Together We Are Stronger

By Caroline Moss

Millions of lives were forever changed as COVID-19 spread throughout the world. The vulnerable became even more so as lives were disrupted by a new reality. While some people stayed indoors to stay safe, others found new ways to be part of communities, and many took it upon themselves to help people however they could.

Source: UN Women

One bright spot of the COVID-19 pandemic comes from Niamey, Niger. After social distancing in the spring of 2020, the Nigerien Association of the Locomotive Disabled (ANHL) knew that they could no longer stand to be apart. For many, the group provides friendship, support, and a chance to create income-generating goods. Fati Boubacar, president of the association of disabled women, said, “This group is more than an association for me. It is my family.” Once the government lifted restrictions, the group of women, who Fati calls her “sisters,” decided to resume meeting and see how they could help during the health crisis.

She proudly stated, “Our masks meet quality standards. They only cost 700 CFA francs ($1.50) and can be reused for several years if properly maintained.”  Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have made nearly 33,000 masks from local materials.

By focusing on mask-making, the members have been able to generate income during this uncertain time. Fati and her “sisters” not only sew masks but also participate in awareness-raising workshops on good hygiene practices and learning new skills to live with the virus.

Fati and her “sisters’” efforts have helped mitigate the virus, improve their local economy, and strengthen their community. Their hard work is not only saving lives but also helping Niger be stronger and more resilient.

In the new year, may we all be inspired to help others. Consider donating to Wells Bring Hope to transform lives through safe water.

References:

“Niger: Authorities Ease COVID-19 Restrictions May 12 /Update 6.” GardaWorld, 13 May 2020, www.garda.com/crisis24/news-alerts/341556/niger-authorities-ease-covid-19-restrictions-may-12-update-6.

“Niger: They Fight the Coronavirus in Their Own Way.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/10/02/niger-they-fight-the-coronavirus-in-their-own-way.

World Bank. “Niger: They Fight the Coronavirus in Their Own Way – Niger.” ReliefWeb, 2 Oct. 2020, reliefweb.int/report/niger/niger-they-fight-coronavirus-their-own-way.

 

 

Alphadi: Giving Niger the Chance to Create

By Elsa Sichrovsky

Source: Flickr-UNESCO Headquarters Paris

For Nigerien fashion designer and children’s rights advocate Sidahmed Alphadi Seidnaly, fashion is about more than clothing: “Young boys and girls can find in fashion a form of identity, dignity, a way to express themselves, to be heard, recognized and respected.”  Alphadi strives to use fashion as an avenue to provide Nigerien young people, especially young girls, with profitable employment that is not only a platform for self-expression but also a solution to the issue of child marriage.

Alphadi was born in 1957, in Timbuktu, Mali, his father’s native land. However, his Malian father and Nigerien upper-caste Tuareg mother moved the family back to Niger when he was a child. Even at a young age, he enjoyed putting makeup on his sisters and mother. He also watched Bollywood films to admire how makeup could enhance physical appearance. He started knitting when he was fourteen. His father, who wanted him to be a doctor or to work in the family business, struggled to accept his son’s strong interest in beauty and fashion, which clashed with the gender norms of their native culture. To please his family, Alphadi studied tourism in Paris, attending his classes during the day and going to fashion shows at night[1].

His first couture line, showcased in 1985 at a tourism show in Paris, launched the Alphadi brand, which now includes affordable sportswear and perfume. Now, Alphadi travels between Paris and Niamey, managing a studio and boutique. Alphadi’s designs, such as his “Nomads” collection of light cotton print and silk dresses, combine traditional Hausa and Tuareg styles with Western high fashion, creating a unique brand that continues to attract loyal admirers. The patterns and colors draw inspiration from desert vegetation and landscape.

Source: Flickr-UNESCO Headquarters Paris

Creating innovative fashion is risky in a religious social climate that sees many forms of fashion as promoting promiscuity and immorality. To protest his fashion designs, religious conservatives have sent Alphadi death threats and violently attacked his businesses. In 2000, the fashion festival he founded, International Festival of African Fashion (FIMA), drew a protest of more than 800 Muslim clerics and students, who insisted that a fashion festival would provoke the wrath of Allah[2]. In spite of facing fierce resistance to his art, Alphadi’s passion is to “give Africa a chance to create[3],” be it creating art or creating employment opportunities for women and girls.

