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

Land of Eden

My turn to be peopleized! Szavanna, the Hungarian music lover (currently living in SA) whom I interviewed a little while ago, has interviewed me back! The original interview is posted on her site Szavanna Blog, entitled Niger - Land of Eden - as seen by Ishtar.

Niger - Land of Eden - an interview with Ishtar

Peopleized by: Szavanna - Monday, 25 June 2007

About Ishtar, Niger and the Eden foundation - just an intro actually - make sure you get the bigger picture on Ishtar's blog - once you have seen her it - you will probably spend the rest of your night reading through all her stories.

Szavanna: Hi Ishtar - thanks for agreeing to answer my questions. My first question of course is - how did you end up in Niger in 1986? What connections did your parents have with Africa?

Ishtar: My Dad first crossed the Sahara desert the mid 1970s, when the first seed of Eden was born. There’s an article on Eden’s website entitled The Lost Treasures of Eden, which talks about how he came across a plant growing in the middle of nowhere. He was struck by its potential and wondered what the consequences would be if such a plant could give human food.

My parents chose Niger because out all the countries in West Africa, it was the country most threatened by desertification, and yet was at the time receiving the least international aid. So that’s the reason why we packed all our belongings and drove south from Tunisia to Niger, a journey that took a little more than five weeks.

Szavanna: You write that you stay 6 months in Sweden and 6 months in Niger - what do you do in those half-year periods?

Ishtar: Well, when I’m in Africa, I work with PR, writing Eden newsletters and articles, working with correspondence and training the Eden field team in what kind of information our sponsors (most of the private people) are interested in hearing. We have a very rich material with 7000 pictures and lots of social documentation, so to me, it’s a dream job because there is always something to say.

The only catch with working as a volunteer in Niger is that I don’t get paid, so when I’m in Sweden, I mostly work (for money, currently I have two jobs), hold Eden presentations and catch up with friends and family.

Szavanna: Describe a day in Niger - what do you do from the moment you wake up till you go to sleep?

Ishtar: Wow, what nostalgia you awake! Normally I start the day with work, but it’s my intension to start every morning with a quick ride, even if it means going up at six o’clock. Just have to get to bed later, meaning I can’t sit up and blog, hehe! Anyway, work hours in Niger are between 07.30-12.30 followed by a long siesta, only to pick it up again in the afternoon from 3.30-6.30 pm. When I was studying, I used bring out my books in the sun after lunch and wrap up in time to have a ride in the afternoons. Since discovering the solar oven, I normally fix the next day’s lunch in the evening instead of in the middle of the day, and this saves a lot of time as food is ready when you come home and you just have to take it out of the solar oven.

So somewhere after supper, I normally go into the kitchen and put together what seems to be a good mix. I really enjoy cooking and the solar oven has been an intriguing challenge as you have to rethink, as slow cooked food needs to be positioned in a certain way, and you also have to think about differences in texture and moisture. The best thing about solar cooked food however is neither that it’s time consuming or cheap, but the amazing richness is taste that you get!

As for the rest of the household chores, there is often a lot of people coming and going while you’re at home. There’s the greengrocer man who sells fruit and vegetables, the meat man who (obviously) sells meat, the egg man from Kania and so on …

People are really into coming home to you in Niger, which is cool since you don’t have to rush around town trying to get hold of people, but it can also get a bit too busy, going from one person to another. There’s a man for just about everything, but the greatest luxury is having your personal tailor come with clothes you get to try at home, and if there is something that doesn’t fit, he fixes it! At least as long as it’s still fixable, that is…

So as you can see, my days are pretty much filled up with work, horses, household stuff and seeing people, an “obligatory” half-an-hour in the sun (I seem to need it as much as coffee and my daily timeout with the horses) and then finally keeping in touch with people in Europe. That’s why I started the blog in the first place, so that I could post all the pictures in the same place and not have to send them around all the time. I was into writing personal newsletters (still do, although not very frequently), but by the time I got them out, all my close friends had already heard the details, so they didn’t find them very interesting anymore…

Szavanna: Please introduce us to the Eden Foundation.

