Where do I begin? I’ve experienced so much in the past few days that it’s going to be close to impossible to sum it all up…but I’ll give it a try. On Friday, I took a canoe across the Niger River to the island village of Kanazi. It was my first experience in an African tribal village, and it was definitely an eye-opening one. Friday night, I tried Lebanese cuisine for the first time. It was amazing! Of course the best part came at the end of the meal when they served dessert and coffee. I don’t really know how to describe the dessert except to say that it had coconut and pistachio, and a bowl of rose oil (similar to honey) that you poured over the top. But even better than that was the richest, thickest, blackest coffee I’ve ever tasted. They served it in a little espresso cup after dessert.

On Saturday, we traveled to Gotheye, a Songhai village outside of Niamey, where I attended a team meeting. I had the chance to interview a national who was serving on the team, and it was really interesting to hear his perspective. Today, I walked along the Niger River into another Songhai village, where I took some photos of a potter who's been working at her craft since childhood. I rode out of the village on camelback, which was definitely a first for me, and then we took a canoe down the Niger River again. This time, we saw a hippo. We stopped for a picnic lunch along the river before heading back to Niamey.