Alphadi envisions building fashion schools where girls can gain the skills to eventually launch their own fashion brands or clothing shops in order to achieve financial independence. His fashion festival, FIMA, is an opportunity for young designers to showcase their work. As part of his collaboration with UNICEF, this festival is also a platform for Alphadi to provoke thoughtful conversations about the institution of child marriage. On the first day of the FIMA 2019, he began with an unusual visual display: fifteen-year-old girl models walked down the catwalk with men four times their age, both dressed in wedding attire. The incongruity of a child wearing a wedding dress, combined with the stark contrast between the female and male models’ ages, highlighted how child marriage forces girls to become adults, bound by the duties and expectations of marriage. “I dress women and girls to make them beautiful and value them, not to marry them at 13,[4]” says Alphadi. The Alphadi Foundation promotes the dignity of women and girls and focuses on developing employment and career training.

 

In Alphadi’s words, “The woman is a whole story.”[5] Girls must have access to education that will give them the means to share their stories. Join Wells Bring Hope in providing access to clean water, education, and hygiene awareness to Nigerien girls so that they fulfill their greatest potential and tell the beautiful stories that are in the heart of every Nigerien

[1] https://en.unesco.org/courier/2017-april-june/alphadi-putting-africa-s-creativity-world-map

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1013878.stm

[3] https://www.unicef.org/niger/stories/alphadi-new-champion-childrens-rights-niger

[4]https://www.unicef.org/niger/press-releases/fashion-designer-alphadi-lends-his-talents-promote-child-rights-niger

[5] https://www.unicef.org/niger/stories/alphadi-new-champion-childrens-rights-niger

 

Fadji Maina: A Nigerien NASA Scientist Fighting Water Scarcity

By: Omair Ali

Source: Awojdyla 

Dr. Fadji Maina (left) with Dr. Eva Nogales (right) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2019. 

Growing up with water scarcity inspired Fadji Zaouna Maina, Ph.D., to undertake the extraordinary journey from Nigerien schoolgirl to NASA earth scientist. 

Maina was born and raised in Zinder, one of the largest cities in Niger [2]. Growing up, she saw the hardships for families in her community who were without reliable water access. Either they had to purchase water from neighbors, or they had to send young girls out to find water. Expecting girls to find water several miles from home is so time-consuming that it’s a significant barrier to their education [6]. Unlike many girls in her community, Maina was fortunate to have water access at home, so she was able to pursue an education [2]. 

As Maina grew more aware of the extensive consequences of poverty and climate change—especially the effects of water scarcity—she became driven to find ways to address these critical issues and help families in her community. She pursued a career in earth science by obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Fes in Morocco [2]. Then, she obtained a Master’s Degree in Engineering and Environmental Sciences and a Ph.D. in Hydrology from the University of Strasbourg [2]. Afterward, Maina held postdoctoral posts in France, Italy, and California [5]. In August 2020, she began working for NASA as an earth scientist [4]. She researches mathematical models that monitor the global impacts of climate change and pollution on water availability [1]. 

Although she’s only in her 20’s, Maina has already achieved significant accomplishments: She’s the first Nigerien scientist at NASA, and she has been honored as a top scientist on Forbes’ 30 under 30 – Science 2020 list [1]. Undoubtedly, Maina will continue to excel in her search to understand and fight water scarcity worldwide. However, for every Fadji Zaouna Maina, there are countless Nigerien girls whose opportunities for educational attainment are beyond reach because of water scarcity. 

Maina understands that she is one of very few Nigerien women to have reached her level of education and influence. As such, she has been an active advocate for improving women’s rights in the Sahel region to address the impact of climate change [3,7]. When also asked what she would say to encourage Nigerien girls to pursue their ambitions, Maina says, “Do not give up. Keep going because everyone would think people from Niger, or a young girl from Niger, would not be able to do this. But just believe in yourself and find an environment that will support you” [4]. 

Maina’s story is a testament to the bright futures that young Nigerien girls could have if they weren’t held back by the burdens of water insecurity. By recognizing the importance of clean water and donating to Wells Bring Hope’s water well projects, you can make a difference in many children’s lives so they can have the opportunity to become brilliant agents of change like Maina. 

