After an early lunch and a very enjoyable ride through Tanout endless landscape, we arrived at Eden’s field station, which is situation 13 km south of Tanout city (140 km north of Zinder), in the northernmost Nigerien agriculture zone. Eden’s field station in 1987 More than twenty years ago, this area was a denuded field [...]

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One of the many things I love about Niger is how people value fellowship. Time in the country of “sei hakuri” (have patience) does not equal money. Here, people live according to a different set of social rules, and do not see spending time with one another as unfruitful. Being together is one of the [...]

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After a week of long hours at the office, I took out the horses three times during the weekend, spending all together about six hours of my time on horseback. It was wonderful! On Saturday morning, I rode out with my sister-in-law, and then in the afternoon, I rode out to the track with my [...]

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Yesterday, I had my first trip to the field station after my return from Sweden in March, and it was great! It’s surprising how easily I miss the landscape – the vast horizon, the red soil with the sunny colored sand, disrupted by little dots of green shrubs and bushes – and all set against [...]

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My dad is in Niger for the time being, which is allowing us Garvis to catch up on precious family time! Here is Tabita and her aunt spending half a siesta in her grandfather’s pool. It was soooo nice, and thanks to her grandfather’s efforts (and a pool that is too deep for her to [...]

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Births are important events in Niger. The celebration that occurs on the seventh day after the birth of a baby (also known as a “souna”) reflects the joy that every newborn child brings. Sounas are one of the four major social highlights in Niger (next to Tabaski, Ramadan and marriages). As I was working that [...]

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Today is the Journée de la concorde, national holiday in Niger, and there will be great races at the track. I’m won’t be able to participate as I am going to field station this afternoon (and Ali won’t be able to participate either because he has a souna!), but I did go on Saturday and [...]

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Famine food is supposed to refer to food that is consumed in times of great need and which can act as a indication of famine or extreme difficulties, but more often than not, famine food is a derogative expression for local food in remote places that rest of the world knows little or nothing about. [...]

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When I was walking home from work yesterday, Jamila & Aichatu, two of my little friends on Eden Street, came up to me and asked me if I could please take a picture of them. Of course, I couldn’t resist them, but as soon as I got out the camera, the smiles disappeared – as [...]

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He lives on the office veranda and so we see him every day He attacks the window, licking it, biting it – it’s really hard to tell He’s recently replaced an old champ, who was accidentally chased out of the open door He is young but getting more colorful by the day, and is cute [...]

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It’s been a while since Anette and I decided that we would plaster the inside of our walls with red “banco” mud. The mason started working this week and has done about 1/4 – and it’s already looking so different! I love the red soil – it merges so well with the sky, the trees [...]

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The Top 10 Visiting Countries of this month are: USA & others Sweden Netherlands United Kingdom China France Germany Ghana Norway Egypt (I am still wondering: Niger, where are you…?) The Top 5 posts have been: 1. Baking an omelet in the solar oven 2. When luxury food meets famine food in my solar oven [...]

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Remember this little guy, whom I posted about on March 19? His owner wanted a Scandinavian name for him and ended up calling him Carl-Picasso, as a merge between the suggested Carl-Philip and my personal choice (it is against the custom to give an animal a human name, so Philip couldn’t be used). I however [...]

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Before I got my own place in Niger, there was one typical volunteer thing that I hoped I would never have to do: wash my clothes by hand! Now, when Anette and I moved into this house, we inherited a semi-functional washing machine from the family that had lived there before us. The washing machine [...]

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Copyright Eden Foundation 2008 I am trying to figure out what is the best: goat milk or sheep milk? Being Scandinavian, I am used to goat milk in the most delicious of fashions: Norwegian goat cheese! What I am not accustomed to however is sheep milk. Here in Niger however, sheep milk seems to be [...]

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