email home #9 WITH PICS!

Email 9, Sannu da zuwa, welcome. It’s been a long time since my last update and lots has happened. 3-week training/ first trip back to Niamey in 4 months, Niger’s coup d’etat(!), and dealing with my unfinished new house are the highlights. In order to keep it fresh, I decided to do a newspaper theme this time, but I’m not a news reporter so this is the last time for that theme for a while. My friend Sean, however, is a bonifide sports reporter who, in a previous pre-Peace Corps life, wrote for newspapers. So I invited him to do a piece on our volleyball games (-well the other PCVs’ games since I won’t play it if you pay me). Enjoy the treat from Sean. Also, I included the text of an article from Voice of America and the BBC both about Niger and its socio-political situations.
Also, soon to come, a write up of Girls Camp 2010. Its been awesome. The exact inspiring heart touching kind of story you expect to hear from me.

The Zinder Gazette

PCVs Find Time for Fun and Games in Training
By Audrey
February 8, 2010

HAMDALLAYE -- While hard at work during the three week training, PCVs nonetheless found time and energy to have fun and try new things.

Ice breakers, or games that get the class moving and engaged, are swapped during training periods to keep spirits up and for possible use when PCVs go to their posts.

For this training period, the ’Wa Game’ was introduced by Ghanan evacuee, Nick. This fast paced, loud rhythm game involves fake karate gestures and quick reactions.

A new comer to this game, Audrey soon became a fan. “It’s such an obnoxious, silly game, but it’s addictive!”

PCVs also had the opportunity to ride a camel after Audrey and Alice expressed their interest in riding one. A camel was brought to the Hamdallaye training site and Audrey was the intrepid soul who went first. Some volunteers were more graceful than others, but none fell off and all were at least as capable as language trainer, Sani, whose performance inspired the camel owner to chide that he was a white person.

“I wasn’t afraid of the camel,” said SLH, “I just felt bad for the poor guy because he had to keep getting up and down and he was making noises like a giant grumpy old man.”

A small but awesome group gathered one night for a viewing of the recent Star Trek movie. Sugar cookies which Audrey baked in the shape of com badges were devoured.

“It was a beautiful bonding experience,” said SLH.










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PCVs Figure Out Importance of Teachers
February 3, 2010
By Audrey

HAMDALLAYE-- PCVs Alice of the Maradi region and Audrey of the Zinder region, spent a productive language clinic writing creative literature in Hausa.

The two had discussed the problem of low morale and self esteem among teachers and lack of perceived importance of teachers in Niger. In Niger, teaching is often perceived as the job an educated person takes if he or she cannot find any better work. Possible initiatives include a teacher appreciation day or dinner and radio awareness campaigns.

So Alice and Audrey began work on a radio script in Hausa which would promote awareness of the importance of education and the role a teacher plays in education.

Progress rolled on smoothly as the volunteers worked out a situation in the script that would allow them to elaborate on all the concrete reasons teachers are important. Then they came to a point in the script when the writers would have to begin articulating the concrete reasons.

“The moment has arrived,” said Audrey in a mock doomed voice. And the women cracked up because they couldn’t in fact give a single concrete reason.

Eventually, a breakthrough was made and the volunteers listed several reasons. These include building self esteem and inspiring students to work hard and think of their futures.

Performances are not yet scheduled but are due to air before the end of the summer.


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International:
Counterparts Conference, Celebration of Niegerien/American Cooperation
February 7, 2010
By Audrey

HAMDALLAYE-- A delegation of counterparts from each volunteers’ village arrived this week to the training site in Hamdallaye. They participated in a two day co-training event with the volunteers.

Volunteers were told to use their first four months in village choosing a primary Nigerien counterpart for working together on future projects. This person needs to demonstrate above all that they have plenty of effort, respect in the community and similar project interests as the volunteer.

Audrey chose her town’s English teacher, Ali, who entered the training site Sunday evening.

Peace Corps introduced the counterparts to Peace Corps philosophy. This was a particularly important session since people of the developing world are used to the more traditional NGO system of appearing in a community, installing new infrastructure or giving food aid or presenting information, and then leaving.

Peace Corps volunteers, explained the training staff, come to live long term in a community and help those interested members to help themselves. They discouraged the idea of Peace Corps volunteers’ ability to fund large expensive projects. The staff also encouraged counterparts to help other key players in the community to understand this different system.

Counterparts also were introduced to PACA, a community-wide priority rating tool which is widely touted by aid program developers but has been met with skepticism among PCVs.

With the volunteers, counterparts learned about project design and management to be able to better organize and implement their own projects.

Asked if he had gotten good response from the counterparts about the sessions, Tondi, the Peace Corps training manager, said, “They complained about the per diems, as usual. That’s mostly what they talked to me about.”

The sense on campus, however, was one of fun and enthusiasm. Ali said, “I’ve learned a lot, it’s been a good conference.”


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Travel:
Nearly 21st Century Oasis in the Sahel
February 14, 2010
By Audrey

NIAMEY-- Come to Niger’s bustle capital from the rural village post and you will travel across centuries. From its two lane streets, to towering three story buildings and all the multitude of material goods stuffed in, the big city is an oasis evoking a nearly 21st century feel in a 19th century country.

The existence of ice cream, internet and French pastries invariably impresses visitors to Niamey who are also stunned by the presence of real food and real restaurants at their disposal.

A favorite attraction, the Musee of Niamey garners much attention as the only formal institution in the city. Be sure to find the lion cages at feeding time and witness a spectacular and perilous feeding frenzy.

Fashion is a booming industry in Niamey. In the celebrated ‘dead-mans’ sections common throughout Niger you’ll find acres of torn and stained discarded clothes from the developed world, what is a hipster’s true paradise.