 

[1] – https://www.forbes.com/profile/fadji-zaouna-maina/#10def28f2c53 

[2] – https://ne.usembassy.gov/hydrologist-fadji-mainas-path-from-niger-to-nasa/

[3] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fadji_Maina

[4] – https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/careers/meet-fadji-maina-the-first-nigerien-scientist-to-work-for-nasa/xn0586g 

[5] – https://eesa.lbl.gov/profiles/fadji-zaouna-maina/ 

[6] – https://wellsbringhope.org/the-need/ 

[7]  – https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03445-z 

A Tradition of Giving

By Nick Baldry

It is post-Thanksgiving, and while we have heard over and over how this holiday has been far from normal, some things remain remarkably familiar. The following is a list of traditions and common experiences that punctuate many Thanksgivings. Despite the global pandemic, many households across the country have at least seen a variation of these scenes that mark any holiday season.

Leftovers – Many households are reaching the stage where even the most versatile cook is running thin on ideas as to how to use up the remaining turkey leftovers. It is a failure of culinary imagination that strikes every year. This is made starker if, like in my household, the bird purchased was the same weight as a medium size dog even though we had far fewer people around our Thanksgiving table than usual. Our large Tupperware box of leftover meat and the shrink-wrapped bowl of the less popular vegetables that somehow survived the weekend’s grazing are the final reminders of our meal. Tonight’s experimental turkey curry is a follow-up to so many variants on otherwise non-turkey-oriented classics that will be received with at best indifference from all family members.

Football – Thanks to social distancing restrictions, stadiums were not filled to capacity this year, but millions of Americans still sat for hours on end watching multi-millionaires run around a bit. Nothing says Thanksgiving more than consuming a week’s worth of calories and then sitting still for hours watching other people burn them off. The truly adventurous may well have ventured into the back yard for a family game of flag football to work up an appetite, but in my experience, these are rarely played to completion. It is hard to finish a game when your three-year-old tight end has just burst into tears because daddy won’t let him have the ball. A scene only ever mirrored in the professional game if, like me, you support Washington.

That racist uncle everyone has – You know the one. You only see him once a year for good reason and every family has their own version of him. Of course he couldn’t come to your house this time due to COVID (which he thinks is a hoax anyway), but on the one day this year we aren’t forced to be in Zoom meetings for work, we instead had a family Zoom call “so we can be together, even when we are apart.” So, uncle whatever his name is still got to tell everyone in the family which minority is lazy/criminal/a drain on society in general. At least this year you had the option to turn the volume down on him once it became apparent that no amount of reason was going to stop him. Having this option at least suggests that 2020 is not all bad!

Black Friday – I will confess I have never seen the appeal of doing this in person. This year, stores were unable to open as they have in the past, so we were spared the annual spectacle of news footage from a Best Buy in St Louis where shoppers came to blows over the latest iWatch or a big screen TV. Instead America’s retail marathon has been largely online. This has been my preferred way to shop for deals for years. No waiting in line overnight. No shoving over other shoppers in the crush to squeeze through the shop door as if that smartphone you have your eye on is the last one on earth. Instead you just open your laptop, input your credit card details and just a few short days later a delivery driver will deposit a box at your front door containing expensive earphones you don’t need, a new sweater that doesn’t suit you and a USB coffee mug warmer that you cannot think of an earthly reason why you ordered it in the first place, even at 80% off.

Generosity – Sure this holiday is largely about consumption, but giving and generosity are absolute bastions of Thanksgiving and the holidays in general. People give food to the less fortunate, volunteer in droves and donate money in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Americans may be thankful for what they have, but there is always a recognition that there are others in need. One of the biggest examples of that is Giving Tuesday. Last year over $400 million was donated one Giving Tuesday, and predictions are that despite everything 2020 has thrown at us, $605 million will be given this year. Even in the context of the economic and health related disaster this country has undergone, 62% of respondents to a survey reported in Forbes magazine said they planned to give this time around, with 34% of respondents saying they would give more than they did last year.

