- nigerién democracy?
i’m sitting in the guesthouse where i’m staying watching france24, the frenchy cnn. and i read at the bottom of the screen the scrolling words, “le president de niger s’était arrogé des ‘pouvoirs exceptionnels’ pour gouverner par décrets” (the president of niger has assumed ‘extraordinary powers’ allowing him to govern by decree). and then i’m sitting at the office working when i get a tweet from @niger1 that the president has dissolved the constitutional court, replaced the 8 ministers, who quit in protest of tandja’s proposed referendum to amend the constitution to allow him three further years of power, with 8 new loyalist _and_ that he had the largest(?) tv/radio broadcaster dounia shut down. oh goody — so what’s next?
throughout the preceding weeks the president has said that he needs to stay in power so that he can finish the work that he’s done. isn’t that the role of his party and political coalition? he says that the referendum is needed in order protect the independence of niger — but protect the independence of niger from what? the republique de dogondoutchi? the huge sand monsters of agadez who are threatening all of the uranium reserves?
and then i look to the twittosphere to see what’s being said: nothing search #niger and you get me and the indepedent journalist @fieldreports. and where are all of the bloggers? forget about it. in a country that is 80% illiterate and 80% rural, with internet penetration at 3% and computer ownership at 0.5‰, forget about it. all that’s being reported is from the outside looking in.
the head of the military did ask all sides to keep them out of it; will this remain?
so, what will the people do? good questions. most of the opposition is found in the urban areas, whereby the president’s support is mainly rural, so here in niamey i’ve only heard from people appalled by the situation. to that effect, the opposition has called for protests and tomorrow they will stage a ville morte. dead city.
- projets galors avec lait
i’m sitting thinking about quitting graduate school and rounding up a bunch of techgeeks to develop systems and products for cellphones for inclusive markets. in addition to projet abc (the project i’m working on in niger) and masawa (the project for which yanina seltzer and i received a clinton global initiative award), there are literally new projects, possibitilies and opportunities popping up every day. it’s exciting, but scary at the same time; it’ll all get done, no worries.
on another note, something that’s been bothering me about which i twat (the past tense of tweet), is whether or not you can carbonate milk. i don’t see why not, can someone who has a carbonator (not the vehicular type — oh, that’s a carborrator) let me know?
update: from @benmazzotta: http://tr.im/pRMU ; i want one! can you imagine carbonated coffee or whisky?
- giraffe
i’m sitting in the vehicule hauling back to niamey from doutchi. it’s wanting to get dark and we are wanting to be sure that we are getting back before the sun sets. the landscape is brown with spots of green — it’s the sahel not the sahara, you know! every couple of kilometers, a grouping of huts and small mud houses pop up on the landscape with the requisite goats, sheep, donkeys and children. every bigger-couple of kilometers, a teeny ville pops up on both sides of the road lasting for a few tens meters; in addition to the objects found in the villages, there are little stands for purchases of things like petrol-in-a-gin-bottle, water, coca-cola, millet, sorghum, and sometime brodi mazahi (hot bread). we are now between the couples of kilometers where there’s nothing spectacular to see. bam! someone in the back yells out “GIRAFFE!”. two rare, illusive west african giraffes walk among some bushes. we stop, stare and photo.
west african giraffe and white gorilla
- lizard
i’m sitting oustide my hotel room again, watching the lizards frolic and feast as if i have absoultely nothing better to do. i probably don’t. the male lizards are big and have orange heads, black bodies, and a tail that is cream-orange-black striped. the females are bland, like in most of the animal kingdom, and when they look like they’ve swallowed an entire oreo, they haven’t; it’s because they’re pregnant, again. the lizards scale the wall and fall off attempting to catch bugs. they will run quickly up the wall or along the ground and then suddenly stop to do a set of quick push-ups, it’s quite amusing. i’m not sure if the push-ups are because they have poor perifrial vision, are trying to look bigger, or are simply extremely health-conscious.
- doutchi roll
i’m sitting on the main (and only paved) street of dogondoutchi during my second visit, waiting for my kkwai chikin brodi (egg in bread). the electricity goes out and the entire town is engulfed in a flash of darkness before everyone turns on their handy flashlights. the stars shine noticably. i get my kkwai chikin brodi and eat. in front of me a bush taxi is unloading one of its passengers. a bush taxi is like a white 1979 VW van that should hold 11 comfortably, but always squeezes in at least 15. on top of the bush taxi is a rack with contents that probably reach the same height as the taxi itself. the driver cimbs up on the mountain and unloads one tia of black-eyed peas, and then a rolled up mess. the mess, you see, is effectively a week’s worth of clothing including a change of shoes on top of a sheet on top of a queen-size mat on top of a plastic mat that is all rolled together like a philly roll, but here it is called a doutchi roll.
