Introducing Livswerk!

In January 2006, Svein-Erik & Liv Vrålstad (my father's cousin and his wife) came to us in Niger for a two week long visit. Although many people find Niger boring and underdeveloped, the Vrålstads fell in love with Niger and really thrived. Liv especially was hooked and when she came home, she struggled for a while to find a way of sharing her discoveries with people in her midst.

An interior architect who has been working with children for the past few years, she recently set up her own business, Livswerk, which specializes in selling handmade leather craft from Niger. She sent me the link to her website a few days ago and I just knew I had to share.

It's currently only in Swedish, but you can click around and have a look at the handmade leather mats that come in different shapes and different colors. When Liv was in Niger, she felt like she was on a constant treasure hunt - and I'm not surprised, because Africa has so many riches! You just have to find them. The Nigerien leather works is a really old tradition and they do a very good job. You just have to be a little creative and go treasure hunting! One example is a simple leather bag I found, which I fell in love with and bought. At first I thought I would give it to a friend in Europe but it was so nice that I just started using it myself. Yaronbaba (my jockey) saw it and was amazed, asking me if that nice piece of work had really been done in Niger??? I said yes, and he then told me I had to give it away to Sofia, my second cousin who came out for a seven week long visit and made a name for herself with her ready smile and good humor.

Sorry to say, the bag was there to stay (I'm sure Sofia forgives me!), but the point is; Niger is a great place to go treasure hunting. Unfortunately, we can't all pay €1000 just to go discovering, but Livswerk is a great place to get started. Don't forget to let Liv know if you would like anything custom made. The "leather-men" in Zinder will be thrilled!

Greetings,
Ishtar

8 Random Facts About Me...

Brittish-blogger-posting-from-Sweden Mark Base tagged me the other day and wanted me to write 8 random facts about myself. Since I have already written five at You're it! I thought I would get away with writing only three. However, the previous tagging was supposed to state weird or funny things about oneself. Mark's rules state just random things. But how random am I? Let's find out.

THE RULES:

1. Post these rules before you give you the facts.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) eight people and list their names (linking to them).
4. Leave them a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged!

1. I am not easy to boss around and am rarely intimidated into doing things I don't want (has it ever happened?), but I rarely say no, if I can see that I am needed. Guess someone gave me a heart to weight out the stubbornness...?

2. My mother's family is really musical and both my parents play instruments. My mother tried to teach me to play both the piano and the flute, but I just wasn't an eager student and didn't want to be pushed into anything I didn't fancy myself. Now, twenty years later, I often find myself regretting not having taken the chance when I could, because there are some emotions that only want to be expressed through music. Which in my case compares to a strong desire to speak up but not mastering the language...

Some are born wild, others stubborn... :-)

3. Hanna is going to love me admitting this: I am a collector of series (sure I've never said that before?). Anything that comes in a series - I want to have the set. This habit is not in any way moderated by Nigerien culture, which encourages huge collections and complete outfits in a single color. Hmm, maybe that's even where I got it from... Gah... I used to be nuts about novels; now I've gone berserk on handbags. Need on in every colour...

4. It can be hard to get me involved in something (especially if it seems boring), but once I get into something, I do it wholeheartedly.

5. When I was younger, my motto was to become a good amateur in a number of things, rather than excelling in one thing and one thing only. Still seems like a good motto to me!

Started riding in 1998. Now I can't understand how I ever did without it!

6. I love creative writing, but different languages brings out different styles. English is tempo; French is for the tragic (and the poetic!), Swedish is for the depressing and Hausa (when the day arrives that I master it fluently) is for good humor and absurdities. Weird, isn't it?

7. Currently, I possess two horses and in a week, I become the official owner of a dog (with plans of adopting a second dog; his brother). Though funds and space limits the number, I would not be surprised if I one day in the future will be surrounded by an entire ark! Have always enjoyed pets. They're social livings who never stress. How can you not enjoy them? :-)

My first dogs; Bamse & Seo (1998)

8. As a kid, the first things I wanted to be when I grew up was kindergarden teacher followed by successful writer. And at one point I also intended to open up an orphanage in South America - I must have been twelve at that time.

