Sorry, no pictures for this one. But it’s really short so bare with me. Three weeks back in Niger now. Feels like much more. The vacation over Christmas is reduced to a glorious dream that I, quite inevitably have woken up from. Still, it is good to be back in Niger. After four months apart the people in my stage have come together at Hamdallaye once more for In-Service Training (IST). Over the past three weeks we have furthered our technical knowledge of our sector and been updated in the paperwork aspect of being a PCV. This means that we have learned how to do quarterly reporting on our work, tracking how many people are affected and actually benefit from what we do here. We have also learned how to right project proposals and apply for funding. Tomorrow is the last day of IST and I am scheduled to go back to Sagafondo on Sunday. Even though I went back a couple of times between Christmas and now, I feel like I’ve been away from my village and my cat for too long. I’m so excited to go back and resume my routines of work, exercise and community involvement. Now I also have the tools to do ‘real’ work in that I can officially apply for funding to conduct anything from womens’ groups trainings to building infrastructure. Many funding sources have deadlines in March so stay tuned for a grantwriting sprint! As I said, our entire group, or what’s left of it has come together again. (31 out of 48 initial trainees remain) Next time we come together like this will be 1.5 years from now for Close of Service (COS) Conference. Crazy. Looking at it right now, September 2010 seems sooo long away but I know that time will fly, especially once I get buys with projects. YAY work!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. I wish you a joyous year filled with laughter, good fortune and rewarding family and work relations. (In that order of importance) As for myself, I spent this turn of the year in the most peculiar way. I missed my original flight from New York back to America and thus, I spent all of New Year's Eve at the Casablanca airport. The captain on the flight crew apparently decided to take a siesta up until the actual time of departure and consequentially, the flight to Niamey took off at at five minutes to midnight. For the first time in my life I got to celebrate the countdown to a new year while on board an airplane rapidly ascending upward. Quite peculiar indeed. The good news is that because being so close to a major holiday both flights on the return trip were completely empty and I had plenty of room to spread out and even sleep some! But let me back up some and share with you the amazing vacation I just enjoyed in the United States of America. I arrived in the evening of Thursday December 18 and was absolutely ecstatic to embrace Ryan at Boston Logan airport. I kept asking him "is that really you?" "I can't believe it". An absolute dream to see him again. The dream-theme was to continue throughout the next ten days. As you can probably imagine it was a little bit of a climate shock going from the Sahara Desert to Boston but I had planned ahead and so the first stop after the airport was to my uncle’s house where I’m storing several boxes of winter clothes (and other random crap from college). I still needed to get a coat and shoes so the following day, I met up with future architect and friend Maggie, and dragged her around while I completed the first of many shopping trips. Before meeting up for lunch with Ryan, I treated myself to the most luxurious of all Western indulgences and completely unheard of in Niger……a manicure! Nails painted and wintercoat on, I was fit for fight so Ryan and I set off for Buffalo and Niagare falls Friday afternoon. We got as far as Worcester (30 miles outside of Boston). At this time the Weather battle began as the dusty snowflakes slowly turned into heave blobs of mush eventually swallowed the road and everything around it. Conceding the firts victory to Weather, we stopped at a hotel room to wait out the storm. Turned out that Weather hadn't got the last word after all because I was able to enjoy two wonderful things that had been denied to me for the past 5 months; McDonalds food and a hot bath! Never has a BigMac tasted so good or the hot water in a hot tub felt so soothing. Reward always comes to those who are patient and sure enough, towards midnight the snowstorm finally passed and at 3am we set out to catch up on travel time what we’d missed the day before. It didn't even matter that it took us a full hour to dig out the car that Weather had tried to hide from us. 600 miles and 14 hours later we finally arrive at Caesars hotel in Windsor, Canada. All those trips to Las Vegas last spring paid off since we had glorious room with a view of the Detroit River, all for free!.

View from our Caesar's hotelroom

Over the next 24 hours we enjoyed a super fancy steak dinner, played in a poker tournament and stuffed ourselves at the enormous buffet, all paid for by blackjack winnings. In the end we still walked away with enough money to cover my plane ticket to America and the gas money. Isn’t it great when you can have a wonderful vacation, on someone else's tab? In our case we extend our thanks to Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. Sunday the 21st we began the drive down to Ohio and were warped into a second battle with Weather. this time it was the Wind of the Midwest that decided toflex its strength. At times it was so strong that it almost swooshed the car right off the road. Luckily we prevailed and several hours later we arrived safely in Miamisburg, Ohio where we were to stay, over the Christmas holidays. Even though the adventure over the past days had been amazing, it was nice to stay in one place for more than 12 hours. I did a bunch of shopping at Wal-Mart, ate ice cream in large quantities and played a ton of games. In short, I did everything that belongs to Christmas, and more!! I was sad not to be with my family in Sweden but the joy of being out of Africa was even greater. It’s really hard to find the Christmas spirit when it’s sunny every day, sand everywhere and most people have never heard the word ‘Christmas’ before in their life. While in Ohio we faught another couple of battles with Weather when we got soaking wet in a rain storm one day just to fall on our bums the next day when all that rain had turned to ice. I daresay though that despite these harsh encounters, we came out on top! No broken bones, vehicle accidents or even the slightest bruise! Whu said weather couldn't be tamed? On Saturday the 27th we began our trip back east arriving in New York City on Sunday. There we met up with my best friend in the whole wide world who also happens to be called Maria. Her family always celebrates the holidays in the Big Apple city and it was quite wonderful how it worked out since this meant I got a day and a half to catch up one everything’s that’s been happening. Just writing letters, no matter how long you make them, doesn’t quite cut it you know. On Sunday night, Ryan and I got one last night together since Maria and her parents had plans. As we are walking back from the half-ticket booth, deciding that a three hour wait in line was not how we wanted to spend that evening, I grab a brochure from a guy handing them out and gasp. "It's cirque du soleil!" I proclaim. and sure enough. My favorite entertainment company is right here in new york, performing ther limited time only winter show. Ryan and I both agree that this is too god of an opportunity to give up and so a couple hours later we find ourselves at Maddison Squre Garden, elbowing our wauy to the box office passing through crowds of people, all here to see, not circus, but wrestling! Now Ryan and I have been to cirque du soleil probably 10 or 12 times and wrestling a total of 0. It didn't matter. Despite both groups dressing in leotards and putting on a physical performance, we enjoy the acrobats doing flips landing on their feet so much more than wrestlers doign the same thing but landing on their backs. The face painted acrobats did not dissappoint us. Wintuk is, just like the other shows a fantastical adventure And so Monday rolled around and Ryan headed back to Boston, leaving me to spend some quality time with Maria even though it did contain a bunch of me dragging her around on last minute errands. Sorry about that Maria, next time will be more relaxed, I promise. They say all good things must come to an end and so it was with a sad heart but reluctant acceptance that I made my way to JFK airport Monday night, expecting to begin the journey back to Niger. Turns out that what they say isn't always true. I don't know if Weather finally got a chance at revenge or if it was just bad fortune but for some reason there was an unusually large number of car accidents on the road out to JFK airport and so traffic was at a standstill. No surprize, I miss my flight to Casablanca and get rebooked for the subsequent flight. 24 hours later. Having no clue how to kill a full day/night cycle, I did what I so often do in times of crisis; I called Ryan. Within five minutes of hearing my dilemma, he booked me a flight to Boston that very night and consequentially I got to spend (a second) last night with the love of my life, amazing in that it was so totally unexpected. Tuesday afternoon I fly back to JFK and do end up getting on the flight that takes me to Casablanca. From there you know what happened. And so I complete my recount of an absolute magical trip. Thank you to everyone who made it happen. You know who you are ;)

Two little red elves with Grandpa Len

It is quite amazing how one person’s decision can effect so much. In my case, this decision was made by my newly appointed boss at the Peace Corps Bureau; Assistant Program Country Director (APCD) for the MCD Program. As I wrote in a blog post back in September, the country administration, more commonly known as 'the Bureau' denied my vacation request for this Christmas arguing several reasons that basically boiled down to; I had not been in country long enough to warrant a vacation. Well, given all the work that I’ve been doing in my village since and given that I had a new person to go to, I decided it might be worth asking again. Hence, around Thanksgiving I approached my APCD about going to America for Christmas. He had just visited me in Sagafondo a few days earlier and thus had seen both my work at the mayor’s office and my integration in the village. His first response was “I need to talk to some other people but will get back to you soon”. Three days later he called and sayd “I’m sorry but there is just no way you can go….”.

