Philip Merrill College of Journalism | University of Maryland

Faces of Niger

Journalist Abdoulaye Ibbo-Daddy was awarded a Humphrey Fellowship to study at the Merrill College of Journalism in 2006. In Niger, Ibbo-Daddy, is the managing editor of a magazine that covers rural development, as well as director of a communications agency. He mounted an exhibit of 30 portraits, representatives from Niger’s eight ethnic groups in the Merrill College in 2007. Following are selected photos and a statement by Ibbo-Daddy.

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When awarded a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship last year, I realized I would be a kind of ambassador from my little-known country of Niger.

What could I offer?

Instead of boring lectures or dull presentations, I decided to draw on what I was good at. I wanted to show real people of Niger, in their raw beauty and hardships of life, records of their daily struggles to make ends meet, not just postcards pictures -- and yet I also wanted to show that Niger has a lot to offer!

Twice the size of Texas, Niger is largely desert, landlocked, and very hot -- temperatures rise to 120 degrees at times. Its 12 million inhabitants are among the poorest on the planet. Subsistence crops, livestock, and one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium form the economy. Drought cycles, desertification, population growth and a drop in world demand for uranium constantly undercut its already marginal economy.

Illiteracy, mortality, and high fertility remain Niger’s daunting challenges.

A former French colony, Niger became independent in1960. Since 1990, it is a democracy with three constitutional branches. But like in any emerging democracy, the process is slow, often with one step forward, and two back.

Yet behind this apparent poverty, lies diversity: diversity in culture, in ethnicity, and in lifestyles shaped and sharpened by centuries of exchange between people criss-crossing the deserts between Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, between the Arab world and the black continent, between desert and savannah, between sunrise and sunset. People survive with little but have much to offer to anyone who visits and is willing to take off his blinkers. Niger’s very proud, friendly and open people are trapped in a hostile, harsh, hard environment. Yet the country is also filled with light, colors, odors, moods. A beautiful country that should be appreciated fully with the mind, the heart and the senses.

Rather than a casual hobby, photography for me is a way of seeing, a means to capture a particular instant, a passport to life, a bridge that connects with the inner self of others, opens their hearts and creates intimacy.

I adored the way people let themselves be captured so easily, whether in the workplace or on the street. Spontaneously, with grace and a melting smile. Although I am versatile, appreciating the excitement of capturing the beautiful light over the Sahara, the green landscape of the rainy season, or the blooming plants by the riverside, I was most drawn to the people.

Photography has blessed me with a greater perception of the human spirit, allowing glimpses of children, women, men, seniors, and the moments that count in human life.