Corruption and Culture

I had dinner this past weekend with five new friends I’ve made since arriving in Niamey.  One is a teacher at the local international school, one is a teacher at the local university, and the remaining four of us work for my organization.  All of us have spent multiple years in Africa.  A huge dinner and delicious dessert set the stage for an evening of good, long conversation.  Since it was ultimately a birthday celebration, we talked about birthdays, life stories, what brought some of us to where we are now etc.  Then the discussion changed slightly to Niger, culture, and the economy.  The person who had lived here longest in Niger, eight years to be exact, remarked that there seem to be a ton more ‘whiteys’ now in Niger than there ever was before, especially with the Chinese running the uranium plants, the Canadians with their gold mine that doubles as Canadian soil where they simply fly the gold directly in and out of that space and others.  I threw in how it saddened me that these companies are coming in, exploiting Niger’s resources without any of it actually going into the local economy…basically a form of rape to me.  I was surprised to see what effect this had around the table as the university teacher soon countered my comment saying the Nigeriens let it happen; someone, some Nigerien, had to have been paid off at some point and let these companies in.  She then went on to say she had a conversation with her Nigerien university students recently who were complaining about the same thing-these foreign companies exploiting Niger’s resources.  The teacher responded to the students by saying “Well, you let this happen…you put the president in power and are letting this corruption happen.”  I immediately responded asking how in the world the Nigerien people had a say in any of those decisions, even in the president they had/have, or whoever had made that decision to allow the companies to exploit their resources.  “You can’t truly believe that if Nigeriens knew the whole story they would have ‘allowed’ this corruption of their governments and exploitation of their resources to happen…”  The teacher looked at me in disbelief and went on to give a short speech to us at the table about how “of course the Nigeriens put them in power, of course they allowed this to happen.  It’s their culture.  Corruption is a part of their culture, it’s perfectly fine for those in power to exploit in any way they want to so of course the people allowed it.”  I could feel my blood pressure literally rising with the thoughts just bursting through my head, made worse by the nodding heads of agreement all around me at the table.  I wondered if I should express any of these thoughts to keep the conversation going but as I was outnumbered five to one and I felt I needed to think about it some more, I bit my tongue and forced myself to be quiet.…plus, I barely knew these people, really…and, even more, what if they were right?  

Of course, at first glance, I could see her point, myself having lived in West Africa for a couple of years and seeing it all first-hand:  the bribery that goes into getting anything done, the power struggles, the systems in place rendering basic procedures impossible, the feelings of entitlement to other people’s well earned money just because of relation or status.  Even more,  I’ve seen these situations and read about these topics in many countries across Africa.  Believe me, I’ve asked myself several times if it’s just the culture and they allow all these things to happen anyway so it’s their fault ultimately in the end that all these bad things are happening and that they can’t get a let up economically etc.  

But I also see the decades of oppressive systems these cultures have been forced to live under, the stripped resources (especially human) that has happened for over a 100 years, the desperation of living day to day and trying to feed your family.  And I’ve also lived side by side with Africans who looked down upon anything dishonest being done with community-earned money, communities mobilize to change for the better, to remove those in power who lacked integrity and put in place those who truly cared for the well-being of the whole.  I think of countries all over the world that have been faced with the same stigmas and situations.  The oppressed rising up to be the oppressors simply because that’s all they’ve known…it’s their only model of authority (see Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire).  (Perhaps I should insert here that I’m writing this with a view that ultimately, corruption is a form of oppression)  Is corruption cultural, or is it a human race that is just naturally flawed?  Is the U.S. any different to have fled an oppressive culture in order to have religious freedom in a new land only to oppress those it encountered as soon as it landed in the new world?  And are we, as foreigners, any less corrupt for exploiting the resources of developing countries, taking advantage of their state of poverty and/or lack of systems in place, selling them and buying the goods in our own countries without a thought to where they came from?  (a whole other topic…)  

To think that if Nigeriens truly knew the big picture, if all were told exactly what was happening or what would happen if outside countries and companies came in to strip them of their land and resources, if Nigeriens knew what could happen if in fact much of that money was poured back into the economy or if the products leaving the country were taxed for better infrastructure, education, health systems, if Nigeriens really knew what life could be like if just systems were in place…well, I find it hard to believe they would actually still choose or allow all of that to still take place and for a president who made those decisions to be in power.  Ask those families in most of the villages across Niger who still don’t have schools or clinics nearby, who had no say in the last election, if they care that another country is making millions upon millions of dollars off resources in their own backyard that could be spent on providing their villages with education and health care…give them the whole picture and then ask them if they allowed it to happen as a result of their corrupt culture.  Just ask and see…then let me know.  Maybe I’m completely wrong.  Maybe my optimistic view of humankind shouldn’t be so optimistic after all…like the fact that it is much more well-known in the US about where the goods Americans buy are coming from and the conditions of the sweatshops and the child labor that is poured into the products.  Yet, Americans continue buying these products and organizations like Wal-Mart keep expanding.  So maybe knowledge isn’t what will actually move people, such as Nigeriens, to action against corruption or oppression.  Especially if it really is cultural and 'just the way they are.'