That generosity of spirit is what Thanksgiving and the holiday season are really all about. As you are planning your giving, you cannot go wrong with Wells Bring Hope. The money you give goes to drilling wells in communities that desperately need access to clean water. This life saving intervention is accompanied by improved sanitation, hygiene, drip farming, well maintenance and training for women to start their own small businesses. This holiday season, by donating to Wells Bring Hope, you are giving more than money; you are giving the gift of life to some of the most neglected communities on the planet. In this year of change, that is a tradition worth preserving.

www.wellsbringhope.org/donate

Build It for Ourselves: Interview with Magaajyia Silberfeld

By Elsa Sichrovsky

Source: FreeCorp

“I grew up watching films and wanting to not only be in them but make them too,” is how Magaajyia Silberfeld describes her passion for filmmaking. She is the daughter of French journalist Antoine Silber and Rahmatou Keita, a Nigerien journalist, writer, and film director, whose work includes “The Wedding Ring,” in which Silberfeld starred. She was born in Paris, but spent her childhood traveling with her mother throughout Niger, Mali, Greece, and the United States[1]. At the young age of 14, Silberfeld made her acting debut in Geraldine Bajard’s 2010 film “The Edge.” By the time she was 18 years old, she had directed her first short film, “Me There.”

Silberfeld studied theatre at the Conservatoire de Paris and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne. “Ride or Die,” which she produced and co-directed, won Best Ensemble at the Queens World Film Festival in 2015. Her short film “After School” won the Rhode Island Best Directorial Award. In 2017, she wrote, directed, and starred in the short film “Vagabonds​,” which explores familial and social conflict in the life of a young woman living with her Nigerien uncle and his American wife. Currently, she is developing two shorts and a feature in addition to acting as the lead in a short film.

Silberfeld graciously took time out of her hectic schedule to answer my questions about the challenges of her work, which include contending with race and identity issues as a biracial actress, struggling to secure funding, and coping with the lack of a strong local film industry in Niger.

In 2016, she played the lead in The Wedding Ring and participated in the production process. Producing a film in Niger had unique challenges due to the negative perception of female actresses: “People look at our work like it’s “haram” (forbidden),” she says. “When I was helping Rahmatou Keita cast The Wedding Ring, most people were turning us down specifically because of that.” In the Muslim world, she explains, actresses are considered prostitutes, and women who do not wear hijabs only add to the difficulty. But her mother’s influence has given her resilience in pursuing her dreams: “My mother is a documentarist, but the way she goes about things and how proactive she is has definitely inspired me. She never gives up. I get that from her.”

Silberfeld describes the frustration of being multiracial, which in the film industry means not being able to fit into any racial category: “You’re 99% not what people want. You speak English but your accent isn’t American enough. You speak English but your accent isn’t British enough. You’re mixed but they want a darker girl. You’re mixed but they want a whiter girl.” Instead of succumbing to despair, her solution is to direct films of her own: “I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but let’s face it: the industry was not built for us. So we have to build it for ourselves. Or rebuild it.” She raised awareness about sexism and racism prevalent in the French film industry by writing an essay for the anthology, Noire N’est pas Mon Métier​ (Black is Not My Job), and joining the book’s authors in a protest at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival[2].

Faced with an entertainment industry that caters to certain racial motifs and echoes worn-out discriminatory stereotypes, Silberfeld urges young actresses to tell their stories and create art, even if it means producing their own films when the film industry resists their uniqueness or lacks sufficient state funding, as is the case in Niger. Her advice to Nigerien girls interested in an acting career is simple: “Become a filmmaker, or even a producer, and put yourself in your own films. Don’t wait around.”

For girls growing up in a country where one in seven children dies before the age of five, the future can seem bleak. Wells Bring Hope is determined to build a future for Nigerien women and girls by drilling wells that provide fresh water. When that essential need is fulfilled, resources can be allocated towards health education, microfinance training, and perhaps, the pursuit of dreams like filmmaking. Join Wells Bring Hope in empowering Nigerien families to build sustainable lifestyles that will continue to benefit them for many years.

Follow Magaajyia Silberfeld on Instagram: @magaajyia

[1] https://fr.petitsfrenchies.com/interview-de-magaajyia-silberfeld-realisatrice-et-actrice/

[2] https://afropunk.com/2018/05/my-job-is-not-being-black-16-french-black-actresses-take-a-stand-against-erasure/

Women in Niger Empowered to Initiate Divorce

by Barbara Goldberg

Source: willemstom

In January of 2019, NPR’s Rachel Martin interviewed Dionne Searcey, West Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, about a startling change in the social fabric of Niger:  women now feel empowered to initiate a divorce.

