Niger. No you did not misread this. It is not Nigeria. Don’t worry. Even the ticket agent at the airport thought our ticket had a misprint. My wife and I assured him there was in fact a country called Niger in Africa. I had been to Eastern Africa before, but my wife hadn’t touched any soil in Africa, and now we were signing up to teach for two years in sub-Saharan Africa.
Niger is not a country that would be on the top of the list for a vacation spot. It is twice the size of Texas, but most visitors are required to stay within or close to the capital city, Niamey. There is an almost constant haze from smog and dust that colors the view, making the surroundings look like they have a sepia filter.
The most common nickname for Niger is the frying pan of the world. Not humid, but very hot. There is a rest period from noon to 3 pm to give people time to relax during the heat of the day. Often you will see people sleeping on benches or on the ground near their tiny shops. If you are seen outside during this time of the day locals will look at you strange because they know how much energy will be sucked out of you even if you are trying to do menial tasks. When we first got here we considered it a successful day if we made it to a local grocery shop and back because the heat and the driving made it so exhausting.
It is dirty. Our clothes have turned permanent shades of brown from all the sand. There is no time you can be 100 percent clean. Our family visited us and they said a month later they were still finding sand in their clothes.
It is hot. There are some days where we leave the school we teach at, drive home, and go straight into our bedroom: the only room with an air conditioner. We leave the room to make a quick dinner, and then go back into the bedroom to eat our meal. The air is on full blast and we are still sweating. And yes, we know it is ironic that this is one of the ways we explain the hardships for us, when there are almost a million people in the city that don’t even have the luxury of an air-conditioner.
It is dangerous. A week doesn’t go by that we don’t get an email from the U.S. embassy warning us to stay vigilant while we are here because of threats against Westerners. There are people that want to hurt us because our skin color isn’t the same as theirs.
It is not a place to go for relaxation, but Niger is beautiful in it’s own way. The sandy haze against the sun is a sight that cannot be replicated in photographs. Tasting the local spices while sharing a meal with a family will stay with you for the rest of your life. Seeing how locals will drop everything to help you if your car is broken down is heart-warming. Watching children play in sewage trenches is heart breaking.
When we try to explain Niamey to people we end saying that you have to come and visit to get the full experience. It’s a phrase that is spoken often when words and pictures cannot capture the feelings you have about a certain place. Visiting Niger is entering a world that you may not want to enter, and it will make you question whether the things you value are truly important or not. It makes you uncomfortable, and stepping out of your comfort zone is indeed an act of bravery.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.