Ishtar: Ah… Eden Foundation is next to Niger the love of my life! Eden is, simply put, quite unique. It’s visionary, it’s down-to-basic kind of aid that makes a genuine contribution. It’s not the place to go if you’re a mainstream kind of person, because you wouldn’t like the time tables we use. If the development work you do is going to be sustainable in the end, it has to start from the inside, and Eden has a lot of patience. We believe in a simple solution, but we let things take their time. And the success has been huge. I came into Eden at a time when there were things to show for all the hard work, but my parents started off with just a vision. My role is easy: I look at the changes that are taking place within our Tanout society and I translate it to Western people so that they can see it for what it really is. I love telling people about Eden. I love holding presentations and telling people about the awakening that has taken place amidst the least developed area in the least developed country in the world. I show pictures of genuine happiness, of proud mothers and their healthy children, of fathers who have understood the value of trees and who have gone against local customs and stopped cutting down their perennials in order to get rid of crop-eating birds. When I present our Eden families to the rich in Europe, they marvel. I still remember the top bankers at a Swedish Rottary club who tanked me for coming to them, saying “We just can’t believe how those people can be so happy.” For them, it was an impossibility. Poor people with nothing but fruits – how could they be so happy? You see, Westerners have all the material but not the happiness. My dad is right when he writes: “It is difficult to understand, but just as the rich never found the right food, they never seem to find the right values either. The worst thing we can do is to be contemptuous toward the poor and their lifestyle. Electricity will not solve their problems, neither will cars. The infrastructure that would open Africa for export and import will not solve their problems and it may never even become a reality. By enabling people to produce their own food, so retaining their intrinsic dignity, they are being given a chance not by being told what to do, but by being given multiple options in life.” He wrote that more than twenty years ago and I still marvel, because there’s continuity about Eden and I like that.

Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

Szavanna: How would you describe Niger to someone who has never been there ( I know it's not easy to give a short description )

Ishtar: Niger is the country that stands still, for better or for worse. It’s a country where things take ages to come about and where stressful people go berserk. But that’s just the thing really. The first two weeks in Niger, when coming from any progressing areas, are disastrous, unless you’ve come for a vacation. However, after those first two transitional weeks, something within in you will change, and the real culture chock actually arrives when you come back to your home country, wondering why everybody is doing what they are without ever asking themselves why…

Szavanna: How did Niger and travelling in general changed how you look at life?

Ishtar: Ah… Niger is my little “life secret”. It’s a special pulse that I carry within me wherever I go. On the outside, I make a perfect Swede, but not a day that goes by when I’m away from Niger that I don’t think about it, when I don’t count the days until I go back. Traveling in general has made me a lot more humble towards other societies, but since I have been traveling since the age of 1, I don’t really know what I was like before I started traveling… :-) It’s just a natural part of my life, living in a world where we may all be very strong individuals, but where we still have to share with all our neighbors. Regardless of how much we have or don’t have in common!

shtar's Page

Authors Page: Szavanna

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Thanks the interview, Szavanna! Loved the questions (as you can see)!
And the photo collage was great!

Ishtar

A day by the sea

Today I fulfilled a 24 hour shift (I work in a home for handicapped people), which involved cleaning, cooking, washing up and shopping; but also a lovely walk to the beach. It was raining and my poor companion was drenched in his own sweat trying to hold up with my tempo, but we had a fun together and the sea was beautiful...

I was in a kind of pensive mood and the vastness of the sea hit home. I'm a sahara/savanna girl when it comes to it; I'm used to seeing the horizon in all four directions. In contrast to my mother, who grew up on a little island off the West Coast of Sweden. Her father was a sea captain and used to take her own on long sea trips on his boats. The sea has always meant something very special to her which I have never really quite been able to share, because I on the other hand grew up surrounded by the freedom of a sandy horizon, one that you could walk on, drive on, and as I discovered later, conquer on horseback.

The sea did evoke a sense of longing and desire today; and when I came home, I knew it was time to call Niger again. Luckily for me, Skype has made phoning to Niger not so expensive, and so I talked on the phone for more than two hours. First, I called my good friend who is known on this blog as the Snow Man. I was happy to hear his voice again and he told me over and over how much they were missing me and how the race track wasn't the same without me.

I asked him to pass on a message to Yaronbaba, my jockey, as my Hausa has been deteriorating these past few months, rendering communication a little bit difficult. Sure, no problems, he said, and lol, when I called YB about 15 minutes later, he was at the Snow Man's place, being informed of what we had talked about. We talked about the horses, laughed about my poor Hausa and then the job was done: the relationships had been maintained.

I am still smiling from my phone calls. I thought about a fellow African blogger that I met these past few days, who wrote that he did not like romanticize over Africa. I know I do, but knowing what the Western world is like, I have reason to romanticize because there are just some things about Niger that touch my heart and I fall for it. I can't really explain what it is, after all, there are a number of issues about this country that makes most Westerners go mad, but the overall picture appeals to me. With a little bit of humor and large portion of self-distance, you can do so much in Niger. I guess that's what I love about it. That said, I will not romantizice over reality, because I know that regardless of how much I long to go back, the two first weeks adapting to this slow-slow pace is always a dreadful process. But THEN, once you're through it, the real fun begins!

OK, enough musings for tonight!
Ishtar

Niger's 2007 locust forecast

Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

People are always asking me about the locust situation in Niger, and as I came upon some information the other day, I thought I might as well share.

According to FAO's report, locusts this year are not a major threat.

The situation remained calm in the region during May. Isolated solitarious adults were reported in southeast Niger. Small-scale breeding will commence with the onset of the seasonal rains in Niger, causing locust numbers to increase slightly.

So there you have it; no exceptional damage anticipated this year when it comes to these little rascals, although I must remind you that they are ALWAYS part of the nature of things down there. And they DO eat crops, so cultivating your own Eden trees is a good tip because locusts are more into leaves than fruits.

Copyright Eden Foundation 2006

Looking forward to getting back there!

Ishtar

Miss Niger?

When looking through the statistics, I discovered that someone from the World Wide Web had found his way to my site through the keywords "Miss Niger". Seeing that Ishtar News is not much about fashion and lightly-dressed women, the person obviously did not linger, but my interest was awakened as to is there even such a thing as a Miss Niger? After twenty-something years in this country, I have never heard of it, but that could of course be due to my personal lack of interest in Western culture being imposed as a "good thing".

I still don't know if he/she was looking for one of the Nigerian "Miss Niger State" (not only do the neighboring countries have similar, Nigeria also has a state called Niger, adding to the confusion) or the Nigerien "Miss Niger"; but the thing was, I didn't even know that Niger had one.

I checked it out on the Internet and found one Miss Niger (from Niger, not Nigeria) who participated in the Miss Africa International beauty contest, but that did not seem to be an official Niger thing. More interestingly, I found an article by David Simpson, entitled:
Niger: beauty and the beast, which emphasis on how the Nigerien beauty contest was sponsored by the dominant tobacco companies.

Last year's Miss Niger beauty contest demonstrates how the new, smaller tobacco companies can give the big boys a run for their money when it comes to saturation brand coverage in the youth market. The contest was sponsored by Fine cigarettes, manufactured by Seita/Altadis and distributed by Sitab Niger. The wife of Niger's President attended, together with the tourism minister and, significantly for this highly fashion and music conscious nation, a clutch of famous clothes designers and musicians. The event attracted droves of young people and gained extensive television and newspaper coverage. Attractive young women distributed Fine cigarettes, T shirts, caps and bags. Fine also sponsors a biennial international festival of African fashion. Fine's sister brand Excellence sponsors the National Youth Festival, a cultural and sports event attended by more than 3000 young people, and traditional wresting, the most popular sport in Niger, which is covered live on television.

I learned two things in all of this: first of all that there has actually been a Niger Beauty contest (although I have no evidence that there has been one of the last few years) and secondly, that they were run by tobacco companies, who used the opportunity to spread their glorious image of "accomplished people" to the Nigerien middle class. Cigarettes are not expensive in Niger, and this availability makes far too many people dependent on them, without be aware of the damages that they do. Let's not forget that Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Concerning politics, Simpson goes on to write:

It is not hard to envisage the odds stacked against any politician or government official who might try to ban tobacco promotion in Niger.

I remember myself what happened when the President wanted to ban the French national lottery from the country - it just wasn't possible and it cost him dearly. I'm really glad that I'm not in charge of a poor nation, because when you are dependent on others, you also have to dance to their cue. You may not agree with Western tobacco or lottery policies, but you are still forced to accept them. If not, all aid and development investments will be pulled back and Niger depends on foreign aid. I can only imagine what that does to your own pride and to the integrity of the nation.

As an idealist, I am proud to be working for Eden, helping people achieve a sustainable life and become independent of all foreign aid. The fruit-bearing trees and bushes that they are establishing allow them to make their own choices in life; and we are spared of tobacco companies running the show.

Ishtar

Niger in the news - a stereotypical portrait

There used to be a time when Niger was unknown to the outside world and people hardly knew what continent I was talking about. As a teenager, I quickly learned to present my country as "Niger-south-of-Algeria-north-of-Nigeria" just to make people understand that there was in fact something else than a void in the midst of the Sahara Desert.

Then in 2005, Niger suddenly made the headlines. News agencies all around the world began to focus on the hyped famine and one story led to another. At first, I was pleased to see that people would finally get to know about Niger, but I quickly realized that the media coverage would come at a price. Here's what Eden concluded:

What Niger saw this summer was not a sudden catastrophe, but the harsh reality of everyday life. Some may argue that the recent media attention of Niger’s alleged famine – focusing primarily on emaciated naked children drawing their last breaths in front of Western cameras – was a necessary step to draw international attention to the poorest country in the world in order to improve its situation. However, temporary relief programmes can never solve an endemic situation, regardless of how much money is invested. Hunger and malnutrition are simply symptoms of much deeper structural problems, which Niger desperately needs to see resolved.

Since that event - the hyped famine - Niger has somehow managed to remain in the spotlight. For example, there is currently an ongoing trial in the States right now about a CIA agent who was sent to Niger which resulted in Niger falsely being accused of selling uranium to Saddam Hussein. The matter didn't end until France went out, saying it was not possible for Niger to sell any uranium to Irak since France had all the rights to it. Still, the label of "terrorist country" stuck around.

It is my opinion that the Western Society is too quick to put a label on anything that it does not understand. Despite being the least developed country in the world, Niger has a wonderful and rich culture; a beautiful horizontal landscape with an amazing variety of colors (red dirt and white sand mixed under a deep blue sky, dotted with green acacia trees), unique values and its own "slow-slow" pace. Stress is not heard of in Niger. People generally take life as it is and do not care for our Western ambitions.


This is not the picture I see of Niger when I read about it in the news. The portrait of my country is stereotypical, either terroristic or anti-feminine. I would not say that any of these things could not happen there, but not more than they do in for example Sweden. Today, I read an article from the International Herald Tribune. It talks about UN women's rights group criticizing different countries (especially Pakistan) for honor killings and trafficking. Concerning Niger, the UN women's right group had the following to say:

The committee also told the representatives from Niger that it was worried about a re-emergence of slavery in recent years and the continued practice of female genital mutilation, despite laws banning it.

I must say that it felt weird, reading about it in this way. During my twenty-one years in Niger, I have never once heard of any girl being genitally mutilated. Forced marriages, yes (more or less at least; the girl can always say no but can come at the price of being denounced by her family). The pain of sharing in a polygamous relationship, yes. But genital mutilations? No. I am not saying that it has never occurred; but the fact is that I am aware of more cases genital mutilation in Europe than in Niger. The same goes with honor killings: there have been many recent honor killings in Sweden in the past few years, but I have never heard of one in Niger. The people I know would be shocked and disgusted if they heard about such thing.
Only theft is generally looked upon with little mercy, but how could a poor society function otherwise?

Slavery is yet another label mentioned in the article above which I once again cannot relate to. I know that poverty makes people sell themselves short, but that is hardly the slavery we are taking about. Again; after twenty-one years in Niger, I don't recognize this "common practice".


There is a risk in exaggerating and giving false portraits of the actual situation, and that is that people might react negatively and actually become what you are accusing them of. If we don't want to create more conflicts around the world, it is my opinion that we should be careful not accusing "little countries" out of political reasons. There always is one, you know. Behind all the talk of human rights and individual freedom.

