“So how was Africa?” is the first question every relative and friend asks my children. It’s a sincere question but it makes me grind my teeth. First of all, Africa is a continent, not a country. Second of all, how …

“When you said you were going away for a year–” my aunt Judy began as we were driving in the car to her favorite shoe store in the East Bay. “–an academic year,” I interrupted. “Only ten months.” “It seemed …

In Niger men and women pray separately, eat separately, and play very different roles in the family. It’s unheard of to have a joint bank account. (Why share your money with your husband when he could use it to pay for a second wife?) Fathers don’t change diapers. They don’t prepare food for their children. They don’t take them to the park, or shopping.

Until my friend invited me I hadn’t realized how much I missed dancing. But then I started to worry: did I still remember how? Would I be the oldest lady in the nightclub and garner a hundred angry stares from nubile young thangs with bare midriffs? Would men hit on me? Even worse, would they ignore me altogether?

Even though Nigeriens tend to be reserved and Niger is a conservative, predominantly Muslim country, evidence that men and women enjoy each other’s bodies is everywhere. The average woman in Niger gives birth to more than seven children. The American …

“I’ve been losing weight,” I mentioned to a friend. He tilted his head to one side and looked concerned. “That’s terrible,” Ayou said. “What is it about our country that’s doing that to you?” Ayou wasn’t joking. In Niger, like …