Prior to having safe water well in their rural village, Nigerien women walked miles every day to get water and thus could not work and earn money for their families.  When a well is drilled, women have over 50% of their time freed up to work and earn money.

With that comes a sense of accomplishment and pride and a newly shaped identity marked by greater confidence and independence. Women who work and earn money have more choices and, as Dionne Searcey, tells it, they feel empowered to initiate a divorce.

In prior generations, a marriage partner was chosen by a young girl’s parents and the arrangements were made for the economic betterment of the bride’s family, who may have had too many mouths to feed. Rarely was a marriage based on love. One thing that the NPR article didn’t address is that in Niger, some men have more than one wife. Often when a man did well financially, a sign of his affluence was taking on an additional wife. While some families with multiple wives co-exist peacefully, it is often a source of difficulty for one or more of the women. This is another compelling reason for wanting to get a divorce.

In the NPR interview, Dionne Searcey described a divorce court that took place on a public sidewalk, not unusual in Niger, where the judge’s bench was a sheepskin rug. With cars driving by and surrounded by a large crowd of men, she found it difficult to hear.

She told NPR that she went to Niger to explore a story about forced marriage and child marriages but the sight of an Islamic court judge on the street caught her attention. The judge informed her that there had been a noticeable increase in the number of divorces in Niger overall, including ones that were initiated by women.

Searcey was curious why this was happening. She spoke with a teenager named Zalika, who said that she had met a man at a wedding at a time when she wasn’t even thinking about getting married.

Searcey learned, “She told me she didn’t find him particularly attractive, but he was nice to her mom. And she thought they could have a nice life together. She acknowledged that many relationships start to fade as time goes on.  He didn’t want her to work, and she wanted to work. So every day, she sat inside her house and just stewed. Then she got pregnant, and when she was in labor, he didn’t even come to the hospital. And that was enough for her.”

Several other factors have contributed to women feeling a greater sense of freedom to initiate divorce. With both husband and wife earning money, more families are moving to the cities, where there are greater mobility and freedom. Women selling goods in a larger marketplace have greater exposure to the media, radio, and TV shows that depict women leading more independent lives. That helps them see what their lives could be.

Even though divorce has always been legal in Niger, in this very traditional country, a woman’s place was always in the home. Some mothers who stayed stuck in loveless marriages for many years felt that it was their daughters’ responsibility to do the same. Others wanted more for their girls, knowing that it could be possible for them to marry for love.

Searcey reported that women going through a self-initiated divorce expected to find another husband but wanted to marry someone they loved. This is a major cultural change in Niger, one that bodes well for women as they continue to strive for social as well as economic equality—another positive effect of expanding access to safe water wells.

 

 

 

A Hopeful Update on the COVID-19 Outbreak in Niger

By Omair Ali

Source: World Health Organization

The pandemic has brought immense chaos, uncertainty, and disease worldwide, but Niger has been fortunate to have experienced only a small COVID-19 outbreak so far. As of October 19, 2020, there have been 1,210 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 69 deaths, and 14 active, mild cases [1,2], which is remarkable considering the nation has a population of 22 million. Niger has only seen 100 new cases since July 22nd, and there have been no new COVID-related deaths since July 17th, highlighting the success of social distancing and quarantine measures. Other countries in the region haven’t been as fortunate. For example, Nigeria has had over 50,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths. Niger’s low case count and death rate highlight the effectiveness of measures to prioritize the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Containment Measures Have Been Very Effective

Given the abrupt growth of the coronavirus pandemic in March and April, Nigeriens had to quickly engineer an appropriate response to the rise in cases. Fortunately, they had key health partners who have provided logistical and on-the-ground support to assure adequate treatment, quarantining measures and prevention of COVID-19 spread. For instance, UNICEF trained healthcare workers to manage COVID-19 patients clinically and provide psychosocial services. Further, UNICEF promoted water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services and information to ensure better compliance with safety precautions [3].

Perhaps the most effective containment strategies have been the strict travel restrictions, curfews, and crowd restrictions that were implemented early on [4]. During the outbreak, strict quarantine measures have limited migrant travel. These efforts have largely mitigated COVID-19 spread among migrants, but a 14-day quarantine further stressed migrants [5]. The shutdown seems to have stabilized the outbreak. As of October 19, 10 days have gone by without a new case. However, the economic consequences of these measures for the remainder of 2020 have yet to be realized, and new events threaten Niger’s ability to be COVID-free.

