LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Niger: People
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Slavery is part of Niger's history, and is found among different ethnic groups. In the past, people were bought and sold openly or kidnapped in raids or as the spoils of war, and their children were then born into slavery. While under French colonial rule, measures were taken to combat the more overt practices of slave trading and slave markets, but there was limited success in tackling the system of slavery itself. After gaining independence in 1960, the ruling elite, who included many from the slave-owning classes, remained silent about a practice that it was in their interest to protect.
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Imagine you're a farmer, like many people in Niger, and you have very little in the way of savings. One year, locusts arrive and eat more than half of your crop. The food that's left is not enough to feed your family until the next harvest, let alone sell some for profit. What can you do? Now imagine you raise cattle and a short drought dries out the pastures where they feed. If you have no savings and all of your livestock die, what keeps you from going hungry?
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Since 2003, H5N1 avian influenza has been found in birds in more than 30 countries stretching from South Korea to Germany and into Nigeria and Niger. It has spread to 14 new countries in a month, and infected 173 people, killing 94 of them.
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Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world -- in fact, there is only one poorer (Sierra Leone). Over 60 percent of its people live below the poverty line; 82% rely on agriculture and livestock, although only 15% of the land is suitable for growing crops. When rains are poor, Niger routinely has problems feeding itself.
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Visitors are treated as kings in Niger (there is a Koranic proverb to that effect), so be careful not to abuse the hospitality you will be shown. For the most part, try to accept all the small tokens and gestures (cokes, tea, small gifts, etc.) that are offered to you during your time in Niger. It really isn't good to refuse too much and don't think "these people are too poor to give me these things". That is offensive as taking good care of guests is a point of honor and gives people great pleasure. Don't comment out loud when you see poverty or things in disrepair and please don't remind Nigeriens about how poor their country is.
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[W]hen people blame a drought and locusts for the famine in Niger, they are missing a much bigger point. In underdeveloped countries, poor people have nothing to fall back on when things go wrong.
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