Ishtar

"There's always tomorrow"

I am still feeling lost without my computer, but "luckily" for me, I am working Monday-Saturday this week, so I haven't had that much time to fret...

My new computer has already arrived and my dad and brother are helping me install all the needed programs (it's incredible how much you need!) while I get to focus on my essay. Which was due last week, so my reaction is probably best described with: "Gaaaaaah!"

If I were in Niger now, I would just shrug my shoulders and listen to people say: "Don't worry, there is always tomorrow!"

But in the Western World, there is never a tomorrow, because the "tomorrows" are always booked in advance. No wonder I miss Niger!!!

Not to talk about my little horsie darlings... :-) Just hugging them is stress therapy...

I wonder if they would write my essay for me as well? Now that would be some marvelous little barb mares!


OK, got to go back to work - enough longing for one day. Just needed to have it said: I am missing my girls to bits right now.

Ishtar

Presenting Eden

Eden family in the Tanout area - Copyright Eden Foundation

Today I had two Eden presentations (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and they went very well - my first commitment since the news of my mother's illness. I was a little worried at first because I was sooooo dizzy (I didn't sleep much tonight because I somehow got it into my head that the alarm wouldn't go off in the morning; not that it helped worrying about it...), but I survived the day without losing my train of thoughts and the message came through.

I love presenting Eden's work and showing how such a laughably simple solution (helping the farmers establish drought-tolerant trees and bushes that bear fruit, even in times of need) can give such outstanding results; how the poor can be joyful and how easy it can be to achieve a sustainable solution if you only have the time, commitment and patience to see it through.

Collecting Eden fruits from the family field
- Copyright Eden Foundation

Now I am well aware that few projects plan the future in terms of generations and that Eden is quite unique in this matter. I am aware that others think I miss out on many adventures by not changing scenery now and then - after all, with all my knowledge and experience, I could take jobs in so many other places. However, the thing is (and I say this whole-heartedly) that I would rather spend the rest of my life working with one thing that I know truly makes a difference, than spending a few years here and a few years there and in the end not accomplishing any true difference.

A small fortune of Eden fruits - Copyright Eden Foundation

I love Niger with all my heart, despite its weaknesses and turtle-paced progress. I love Eden because I get to help the poorest of the poor - the inhabitants of the least developed area in the least developed country in the world - to achieve a sustainable solution, and we get to do it from scratch. It's a huge challenge, but I love challenges, and so yet again, I am incredible fortunate!

Now, as you may or may not already have figured out, I wish I could be spending all my days (nearly, at least!) in the land "that stands still", the land that so few people know anything about. But I can't at the moment - have to work on my finances etc - but there is one thing I can do here in Sweden which concerns Niger, and that is to be the messenger of glad tidings and let the people of the Developed World know that there really is a solution for the poor, that both poverty and desertification is reversible and that they can be a part of letting that happen. So can you!

Little Illa with his Eden fruits, one my favorite pictures!
- Copyright Eden Foundation

Greetings!
Ishtar

Where to raise your children

Lol, I really must be one of the greatest Niger-fans on this entire planet!

Today I read an article in the Swedish paper Aftonbladet, which stated that Sweden is the best country to live in if you are a mother.

At the bottom of the list was none other than Niger, in terms of insurance, health care, female life expectancy, education, financial inequality between the sexes, parental insurance (or lack of...?), female involvement in politics, child mortality rate etc... (The list was long).

Now, all this is true - and Sweden is really a comfortable place to bring up your children, and yet... there is no place on earth where I would rather raise my children than in Niger!

Copyright Eden Foundation 2007

Material wealth and security in all its honor, but the difference - for me - between Niger and Sweden is that in Niger, I have time. Time to think, time to spend with others, time to inspire and figure out what life is really about. Though I would probably be so much more efficient if I lived the rest of my days in Sweden, I never really feel as if I am "alive". Life in Sweden is so much about work, work and work. My tinnitus goes up, my neck muscles ache and my dizziness increases and I know it's only from the mental stress that I create in my mind.

