Figuring Out the Family

Fofo (greetings in Zarma)
First day of official PST (Pre-Service Training) is over. It consisted of lots of language studies, a cross culture session on what we’ve observed among the host families so far and a general check in on our first weekend on our own. I don’t think anyone in the Niger July 2008 PC class has ever been so motivated to learn a foreign language before and all day long we absorbed words, grammar and phrases like a sponge. I felt like a took a leap in Zarma knowledge and was eager to practice on my host family. Naturally I had forgotten most of it by the time I got home but I rewrote all my notes from class and that helped organize my thoughts and make sense of the various components.


Although we spent all day together yesterday I had still not learned all the names of my host family so today I gave up and asked Yamila, my darling little host sister to help me write down everyone’s name and ages. I still haven’t figured out the structure since there is one man in his mid sixties who supposedly is the father of all the children but the women over 50 couldn’t possibly be the mother to everyone since the youngest boy is 4. Polygamy is not uncommon in Niger but I have not come across anyone that could be the second wife and mother to Yamila and her younger brother. In any case; these are the people that most commonly inhabit the concession:
















Abraman – father of house in his late sixties (my guess)
Kadilla – mother in house around 50
Nafissa – 14
Yamila – 12
Abdukarim – 4

There may be more family members that I have not yet met since family here is rarely restricted merely to the core and other people are constantly trickling in and out so discerning the core family is actually really hard.

Tomorrow is market day so I’ll finally be able to buy some proper Nigerien clothing. It is also medical day so I will be receiving shots for rabies and typhoid. Yikes.