I welcome your thoughts.

Outside Niamey

As I’ve mentioned before, Niger is experiencing a major food crisis…a topic of discussion everywhere I go, especially in the NGO/humanitarian world.  Much of my organization’s focus is on the food security situation and we are currently running several feeding/food distribution projects.  We launched one just last week in the Tilaberi region of Niger, north of Niamey, giving me the opportunity for my first glimpse of Niger outside of Niamey.  The excitement started before we left Niamey, even before we left the office.  Walking to work that morning, I turned the corner to see two Gendarmerie (army) pick-up trucks each loaded with 6 soldiers carrying guns sitting in the back plus two in the front cabs.  These were armed escorts to go before and behind our two NGO SUVs just for the trip an hour north of Niamey to attend a 15 minute ceremony to launch the food distribution program.  I, personally, had never experienced anything like it.  To that point, I had never felt unsafe at all so all I could think was ‘Is this really necessary?!’ As many of you know, I’m not a fan of weapons at all or even any kind of military force so as I stared at the gleaming gun barrels, I couldn’t help but be uneasy at the slightest thought of being in any kind of situation where these 16 gendarmes would be given the opportunity to use those guns.  You can imagine the scene we made everywhere we went that day…even just leaving Niamey with our flashing head and tail lights and the gendarmes stopping all traffic for us to go through. 

Anyway, I really was able to take my focus off the guns long enough to take in the landscape as we drove.  I could see first-hand the effects of deforestation and desertification in Niger.  Where crops once grew, sand was slowly but surely taking over, making the ground completely useless for growing much of anything.  My colleagues with me in the car explained the gradual process of soil becoming sand.  With a lack of trees and grass to stop the winds from carrying away the finer clay and dust from the soil, only sand remains.  No nutrients remain in sandy soil and water doesn’t soak but rather just runs off.  To add to this landscape, we passed a few livestock that had died probably due to starvation.  In this Muslim culture, unless an animal’s throat is slit to kill it, the meat can’t be eaten.  In other words, the meat of an animal that suffered before dying cannot be eaten…even as people themselves are struggling to find enough nutrients for their own bodies.  The ironies seen already as we were on our way to launch a feeding program…

(In) Security Sandwich

Note:  There has never been a time since arriving in Niger that I’ve felt unsafe and I actually think all the below information is truly sad for what all this is doing for the Nigerien economy.

“We’re in the middle of a sandwich,” my boss said to me during orientation the day after I arrived, once we got to the topic of security.  He then proceeded to tell me precisely what he meant for the next 2 hours.  He drew a diagram on the white board in his office to illustrate his point which in the end looked like some CIA operation.  “Al Quaida’s hanging out up here…” he scattered some dots around the north east of Mali and north west of Niger “…and every so often make their way down here…” he drew some arrows down into Niger “…to attempt kidnappings of foreigners…basically if you have white skin and you travel up this way, you have a target on your back.  Then you have a group called Boko Hourom down here…” he drew more dots just under Niamey in the northern regions of Nigeria “…that try to make their way up into here…” more arrows up into Niger “…to attempt some things though they haven’t succeeded much.  On top of these two groups, we have the recent outbreaks of attacks in northern Mali and the coup that just occurred in Bamako resulting in thousands of refugees fleeing into Niger here.”  More dots and arrows.

I studied the map and saw he was right.  Niamey and the band straight east and west of the city mark some sort of ‘safe’ zone which was broken into once a year ago when two French guys were kidnapped right from the restaurant where they were eating here in Niamey.  The convoy headed north, making authorities believe they were with Al-Qaeda though it still isn’t clear what all happened except the resulting deaths of most everyone involved.  Sadly, this created a ripple fear among the foreign community resulting in some major pull-outs, one of the biggest being the Peace Corps.  To that point, the Niger program had been one of the longest running programs of the Peace Corps worldwide since its inception.

