It's All In a Sign

There are many times as I drive around, that the signs I see give me pause. Oft times, the meaning is unclear and my mind tries to interpret the sign in ways that make me laugh.

Contradictions

This first sign is a contradiction:

I found this out by my village last year - at a time when I was searching for acacia trees to buy and have the villagers plant on the border of the field.  Seeing as the year prior, lizards ate the trees as they began to grow in the tree sacs, I decided we would buy the trees already started and at an easier stage to protect.

This sign says that the farm is called Acacias.  Despite the picture of the chicken on the sign, I felt sure that I could buy acacia trees at this farm.  The chief's son did not agree - he told me the farm sold chickens and eggs.  One day, I went out to check and indeed - the farm did not sell trees, it sold chickens and eggs.

I guess I should have known better ... in a country with a literacy rate of 28% among adults, the most important element on the sign is the picture and not the words!!

This started me, however, on an endeavour to collect numerous signs around the city - with which to share my enjoyment with you.

This second sign is another contradiction:

The sign indicates the store is "closed" and yet the door is wide open!  Which do I believe??!?


Borrowed Themes

Then - there are the signs which remind me of home ... those which "borrow" symbols from popular chains.

I too have a 7-11 corner store:

I can eat food at a Wendy's knock-off:

And while in Burkina Faso, I can visit their version of McDonald's

English Signs

There are signs in English that seem to need a bit of interpretation - my mind goes a little out-of-the-box with its fun in trying to figure out their meaning.

For instance - this furniture store.  God's Time Manufacturing??  I know that the Bible says that one day to God is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day ... So, when precisely will my furniture be available??

And this dry cleaning store which irons your clothes.  

Never mind that the washing machine picture is a water washing machine ... Time Pressing??  Were they trying to express the idea of you being "pressed for time" ... so they will do your laundry for you?  

French Interpretations

And sometimes the French signs also need some interpretive work.  

This pharmacy is called the "Pharmacy of the Future" .... so:  How far in the future will I receive my medicine??  If I buy my medicine here - Am I guaranteed a future??



This store - Chic Store - sells imported items from America ... a little more expensive, but a fun place to go 2-3 times per year just to see what I can spoil myself with.  Sometimes it is tins of salmon, a box of cheerios, a tin of iced tea powder (when you drink 5 litres of a water a day ... a cup of iced tea now and then is a nice treat! - this tin lasts me six months!), yesterday I found wild cherry pepsi!!

However, their sign makes me giggle every time I go.  For those who don't read French, this store sells: food, cosmetics, habits, perfume, accessories, shoes, games, baby items.

Wait ... habits??!?  I think they meant to say: "habilles" ... French for clothes. 

But, I wonder every time: What habits are they selling?  Good habits or bad habits??!?  Can I buy patience or self-control??  Has someone lately bought laziness or anger??  Perhaps, as a visitor mused this week, they are selling nun's habits!


Finally - this is a sign for a school:  Centre of Inventions

I'd maybe like to find this school.  How many inventors are there?? Do they collaborate or all have their own work area??  What exactly are they inventing??  I am just way to curious.

And finally ... 

Can I fix this for you??

And then the signs that I just wish I had paint and brush so I could fix their sign for them:

World Water Day - Part 1

Today, March 22, was declared World Water Day by the United Nations in 1993.  The purpose of World Water Day is:

"about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Today, 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with faeces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure everyone has access to safe water by 2030, making water a key issue in the fight to eradicate extreme poverty."

In Niger, only 39% of the population has access to safe drinking water.  

One focus of my work in the village of Kongou, for the last three years, has been to address this issue.  Some of the villages areas are 3-8 km from the nearest well.  


Village Area 1
One villager told me that in the rainy season, his field work is too great to walk 8 km to draw water ... so they drink the ground rain water!  

I am still thinking through a solution to this problem - thinking through how a water filter could be feasible for them;as they are migrant and a water filter is fragile. 

Unfortunately, they do not own the land they work in rainy season, so I cannot dig a well for them in this location.  We did dig a village on their land though - which brings a well at least 2 km closer to the field work.  Perhaps six kilometres might be a reasonable distance to walk??  For the rest of the year though (cold and hot season), when they live on their land, they now have access to water without having to walk nor buy their water at the nearest well.

Village Area 2
In one village area, where people are walking three kilometres for water, there were wells dug for the surrounding Djarma village areas - but it was refused to dig wells for the Fulani.  Not only do they have to walk a great distance to bring water for themselves and their animals, but they face such injustice!

One well was dug in this village area three years ago and a second is being dug this year for another group further out.

Well 1

Well 2

This well was started last week - photo of the selected digging site.  If they are digging 1 metre per day, it should be about 7 metres down already!  This area will have rock though, so it might be slow going. 


Village Area 3
This area also "received" two wells - as their existing well contained insufficient water quantity for the entire village throughout the year, another well was dug so as to sustain water for the population year-round.