If you have the right connections you can contact a world famous fashion designer named Koti. This little boutique in her residence is not to be missed, and if you have the time to wait, she will tailor a fashion forward ensemble worthy of Parisian runways.

This sahalien oasis in a land of donkey carts and hand pounded millet will leave you refreshed but ultimately satiated by its riches and glitz and ready to return to the bush.


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Sports:
Volleyball Showcases Competitive Spirit, Solidarity among PCVs
By Sean
February 13, 2010

HAMDALLAYE-- It was how she introduced herself to us a few hours after arriving in Niger by letting out a primal scream into the July night and booting the volleyball clear across the training site. Not exactly a typical return of serve, and it lost her team a point, but it established Katy’s reputation as a fierce competitive spirit -- wild and unchained.

During In-Service Training six months later, that spirit drove Katy to make sure all of us who were at least somewhat willing showed up to the volleyball court at around 5 p.m. every afternoon. It created a veritable tidal wave of enthusiasm for the game about which some of us were only lukewarm.

We couldn’t resist what seemed like a gravitational force pulling us to the daily match. It allowed new standouts to emerge, like Ashle, Cindy, Katelyn, Robyn and Sarah L-H, who took many by surprise with their serving acumen and quick reflexes. It gave Guinea evacuee Nick a chance to bond with his new stagemates, even if he kept those who were his opponents from winning in the process. It was even strong enough to get one only occasional player during Pre-Service Training to choose the game, even when that beautiful red-head was beckoning him to stay with her in what would surely be an empty infirmary with everyone else on the volleyball court.

It was that powerful.

The teams were divided up differently almost every day. Hausa vs. Zarma. Eastern U.S. vs. Western U.S. Short vs. Tall. Old vs. Young. Boys vs. Girls. When we ran out of ways to divide our group in two (it was decided Atheists vs, Believers was not a good idea), we just simply split ourselves up randomly and played. But some things were consistent every time. Jesse reminded the rest of us males that he is the one who can truly call himself an athlete. Alex played like he was at least six inches taller than his actual height, while Chris consistently used his dogo [height] to make the most of his 6-foot-6 frame. Will showed he was able to return the ball from anywhere on the court and Tom demonstrated that he could be the most dangerous server among the whole group. Of course, Sara could easily claim that distinction as well.

We were good, but as much as we improved over the three weeks, we couldn’t touch the Nigeriens. Tondi was flat out unstoppable, sometimes easing up out of kindness, but never hesitating to spike a ball past Will when he got mouthy. Ousmane was just as fierce, a weapon on the court that single-handedly carried his team to victory. He was, to borrow a phrase, cokeastic. Even those that showed up only occasionally left us PCVs dizzy, Mani with his rainbow serve and Bawa with his… well… I’m not exactly sure what it was that allowed Bawa to thrive, but his team won the only game he played, allowing him to retire undefeated.

And what about Katy, you ask? She was not the best, Moussa from Gaya insisted during the first game that included our counterparts. But Moussa was wrong, because in the showdown with the highest stakes of the entire three-week session, Katy brought her A-game and made sure her team came through with a victory. She and Brian made the friendly wager, selected their teams and played like their lives depended on it. Or at least their dignity, since the loser would have to wear every single item of clothing he or she owned at the same time the entire next day. Katy stood out more than any other player during that game, and not just for her grunts and trash talk. Her serve was never as sharp, her feet were never so quick, her hands never so steady. And even when Brian, who was also showing an impressive amount of skill with so much on the line, helped his team get ahead 14-10, Katy would not accept defeat, and her team stormed back for a 17-15 victory.

There will inevitably be a rematch during the Close of Service conference during the summer of 2011, a final judgment of sorts regarding our volleyball skills. Until then, you’ll find Katy on the court at the middle school in her village preparing, while the rest of us try not to forget too much of what we’ve learned.

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Politics: source, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8537043.stm
Niger: A coup for democracy?

By Caspar Leighton
BBC News, Niamey


Most people in Niger's capital, Niamey, seem to regard the military coup as an opportunity not a disaster.
"We have had coups before, and usually not many people die, so for us the military coup is not so traumatic as it might be somewhere else," says Mohamed Bazoum, deputy president of the opposition PNDS Taraya party.


The last time Niger's military staged a coup was in 1999.
Then the putsch heralded a short transition before elections. Nigeriens hope this coup will lead towards elections as well.
"We're proud of what the soldiers have done and we expect them to manage a clean, honest transition, because the soldiers who have taken over are not eager and ambitious, they don't want power," said a man in Niamey's main market who did not want to be named.
'Have faith'
For most people, the advent of a military coup is the fault of the politicians, not the soldiers.
"It's regrettable that we have had a coup d'etat," said another man in the market. "But the politicians have failed us and so I am glad the army stepped in."


Many coups across West Africa have started out with soldiers promising a return to civilian rule and democracy. Things do not always go so smoothly.
But in Niger, most people think the army will stick to its word, including those in the government that was ousted.
"At this stage we have to have faith in what the army says and we think they are men of their word," says Tamboura Issoufou, the spokesman for the party of the deposed President Mamadou Tandja.
Mr Tandja's MNSD party may be allowed to take part in the transition and run in elections.
The opposition is adamant that Mr Tandja himself not only be barred, but tried for high treason.
Mr Bazoum has more forthright reasons for believing the army will return power to civilians.
"Niger cannot survive without international aid, and as long as there is a military government, the sanctions imposed during President Tandja's time will remain in place."
The extreme poverty of Niger has long been an important factor in its political landscape.
Crumbling tarmac
The country has had to rely on its uranium reserves for foreign revenue and has been very vulnerable to price fluctuations. Aid from the international community is essential.
In the past, unpaid salaries have led to tensions in society that have ended in coups.