Well I wasn't just going to sit back and take that. There is a lot of discussion about the morale and trust between volunteers and the bureau, especially in my group since 15 people have decided to terminate their service early and basically quit the Peace Corps. I mentioned to my APCD that “if the bureau wants to know where the issue of bad morale comes from between volunteers and the administration, it is precisely because of decisions like these” and asked him to pass that on to the other senior staff members. Well, low and behold. Five minutes after getting off the phone, my APCD calls me back with a new decision…… I CAN GO!!!! From absolute devastation, my mood turned to that of triumphant joy in a matter of 30 seconds. With this change a mood also came a change in my entire outlook of the Peace Corps and the people running the Niger Country Office. In letting me go, I feel like they recognize and appreciate the work I’ve been doing, the effort I have put in to integrating into the community and learning the language. In letting me go, I feel like the bureau has assumed their proper role of supporting me as a volunteer here in Niger but also understanding that I will not be happy and successful here unless I can maintain connections with loved ones back home. Finally, I feel like the bureau understood that it is in THEIR best interest to let me go because I will be a much better, dedicated volunteer because I will feel that the bureau has my back covered rather than being thereto act as a Police force. YAAAAAY! I’m going to America for Christmas! On Wednesday the 17th I will head to the airport, fly through Casablanca and New York to Boston where I will meet the love of my life. We will then drive to his family in Ohio for Christmas and I will be back in Niger on the 30th. I’ll still get to celebrate the coming of 2009 six hours before my American friends ;) Until I return, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Getting my hair braided in preparation for my trip back home

The finished result!

Today is the second day of the biggest holiday of all year in Niger. In French it is known as Tabaski and in Arabic Eid al-Adha. In Zarma it is simply ‘Cimso’. It is the Muslim New Year holiday so the greetings I find myself saying every 10 seconds translate to things like:

- “Happy New Year, that it right now”

- “May your feet enter the new year a-walking”

- “Please forgive anything I did last year, as it is now a new one”

- “Where is my New year’s Present? (this one goes to people who first ask me for presents resorting to the idea that white people have tons of money and comeonly to throw money around, BAH. As if a Peace Corps volunteer has tons of money……)

So let me share with you this most important tradition of tabaski, the tradition that people begin preparing for months in advance, begin talking about even earlier and spend all of the two days executing: animal sacrifice. You see, tabaski always takes place 70 days after the end of Ramadan and since Ramadan is governed by the moon and consequentially shifts to be 10 days earlier every year, so does Tabaski meaning that that in 15 years, the Muslim New Year will be in July) Anyways, tabaski is celebrated in honor of prophet known in several other religions; Abraham. God told Abraham to sacrifice his son and only in the last moment did got replace the son with a ram. Consequentially the entire festival is dedicated to the killing of a ram (or goat or chicken if you are of lesser means). I, as a Peace Corps volunteer am of extremely small means, or so I told my villagers as the reason for why I did not “do cimso”. Despite my eagerness to integrate in Nigeren Culture, I could not bring myself to partake in this tradition of buying and killing an animal and even though I got scolded for it, I feel like my money can be much better spent, even if it is buying and killing a sheep 6 month from now when the meat will be a million times more appreciated. Right now there is an abundance of food right after harvest season and everybody is doing cold season gardening. In April food will be almost gone and meat will be extremely hard to come by since the animals will also be hungry…. If I bring people presents of meat at that time, my money spent will be much more appreciated. I counted over 100 sheep killed and prepared in Sagafondo alone yesterday. But I wasn’t completely culturally insensitive! Rather than meat, I made 30 little boxes out of folded paper and filled with peanuts and popcorn bringing to all village officials, women’s leaders and friends. This meant 5 hours of non-stop walking around and greeting people, repeating the aforementioned greetings and giving out presents as well as candy to children, this is after all their equivalent of Christmas and presents are not restricted to family alone. It is now afternoon and despite my thought that I would be receiving lots of meat, not one person has come by as of now…. Yesterday was intestines day and I politely declined two or three offers. I know I said that I was excited about eating meat again but I don’t think I will ever be able to come to terms with eating the heart, lungs or kidneys of an animal. Hopefully the villagers have not forgotten about me and are just busy preparing it…. (Having posted this retroactively I can testify that the latter was true… over the next few days I received more meat than I could ever eat) Anyways, I am off blow up the Pilates ball that Ryan sent me and to do a little modern exercise followed by a not so modern shower….

Some graphic Pictures of Nigerien New Year's Celebration. Sensitive eyes beware!

Per request I am providing a run down of a typical day as a Peace Corps day. Here’s what I did yesterday, Thursday November 20:

6:30am I woke up and petted Maya who has taken to sleeping next to me. Don’t you just love the comfort of a warm, purring cat?

7:00am I eat breakfast consisting of oatmeal and a cup of coffee with lots of concentrated milk/sugar. Even though Nigeriens cook their food over open flames, Peace Corps provides its volunteers with a gas powered stove so it's just like cooking in the US!

7:45am I headed out to the secondary school to teach two PE classes, crossing though the overflooded road that runs kneedeepThe flooded road that serves as latrine, washing machine, dishwasher, shower and watering hole for animals (as the goats above testify)

8:00am I begun teaching PE, today kickboxing was on the agenda using ipod loudspeakers I recently got in a package. Yay boyfriend!

A classroom at the Secondary School.

10 points if you guess the building material... it's millet stalk

9:00am I begun the second class that l is exactly like the first. Every week I teach 6 repeats of the same class.

10:00am I headed over to the mayor’s office and change into office clothes consisting of a an extremely colorful, patterned dress. I helped the accountant with his job of reporting all financial activity, putting my computer to good use! I also wrote a couple letters in response to ones that I’ve gotten. I don’t have a desk in my house so all office like work I prefer to do at the mairie.

An example of my work at the mairie.

A first step in mapping the Commune's Resources

2:00pm I left the mayor’s office as the afternoon prayer call rung and made my way around the village to buy meat and tomatoes for todays lunch. I made sure to greet everyone I passed and to visit a couple of my adopted family members. At this time I have four mothers, two fathers, dussins of little siblings and my very first big brother!

2:30pm I made and ate lunch consisting of potatoes a sauce made from the newly purchased ingredients and flavored with the mushroom gravy powder that Mom so kindly sent to me.

3:00pm I did the dishes to my neighbor’s amusement. I found a dishbrush in Niamey as well as detergent so I have quite an easy job of cleaning my pots which people in Sagafondo find extremely entertaining to watch given that they lug all their pots and pans to the river and wash them with mud and sand.

3:30pm I bought a chicken that will live with a friend who in exchange for a money to buy its food will bring me eggs.

4:00pm I took out my mat and swept my hut, gathering up a pint of sand that had fallen from the walls and roof over the last 24 hours, finishing it off with a couple whisks of lily scented air freshener. (purchased in Niamey)

4:30pm I collected my weigths made out of small aluminium cans filled with mud and selected some upbeat music to power through a workout session mixing aerobics, pilates and strength training.

5:15pm I went to the pump to get water for a bucket bath, carrying it on my head like a real pro. I then then went back to take that bath while I greeted people who passed by as they came back from whatever work or nonwork they had been doing. Privacy, what’s that?

6:00pm I watched a couple episodes of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ on my ipod. I am totally using this time in Africa to catch up on TV shows that sort of belong to American common knowledge. I’ve already gotten through four seasons of Lost. Next is Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy.

7:30pm I begun my nightly round of visiting the family members, selecting those that I didn’t get to earlier in the day. Forget one and I’ll here about it the next day… 8:00pm I ended my walk at my counterpart’s house, the Secretary General at the mairie. There I ate the traditional Nigerien dinner, repeated every dinner, every day; white milletmush and brown okra sauce. At first this was disquisting. Now it’s quite yummy…just maybe not every day. I mean, come on people, every day? The SG (which is what I call him since pretty much every male here is named Amadou - after the prophet), has a little generator that powers a TV and several outlets. Here is where I recharge ipod and cellphone, free to me but quite the income generating acticity for the SG since people pay him a little in exchange for access to electricity a few hours every night.

9:30pm I headed back and am joined by Maya at the door who somehow always knows that it’s me coming home so she rushes back from whatever adventure she was on. We then begun our nightly cricket hunt. It works like this: I shine a light around the walls of the apartment, swatting all the crickets and she follows, catching and eating them as soon as they drop to the floor. She’s getting increasingly better at jumping up and catching them herself!

10:30pm I crawled into bed and watched another couple episodes of HIMYM.

11:30pm I fell asleep

Except for the Chicken buying, this is a typical day in Maria’s new life in Africa.