After my boss laid out every movement of AQIM and Boko Hourom for the last 6 years, including a 20 minute tangent on the centuries year old slave trade route from the coast of southern West Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, I went to go research these groups for myself.  Apparently, the Al-Qaeda group he mentioned is Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and has an ultimate aim of overthrowing the Algerian government to institute an Islamic state.  It has openly declared its campaign to attack Algerian, Spanish, French, and American targets so of course it’s labeled by the US and the EU as a terrorist organization.  They’re also related to that smuggling ring my boss also mentioned that goes from northern Mauritania through Mali, Niger, Libya and Chad….all to make money to finance their operations.  With crackdowns from the Algerian government, they’ve headed into the Eastern region of Mali and the northern region of Niger.  Ultimately, though, little is known about exactly where they’re at and how they operate and their ultimate goal.  Find out more  here. 

Boko Haram is also a terrorist organization, jihadist, and also an Islamist movement opposing man-made laws in the northeast of Nigeria.  The Hausa name Boko Haram actually translates as “Western education is sacrilege/sin.”  In 2011, it was responsible for more than 450 killings in Nigeria.  There seems to be a special dislike toward Christians so reports of churches that have been burned often make their way here to Niger.  Also similar to AQIM, not much is known about their strategy, structure, or if it’s linked to outside groups.  Find out more here.

As for the Mali situation, well, let’s just say I’ve been taking crash courses in the history of Mali, the Tuareg, and what to do in refugee situations.  The Taureg are a group who have sought independence from Mali for decades now, but have begun to renew their efforts through attacks of towns in eastern Mali.  The new movement is called the Movement National de Liberation de l’Azawad (MNLA). 

On top of the Tuareg rebellion was what people are now calling the ‘accidental’ coup of the current Malian president by its unhappy and frustrated national army. It’s said the group that marched into the capital of Bamako at the end of March weren’t really intending to take over the Presidency but the President up and fled ready-enough to hand over power and soon they had control without any struggle. The funny thing about that as well is the Presidency was already up for re-election in 2 months! Anyway, the sudden focus on this coup allowed the Tuareg rebels to advance even further and wreak more havoc, sending more refugees fleeing into Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Being that my organization is first and foremost a relief organization, and being that the growing refugee situation is where some of the biggest and most urgent needs are right now, AND being that I’m now the official fund obtainer for this office…you get the picture.  This whole week has been full of meetings with UNHCR, OCHA, WFP and all the major emergency humanitarian aid organizations to figure out who’s doing what and where.  Several impromptu refugee camps have formed from the nearly 30,000 Malian refugees who’ve fled into northern Niger.  As UNHCR frantically searches to find a more permanent and fitting site to move all of them, these refugees are literally dying from the heat and sickness.  In 115+ degree days in the middle of the hottest time of the year, the refugees are basically living under sticks holding up their clothes stretched out to provide some sort of shade.  Water trucks have been brought into a couple of the sites but as I write this post, there is not yet one latrine or douche area built.  More refugees are arriving every day.  To better assess the situation, and because neither I nor my boss could travel up there due to our white skin, we sent our Projects Coordinator up there to be our eyes.  He told us what he witnessed today and showed us pictures and I just listened and stared at the pictures in disbelief.  He said he got to one site and was told a man was extremely sick and close to death.  As he started toward where the man was laying, people met him and said he’d already passed away and not to bother coming.  He decided to go anyway and when he got there, checked the man’s pulse.  He could feel a faint heartbeat and immediately had everyone carry the man to his truck to be transported to the nearest hospital, more than 100 kilometers away.  He saw families with worms in their water and mothers sheltering their children from the sun with their own bodies. 

 Refugees in northern Niger-note the color of their water

Refugees in northern Niger

With all this information from today and the whole week, I managed to crank out my first proposal for funding to help in this situation in about a day!  We'll be focusing on sanitation and hygiene as  current numbers are 0% latrine coverage in the 4 refugee sites we've been looking at, and no hygiene facilities/education.  Though it’s been sad to hear all that’s been going on, it’s also been amazing to be able to help so immediately and tangibly now that I’m here on the ground.  Today, I was also able to visit two refugee families here in Niamey and hear their stories.  Their village in Mali, Gao, was completely ransacked, burned, destroyed by Tuareg rebels.  They fled here to Niamey with the wife just 2 weeks away from giving birth to their third child.

The refugee mother in Niamey.

I could go on and on...this is my context now!

Newspaper Article

My 'home-town' newspaper just published a small article on my recent move to Niger.  Some information isn't quite right, but check it out!

Trash: Out of sight, out of mind?

