Marriage celebrations on our street

When Nettus and I went to work this afternoon, we stumbled upon some festivities going on in our street.

The younger brother of a friend of my brother (it's complicated, I know...) was getting married, and so the tent was up, and dancers had been hired for the occasion.

I didn't have the time to stay for long, but Nettus did, walking around with her camera and photographing the people.

It was a beautiful crowd, and as for all the people wearing the same tissue, that is one of the key issues in Niger which shows family unity.

Ishtar

Our three girls this morning...

Sahara looking beautiful as ever - but who would have thought she'd grow so much during the time that she's been with us?

Maya starting to become less and less like an indifferent bush horse and more and more like the other mares in the flock

Arwen with the right posture. I wanted a picture of that belly to see if there will be any visible difference in a few months. It's only been about four months since DanMaffia was here and did his business... She hasn't called for any male attention since, but that's about all I know about whatever is going on inside her! And let us not forget, I have been tricked before...

Ishtar

Souna part II

In the afternoon, we went back the souna, which was then in full swing.

Hampsatu and her baby daughter Sherifa

Some of the other women in the room

Some of the people outside

Nettus and Ishtar eating à la Nigerienne - although I must admit, I totally lack the skill of eating with my hands! My colleague finds this hilarious, since he knows I can eat with "sticks" (he has seen me at a Chinese restaurant) and logically, eating with your hand should be a lot easier. But it all comes down to habit, and I am untrained in the art of getting food correctly in my mouth using only my hands - without looking like a slob! The good news is that we were commended for our efforts and did not offend anyone!

Ishtar

Souna - part I

Today was the souna of our colleague's newborn daughter. It is custom to have the naming ceremony up to seven days after birth, when the child and mother are presented to all friends and (extended) family. It is the day when everyone gets to know the name of the child, which in this case was Sherifa.

Nettus and I on the bed together with one of Sherifa's brothers and her mother.

Outside in the courtyard, friends and family (only the women, of course!) where helping out with the upcoming dinner - a meal of meat that everyone was looking forward to!

Photos of the women

We stayed for an hour and then went home for a "break", promising to be back later on... On our way home, we stopped at Ladi's and took some pictures with her and her younger brother Abdul-something (sorry, I keep forgetting!) and sister Aïchatu. Aïchatu is the funniest little rascal you can find (worldwide) - both Nettus and I adore her. She always always makes us laugh!

Ishtar

This is where you will find me...

A lot of people here have been wondering if I've let the country, since I have grown so scarce. Well, both Nettus and I have been very much present, but our presence has been very much limited to the office, where we have been working long, long, long hours these past few weeks. It's a fun challenge though, and we get to do things we never thought possible for us to do before!

Ishtar

Wintertime in Africa

Oh, what a perfect winter we have had this year! Great temperatures and a deep blue sky with lots of sunshine, just the way I love it!

Ishtar

Beautiful baby!

Our colleague got another daughter today: a beautiful baby girl! The naming ceremony will be later this week.

Ishtar

Too young to be ridden?

In Niger, horses start being ridden at far too young a age, sometimes not more than a year or so. With Maya, we let her run along for the first few weeks, but when she started getting too daring on her own (peeking into people's gardens on our way out of town and hunting the herder's goats when out in the bush), we decided to give our 2 year old a try and see if what she was like. Nettus and I fought over who (wouldn't be the one) taking her out, and the lot fell on Nettus, who weighed less than I. It was a interesting ride but not a comfortable one - we only tried her out for a few minutes before deciding that the horse needs to grow a lot more before one of us will be comfortable to take out her. So Maya went back to being a filly again, which answers the title question with a big YES, despite regional norms.

Ishtar

The first considerable race of the season

So, a new year and a new season. I have to remind myself of the "cut", since I see a year as the full extent of time that I am in Africa! For me, the new year will be after I have gone back to Sweden and then get to come back to Africa again.

Anyway, this weekend showed some interesting races at the track, so Nettus & I sent the mares with Ali and took the bikes ourselves, meeting with all the "who's whos" of the Zinderien horse community. Arwen poor thing had to stay home recuperating from a fall we had (which left her with an injured muscle).

The place was crowded and so security was up.

Everywhere, you could see people preparing their horses for the races.

The discipline amongst the stallions today was impressionable! Nettus got to take some fab pictures!

And they were off!

When they were done with the first race, Yaronbaba took the Ishtar girls out for a ride. Sahara taking the task dead seriously and Maya the young one tagging along. She did run though! And jump... And play... They had fun, and so did we!

Nettus, Maya and our friend aka the Snow Man

Nettus with her favourite horse's younger sister

Ishtar & Maya

Maya trying to communicate that she would like to have her fair share of phone conversation, especially when the call is from Sweden!

The heated debate about what horse is going to win the race!

The winner in person - Aldo the Menace (brown horse to the right). If Nettus and I get things the way we want, Aldo will be siring Sahara's foal, but in order for him to do that, she must first express a specific interest him in... But that'll be another story!

