Invisible Effects of Terrorism

“They will have to touch me before they touch you!”

It’s been over three weeks since I was evacuated from Niger… My friend Kabirou’s voice continues to replay in my head.

I am excited to begin the next chapter in Rwanda, but I am afraid of forgetting Niger. I am afraid we will all forget Niger… three months ago I barely knew where it was on a map.

Kabirou (wearing the green turban)

When I told Kabirou about the evacuation plan he was calm. He told me not to worry; volunteers in the past had been consolidated because of security concerns, but all had returned. “Are you scared?” he asked me, with the same genuine concern Masbahou had earlier. “Of course not,” I repeated, “I want to stay here”.

Kabirou is a practicing Muslim and, from our limited discussions, I gathered feels pretty strongly about his faith. He has three wives, the youngest of which is fifteen. Kabriou is the village elected President of the Health Hut and the School Board in Kore Hausa. He keeps the books for at least one of the four women’s associations in the village, and maintains one of the three village wells. Everyone I talked to told me to talk to Kabirou.

I had only known Kabirou for eight days when he told me that he’d take a bullet for me, and so would everyone else in Kore Hausa.

I’m heartbroken to leave Niger, but I’ll be fine. I got a vacation in Morocco and a job in a country my friends in the US might actually want to visit. As a result of AQIM terrorism, however, my Nigerien friends, and many others, are out of jobs.

The Peace Corps is not the only aid organization to leave Niger as a result of terrorist threats. Debates on foreign aid aside, the immediate effects of this withdrawal are devastating for hundreds of Nigeriens who are employed by international organizations or otherwise supported by them. 

In the United States, when I heard or thought about “the effects of international terrorism”, September 11^th, long airport security lines and the Patriot Act came to mind. I rarely thought about the damaging effects al Qaeda and other extremist groups have on other countries, much less Muslim countries in Africa.