So despite what the papers say, my choice is Niger. I am Swedish and I enjoy meeting all my friends and relatives there - and Niger is truly at times one of the most awkward places on earth, but there is a very special sincerity to it that I find precious and rare, and which I would like to pass on to my own children on day.

Now your turn!



Ishtar

No water

When I checked this afternoon, we still had no water. This the fourth day now, but fortunately the water came back two days ago, so that we had time to fill the water tower (which means that this time, I am not entirely without water - I can do the dishes without carrying buckets from elsewhere and do not have to invite myself over to others in order to take a shower). Unfortunately, the water tower had a leak which means that yesterday, it was only 1/3 full and today, there should be even less. You'd be amazed at how easily you take things for granted. You take for granted that there is clean water in your tap. You take for granted that you can take a shower as soon as you feel uncomfortably hot - even though you might not always do it, you treasure the possibility to do so. You take for granted that you can wash your dishes immediately after use - not having to choose between washing up with dirty water or not washing up at all. And you take for granted that you have enough water for the washing machine - not that it suddenly stops because there wasn't enough water, and you are left to dry dirty clothes. However, you'd also be surprised at how possible it is to live a different life, and not use so much water. Six years ago, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life when I followed Aïssa on a week-long trip to the bush, where we stayed with her nomad Bororo family.

The camp consisting of one man, his two wives, a few of his twelve grown-up children (with his first wife) with their respective families and his younger children as well; civilization in the middle of the nowhere. The sun was scorching hot and from nine am to five pm, there was no activity other than socializing, drinking tea and moving the mats around the tree in order to stay in the shade. With such a long siesta-period, you don't need much sleep. We went to bed after midnight and got up at six o'clock, the best period of the day.

We rode camels, horses and donkeys during our stay. The horses were my favorite, but the American Peacecorps volunteer who was staying with the family at that time fell off and from then on, I rode alone. The landscape was the same and navigating was tricky, but I wasn't worried because I went riding before they had had their morning drink, and so when it was time to go back home, I just gave the young stallion free reins and he headed straight for the well.

The most amazing thing that I did during this timeless adventure did not have anything to with animals or riding, but with water. After a few days, you started to feel sticky all over. This was when Aïssa brought me a large empty bucket and a smaller one, containing one liter of water. With this one liter of water, I walked away in the dark and found a secluded place far away from camp to be alone but not so far that I wouldn't find my way back again. Then in the moonlight, I showered with that one liter of water, and I cannot describe what a luxury that felt like! Surprisingly, the water was amply sufficient and I even showered my hair! I have never felt, neither before nor after, any shower give me such sense of satisfaction, nor has one never made me feel so immensely clean! That episode really marked me, and nowadays, when I find myself in a tight water situation, I just remind myself that one liter is enough and if you're not comfortable, just lower your expectations and you'd be surprised at how satisfied you'll be!

Ishtar

Reaching mutual intelligibility

"Kahin Sahara batansonba gudu, amma yanzu Sahara tanaso gudu."

I am learning, I am learning! I do not care that it is slow progress – I feel like a bird learning to fly! I will not vouch that the above sentence (“Before, Sahara did not like speed, but now she likes it”) is 100% grammatically correct, but it is indeed mutually intelligible! The world is opening up: a number of options are unfolding in front of me and I am only inspired to learn more… A year ago, I knew hardly any Hausa apart from the obligatory greeting sentences (Ina wuni? Lahiya low) that made people believe that I spoke a lot more than I did. However, riding with Nigeriens who do no speak any of the four languages that I master so well has made me aware of how much I am missing out on by not understanding their language, and this inspired me to pick up words. Now it's time to attack the grammar and to start piecing all the words together, but it's tricky business and Elisabeth suggested a good tutor. Previous years, I would just have smiled at the idea (me? time to take Hausa classes?) but today, it feels overdue... I long to speak the language, to able to express myself and to understand the full scope of what people around me are saying. I guess I've been spoiled to spend so many years surrounded by people who speak (more or less) French, but now it's time to leave the body language behind and reach mutual intelligibility through the words I use. Not that it'll be done by tomorrow, but at least the ambition has been established!

Ishtar

Free to act...?