Many in Niger think it was the international isolation caused by President Tandja's changing of the constitution to stay in power that posed the biggest threat to Niger's well-being.
Niger sits close to the bottom of the United Nations human development index and regularly faces food insecurity.
Being largely a desert nation, cultivating crops and raising livestock is a precarious business at the best of times.
At the end of January the government warned that 2.7 million people, or a fifth of the population, were facing food shortages because of poor rains.
There is no need to look for statistics to appreciate how poor Niger is.
When trucks and other vehicles cross the border into Niger from Benin, they feel the poverty straight away as the road deteriorates into potholes and falls away at the edges.
This road is the main artery from the capital Niamey down to the port of Cotonou in Benin, yet still the money has not been found to repair it.
The trucks crawl along at a snail's pace. Often hugely overloaded, they sometimes tip over as the heat-softened tarmac crumbles into the sand.
"Sometimes good things can come from coups," says Mr Bazoum.
The groups of beggars that wander around Niamey and the millions going hungry across the nation must be hoping the same thing.


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Politics:
PCVs Weather Coup d’Etat Like Old Pros
By Audrey
February 18, 2010

ASHLE’S TOWN-- News of the Niger coup d’etat reached PCVs Audrey and Ashle Thursday afternoon by text message.

“Unconfirmed reports of gunfire in Niamey. PCVs on standfast,” the message read.

Standfast is the 1st action in Peace Corps’ Emergency Action Plan, followed by consolidation and evacuation. On standfast, PCVs must remain in the town they are in at the beginning of the emergency.

Audrey and Ashle went to school as normal to plan upcoming events with the teachers. They spent the evening talking with neighbors about the coup.

“Everyone seems pretty content with the coup,” said Audrey. “ A lot of Nigeriens knew that Tanja’s presidency had derailed democracy in Niger, and that a coup would be the only way to get it back on track. Now everyone is just waiting to see if this new military regime is serious about doing that.”

While the military Junta has not yet proven itself, early signs indicate that the reinstatement of a democratic government can be expected. The military has exempted itself from eligibility in future elections and has installed a non-military interim prime minister, one-time Canadian Embassy worker Mahamadou Dandah. The military has also allowed non-partisan governmental leaders to continue in their roles.

“The only thing that we were really worried about was the possibility of evacuation,” said Audrey. “As coups go, this was a really good one.”

Standfast was lifted the following Saturday, after it became clear that Niger would remain stable during this transition.


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Kitten Missing for a Day
March 8, 2010
By Audrey

AUDREY’S VILLAGE-- Audrey woke up Monday morning, expecting Waka, a four month old kitten, to be perched on the mattress outside the mosquito net.

When the kitten did not appear throughout the day, Audrey became worried that the kitten was a goner.

But on Tuesday morning the cat came back. “I figured she’d found another irresistible latrine to explore” said Audrey, referring to an earlier incident when her cat fell into a latrine, “or that she’d become feline fricassee for some of my neighbors.”

PCVs cats have been known to be villagers’ hors d’oevres in Niger, especially when the cants have eaten a villager’s chicken.

But happily for all, the cat returned home, unharmed. Audrey’s conclusion, “I guess she just couldn’t stay away!”


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*Note: this isn’t the article I wanted to send but I cant find that one. That article was about Niger finally requesting international food aid which Tanja wouldn’t do. I will send it if I get my hands on it again. This one is about the food shortage in general. People have said it’ll be hard for us sometimes to deal with this, so I’m a bit worried. Thought you should know about the real situation.
Aid Group: Severe Food Shortage Threatens Millions in West Africa

International: source, http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Severe-Food-Shortage-Threatens-Millions-West-Africa-.html
Anne Look | Dakar 18 March 2010
A malnourished child sits at a feeding center in Maradi, Niger (File)
Photo: AP/George Osodi

A malnourished child sits at a feeding center in Maradi, Niger (File)

Oxfam: Harvests down 34 percent in Chad, 26 percent in Niger compared to last year.

Oxfam says 10 million people across the Sahel region in West Africa, particularly in Niger and Chad, are facing severe food shortages.

Oxfam is urging developed countries to take rapid action in the face of what it called an "unfolding disaster" in the Sahel, namely severe food shortages in coming months caused by irregular rains in 2009.

The international aid agency warned that eight million people are at risk in Niger and two million in Chad. Oxfam said the looming food shortage also threatens a substantial number of people in Mali, as well as those in parts of Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

Africa's SahelAfrica's Sahel

Oxfam's humanitarian coordinator for West Africa, Phillipe Conraud, recently visited some of the most at-risk regions in Niger, Chad and Mali.

Conraud says the most affected have been the farmers and herders in rural areas, who are running out of places to graze their animals. He says grains are a staple of peoples' diets, but poor harvests this past year in countries like Niger have led to a grain shortage and subsequent rising prices. He says most of the people threatened by the potential food crisis are already extremely poor and will not be able to afford enough food in coming months.

Oxfam said harvests in Chad have fallen by 34 percent compared to last year and those in Niger have fallen by 26 percent. Oxfam said that in some regions of Niger, there were no harvests at all.

Rains are not expected again until June, and Oxfam says food prices will continue to climb until the next harvest in September without international assistance.

In Niger, Oxfam is urging donors to respond to the government's request for international assistance and head off a repeat of a devastating 2005 food crisis in Niger. Oxfam says delays in responding to that crisis needlessly cost lives.

Oxfam says Niger has requested $123 million in food aid. This request represents a change in the impoverished West African country.

Niger's former president, Mamadou Tandja, refused to address risks of food crisis during his more than 10 years in office. Tandja was ousted by a military coup last month.

Oxfam and its national and local partners have already begun emergency relief work in the most vulnerable regions in Niger and Chad.

Oxfam's Conraud says in the months ahead they will be helping rural inhabitants feed their animals and keep their livestock alive until the next rains. He says they are also working on ways to get food to the people who already can not afford to feed their families.

