A Girly 'Spa' Day in Niger

Joelle showing off her henna

My friend Joelle is soon returning to Canada for a few months to visit family and friends and decided that she wanted to get her hands henna-ed before her return. So my friend Fatima spoke to a friend and arranged for the three of us to get henna-ed up!

So we walked to this woman's apartment--a large courtyard with about six aparments in it--not the kind of apartments that you are picturing. It's a fairly standard style here. Each unit has a cement front porch that is surround by a wall that's probably about the same height as me. You then enter the front room, where people do their living. This particular apartment had a couch, TV, and several plastic chairs. The ceiling was covered in fabric with pictures of "The Incredible Hulk" all over it. There is then a door way into the back room where they often sleep and store their belongings.

Raichatou decorating Joelle's foot

So, there we were, sitting in this woman's apartment. Joelle went first. We'd only been there for a few minutes when a neighbour poked her head in and began to chat. After about two minutes of chatting with this woman, she decided that I needed to come back to her apartment to meet her baby--she clearly was unaware that I am so not a baby person. But since she wasn't giving me the option of saying "no thank you" I followed her out, across the courtyard to her apartment.

Her apartment was so Western, it was hard to believe. She had a matching couch, loveseat and overstuffed chair in her living room, with a coffee table and a few (fake) plants. One wall had a large china cupboard that displayed about forty of the exact same, plain champagne glasses. Her bedroom had a North Amercain style bed--headboard and all, and a dresser with a mirror attached. There were even a few stuffed animals sitting on the bed!

I'd just been told to sit on the couch and was handed the (diaperless) baby and was praying hard that he wouldn't pee on me, when Fatima came to find me and make sure that I was okay. Fatima's a baby person so I was able to hand off the baby before it had a chance to "bless" me. Fatima managed to find a gap the woman's endless dialogue to excuse us to go back to the henna lady's house. Let's be clear here--the woman was very nice and rather entertaining, but we had come out for a girly day together, the three of us.

Puppy getting a manicure

Raichatou, our henna artist, had a little boy, whose name sounded a lot like 'puppy.' He was very cute and tried very aggressively to steal my camera--good thing I'm taller than him. While Joelle was having her feet henna-ed, she pulled out a nail file and started giving little Puppy a manicure!

We had a good time chatting with Raichatou and the other woman with her, with the World Cup playing on the TV in the background. Raichatou offered to set me up with her brother, who popped in for a few minutes--I politely declined :)

the balancing act

What made me chuckle, was that each foot was propped up on overturned, aluminum bowls to keep them from touching the ground while they were wet. She started with our feet and then did our hands. Once she finished someone's hands, they had to then get up and move so Raichatou could start on the next person. So there you are, sitting on the ground, with wet henna hands, so you can't touch anything, yet somehow you have to get yourself into standing position! It ain't easy!

having black designs on my hands just seems to make me look all the whiter!

the prime spot in the house--
when you were done, you got moved to the chair right in front of the fan to dry!

Afterwards, Fatima and I cameback to my place and took some silly photos of our newly henna-ed selves! While it wasn't a pedicure with my feet in a warm whirlpool while sitting on a massage chair, it was certainly a fun day with two good friends!

Rebecca and Fatima