Exploring Niger.

11/03/08
For a few weeks now, I have wanted to personally interview the beggars and street children from Niger, here in Ghana. After learning that they speak Hausa (and only Hausa), I was on the hunt for a Hausa-English translator. And when we were in Cape Coast a few weeks back, we met Abdul, who is a Muslim Ghanaian that speaks both Hausa and English (he is also an amazing graphic designer and artist--a very talented young man).

Today, he rode in 2.5 hours from Cape Coast just to help me translate the stories of these Niger people. It was such a wonderful morning. Kenz, Callie, and I brought food to share (apples, bananas, tangerines, and two loaves of bread) with the families, hoping they would open up to us even more while we shared food.

First, we began talking to the Niger woman we met a few weeks back, as we mustered small communication through fragmented English and modified sign language (through a series of gesturing and motioning). While waiting for Abdul, we played with the kids and shared Project Polaroid with them, which they absolutely LOVED.

When Abdul arrived, all of us moved under a shady tree to conduct the interviews. I brought an audio recorder, digital camera (with video capability), and my Canon camera, along with a notebook of course! It is tough being a photojournalist--It required a lot of multitasking, as I tried to balance all of my gadgets, periodically shoving or grabbing something from McKenzie and Callie.

We all sat huddled on a mat, as we listened to their stories. Onto the audio recorder, I asked a question in English, which Abdul then translated into Hausa, which a Niger then answered in Hausa, which Abdul then translated back into English.

I wanted to know why they came to Ghana, what they experienced in Niger and in Ghana, how they lived, how much they make per day as beggars, their struggles and their joys, the hopes for their children, how they use their money, if they want to return to Niger, and so much more...

Before migrating to Ghana, the Niger people lived in the "bush" in Niger, in extremely hot conditions, as the country is located among the Sahara Desert (Niger is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with over 80% of its territory covered from the Sahara desert; Source: Wikipedia). In the interview, they said that it sometimes would not rain in Niger for months, even years at a time. Thus, they lived very simple, constricted lives.

In the bush, they lived in shacks constructed from logs, leaves, and other scraps. They wore only pieces of leather as clothing, and survived hunting their own animals and by tapping water from trees. They described the bush to be a place of struggle, where it was difficult to make ends meet. As I tried to dig deeper into the hardships they have experienced, the man became short, unwilling to disclose too much detail as he reflecting on their struggles in Niger would flood back sad memories.

I interviewed four Niger adults, one of the men speaking for the others the majority of the time. They each came for various reasons, but all mainly because of the government unrest in Niger and because as West Africa is now approaching the dry season, living conditions are growing more unbearable in Niger. As water becomes more scarce in Niger, there are less animals to hunt, thus less food to intake. Subsequently, they migrated in hopes of being able to provide food for their family each day.

Why Ghana? I asked the same thing, although the reason already seemed a bit obvious to me. Ghana is one of the most stable, safest, and more economically developed countries in West Africa. When answering my question, they said that Ghanaian officials have not yet given them much trouble for begging here, as compared to the officials of other West African countries. The temperature is more mild and because Ghana is subjectively wealthier than bordering countries, they are able to feed their children and they live together in community (with other Niger beggars).

The parents did not attend school, their parents didn't attend school, and now their own children don't either. When I asked about government (free public education) schools in Niger, they said that they do exist, but that the schools do not have the best facilities or resources and moreover that if the children did attend them, that they would in effect be unable to make money during the day to help provide for their family. All three generations are uneducated, thus they said they lack the talents and skills necessary for any kind of work. So, they resorted to begging.

Although they did not specifically give an answer as to how much money they collect through begging each day, they said that they only get enough money to cover basic daily feeding expenses. The man said, just as any human beings, when they have more, they spend more, and when they have less, they spend less. They don't have many/any belongings with them and their clothes are tattered, coated with dust.

When asked about the attitudes they receive form Ghanaians, they all told me that they have certainly received both physical and verbal assault/abuse, but generally nothing that they perceive as being too extreme.

I asked about their hopes and their desires, about the dreams they have for their children. The man answered simply, by saying (in Hausa), "We are human, too, we have the same hopes and desires for our children that all humans have--I hope that my children are able to one day receive a good education and that they will be able to eventually provide for themselves."

He continued by saying, "I want my oldest son to have a sewing machine, so that he can sell goods to provide a larger income. He currently has no means of making money, besides begging, and he is growing too old to be a [child] street beggar." I would love to get this child a sewing machine. If I have learned nothing else, I have learned the power of investing in a child, by means of education in school or education in trades. Education, whether formally or in a particular trade enables a child to be self-sufficient, giving him or her the knowledge needed to be successful off of the streets.

The man told me that he has faith that he and the other families will get enough money to send their children to school one day.

These people are some of the friendliest, most receptive, loving people that I have ever met. If nothing else, this investigation taught me to take a closer look into someone's life before judging. I think that lesson is so important, especially with the groups of people that our world and society often deems as the "untouchables". Like it says in Matthew, Jesus taught us to love the poor, the distressed, and the poverty-stricken.

Other answers: They buy their food off of the street. They sleep in some sort of "house structure" in community with the other Niger beggar families (I'm hoping to visit one day before I leave, for an even deeper glimpse into their lives), the man had a problem with his eye and couldn't afford to go to the hospital, one of the women wants to go back to Niger because her father is sick-she has been here for 2 months now-they have all been here for different amounts of time and she is the only one ready to go back, the others think it is going to be too hot to return to Niger for awhile, they have been lucky to not have many medical problems (they save money to buy aspirin or malaria meds at the local pharmacy, when needed), they beg from morning to night and move around the city, the little ones get more money than the older ones and the girls get more money than the boys.