Conraud said they would be working with urban residents who will also have trouble finding affordable food in the coming weeks and months.


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PCV Spends Inordinate Amount of Time Out of Village
February 22, 2010
By Audrey

AUDREY’S VILLAGE-- PCV Audrey has spent the previous two weeks making a tour of the Zinder region in an effort to spur her town to action on finishing her house.

After completing IST, Fati returned home to her village Thursday February 18th to an unfinished house which also still contained in one room the previous occupant‘s things. The village’s mayor and Peace Corps staff toured the new, though incomplete, quarters and then were shown temporary housing which did not meet safety standards.

Audrey then decided to spend a few days in Magaria helping PCV Ashle on projects. When Audrey was informed of the completion of her home, she returned once more to the village, finding that although the house was now habitable, the work was, in fact, still incomplete.

Audrey stayed a few days in village, starting projects, and left for friend Kira’s town. A map of Africa and of Niger were painted and delicious food was prepared over the four days Audrey spent in this town.

“I was so impressed,” said Audrey. “There was internet and a working shower. And Kira had an oven in her house. Plus I got to see the [culture center] when they were doing tae kwan do lessons! I want to do an exchange with my town’s kids and these kids now.”

On her way back to post, Audrey was informed that her house was still not done. She therefore decided to travel to friend SLH’s town in hopes of doing a radio show.

The two PCVs were unable to do radio, but introduced the concept of a jigsaw puzzle to the kids of SLH’s neighborhood.

Audrey finally arrived back at post, to a house still not finished or moved out of. However, with so many projects pressing to be started, and with the Peace Corps admin breathing down her back, there was nothing to do but to stay at post and function with an in-ideal housing situation.

“I guess this is just one of those frustrating things in Niger that we have to learn how to handle,” said Audrey.


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Home and Garden:
Trend Watch: Mud Cooking Gaining Ground
March 14, 2010
By Audrey

ZINDER-- Cook stoves are making an entrance in Peace Corps Volunteers’ collections of household necessities. And just in time for the hungry season crunch, say Peace Corps directors.

PCVs recently learned how to make a better cook stove which burns significantly less wood. In this fragile, water-stressed ecosystem that is a literal life-saving innovation. And best of all, these fashionable new mud-based cook stoves are cheap for villagers on a tight budget, costing less than 50 cents to make.

All over the Zinder region now PCVs are constructing these cook stoves in their homes and interested neighbors’ homes. They hope the trend catches on.


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Students Meet for English Club
Monday, March 8th
By Audrey

AUDREY‘S VILLAGE-- Approximately 30 students from freshmen and sophomore level classes met Monday afternoon at the CEG (middle school) under the supervision of PCV Audrey and English teacher Ali.

Students played a vocabulary matching game and discussed longer-term activities for the school year. Audrey suggested several project ideas and asked for ideas from the students.

“Please,” said one student with English speaking effort, “We are not strong in English and we don’t have much books. We would like that you to bring us books.”

A perfect opportunity for Audrey, who had been waiting to find a way to rope her community into helping her with a book drive. She proposed a fundraising project for the club while she would find outside sources to compliment their efforts. The students readily agreed.

Peace Corps offers a few sources of funding and for a project like creating a library a PCV normally turns to the Peace Corp Partnership Program, PCPP. This is a lengthy application process which results in the online posting of the PCV’s project at: www.http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors. Once online, visitors to the website can make tax deductible donations.

Other projects that showed promise are creating skits to be performed to parents and the community and organizing debates.

Students then received homework entitled “My Dreams for the Future” to be written in whatever language they can manage, but containing at least 2-3 paragraphs. They then gave names of those who will run for president, vice president and secretary.

Audrey was feeling exhilarated after the first meeting. “Many of the students seemed so engaged and it ran relatively smoothly.” She added, “And I really made the right choice in bringing Ali to IST. He was really helping me, even though I can see he wouldn’t feel like he could do this on his own.”

Due to Hausa language training and team meeting, Audrey will miss the next English Club. “I’m really sad I’ll miss the elections. I hope everything runs as smoothly next week as this, but I can’t wait to get back to read [the students’] homework assignments!”

Pictures of the Health Mural

For my health murals I asked some middle school girls to help me with the prep work. I'm hoping that later I can train them to do murals that they design and execute themselves. This was a dipping-the toes-in test run with them.
Then my PCV friends, Cindy, Sean and Sarah LH, came and we painted several hours for 3 days. Cindy did impromptu workshops with the kids who came to gawk at the americans, presenting the issues we were painting and asking them questions about it. She put me to shame with her ability to teach hoards of little kids and her ability to speak Hausa. She also taught them duck duck goose to keep them entertained and out of our hair. Someday I will get videos up, but probably not for several months.
The titles in Hausa say: 'We wash our hands after we come out of the bathroom' 'We wash our kids' hands after they're finished going to the bathroom' and 'A variety of foods makes us healthy and strong'.

The Eighth Letter Home By AJ

Author’s Note
Wilcommen,
It is January and toasty here. Ha. Ha. Ha. To all of you who have been skating around on ice for the past month! I hope you all survive it alright; be careful. Oh the memory of snow, I always remind myself, when its 90 degrees during cold season, of the reason I wouldn’t even have accepted an invitation to Peace Corps-Ukraine had they sent that to me instead of one to the hottest country in the world. Anyway this has been a busy last month before IST so I have broken the many things to say into chapters.