Today, YB and I rode to the race track, but it was a marvelous Sunday afternoon as there were in fact no races!
"Ah, Zinder has problems!" YB said as we approached track that seemed deserted apart from a handful horses and their riders. And still, he chose to come back from Dogo (where all the people were today) and come here!

We had a rendez-vous though, because I had said we would be racing 2600m. It's a long distance, too long if you ask the men of the race track, but I love it because no one else does. It's a favorite of Arwen's but then again, any gudu that goes on for an eternity is a favorite of hers.
I knew YB and Sahara would be up for a challenge but I made no illusion of this.
"If we race the 1300m," I told YB on Friday, "you have a good chance of winning and I don't like to loose!" We laughed together - neither of us takes it very seriously, it's a lot of fun developing Sahara from "race horse donkey" to "Arwen wannabee". They (the race track community) are already calling her "Ishtar's little one" and soon they will have a hard time differentiating between my two mares, as Sahara has started to understood the love of gudu!

We did race, and of course Arwen won (despite the weight difference between her rider and Sahara's jockey...), but for the first lap, Sahara remained side by side with Arwen, working full speed without enticement. She did really well! Of course the second lap was too much for her, but I don't mind. I'd rather train her for the longer distances right from the start because I've never liked those 1000m races anyway.

In fact, Sahara did so well that I considered racing another lap after giving them some time to recuperate, but Ali would hear none of it. He did not even want us to go into the bush.
"Listen. All this work kills a horse."
"It might kill a Nigerien horse Ali, but look at Arwen. She's ready to go!"
He still did not want us to go, and being responsible as he is, he followed us with his horse, knowing that we could not ride away from him and yet we would not be able to make him gallop either. Still, he tried to explain to me that it would be best if I stuck to the traditional [boring] Nigerien race horse training.
Finally I said: "Ali, listen. I am 26 years old. I have two horses. I fell in love with horses but I did not fall in love with racing. I do not enjoy the slow-slow walk to the race track which goes on for an eternity, nor do I enjoy trotting. I love one thing and one thing only, and that is galloping in the bush!"
At this, YB said (almost soothingly): "It's ok, let us go."
And Ali smiled, shook his head and said "Sure, go!"
Off we went, and forty minutes later, I was smiling, Arwen was satisfied and YB was in shock because Sahara had kept full gudu for 1min40 seconds at the airfield stretch, which convinced him once and for all that our bush training does indeed work!
"Next time, let's drop the race track and head straight for the bush!" he said.
Ah... now I'm listening!

Ishtar

Winter

Though it looked for a while as if we would have a mild sunny winter in Niger, the past weeks have been cold, dusty and windy... I long for the sunshine, but I know that once it arrives, it will be accompanied by warmers degrees, inevitably growing from comfortable warmth to a sincerely uncomfortable heat... So right now, I'm just enjoyed the cool (sometimes cold) weather and the fact that I am actually wearing socks in the evenings; amazed by the fact that I can wear up to three layers of clothing just to keep warm in the early mornings! This picture was taken at noon though, when you can leave your jacket behind...

Ishtar

The Nigerien outback

This past week, I picked up an old passion of mine again, namely galloping in the bush! There is nothing as calming in the entire world as being about to let go of all thoughts and just race along a sandy line that keeps going for eternity. I love speed and so does my mares; the work in the outback is purely built on inspiration, which suits me just fine!

For some reason however, this season has mostly been centered around the race track and for the past few weeks, I have started to feel an urgency to get away from it all. Though the race track is full of development opportunities, it is a time-consuming business and there are too many conflicts involved. I guess when you start brining more problems home than you left behind, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't fall in love with horseback riding at the races, nor did I fall in love with racing. I fell in love with gudu (speed) and galloping in the bush and that's what makes me happy.