Living here in Niamey has reminded me of something that became so evident when I lived in Burkina.  With no trash disposal system, you become much more aware of how much trash you acquire.  With no daily or even weekly pick-up, the first question is: what do I do with my trash?  In my village in Burkina, the children would fight to ‘take out’ my trash as then they would have first dibs to the boxes, cans, bottles etc. that were treasures in their eyes and it wasn’t long before I would see bits and pieces of my ‘trash’ all over the village in the hands of the children and even sometimes adults.  I was always amazed at all the uses something like an empty box of cereal could have!   However, it also wasn’t long before I began to see the bits and pieces of my trash that weren’t usable (in their minds) floating in the wind throughout the village like true litter!  So one day I watched to see what really did happen to my trash once it left my house.  One or two children knocked on my door in the morning to ask for the small bag of trash and after practically grabbing it out of my hands, they ran as fast as possible around the back of our family courtyard, where the fields of millet were planted, and immediately dump the contents on the ground.  Other children, immediately appeared and circled around and all would fight over the best bits.  In a couple minutes, the group scattered with each walking away with their own ‘treasure’, paying no mind that the rest of the trash lay right there in the middle of the crops to be blown too and fro with the wind.  “Yeah,” I thought to myself, “this has got to stop.” Well, the only other option was to burn my trash, which I grew up learning was bad for the environment…but which is the lesser of two evils?  Trash littering the environment, or smoke from the trash polluting the air?  I chose the latter as the ash is helpful to add to the compost pile and the latrine pit.  Even so, it made me really think about the effects of trash such as empty cans have…you can’t burn them, and the opened lids, as most of us have been taught since we were kids, are extremely dangerous to hand to children to ‘play’ with.  In a village setting such as I was in, what then do you do?  Let’s just say it made me think twice or more about buying those sorts of items and bringing them back to use in the village.  There’s something really great about buying only fresh items from the market and using them that day with barely any remaining ‘trash’ to worry about.  Something the US can learn a lot about in their ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality.

 A common site throughout Niamey

Animal feeding ground

Well, now I’m back in West Africa, and though I’m not living in a village, there still is no official trash system and the litter around the city is quite unbelievable.  So I’m back to my trash never being ‘out of sight’ and therefore not ‘out of my mind’ so I’m also back to burning the ‘unusable’ trash; but there’s still the piles of unedible pieces of fruits and vegetables leftover everyday.  This led my housemate Susie and I to dig ourselves a little hole this past Saturday and start our own composting pit right in our own courtyard.  Next, we’re planning to start a little vegetable garden nearby that we can eventually fertilize with our compost, and Susie also recently bought chickens that we’ll have in our courtyard as well.  We’ll use their dung as fertilizer as well and have fresh eggs/protein.  This all makes such good sense in a context such as this where there is no trash system, extremely bad soil, and limited vegetable production.  Of course, I want to use it all as an opportunity to teach as well so Susie and I are hoping to bring the guards and their families into the whole process and let them share in the bounty.  We’ll see how that goes!  Stay tuned!

My new, wonderful housemate, Susie!  And one of our guards...yes, he insisted on helping us dig our compost pit.

Niamey

My new housemate had a welcome card waiting for me!

One week in Niger...the dust has settled a bit...if the dust ever settles here!  Most roads right here in the capital aren't paved and look like huge reddish grids of sand/dust boxes, catching as many innocent drivers in their grip as they can.  Yes, I was one of those victims as Susie, my new housemate, and I were driving along Saturday evening.  Most Nigeriens seem well accustomed to this game, however, and about 6 of them appeared as soon as they saw we were stuck.  In less than 5 minutes, they had dug us out and pushed us onward to continue our sand surfing fun soon to arrive safely back at our house.  Susie, the one driving, took it all in ease as she assured me that I too will get used to getting stuck in the sand.  "The first time scared me to death, the second time I felt only a bit nervous and the third time I was able to wave it off as a part of life here, knowing people would pop up to help wherever I'm at."  I'll be taking my driving-in-sand test in a couple weeks after I get used to walking in it for awhile....another strange thing to walk around in what seems like a sandy seashore with no ocean to be found.  I'm also fighting a losing battle with the fine dust and sand that constantly floats through the air...or in the case of the other day, rages through the air as we had a sandstorm lasting all day and even blocked the sun.  I could barely open my eyes in the short 2-minute walk from the office to the house.  Yep, almost forgot about those Harmattan winds. 