Hurray, that was it!

Now, concerning the rules, Mark added a touch of his own: to tag bloggers we didn't know all that well.

You see, many bloggers (myself included) join blogging communities, make "friends", but never really make an effort to keep in touch after that initial contact. So let's try to reverse that trend, just a little bit.

I propose that those bloggers I tag also find people with whom they've had very little contact.

Let me go and have a look at MyBlogLog.

[Five minutes later]

The following are tagged:

1. Fasy of New York
2. Omodudu of Africa
3. Kmark of Sweden
4. Nihal of Malaysia
5. Saami of Scandinavia
6. Gamoonbat of ...?
7. Madmomma
8. KlMasina

Good luck now!
Ishtar

Beautiful Africa has been given its own space!

The Beautiful Africa Blog Carnival has moved! Szavanna kept asking me how to go about in order to help me out, and before I knew it, the Carnival had a page of its own: www.belleafrique.blogspot.com

Check it out!

If anybody else would like to be co-author of the carnival, let me know!

Also, if anybody has landscape pictures from South Africa, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Namibia, let me know. I haven't been to those countries so I don't have pix to post in the side bar.

Cheers!
Ishtar

Contemplations

I am tired, but not exhausted.
I am stressed, but not stressed out.
I am confused, but not lost.
I am worried, but have not given up.
I am restless, but at the same time, full of expectations.
I feel small, but I'm in good hands.

Should I be complaining? I think not.
The circumstances may not be the best,
but life is good and I am grateful.

Hope you've all been having a good week!
Ishtar

Love is...

Love is patient

Love is kind

It does not envy

It does not boast

It is not proud

It is not rude

It is not self-seeking

It is not easily angered

It keeps no records of wrongs

Love does not delight in evil

But rejoices in the truth

It always protects

Always trusts

Always hopes

Always perseveres

Love never fails

Ishtar

Love vs hate

Having read through many of the articles of the June issue of the NewAfrican magazine that my friend brought to me this weekend, I am left with a heavy feeling, wondering why the world is such a sad place.

Copyright Eden Foundation

At first glance, Stella Orakwue seems like any educated young author who is eager to share her views with the world. Her piece "Love or hate, which?" was the first of the NewAfrican articles to capture my interest. The message was nothing like what I expected. Here are a few quotes:

As African people, the ability to maintain hatred for a long time is an ability that we have lacked.

But when it comes to hating, really hating, people from other races who are at the root causes of our problems, then it appears that we have no capacity, […]

We seem to be alone among racial groups in not being able to hate other races like this.

I believe that not hating the right people enough has done us as Africans, irreparable harm and now puts us in tremendous constant danger.

Why is one emotion – love – supposedly “better” for you than another – hate? Why are we told that hate will only make us bitter? It does not.

I have never read anything so sad in a long time. Few things leave me speechless but this most certainly did. Love and hate, equal emotions? Hatred a virtue? No wonder the world is such a confused place.

An eye for an eye and the whole world would be blind.

If only you could take all that energy Stella and steer it towards something positive and constructive! And if only the NewAfrican magazine would go on an African treasure hunt and pick out the things that are really genuine and strong; instead of comparing themselves to the western world and leaving the readers with a taste of bitterness and resentment.

I know the Western world had done Africa great harm. I know that there are many "white wolves" today portraying to be gentle sheep. I know the dirty politics behind the anti-slavery movement (which lead to the era of colonization instead, which didn't offer any more individual freedom now did it?) and I know the politics that flourish behind the aid movement.

I am not saying that Africa should be gullible - but what happens when we all lose our hearts? What happens when we fill ourselves with hatred and are more set on giving back than rebuilding what is in front of us? What good will it do anyone?

