… and the Marriage Proposal!!

While in the village on Sunday to do a census of the local children, my guides and I entered a small Djarma village located down the hill (“mountain” in Fulfulde!) from the chief’s land.  I have been in this village a few times, so I am getting to know these villagers – a grouping of about 10 huts.

The men of the village were off in their gardens working, but the women and children gathered around to provide the names and ages of their children.  As they speak Djarma in this village, my guides also interpreted for me as I can only converse in a few greetings.

As we were getting ready to leave, one of the men wandered into the village.  It didn’t take a translator to interpret that the laughter and gestures of the ladies was to indicate that I should write down this man’s name to the list – for surely this “child” needed to go to school as well.  (I’d estimate he is in his forties!)  It appears the Djarma like to tease each other as much as the Fulani!

We laughed for a while …. but then the joke turned on me as the man said something while everyone laughed – my guide then translated what the man had said: “I have always wanted a white wife!”

To which I responded:  “I don’t know a white lady.  As for me – I am a Fulani!  But, I will keep my eye out for you, in case I meet a white lady!!”

As my guide interpreted my response back, while laughing himself, the ladies, the man, and then I burst into uproarious laughter!!! 

So, there we have it ….. four months in and I have my first official marriage proposal of my second term!  Proposed and avoided … but then I realized that my brilliant evasion will only work in a Djarma village and not in a Fulani village.  So, I will need to think hard to determine how to joke my way out of a Fulani proposal!

A Brighter Future

Sunday marked another day in the village … out in the one site that does not have a school – the nearest school being 4 km away!  This is a long distance for children to walk, especially considering the school day in Niger is divided – meaning the students go to school in the morning, return home at 1pm for lunch and a siesta and then return to school again at 3pm for another few hours!  This walk four times a day is too much and too far – so many children from the village do not attend school.

This year, my team and I are seeking to help in two ways – help the village apply to the government for a school to be built, and start a “mini-school” …. a straw hut building where the children can come twice per week to start learning French and literacy – getting a step up on their education until such a time as the government can open a public school.

The chief’s son and I, plus another village guide, headed out to count how many children live in the area – Djarma and Fulani children – both those in school and those who are not.  Within a two km radius of the chief’s land, we found 62 children ages 5-10; of which, 10 are in school (some living with relatives in Niamey) and 52 children who are not attending school.

Though there are more Djarma and Fulani sites behind the marsh that will benefit from the government school - I am estimating at this point approximately 200 children who are not in school – we will cap our “mini-school” at these children immediately in the area!!  The chief’s son is a teacher and he will be teaching these children.  There are many details to work out yet, but it is exciting to see what can be done for these children!

Chicken Farm in my Tire Well

Yesterday was spent driving around the Kongu village, taking surveys of three village areas to follow-up on the mosquito net distribution of May 2012.  At one hut, the wife of the family decided to gift us with a chicken. 

As I stood under the shade of a tree, I watched as five children chased a bunch of chickens around for five minutes, trying to catch one …. it was a loud cacophony of noise as the flock of chickens, roosters, and baby chicks scattered all over in the chase!!!  Finally, one chicken was caught and handed to me, its feet tied together.  My friend and the others were surprised that I was not afraid of the chicken!!  Being a farm girl at heart, I had no problem with carrying the chicken. 

 

The men decided to put the chicken in the tire well of the spare tire that I carry in the back of my truck – the sand ladders (to help me get out of deep sand if I get stuck) were laid across and a plastic mat wrapped over to keep the chicken from escaping.  Soon, we were on the road again and off to another hut.  As I drove off I was thinking in my head “chicken in my tire well” …. it seemed like it should somehow be a song, but I couldn’t figure out a good tune, so it remained a thought.

As we were getting ready to leave the next grouping of huts, the father of the home decided to gift us a chicken as well … and again, I sat under a tree and watched the children of the family chase the chickens all over the area!  The older man trying to help by waving his shepherd stick at the chicken whenever it ran in front of him!  They almost succeeded as they herded a chicken into some bushes and all the children circled around, but the chicken won that battle as it escaped between their hands!  Finally, a chicken was caught and soon joined the first – now, I’m thinking: “two chickens in a tire well – if I get another, I will have a chicken farm!”