Well 1

Well 2

The second well, above ... it already existed.  However - remember the above comment: access to safe drinking water??  The water from this well is some of the dirtiest water I've been served in the village.

I researched this problem ... took a sample in to the water treatment plant for testing, and it came back "clear - no problems".  However, as I began to talk deeper with the villagers about this well and its problems, I discovered that this well had not been reinforced with cement rings through to the bottom.  So each year, the well collapsed and they needed to go in to dig out the bottom to reach water again!!  This well is 23 metres deep!  Once I heard this, I realized that 1) this is a safety issue ... but. 2) it is the sediment from all this work each year that is contaminating the well.  

The well digger for Well 1 was contracted to install cement rings into the well to solve the problem.

well rings on the ground ready to drop in

The result ... clean drinking water!!  

The villagers were so excited - they now call the water from their well "ndiyam tuyauji" ... "city pipe water"!!  As overjoyed as I am to see each well that is being dug for the villages - this clean water makes me the happiest!

Well ... given the unstable internet, amount of photos per well, and the number of stories to tell ... World Water Day stories will become an installment!  Keep tuned for the next story soon!

International Women's Day

International Women's Day is a day that I really knew nothing about until I arrived in Niger ... and admittedly, I still am not really educated on all this day means.  A few years ago, one of my Nigerien friends asked me if I knew what the rights of women were.  I was ashamed to admit that I did not ... I was born and raised in a country where my rights have not been denied to me.

My friend was only able to list a few of them: right to vote, education and health being among those that I remember he mentioned.  My friend is a teacher here, so educated - and I would say that as the chief's son, an advocate for his community.  However, he was unable to list all the rights either.  He said I should look them up as it was important for me as a woman to know my rights.  I realized that day, that in a country where women are denied many of their basic rights, it is well and good for them to know their rights .... but they perhaps have little hope of seeing them achieved if the men in their lives and country do not also know them nor are willing to grant them.

I still haven't spent much time researching this; yet even though I cannot list these rights - I love and am passionate about the work I do in Niger which addresses some of these rights for the women and girls of my village.  

The weekend schools that I facilitate in the villages and the work to advocate having government run schools available addresses the problem of teenage brides.  It also addresses the right to education for these young girls - I have heard that to educate a girl will bring lasting change for the future generation!

The Village Savings and Loans program that we run with three groups of women helps to empower the women to change the lives of their families.

They have an opportunity to save their funds, to leverage the group's savings into loans with which to start small businesses and earn an income.

This is the third year of this program in my one village area - and this Wednesday past, International Women's Day, marked the fourth month of this current year of savings.  It was a loans week - so money was coming and going from the cash box.  At the end of the afternoon - the one cash box total came to 441,000 cfa ... the equivalent of approximately $991.00 Canadian!!

This is an incredible amount for these 48 women to have saved in four months ... each contributing 4 to 5 shares per week - approximately $2.24 - $2.80 per week ... per lady.  But, when I think back to the first year of the program - this amount is the total they saved over the entire 10 months of the program!!  The women have seen the benefits of the savings in their lives and are eager to maximize their savings now.  How much further will they go this year??!?

The women were so excited to hear their total this week that they instantly began to celebrate ...in typical Nigerien style - How do you celebrate??  You dance of course!!

The lives of these women - and those of their children - have been forever changed as they are empowered to make change for the betterment of their families!  It is such a privilege to see their joy and pride in the work they have done.

Supper Village Style

Now that Megan and I are staying overnights in the village, we have started sharing meals with our neighbours every few weeks.  Once, supper plans began a whole week early.  

It was an elaborate plan with multiple stages; for this particular meal plan began while we were out visiting a family!

The lady of this household attends our women's savings and loans group, and the man of the household attends the men's training.  This is the first time that we visited their home and they were so proud to show us this land with their hut and a fenced in area for the animals.  We were bid to take many photos of their animals ... I came away with about 50 pictures - only those they pointed out and not all of the ones there!!

As we prepared to leave, we noticed the children running around chasing a chicken.  Not an unusual sight - however, always fun to watch!!

This chicken however was gifted to us!!!  

Like all chickens I receive in the village, it was placed under the spare tire in the back of my truck for safe transport.  At times, I have had anywhere from 2-5 chickens under there!  It has been a while since I was gifted a chicken though.  

Usually I bring them back into town and re-gift them to my house help or house guard - giving them meat to eat for that night or another chicken to add to their own flock.  This time though, our friend Safia, who had joined us that day, stated that this chicken would be our sauce for the next week!  And so the plans commenced ... the chicken would stay in the village for the week and the following Tuesday we planned an elaborate meal of chicken and couscous.

Megan and I arrived in the village early - eager to take part in all the meal preparation.  Meals always take a long time here ... we started around five in the afternoon and we ate around 9:30 pm!

The chicken seemed wary at first - running from me even as I took its picture. Its wariness justified, could it remember the week prior.  Though if not, even more justified for it was supper that night!  

Soon enough, indeed another chicken chase ensued!