Challenges to COVID-19 Containment Remain

In recent weeks, there have been new concerns about containing the COVID-19 outbreak. Migrants from Burkina Faso and Nigeria have been fleeing instability from the Boko Haram crises and some have traveled to Niger in search of safety [6]. At the same time, smugglers in Niger have continued to traffic migrants, who are often abandoned and left at the mercy of a desert climate where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit [7,8]. Fortunately, some migrants have been rescued by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and have been sheltered and quarantined. As regional violence continues to displace communities, safely managing the influx of migrants will be an ongoing challenge for Nigeriens.

Additionally, recent torrential downpours and rainy season floods have devastated communities, and as many as 432,000 Nigeriens have been displaced by the storms [9,10]. Displacement of this scale is especially concerning as it can lead to crowding and poor sanitation. However, early efforts to provide socially-distanced shelter and provisions to affected families could help Niger avoid a new outbreak in the future.

Because of the ongoing water crisis in Niger, countless communities don’t have reliable access to clean water and consequently, they are more vulnerable to disease, including COVID-19. Wells Bring Hope continues to address these challenges by drilling deep wells to access clean water reservoirs and training communities to ensure the long-term sustainability of their wells.

You can help address Niger’s water crisis by donating to Wells Bring Hope today!

Sources:

[1] – https://covid19.who.int/region/afro/country/ne

[2] – https://virusncov.com/covid-statistics/niger

[3] –  https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNICEF%20Niger%20COVID-19%20Situation%20Report%20No.%208%20-%208-21%20June%202020.pdf

[4] – https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-alerts/327466/niger-curfew-implemented-in-niamey-effective-march-28-update-2

[5] – https://observers.france24.com/en/20200428-migrants-niger-protest-quarantine-without-end-covid19

[6] –  https://wellsbringhope.org/boko-harams-devastating-impact/

[7] – https://reliefweb.int/report/niger/iom-and-niger-s-civil-protection-rescue-83-migrants-distress-sahara-desert

[8] – http://north-africa.com/2020/09/niger-dozens-of-migrants-saved-in-niger-desert-after-they-were-abandoned-by-smugglers/

[9] – https://reliefweb.int/report/niger/niger-floods-dg-echo-ministry-humanitarian-affairs-and-disaster-management-un-ocha

[10] – https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/10/record-flooding-hammers-the-african-sahel-the-latest-in-a-series-of-shocks.html

 

 

Interview With Aminata Salifou Mody

By Elsa Sichrovsky

Aminata Salifou Mody is a cultural ambassador whose passion is sharing the culture and beauty of her country, Niger, with the world. To find out more about her cultural celebration of Niger, I contacted her on Instagram and she graciously took time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions. Below is our discussion about how to increase awareness of Niger on an international scale.

 

  1. Please introduce yourself and your work as a cultural ambassador.

My name is Aminata Salifou Mody, known by the pseudonym of #Hajia culture. My basic training is in the audiovisual field. I was fortunate enough to be part of the Art and Culture branch of Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey coordinated by Professor Tidjani Alou Antoinette and the Master in World Heritage and cultural projects for development in Turin, Italy. I am also the coordinator of the NGO Al Adun Gargajiya (ALDU Niger). As a cultural ambassador, I often say that I am a “patriot” wanting to awaken awareness of our cultural richness.

 

  1. What are some misconceptions about Niger that need to be challenged?

I would say that the very first is the fact that Niger is often confused with the neighboring country, Nigeria.

 

  1. How do you think we can help people not confuse Niger with Nigeria?

By promoting Niger as much as we can, through music, film, and interviews. By giving us Nigeriens the chance to talk about our country.

 

  1. What do you want people to think of when they think of Niger?

Culture, social cohesion, peace, and brotherhood.

 

  1. What is a place in Niger that everyone must go to?

For me, everyone must go to all the 8 regions (including Niamey) of Niger because every region is special, unique, and has its particularity and beauty.

 

  1. What are some special places in Niger?

The Mosque of Agadez

The Sahara Desert

The Parc W (W Bénin-Niger National Park)

The Fleuve Niger (Niger River)

 

  1. What is the mission of AL ADUN Gargajiya?

The NGO Al Adun Gargajiya has set itself the general objective of helping to promote national culture through an ideal of peace, tolerance, and sharing among all young people in Nigerien society.