This post is going to be informative nad content heavy so bear with me. First of all let me extend a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Barack Obama and to all Americans who came to their senses and voted for him. I am proud of you, maybe even proud to be one of you which is more than I can say for the last eight years. At this time I have been in Sagafondo for almost a month and a half and I am really glad that I don’t ever have to relive this time because setting up routines, getting to know people and navigating your way around a new place in terms of who to talk to to get what done, is quite exhausting and once you’re completely familiar with your surroundings, as I am on fast track to becoming, it’s like a huge burden taken of one’s shoulders. YAY INTEGRATION! I have a confession: I am a workaholic. Let me back this up with two explanations: First is the personal gratification of hard work. I am absolutely happiest about myself when I feel productive and useful. This being said I am extremely lucky that people that I work with are equally determined to get the work done. Second is the pretense for me being in Niger in the first place. Because I risked my relationship with the man I love to join the Peace Corps, I feel like every moment here needs to count and thus I am constantly seeking out ways to learn as much as I possibly can about Niger and make the biggest difference for the people in my community and the Mairie. So, my love of work defended, what am I actually doing to be so busy? My work so far can be divided into four main areas: 1. In the mayor’s office assisting the employees with day to day activities like writing up birth certificates and collecting taxes but also with larger projects like mapping the Communes resources , marketing the tourist sites (sand dunes, hippos, caves and Fulani Camps) and updating the development plan from its original 2005 version. 2. With women’s groups in Saga-fondo and the neighboring villages. They all have relatively well structured groups with elected presidents and a desire to begin their on-income generating activities. Still, a lot of them lack a mission statement, i.e. actual work. Although they are disappointed that I can’t bring money to the table, several groups have expressed interest in working with my, making use of administrative skills like setting up a system of microfinance and creating a project plan for the work to be done. 3. As a PE teacher in the CEG (middle school). It’s certainly amusing how I can’t seem to get away from leading classes of physical exercise. (not that I try to) Some student saw me running one morning and asked if I wanted to teach them PE. Inititally they were sad that I didn’t know karate, as Jackie Chan is their all time hero, but now with my first week done, I am certain that we’ll have a great time together with or without karate. 6 classes at the CEG so that gives me a guaranteed 6 hours of exercise every week. SWEET! 4. Integrating in to the community. This is definitely not a traditional job but part of Peace Corps commitment to Cross Culture and I try to make daily rounds to my adopted mothers and fathers, knowing that if I don’t they will scold me for it later, saying that I’ve forgotten them ;). “Be careful what you ask for”, my Mom always said and here I am, the girl who always sought to be the center of attention, surrounded by people who want nothing more than to do work with me, visit me, be my friend and for me to come see them. I enjoy the one or two episodes of Lost that I watch every night because that is also the only time I am truly alone. Still, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is because it is the abnormally that I welcome the solitude. With all its peculiarities, Niger is my home now and I am happy here.

Me Being Happy

Maya being happy on top of my shade hanger (until it was time to come down and she forgot how she got up)

More Camels

Thank goodness that all the VATS were right. Things do get easier as time goes by. My house is starting to feel a little bit like a home even though the walls are practically bare and everything I presently own fits in two trunks and on one table.

I am quite impressed but not terribly surprised that practically all the citizens in Sagafondo learned my name, my house’s location and the reason for me being there in the first three days and I’m sad to admit to not have done the same for them. This means that every person I meet acts as my best friend and I am quickly becoming an expert at greeting people every 10 seconds the way I would greet a very dear friend that I hadn’t seen for 2 years. Language, work and integration are all progressing well and somehow, although this may also be no surprise to those who know me, I manage to fill my days with busy activities from morning to night. I think I might be the leader of my stage of least books read in these first weeks at post. My count is 1. Pillars of the Earth. So I wanted to dedicate this post to camels. I think this is the one aspect of Niger I will never get used to. I wake up in the morning and outside my concession I see a mini-caravan of five camels walking by, loaded with hay or wood or other goods to be transported. I will be walking to the mayors office and see a man holding the leashes of three camels, all of them obediently walking behind him, completely at peace with the hiarchy even though each of them is 10 times the size of the man and God knows how many times stronger. Funny how things work out sometimes. If an American child could come and see what I see on a daily basis, that is to say wild camels used in farmwork they would probably stop, point and stare, maybe even proclaim out loud; look a camel! This is why I find it ironic, although you are free to disagree, that these American children would react the same to camels as Nigerien children react to me. They stop, point and scream “ANNASARA, ANNASARA” as if they can’t believe their eyes; was that really a white person that just passed by?

One week in Sagafondo Completed. I was reading in one of the training manuals as a word of comfort that ”there will never be a second ‘first month’” and although that is a pretty obvious statement, the thought was extremely comforting. Things here are difficult to say the least; ever day is a physical, psychological and emotional test of endurance. Still, every day I learn a few new words in Zarma, meet a few new people, remember a few more names and what a wonderful thing it is that this first week of explaining who I am a zillion times and why I am not going to give people presents, will never repeat itself. All in all, the week went by pretty quickly…. Especially since I’ve managed to have several different and new things to do every day, while still keeping some routines.

So here’s a rundown of the highlights from the first week:

I arrive on Thursday and thank goodness my latrine whole is dug and walls of woven millet stalk quickly erected so I don’t have to go native and tell people I’m going “to the bush” when excusing myself to go to the bathroom. All of Thursday I spent cleaning because, by the look of it, the interior of my house hadn’t seen a broom for over a year. In reality it was probably a week. By dusk, an extremely dirty, thirsty Maria emerges, dust and dirt everywhere but ready to start unpacking things in her new, clean house. Well clean is relative since a house made out of mudbrick with a roof made out of sticks and straw can never be completely clean.

My Kitchen (above) and the view of my concession (below)Note my my finished latrine and amazing shade hangar

After a long bath, the day’s almost over and I set to cooking dinner only to be startled by a bug crawling out in front of my pot. It’s a big one. A cockroach. Perfect. Of course my hut in Hamdallaye and its minimal bug-presence had been too good to be true and I realized that I was now in the ‘real Africa’ where humans, goats and cockroaches all share the same living space. Still I had to eat so I made some macaroni, whoofed it down, resolved to do the dishes in the morning and quickly got ready for bed, finally relaxing under the safety and comfort of my yellow my mosquito net. Even though I’m sure I was inches away from all kinds of critters all night, the fact that I was surrounded by what I perceive as protective netting means as much as if there had been a brickwall between me and the creatures of the night. At least that was how it was in Hamdallaye. Here there’s some kind of bug that I can’t get away from. I don’t know what it is but its smell penetrates everything and so despite being exhausted my nose’s displeasure kept me awake all of the first night.

The second and third day I set out to scope out Sagafondo. Luckily I had paved the way pretty nicely for myself during Live-In because practically everybody knew my name already and for better or worse I spent hours responding to people shouting “Faiza, Faiza, Faiza” before continuing on with the five part greeting in which people ask each other how the body, the house, the children the fasting, the time of the day and anything else is, at that particular moment. Of course, everything is always ‘in health’ even though their house could be falling apart, their child dying and their body old and tired. I did succeed in finding a kitten which is something I’ve been dying to do ever since I learned that keeping a pet is not one of the hundred things that Peace Corps policies forbid. I’ve decided to name the cat Maya which is sort of the word for ‘cat’ in Zarma. Makes things easy when I call for her since people here don’t name their animals.

This next part has been gross stamped in red ink so read on at your own risk. I was happily petting Maya when I noticed a sore on her paw so I got some Neosporin in an attempt to reduce the risk of infection. When applying the cream I notice some movement in the sore and soon something appears to emerge from it. YUCK I think to myself but get some paper and am soon busy extracting larvae, buried under the skin of my cat’s paws and tail. I would have gotten rid of Maya right there and then if it wasn’t for the fact that she had taken care of another gross problem; the cockroaches! She eats both them and the crickets and since I learned from our doctor that the larvae aren’t really dangerous and only need to be extracted for the problem to be resolved, I decided to keep Maya which now, a week later, I’m quite happy about.

Maya - after larvae have been removed

Even though my limited ability to communicate with people is EXTREMELY frustrating and tests my patience on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, I am proud to have performed some integration activities. Twice I have accompanied women okra picking. Okra is a big thing in Bitinkodji and lots of women grow, dry and sell this prickly skinned vegetable at the market in Niamey. Because of the painful texture of okra, people were quite impressed that I remained resolute about the work, staying out in the sun for hours. Without gloves okra can rip up your hands quite badly. I donned a ziplock bag and a sock and that did the trick of protection just as well as a farmer’s mitt. Well, actually it allowed just the right amount of injury sine I did obtain a couple of cuts that everyone demanded to see and laughed when I said that I’m a real Sagafondo woman now. The okra is used to make the sauce that accompanies the millet dish that people eat for every meal, ever day. (yes malnutrition is a problem). Among Peace Corps Volunteers this traditional Nigerian food is known as millet mush and snot sauce. Despite its disaphaling nature, I’ve come to enjoy it quite a lot….just not every day.

Finally I want to tell you about this big meeting that happened yesterday (Wednesday). The practice of decentralizing the government means that every commune is governed by a council of which the mayor is president. Four times a year the council convenes and discusses matters pertinent to the commune as a whole. Yesterday was such a meeting and I’m thrilled to say that ”Introduction of the new Peace Corps Volunteer” was one of seven items on the agenda. The other ones included discussing the results of this year’s harvest, the upcoming academic school year and, of course finances. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand more than a stray word here and there especially because people kept breaking into Fulfulde. (14 out of 17 villages in Bitinkodji are Fulani) My hope is that by next meeting in December, I will be fluent enough to understand everything that’s going on, maybe even ask to have some time to speak about my development work and seek the council’s support.

Council Meeting before I take me seat up at front and get officially introduced

In all the hardships of limited language, bugs, annoying children and heat (rainy season is over so here comes the sun), one thing makes me extremely grateful and happy to be here. People have a TON of kokari, meaning effort. There are already 72 women’s groups in the Commune of Bitinkodi. That’s 1900 women already organized in groups working on various development projects. I saw one of these projects the day I went okra picking. 160 women from four villages hike up to a big hill and use millet stalk and twigs to build fences as a means to keep the sand from blowing away, into the village and the river. You might have hear of the term ‘pushing back the desert’ and this is exactly what these women are doing. It was so inspirational to hear how proudly the woman I accompanied talked about the project, the fact that it was run entirely by women and how important it was to the survival of her community. If all the women’s groups are like hers, I know there is GREAT POTENTIAL for all kinds of microfinance projects, community enhancements projects and sensibilization sessions.

