Paul parents come for an early Christmas!

This post is a few weeks late due to the holidays and life in general, but I didn't want to lose the opportunity to post a little commentary and some pictures from the visit we had with Paul's parents. They live in Dubai and came to visit us for 10 days early Dececmber. While Niger may not be the tourist destination of choice for many people, we have such unique opportunities to share the people we know, villages, culture, food and experiences with the people who visit us. A wonderful early Christmas gift to us and the kids to have Roger and Bev come visit.


Sharing an early Christmas together



Paul and his Dad


Arielle looking beautiful in her Christmas ribbon




They arrived just days before Tabaski, a Muslim celebration where every household will sacrific sheeps. It was almost surreal to drive around and see dead sheep everywhere, heads, guts, kids playing with lungs, etc. Yuck. The smell hung around for days, and we got fresh leg of lamb, which we slow roasted with marinade and it was yummy!! But here are the common sights from that day




We also went out of town and visited friends and also went to two Tamasheq villages, The whole family really enjoyed our time there. Here is Mom enjoying some of the local children.



We enjoyed a picnic overlooking the plains and volcanic rock and scrub below us. A great photo op for mom and dad!



Mom and I had a project while she was here- to recover our big stuffed chair we brought to keep the dust from wrecking it. Here is the final product. Thanks for the help mom!



We had many adventures in markets, here is Mom looking at fabric in this crazy shop with tons of different colors and patterns.



Bennett playing around and climbing trees


One of our last days we went out of town to one of the world's last large natural giraffe reserves. They have 205 giraffes in the wild that are protected and you can go visit. You hire a guide who rides on your roof and takes you to the last place they were seen and you drive around looking for them. We saw over 40 giraffes that day, in multiple family units, even twins! An amazing experience!!

Bennett on the roof truck (dont worry we were stopped!) looking for the giraffes)









For more giraffe photos, you can see them at this link on my photography blog:

http://photographybychantelle.blogspot.com/2008/12/giraffes.html

A baby baptism and naming ceremony

The star of the show: Baby Zebbo



This last Sunday our family had the joy to go to a baptism and naming ceremony for the new son of one of Paul's good friends (Harouna the welder). We spent many hours over the day there and fully enjoyed learning how the ceremony and culture works in regards to baptisms. They are very important in this culture and are huge celebrations for the family and everyone they know.

I have included below a bunch of pictures I took through-out the day. Harouna asked me to come and video the event and I took over 200 still images too, all which we put on a disc with the videos as a gift for the family. They did also hire an african man to video the event, which he did with an old camera. Paul got to see his video and said that we (the white family!) seemed to be in much more of the video than the baby and family. We were the main attractions apparently!

The other camera man following me around.



Also, i have written an explantion (as given by my tutor) into the culture and what happens at these events for your learning pleasure!

Baptisms in Niger (generally the same for all the cultures with small variations)

Exactly one week after the baby is born there is the baptism.This should be observed for the best "honoring" of the customs and the date is fixed. The day of the actual birth (tankahari), the family eats well that day to celebrate. Possibly they will eat pieces of goat or sheep if they can afford it, but not necessarily.

For the first week the mom cannot go out with the baby. In fact, she cannot leave the baby's side. They believe in this first week that evil spirits are surrounding and wanting the baby. If she has to go to the bathroom, she will place a special knife under the head of the baby to protect him from spirits and possession.

The night before the baptism, there is a “fayandi”. The people who are helping prepare food for the baptism arrive. There is a party and music and dancing. They stay up most of the night dancing and music and preparing all the food and dishes for the party and starting the sauces, etc.

Very early the morning of the baptism, they get the sheep ready. In the muslim tradition it is mandatory that a sheep is killed, blood must flow. Even the poorest try to do this. If they absolutely cannot afford it they will try to get something that is white such as milk, finely ground millet that is white and sugar. Normally the early morning meal is sauce with bread for those who arrive for the naming and prayers. At around 7:00 am the Imam arrives and many friends. The men gather around the Imam for the presentation and prayers. The drummer walks around and pounds his drum and lets people know they are starting. The Imam says prayers for the baby and blessings on him. After the prayers they pass around plates with cola nuts and dates. This is the parents offering to Gods spirit and to share with the others.

After the prayers and nuts, the father and friends and a religious leaders go to the sheep. The father tells the name to the Imam, the Imam announces to God the name of the child, and at this moment they slit the throat of the animal (usually a sheep) and the blood flows. The drummer waits to hear the name of the child and see the blood flow, and then runs around, drumming and announcing the name of the child for everyone to hear.

People who need to work all leave after this (especially if it is in the middle of the week). The drummer walks around with a plate of henna, cola nuts, sugar, etc -all that represents the baptism. Men will give money onto this plate for the drummers. Before the people leave they all give money to the father (not in all cultures) this is the way they contribute to the costs and ceremonies, and know it comes back on them when it is their turn to have children or weddings. It represents an interesting way to do credit for expensive undertakings like a baptism or marriage. The women and close friends give small monetary gifts to the mother. Meals are served all day to the guests who arrive.

Here the women are dishing up the meal. It has approximately one hundred kilos of rice, a whole sheep, 10 litres of oil, 10 bags of macaroni and vegetables. They filled up 30 or so huge platters covered in food. I tried to help, and they mostly wouldn't let me, but finally humoured me and let me carry platters of rice to get the sauce added and hand them out to people.