We then proceeded to the next, and final, group of huts to complete the day’s work of surveying.  As I finished my questions, the father of the home left the hut for a minute as my friend and I continued to chat with the other family members.  Soon, I heard chickens squacking and children laughing – and I could see the children and chickens running circles around the hut!!  Sure enough, chicken number three was under duress …. soon caught by laughing children and its legs tied up and deposited on the hut ground until we left.

As I drove back to city, I realized that my tire well had indeed become a chicken farm!!

Laughing with my Fulani Friends!

Well, today has been a day with much laughter among my Fulani friends and acquaintances!  A day where I feel and know that I have adapted well to the culture and the language as my friends enjoy and compliment what I have to say!

The day started with meeting a few of the village ladies at the home of the village chief’s son.  The chief has been sick, but is doing much better since I took him to the clinic for medication, and everyone in the village is coming to greet him in his sickness. 

Yes – here, in the Nigerien culture, when one is sick, one is visited by friends and family!!  They show their love by coming to greet you.  I don’t know about you – but when I am sick, I’d usually not rather see anyone!  There are exceptions, but that is the general par for course in my life!

The chief’s son had it out with everyone yesterday saying that his father needed to rest to get better.  This term in Fulfulde always makes me laugh a bit – “"duki” …. which in my English/Fulfulde mind sounds more like “duk-ied” … or our expression “to duke it out”.  His words not quite that intense, but everyone today was sitting under the tree whilst the chief rested quietly in the hut. 

I was greeted as I walked in – and the first lady to greet me would not release my hand.  I had not seen her yet since my return – which, sheepishly, but honestly, is not too bad.  This lady is the one in the village who always asks me for EVERYTHING …. straw mats for her home, medicine, the clothes off my back (not sure how she thinks I can drive home without), more grain.  Every time I see her is met with a request.  However, today, I somehow stumbled unknowingly in the Fulani culture of laughing off a request and getting away with it! 

I’ve always known this to be the case, but I cannot usually pull it off well or quickly enough.  Today though, she fingered my bracelets, necklace and earrings.  And then boldly asked me for my necklace.  Now, I know in the Fulani culture, their saying is that “a bare wrist is a male hand”.  The same goes for bare ears and a necklace-less neck!  So I told her – well, you have one necklace and I have one necklace!  That didn’t work, she insisted I turn it over.  And then came my brilliant sentence:

I cannot give you this necklace …. if I do, no one will know that I am a lady (female)!!

She laughed, she cackled, she gave me the hand slap that means I have just said the funniest thing ever.  All the ladies laughed.  I laughed.  And then she said “You are right.  You cannot give me your necklace.  Who taught you your Fulfulde??!?  You are now truly Fulani!”

And then, the subject was dropped!  Well, I guess I am becoming more Fulani, because that came out without any fore-thought!

The chief’s son and I left shortly thereafter to head to a nearby village to visit his cousin and my friend Aissa.  After our quick visit, she jumped in the truck to head back to town for a meeting.  Aissa loves my truck. …. More specifically, Aissa LOVES the air conditioning in my truck!!!  Often she remarks that she will come home with me and sleep in my truck so she can pass the night in the cold!

The last time she was in my truck, she remarked that my truck was the “owner of cold”.  To which I informed her that my truck also owned “heat” – and promptly flipped all the switches over to blast the heater.  That was one of my most favourite funny moments in Niger … the heater was on for maybe 5-10 seconds and Aissa was sitting in the back seat.  Though the heat came on remarkably fast, I doubt she felt much of the heat where she was sitting.  Y et, immediately, she begins to shout:

Turn it off …. turn it off …. I am going to die …. I am going to die!!!

Yup, it was pretty funny!

Today, she remembered that – and so she told me that I (not the truck) was the “owner of cold”.  To which I responded:

Well, yes, of course – I was just in Canada for the year where it is cold, so I trapped all the cold in a bag and brought it with me to Niger!

We laughed in the car for a good five minutes – and then again: “Your Fulfulde is good … who taught you that Fulfulde??!?”  To which I smugly replied “my head”!  (I’m not entirely sure which part she thought was particularly “good” Fulfulde, but she seemed to really crack up over the idea of my putting cold in a bag!)

Yes, I love living in this country …. learning every day how to assimilate to the Fulani culture.  Laughing with my friends until we are brought to tears.  And feeling their acceptance of me into their lives, their language, and culture!

