The top of the mesa behind Kiota: you can see the mosque in the background.
Well Hello!
I know it's been a while. Happy belated 4th of July! We had a nice little party of nearly 1,000 people at the ambassodor's residence on Friday night to celebrate. The four marines in country did a salute with flags and rifles, and the ambassador herself gave a nice speech that I'm sure I would have enjoyed if the microphone had been good enough for us to hear anything. But there was free wine (though often served to men first...!), , and a sunset over the river, so I'm not complaining. It was a nice event to sort of see how the other 0.2% lives. It isn't that often we go to parties with American officials and wealthy Nigeriens.
Things in Kiota have been great. I still spend a lot of time sitting with my friend Afoulan, and the group of men who come to sit there everyday, outside my house. My friend Suraji and I are in the midst of a fairly heated debate about whether or not there is ever a gray area in the world, or if everything can always just come down to lies and truth. Somehow it always falls back to religion, and the conversation usually concludes for the evening with Suraji reminding me that I think people came from monkeys, whereas he thinks they came from other people, and then it's hard to make the laughter stop that comes at my expense. Who is this anasara who thinks monkeys are people and that maybe an explosion of rocks created earth instead of God? I usually say, let's agree to disagree. Iri ma yarda ga si yarda. And he tells me that we're only having fun, only having a conversation. We all part ways while it's still light out, only to resume in the morning.
I'm in Niamey right now because Andrew is due to arrive tomorrow! I can't wait. Our plan is to leave Niger on Thursday morning, busing down through Benin and Togo, and arriving in Ghana by Monday or Tuesday. We should be back in Niger by the 26th. My first real vacation in 9 months! I am praying that they still sell sushi in Accra, and that there is still such a thing as the ocean.
What else, what else? I've planted my millet and a go ga fata. It's sprouted and looks healthy, and if, Insha'allah, we get rain again soon, none of it will die. My tomatos have not come up yet, nor has my moringa, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm hoping the place doesn't look like too much of a disaster by the time Andrew gets to see it at the end of the month. Also, my kitten wasn't doing so well when I left on Friday, so I really hope he gets better not worse while I'm gone. Afoulan promises that he's already doing better...but people here are not big cat-fans. Iri ga di...
Anyway, hope all is well home sweet home. How is the economy shaping up? How's the heat? If anyone is lacking summer plans (or Christmas plans that is), my door is wide open. Lots of love and hope all is well. Some more Kiota pics -->
Me at the Juma prayer.
A Niger River tributary on the way to Gotheye.
Carrie and me at my house.
Jingara Do, Juma.
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