Niamey:  The air is the same color as the ground

Niamey life:  the contrast of nomadic households and permanent buildings

Niamey

Aside from the elements, my first few days have been wonderful.  Everyone I have met has been nothing but warm, friendly and welcoming and it feels nice to be immersed in another culture again...Francophone West Africa, no less.  My French is returning slowly but surely, following the pace of life here:  slow but sure.  It always amazes me to feel as if I've gained thrice as many hours in a day just by walking into an African culture...well, maybe I can only speak for these few West African countries I've been in.  It feels nice after the fast-paced DC life I just left behind.  We'll see if I still think it feels nice in a few weeks haha!  I'm taking in all the familiarities-familiar to me from my life in Burkina-so in so many ways it feels like I've returned into the waiting embrace of an old friend.  I smiled as I shopped in a small boutique where Celine's "My Heart Will Go On" was on repeat...I counted 5 times straight through before I left.  The waiting around at stores and roadsides while people search for change, the colorful materials and outfits, the lizards, the onset of mango season, the call to prayer 5 times a day, the greetings that go on forever, even a monkey in the market yesterday.  Donkey carts and camels can be found throughout Niamey, heavily loaded as they come and go from the markets.  But I'm especially enjoying the greetings...I actually love how long the greeting process takes and how important this ritual is...granted, there have been many times in the past where it bothered me and maybe will again at some point, but for now I love the tradition of it and how it forces me to see each person as truly that: a person with a family, life, work and all the things I must ask about each one every time I see them!

The Niger river is definitely the life of the city, and most fresh vegetables found in the local markets were grown along its huge banks.  I got my first glimpse of the river at a sunrise get together Easter morning...the deep green from all the trees and plants growing alongside were a stark contrast to the red sand landscape as far as the eye could see beyond it.  I've been amazed at the amount of birds that can be found here in Niamey.  I've learned Niger is an important spot for migrating birds from as far away as Russia; most come from Europe.

But how can I talk about the carefree life of the birds here, however, when it could not be more opposite than the the situation many Nigeriens and Malians find themselves in; and we are reminded of it constantly as security measures increase and need for water, food and shelter for Nigeriens and Malian refugees alike also increases.  There is much to be said about this but I think I'll write more about it in a future post.

I wanted to include pictures, but for some reason the uploading function is not working...so that, too, must wait for a future post.

Loving and Learning

How does one start a brand new blog?  The empty space is intimidating...


Atlanta Airport:  pictures and videos of massive tornadoes sweeping across Texas on the airport screens in front of me, passengers racing up and down the terminal to catch their flights, advertisements glowing from the wall on saving endangered animals of the world.  Disaster and the rush to save endangered lives:  themes surrounding my life these last hours in the U.S. and continuing into Niger, West Africa.


A bit about Niger:

• Niger borders Burkina Faso on its southwestern border, bringing back to the very area of Africa I previously lived and worked for 2 years!
• People from Niger are called Nigeriens and people from Nigeria are called Nigerians (one of the most common questions people ask me!)
• Niger is a landlocked, developing country, and consistently ranks as one of the lowest ranks of the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI), 186th of 187 countries in 2011.  80% of the land is the Sahara Desert, up to 98% of the population is Muslim, 28.7% of the population are literate BUT it breaks down to 42.9% male and 15.1% female...I could go on and on but check out all the information in the CIA Factbook
• For every 1000 births, 109 infants die:  the second to highest rate in the entire world (infant mortality ranking list)
• Niger is facing two major crises right now, one of the worst droughts in 10 years resulting in a major hunger crisis spreading throughout West Africa, as well as thousands of Malian refugees fleeing into Niger from the north.  It’s estimated that close to half a million lives are at risk.  For more information on what has caused this hunger crisis, read this extremely informative article from the BBC.  You can also read this short article and/or video to give you a bit more overview on the situation.  Needless to say, all major relief organizations have entered the country to begin responding to the huge need and if the government cooperates, the crisis could be averted.

Just as a blank blog page intimidates me, the knowledge of this context I'm about to enter also fills me with apprehension at what the future holds and my role in it all, and perhaps the biggest question of all is the extent to which I'll actually be able to help.  I'm not sure if I've seen need on this scale before, though I've lived much, if not most, of my life in 'developing' countries.  You ask if I feel ready or excited for this new adventure and I respond that I'm not sure one can ever be ready or prepared to begin living among people for whom a huge deprivation of the most essential needs of life are the norm.  What I am ready for and excited about is to do all that I possibly can to help.  To actively love all those around me the best I know how and to the best of my ability.  One thing is for sure:  there will be a TON of learning and growing taking place along the way.


It's strange that though I've moved continents my whole life, beginning when I was two years old, transitions like these are never easy.  And though I constantly try to learn and grow no matter where I am or what I'm doing, a big change like this one tends to accentuate and propel that growth so much more!  So as the tornado of change pics me up and whirls me into Africa to work toward saving endangered lives, I hold on with all within me, and accepting all the crosswinds and windfalls along this unexpected journey of life.