1. IST [January 25-Febuary 12]
First, an explanation of what IST is. IST is short for In Service Training. Like I had PST (Pre-Service Training) in the beginning in Hamdallaye, I will be going back there for more of the same. We will be getting more language and more technical training, also more security and medical classes, I think. I don’t think we’ll get more formal culture classes, but we’ve just had one 4-month-long intensive culture class so I wouldn’t think they are necessary anymore, really. I think having the training broken up into two periods is a really good idea; the admin knows how we get overwhelmed and new-info-jammed in the beginning. I know I shut down taking new information in by the last couple of weeks in PST and I know with all the adjusting I’ve done the last few months, I’ll be ready to retain so much more now.
We’ll be going back to Hamdallaye but we’ll be living up at site instead of down in the town with our PST families. Some of us will go down for dinner once or twice to visit our old host families. I’ll bring my family al kakis- a special cookie boiled in honey and made only in Zinder-ville. We’ll each have invited a ’counterpart’ to come for a few days near the end of training so that the person we’ll be working most closely with is on the same page as us, in terms of what PC is and what we do. I have asked my English teacher, Ali, to come. He’s really good and we plan to start an English club and I think we could work on other projects as well, but I haven‘t discovered those yet.
It’ll be great to see all our old training group mates and our old teachers from PST. I’ll be able to ask the teachers a lot more intelligent questions now. Some of us on Team Z (…Team Fat) have really taken to being bush cooks and cook big dinners for the rest of the team. Team Z isn’t as big as my training group (even after all the Early Terminations from the training group) but I thought it might be a fun way to say thank you to our chefs at site (who cook delicious meals for a giant group of stressed out, bottomless pit Americans and their training staff) if a group of us cooked dinner for them some night during IST. So that is one event I’ll ask to do during these 3 weeks. I’m very excited to be able to talk to all my training friends, to ask them about their Niger-life stories and project ideas. I’m still sad about the 1/3 of the group who wont be there; Hamdallaye is going to feel weird and maybe empty but hopefully, and probably, closer knit as well.

2. Job Description
Being a PCV is definitely unlike most jobs and a lot of people have a hard time understanding what we do exactly. I’ll try to explain relatively briefly here, but I plan to write a ‘describing things ad nauseam’ letter one of these days, in which the minutia of my days in Niger will be fully realized in script.
Peace Corps in different countries uses different set ups and has different job specializations. Some countries have an education volunteer teach full time in a school. Other programs want people with specific expertise to teach at a university or high school level or be a fully qualified health worker in a clinic. In Niger, we have 5 (soon to be merged to 4) broad categories of work: CYE ‘Community and Youth Education’, MCD ‘Municipal and Community Development’ (I think), Ag ‘Agriculture’ and NRM ‘Natural Resource Management’ and CHA -‘something Health something’. We are all assigned a sector but most of the time our work overlaps two or more of the sectors, and volunteers from all the sectors work together on projects from time to time (eg- my health murals (see later chapter) are education and health and MCDs and CYEs helped me do the project). Also, we each have a head of our sector in Niamey, called an APCD ‘Assistant Peace Corps Director’. These are Nigeriens who know our sector well and can speak English with us. My APCD is Bawa and I mentioned the MCD APCD, Oussman, in my last letter(Cokastic).
For the first few months our jobs literally consisted of sitting studying language, sitting to not overheat or go insane and sitting talking to coworkers and neighbors. It’s good for people who like to sit and do (seemingly) nothing, but hard for people who like accomplishment by American standards. All of that is a part of what I’ve already talked about as ’integration’. Now, however, we have begun to start formal projects like mural painting, English clubs, soccer tournaments et al. We are supposed to know our community, find out what they have and what they need and formulate projects that will address those needs. As in the states, the catchword in PC Niger is ‘sustainability’, though here it means that we have to try to figure out ways to make our projects not one-time things but things that can continue to function or happen without us and even after we leave. It’s basically the same model as the ‘community organizer’ model that Obama used in his campaign. Unfortunately, here we don’t get to know how we fared in bringing about Change by seeing voting percentages.


3. Project: Bande
In time for IST, I’ve been thinking a lot about what projects I want to try in Bande so that I can talk these things over with my friends and trainers in Hamdallaye. I wasn’t sure in the beginning about how the town would like murals or art clubs or the artsy-er types of projects I could do -I didn’t seem to get a lot of bites right away. But slowly, especially after my APCD talked to his old school buddy who happens to be my mayor, people have started to mention more and more ideas that I could do here. An art club, a mural at the middle school, maps at the elementary schools. My neighbors expressed interest in learning how to sew, so if I can find a women’s club, I’ll try to set up a sewing clinic. I really want to try to have a girls group make corn husk dolls or rag dolls which I used to make as a kid in the states. I saw a girl here once with a Barbie and looking at it was like seeing an anachronism. Kids just don’t have toys here; so what if some group of people could exercise some creativity and make money and put more cheap (affordable) toys into the community?
I have one idea that I can’t shake but I also can’t figure out. I really want the people in Bande to be able to make their own books. Some could do it, especially if I gave some training on how to write stories or what kind of books there are. But even those who could don’t have the means to make them. I could teach them how to hand bind books, but will they hand write every page? Especially if they are doing multiples of one book, that seems ridiculous -medieval, if you will. Will they buy a computer and a printer and type up their book? Most of the women here don’t even know what a computer is -they are fascinated by my digital camera. Most of the men have never laid hands on a computer, and even my super-intendant who is one of the more educated people in the village and just bought a computer wants me to teach him how to use it --my friend Sean has typing lessons with his mayor on the office‘s new computer. Most people can’t afford this sort of thing anyway and it would take years, I think, for their investment to make returns. Also the closest place to get computer supplies like ink and paper would be Zinder, but you might have to go to Niamey even, I‘m not sure. There are so many problems, I can’t figure out how Bande and computer generated books could be compatible. So then I think, well, I’m living in the 18th Century, why not make a printing press? But I’m not sure the effort of making a complicated machine like that with so many little bits is really worth it. I could as easily do a book campaign and beg and plead with my villagers to buy imported books. They are available, but in a country where kids run around half clothed and half the weight they should be, it’s hard to get parents to make more investment in reading. Also, I don’t want to make a cute, quaint little printing press because, even though it’s not the 21st century in Niger, it is in the rest of the world; and if Niger is ever going to join the global community it’s going to have to pull a China and dive head long into tech investment and education. Antiquated technology, if marginally beneficial, is at best a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
I do want to bring textbooks to Bande, and that will be an interesting project that I can pin the success or failure of on my villagers. I will find out at IST what organizations I can look to for book buying funds, but even if I do find some money, my community will have to come up with a significant amount themselves. I’m thinking of fundraising ideas; one thing volunteers do is to plant a school garden, have kids help tend it and then sell the produce to benefit the school. There are a lot of potential problems with this as well, but it’s one that I think I’ll try if I can get people interested in it.
Although computers do seem anachronistic here, technology is filtering in. People have phones now that have internet on them -like is finally common in the states, and has been the norm in Europe and Asia for years. Regular cell phones are so quotidian now that everyone and their 3rd wives have them. Some people are getting computers. So I want to get a group of girls to come to Zinder and have an internet tutorial with me at some point so that when technology hits Niger and they get access to it in one form or other, they can take advantage of the opportunity. I also think it might be a way to really open their eyes to education, the world outside their village and possibilities for their lives in general. Projects that get girls outside the village are encouraged by PC because many of the girls (I assume this is true for Bande, tho I haven’t taken my own official survey) have never left their village or at least have never been to the regional capital -if the family is doing anything outside of their town and sending some but not all of its members, the girls are always the last to be chosen for the trip.
So these are some of the ideas I’ll be running by people and working out the kinks of over IST. If you have any brilliant brainstorms or a clearer, head-not-in-the-trenches perspective, do enlighten me.