Stella, if you ever read this:

No one is forcing you to forgive. No one is forcing you to accept the past and play along silently when European governments refuse to take moral responsibility for what happened. But do not give way to hatred. There are so many things you can do with your talent! Hatred is not "just an emotion". It is a very heavy burden to bear, and comes at the price of your soul. If your goal is to play the game of the selfish people, then by all means, go ahead. I do not doubt your talent the slightest and am sure that you will be able to give them a good fight and aim lethal kicks. But becoming like them is not going to bless your country and your continent in any way. Do not answer evil with evil. It is a waste of your heart and talent, when there are so many constructive things you could do instead.

Sincerely,
Ishtar

Women of the Umuofian Society

Copyright Eden Foundation

Ugo Daniels actually inspired this post, because his yam festival contribution in the past edition of the Beautiful Africa blog carnival it immediately made me think of a quote from Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart:

“Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.”

As you have found out by now, there are millions of things about Niger that I love and cherish. There are so many nice things to mention about this culture so totally different from the one I was born into, that it would seem that there isn’t anything in there that disturbs me. There are a few however (although I always think life is nicer living if you concentrate on the benefits rather than the disadvantages) and thinking of Achebe’s novel, reminded me of one of those issues.

When Yaronbaba asked me how come I wasn’t married, I took some time to explain the situation to him. I told him that guys in my birth country don’t want to move to Niger because it scares them – they don’t understand the culture or the language and the standard is just not adequate enough. I would be welcome to marry them and spend the rest of my life in Sweden, but what good would that do all the years and experiences I have collected in understanding that one particular area of the world? The other alternative would then be to marry a Nigerien man instead, but polygamy in my eyes bears strong resemblances to the art of dealing with cattle, and I just cannot picture myself the cow of any relationship. When I am in Niger, I walk like a man, I talk like a man and I make room for myself like a man. If a man stares at me, I meet his gaze and keep it until he is the one looks regardless of his social standing. Yaronbaba constantly laughingly reminds me that "Ishtar, you are not a woman, you are a man!" which is a way of saying that we are equals.

That is a rare privilege however for many women in my area of Africa. Back to the novel, Achebe paints a vivid picture of what it's like being a woman in the Umuofian society. I tried doing it justice in a argumentative essay, which brings no answers or solutions to the problem, but rather meant to identify the situation on a broader perspective.

“What was the Situation like for Women in the Umuofian Society and How Did They Respond to it?”

In Western Society today, women’s rights are clearly defined and it is often hard to imagine what it would have been like to live in a situation where one’s gender would decide one’s social order. However, this does not necessitate an intolerable or abusive situation. The portrayal of women’s situation in Things Fall Apart is meant to show that even though men were assumed superior to their wives, there were rules that protected women from abuse and people adhered to the social order of the clan despite some injustices because one did not question the ways of the ancestors.

Copyright Eden Foundation

Women in Umuofia were not considered equal to men and were in many ways discouraged from becoming independent individuals. They were not allowed to participate in important village decisions, but were kept in the background together with the children. When Umuofia was deeply offended by one of its neighbours for instance, all of the men, but only the men, assembled at the marketplace in order to decide what the consequences would be. If a woman had reason to address the elders – who were all men – her case was presented and argued for by her closest male relatives. This happened to Mgbafo, a woman who had run away from an abusive husband. Women in Umuofia never lived by themselves. Girls were married off very early, often around the age of sixteen, going straight from their fathers’ house to their husbands’. They never lived on their own.

Copyright Eden Foundation

The husband would often be several years her senior, leaving the girl at a heavy intellectual disadvantage. Once married, a woman was expected to obey her husband and was not allowed to question his authority. Men and women had little interaction. Wives in Umuofia could be beaten for any trivial matter according to their husbands’ whim. Women did not possess much. Although the children were often much closer to their mothers, they lawfully belonged to their father and would be lost to their mother in case of divorce. Although Umuofia was an agricultural society, women were restricted to sowing coco-yams instead of yam – the villagers’ main livelihood – which limited their means of income. “Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.”

