Here is how we eat.

There is a very large platter; we sit around it and eat with our right hands. Kids eat separately, on the sand, out of a big bowl on the ground. Haoua and I, or Aissa and I eat together, sitting on a mat. Most meals are rice with a sauce over it: tomato, onion, garlic, spices, sometimes with a couple of chunks of meat. A few nights a week Arziza (the dad) brings home what looks like a large rat, which they set on the fire: fur and tail and head and all, then roast it. They don't let me eat it, for which I am ever grateful.