Ramadan Rocks!

[Catterpilar in a nearby millet field]

I made it through my first day of fasting without too much trouble. I joined my counterpart, Ousmane, for the somewhat ceremonial process of breaking fast. I entered his house for the first time. A table was already out covered with an assortment of pots and pitchers. As soon we heard the sunset prayer call, the process began with dates and tea. We all (adult males of the family) grabbed a few dates and hot tea. Apparently, tt is important to begin with hot, not cold, beverages preserve your appetite. Next came a round of kooko, a delicious poridge-like drink made from pounded millet. [left: millet pounding in Hamdallaye] After that we had a coolaid type drink with some organ meat and capto (cooked tree leaves). Then we paused for prayer. The meal continued with a delicious salad, rice with a meat sauce and then hayni hawru with an okra sauce. I finished off the meal with a few glasses of water and some more kooko. We watched TV for a while and I returned home around 21h. Just after I arrived, the edge of a storm passed by bringing lots of wind, lightning, and cool air, but no rain.

Ousmanne said that he doesn’t wake up early to eat breakfast. Instead he eats several times during the evening with pauses inbetween. I, on the other hand, have been enjoying a pankcake breakfast the last two mornings. Each morning I make mostly plain pancakes and eat them with honey, but I also make a few with dried fruit from the US. Yesterday I had blueberry and today cranberry ones. I also drink about 2 liters of water along with two Labans. This morning I woke up a little after 5:30 and was finished with breakfast by 6:30. So my timing was much better than yesterday, but was still off by about 15 minutes. The first prayer, fajr, is performed at dawn (not sunrise like I thought) and it marks the begining of the daily fast.

Today I’ve been fairly productive. I’ve been continuing work on my radio database and also went to the market to pick up some food for the next week. I brought home some millet (trying something new), a coconut (to make milk), a few tiny bell peppers, couscous, tomato paste, pasta, and oranges. I got a bag of 10 small oranges for a little more than $1. I’m going to bring them over to dinner tonight. Inshahallah, I’ll be heading back over to my counterpart’s for dinner. In Niger, any future plans you make are inshahallah.

So I can’t help but make a few comparisons between Ramadan and Christmas. I swear everyone is in a more cheerful mood (except towards the end of the afternoon when everyone is hungry). People splurge on things like tea, dates, and sugary drinks. People are also more generous. This afternoon a local marabou invited me over to visit him at his modest store where he sells ice, cold water, sodas, and bagged kooko. He sent me home with 10 bags of Lipton tea, 1kg of sugar, 3 bags of kooko and a liter of nigerienne lemonade. I had to stop him from giving me anything else. Since virtually everyone drinks tea when breaking fast, all the stores were sold out. He had to leave his shop on a motorcycle and drive around for 10 minutes just to find some. I was very thankful. We’re going to break fast together on Saturday. Tonight I had another great meal with my counterpart, Ousmane: fish, millet couscous, pounded rice with baobab leaf sauce and oranges. Tomorrow I’m visiting another co-worker for dinner.

Overall the fasting process has been easy so far. I honestly think I have more energy. Although, this afternoon I was very tempted by a piece of Hershey’s chocolate. I received a surprise package today overflowing with goodies from my friend Michael. Thanks Michael, I’ll send you an official thank you tomorrow!