Copyright Eden Foundation

Even though women were considered the weaker gender, they were generally well taken care of. Women were easily frightened. For instance, when the men disguised as ancestral spirits appeared at the town meeting the day that Mgbafo’s case was pleaded before the elders, the women gave up a great shout and ran away. Men considered women foolish and despised them for their weakness. Weakness was in fact designated as a womanly feature and a man without honour in Umuofia was referred to as a woman. Boys were pressured in their teens to believe that unless they would be able to control their wives, they would not be respected as men. “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and children (and especially his women) he was not really a man”. Even crimes were divided into male and female; the greater crimes being male and lesser female. This did not mean however that women were not respected, for even though women were expected to submit to their husbands, physical abuse was generally despised. When Mgbafo’s case was presented at the town meeting, the elders took her side and her husband was advised to humble himself before her relatives and beg her to return to him. “It is not bravery when a man fights with a woman”. As for marriage, some women did marry out of love, which was the case of Ekwefi who ran away from her first husband to live with Okwonko, the love of her life. Though men were allowed to have several wives and their material success was often measured by the number of wives they possessed – the record in the village being nine – some men really loved their wives. This was the case of Ndulue, who was considered inseparable from his first wife Ozoemena. The two were said to have one mind. Women were also highly respected as the mother of a child and the bond was often very strong. If things ever went really wrong, a man could always flee to his motherland, which Okwonko did after he accidentally shot a young boy in the village. “A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland.”

Copyright Eden Foundation

Though women were at a social disadvantage, they accepted their situation because like all villagers, they submitted to the ways of their ancestors and did not question the structure of their society. Fatalism had a strong grip on the Umuofian society. “A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. The saying of the elders was not true – that if a man said yea his chi also affirmed”. Society was structured according to a strict hierarchy, even amongst the wives themselves, and society depended on it. Women actually played an important part in keeping the Umuofian society intact, because it was they who passed on the religious and cultural heritage to the children. No one went against the Law of the Land, nor questioned the village Oracle who was in direct contact with the gods. Even if the villagers did not always agree with the ways of the society, they adhered to them nevertheless. One example was when ObierikaOkwonko’s home after the latter had been banished from the village, even though the killing was unintentional and Okwonko was Obierika’s best friend.

Copyright Eden Foundation

By today’s standards, life in Umuofia may seem to have been very hard, but for those growing up in a fatalistic society – whether male or female, rich or poor – challenging the ways of the ancestors or one’s chi, as they called it, would have been unthinkable. The Umuofian Society depended on all of its citizens respecting the hierarchy in place and it undeniably worked, until the Europeans arrived. Women were unquestionable unequal to men but were also generally well taken care of. One cannot but admire them, women and men alike, for their bravery in accepting any hardships they encountered and to take each day as it came.

Copyright Eden Foundation

Works Cited

Achebe, China. Things Fall Apart. New York, Anchor Books, 1994

Hope you enjoyed it!
Ishtar

Beautiful Africa - 2nd edition!

Welcome to the second edition of the Beautiful Africa blog carnival! There is a wider spectrum of countries being represented this time, which gladdens me!

We start off with Nigeria, where Ugo Daniels presents Iwa Ji Ofu (New Yam Festival) in Igboland! posted at AfricanLoft. "The Iwa Ji Afo is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by the Igbos," Ugo writes. "This day symbolizes the conclusion of a work cycle and the beginning of another." Just like another AfricanLoft reader commented, this post awakens my memories of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. I wish I had had this post at hand when I tried to explain the importance of yam to fellow students. Thanks for reminding us, Ugo!

Next up is Omodudu who presents A Night In Cocody posted at Omodudu, saying, "Just reminscing about Cote D'Ivoire!" An interesting read about how something you don't understand and in many ways don't appreciate, still manages to win your heart.

Szavanna presents Ramatlabama girl posted at Szavanna_blog
where she shares her encounters with an easy-going young girl called Phindi who in 2002 was into Footy (a south african sport, in case you were wondering...) and was interested in learning computer skills. This post is about following your heart and achieving things that other people may very well deem impossible for you. A valuable read!

