Photos!!!

Betoji, Lawali, Larai, Tahan'ci, and Naito on top of a van. We rode around like that when we went to Park W, a wildlife reserve. We saw some antelope, guinea fowl and elephant footprints. Highlight of the trip was actually an elaborate game of mafia at the tent site and a scorpion sighting.

We got really, really grimy just from the absurd amount of dust on the road.


These are some camel-sellers at the Sunday market outside Niamey.

This is a typical view of the landscape outside the city. There are stretches of empty sand with scattered housing compounds. This is a little village.

These are from our vacation in Burkina Faso. One of the most striking things about Burkina is how much green there was. They get rains twice a year instead of once, and it shows. We went to an African film festival in Ouagadougou (pronounced Wagadewgew). Some of the films were fantastic. The good ones we saw were "Teza" from Ethiopia, "Jerusalema" from South Africa, "Mascarades" from Algeria, and "L'Absense" from Guinea. They dealt with some pretty heavy issues. It was interesting to see many different parts of Africa on screen.



We explored a huge series of small waterfalls in Western Burkina. It was so, so much fun!

Larai and I outside one of our hotels in Burkina.

Playing Settlers of Catan after my mom sent it!

That's all for now. I don't really have any pictures of times when we're not on vacation. I'll try to get on that.

Mon horaire

FoFo, Tout la monde ! It has been a long time since I’ve updated, so I’m not really sure where to start. I think I’ll just give you a sense of what my schedule is like, so that you can have a general idea of what I’m doing. It’s almost time for me to go to bed, so I’ll keep the colorful anecdotes down.

Monday:
8:30-10:30am Go to the Notre Dame orphanage to teach beginning English to a class of 4th-5th graders at a school they run for the surrounding community. Usually, this involves trying to find a cab that will take us for 40 cents each over some sand roads. Sometimes, it includes getting a marriage proposal from the taxi driver (yes, more than once!), and it’s often complete with friendly Hausa conversation with the other passengers. The school is well-run. I often sit and observe Monsieur Sulé teach before I get up for my lesson. It’s amazing how quickly kids can soak up new vocabulary and figure out what’s going on when I only use English in the classroom. They are a lot of fun. All classes are taught in French, here, and the kids from the orphanage only know French. There is no Hausa or Zarma or Fulfuldai or Tamashek used; actually, French is the only language all the kids have in common. After teaching we (Yakawa and I, most days) often stop by the orphanage building to talk to the staff as they put together lunch or play with the toddlers. We spent an hour one day just sitting in the waiting room at the orphanage’s clinic, making small talk in Hausa (some French) with the mothers waiting for their babies to get vaccinated. One of them is going to have us over for lunch!

3-6:30pm. Ina tahin gidan kallo, saboda ina da aiki can. Ina yin zane-zane tare da Abdul Azeez.
Go to the musée to work on batiks with Abdul Azeez. Sit under a canopy on a dirt hill overlooking a crowd of houses, joke with the batik artisans, paint melted wax onto fabric, and listen to Celine Dion or Cote D’Ivoire music on someone’s cell phone. Afterwards, make my rounds to other artisan friends. Sit on the mat beside Jelou, the silver artisan, drink tea, and piece together Hausa sentences. Go to the woodcarving hut and talk about philosophy in French it Idi and Omar. Stop by to see Nanu, the leather guy with a great toothless smile.

7-8pm African Dance class!
A huge ensemble of dancers and musicians shows up every time. We dance in the courtyard, and people gather to watch.

Tuesday:
8-10am Hausa class (in Hausa/French) with Tahan’ci, Larai and our teacher, Issa. It is fabulous—Issa teaches Peace Corps volunteers, and he has just translated a Doctor Seuss book into Hausa! He bent over laughing for a full minute after Tahan’ci told him that she doesn’t want to get married until she’s twenty-nine.

2-4pm Introduction to International Development (in French) with a professor who used to be the Minister of Equipment for Niger. He is goofy and endearing. There are four of us in the class.

6:30-8:30pm Culture and Society of Niger class (in French) with Amina, who is a fantastic, Nigerien feminist. She talks about women’s issues a lot, but we’ve spent the last couple classes talking about possession ceremonies. We’ve been on a bunch of fieldtrips. I can’t believe this is school.


Wednesday:
8-10am Hausa class!

6:30-8:30pm More Intro to Development class. A couple times, we went to a local university to participate in their development class. Next week, we’re going to a conference with someone from the World Bank.


Thursday:
Like Tuesday—school, batiks, tea


Friday:
8-10am Performing Arts of Niger class (in French) with Yazi Dogo, the movie actor whose house I went to for lunch. He acts out a lot of things. Tahan’ci, who is only in First-Semester French, says that it’s like a big game of charades.

10:30-12:30 Hausa class!

4-6pm Culture and Society class again!

7pm Djembe (drumming) class with Oumarou, who was clearly born to drum


Saturday:
10am-afternoon. Batiks at the musée

5pm Teach English to Monsieur Sule, from the orphanage school.


Sunday:
Morning: Go to church (when we don’t have a “BU program activity”), and have lunch at the house of whomever brought us to church

6pm Teach an English class to a group of artisans to enable them to discuss their work and to negotiate prices with Anglophone tourists.


Of course, we rarely have a week that goes by this schedule. Life keeps us on our toes.



I don't know this guy's name, but he's a leather artisan who not only loves Obama (like everyone here) but shows it. The picture is too small to show, but the poster says, "Obama, President des Etats Unis. Les USA emerveillent (amaze/fascinate) la monde."