(Note: if you don’t know a sensibilization is a session serving to enlighten people about a certain aspects of life such as the importance of sending girls to school, sleeping under a mosquito net, hygiene or family planning. The session is conducted part by lecture, part by group exercises. Essentially, it seeks to present a perspective and a theory, allowing the participants to come to the realization of adopting x or y practice on their own. Leading and/or facilitating sensibilizations is a major part of a Peace Corps Volunteer’s work.)

Last day to enjoy extreme creature comforts like running water, electricity and internet for quite a while. Tomorrow I go to live in the bush for month straight. This is the first blog post I am writing in real time rather than retroactively uploading. I am camped out at Amendines’ which is a restaurant run by Lebanese targeting rich, white people such as myself. Best of all: they have free wifi. I have already been here for three hours responding to emails uploading pictures etc and have no problem sitting here for another three while ordering another caffe frappe.

Shopping is almost done. In a typical Maria-fashion I went crazy at the prospect of decorating a two-room house of my own and managed to spend a full month’s pay in one day. Oops. I guess it’s a good thing then that my village doesn’t really have a market so there’s nothing to spend money on once I get to post.

Happy was the day of September 13 when I proudly proclaimed that I had made it through PST without getting sick once! Naturally I should have kept my mouth shut because sure enough, Come Monday I start hearing funny noises from my stomach and when we came back from Tillaberi having visited 13 different men in prominent positions I learned that I had finally been indoctrinated into the Amoebas Club! 360something cases of intestinal parasites per year in Niger, one of which can now be claimed by me!

Yesterday Ricky, Jessica and I, all with delayed installation dates were out getting some (non-alcoholic) drinks chit-chatting about our first month in village. I tune out for a second and when I refocus, I realize that Ricky is negotiating with the waiter. I listen in and soon realize that I am the product being negotiated! Ricky is asking for three camels but the waiter is hesitant and eventually they settle on two with the condition that I have to go live in Mali for a year. At first, I am flattered. Camels are expensive and I wouldn’t mind riding one to Mali. Then I learned that Ricky had gotten the three camels for another girl in our training class the night before and my happiness turned to disappointed at not being of equal worth. In the end I was so distressed by this inferiority that I called it off, telling the waiter that I’ll go with him to Mali when he’s old enough to grow a beard. This will probably a couple years away and by then I’ll be done with Peace Corps and out of Niger so if the waiter does show up with camels, he will have to find someone else to give them to if he wants an Annasara wife.

Jessica and Camel.

BTW; Jessica was voted 'Most likely to Marry a Host Country National' in the superlative awards ceremony. I got 'Most Talented' because of a fire performance at Cafe Langue.

Today is Swear-in In day. I will take an oath (in French) swearing to serve for two years in the Peace Corps, using y skills to work with Nigeriens in furthering the country’s development. I also just signed a written contract promising to serve on behalf of the United State Government “discharging my duties as a Peace Corps volunteer”. Quite official indeed. Over 400 people have been invited to the ceremony this afternoon and I encourage you to google “Peace Corps Niger” and I bet there will be some news hits since it’s apparently a pretty big deal for the Nigerien media whenever a new set of volunteers get sworn in. Yay for finally earning the prestigious title of “volunteer” after nine weeks of slaving away as a mere “trainee”.

Swearing in also means that we get access to money and even though are pay only amount to a couple hundred dollars a month, it seems like a fortune in the local currency. We are all heading to the bank first thing tomorrow and I am excited to do some serious shopping for my house, that finally is done and waiting for me! Because of a long list of protocol visits to various officials, I won’t actually go to my village until Thursday.

I will miss ‘tondobon’ which is the name of our training site, literally translating to ‘the top of the hill’. It has been an excellent place to slowly integrate to Nigerien life and even though it’s been tiring having classes from morning to night, it makes me long for the time when I can set my own schedule of daily activities and mealtimes. And I do look forward to coign for myself even though the food has been alright. In fact, I am superthrilled at the prospect of finally making use of the powered sauce bags that Mom brought from Sweden to the US this summer so that I could turn around and bring to Africa. It’ll be the most well-traveled brown gravy in the world by the time I consume it!

Time to head off to Niamey and actually pick up the outfit I will be wearing since I haven’t had a chance to go to the tailor yet. I hope it fits because if it doesn’t I’m a tad bit screwed.

Posting this blog retroactively, I know that I got my clothes. Above you see a line-up of the New PVC's in Niger.

I also happen to know that google does not produce any results when you search for nes stories. Oh well. Guess it's not worthy of international recognition.

One week left before swearing in as a full volunteer. 9 weeks certainly seemed like a long time when we first landed in country but as always, time passes and we are now talking about things like ‘what to do the three months at post’ since we can’t actually facilitate projects during this time. I am eager to get out to Sagafondo and my counterpart has been texting to check in, making me feel all the more welcome. Still I am scared because it’ll be a total shift in routine. From seeing American on a daily basis and always having English to fall back on if Zarma fails, I will be surrounded by all Nigeriens and have to rely on Zarma for all communication. Nothing like shock therapy to quickly integrate in a community.

Another two people left Peace Corps yesterday, meaning that of our original 48 PCTs only 40 remain. The group morale always takes a hit whenever somebody leaves for the US, never to come back. Thanks God for Tondi, our training manager who is a completely lovable guy, honest and super-understanding of everything we’re going through. Yesterday afternoon he gathered everyone and announced what had happened, giving people a chance to ask questions (since one of the people leaving had been administratively separated) and generally giving us some space to regroup and draw strength from each other. YAY Tondi!.

Tondi trying my poi

I have come to an important decision that I’d like to share with those of you who know me (and anyone else who would like to know me) I have decided that when I get back to United States I will no longer be a vegetarian. My reasoning for this decision s based on the idea that if I can eat meat here in Niger that has been sitting in the sun all day with flies crawling all over it, I can handle whatever chemicals they put in the meat in the US. I still don’t approve of how many of the animals are treated in the US which means I will use my purchasing power to support the organic meat industry when cooking for myself but ordering big steak at a nice restaurant will definitely be one of the first things that I do once I go back.

Back from Live-In with extremely mixed feelings. The upside is that I know that there are plenty of things to do in Sagafondo once I gain the trust of people. The one day Amadou Boreima (the mayor) came from Niamey, a million things happened and that was great. On that one day, I was officially introduced to all the various groups in the village; 5 women’s groups, various artisan groups and a youth group that are all potential work partners. They seemed excited to see me even after I explained that I’m not there to do work FOR them but rather WITH them. The mayor also made sure that the worker that was building my latrine knew what he was doing and getting properly paid. I know that the people I will be working with are all competent and motivated and I am really optimistic about the work.

The downside, since there always is one, is going to be the time between me moving to the village and actually becoming a part of the village. These past two months have been all about getting used to Niger in terms of people language and culture. The next three months will be all about getting to know individual Nigeriens and making personal connections. I knew that my impatience would come back and bite me by joining Peace Corps and every day I am tested to keep my mouth shut not to ask a logistical question and instead trust that things will come together in due time. Once permanently installed in my village I know the challenge will be even greater since I will want to start to fix what I see as problems right away and only by using cold reason will I hold myself back since I know that if I push myself on people, whatever I do will not be sustainable and at worst; rejected by the community.

The Peace Corps Bureau in Niamey

Oh Patience. Tested every day. Like last Friday when I came back from Live-In and was told that my petition to go on vacation over Christmas was rejected because of a Peace Corps Niger Policy not to grant out of country vacation for the first six months of service. Be patient with the administration Maria, just like you have to be patient with host country nationals. Too bad that this rejection is my first real encounter with the people that are supposed to be on my side. In their defense, their first encounter with me was a request to leave Niger after only a month in country and that must come across as a little like lack of commitment. I hope things work out between me and the administration because God knows I’ll have a lot more to do with them over the next two years. Luckily, I am beginning my patience therapy early and am already getting myself re-psyched for going on vacation in March instead.

Finally I want to end with a story from last night. After dinner, I was planning to go to bed early as usual and watch the Bourne Ultimatum but my host sisters begged me to dance with them and I couldn’t refuse. They asked me to sing a song that I apparently had sung before going to live-in but it took me a while to figure out what they were humming. When it finally clicked what they were referring to, I burst out laughing; they wanted me to sing and dance “London Bridge” by Black Eyed Peas because even though I only know the 10 word chorus, of “how come every time you come around the London, Bridge wanna go down” they wanted me to repeat that over and over again. The night ended with us all lying on top of each other on the mat laughing and I had instant flashbacks to a time not long ago when I played human sandwich with my biological siblings in the farm house in Sweden.