Neil Ransom presents Country Count 139 and Falling posted at Kate and Neil's Official Website. He grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, leaving when he was 18. "Now, 8 years later, most of what I experience of Africa is the language Americans use to describe it.
The African continent has 54 sovereign nations, colors ranging from dark black to bright white, hundreds of unique cultures, and thousands of languages and dialects. Grouping these 54 countries into one is akin to grouping North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. It would be like me saying, “oh, I just got back from Norsamereuromiddast…" I really enjoyed this post.

Back to Nigeria, Loomnie inofficially presents On Friendship posted at Loomnie. He asked me to look through his site, and I picked out this post because of its genuineness.

In the previous Beautiful Africa Carnival, Tim Abbott presented 1/3 of the Water Planet. This time he presents The Waters Prevailed Exceedingly Upon the Earth posted at Walking the Berkshire. Go and have a look!

Bringing full focus to Niger, Ishtar (that would be me, yes) presents Niger's national parade posted at Ishtar News, which shows the great variety of cultural richness and heritage that resides within the same country border. Niger is not alone in being shared by a number of different people, all with their own language and cultural heritage. 2006 saw Niger's national day being celebrated in Zinder and the 1½ hour long parade that passed on our street really impressed me, because it brought together people from all corners of the country, each proudly displaying their own heritage, and yet unified under the same flag.

Now, last but not least, Izz wraps us this edition with his contribution I am what I am posted at Izzonline poetry, saying, "This is a poem that celebrates my life as an African." A wonderful and touching read which concludes: "I am what I am, because my Africa is beautiful." A great ending the Beautiful Africa Carnival Edition!

That concludes this edition. Thank you for your contributions! The next carnival is scheduled on the 18th of August. All in all, thirteen contributions were submitted, of which eight were accepted.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of beautiful africa using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Ishtar

Explaining faith

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Strangely, answering the standard greeting phrase "How are you doing?" in a single word (or sentence!) is harder than explaining faith to someone who doesn't believe. Although I cannot answer "Fine" or "All is well" when asked how things are going, there is hope in my heart, despite the human impossibility. I am learning to live day-by-day; an art I wish I'd striven for years ago, but then I was still struggling so to be in control.

Ishtar

Deadline due in three days

Just wanted to remind you all that the deadline for the Beautiful Africa is in three days. Time flies! Now Izz, have I somehow missed your post?

Lol, this humble question is actually an outstanding example of "female indirect speech" which I have been studying for the past three months. As we females are highly aware of, such statement does not invite an answer (to what we already know is not the case); but rather informs the receiver of the question that there is something not quite right and that this should be fixed as quickly as possible. Of course we could get straight to the point and say "Come up, hurry up and post before the deadline will you!" but such directness would diminish the charm of our cryptic language and make us less intriguing individuals in the eyes of the other half of the world population. And who would want to uncover the myth and make us females more comprehendible creatures? Naw, better now mess with the universal order of linguistic gender differences...

Ishtar

PS: Don't forget that you've got fourteen hours left (as I write this) to have you say about what you want Ishtar to blog about! And if I forgot an option, just let me know!

Pretending to be in Niger?

Just wanted to say that the reason you haven't heard from me for some days is not because I've spent the past week buried under the sheets of my oh-so-comfortable bed (although I've done a good job catching up on that needed sleep; I've even started waking up by myself in the mornings - no alarm ticking off!) but because the network has been down at our apartment, and I haven't bothered to go to the office just to blog. Although I've been dying to catch up!

So hopefully, tomorrow I will get to call the company that is supposed to supply us with a PERMANENT broadband connection, but in the meantime, I will just continue to pretend that I am in Niger and that technology is a rare and exclusive luxury - never to be taken for granted.

Ishtar

Lack of sleep

It's amazing what lack of sleep can do to you. After a week of profound joy and internal peace in the midst of human despair, I finally had my moment of weakness. That was yesterday, and I just couldn't understand why my heart kept hardening at the weirdest of things, why things didn't want to look bright anymore and why I kept having so stubbornly negative thoughts all the time, despite my own efforts. Where had the heavenly song gone? No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't keep above water surface. Everything inside me just felt wrong, even though my mind was telling me so clearly that nothing had actually changed. No reason to lose faith, but still, I kept sinking.