In the bush, I can gallop for an hour, intensive time. I do not look at my watch a single time. I do not worry about anything in the world, nor do I bring any problems along. It's just me, nature, teamwork with my horse and God. It's a simple world - a time-out from everything else - some times a treat, some times a need. I come home satisfied and smiling. Now, after all this waiting for Arwen's foal to pop out, I finally found back to my old passion this week. For three times now, Yaronbaba and I have been out on long sessions galloping in the bush. I took the vets' advice and started riding Arwen again; and for the first time since before my accident, I let her have free reins. Needless to say, after a lot of hard work Arwen was in the end satisfied; Yaronbaba was in shock because the horses worked so hard out of pure enjoyment and Sahara was happy but exhausted, having given a 110% - willingly - doing her best to keep pace with Arwen. And as for myself, I was just like Arwen; thoroughly satisfied and with a smile lasting all evening and longer...

Surprisingly, even though it's my time-out, I'm a social person and prefer going out with company rather than alone... As tomorrow is training day at the races and YB has other horses to tend to (and I prefer to stay away from the social spotlight for a while), I came up with a solution that fits us all; both YB, me and the horses. He'll come by and pick up Arwen at normal training time, and two hours later I will meet him at the track when all the work there is done and the owners are on their way back again. We will then dash into the bush for about half an hour of intensive riding. He gets to please everyone, I get to leave all my thoughts behind and the horses get to enjoy their work! Now what could be better?

Ishtar

367 days

It's been 367 days now and the foal has still not come out. I started getting worried this weekend that something would go wrong with Arwen, and the question popped up from different directions: is there indeed a foal? Ah, who knows? So many contradictory signs... Madougou came with backup today, a very nice Omar, who at first look said "No way, she's not in foal, you can mate her again."
"But she hasn't been on heat for a year. And she hasn't aborted either."

After going through all the contradictory details, including foal movement throughout December, the two vets set about examining her. I had been hoping they would do a rectal palpation but they did not feel comfortable about doing on a horse, so I still don't know for sure. However, having poked around for some time and provoked Arwen's anger, they were both convinced that there is indeed a foreign body in her belly. So the diagnosis remains: Arwen is in foal. However, we cannot say anything about the nature of that foal or when she plans to pop it out. The record for horses is 390 days and we are approaching it at a rapid pace. The good news however is that Arwen is doing just great - which rules out the possibility of her carrying a dead foal, as I have previously been afraid of. She is either carrying a stubborn little foal in her tiny-but-oh-so-very-round football-like stomach or she has no foal at all and in either case, she's not in danger.

For belly comparison, look here:


Isthar

This one is for you, Sofia

Remember the jeans that you wore out and left behind? Well, I gave them to Ringo, who fixed them up, and they are proudly being worn the one by who rides my horses... :-) Just thought you would like to know! Ps, now we finally know what size jockeys in Niger have! At least approximately... Arwen says hi: still no sign of "Dunderklumpen"... Not even a kick this last week!

Ishtar

Arwen gets to visit the race track

Today, I brought Arwen with me to the race track. I rode out with both horses yesterday, and since that was a hit, I thought why not today. I wasn't planning on going to the track, but eventually ended up going there anyway... Everybody was pleased to see Arwen again (her ex jockey would not stop hugging her) and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself so at first it seemed like a very good two-in-one idea.

I was so impressed with her composure (even as the stallions raced right next to her), that I thought I would be able to do this over and over (seeing this foal does not seem to be coming out soon!). However, Arwen was only patient until it was time to go home, and once she realized that she had been brought to the race track and was not going to be allowed to run, she threw a fit. She launched a good kick at Sahara and although I intervened between the two mares, Arwen remaining furious all the way home... Sahara was no better, because as soon as she realized that I was protecting her, she too started to act up and I had to ride home with two very cross creatures and having to keep a watchful eye on all of their internal insults. As soon as we got back to our street however, the fight was over as quickly as it had started (don't ask me why!) and Arwen trotted sweetly by Sahara's side - just making sure that the latter showed proper respect and kept half a head behind. I for one cannot understand how a problem so huge (at least it seemed so!) can settle so quickly, just by crossing from one street to another... But then again, I'm not a horse!

Let's just hope this foal pops out some day so that Arwen can resume the greatest love of her life, because I doubt I will be bringing her on any excursions to the race track again until she is ready to have her own rider. But then again, you never know, because I'm such a softy when it comes to my precious little mare and when she let's me know that she does not appreciate to be stuffed away in her little garden, I'm not the one who will exclude her from the outside world...

Ishtar