THE ROOM THAT MOVES: Here are two of the three sisters that visited Ahoudan, me and Ahoudan’s son, Aghali in the village of Aouderas of Niger. We enjoyed discussing the differences that exist in the more modern world, and the world that they know living in the Ayr… the Ayr has changed little for the past centuries. Except that motorcycles have replaced camels, and everyone owns a cell phone. Aghali, who had traveled to Niamey with me, described his experience in an elevator: “One day, I walked into a small room. The door closed, and when the door opened again, we were in another room. And then, when I went into the little room again, I ended back where I had started.” He looked at me, puzzled, “I never understood how this happened. How did it happen, Ariane?” Everyone looked at me in awe when I explained that the room he was referring to, an elevator, had moved from one place to another. That the function of this machine was to save people’s energy so that they would not have to walk up flights of stairs. It was a form of transportation, like a car, or even a donkey or camel. Everyone shook their head in supposed understanding and wonderment.
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