It wasn't until this morning when I woke up after eight hours of sleep which felt like the biggest teaser of them all, that I realized how tired I actually am. I haven't slept for ages. The nights have been too short and there has been no time to recuperate. No wonder my psyche is bearing the burden. That's what happens to us when we neglect the most basics of need.

So tonight, I will not philosophize. I will turn off my mobile phone (so I can't be reached), "crawl into bed" as we actually say in Swedish (!) and enjoy sleep to its very fullest. And as soon as my tired body stops claiming my soul, I will let you know what's going on both in my mind and in my heart.

Take care!

Next edition of Beautiful Africa coming up soon!

I'm pleased to inform you - especially those of you who felt that you missed out on the last carnival - that the next edition of Beautiful Africa is due in less than two weeks. So now would be a great time to sift through your blog and look at the posts you've written, and see if there is anything amidst all the lines that you've already written, which is probably a bit buried by now, that has captured a Beautiful African issue in a positive or constructive way. As stated on the Blog Carnival Homepage:

I will post just about anything about Africa, as long as the tone is positive and constructive. Personal touches are of extra value. I will not however post site promotions or negative rants. If you want to portray a problem, show or present the solution as well!

If the answer is yes; you should immediately submit it to our upcoming carnival edition, and the easiest way to do that is of course to simply click here. If the answer is no, now is the time to take the issue seriously and sit down and write. Forgotten the guidelines? Here's a reminder from what has been previously published:

The blog world is full of interesting carnivals, but I as couldn't find a relevant carnival about Africa, I decided it was time to create one. With so much negative information about Africa being portrayed all the time, I thought it would be nice if we could assemble some of those positive stories; stories that highlight Africa's beauty, dignity, variety and culture.

This is a carnival for all of those who have experienced Africa and have been touched or inspired by this so called "dark continent" in any way. You may or may not have been there yourself, it can be about someone else, a story that inspired you etc. The aim of this carnival is to bring forth all the dignity, beauty, variety and human warmth of this huge continent, which is so often neglected in international media today.It's a very open carnival actually - you don't even need to have been in Africa to submit a contribution. All you need is to be positive about it! This first edition will kick off in a few days, starting with "a personal experience of Africa". Anything you have to tell; sharing the magic of this vast continent.

There! See, I knew you would get inspired!
Forgot where to submit your post? Click here!
Submission deadline is July 18th 2007.

Ishtar

Touring the World in Search of...

Peopleized by: Ishtar - Friday, 06 July 2007

When discovering the Loomnie Blog, I was immediately intrigued as we could very well have traded geographical lives with one another. Born in Nigeria and an expert on Naija affairs, he still makes a better Westerner than myself in many regards, and therefor I just had to interview him...

Copyright Loomnie 2007

Ishtar: When you started your blog in 2006, you were looking for a job in Nigeria. What made you start a public blog? Did you let your friends and family know about it?

loomnie: Ehm... actually, I started blogging in 2005, even if I had only one post in the year. Now, more seriously, I started blogging just when I was about to leave Sweden to go back to Nigeria. I just discovered Blogger then, and I knew next to nothing about blogging. It was a time when I was pretty much confused about what to do with myself. I had finished an MA programme in a really good university, didn't know what steps to take after that, and, after stumbling on blogging, I decided to write a message to an imaginary audience. If you read the first blog - and the next few ones too - they were written in a sort of reflective way, without much thought about the audience. Also, when I got to Nigeria and started looking for a job it was a bit disappointing in a way, and writing about the disappointments was therapeutic in a sense.

So, in a nutshell, I would say that I started blogging without really knowing why I did. But then, when I left Sweden I found that it was a pretty easy way to keep all my old friends updated about things happening to me. All I had to do was to send them an email with my address, and with a request that they bookmark the page. I guess that answers my question about letting my friends know about it. My family? Well, you would find that I haven't mentioned anyone of them in a direct way in any of the posts. We are four children in my family, and one of my younger brothers now knows about it. It wasn't like I was hiding it from anyone, it is just that I never got to give talk to them about it. I would gladly give them the address... you can see that it is not an anonymous blog.

