Tondociere - Opening Day of School

As the government opened a primary school in the first village area this year - after two years of our running a weekend mini-school - I set my sight on the next village area, which is out another 10 km.  Here neither is a school and there are many children eager for one to open!

I met first with the parents in December to explain the process of our weekend school and the requirements they would need to fill - for both this school and a government school in the following year.  The parents eagerly agreed that they want a school for their children.  They began that week to build the school hut and I returned for the following two weeks to register their children's names.  

Then - at the beginning of January, my teammates and I went out to the village to open the school with a ceremony.  

Everyone came out for the first day - from the village granny to the littlest sibling and all the parents.

Guess it was an early morning for this young one!!

As all ceremonies go in Niger - there needs to be speeches by those involved.  So, both I and our team director Tim spoke on our behalf.  The teacher, chief's son, spoke about the importance of the school.  And the village elder spoke on behalf of all the parents to thank us for bringing education to their children!

Then, began the fun part: giving the children their school supplies!!  They are always so proud of their new possessions and take good care of them.

We started the day with 21 children registered for school.  After the ceremony more parents came and registered another 10 children!!

This little girl is a precious gift to this school - easily my heart calls her my favourite - its a good thing I'm not the teacher!  

I first met her when she was 9 days old!  She was born to a mother who had been married and barren for 23 years!  Her parents were overjoyed at her birth!  When I and some friends for Canada that day visited this mother, she asked us to pray that her daughter would be healthy, that she could go to school and one day become a doctor. 

As 1 in 5 children die before the age of five in Niger - the first part of the prayer request is apt indeed.  Yet, at that time, I never dreamed that I might have a small part in answering the second prayer request: schooling!  

I pray that as she grows and goes to school - she will indeed achieve that goal of becoming a doctor!

 ~ Photo Creidt: Lisa and Mikaela ... thanks for 

being my official ceremony photographers!!!

Baby Naming Ceremony

Every so often, working among the Fulani means a party!  Baby naming ceremonies are an important part of the Fulani culture.  On the seventh day from the infant's birth - they are given a name!  Everyone around comes for the ceremony which starts at around 7:30 am for their prayers .... and then people stay all day for the feast which is usually served around 2-3 in the afternoon.  Even when I leave generally between 4 or 5 in the afternoon, there is always still a crowd!

Megan and I had the joy of attending one of these a few weeks ago ... we headed a ways out of town.  As we only found out about the ceremony the day prior, I hadn't made arrangements for a village guide .... confident that I could find the village on my own.  We were happy to arrive - and they were excited to see us.  It was a fun surprise!!  

Along the way, we found this patch of squash growing in the middle of nowhere ... no huts around, no one is watering the plants - but the patch is slowly creeping over the desert!

Greeting the mother is of prime importance, so we are escorted first to her hut.  The traditional greeting would be "May God bless you in your descent."  An implied meaning of coming down from a mountain (labour) which is hard work!  And we get to hold the baby as well, so that is always fun!  

The food preparations for lunch take most of the day .... and many women!  They were all eager for me to take each of their pictures as they did their work.  

veggie prep:  

sauce prep:  

  

Two pots of sauce going that day.  Although, the pot on the left became the appetizer while everyone waited for the rice and sauce.  This actually was the second appetizer.  The first being corn couscous with onions, hot pepper spice, and raw baobab leaves.  This is usually served mid-morning and we had some of this shortly after we arrived.  The appetizer sauce went with spaghetti and we ate this about an hour before the main meal was ready.

rice prep:  

The rice this day was a little more fancy than normal.  Usually, the rice is spread out on large platters and the sauce poured on top.  However, today, the rice was rolled into large balls.  I've been served these once, maybe twice, before during my time in Niger.  

I admit - I've always thought that they rolled the rice into the balls with their hands.  However, I happened to be out taking pictures today while they were being formed and was absolutely astounded ... so simple and yet ingenious.  I would never have thought of this!  

*  note: I tried this the other day at home with rice from the rice cooker and a bowl.  It didn't work - either the rice wasn't sticky enough, or I need to work on my technique!!

Once the food was ready - the women took the bowls of rice and sauce around. 

Megan and I were served our own two platters - one ball of rice and a bowl of sauce.  We waited to observe how to eat this, as normally this is served in one bowl - the sauce poured over the rice.  I just wasn't quite sure of the etiquette or rules - were we to scoop rice with our fingers and then dip it into the sauce, or ...??!?  Our hut companions quickly assured us that the scoop and dip was the proper way to eat, and we dug in.  Quite a tasty sauce!  

Afterwards, as I wandered around ... the children also wanted to have their picture taken, or their parents requested for them.  

All in all - it was a fun day and there was much laughter and joy as we hung out with our Fulani friends.

The day was a bit of a family reunion as well, for Megan's daughter was in attendance.  Here is Megan ... sitting and chatting here with her daughter:  

Megan's African name is the same as this woman's mother.  So, she always calls Megan "innam" ... "mother mine".  And Megan responds "bi-am" ... "my child"!  She is a lady filled with much exuberance  - and as you can see, the African sense of "personal space" (or at least hers) is much smaller!  Her exuberance in the conversation rocking almost nose to nose with Megan most of the time!  