My hostbrother; Abdou Karim

My Mayor's Office (when it didn't rain)

At the time of writing, I am sitting in a one-room mudbrick building in the concession of Bitinkodji’s Secretary General. I am superfrustrated that I don’t know Zarma fluently. DARN I wish I new Zarma fluently this minute so that I could understand what people were saying and could get to work in installing some sense of civic duty and personal ownership in the villagers. The Secretary General is a lovely man and will henceforth be my official counterpart. If he knew of my frustration he would smile and tell me to ‘have patience’. In fact, that’s what any Nigerien would say. Things take tiiiiiiiiiiime and before I can actually do any work, people need to know and trust me. That takes even more time. People in Sagafondo are far worse off than people in Hamdallaye. Whereas in Hamdallaye malnutrition seems to be the biggest problem, starvation is very real here and disease is everywhere. My counterpart’s wife is a nurse but since Sagafondo does not have a health facility she travels 10 km to the neighboring village everyday to work but if it rains, as it did all morning today the road floods and she can’t go. Where in earth do you begin development work with the current state of things. Maybe it’s good that I don’t know the language because if I did I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from going around telling people to get a grip. Illiterate parents don’t send their children to school because they don’t see the immediate need. People don’t pay taxes because they don’t see the benefits of doing so. Before I even start thinking about how to remedy any of that, I need to be able to talk to people and they need to trust me. When I arrived for live-in on Sunday I learned that I have a house but that it wasn’t nearly up to Peace Corps’ standards and that is why I am living with my counterpart’s family for now and inshallah, (if God so wills) I will be able to move all my stuff into my own house and concession by the end of the week. Quite incredible that once I get back from Live-In we only have two more weeks of training. CRAZY!!

Sand Dunes in Bitinkodji

Today was market day and on my way back I ran in to a few ladies and exchanged the regular greetings of ‘how are you, your family, your house, your dog, your health, your day, your last two years’? Then I had my first full conversation in Zarma of which I understood everything. It proceeded something like:

Them: “You’re wearing earrings”,

Me: “Yes I’m wearing earrings”,

“Three of them”,

“yes three of them”

“Your bag matches your dress”,

“ Yes my bag matches my dress, is it good?”,

“yes it is good. Give it to me!”,

” No, I need my bag, I can’t give it to you, I’ve got to go now, see you later!”

“Bye”

The good news is that I never have to worry about not having things to say because Nigeriens state the obvious all the time. Exclaiming with surprise that the sun is shining is just as normal as asking someone if the think it’s going to rain tomorrow. The bad news, as was evident in the second half of my brief, post-market conversation is that I’m going to have to spend two years refusing to give people all my stuff. As a white person I am automatically stamped with three labels: 1. Rich 2. Fluent in French and 3. There to give them stuff. For all the good work that NGO’s do they certainly have made Peace Corps job hard because Nigeriens expect annasaras, or white people, to give them things for free. Hopefully after a while in my village, people will understand that I won’t give them things and maybe they’ll stop asking. Maybe.

Market Pictures

Electronics

Grocery - i.e. grains (millet, corn, sorghum)

Sagafonda, Bitinkodji. That’s where I’m going. Totally not where I originally wanted to be but I am certain that I’ll come to love it over time. It is only 25 kilometres from Niamey which means accessing internet and hosting visitors will be quite easy. I was a little worried at first thinking that I wasn’t going to get “the real” Peace Corps Experience being so close to the capital. I didn’t have to worry. The mayors office in Sagafondo does not have electricity and neither does my house. There is cellphone reception but that’s pretty much it. Sending text messages will therefore be the fastest way to get a hold of me. Sagafonda is the name of the village. It has a population of 5000 and is the largest of 17 villages in the Commune of Bitinkodji that has a total population of 23 000. This is just about all I know at this point. My house has two rooms and is really close to the mayor’s office. Beginning August 24 we will go on a week long site visit and at that point I’ll be able to say more.

Me and My Mayor: Abdou Boreima

On Tuesday I did buy some beautiful Nigerien fabric and on Wednesday I proceeded to visit our neighbor who is a taylor, or tako as they say in Zarma. My three-piece dress it won’t be ready until Tuesday but I’m sure it’ll be beautiful in every way when it is done. And if it’s not it’ll be my own fault since I designed it.

We have now been in Niger one full week but by god it feels like longer since we’ve had such intense days packed with sessions. A typical day will be as follows:

7am – Teri wakes me up - I finally figured out how to fall asleep and now I am sleeping like a baby every night

8am – We head to the market for breakfast which usually consists of solani, (i.e. drinking yoghurt in a bag), Faria masa which is like balls of fried dough with sugar, a mango and a latte. Today I also discovered this amazing café au lait that I hadn’t known of before. Because of the high risk of bacteria in milk, the beverage is actually is made with instant coffee and a mix of powdered sugar and milk but it still tastes delicious and it could easily become my new vice.

8:30 our first session begins.

10am we break and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they provide a snack

10:30am second session

12 lunch

1pm third session

2:30 break

2:45 fourth session

4:15 our day is over

My language hut.....

Sessions are broken up in five areas. They are:

1. Language,

2. Cross cultural

3. Medical

4. Safety and Security

5. Technical

Language is pretty straightforward. We will go through numbers, money, daily activities, expressing needs and technical terminology specific to our sector. Every week we will rotate instructors since they are not al at the same level of teaching. Luckily I am in the more advanced language group so if the teacher isn’t keeping up, we can learn from each other.

Cross Culture includes a mini skit by the language teachers that highlight some aspect of Nigerien culture which may be anything from gender roles to do’s and don’t’s the home as well religious practices and perceptions on alcohol. Following the ‘petite surprise’ (i.e. skit) we have a discussion and VAT input (Volunteer Assistant Trainers – current volunteers that come to bridge the gap between training and actual peace Corps work)

Medical Sessions are lead by one of the two PSMO’s (Peace Corps Medical Officer). They include information on every disease under the sun we may be exposed to in Niger. Malaria and Diarrhea are covered of course but so are things like STD’s, bites, burns and skin diseases. Today our medical consisted of how to use our water filter. Peace Corps invests over $100 per volunteer so that we can filter all water that comes in contact with our face. It looks like two buckets stashed on each other and apparently it was developed specifically for Peace Corps use. Naturally Nigeriens don’t filter their water and once again I am amazed by how sturdy their bodies are compared to ours. That’s evolution in action for you since infant mortality is extremely high meaning the weak ones don’t live to grown age.

Safety and Security Sessions are generally lead by our SSC (Safety and Security Coordinator) and will range from discussing personal safety at post to what streets to avoid in Niamey. Peace Corps makes no joke about Safety and it is quite impressive how fast communication can travel if needed. They will reimburse you r any costs related to your safety and once again I am happy about joining the Peace Corps because it is the safest way to live in one of the least developed places in the world.

Technical Sessions are my favorite so far because they directly pertain to the Municipal and Community Development Sector (MCD). Our technical session today included more about the MCD (Municapilty and Community Development) Project Plan. It lists two goals and 8 objectives that we should strive to achieve once we begin our service. I am so excited to get started but know that I have a lot of learning to do before then.

Another tech session included a summary of the political history of Niger and it is really quite sad that in the 40 years of independence, Nigeriens have still to take charge of their own country’s destiny. I won’t be able to change that but I know that the technical sessions will be good in discerning what our actual job will be like and what potential we have for making a real difference in peoples’ lives.

Aside from the aforementioned topics, we also have various other sessions relating to our successful integration into Niger and today the American Ambassador to Niger visited to talk about the US and Nigerien relationship on more political terms. American presence in Niger includes development work, military assistance, missionaries and business investment. A total of 650(give or take) Americans live in Niger. It was most interesting and very inspiration given that the ambassador is a black women who’s spent her life as a career diplomat having worked her way up the ladder.

I am starting to get the hang of Zarma and feel like I have a strong advantage in terms of pronunciation abilities given my previous language knowledge. I still can’t hold a consistent conversation with my host family but am fairly certain I’ll be able to do so in the next week or two.´

...and language class

Fofo (greetings in Zarma)

First day of official PST (Pre-Service Training) is over. It consisted of lots of language studies, a cross culture session on what we’ve observed among the host families so far and a general check in on our first weekend on our own. I don’t think anyone in the Niger July 2008 PC class has ever been so motivated to learn a foreign language before and all day long we absorbed words, grammar and phrases like a sponge. I felt like a took a leap in Zarma knowledge and was eager to practice on my host family. Naturally I had forgotten most of it by the time I got home but I rewrote all my notes from class and that helped organize my thoughts and make sense of the various components.

Although we spent all day together yesterday I had still not learned all the names of my host family so today I gave up and asked Yamila, my darling little host sister to help me write down everyone’s name and ages. I still haven’t figured out the structure since there is one man in his mid sixties who supposedly is the father of all the children but the women over 50 couldn’t possibly be the mother to everyone since the youngest boy is 4. Polygamy is not uncommon in Niger but I have not come across anyone that could be the second wife and mother to Yamila and her younger brother. In any case; these are the people that most commonly inhabit the concession:

Abraman – father of house in his late sixties (my guess)

Kadilla – mother in house around 50

Nafissa – 14

Yamila – 12

Abdukarim – 4

There may be more family members that I have not yet met since family here is rarely restricted merely to the core and other people are constantly trickling in and out so discerning the core family is actually really hard.

Tomorrow is market day so I’ll finally be able to buy some proper Nigerien clothing. It is also medical day so I will be receiving shots for rabies and typhoid. Yikes.

