Diffa is such a special place. 20 hours of rough roads from Niamey, it takes a massive journey to get there. We were traveling in one landcruiser, with 5 adults and one baby. Judah was 6 months old at the time and Trae's younger brother Tobi got kicked to the trunk... So yes he sat on the floor in the back of the car the ENTIRE way there. I'm just thankful it wasn't me.
Driving through Niger you really feel like you somehow entered a time machine. few cars were on the road and for countless hours you are driving past mud huts and small villages with innumerable herds of goats and caravans of camels.
The road is brown, with the occasional red and gold. But very monochromatic. Dust is everything. On the trees, on every piece of torn and worn cloth. It's not a welcoming place. The elements are hard and the trees are prickly spikes that only turn green for a moment before they're brown again.
Entering diffa you drive through a large archway, with the hundred of trucks that seem to have appeared out of no where. This city is made up mostly of people staying under the rader. Bandits and outlaws. People not wanting to be seen. It feels like a bush version of the wild wild west.
here I met Tikke. She is my queen. She really is one though. the number one wife to a Nomadic Fulani king, she stands at least 6 feet tall, and straight as a board despite her alleged 100 years of age. She has no formal documentation though, so who knows. she is dressed is indigo and embroidered cloth, typical of fulani royalty, and she was the most regal woman I have ever seen, even though she lives in a small hut full of odds and ends that are mostly useless. She is a Gypsy. A nomadic Royal.
Diffa was rough. Judah got a fever so high he has seizured, but I didn't dare take him to the local hospital" so i stayed up with him all night holding his sweating shaking body. A few days after we left, the terrorist group attacked the city and many were killed. We only stayed a few days, because out presence there would have been dangerous for us and any Christians there. White people aren't looked at too fondly by the Boka Haram.