 

  1. What new projects are you working on currently?

Taking the NGO to an international level, by creating partnerships that will help me export Nigérien culture.

 

  1. What would you like to say to Nigerien girls and women?

Believe in yourself, train yourself. When you get involved in a project, you have to go all the way. The first obstacles should never discourage a committed person. Believe in yourself and put education and training first, because that’s the one thing that cannot be taken from you. What’s in your head, no one will be able to get hold of. Also, take an interest in your cultural identity because it is part of you. Choose what’s best for you without trying to prove things to anyone. Live your life…. be yourself!

Aminata’s stirring words to Nigerien girls and women echo what Wells Bring Hope is striving to provide: education for women so they can take advantage of the economic and social agency that comes with knowledge. With access to the education and resources to develop their talents, they, too, can become cultural ambassadors like Aminata and remove Niger from its current state of relative obscurity. Give Nigerien girls and women the power to change their futures by donating or volunteering with Wells Bring Hope.

Follow Aminata Salifou Mody on Instagram: @sensei_cultura

Follow her NGO Al Adun Gargajiya on Instagram: @aldu_niger and on Facebook: Al Adun Gargajiya

 

Earthquake Blog

By Nick Baldry

Source: Martin Luff

At 11:39 PM on Friday, September 18th my house started to judder violently. As I lay helplessly pinned to my mattress desperately hoping that the ceiling would remain above my head while listening to my six-year-old scream in fear, a small voice in the back of my head told me “Well it’s 2020, what else did you expect?”

Naturally, most Angelinos take a 4.5 magnitude rattler in stride. I’m not a born Angelino though. I come from Scotland, a part of the world where the ground has the decency to stay still underneath your feet. If it does start swaying, that is a sure sign that you’ve overdone things at the pub and now is a good time to stumble home, crawl into bed, and await the hangover that you’ve well and truly earned.

So it was that around midnight I was doing an unconvincing job of reassuring my eldest son that everything was fine after the earthquake, that had followed the Bobcat fire reaching the outer perimeter of our city’s boundary, which was preceded by historic civil rights protests, in the midst of a pandemic, which has caused an unfolding economic disaster, that is the backdrop to one of the most bitterly contested presidential elections in living memory.

Source : Forest Service, USDA

It’s OK. I lie to my kids all the time.

Incidentally, my youngest earned his So Cal spurs by sleeping through the whole thing, blissfully unaware of the shaking and screaming that unfolded around him.

Yes, 2020 has been a complete and utter fiasco for most of us, and the knowledge that we still have to drag ourselves through the last three months of this wretched year is weighing heavily on many. It feels like we lack control over our own destinies at times and we ask ourselves constantly “could it be any worse?”

Well, yes.

We could live in a country where the following are part of everyday life:

  • One in seven children dies before their fifth birthday.
  • 61% of rural villagers lack access to safe water.
  • 96% of people lack access to sanitation.
  • On average girls only get four years of education as the burden of finding water (safe or not) all too often falls on them.
  • 85% of women cannot read or write.

That is the reality on the ground in Niger. Every single year.

The absolute kicker here is that these are preventable problems and access to sanitation and safe water is a huge leap forward in resolving the issues I just listed. You, dear reader, can do something about that right now. Go to the Wells Bring Hope donation page and give $30 right now. Go on. Do it. I’ll wait.

You may be asking yourself why $30? Well, that’s how much it costs to give one person clean water for life. That is a lifesaving intervention for another human being that costs an amount of money that would barely cover a medium-sized family’s coffee order at Starbucks.

I can’t prevent earthquakes. I can’t extinguish LA county’s largest-ever wildfire myself. It will take more than one person to bring equality to our society (though we do have a responsibility as individuals to do our bit). I can’t single-handedly bring a global pandemic to a halt. My consumer spending will not fix the economy on its own. While it is your duty to vote if you have the right, you won’t single-handedly resolve an election.

I can save someone’s life. While 2020 is undeniably a dumpster fire of a year, it is still within my capacity as an individual to do that one bit of good and salvage something from this mess.

If you also want to take control of something in 2020 then here’s the donation page link again. If saving one life doesn’t seem like enough to mitigate the wall of negativity that is this year, then you can always make that donation a monthly one!

