Under the Saharan Sun

“So how was Africa?” is the first question every relative and friend asks my children. It’s a sincere question but it makes me grind my teeth. First of all, Africa…

“When you said you were going away for a year–” my aunt Judy began as we were driving in the car to her favorite shoe store in the East Bay.…

In Niger men and women pray separately, eat separately, and play very different roles in the family. It’s unheard of to have a joint bank account. (Why share your money…

Until my friend invited me I hadn’t realized how much I missed dancing. But then I started to worry: did I still remember how? Would I be the oldest lady…

Even though Nigeriens tend to be reserved and Niger is a conservative, predominantly Muslim country, evidence that men and women enjoy each other’s bodies is everywhere. The average woman in…

“I’ve been losing weight,” I mentioned to a friend. He tilted his head to one side and looked concerned. “That’s terrible,” Ayou said. “What is it about our country that’s…

The first time I lived in Niger I was only 23, insecure, energetic, and libido-driven. I was lonely, craving intimacy and deeply attracted to Nigerien men with their smooth dark…

Everyone says that kids are more adaptable than adults. So before we moved overseas I figured my kids would have it easy. A new culture would be nothing more than…

When we were leaving the States I worried about things like schistosomiasis and accidents. Car hijackings and kidnap had never crossed my mind.

Walking to my daughter’s kindergarten, we pass a makeshift boutique that sells everything from soap to spicy peppers. Down an unmarked sandy road, we pass a herd of goats nibbling…

“We can’t stay here,” my husband says after we’ve been in the house we rented sight-unseen only two days. “We need to leave. Today. Now. I can’t take much more…