twenty-three

I am back in Paris sitting in the Air France Salon Room which I somehow slipped in with a colleague.  Everyone around me is wearing a suit, a tie, or at least a coat…and what am I wearing you ask?

I had hoped to post a bit more during my trip to Niger and am sorry that I wasn’t able to do so.  Time constraints and Internet capabilities hindered me quite a bit more than expected, but here is a quick re-cap of my last few days.

Last week I made the three-hour drive to Gamou, a
district outside of Zinder towards the eastern part of Niger. Gamou is
often called “The Gateway to the Sahara” as it is the largest “town”
before reaching the desert. We were to visit three communities north of
Gamou and I wish so much that I could accurately describe the scenery.
This region of Niger has an eerie beauty to it. Camels outnumbered
people as our SUV slipped along the white sand that leads to the
villages. Up close, the sand is dotted with small shrubs and sparse
trees, but from a distance the landscape gives a deceptive lush, green
charm. As we drove farther north one of the most brilliant mountain
ranges I’ve ever seen came into view. These sharp and jagged mountains
were bright red offering a stark contrast to the sloping “green” hills
that surrounded them. The mountains seem to just appear out of nowhere
but they are truly captivating. The three villages are nestled a few
kilometers away from the base of these mountains that separate the
Sahel from the Sahara. The range is pretty small and in fact our driver
said it only takes about two hours to drive to the other side, but
hidden throughout the mountains are thieves and bandits. Many people in
Africa venture to Niger for a chance to escape the poverty. In the town
on Zinder, one can actually hire a guide to navigate through the Sahara
into northern Africa in the hopes of reaching Europe by boat. The
journey is incredibly treacherous and in fact more people die in the
desert than actually reach northern Africa. Often their “guides” are
inexperienced and are not able to navigate through the sweeping dunes
and sometimes the bandits hiding in the mountains overtake the would-be
Europeans as well. Needless to say I wasn’t too interested in crossing
through the mountains.

The rich and strange landscape
heightens the beauty of the small villages in the shadow of the
mountains and truly as I neared the villages a peculiar awe overcame
me. The communities are made up of mud huts with straw roofs. The homes
look similar to Native American teepees and usually house a woman with
her children. The men own all the property in these communities and
have there own compound of sorts, which consists of their animals,
homes, and grain storage structures. Many of the men have multiple
wives and so their compound will be made up of several houses. Narrow
roads with sand so hot that the children have blisters on their feet
year round connect the compounds together. The total population of
these three villages is about 7,500 and I was truly encouraged during
our visit here.

Obviously the poverty was immense, but due
to work our organization has done the communities have really started
to “thrive.” Each community has it’s own borehole where they pump clean
water for washing and drinking rather than using the brown water from a
small pond 5 kilometers away. Each village also has a community grain
bank which was constructed so that in times of harvest each family can
store a little extra food away and when the food runs out for some
families, the grain bank can provide for these less fortunate
individuals. Finally, the clinic I saw was incredible. Again, it was a
modest four room clinic, but prior to its existence any individual in
the community needing medical attention had to walk 25 kilometers to
the nearest health hut!!! 25 kilometers! So this clinic will be a huge
benefit to these villages, I was truly encouraged…I also played with
all the little kids of course. When you are a white man in a rural
village in Niger it is quite easy to get the children to fall in love
with you!

The last days of the trip were spent in meetings,
discussing our trip, the things we learned, and things that the Niger
staff is doing to address some of the more serious problems. On our
last night in Niger we were invited to a dinner hosted by UNICEF and
the World Bank…it was incredibly awkward. The individuals at the dinner
were focused mostly on water issues in Niger, especially the lack of
water. And as we ate our dinner and discussed water and sanitation
issues a large fountain flowed all night long night next to our
table…it was painfully ironic and I couldn’t shake the guilt all
evening. It was a posh restaurant with a five course meal…nice
drinks…all in the poorest country in the world.

Anyway, I
will write one last post sometime next week just to summarize and
synthesize all that I’ve learned. Thanks so much for reading along,
sorry I couldn’t write more! Also, thanks Seth, for allowing my
ramblings to have a small audience…

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