- box
i’m sitting right outside my hotel room with my table and my laptop. the gentlemen across the path is kicking a box out of the door that is full of something. he seems to be afraid of something, the something in the box. he tips the box on the side and a package of cookies tip out. he then tips the box so that all the contents are on the sandy path. like a scared child, he kicks is one more time and jumps back. a little female lizard runs from under the box. this big man was scared of a little lizard. quite humerous.
- “and it rained in dogondoutchi”.
i’m sitting on my cot newly awaken by my lungs unable to breath anymore sand. they say it’s rainy season in niger, but i think of it as windy season; the wind has to ferousiously blow as if to show us who’s boss before crying in repentance. it’s dark and there is no electricity. in fact, it is because of the lack of electricity that i’m trying to sleep outside at 3 in the morning. inside, there is a fan, but in a concrete room at 3 in the morning, 95F temperature, the fan does little, and does even littler when there is no electricity. my choice is to either go inside, or go inside, because the wind is determined to win this bought. i go inside, try to get comfortable, but the mud on my face created from the mixture of sand and sweat is nasty. the wind is blowing and it’s 3 in the morning and i’m probably sick, but i don’t remember. i finally doze off when nails start falling on the roof; i cover my face to protect the only pretty thing god gave me and then sit up quickly on the cot to realize that, that the larium i’m taking caused my mind to mind to warp the situation. a great feeling of peace washes over me as the title of my next best seller flashes in my mind:“and it rained in dogondoutchi”.by this point, i had visited 16 village and was just beginning to understand the importance of the (maybe) 300cm of rain has on the entire country. 86% of the ~13 million nigerién live in the rural areas and are kept alive by rain alone. it’s already late in the season and people are becoming noticably worried about the lack of rain. the rain will initially loosen up the hardened desert soil just enough to plant millet, sorghum, peanuts and black-eyed peas. the rain will then, insha’allah, provide just enough to help the crops grow to be harvested. if there is no rain, there is no crop, there is no vendable commodity from which villagers gain money to purchase other important items (medicine, school fees, etc.). i’ve already seen too many little children running around nakedly with protruding stomachs caused by malnutrition. the rains are the blood of the land.“and it rained in dogondoutchi”.the smell of wet dirt is palpable and the air is cool; as i sit under the little awning outside the room feeling the cool, calmed wind blow the smell of wet dirt and water across my face at 3 in the morning, i can’t stop smiling and feeling happy that this sprinking of the much-needed rain will quell the fears of all the villagers i had met. just a little rain, just a little rain.
i’m sitting on my cot newly awaken by my lungs unable to breath anymore sand. they say it’s rainy season in niger, but i think of it as windy season; the wind has to ferociously blow as if to show us who’s boss before crying in repentance. it’s dark and there is no electricity. in fact, it is because of the lack of electricity that i’m trying to sleep outside at 3 in the morning. inside, there is a fan, but in a concrete room at 3 in the morning, 95F temperature, the fan does little, and does even littler when there is no electricity. my choice is to either go inside, or go inside, because the wind is determined to win this bought. i go inside, try to get comfortable, but the mud on my face created from the mixture of sand and sweat is nasty. the wind is blowing and it’s 3 in the morning and i’m probably sick, but i don’t remember. i finally doze off when nails start falling on the roof; i cover my face to protect the only pretty thing god gave me and then sit up quickly on the cot to realize that, that the larium i’m taking caused my mind to mind to warp the situation. a great feeling of peace washes over me as the title of my next best seller flashes in my mind:
“and it rained in dogondoutchi”.
by this point, i had visited 16 village and was just beginning to understand the importance of the (maybe) 300cm of rain has on the entire country. 86% of the ~13 million nigerién live in the rural areas and are kept alive by rain alone. it’s already late in the season and people are becoming noticeably worried about the lack of rain. the rain will initially loosen up the hardened desert soil just enough to plant millet, sorghum, peanuts and black-eyed peas. the rain will then, insha’allah, provide just enough to help the crops grow to be harvested. if there is no rain, there is no crop, there is no vendible commodity from which villagers gain money to purchase other important items (medicine, school fees, etc.). i’ve already seen too many little children running around nakedly with protruding stomachs caused by malnutrition. the rains are the blood of the land.
“and it rained in dogondoutchi”.
the smell of wet dirt is palpable and the air is cool; as i sit under the little awning outside the room feeling the cool, calmed wind blow the smell of wet dirt and water across my face at 3 in the morning, i can’t stop smiling and feeling happy that this sprinkling of the much-needed rain will quell the fears of all the villagers i had met. just a little rain, just a little rain.