This was all from the race track, for this time. Will be back, though!

Ishtar

Stolen car, stolen baby

A most horrible thing happened this weekend.

On Saturday night, our neighbour Jmackie sent a message saying that an expat woman in Zinder had had her car stolen, with their baby inside! I called her up for the details and was devastated when I heard that the woman in question was none other than the French doctor who cared for my mother at the time when she was evacuated in 2006. She and her husband had stopped by a restaurant for take-away just a block away from Eden’s office (and just two blocks away from where Anette and I live). When the husband went inside the restaurant, two young unarmed men passed by. Before she knew it, they opened the car door and pulled her out of the car, grabbing the car keys and droving off; leaving her screaming that the baby was still inside.

We gathered at the French consul’s office and people came by to see if there was anything they could do. It was a very long night. We had no idea where the car was being taken or what the driver would do with the baby once he realized he had not only stolen a car but also kidnapped a four month old baby boy. Would it be dropped off in the bush where no one is out in the cold nights? Would it be left in an abandoned car (which by then was sought by both police and army)? Would it be handed over to some villagers, who would care for it during the night? We had no idea. Different accounts were coming in but it was impossible to know if the car was being taken up north towards the Agadez (which is currently a very unstable zone) or south to Nigeria. My dad drove all the way to Tanout and back to coordinate with Eden’s field worker team manager and have all our villages on alert. No one had seen or heard anything, which was good news. He came back at three at night, when the two of us went home and made flyers for the coming search. At six o’clock, twelve NGOs vehicles drove out on different routes, in order to search the country side and ask all villagers if they had seen a speeding white car or heard of a left baby somewhere. Luckily, the drama ended an hour later, when the police called to inform that the car had been found in the outskirts of Zinder, with the baby still inside. He was hungry and cold (but not freezing; his mother was so thankful she had “overdressed” him that day, something she normally never did…) but very happy to see people again!

I am so happy it ended well. In the evening, we all gathered at their house for a little Baby Home Coming Party and it was so nice to see the whole family reunited again:

Ishtar

Playing ping-pong a Friday night

So my dad is here right now (for a short period of time), and the two of us challenged him in a game of pingpong. I hate to admit it but we both lost! And worst of all, I lost to both of them... But then again, life is about trying, not about winning. So no, you won't find me crying over my loss, hehe! Maybe next time, I'll get it right!

Ishtar

Baking bread in the solar oven

If there is one thing in the world I love, it is food that cooks itself! Now after years in Niger, one of the things we get tired of is eating (only) white bread, but baking in the gas oven and heating up the entire house in the middle of day has never been a favorite of mine. Cooking in the solar oven however is, and since we came up with the bread recipe, we've been enjoying homemade bread after a long and hard day at word! Ah, you want to do it yourself? Well, after having purchased your own solar oven, here is what you do:

HOW TO MAKE BREAD IN THE SOLAR OVEN

3 dl of sorgo or millet flour
3 dl of wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2,5 dl of water
0,5 dl of peanut oil

Mix all the ingredients together, place in a black pot in the solar oven for a minimum of 5 hours.

We normally fix the dough in the evening, put it in the fridge, go to bed and then first thing in the morning before heading off to work, we place it in the solar oven. On good days (with lots of sunshine), the bread is done at noon but since we like it for supper, we just leave it in the oven and take it out when we come home.

Preferably served with butter&cheese or with Ishtar's personal favorite "The Niger tuna&basil spread".

Enjoy!

Ishtar

A change of character

The funny thing about Sahara is that despite her 3,5 years of age and her 1 year long stay with us, she has never once demonstrated any signs of being on heat. So when the day finally arrived when she had a sudden change of character (all of a sudden getting very insecure and sensitive, which is a far cry from her ordinary over self-confident self), I thought it was time to bring in a teaser and see how she reacted.

The male was a nameless white-reddish young stallion with a very going temperament, and to start with, they seemed to hit it off fine (which wasn't to be expected, seeing Sahara has always been into dominating every horse on the planet!).

Things were going just great, until the male (who was probably a bit inexperience himself) got over-eager and jumped up on her back, which she wasn't quite yet ready for. So love ended there this time, but I'll let you know how things progress!

Ishtar

Bonding sisters

We took the sisters out to my brother's big garden, to let them figure out their differences like horses like to do. As a safety precaution however, we tied one side of Sahara's legs together so that she would be able to do any serious damage to Maya, who was a few sizes too small to properly defend herself (but had already showed a very independent personally that was slightly asking for trouble...).

The idea however was just to give them the time they needed to figure out their differences, which we did. It was quite a show, and fun to watch!

After thirty minutes of screaming protests, twists and turns, the two of them suddenly got down to some serious smelling.

And within no time, they started to interact like long-time flock members! Wow - in this case, blood was definitively thicker than water...

Ishtar