KANO, NIGERIA

KANO IS CLOSE TO MY HEART. It's the oldest city in West Africa, populated by almost nine million people, most of them Muslim. It’s hot, crowded, dusty and ugly, but I spent four happy months there during three visits in the 1990s. I was researching a book I called "Peace In The House" about how marriages work when they are conservative Islamic and polygamous. I loved the Hausa people and their willingness to laugh and enjoy good conversation and was in awe of their effortless social graces. When it turned out I couldn't finish my book (because of repetitive stress in my hands), it was one of the greatest disappointments of my life. 

When I took up photography, the first trip I made with my camera was back to Kano in 2010.  My friends were still there, reachable by cellphone now, but their attitude towards me had changed.  Most were angry with western journalists who focus on poverty and disease in Africa, so they were friendly but guarded. Although Boko Haram had started no one would talk to me about it.

I hired two part-time guides to help with driving and translation (in Kano you still couldn't rent a car). One was the editor of a weekly English language newspaper and the head of a private secondary school — he needed a third job. The other carved out a living by driving around visiting academics who, like me, spent a lot of time on the back of his motorcycle breathing in exhaust.

AS FOR THE CONSERVATIVE ISLAM practiced by the Hausa people — I saw much about it that was good. All religions encourage people to be good and do good, and Islam is no exception. Most of it's followers say they seek a way of life that is peaceful and generous, and if there are problems it's not the religion's fault. There was still very little crime in Kano in 2010 because traditional rulers, practicing Shariah, solved a lot of conflicts before they became violent. The attitude towards women, however, did upset me, though I came to see the issue as complicated and my western perspective limited. Many women who had to obey their husbands told me they were happy at home, surrounded by family, because their husband “is a good man" and "runs a good house."

THERE IS ONE VERY GOOD SIGN for women's rights: the belief that Islam values education (Boko Haram rose up in reaction to this). Right now the schools and universities in Kano are overcrowded and more girls than boys want a university education. I also heard from one professor that LGBTQ people are able to recognize each other on the internet now even though homosexuality is far from being publicly accepted.