Interviewing the nomads of Tanout in 2007 about the 2004-05 crisis
and meeting their gorgeous cows

A few days ago, Swedish anthropologist Björn Dönell responded to my post Why is there so much politics behind aid? His comment concerns the nomads, and roughly translates to:

I was dealing with Niger in 2005. Have 20 years of experience in the Tahoua region. For many of the nomads, 2005 was the worst year since 1984-1986. But focus has been on the wrong place. So please do some research you as well. It was a catastrophe, and it was expected. I only ask you to talk about the area where you live - think about the size of Niger’s surface. I was warned as early as February March that the grasshoppers had been there. You may be right in your critique towards the large non-governmental organisations but the fact still remains that many nomads lost large part of their herds. It was a year of catastrophe, not just a bad year in the parts that I know - check with Oxfam what they are writing. But I am very critical when it comes to the MSF - they gained on this crisis, not the people of Niger. But it was without a doubt a crisis. Greetings from Björn Dönell

For those of you who do not know who Björn Dönell is, he is the project coordinator of the Rotary & Unicef-sponsored Projekt WoDaaBe. He appears in the Swedish August 2005 HD article “Famine threatens the nomads of Niger”, which in short states that people were dying and needed to be fed.

If I disregard the patronizing tone, Dönell’s comment is interesting, because it shows how clearly we all have to think and say the same thing. I realize that when I speak of what I have seen and experienced during my twenty-something years in Niger and what I make of all of it, I will inevitably upset a number of people who are not in a position to bite the hand that feeds them. Unfortunately, there is little I can do about that, as my views and experiences are personal and mine alone to express.

With my childhood friend Aïssa being a bororo, I am not oblivious to the situation of the nomads. Her family lost cows in 2004, which was generally seen as a bad year. But it was in no way the worst year since 1986, for there have been many bad years in the past and there will be a number of equally bad years in the future as well. The nomads depend on the grass to feed their cows, and are very sensitive to “bad rains”. But when we speak about catastrophes and famines, compare the rainfall of 2004 with those of 83 and 84. Now there you talk about a famine.

Copyright Eden Foundation

As for using the word “crisis”, Niger is in a permanent crisis, which means that there is nothing to fix here, because it is always this bad. If you want to change the future of Niger, whether it be for the farmers or the nomads, you have to do it from scratch. It all starts with the environment, which is the base of a society where 90% of the population rely on agriculture and/or animal husbandry, but who has the patience for such a challenge nowadays? Trees are amazing weapons to combat desertification, but they take time to grow and we live in a world that wants to speed things up all the time to get to the end result as quickly as possible. That is not an option in Niger, if your goal is to help people achieve a sustainable life.

Nigerien cows after a ‘regular’ dry season - Copyright Eden Foundation

There is no doubt that even in Niger, it is getting harder and harder for the nomads to carry on with their traditional lifestyle (and as always, there are a number of factors leading to that which involves the usual dose of international politics, but that is a different story…). Aïssa says she tells all the nomads she meets to allow their children to go school, or they may meet the next generation at a disadvantage.

Another problem that the nomads face, and this is generally acknowledged, is that their attachment to their animals is so great, that they will not sell their cows unless really forced to. So although the government alerts in advance that the pastures of a particular year will not be sufficient for the people to feed their cattle, and tries to get the nomads to sell off their cattle while the prices are good (which they did in 2004), the nomads are just too attached to their animals and will not sell them until forced to, and by then, the prices has dropped exceedingly.

There is much to say on this subject, but I’ve tried to keep my response brief. I am aware of the situation of the nomads, and as most people in Niger, they live a hard life. But as the nomads of my personal acquaintance do not refer to 2004 as a ‘catastrophe’, I will not do so either, but will instead continue referring to it as the difficult reality of their everyday life. I have never claimed to be “all over Niger”, but the Zinder region where I have been for the past 22 years, was the one that was pointed out by the BBC as the most affected area. And in this area, there was no famine.

I will end this post with some pictures of my stay with Aïssa’s family in 2000, somewhere in the bush north of Tanout City.

Aïssa’s father Moussa with his second wife and children

The cows are milked mornings and afternoons. After the milking, the calves are released and join the rest of the free ranging cattle, until early afternoon.

Aïssa’s nephews drawing water at the well

Thirsty sheep!