It’s Sunday and the Hamdallaye training site is closed. A little strange since it’s the only day it’s closed and Niger is a Muslim country so Friday, not Sunday should be the day of rest. This means that all volunteers have had to test their language with our host families all living in and around Hamdallaye. All of yesterday was spent preparing for this meet including a very amusing ‘how-to’ session consisting of latrine usage, tying the mosquito net, bucket baths and lighting a lantern. Not to mention that we also were served our very first native Nigerien dish. As custom has it, food is displayed on a large tray and placed in the center of a mat. All hungry family members are required to wash their hands and take off their shoes before sitting down around the bowl and digging in. And I mean digging it quite literally although only the right hand is permitted since the left is usually the hand used for the latrine.

That’s right folks. People here are unaccustomed to toilet paper (although I am quite certain I am willing to spend the 300 Nigerien Franks (approxmitaley 75 cents) per roll to not forego this luxury.) At this point I have exercised all the skills I learned and must say that bucket bathing is by far my favorite. It was quite wonderful to sit out in the open air with the sun baking down with cool water splashing all over. It felt better than an outdoor shower since I could control the waterflow.

My host family is very nice. The mother has already adopted me has her daughter and the little girls are so adorable and so patient with my non-existent language skills. Before arriving yesterday evening we had only had one brief language course where we only learned five basic greetings. As I’m sure you are all dying to know; my language is Zarma. Aside from Niger it is also spoken in parts of Benin, Senegal and Burkina Faso. Approximately 22% of the population in Niger speak Zarma and they are more or less centered around the capital. In my interview to determine my language placement I requested a larger community close to the capital (for easier travel and visits) so even though Hausa is spoken by more people in Africa, I am happy with my Zarma placement. Besides, how cool is it to be learning language beginning with Z. totally!

I am living with another American girl and as far as I can tell we’ll get along just fine. Her name is Teri and she’s from California. I’ve had luck with room mates in the past so I have high hopes for this one.

As for integrating to Niger’s culture, I feel like a full integration is far off but I don’t think I could have been better prepared after given my childhood on the farm including lots of exposure to strange food and people all my life (thank you mama!) In short, I have had no major problems with food which includes taste and gastronomical process. Diarrhea is the most common disease here and human waste is said to become a completely natural topic of conversation. We’ll see about that. The humidity still makes sleeping hard and even though the temperature may rise, I long for the dry season when at least I won’t have to go to bed sweating like a water fountain.

We live in what’s called a concession because it is a set of houses and stands all within a larger enclosed area. Teri and have our own little enclosed space in the concession where we have our beds but also our own little hut to store or stuff and sleep in if it rains. It is very nice to have our own private space within the larger context but it is also nice that as soon as we open the door, we are surrounded by our adoptive family. The first thing our Nigerien sisters did once we’d settled in to our hut was give teri and me new, Zarma names; I am Fa’iza and Teri is Nadiya. I haven’t quite decided if I like my new name yet but I’ll let it be for now and if it hasn’t grown on me by the time I get to my site, I’ll return to Maria which is still a common name around here.

Tomorrow our official training begins and it will focus on several technical, medical, language and culture studies. We will also be learning more about our jobs so that when we get to our site we will actually have some skills to share with people.

The Nigerien Sky- as seen from my concession

First day in Niger. It's hot. And humid. And lizards everywhere. But overall totally awesome. I slept under the skies last night with only a mosquito net between me and the African night. 'Slept' is maybe a little strong since I didn't do much more than doze for 10 hours. New surroundings are always tricky and I can't wait for the night when I don't wake up once to the noise of the desert night. Roosters, crickets, donkeys, goats prayer call and people shouting will certainly take some time getting used to.As by a miracle, all volunteers arrived safely in Niamey as did all luggage! Quite extraordinary apparently since AirFrance is known for loosing stuff in transit. Exiting the airport we were greeted by a hoard of current volunteers holding a big welcome sign with all our names and passing out warm bottles of water. At the time I didn't appreciate that water much but since the water at our training site in Hamdallaye is cleaned with iodine, I'll take warm but pure tasting water any day and I'm currently devouring the last of my bottled water. It took 45 minutes to come to our training camp which really is like a mini village much resembling the sites of children's summer camps. We have a dining hall, an infirmary, bathrooms (with running water) and several huts for classes to be taught in. I can't wait to start learning a local language but still don't know if that will be Hausa or Zarma. If it is Zarma I will most likely be closer to Niamey which makes for easier visits and travel but it also means that I could never use my African language after Peace Corps. Hausa is spoken in Nigeria as well as the majority of Niger. I am a little worried about not having a clear preference but I think I'll leave it to the Peace Corps staff to place me where they think I belong. After setting up our mosquito nets and retrieving our luggage we gathered for brief introductions and a couple announcements. Dinner was surprisingly delicious consisting of pasta, a meat stew and salad. People started going to bed shortly after dark which falls around 8pm. Today is superbusy. Thus far we have taken a tour of the camp site, met the country director who seems firm but fair and are about to be introduced to the culture of Niger by means of a Culture Fair. Even though this blog entry won't be posted for a couple weeks, I have promised a certain someone to keep a close journal of events and I never break a promise.Today is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday Andreas! I already gave you a present but hope you are doing good in California and that you will have a fun and productive rest of the summer.

Thanks to a wonderful boyfriend I am happy to present this picture of what my hamdallye concession looks like

Life in Africa wouldn't be easy. I knew that before joining the Peace Corps. Immersing yourself in another culture is never easy but everyone kept saying that this was going to be so hard and I nodded in agreement. Still, it did not fully register because after all, twice already, I have moved to a new country, made friends with locals and learned their way of life. After a month in Niger I can say with confidence that none of those experiences will compare to the challenges that I am and will have to face here in Niger. This post will shed some light on what I’ve learned after one month in country but also identify the simple pleasures that keep me from breaking down.

The greatest challenge is culture. It really is an overused word in many ways because it doesn’t have a clearly defined meaning or rather; its meaning is too broad. I will use it to describe three main aspects of life in Niger and how these aspects pose a significant hurdle that needs to be climbed or circumvented in some way before I can actually start considering Niger my home. These aspects are gender roles, religion and humor.

Gender Roles are extremely clearly defined in Niger. Men and Women are expected to perform completely different tasks and should not cross those borders. Women in the house, men on the field or busy conducting other income generating activities. Men control the money and thus the household. The gender roles go beyond work though and that is when things get really tricky. As a woman there are a million subtle norms on how to talk to men including a bunch of topics that are off limit. Touching a man is considered extremely suggestive even if it is just a hand on an arm as you’re making a joke. We should never allow a man into our concession, night or day and should never go anywhere with a man after dark even if it is work related. This may not seem like a big deal; just avoid men and things will be fine. Well given that all leaders, political, business and otherwise are men this is very hard since most people we work with will be men. In addition men are more likely to be literate and have education which will generally make them more interesting conversation partners since women’s conversation is limited to the immediate whereabouts of the village. I must admit that this is not a well tested statement but I was asked to provide an account for how I think being a women will impact my service in an extremely man dominated society and this is my understanding thus far. It may very well change once I get to post and get to know more women my age. The thing is, most women my age are already married with at least a few children who will make finding common ground hard, or so I imagine. Still, I am glad to be a female Peace Corps Volunteer because my understanding is that male volunteers have an even harder time bridging the gender gap since talking to married women is off limits unless their husbands are present which of course can limit what can and cannot be said. Unmarried women are also mostly off limits since any serious conversation would be viewed as a coming on with the intent of marriage. At least as a female volunteer, our foreign status gives us the ability to talk to men (in public) on a different level than a Nigerien woman would almost to the point of night and day. A perfect example is from demystification weekend when we went and had dinner with the school director. It was accepted in her village because they worked together but our Demyster; Liz, explained that the Director had once told her that there were only two women that had ever had dinner with him since childhood; his wife and Liz. It just wasn’t done. When Liz asked why it was alright for her to come, the Director explained that it was different with her. She was educated; and Annasara.

It is important to understand that gender roles are SUBTLE. At first glance it would appear that men and women have equal status, and in a way they do. Women are free to say whatever they want and generally go wherever they want whenever they want. I know that men are valued more only because of what I’ve heard, not because of what I’ve seen. There is plenty more to learn but because I will always be on the outside, not quite the social status of women but certainly not as men, it will most definitely be the greatest challenge to determine what the system is and where I fit in.

A final point links to the next big challenge; religion. Polygamy is completely accepted in Niger since Islam allows a man to take up to four wives “as long as he can provide equally for all of them”. In reality this isn’t always the case. More on that when I actually get to know a polygamous family and can report more on the details of how that impacts the family dynamics and gender roles between husband and his wives but also between the wives.

Nigeriens are predominantly Muslim (98%). They follow the pillars of belief on Allah as the one deity, prayer 5 times a day, Ramadan, alms to the poor and the pilgrimage to Mecca (even though most people can’t afford the last). That being said, people do not let religion interfere with business or politics. As I understand it Niger is and has always been a secular country which means that there is little chance for conflict based on religious divides. The biggest issue I see with Islam is that people use it as an excuse not to seek medical assistance for themselves or their children because Allah will determine when and where you die no matter what you do. The school Director at demyst who mind you is highly educated man said about his smoking when I commented on it: “God will decide when it’s time to die”. At least alcohol use is never an issue since Nigeriens holds alcohol and drugs as strong cultural taboos.

