Progress

This is Hamil at his 3rd visit since he was released from the hospital. He is eating well (he even came to the Nutrition Center with a piece of boiled sweet potato in his hand) and his Grandmother is taking good care of him. He was crying a lot (a good sign, he is strong) and even swatted at me, the Anasara in the white coat. It was great to see such progress and we use him and his Grandmother as testimony for the other mothers who come.

Mysteries of the Niger River Festival

Ansongo hosted its first-ever international festival over the weekend. Many locals said it was poorly organized; but in fact I thought it was impressive considering they even built latrines on the festival grounds, hosted the First Lady (ATT's wife), and kept the crowds from stampeding (which happened at the Gao festival I attended last year).

I learned much about the Songhoy culture, or at leasts of aspects I had not previously been informed. Such as the woven mosquito "nets" they used to sleep under. Now this begs the question, if they used to sleep under these woven-grass "nets", why don't they anymore?

Some old women in the Badji Haousa hut who knew me as their neighbor in this northern quartier of town dressed me up in traditional Badji Haousa war-apparel. We laughed when I said all I bring is peace! Here we are in the bugu or hut holding an old leather pillow:

They also put on a short theatrical demonstration showing how people use to hide from the slave raiders. There was a large internal trade along the Niger and they explained they always knew to run when the boats came.

In the same hut there were manuscripts, including love letters from the 16th and 17th centuries; old Korans and medicinal guides. It is a shame they are not housed better because clearly they have been ravaged by termites and time.

I enjoyed all the music and dancing and colors and really thought the festival brought together Northern Nigerienne culture and local Malian culture--we hosted delegations from Songhoy speaking parts of Niger and Burkina. Our perch on top of a van gave us a great view of the camel parade and the arrival of the First Lady. I purchased a silver ring and some of my teammates got complex trunk locks fashioned in silver and bronze in the Tamacheq tradition. This photo captures what I mean by the enjoyable colors: