It seems that nothing is simple when it comes to seeing my husband. While I know that we will have many hurdles/obstacles to overcome when he is here and adjusting to life in the US, at least we will both be in one location and able to plan together. I can't tell you how tired I am of not being able to do that.
So here's the saga of the trip I'm currently planning. The original plan was for me to go to Niger to visit my husband and stepchildren. The journey involves at least three, if not four, flights, and usually takes two full days. It costs anywhere from $1500-2200. And while Niger is a culturally rich country, it is not by any means an easy place to visit. Temperatures from March-May can spike up to 130 degrees, and there is little comfort or infrastructure to ensure the smooth execution of even the simplest daily tasks. But I haven't seen my husband since November and my stepchildren since last August: the trip is about seeing them.
Our first roadblock came courtesy of Al Quaeda of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM for short. Most of Northern Niger is sparsely inhabited desert, the southern edge of the Sahara, in fact. Al Quaeda often sets up camp in remote and under-policed areas of the world, so the Northern area of Niger and its neighbor Mali was a perfect candidate. In the last year, the number of foreigners kidnapped by AQIM has increased significantly, but up until January, the kidnappings mostly took place in the north, where European-run uranium plants are setting up shop, or at the Niger-Mali border. On January 7th, armed militants walked into an open-air restaurant popular with foreigners in Niamey, the capital, and abducted two young Frenchmen. Both men were killed either before or during a botched joint rescue mission by French and Nigerien security forces. One of the young men was working for an aid organization operating in Niger; he was about to be married to a Nigerien woman and his friend had come to Niger for the wedding. In other words, these two poor young men were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Niger's capital city was no longer immune to these kidnappings.
So after much internet research, personal reflection and discussions with my husband weighing the risk, we decided that it wasn't safe for me to come to Niger. Our alternate plan was hatched: I would travel instead to Burkina Faso, which is next door to Niger, and more stable and secure, and my husband and stepchildren would meet me there. This plan made perfect sense, given that the NGO my husband works for has an office in Burkina that he works closely with, so this could be a work trip for him. And Ouagadougou (usually just called Ouaga to prevent having to spit out that mouthful), Burkina's capital, is an 8 hour drive from Niamey.
Things were looking up for us. I bought my plane ticket from San Francisco to London, and my husband was preparing to buy my ticket from London to Ouaga...on one of the few affordable yet reliable carriers that flies between Europe and West Africa: Afriquiyah Airlines, which is based in Tripoli, Libya. For those of you who don't listen to the news or like to hide under rocks, there's some stuff going down in Libya currently. And sadly, it's not of the life-affirming and inspiring show of collective humanity variety we were so privileged to witness in Egypt. It's more along the lines of a megalomaniac leader who is willing to slaughter his own people to stay in power.
So after a scramble to find a remotely affordable flight that didn't involve a transfer in a North African country currently experiencing an uprising (in other words, avoiding North Africa altogether), we came up with a ticket routed through Paris. So now all flight arrangements are made, a mere three weeks before my departure date.
But the thing is, I fully expect additional wrinkles in our plans, probably right up to the moment I step on the first flight out of the US. Because this is what travel to and from third world countries seems to entail. It is never, ever simple. At some point I will write another post about the horrible experiences my husband has had coming to the US to visit me, which boils down to the fact that those of us with European or American passports have absolutely no idea how hard it is to travel without one. European countries--and in our case, France specifically--treat people from the global south traveling through their country like dirt. I won't get into it right now because it's late and I'll get angry just thinking about it.
Instead, it's time to watch some Jon Stewart and remind myself that there are many things I so appreciate about the United States, especially when faced with the alternatives.
So here's the saga of the trip I'm currently planning. The original plan was for me to go to Niger to visit my husband and stepchildren. The journey involves at least three, if not four, flights, and usually takes two full days. It costs anywhere from $1500-2200. And while Niger is a culturally rich country, it is not by any means an easy place to visit. Temperatures from March-May can spike up to 130 degrees, and there is little comfort or infrastructure to ensure the smooth execution of even the simplest daily tasks. But I haven't seen my husband since November and my stepchildren since last August: the trip is about seeing them.
Our first roadblock came courtesy of Al Quaeda of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM for short. Most of Northern Niger is sparsely inhabited desert, the southern edge of the Sahara, in fact. Al Quaeda often sets up camp in remote and under-policed areas of the world, so the Northern area of Niger and its neighbor Mali was a perfect candidate. In the last year, the number of foreigners kidnapped by AQIM has increased significantly, but up until January, the kidnappings mostly took place in the north, where European-run uranium plants are setting up shop, or at the Niger-Mali border. On January 7th, armed militants walked into an open-air restaurant popular with foreigners in Niamey, the capital, and abducted two young Frenchmen. Both men were killed either before or during a botched joint rescue mission by French and Nigerien security forces. One of the young men was working for an aid organization operating in Niger; he was about to be married to a Nigerien woman and his friend had come to Niger for the wedding. In other words, these two poor young men were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Niger's capital city was no longer immune to these kidnappings.
So after much internet research, personal reflection and discussions with my husband weighing the risk, we decided that it wasn't safe for me to come to Niger. Our alternate plan was hatched: I would travel instead to Burkina Faso, which is next door to Niger, and more stable and secure, and my husband and stepchildren would meet me there. This plan made perfect sense, given that the NGO my husband works for has an office in Burkina that he works closely with, so this could be a work trip for him. And Ouagadougou (usually just called Ouaga to prevent having to spit out that mouthful), Burkina's capital, is an 8 hour drive from Niamey.
Things were looking up for us. I bought my plane ticket from San Francisco to London, and my husband was preparing to buy my ticket from London to Ouaga...on one of the few affordable yet reliable carriers that flies between Europe and West Africa: Afriquiyah Airlines, which is based in Tripoli, Libya. For those of you who don't listen to the news or like to hide under rocks, there's some stuff going down in Libya currently. And sadly, it's not of the life-affirming and inspiring show of collective humanity variety we were so privileged to witness in Egypt. It's more along the lines of a megalomaniac leader who is willing to slaughter his own people to stay in power.
So after a scramble to find a remotely affordable flight that didn't involve a transfer in a North African country currently experiencing an uprising (in other words, avoiding North Africa altogether), we came up with a ticket routed through Paris. So now all flight arrangements are made, a mere three weeks before my departure date.
But the thing is, I fully expect additional wrinkles in our plans, probably right up to the moment I step on the first flight out of the US. Because this is what travel to and from third world countries seems to entail. It is never, ever simple. At some point I will write another post about the horrible experiences my husband has had coming to the US to visit me, which boils down to the fact that those of us with European or American passports have absolutely no idea how hard it is to travel without one. European countries--and in our case, France specifically--treat people from the global south traveling through their country like dirt. I won't get into it right now because it's late and I'll get angry just thinking about it.
Instead, it's time to watch some Jon Stewart and remind myself that there are many things I so appreciate about the United States, especially when faced with the alternatives.