This picture is of the main mid-day meal they served. Actually quite tasty! The men and women eat seperated from each other. They eat in groups around a big platter and eat with their right hand only. We taught Bennett this and he stuck his left hand in his pocket for safe keeping. He sure loved eating with his hands!



During the day people come and go. The mother is still in the room with the baby and and a few friends. People (family and special guests) are allowed to enter and greet the mother and family. We were invited into this inner room, and while we were there during the day, we also met the Burkina Faso Ambassador to Niger, a cabinet Minister and a few other important people. How humbling to be lumped into the same level of honor with people of high positions.

Visiting with the family and baby in the "inner room"


The parents, the Burkina Ambassador and a Cabinet Minister and Paul


The mother must stay for 40 days in what the tamasheqs call “amzor”. This means that she doesn’t work, she doesn’t go out unless to go the bathroom. You could say she is hibernating. This helps with milk production for breastfeeding, the baby is very fragile and she must be there, and it is the tradition. Someone has come for these 40 days to take care of her house, help with the children and make meals. The 41st day, to show she is done, a imam comes to the house . If it is a boy they will circumcise him and will shave his head. Girls heads are shaved too. (in other countries ad cultures they sometimes still practice female circumcision! thankfully not in Niger!). The Imam will offer more blessings for the child. The father is now authorized to sleep in the same bed as the mom (even to sleep was not permitted). The mother is free now to continue her life, work, go out,etc.

After getting over a little bit of shy-ness, or maybe just being socially unsure in this cultural setting, I managed to find this group of young women who were hilarious and very welcoming to me. We had a wonderful time laughing and telling stories and hanging out together. At times I am sure I completely missed what they were saying, and they laughed AT me as much as WITH me, but we had fun all the same!





A delightful young woman who showed me around and introduced me to people. She is married, has a child already, and I think she isn't even 20 yet.



The cast of characters throughout the day:

A guest blog by Bryan - our brother

Chantelle asked me to share some of my thoughts and impressions regarding my visit to Niger, in a guest blog post. And so here are my impressions of the continent, country and people as well as some of the experiences from my visit.

Certainly the first thing one comes to understand about the continent of Africa is that it changes you--not the other way around. A seasoned national and international traveller myself, I found out very quickly what it felt like to be at the mercy of this unforgiving continent. We arrived for our flight from Casablanca to Niamey, 3 hours ahead of time, however after being misinformed about the terminal number, the ticket line, and baggage allowances and then receiving misdirection on paying for and processing overweight baggage and finally running back and forth from counter to counter, trying to make sense of the administrative nightmare that is African beauracracy, I found myself standing in Mohammed V Airport with 30 minutes before the departure of my flight, not having even checked in yet. After hacking my way through airline, customs and security officials, as if blazing a trail through the jungle, I made it to the gate, only to find out the flight was delayed by 1 hour. This gave me a much better appreciation for the phrase coined by foreigner's: WAWA (West Africa wins again).

In probably one of the few things she has ever gotten right, Madonna once said: "I assure you it doesn't matter who you are or how much money you have, nothing goes fast in Africa." As someone who earns a living, managing large projects--navigating people, equipment and money through the time sensitive world that is North America--nothing could come as more of a shock to my system than this reality. My first reaction to this was to say that "people in Africa don't wear watches, they wear calendars". However I quickly came to rephrase this to say: "People in Africa don't wear watches, in fact they are unaware of this device, they don't have a clock anywhere in their home, and the lone calendar in the possession of their extended family is currently functioning as a less than useful windscreen on their uncle's motorbike." That being said, there is something almost freeing about not worrying about time and and simply taking in the events of the day as they arrive. What doesn't get done one day, can always be done the next.

And it's as if the people of Africa have an appreciation for both of these immutable laws of the continent, ground into their DNA. They operate easily in the unforgiving elements and despite the lack of reliable schedules, find the time to complete the essential tasks of each day.

What strikes me the most about the people of Africa (specifically Niamey, Niger) is that--although those lifestyle essentials that are missing are wildly obvious to westerners--African's don't appear to notice what they don't have--instead they pay closer attention to what they do have. They don't notice that most of their roads are missing asphalt, curbs and lane markings...They do notice that they can always find one more lane in which to drive. They don't notice that they lack a house with cement brick walls and roof...They do notice--and use well--their bed, chair and cellphone. They don't notice that they only have 1 or 2 meals each day...They do notice that they have tea and sugar and are happy to share it, with even their wealthiest visitors.

In terms of the team in Niger, I got to see first hand a group of individuals who are very committed to helping the people of Niger and who are continually learning and perfecting their approach to development work. Their strategies include listening to the locals to determine needs and requiring the locals to take ownership in programs.

Paul and Chantelle have created a wonderful home at which any western visitor can feel very comfortable. Inside the 4 walls of their yard is the formidable Toyota Landcruiser and Paul's workshop, housed inside the steel shipping container. Surrounding the house is a variety of lush fruit and vegetable plants and trees that Chantelle and her gardener care for. Step inside the house and you'll find many of the conveniences of a north american home.

One of the most poignant revelations of my trip to Niger was the importance of learning a second language. There is something to be said for the ability to be able to communicate with someone in their own tongue. Certainly Chantelle can speak French very fluently but it was such a treat to watch Paul communicating easily in French with his guards, shop keepers and even just strangers on the street.

And finally, a couple words of advice for those first timers going to Africa to visit Paul and Chantelle:

1. Eat the meat before you see where it is purchased from.
2. Drink the tea without considering how the glass was washed.
3. Come prepared to give back just a fraction of what this country and its people will have to offer you.