Graffiti

Since I started wondering around various neighborhoods in Niamey, I noticed some pretty nice wall art around the city. Some of the wall art designates meeting places for conversation groups around the city (called “fada”). These meeting places are for groups are for men, both young and old, to get together and talk about neighborhood concerns. Here is an example of one of these fada wall arts in the Abidjan neighborhood.

Other wall art is, as far as I can tell, just for kicks. Here are some.

Tailors

Rather than buy clothes at a store, most people in Niamey buy fabric, and then get clothes custom made at a tailor. Most of the fabric these days is made in China, and uses a cotton-polyester blend. Some cloth is made in Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, but very little is made in Niger. The high end fabric is often made in Holland. Here is a picture of Chris with George, our tailor.

Random things you see in Niamey

I learned early on to always carry my camera with me on survey days. There are some of the most random things I come across. For example, a pet monkey.

And also, an adorable little baby hanging out in a cardboard box.

A guy repairing TVs was also a very cool thing I saw the other day.

Baobab trees hold a place of significance in many parts of West Africa. It is said they house spirits and are often the protectors of a village and its people. This particular baobab is estimated to be a few hundred years old, and its presence led the village to be founded there. Though held to be a sacred tree, people are free and encouraged to climb and play in it, illustrating the mix of sacred and profane, extraordinary and ordinary that so often characterizes ways of being.

Chris climbed the tree. While climbing he scared the snot out a kid who was also climbing the tree. The kid jumped out of the tree in fright!

The other day we relaxed on a friend’s porch, and happened to have the camera with us. Here are a few shots of a typical afternoon relaxing on the porch. We were seated on a woven, plastic mat and were eating little fried cookie things from a bottle. The bottle once contained gin, and the brand name was Yahuu, a take on Yahoo, complete with the same font.

We also watched the friend’s chickens drink water from a tomato paste can (which we found out later was filled with used batteries).

Another day of surveys

Hilary is in the thick of neighborhood surveys. She is surveying 25 households in 25 different neighborhoods, with the help of research assistants. She can do one neighborhood a day, and it is truly exhausting. Her feet are so dirty by the time she makes it home, look closely at this picture and you can see her dirty footprints on the tile floor.

Here is a picture of Chris in a doorway on one of the survey days.

Here is a picture of brick making in this same neighborhood. Most of the houses in this neighborhood are made of mud bricks, as are many houses in Niamey.

2010!

Happy New Year! Our New Years Eve was spent relaxing with friends and enjoying a delicious buffet. On New Years day we watched some television and did some more visiting!