome Nigerien women, I went swimming in my friends’ UNHEATED pool and It felt great. As I paddled around, I thought, it is the beginning of February, and I am swimming in an unheated pool.
If there was a groundhog in Niger, it would say that the windy “harmattan” season is almost over and it’s about to get ridiculously hot. I’m actually scared for the hot season, but I am trying to approach it positively by thinking about mangoes and swimming and how some people say saunas and sweating are good for your health.
On Sunday night, at 12:30 am to be precise, the Super Bowl game started and some American friends and I watched the game at the U.S. Marine’s house. That was a surreal experience in itself, but the funniest part was that after Tom Petty’s performance (I did not like his hair), I decided to head back to my friends’ house, where I was spending the night. It was 3 am and I made the 15-minute walk back home by myself…don’t worry, it was completely safe! The one person I crossed paths with said “salaam aleikum,” which means “peace be with you,” or “I come in peace.” I wouldn’t walk just anywhere in Niamey, but still, how cool is it to be able to walk around in the middle of the night in some parts of the capital city?? Plus there are stars b/c this is a small city!
These days, I’m just plugging away on some stories about various aspects of Niamey life, taking Hausa lessons, tutoring my Tuareg family in English, and watching the African Nations cup. I also have been buying African fabric in preparation for getting some clothes made for my American parents and my bro Charlie, who are going to meet me in Dakar, Senegal, in March! Yipeeee…I’m also looking forward to hosting a friend who is coming to visit me next week.
I hope you folks in the U.S. enjoy watching Super Tuesday results come in, I will be excited to check online tomorrow!
Much love,
Maggie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
