Gidan Haoua Siddo

Haoua Siddo

My uwa, host mother, is Haoua Siddo and she is one incredible woman. Her age is unclear. In the States I would guess given her wrinkles and decaying teeth that she is well past 60. Given that the life expectancy for the average Nigerian is around 51, and knowing now first hand how hard the sun hits your skin, my guess is she’s actually somewhere in her mid or late 40’s.

Haoua works in the market selling hura, the traditional millet and milk drink that I unfortunately cannot drink (something about possibly contracting TB from the unpasteurized milk…). She is divorced and has three grown children, two of whom I have met. Two of her granddaughters, Hadija (19) and Sharifa (11), live with her and help her with household and market chores.

The hard work accomplished by women in Niger on a daily basis constantly amazes me. I can’t tell you what time they start or finish because work has always started before I wake up and continues past my bedtime. I never see them rest.

Sharifa, my 11-year-old kanwa, is the most astonishing to me. Now before I continue I want to make perfectly clear that most days, Sharifa drives me crazy. She is a bossy brat who bullies a lot of the other kids and does not know how to share. Sharifa loves to climb all over me when I feel most exhausted and mocks my slow and broken Hausa when I feel most discouraged. Still, she is an incredible girl.

 

Rakia, our neighbor, and Sharifa

Awake before the sun goes up, Sharifa starts her day by cleaning the house. Next she goes to fetch water from the pump two blocks away. She carries several gallons back home before going to the market to help sell breakfast. Most of the day she’s either at the market selling food, running around town delivering food, or at home pounding millet to make more food. None of these tasks are easy. Being 11 years old and doing them in 115ºF weather does not make them any easier.

I hear Haoua yell at Sharifa all the time: to fetch more water, to clean more dishes… the list is endless. I’ve also seen Haoua hit Sharifa several times (corporal punishment is very widely used in Niger to discipline children). Despite all of this, Sharifa is always up for a dance party, seldom complains about any of the work she has to do, and never loses the smile on her face...except when yelling at other kids who want to take my attention away from her.

Sharifa has never been to school, does not know her exact age, and will probably be married with children before she is twenty. This is true of the majority of girls and women in Niger.