Happy Holidays!

Ramadan started this week. Ramadan is a month-long spiritual journey for Muslim people around the world. They fast from dawn until sunset and focus on praying, reciting the Qur'an and being generous with the poor. During daylight hours, Muslims do not eat or drink and this practice is to help bring them closer to God as they purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds.

The area I will be traveling through from here on is predominantly Muslim and most of the people that I am amongst will be fasting. "How can you ride your bike 150km without eating and drinking?", you might ask... Good question. Fortunately for me, there are some special clauses which allow pregnant women, children and travelers to put-off their fast until a later date. It will be harder to find food "on the street" during the day, so I will have to carry more with me from now on, but I will be allowed to eat and drink. Phew...! I sincerely respect the desire of these people to come closer to God and will be joining them in fasting on any days that I am not riding my bike.

Ramadan will end on September 30th with the feast of Eid ul-fitr - probably the biggest party of the year. I am hoping to celebrate this with my friends in Maroua, Cameroon.


In between here and there, I am planning on visiting 2 of my students in Niger. "Halmassad" lives in a village half-way between Niamey and Agadez (way up North) and I hope to spend some time seeing how his people live. May decide to trade my bike for a camel at this point! Rahilla lives in Zinder which will my last stop in Niger before dropping down into Nigeria.

Can't wait to get into this next part of the trip!