Scenes from Shika Dam village

I spent a couple of nights in Shika Dam village. It's actually one of the study sites, but to be honest, everyone was so curious about me that I was the one being studied. As always, people were warm and friendly and incredibly kind. It seems to always be the case that the people with the least are the most generous...

As always, kids love to pose for the camera, and I'm more than happy to oblige. They were checking for their reflections in the lenses.

When one starts posing, so do the others...





And as one would expect, you have to figure out ways to entertain yourself in the villages.
Canoe ride around the water




Listening to tunes on the radio seems to cut across cultural barriers at a young age.



Before I left for Nigeria, I happened to stumble across a book of folk tales from northern Nigeria. I figured in the story time for the village kids would be fantastic. Unfortunately, I don't speak Hausa, and the guy I roped into interpreting for me didn't know the translation for hippo. Oh well. They liked the pictures in the book though, it's not every day that you get to see photos and stories of your culture in the rural villages.

The old tire rolling game is always fun.


And yes, that's box of cornflakes cut to be a hat. Simple joys.