Results from interviews conducted with about forty households, classifiable as Niamey’s middle class, reveal unique personal trajectories. Behind the very varied participant profiles, however, three social groups are distinguishable: the young strategists, the “God willing” storekeepers, and the women with a bit of pocket money. These groups, which show a tremendous ability to adapt, can play a role in social resilience, confronted with extreme poverty and the State’s inability to establish any kind of security.