A final challenge at this point lies in understanding Nigerien humor. They joke all the time and it’s almost impossible to discern when they are serious and when they are joking. In addition, jokes can be extremely, even at my limited language ability. Yesterday for the first time, I had to lock myself up in my private concession for a few hours just because I got tired of listening to my host sisters repeat everything I said and then laughing out loud. I know people often insult each other as jokes and although I am perfectly aware of this it is going to take some serious effort and time to get used to. Nigeriens laugh all the time at each other and themselves and I really hope that I will grow a thick skin fast so that I can take part in this instead of feeling hurt when they laugh at instead of encouraging my attempts to learn their language.

Still, there are many highlights with my life in Niger thus far. Small things that I have never experienced before and might never enjoy again. Here follows a list of such treats:

- Taking a bucket bath at dusk after a hot day which means sitting on a small stool with a bucket of semi-warm water (getting warm in the sun), a bar of soap and pouring cups of water to wash away the sand and dirt that gets into everything. All this as the sun is setting

- Heading to the market in the morning means greeting at least 10 people on the short walk, most of whom know my name at this point and give me big encouraging smiles as they wish me a good morning. While at the market I exchange greeting s with the sales people since I buy the same thing every morning and am slowly becoming on familiar terms with Fati who sells Fari Masa and Daoda who makes my coffee.

- Talking to the language instructors in between classes can a lot of times lead to laughter since they understand where we are coming from and have no problem pointing out and ridiculing the peculiarities of their own language and culture and how it compares to western culture.

- Sitting on a mat last Sunday doing macramé with strings I brought from the US while my host sisters braided my hair in well over twenty tiny braids. This took over two hours to do and I enjoyed every moment of it.

- Lying in bed after dinner, looking at the moon and Mars. Never have I been so conscious of the moon’s travel across the sky. I can tell it’s bedtime by where the moon stands in the sky. I wish I remembered the constellations from Astronomy class but I have a feeling the ones in Africa’s sky are different from the ones in the Boston sky.

- At night is also when Teri and I share a debriefing of the day. We discuss our worries about site announcement, we gossip about other volunteers and the staff and we get to know each other. I hope we get placed close to each other so that we can easily keep in touch.

Speaking of site announcements, they happen TOMORROW! Thursday August 14 is when I learn what my home will be for the next two years. Next blog entry will include all the details I can get about my assignment.

Another week has gone by and I have now been in the Peace Corps a full month. If I can keep up the blog entries to once a week, I shall have to be content since that is more journal writing than I’ve done in years! As you know, I didn’t get the blogs posted last week since there was no way to upload the blog since the internet café was closed and I couldn’t do it through my ipod touch. I did, however get a cell phone. Please feel free to call me at any time since I am still desperate for communication with family and friends even though I am starting to develop friendships here, Teri being the best potential. I don’t want to publish the number online but check my Facebook profile for it or ask someone in my family.

Tuesday of this week we had the most exciting session of any thus far; Introduction to PACA. PACA stands for Participatory Analysis for Community Action and is a standardized approach for community development that focuses on involving the community members in the planning, execution and follow-up of community development projects. Quite remarkable in how it’s used by PCVs to get community members excited about their own development but more importantly giving them a sense of ownership of these projects so that it doesn’t become another situation where rich white people come in and give them stuff because a lot of times that is what they have come to except from Western NGO’s and so called “Development efforts”. PACA is going to become extremely useful in the field because it will allow us to be facilitators for change without dictating what that change should be and how it should be done. So many development projects fail because the facilitators, although well intentioned, they don’t take the time to involve the community in what they do. Even though they may respond t specific needs, without ownership, a community will never fully appreciate the value of the development initiative and it will be wasted. As an example is the well that was built by an NGO, used a little but left untouched when it broke because the villagers did not consider it ‘their’ well. Then of course there are cultural differences that often go unbeknownst, even to Nigerien development facilitators . An example of this is the emergency food program that so often gives food relief to malnourished children and to people with malaria. The food given is often a high-calorie pompinut biscuit that is said to work miracles in terms of returning the body to a healthy state. Well biscuits are often considered children’s food so the food program evaluators found that the malaria stricken adults would sell their biscuits or give them to kids.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had our first Journee en Ville which is a technical trip set to expose the trainees to more details of what work might actually be like. We visited a current MCD near Niamey and listened to her mayor give a presentation about the work of his office and the relations to the traditional village chiefs. Essentially what happened with Decentralization in Niger is that the central government divided the country into 256 communes where the local population elected a council who in turn selected a mayor from among themselves. This is all good in theory but a lot of times there can be tension between the system of traditional village and regional chiefs since a lot of the mayoree’s tasks were previously conducted by the traditional chiefs. In addition, the system of decentralization is so new that many times the people in the communes as well as the mayor himself are often unsure about the exact role they are supposed to play. Thirdly, the Central Government seems to have done little but set up the mayorees and haven’t been to active in providing additional support, financial or otherwise. Finally the severe lack of resources due to a lack of standardized tax collection system means that the mayorees only have the means to execute a fraction of what their budgets propose. There was supposed to be an election to elect new councils in 2008 but that will not happen. As you probably get form this description, the system of decentralization in Niger is far from our idea of a local government and there will be plenty of opportunities to work on my patience building once I get to post.

After visiting with the mayor we went to a local school and witnessed a presentation by the newly formed student government. An education volunteer had helped set it up and it was amazing to see the dedication in the kids talking about the minister for sports organizing a school soccer tournament and the minister for health organizing a malaria awareness campaign. A lot of MCDs are interested in setting up student government and given the success of the one we witnessed yesterday I am certain it could very well be done.

The one thing I keep reminding myself though is not to set to definitely plans before I become integrated into my village because what can be done will depend so heavily on the motivations and aspirations of the villagers and my counterpart. My counterpart will be a local villager that is connected to the Mayoree in some way and will act as a link between me and the villagers. Having a motivated counterpart can apparently make or break your Peace Corps experience so I really hope I get one with a lot of kokeri (i.e. effort or motivation).

Today we had the first of two possibilities to pass the required language proficiency level. I spoke Zarma fairly fluently but know that I stumbled a couple times and am not at all certain I reached intermediate mid even though I am definitely above the novice level. We also had site interviews which means there is nothing to do but wait for one more week because on August 14 we will learn our permanent site placements and I can start conceptualizing where my home will be for the two years of my Peace Corps Service. Yesterday was the midpoint of PST and from now it is downhill until Swear-In on September 12.

If you’ve gotten to this point of my blog you’ve done well. It came out to 8 pages in a Word Document and I’m sure it took you a while to get through it all. Please leave a comment and please let me know if you have questions so that I can include it in my next blog entry that should be posted with more frequency since I can now go to Niamey every week.

We have now been in Niger for a full three weeks and I’m thinking about the possibility of calling this country home for the next two years. Last week we had intense language and crosscultural sessions as usual but there was anticipation in the air because this past weekend our entire stage was bussed off to something so eloquently termed as ‘demystification’ or simply ’demyst’. As the name implies, it is an event that served to unveil some of the mysteries as to what being a Peace Corps volunteer is really like.

In groups of two or three, the Peace Corps Trainees (that’s us) were matched up with a current volunteer in the general area of Niamey and we spent a weekend quizzing the current volunteers, getting introduced to Peace Corps gossip and eating the closest things we’ve had to Western food thus far: pasta with tomato sauce and cheese! Well, if truth be told, it was laughing cow cheese which might or might not count as real cheese but it made the sauce the yummiest I’ve had in Niger and I immediately decided that the laughing cow and I would become close friends for the next two years.

I was assigned to demyst with Kate, a very nice girl from New York that’s also in my language class. Together we traveled slightly north of Niamey to the department of Say and a small village called Youri. The village consisted of several small groups of huts dispersed over an area spanning 30 square kilometers. Quite the village! In such a remote place, it shouldn’t be a surprise that our demyster (the current PCV) is in the agriculture sector which involves advocating more efficient farming techniques and the use of improved seeds. She had started a garden of her own and seeing that lead to another realization; I can’t wait to plant my own garden and eat fresh vegetables of my own. Haha. You can laugh if you want to. This is the farm girl speaking who swore that after 14 years on a farm, she’d had enough and never wanted to get her hands dirty again. Well the reward of a more balanced diet and the opportunity to have another hobby to occupy what I’m sure will be very long days, is worth sacrificing long fingernails for. Speaking of fresh vegetables and fruit. I just learned today that there is no word for them in Zarma. Both fruit and vegetables go by a word that literally translates to “little garden things”.