And yes - before you ask, I have such family as well ... 

this is my granddaughter!

Taste of Home

Sometimes ... I am happily surprised while wandering around the stores to find a taste of home:

Although - I am always left wondering ... how exactly did it find its way here??!?  And which path (er - ocean current?) did it follow and where did it stop on its way?  

Women's Group

Last year, in September, we started the ladies group in the village again.  As we were deciding where to build a new training hut, for the first while, we met under a group of trees to provide enough shade for our group.

We started off by trying to get the names of everyone who was joining the group this year.  At first, one lady just wanted to tell me a bunch of names - and then other people started yelling names out as well, then each group wanted to tell me names of people not there.  It was chaotic to say the least!

To try and bring some order to the name taking process - we decided to go around and have each person give their name one by one.  However, this was not an easy concept to explain - nor is the concept of going around the group and giving one's name at all in their cultural perspective.  Roll call as such might exist in the school classroom, but none of these ladies have been to school.

Also, as it is culturally inappropriate to point at people, I couldn't really point out each lady one by one to get their names.  So, Megan walked around the group to tap each lady one by one and my group president was to tell me her name. 

However, the group president didn't feel the need to tell the ladies what was going on, so at first, they all jumped and looked shocked when Megan touched their shoulders!  Then my interpreter would end up chatting with her neighbours instead of focusing on who Megan was indicating.  When she wasn't paying attention, the other ladies would try to give me a name, but often would give me the name of the lady next to Megan (not the lady Megan was touching) - and then when Megan would touch the next lady, my interpreter would give me the same name.  

To make things more complicated - culturally, people cannot speak the name of someone who they need to respect.  So, essentially, they cannot speak the name of their parents, spouse, or in-laws.   So, if a women is named Fati and her mother-in-law is named Fati (or the lady sitting next to her, her mother is named Fati) - neither of these women (the lady herself nor her neighbour) can tell me the name of the first lady.  To use or speak that name is a sign of disrespect towards the person they need to respect.  And in the Fulani culture - their identity and code of life revolves around honour and shame - and all they need to do to avoid shame!

Of course, sometimes to avoid the disrespect issue someone will give their nickname, but everyone may know or call someone by a different name.  When we read the list of names the next week to clarify, people didn't always know who everyone was because each person has so many names!! 

For instance.  One is given a first name and one's last name is their father's first name.  So, if a lady's name is Fati Boureima.  Anyone who needs to respect the name Fati will likely call her Tanda (the nickname for Fati).  So for them, her name could be Tanda Boureima.  But - anyone who needs to respect the name Boureima will give a different name for her last name.  If two women named Fati both have fathers named Boureima ... they have the same name; so they might add the name of their husband or both father's name to one of the ladies to distinguish.  So essentially, this lady could have a potential 4-5 variations of her name ... and which one did I write down??!?

It was a bit of a gong show .... and a process which would maybe take 10 minutes in Canada ... took over an hour in Niger!!  But in the end, I had a list of about 80 women who wanted to join the group this year!

At the beginning of our meetings, the women received mosquito nets and we taught about how to care for the nets.

For the following next few weeks, we spent some time discussing needs and ideas.  We told the story of a lady who wanted to have more money to buy healthy food for her children and medicine.  

She knew how to make soap that she could sell, but she didn't have enough money to start this small business.  But, she had three chickens.  So, she sold eggs to start and used the money she made to buy a bit of food and put a small amount away in her "pocket" ... until she had enough to start making and selling soap.

Culturally, historically, the Fulani do not have bank accounts - perhaps those in the city now do, but not generally my villagers.  So, the concept of saving money aside is to "put money in your pocket".  The women often tie coins into a corner of their veil - perhaps it makes it harder for someone to steal from them??  So - to visually show someone saving money, putting it in their pocket - Megan holds up her veil and ties money into it!

In this way, small step by small step, she slowly was able to change her life.  This story was contrasted with a man who wanted more sheep, but thought 'If God wants me to have more sheep, I will have more sheep.' ... But he made no plans or steps towards increasing his flock.

Through this story we taught them ... how to identify their:

• dream ... healthier children 
• needs ... vegetables and medicine
• resources ... knowledge of making soap and chickens
• small steps to reaching a goal ... selling eggs

After we told this story, for a few weeks, we discussed what their needs and resources were.  It took a few weeks - and "discussion" in this context is much different than one would imagine: picture every lady first having nothing to say ... and then the next week everyone all talking at the same time.  

At first, their idea or goal was to learn to make soap - that came from the story!  But eventually, the women were able to identify some of their own needs and ideas.  But, aside from this - three of the village areas have decided on projects to save towards with their Village Savings and Loans savings this year.  Two areas would like to save towards a flour mill and one village would like to save towards a pump for their village well to help with their gardening for income.

It was an exciting start to a new year and having some projects, dreams, and goals to reach towards.  

I also love watching how the ladies can multi-task in the meeting!

And of course - one never knows what we will see in the village - but this day, we found a random friend!  Lime green is my favourite colour ... so these guys are my favourite lizards!

~ Thanks Mikaela for being my photographer for the day!