4. Barka da Sabowar Shekara -Happy New Year!
For New Years I spent a lovely, laid-back day and night in Matamey. We hung out with Ashley and Kira’s best friend in that town. When Cindy came we had lunch and watched House episodes. We built a bonfire and had smores with the Nigeriens and tried to teach them the English words for graham cracker, marshmellow and smore, but they just kept calling everything chocolate. After the Nigeriens left we broke out the booze and made good mixed drinks. After we rang in the new year, we fell asleep watching House.
By the next morning I knew I had some sort of gastro-intestinal illness so instead of going back to Bande I swung up to Zinder to get tested and get my meds. I had amoebas -starting out the new year in good Peace Corps style! There I happily found my friend Kat’s package waiting for me which was a lovely early birthday surprise and made being sick a lot better!

5. A Kitten Called Waka
My RR (Regional Representitive- the liaison between a region’s PCVs and the Niamey admin) had a cat who had kittens. I expressed reserved interest in taking one of them and ended up with Waka. The name means ‘song’ in Hausa and is sadly apropos; it turns out she’s got Wagnarian opera lungs in her. I named her that because several years ago I should have been able to name my cat at home who was instead named Bunkey the Funky Monkey (or Monkey for short). I wanted to name her Sonata but my mom said she’d just say Snotty all the time and hijacked my naming rights. Waka is the closest I could get in Hausa to ‘Sonata’. So here I am on the other side of the planet where mom can’t pull a Tanja (=‘president’ of Niger), getting my way finally.
Waka is, shall I say, an adventurous kitten. I’m hoping she grows out of this spirit. She’s also taught me the literal meaning of “curiosity killed the cat”. I’ll cut to the chase. One morning I went to visit the bathroom and I noticed that my cat wasn’t coming through the drain hole from the other room, to greet me like she normally did. And then I heard meowing and I though, man how’d she get over my wall to the outside of my concession? So I peeked out my door and called to her but no response. Then I had a thought that I assumed too disgusting and unlikely to be true, but I went back into the latrine room to be sure and there again I heard the dreaded meowing. Yes, it was coming from the bottom of my latrine.
I got my flashlight and a basket hanger with a long rope and stuck these things and my arms up to the elbows into to 6inch hole that I ‘use’. happily, the latrine is new so there was solidish space at the edges of the pit. But my stupid cat wouldn’t grab a hold of the basket hanger. I was resigning myself to periodic essays at rescue in this manner for the next couple of days until my cat died down there*, when the guys who are working on the walls of my concession came(*I‘m sorry if that sounds callous, your reading this in a country where pets routinely get surgeries and I am writing from a country where parents can‘t get surgeries for their kids or themselves). I said in my broken Hausa ‘um can you help me? My cat is there. Theres a cat there’ pointing at the latrine hole. The guy was taken a back and somewhat amused. In the end, they had to hack away the cement sealing, lift up the heavy cement top of the latrine and, after several other options were exhausted, stick a ladder and climb down to grab my wayward kitten. I immediately stuck her in a bath and soaped her up. She got bathed in so much hand sanitizer, yuck. The dude wanted the equivalent of 2 bucks for that, but I gave him 3 because, really, he climbed down into a latrine to fetch a kitten, -he deserved time and a half for that. Sense then, we’ve been on a leash at all times, because we cannot be trusted to stay out of a latrine. I’ve thought about calling her Wuya which is Hausa for difficulty or hardship, but she’s still got those operatic pipes, so Waka it is.

