Un Mot: Barke.. but a reallllly long post

One word: Barke.

Barke is a former BU Niamey abroad student from 1998. That's his Nigerien name. In English, Bryan. Yes, he's white. He is easily the coolest person I have ever met. He did the program I am doing now for 3 semesters about 10 years ago - was studying anthropology and something else, I forget. Fluent in Zarma, he returned I think three years ago to do things with education, after working on his masters in the US? We are going to spend a lot more time with him, but if you could only see the place he lives now, you'd think the same thing - This guy's awesome.
His home only recently just got solar electricity. It has its own handmade well, a self sufficient garden, goats, and best of all, it sits on the edge of the Nigerien river. When we arrived by bus yesterday, we were greeted by a whole community of kids, a herd of cows, a camel, a mule cart. You could only actually see one other substantial hut/home nearby, but the amount of people hanging around was insane. Mostly children, we taught them some games and played with them for hours and hours. All kids (and adults for that matter) look far younger than they actually are here, and this was probably the most time we have spent time with kids so far - girls and boys from 2 to 18 and probably about 30 of them. I occupied myself with a little girl who stood about 1 and a half feet tall wearing a torn and stained pink sweatshirt - who I caught pick her nose and eat it. I thought, it's okay, we do that in the US too!

Yeah, It's super depressing if you are looking for something to be sad about, because WOW - their dark skin is dusted by the sand; kids don't even flinch when 7 flies are buzzing about their face, they play on the earth that serves as their toy and their toilet, their home lacks any of the amenities we are so used to, if they even have a home, and their lives are just so completely real and harsh. But if you can block the poverty out of your mind, one of these child's smile is truly the best thing to see in the whole world. They aren't just cute because they're beautiful and tragically pitiful - They are all resilient and happy and welcoming. I have officially decided that one of my field studies will be spending time with them.

So at Barke's we drank some traditional tea, played with kids, rode camels, and then took off for our canoe ride. The camel ride was interesting, nothing too exciting except I had to compensate for the crooked saddle by putting all my weight left while straddling Lare (Laura in English).. Needless to say our meaningful friendship has begun! We then went with local fishermen in their canoes for a magical ride on the Nigerienne River. Keeping close to the brush on the side, the river was pretty shallow. They mostly moved us around using sticks as opposed to oars, and even when they did use oars they were surprisingly unsubstantial. These guys know their way through the water better than most professionals probably know their own jobs. They typically fish at night, so are accustomed to spotting a hippo by ear. We saw one across the way who came above water a few times. The water was tres calme and peaceful, temperature perfect. I wore a t shirt and linen pants, occasionally had to scoop water out the bottom, and once again felt I had to lean a certain way to balance. The guy we were with spoke fluent french, helped us learn words for the birds, fish, etc in Hausa and Zarma. It was a fantastic and unusual experience that culminated in the dark. The water and the sky were indistinguishable, and it was the first time that visibility seemed to be hindered by water rather than dust. Everyone loved the sight. Won't lie, got somewhat nervous as we went through the brush. I would be lost for months if I tried to navigate with the lack of light there, but those guys are good, really good.

Later, we went to see a former peace corps volunteer perform with the local most popular musician. Ginger, the white lady, sang some sassy spoken poetry numbers. She wore a strapless Nigerienne fabric dress, and I was thinking, really? Isn't that a faux pas? The atmosphere was nice, it was at an outside bar area. We were thinking we'd be the awkward table of 14 white people, but to our surprise, the majority of the audience was white. French speaking and many Americans.. volunteers at the peace corps, NGOs, we don't know yet but we'll probably find out. The local musician was very good-played some flute type thing, a sitar type thing. When I start learning in a classroom I hope to know the real names, but the music was definitely good.

This morning we did our windi windi, which was a tour around the local markets. Me and Lare went with Yahaya, our driver Sanni's younger brother. 22, he's real smart - spoke to us in French and taught us terms in Hausa and Zarma. Showed us a picture of his girlfriend and "god permitting, future wife" - how cute. The petit marche et grande marche sell variations of foods, fabrics, clothes, oils, spices, and accessories. I don't think much of anything in the way of accessories being sold here is new. I'm really curious to know whether it is imported by donation then sold or what - but purses, shoes, hats, coats, clothes, they are all noticably second hand. The meat is typical of a meat market I suppose. Saw pretty much a whole skinned dead goat, flies everywhere, stomachs, liver, etc. Non, merci. The chickens are sold live, actually not chickens but guinea-foul. There are a few recognizable spices: garlic, basil, bay leaves, etc. Our goal was to buy something we had never seen, so I bought something I originally thought was hookah smoking tobacco, smelt good, molasses covered. But it was actually Turaran Woota, an insense type thing to burn over a fire. At our little show and tell I ate a few weird things, used a piece of wood as a toothbrush, and toyed with clay that is eaten if you have a stomach ache.
We ate lunch Nigerienne style at the program director's abode with our guides. They were all young men with great personalities, and it was nice to dine with them - most of whom are either employed by this abroad program to drive, cook, guard, etc, or the friends or family of someone who is.
Nice, but rather exhausting day. I am starting to think, uh oh, if I got sweaty today when Sanu was walking around in all longsleeves and a wool hat, I'm going to have real trouble when hot season comes. I've been wearing capris or skirts and tee shirts, SPF and tons of bug spray, and I can't really shed any layers, so soon my euphoria with Niamey might turn a little sour. But so far, so good! There's so much to write about for what we do with our time in just two hours, I will never be able to convey all my emotions and experiences here... Sorry for the super long post. It's almost midnight and I'm hoping to get to sleep before morning prayer. As a last quick aside, last night I laughed hysterical with my room mate Zaure (Rachel)... until 5:30 am. I don't know if it was jet lag, or that I have been bathing at night, or what, but we have been having trouble falling asleep - which was only exacerbated by the country side drone of the morning prayer - which, don't get me wrong, is actually beautiful and fascinating. Anyway, we discovered we have tons in common. Her mother is Taiwanese, father American.. We like the same artists, share the same thoughts about things here, etc. I would love to say our views on life are identical, but I am not even 5% as amazing as she is. She took a little time off from school to study in Guatemala, volunteered at an orphanage, went back to visit the kids, helped open I think 2 schools there and in Ecuador, has started her own microfinance organization, and really just is the most driven do-gooder I've ever been able to spend so much time with. Despite the nice comfortable temperatures at night, we laughed so hard for so long last night that I was sweating. To be short and sweet, I lucked out on that one-I'm sharing my quarters with the next Nobel peace prize winner. More on our friendship later! Because our lack of sleep last night, and my 4 hour nap today, I'm hoping to get into some sort of a regular schedule. So, goodnight.