Ishtar: From reading your blog, you seem like a guy with pretty high standards, who doesn't settle for second best, unless forced to do so. So tell me, what are your life aspirations? Have they changed over the years?

loomnie: Pretty high standards? Oh yea, I have pretty high standards, but I probably would not agree with you if I thought that would be a good thing. I think it is not a good thing when one sets standards that would almost be impossible to attain. Most people like that are almost never satisfied with whatever goals they achieve because it could always be better. Ishtar, I hope you understand what I mean.

Life aspirations? I guess when I decided to do a degree in development studies I thought about working with a development agency or an NGO. I wanted to 'do' development, and to 'help people'. But coming back to Nigeria showed me that most of the people in the NGO 'industry' are actually there because they can make more money than they would either in the public or private sectors in Nigeria. After looking closer I saw that 'development' as an intervention might not work because people who work with the organisations are not knowledgable enough to take the perspectives of the people into consideration. Ok, maybe not knowledgable enough is not the right expression, maybe I should say they just don't know enough about the issues they are supposed to be dealing with, and they don't take many contextual issues into consideration in designing development programmes. This is not only in Nigeria but in the 'developing world' in general. I thought that the discipline that might actually be able to provide this bottom-up perspecive would be Anthropology because it is reputed to give 'voice to the voiceless' by listening to 'local voices' that otherwise would not be heard(actually, I was going to do a degree in Anthropology if I didn't get on the Development Studies programme). These thoughts eventually led me to thinking of anthropology as a field of study.

Thinking about it now, I don't know if I would say that my life aspirations have changed because I really don't know if I had any clear life aspirations. Even now, what I am thinking about is doing a damn good work of my PhD, and on time, and other things will follow. I am thinking about doing a post-doc after that. I see myself working in a research institute and teaching in a university for some years to come. But I am flexible enough to accept another course. 'We'll see how it goes' would be a good thing to say at this point.

Ishtar: When you started your blog, you were living in Nigeria. Now you're working in Germany. What is your take on the difference between the Western and the African continent?

loomnie: Living in Germany is definitly different from living in Nigeria. For one, there are so many things you take for granted here that you would be happy to have in Nigeria. I could mention the electricity and security issues as examples. But then other side of this is that you constantly miss your family and friends. I also miss some feeling of warmness that I would get in Nigeria for instance... but I have to be hasty in pointing that that too could get too much in Nigeria. I guess that what I am trying to say is that there is no perfect place. Wherever one chooses to live one should know that one would never have everything.

Ishtar: What do you think the next ten years of your life will look like? Feel free to speculate!

loomnie: What do I think the next ten years would look like? I have no idea. I probably would be able to answer a question about what I would like the next ten years to look like. I know that part of it would be rough as I have to finish my dissertation and decide what to do with my life after that... and I am sure you know that it is not exactly the best of times writing up a dissertation. Also, a wife and kids would be nice in ten years from now.... and you can add the house with a white picket fence to the picture. :D Really, I would like to have a family and a place that I can call home. Anywhere in the world would be home as long as the family is there. And no, I don't even have a girlfriend now.

Ishtar: Finally, what did you know about Niger before you encountered Ishtar News, and what is your take on Eden Foundation?

loomnie: Well, I knew that Niger is at the northern border of Nigeria, and that the country shares a lot in common with Northern Nigeria. But I must confess that I didn't exactly know so much about Niger. I think I told you sometime ago that I have been in more countries in Europe than in Africa, and I plan to make up for that sometime next year, starting with a tour of West Africa. So watch out, I may be in Niger sometime soon!

I think that the foundation you described in the posts on your blog sounds really interesting, and I daresay even great, but I really don't know so much about the foundation to be able to make any conclusive statement. But knowing that the organisation takes a long-term perspctive on issues is comforting because I am tired of the fire-brigade/ big bang approach of most of the NGOs around.... I think I really have to learn more about Eden Foundation.

Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

loomnie's Page

Authors Page: Ishtar

powered by Peopleized!