6. Birthday in the Bush
I have passed yet another milestone in my service -my first birthday in the bush. It was a great birthday due entirely to my lovely friends who helped me celebrate; Sean and Sarah, who were part of the Zermou story, and Cindy all came to help with my mural project (see Chapter 7) and Ashle, who lives in magaria- where I bike to and from sometimes, also came up for just the day, and finally Miss Kat back at home sent me birthday candles in the serendipitously received package.
This was no ordinary birthday, it was a three cake birthday! The first cake was an astounding chocolate cake that Sarah made from scratch at the hostel and brought from Zinder. Seriously, Betty Crocker’s got nothing on this cake. Cindy put Kat’s candles on in the form of “2-?” because I wouldn’t say at first what birthday it was(I cant believe im turning into that person who wont own up to her age..!). We ate the cake early so it wouldn’t go stale and Sean justified our transgression by calling the whole weekend my partial birth distortion. I liked that because im a sucker for a pun. The second cake we commissioned my land lady’s daughter Soyeba to make a giant version of these little deep-fried sweet biscuit cake things that are called biscuti. When she brought it, we stuck a candle in, sang the song and took a picture with her. The third was a delic chocolate cake that Ashle brought from Magaria where they sell fancy things like packaged food.
My friends made me a birthday breakfast which I cant describe. But breakfast foods (especially of the eggy variety) are my favorite and almost every morning that I am in Zinder, I make scrambled eggs. My favorite restaurants back home were almost all breakfast/brunch places. So my egg scramble was a perfect treat even though it sounds ordinary.
Later, Sean and Sarah wanted to go out to Bande’s garden way out in the countryside, much to Ashle‘s and Cindy‘s chagrin. Here ‘way out’ is defined by about 2k or a mile and ‘garden’ is defined by a seasonal series of ponds, a grove of trees and some garden-like areas sprinkled about. It was a nice place to have a picnic. A guy working in the garden gave us a bunch of lemons and at one point a dude with a big gun walked by. He stopped to let us take pictures and pretended to get the gun ready to fire, which made me nervous! We sat and talked and played trivia contest and bop, marry, kill.
When we got back to bande, we were exhausted, so I decided we wouldn’t finish the mural that day and I finished it myself the next day. We had planned to grill shish kabobs that night, using my landlady’s wood that she had just dumped in my yard (for explanation on why I would not feel at all bad about using my landlady’s wood see chapter 8), but none of us had enough effort or hunger to go back to the market. So the barbeque has been postponed until Zinder and we tarried away the rest of the evening playing games and chatting.

7. The Sistine Chapel of Bande
As I mentioned, murals are going to be a big thing for me here. And the health clinic is going to be my Sistine Chapel. It might even take the 2 years I’m here (isn’t that how long Mich took?). We started with 2. I promise to have pics on my blog soon, if I haven’t done so already. They are pretty good. I designed them myself, but the idea behind the ‘variety of foods’ panel I got from the mural I did way back during Demyst with Terri. One is about eating lots of different kinds of food and the caption says in hausa “Varied food gives health and strength”. The other is about washing after you leave the bathroom or you kid leaves the bathroom and it’s captions say “we wash our hands after leaving the bathroom” and “we wash our children when they’ve finished with the bathroom”.
My friends came in to help me for four days, -strategically timed to coincide with my birth day. It was a lot of fun to show them my life here in Bande, though when my villagers told them they speak better Hausa than me I felt territorial, even though it’s true. We cooked almost as good food as we do in zinder, and played trivia contest and boggle (thanks mom for that!). Trivia contest is a game my friend Cindy made up and Sean coined the name. It’s what we play when we don’t want to play a full game of Trivial Pursuit, but asking questions sounds fun. The ‘Question Master’ asks the questions and the first person to shout out the right answer wins a point. The only problem is that the Question Master gets divine authority in choosing questions and doling out points and this week Sean was severely, tho he contests unknowingly, biased in Cindy’s favor. So I stopped liking trivia contest and I think Sarah was a bit miffed too.
Once when we were in the daily market and once when we were on the road, a guy with a traditional guitar and crazy eyes serenaded us. He made up songs on the spot about us. “Here’s Uma. She’s living with Fati and we’re really glad she’s here. Here’s Hadiza. She’s working with Fati also. Give me money now.” We got a bit on video and it will be my mission to upload that onto my blog in the next 3 weeks. He broke out into a lounge singer-esque banter between verses even. It was ridiculous and amazing. Wow I live in Niger.
On Sunday evening, we decided to take my Niger style tea set out to a tree near my house and make Shaye, or ‘Chai’ or really strong tea with a ton of sugar in it. We couldn’t do it right for the first batch so some guys from the middle school came over and helped us. They poor the tea back and forth between cups and build up this amazing amount of foam. Then they pour the foam into a shot glass and put a little tea in that and each person takes turns drinking. They usually do 3 brews with a batch of tea and a whole cup of sugar between the 3 batches. This was what I was hunting for in the first month because it’s a good way to get to know a group of guys. But it was harvest time when I first got here and even now my friends who visited say there aren’t as many guys hanging out drinking tea here as in their villes. Besides having fun, being Hausa with my american friends, I wanted to advertise that I do do Chai so that when I’m walking around, maybe guys will invite me over to tea more often.
While we were working on the murals, we didn’t always have work for everyone at once so those feeling ill could sit out or take pictures and those who preferred to play with the kids could do that. Cindy went off and taught my kids duck duck goose. And then she sat them down and used my mural drawings to do little lectures on the health topic that each picture shows. This was in Hausa mind you. Why cant I have Hausa like my friends? Cindy was amazing, I couldn’t believe how she got them to pay attention and answer her questions about washing hands and eating a variety of food. It was perfect Peace Corps. I got video of that too, so once again, have patience and I’ll get it up on my blog somehow or other.
I got the two murals done the day that my friends left and took pics. It’s funny that my friends told me, when I was complaining about the mob of kids crowding our work, that the amount of kids following anasaras around is directly proportional to the amount of anasaras, and they were right. Everyday while we worked we had crush level crowds, but when I was finishing up the mural, there were only a few well behaved kids reading the words that I was writing and trying to guess what the whole phrase would be before I wrote it. It was a nice calm denouement to the project. In the next few months I will do more murals, one is designed already and the others I have to talk to the health workers about but the whole wall, if I have my say, will be covered in pictorial hygiene messages.