Home Sweet Home

At long last, these are finally words that I can utter!!  It has been a long 3.5 months since I arrived in Niger.  It has been a long 3.5 months since I, along with my family, were evacuated from High River just before I left for Africa.  And a long 3.5 months of feeling unsettled and longing for a place to call home and to be surrounded by the feeling of “the familiar”.  It will be longer yet before the rest of my family are in their homes as well and surrounded by their “familiar” and acquainting themselves with the unfamiliar they have had to purchase as replacements in the damage.  But the joy and peace of being in a building to call home is indescribable!!

I’ve been living in my house now for two nights.  I’d say that I was sleeping here for two nights – but, because neither the fan nor a/c were working in my bedroom, technically, my first night I spent tossing in my sweat on the bed (‘tis hot season after all!).  But last night, after the a/c technician came to install a new a/c unit – I slept wonderfully.  In fact, it worked so well, I wished for a quilt, but settled on turning the temperature up.  The fan is now also working, so that will keep me comfortable after hot season is finished!

The last two weeks have been busy with frenetic activity …. it takes much to move into an African house!  And this all after waiting two months to upgrade the electrical outlets (add grounding wire to all the plug-ins), install windows with mosquito netting, fix walls and doors that were bashed apart, spray the house to eradicate termites, and paint. 

Much work has (and will still) go into making my kitchen “western style”.  I am still waiting kitchen cabinets for dishes, and eating off Ikea kids plates for now!  We also decided to make the outside guest room, which was off the wall to the kitchen, into an indoor pantry – this required bashing a hole in the wall between the existing kitchen and the outside room.  A mason came and cemented the hole to an open doorway and laid tile on the floor between.  So, now I have a kitchen and space for my freezer and pantry cupboard!

 

            my kitchen                                                new entry to pantry

These final last two weeks, my teammates have helped me install curtain rods, wall fans for my kitchen, and my gas stove (after a return visit to the store for a replacement part of something broken!).

Last weekend, I hired a “mover” and a big truck came to bring all my stuff out of the container and to my new house.  All in all, the move went well with only one hazard – they dropped my washing machine and broke the control panel. …. We’ve reattached it and no wires were disconnected, so hopefully it will still work – the plumber is coming tomorrow to connect it to the water pipes.

The other tragedy is that termites somehow found their way into the container and past all the insecticide powder around the inside circumference of the container!!  It could have been much worse, as the majority of my furniture is untouched (uneaten!) …. only two pieces were worse for wear and will need to be repaired and replaced. 

 

My desk took the brunt of the termite jaws – the drawers even became the “home” of the termites.  But, a carpenter is able to salvage the top and redo the drawers and put it back together again!

 

Amazingly – they did not attack all the cardboard boxes – only three were eaten, and thankfully did not contain inside things which the termites would eat. 

My books I was grateful to have packed inside the barrels where they were safe and sound!  Only a few books did not fit in the barrels – and thankfully, I packed these in rubbermaid containers …. oh the termites were so close to these books – but stymied in their path. 

You can see the dust of their tracks and path on the top of the rubbermaid lid - If only they knew how close they were!

After the movers were finished, I was left with a living room full boxes and barrels to unpack!!  This became my staging area and from here I unpacked and took parcels and items to their appropriate rooms! 

 

I discovered along the way another casualty:

 

I guess even a hot water bottle can only withstand so much heat!

A few friends came over to help with the task, and by Saturday evening, my living room area was looking more normal!

Although there is no pizza delivery in Niger …. one of my friends prepared a pizza for the evening and my teammate next door graciously baked it in her stove for us ….

“It’s not delivery, it’s delissio!!”  … er, close enough!!  But it was delicious – topped with chorizo sausage and cheese!

Over the next few days, friends and teammates came to help with the task of unpacking …. my kitchen was mostly arranged (all except the glassware), my living room and my bedroom all arranged.  Though some unpacking needs to be done in each area – I’ve declared it liveable.  Indeed – with the coffee pot being the first installation – I’m good to go … the essential taken care of!! 

Next room to tackle – my office!  I am looking forward to getting out all my Fulani materials and starting on some work again! 

And looking forward to this next week of slowly tackling all that needs to be done until the house is completely finished and all the boxes are put away!

Finally – scrapbooking stickers come in handy in Africa!!

Now I can remember which switch turns on the kitchen light and which the outside light ….. and also I hope this will help me remember to turn off the outside light in the morning so it does not run all day long!