While at demyst I got a first close look at a mayor’s office. As you might now, I am an MCD which means my job will involve going to the mayor’s office for a few hours every day, getting to know and take part in the execution of local affairs such as tax collection, population records and community development projects. I was very excited about this trip and our MCD technical trainers had given us a set of questions to ask the mayor or his staff. We left our demisters hut-group around 9 am and hiked the 30 minutes it took to get to the mayor’s hut-group only to find the building locked up with no one in site; mayor or otherwise. Definitely a testimony to the importance of the Nigerien expression; “Kala Suuru” (Have Patience). A few kids had come to check out what was going on since the excitement of having a white person close by can best be understood if compared to the thrill of the circus coming to town. The kids stared us down for a while and our demister asked if they knew where they mayor was and when he was coming back. In good Nigerien humor. They responded “Now!” which then turned in to

“soon” when 5 minutes later the place was still locked. As Peace Corps had warned us about the differences in how Nigeriens and Americans perceive time, we waited only a total of 15 minutes and then headed back to the demyster’s hut because it was already approaching midday at which the heat becomes nearly unbearable and we had to spend the rest of the day inside in the cool shade. No wonder things happen so slowly in Niger. It’s too hot to do anything during most of the day and without light, no one can work at night!

In addition to getting out of Hamdallaye for a weekend and seeing what a real post is all about, I had the chance to talk to my mom and boyfriend. That made the already terrific weekend perfect. As you probably have gathered from my previous posts; making the adjustment to Niger culture and learning the language spoken is no easy task. To top that off, the only people I’ve been able to communicate with are other volunteers that despite our current bond were strangers a mere month ago. Needless to say I desperately missed being able to share my frustrations and obtain support from people that I know and trust. It felt like a major weight was lifted off my shoulders after speaking to family.

This week has mostly been spent recovering from demyst in addition to the usual sessions. Things are starting to become more interesting though as we become more accustomed to Niger and can take more liberties in what we do. Tomorrow we are doing a safety and security tour of Niamey and after that we can go in to the capital on our own when we have free time. Tomorrow might be the day that I finally get to upload all these blog entries to site and it might also be the day that I finally get my own cellphone!!! Our concession in Hamdallaye is close to the cellphone tower so reception shouldn’t be a problem during PST and I can only hope it won’t be a problem at post.

Time to go eat the infamous korbo korba – a millet mush that is quite far from my favorite ish here but is increasingly becoming eatable.

We’ve now been in Niger almost two full weeks. The second one definitely passed by quicker than the first which to be expected as we get used to things. The language is a huge struggle but I’m slowly picking up stray words when my host family speaks in their extremely fast manner and our classes are now almost entirely taught in Zarma.

I picked up my new Nigerien dress yesterday and if I may say so myself, I look smashing hot. A total business suit, African style. Craziness that for a three piece outfit, paid no more than 3000 CFA which the equivalent of approximately $7. Yet if I were to convert everything to $US, I would quickly fall in to a dangerous trap because converted to US dollars, things cost no more than a few pennies but because our salary from Peace Corps is meant to match living expenses we don’t get more than 6000 CFA to spend a week. So to offer some perspective, I spent half a week’s salary on one outfit which is still totally worth it because it’s so gorgeous!

The heat, the lack of protein and fresh vegetables, the bugs and the lack of communication can certainly be frustrating at times but given that this second week has been much easier than the first and given that I’m slowly opening the door to communication with my host family, there is a small light in the horizon that this desert, isolated place could grow to become my home.

After a long day of language classes today, I stayed on the training site and played a couple games of volleyball with a few of the other trainees and it was amazing how much tension was released in that simple act of hitting a ball back and forth over the net. I wasn’t even very good but am determined to get better.

Another trainee had to leave Niger yesterday because of an unbeknownst allergy and it was sad for all of us because we’re already becoming a tight group. He promised to act as postman though and mail our letters from the US so I made sure to include a couple. Presently we are down to 46 volunteers out of the original 48. I wonder how many of those still around will swear in on September 12. I certainly hope to be one of them. All I have to do is live through PST and achieve intermediate-mid on the language exam. At this point both of those tasks seem doable!

I hope friends and family are doing alright. If you have a moment to write a quick note, I will certainly appreciate it since snail mail may be my only access to outside communication for the next 5 weeks…. You can ask one of my family members for the address since I’m reluctant to publish it online.

Wow,

Staging has come and gone. This morning a looked ahead at the extremely looong day in front of me and thought it would never end. My previous experience with training days are that they are long and boring and that I need to struggle to keep myself awake. Not this one. Right from start Kate, Leonard and Jessica established a pattern of fun, interesting and useful exercises. Today we watched two videos, one on how to deal with unwanted attention and another celebrating Peace Corp's 45th anniversary. We also did group exercises on risk and threat aversion, adhearing to Peace Corp's policies and Crossing Cultural bounderies. We played plenty of games and I've laughed harder today than I've done in a long time. (not counting the juggler in the magic show in Vegas last Friday). This really is a great group and I am excited to get to know every one much better over the next 9 weeks.

Staging has been in Philadelphia with Betsy Ross' House around the corner (she sewed the first American flag) and the liberty bell a block away. Freedom and Liberty is printed all over and it is kind of inspiring knowing that my mission for the next two years is to advocate the same ideas that people faught for on this very spot hundreds of years ago. I know that my impact in Niger will be minimal on the grand scale but I hope to expand the opportunities for at least a few people as well as learn more about who I am and what I can contribute to achieving a world were all people are free to pursue their dreams, whatever those dreams may be.

And so, my friends, I clock out for a while. I will be writing blog entries but will not have access to internet for at least two weeks. If you want to be added to the email list to recieve updates of when I post, please let me know and I'll do that the next opportunity I get.

It's actually happening. Somebody pinch me.

yours truly,

Maria

Here I am in Philadelphia completely exhausted after 6 hours of intense mingling, information overload and no food. Let me back to to give you a better sense of today's events.

At 6 am I waike up in Boston nervous that I've forgotten to pack things, I get up start getting ready to leave, change my mind and go back to bed.

At 8 am I realize that I need to go to the post office and mail my cellphone to my brother or else he will not be able to take over my plan that doesn't run out until October.

I get back from the post office at 9:15am and with only an hour until my plane is scheduled to leave for Philadelphia, Ryan and I hurry down the stairs and hop in a cab. No real breakfast.

We get to he airport and I run in to check my two suitcases. They are both overweight (big surprise, this is me after all). I had anticipated this and had brought a bigger duffelbag to use as my carry-on. I give Ryan a big good-bye kiss - I won't see him until Christmas after all - and snap my suitcases wide open. Sure enough, the airline representative lets me slide by with 2 pounds over the limit on either suitcase and I am ready to board the plane.

Except first I have to go through security and it is taking FOREVER. With 10 minutes until departure, I run to the gate only to realize that the flight will be 20 minutes delayed so I take a deep breath and free my arm from the duffelbag which had pretty much cut off the bloodflow.

Arriving in Philadelphia I go from exiting the plane to baggage claim to the shuttle bus, arriving at the hotel just in time for registration. My lunch consisted of Peanut m&m's.

After turning in four forms, I start chatting with the people at my table, all whom seem very nice and from 3-7 we sit through several talks on safety, aspirations and anxieties, nuts and bolts intertwined with various icebreakers. It was all very interesting and quite useful. The things that I took away from that session are:

1. I am definitely allowed to keep a cat during my service!

2. I will almost definitely have access to cellphone coverage

3. Pre-Service Training (PST) is only 9 weeks which means I will be sworn in as a full volunteer on September 12 as compared to October 10. Yay for coming home a month earlier in September 2010.

4. They will be giving us ALL our shots on Wednesday morning, right before heading to the airport for our big journey. Luckily my sleeping pills also have a pain-killer component because that's going to HURT.

Finally, at 7:30 I join up with three girls for dinner and practically swallow a stuffed portobello mushhroom in a nice japanese restaurant. The gils were supernice and I was glad not to have joined the much larger group that set out for Philly Cheesesteaks.

Now I'm in bed in Holida Inn. I still have a handout to read for tomorrow and I started reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass on the plane. They certainly keep us busy though so Pullman might have to wait until the Africa plane on Wednesday.

Hopefully I can write tomorrow again. Please post a comment with any questions or just to say hi. I miss you all already but am excited to finally be on my way to the adventure of a lifetime.

And all through the flat, it had all been packed -- including my hat. Tomorrow is the big day. I am off to Philadelphia to meet thirty strangers whom I hope will become my great friends over the next two years. Wish me luck. I am not sure how much internet access I will have, but emailing and blogging will ne my top priorities when I have access. Al salaam aleikum!

I am still in shock that in a mere 8 days, I will be heading to the airport in Philadelphia to commence the journey that I have been preparing for and thinking about for over two years. Only 8 days until I leave eveything and everyone I have ever known to do something I have never done before with people I have yet to meet. I have read tons of material on Niger and read blogs from other people on my assignment. Still I am certain that I will be completely surprised by what I am about to see and learn. How to I even begin to process something that I can't form any tangible expectation about?

I have recieved a few emails over the last week, a letter to send to my family, a packing list and flight details. It is actually happening. I am joining the Peace Corps in just 8 days. I pray that it will work out, that the people will be nice and that my work will be rewarding.  I have never been so scared in my life and yet I know that there is no other option. Despite the dangers, the diseases and the poverty, I know that the Sahara Desert is where I want to be between ages 22 and 24. Hold on Niger, Here I come.!

The practical logistics of my service are as follows:

July 7-10: Staging in Philadelphia

July 11-October 11: Pre-Service Training in Hamdallaye

October 11 2008- October 11 2010: Peace Corps Service with exact location TBA

Please stay in touch via email and snail mail.