We conquered the chicken in the end ... and the villagers did the honours of preparing our chicken. We were thankful not to have to take part in the actual killing of the chicken, but we were much involved in the process of getting the chicken ready.  (Though admittedly, our involvement with the chicken was boiling water and carrying the chicken to and fro!)

The meal was cooked in our "multi-location" kitchen.  The outside fire was first used to sear the chicken ...

.... which was then taken into the house and cooked in boiling water, fried onions and tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste and oxo packets ... and much salt - the Fulani are cooking and they LOVE their salt!!  Our friend Safia didn't know what to make of our table salt, though, as they normally cook with market salt which comes in gravel-sized salt rocks!  

"You do this," she said,  "I don't know how much!"  I am sure it was way less salt then they would prefer, but I was happy to be loosely supervised in the salt addition to our meal!

As I took charge of the cooking chicken on the gas burner stove inside the house, the outside kitchen continued in other meal preparation.  One large pot was used for the sauce preparations: onions, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes all went in with the water and tomato paste ... along with some spices that I cannot name!

The second pot made our starch base.  We have discovered a love for one Fulani meal - couscous Fulani style!  The couscous is cooked over the fire until it "ripens".  It is then mixed with flour and oil and an intense process of stirring and flipping the mixture.  By the time it is finished, it resembles mashed potatoes in texture and almost in taste!

Our friend Safia wandered back and forth between the two kitchen areas to survey and monitor all the food.  She calls the sauce "mine" - even though she has told me each thing to put in throughout the preparation!  Once the chicken is cooked, the broth is added to the sauce outside ... and then she begins to  fry the chicken piece by piece in a pot of oil!!

She would make any Southern Mama proud of her friend chicken!!  I'm impressed.  I don't think I've ever made or eaten fried chicken aside from Kentucky Fried Chicken or Chicken on the Way!

Safia is also now in love with the headlamps that Megan and I use in the evenings - she has readily adapted to using these to cooking her sauce outside ... and diligently wears them as she moves to the inside kitchen as well!!

After the lengthy 4.5 hour process of cooking supper - we all sat down to enjoy the delicious meal!

I get the sense that they have never had fried chicken like this either - as the women ask my opinion if the chicken should go on the platter with the sauce.  In the end, they declared that the chicken should be served apart from the sauce as its skin was now crispy fried.  The Fulani will leave the meat to eat at the end of their meal ... they so rarely eat meat, it is almost like their dessert to us - saving the best for last!!

The best part of the night??  As we finished the meal preparations, Safia asks me: "If you have a chicken at your home in Niamey - Do you now know how to cook chicken??"   Ummmm??!? ... "Yes," I reply, "yes I now know how to cook chicken.  Thank you!"  

The Things You See

My colleague recently posted some pictures and a story of something she has seen in her village - at times the things we see here make us stop and take a second look!

In the words of Lisa: "To be safe in Niger, you need to have a sturdy locked gate, preferably nicely painted, with spikes on top to prevent someone from climbing over ... so that no one can get into your yard!"

Now this sounds completely reasonable ... I mean - we lock our doors in Canada right??  Good theft prevention!

And yet ... oh, the irony!!

The comments from all of her friends gave me great laughter .... until I read one from a mutual friend.  She asked if it was the magical gate to Narnia. 

That made me stop and think ... for in my village area is a gate that I have seen for the last 9 years - I've often thought that I should stop and take its picture.  But now, the time was opportune.  For I think, truly, the magical gate to Narnia is in my village!!

So yesterday, on my way home, I stopped to take its picture.  Unfortunately, it has been a while since I've seen it and it was not quite where I thought it would be ... adding to its mystical quality!!

A Fulani friend was in the truck and she asked me what I was trying to find.  Thus began what became a funny conversation of riddles:

Me: I am trying to find the things that hold a gate but there is no gate.

Biiba:  A gate?

Me: Yes, but no gate.  

Biiba: Oh ... a house!!

Me:  No, not a house.  There is not even a fence.

Her Son:  Oh ... a garden.  You are looking for a garden.

Me:  Not a garden.

Biiba:  A tree??!?

Me: No, not a tree.

I am by this point thinking about how different people and different cultures see different things.  To me, these gate posts in the middle of a field with no gate, no wall, no house - this is peculiar and funny.  Something to remark.  For her - this is slightly common place.  It is in her backyard so to speak ... and often, people start to build as a way to invest their money, but take years to complete the project.

My friends though are anxious to help me find what I am looking for - desperate to understand.

In a last ditch effort to explain, I try again - this time with my hands in the air, looking like football posts in a "touchdown" exclamation!!  

Me: It is cement in the ground that holds a gate, but there is no gate attached.

Finally - her son excitedly starts to understand. He explains to his mom and she knows exactly what I am talking about!!  Yes, she says - you were on the right road ... it is just further forward.  

Turns out that since I last drove past the "Narnia Gate" ... what should have been the first right after her hut was now the second; for a new road has been made by donkey carts and I turned down the wrong one!