Big Party Next Door

Last week our next door neighbor, the wife of our night guard, had a baby girl.

We love living next to this family:  the children and the cousins and the aunts and the grandma and others whom we haven't figured out just exactly how they belong, all live and work together in a yard filled with various sleeping rooms and a large outdoor kitchen as well as home to a couple of cows and a myriad of goats and chickens.  The number of contrasts between our lives/yard/house to theirs are beyond description. 

Back to the new baby.  Eight days after the birth of a baby into a Muslim family is the naming ceremony.  I visited the mom and baby the day before and she whispered to me the name that the father had chosen for the new baby girl, but it was not made public until the official ceremony, officiated by the Imam.  

 As we opened our gate onto our driveway at 7:30 am, our front yard was FULL of men sitting in the rented white and blue plastic chairs.  Cars and motorcycles lined the road.  Everyone had come to celebrate the birth of the new baby.

  I quickly made my way through the "man" maze and went into the neighbor's yard where mats were spread on the ground outside as well as inside to accommodate all the women and children who had come to celebrate with the family.  (No chairs here.)

The grandmas were all together in Grandma's sleeping/liviing quarters.

I don't know what happened at the naming ceremony as that is only for the men.  The mama was in her living area surrounded by women family members.  According to custom she is to stay inside for 40 days.

Little Faiza was teeny tiny as she was taken by C-section at 32 weeks.
Tiny, but so beautiful and perfect.

Immediately after the naming ceremony, the food was served.  Bread and tomato sauce for the men, bags of popcorn, sugared, fried cakes for the women and then the large platters of food.  (This was at 8:30am.)

One meal finished and the ladies were working on meal #2 and then meal #3.  You can see the goat being skinned in the background.

Some of the cooks wanted a picture taken of them clowning around.  Lots of laughter.

The partying lasted until sundown.
Guests came and went.
Food was served until it was gone.
The music blared all day long.

Little Faiza was welcomed into the world.

How can they walk so fast with all of that on their HEAD?

Carrying merchandise on a table, on the head is a very clever way to do business.  Really.  No need for signs or advertising; what's for sale is readily seen by all passers-by.  In fact, after a time, it is easy to recognize from a distance what is being sold by the shape and size of the load or in what manner it is carried.

I often wonder how many kilometers these men/boys travel in a day.

These fresh, juicy carrots are in season right now.  My "carrot buddy" installs himself at the round point every morning with his carrots, a tub of water and some reeds (used to tie groups of 3 carrots together).

Instead of a portable table,  the top half of a defunct fan makes a great pan for carrying the merchandise.
 Way to recycle.

Got a headache and need just one pill to take the pain away?  Hopefully your path will cross with the travelling pharmacist. 

Wouldn't you agree that it is quite clever to carrying a stool or table a long with you to sell your goods?  No bending over.  After all, presentation is everything, right?

I like the scissors he has tucked into his stack, as you can purchase one single pill if you want--no need to buy the entire package. 

The flipflop salesman had already lowered his load to the ground before I could get my camera out.  

I met a fella yesterday with this load balanced on his head and doing a fast trot down the street.

Shopping for jewelry.  My neighbors were shopping when I stepped out of our gate (see below).  These boxes are usually not carried on the head but on the shoulders so the shiny jewelry can be seen and admired...and purchased, of course. 

Cookies anyone?  Always a few in the hand to help with the advertising. 

Brooms made from dried plants. 

And the list goes on and on.
Doesn't it make you want to come visit?
You are definitely welcome.
There are endless sights to see.

And the Bikers Part 3 of the Travelling Salesmen Series

The biker salesmen are not as prevalent, but they can move their supply of goods from one place to another with greater speed.   They often have so much piled behind them and so much on their handlebars that handling the bike safely in traffic is challenging.  I like the little stand on the back tire to keep their bike standing straight while they take care of their clients.  The sachets of soap and other household supplies are loaded and ready to go.  

The plastic bag man is a popular salesman.  All the fruit and vegetable vendors need them when they make sales and I use many different sizes and shapes at my own house:.  My favorites are ones for freezing ice and one that is a perfect size for the cards I make.  

I followed this man across the bridge.  He had just picked the lettuce from his garden and was taking it to sell. 

This peddler was making a sale to one of our neighbors as we walked home from church yesterday morning.  He had a huge variety of items for sale including "kold" medicine.  The skill of attaching it all is just amazing.  

Brigades, Pushers, Bikers and Headers Part 2

One of the reasons that there was such a looooonnnng gap in my blogging is that I haven't been able to capture everything that I wanted in photos to pass on to you.  The number of items we see daily that are peddled from one side of town to the other is astounding.  Some are just so fun and we chuckle and say, "wow, I can't believe he's selling that!"   The majority of the vendors are men.

Closely related to the wheelbarrow brigade are the 2 wheeled carts, and I will include a few of the 4-wheelers, that are used for the heavy loads.  They are bigger than a wheelbarrow and whereas the wheelbarrows are usually carrying produce, the carts are full of other kinds of merchandise.  Of. all. kinds.  And my, oh, my can they stack them.  There is an artistry in the arrangement of the goods to keep them from falling and so that the customers can see it all with one glance.  What marketing!

Our neighbors daily load their cart with 5 or 6 huge restaurant sized pots of food they have prepared and cart it down to the "round point" to sell at noon.  Portable restaurant.  I often see them coming home around 4pm with empty pots.  A successful day. 

The Hardware store on wheels.

 

I stepped out my gate yesterday and saw this fella strolling by.
 Every kind of large plastic container you could ever need:
 washtubs, buckets, tea kettles used to wash before praying, prayer mats and more.
 All so neatly arranged that I could have shopped from across the street! 

 

At times the loads get a bit heavy for a two-wheeler and sometimes they need some help pushing.  

Walmart on wheels.

The water man:  he delivers water to those without water in their courtyards.  

Clothes of all shapes and sizes.  Undergarments as well.  

Carts full of dirty laundry heading for the river to be washed.  

Lightbulbs,  and who knows what else.  

The Men's Shoe Saleman.  

It says it's ice cream.  I'm not sure. 

It's so handy.  We needed to buy a gift  for a student one morning and there he was,
our friendly Walgreens on Wheels
with so many choices of cologne and after shave. 

Cookies and candy, too.
 All tied on cleverly with strips of inner tube rubber. 

Brigades, Pushers, Bikers and Headers Part 1

The Niamey Travelling Salesmen fascinate me.
The amount of merchandise that travels around the city in wheelbarrows, attached to push carts, piled on bikes and balanced on heads is amazing.  The variety is incredible.  There have been days when I've walked the 2.5 miles from my house to downtown just to see and photograph the Niamey Traveling Salesmen.  I love it.

Wheelbarrows are extremely efficient when it comes to selling produce.  

Watermelon.

Oranges.  Peeled for the customer right on the spot.  There is certainly an art to peeling these with a sharp knife, shaving off only the finest of the peeling.  Within seconds, the whole air is perfumed deliciously with the aroma of the sweet oranges. 

White sweet potatoes.  They are already cooked and ready to eat.

Sugar cane is a popular snack.  They peel it, cut it in small pieces and bag it for the customer as they wait.

It is peak tomato season right now and the "tomato depot" is close to our house.  Everyday around 4pm brigades of empty wheelbarrows are headed to the depot to load up and take them around town to sell.  

Coconut whole or cut up for a snack.

Downtown is wheelbarrow heaven.  It works great to load up with vegetables or fruit and park it along side the road to sell.  When it's time to go home there is no packing up to be done.  

 

Keep watching for Part II in The Niamey Travelling Salesmen series.