8. The Big Move
When I return to Bande after IST, I’ll be moving. My mayor told me earlier this month that the land lady’s son is coming back from Saudi Arabia and she’s kicking me out. She’s not really supposed to do that because there was supposed to be an agreement made between her and the mayor that the rent would be for 2 years. But this is niger, and even if the agreement was ever made, it still means nothing. This is a nice house and I knew that whatever one they found for me wouldn’t be as new and nice as this. But there are a few drawbacks to this house which made me nervous but willing to move-not that I really had any say in it anyway.
So last night the shit hit the fan. I was sitting outside my house having shaye with Dasa my little high school age friend when the workers at my house told me they had to go into my house to figure out what kind of paint to put on the walls. I said ‘okay but you know that you cant paint until after I move which will be after a month’. Then they started getting really agitated saying ‘oh no there’s a problem there’s a problem’. The Saudi Arabia son is coming back in a week and they have to get the house ready! I said they would all just have to wait, there’s nothing I can do. But they had other ideas and hightailed it off to my mayor’s house who is in charge of my housing. Then they came back and told me that the mayor would come in the morning (before I left for Zinder) which I assumed meant he was coming to move me out to… I didn’t know where. I called my RR who called the Zinder driver who called my APCD who called my mayor and long story short, I was informed that I would indeed be moving completely out of that house and into a storage area where they keep grain that next moring (today as I type). I was hopping mad but after a bad night of sleep, and after my mayor seemed honestly apologetic enough for me and was one time this morning I cooled off. We got my stuff moved on ox carts and I got onto the bush taxi only a little after when I had planned. It was better that I got my things moved this way than leaving everything in the house because they would have just cut the lock off and moved my things without me there. Wow I live in Niger.
I am (was) next to a house that plays movies till midnight every night on loudspeakers. There is also a mosque close by and no shade trees in the yard. I also feel like I didn’t get to know my neighbors as I should because in the beginning I wasn’t very comfortable in Hausa and a lot of people only speak Hausa. I just got to see the new house and it’s pretty close to this one, but I think there is no mosque or movie house near by. It is mud brick rather than cement that I have now. But that might actually be a plus- I’ve heard that mud is cooler than cement, but im not sure. They are building a wall right now and were talking about a big shade hanger, tho I only need a small one because there is a big tree in the yard and another big tree right outside the concession wall. There is also enough space for a garden which I want to plant asap. It is a lot smaller than my current house, but I really wanted a smaller house frankly, because I don’t use the two big back rooms I have right now and I don’t like all that wasted space. And now I will be able to meet all my neighbors properly and get on their good sides so they can keep away the kids and the creepy guys from Nigeria. Maybe I’ll even gain a host family, although I still don’t really want to eat Hausa food every night.
There is not a spigot in the yard so I will have to have water brought or carry it myself. It is not very far to the nearest well though, 40 second walk. I didn’t notice any power lines going to the house, and that is the only thing that worries me. I have become very attached to my electricity here even though my light switches and outlets keep breaking. I don’t want to go somewhere everyday to have my cell phone charged and I want to have a fan when hot season rolls around. It’ll be like waiting for my report card, waiting to find out all the last details of my new house. I feel a lot better now, tho, that I’ve seen it, even if unfinished.

Epilogue: Sai An Jima- So Long For Now
Well that is it. Next time I write, there will be Parisian quality chocolate croissant digesting in my stomach. Once again, feedback is more than welcome, it is anticipated beyond imagination. It’s really helpful for me to know what you like to hear about and what is just me jabbering on. It is my job to talk about my life and Niger culture to americans, and beyond that, questions and comments are -always- highlights to my day. Cheers, ~AJ

Food

Here are pictures of proof that I do sometimes eat well, really well. Some of my friends make fun of me for taking so many pictures of food, but they are masterpieces in this country. Sarah LH understands me..
There is the thanksgiving plate, a soft shelled taco which is the closest thing i've had to Chipotle so far. Sarah LH is more stuffed than a turkey at Thanksgiving. I made honey bread for Thanksgiving, which was really good.
We had a pizza party during consolidation and i also made doughnuts which did not turn out like Krispy Kreme but were okay.
And finally one of the dishes i made during my first month at post.

Christmas

Our hostel was decked out for Christmas thanks to Laura and Marissa! We had sooo many cookies which i had nibbled on before i remembered to take a pic. I got my goge (go-gay) which is a traditional violin. I'm going to try to get lessons and play it properly. I made xmas cards "may christmas find you wherever you are". And for white elephant gift exchange, Alex got pretty princess sheets, tho i think someone 'stole' them from him before the end of the game.

Meet Our Hostel

here are pictures of Team Zinder and the hostel where we come for a few days every month.
~We had a WWE pro wrestling themed party so here we are in our garb.
~Cindy Sarah LH and I are toasting (with pure water, of course...) to something very hip and fun -but i guess not memorable..
~We are posing at our thanksgiving feast and then devouring it
~The hostel: Yard, porch, trunk room, one of the bathrooms, library and the drip garden i sort of helped set up and that i plan to put in my new yard.
~2 pics of my stage and specifically Alex in his cute Amish suspenders.

Zermou pics

Here are some pics of our Zermou project and the promised crazy goat video. We learned later that that is the weird thing that goats do for mating, so our kid must have been going through puberty...
The map making process is all out of order but you can figure it out. The stuff we're drinking from a bowl is Kunu, a millet drink. There was a temporary river (dam was released) we had to cross thru on our way there and back every day (it had started the day before we got there and dried up a few days after we left!). we saw a camel on one of our walks that had an arrow pointing to its leg so we took a pic! (I wonder what was so special about the leg as to be pointed out?) And after a long day and long hot walk sean is so tired he doesn't care that his backpack fell on him.