Moustapha Alassane: Telling Niger’s Stories

By Elsa Sichrovsky

Source: Alzinous

Moustapha Alassane produced the first African animation in full color, Samba le Grand (Samba the Great), which follows the adventures of its hero, Sambagana, as he strives to ace a series of challenges in order to win the hand of his bride[1]. In addition to directing over 30 films, Alassane has also worked as an actor and a scriptwriter. He was also head of the Cinema Department at Niamey University for over 15 years. In 2007, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour at the Cannes Film Festival. However, due to a lack of state funding and the growing preference for Hausa-language films from neighboring Nigeria, locally-produced Nigerien film has declined in popularity since the 1980s, so by the time of his death, he was relatively unknown to the Nigerien public.

Born in 1942 in N’Dougou, Niger, Alassane grew up drawing and making shadow puppet shows to entertain his friends, often using transparent cigarette packaging to make light shows. He even built his own film camera[2]. Meeting a Frenchman who many call the father of Nigerien cinema, Jean Rouch, changed his life, prompting Alassane to give up his career as a mechanic and make film his life’s work. Jean Rouch nurtured Alassane’s talent by providing for his education in Canada where he learned animation[3].

In Alassane’s films, animation is not merely entertainment for children, but rather a medium for communicating culture and telling powerful stories. In one of his acclaimed animations, Kokoa (2001), frogs, iguanas, birds, and chameleons participate in Niger’s national sport, Kokowa wrestling. The film celebrates the sport while its animal characters depict the spirit of competition and domination ironically.

Frogs also appear in one of his earlier films, Bon Voyage Sim (1970), in which the president of a frog nation goes on a journey only to be tossed into the water by his fellow frogs on his return. These frog tales echoed political events in Niger and can be seen as Alassane’s subtle political commentary. He was known for having said that frogs were his favorite animal because they were funnier than humans4.

His dramas celebrate Nigerien tradition while also examining the effect of modernity on a changing society. His first feature film, Aoure (1962), depicted a young Zharma couple living on the banks of the Niger River. Shaki (1973) reflects on the mixture of religions in Nigerien culture with a story of the ascension of a Yoruban king. His 1972 dramatic film, F.V.V.A., (Femme, Villa, Voiture, Argent) (Women, Cars, Villas, Money), depicted how young Nigeriens handled newfound prosperity as Niger continued developing after independence.

Le Retour d’un Aventurier (The Return of an Adventurer) is one of his best-known portrayals of Western influence on Nigerien culture. In the film, a man returns from America to his Nigerien village with a suitcase full of cowboy clothes. His friends eagerly don the costumes and take on the persona of cowboys in a Western. They romp through their village getting into brawls and committing petty crimes, which earn the disapproval of the village elders. The film is a humorous reflection on the inevitable clash between cultures and generations that arises as young Nigeriens began having increased contact with foreign cultures5.

One of his dramas, Toula ou Le Genie des Eaux (Toula or the Water Spirit) retells a tribal tale about a nation cursed with drought, a situation all too real to Nigeriens. The holy man declares that a young maiden must be sacrificed. A young man’s love interest, Toula, is chosen to be sacrificed. He desperately searches for water to save his love, but despite having found water, he returns to find her gone.

Moustapha Alassane passed away in March 2015. His films and animations are a rich legacy that preserves Nigerien culture, while exploring its growth and evolution. By using new approaches to retell Nigerien legends and ancient tales, he made them accessible to the international community and honored his birth country.

 

You can watch some of Moustapha Alassane’s films here:

Toula ou Le genie des eaux

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXz7pWXGRE

Le retour d’un aventurier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1eAckJuI44

Samba Le Grand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujlpx63EDQs

Bon Voyage Sim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SmIo-28mBw

[1] https://www.bristol247.com/whats-on/film/festival-screening/cinema-rediscovered-focus-on-moustapha-alassane/

[2] https://www.lecinemaclub.com/archives/kokoa/

[3] Jolijn Geels, Niger: The Bradt Travel Guide. Bradt Travel Guides (2006)

4 https://hyperallergic.com/378773/the-animations-and-improvisations-of-a-trailblazing-nigerien-filmmaker/

5 https://www.adkdw.org/en/article/1270_le_retour_d_un_aventurier