Photo of the aerial view from a plane descending for landing in Niamey, the capital of Niger, West Africa. Look closely towards the bottom left, and you can see the (traditional mud) houses.

I lived in Niger from 1995 to 1999. After leaving in 1999, I didn't return until 2007. While this aerial photo might not look like much, the difference those eight years made was quite striking. Niamey, the capital of Niger, used to be home to hundreds of camels, goats, sheeps, chickens, and guinea fowl. I saw not-a-one during my one week in Niamey this past July 2007. In fact, the city was much cleaner! Yes, I did see donkey carts carrying hay from outside the city in, but only on the outskirts. Inside the city, I saw not even a dog, though I'm sure they must still be there.

As the animals had made their way out, cell phones had made their way in. In fact, cell phones were all over the place. The Grand Marché (French for "Big Market") had exploded with cell phone merchants - Motorola RAZRs, Nokia 2610s - the choices were endless. And these were not used, battered phones,but pristine, new boxes of cell phones protected in equally new, multi-shelved glass showcases!

Not only were cell phones all over in Niamey, but even in small, rural villages outside the capital! When I went to visit my Peace Corps village, two of the one hundred inhabitants possessed cell phones, though you had to stand in front of a particular house to get a signal. "Beeping" had become popular. Since the cell phones operated on a pay-as-you-go basis, where receiving calls was free, but making calls extremely expensive by U.S. standards (a local call or long distance call there equivalent to an international call in the U.S.), one person would call another person, hanging up after one or two rings, signalling the second person to call him/her back - an assumption (usually not accurate) that the second person had (more) money to make a call!

Ref: 2007_2053