It’s hard to believe I left Niger nearly three months ago!  Since I have been back, I have received a lot of questions about the culture in Niger.  So I thought I’d write about a few of the topics that I’ve been asked most about.  For anyone in the Portland area wanting to learn more [...]

I am back in Oregon! I was very sad to leave Niger but I’m also happy to get back to the life I left here. I know my last post was a bit cryptic so here is more about what is happening in Niger and why I chose to leave. Before I left for Niger [...]

I’ve been in Maradi for a while now while we have been waiting out some security issues. This is the official message on what has been happening: On Saturday, November 14, heavily armed individuals attempted to kidnap American Embassy employees in Tahoua. The Embassy once again strongly urges U.S. citizens to exercise caution and [...]

Last week my villagers found me a new house and I was able to get moved in very quickly. The new house is much more secure – it is in a neighborhood several blocks off of the road. The house itself is nicer than I need it to be. I have electricity [...]

Earlier this week the mayor’s office in my village was robbed in the night.  All of the tax money was taken along with a lot of paper records.  Because my house is situated next to the mayor’s office, directly on the national highway, on an isolated edge of town, Peace Corps pulled me out of [...]

The UN recently came out with their annual quality of life index (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8290550.stm).  It measures a lot of factors like literacy, food access, life expectancy, per capita income, etc.  This year Niger is number 182 out of the 182 countries measured.  Niger makes it to the bottom of a lot of lists but we always [...]

Cheers to a successful first month!  It was up and down but mostly up and I’m happy with how it went.  We have all been in Maradi for a few days to celebrate the end of the first month.  After a month of no running water, I had the best shower of my life when [...]

Tomorrow I head out to my village so this will be my last post for a while (although the car taking us to our villages is currently broken, so I might be in Maradi for a while longer).  I wouldn’t mind a few extra days because I’m pretty sick right now and it’s easier to [...]

(Shikena means “finished” in Hausa and we use it all the time.)  Our nine weeks of training ended last week and we swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Thursday.  The week flew by!  We had a lot of events leading up to it and it was overall a week of celebration.  I was a [...]

I finally have enough bandwith and internet time to get some photos posted!  Here are a few shots from the past two months…                                                            We are in Niamey all this week.  Yesterday I passed my langauge exam required to swear-in as a volunteer tomorrow.  I am an intermediate-high Hausa speaker! 

My sister, Amy, sent me photos of her new daughter Anna… I want to share with you all how adorable my first niece is!                      

So far my posts haven’t been very detailed about the way we live here.  I’ve been here for two months now and I have been thinking a lot about the adjustments I have made since arriving in Niger.  Here are my thoughts: Amenities I have been living without electricity and running water and will continue to do [...]

Greetings from Maradi! Last Friday we got our village assignments and I have spent the last few days in my village of Tchadaoua in the Maradi region of Eastern Niger.  Tchadaoua is a town of 11,000 about 30k east of Maradi city.  The people in my village were very welcoming and helpful.  My house is [...]

Today I am in the capital city of Niamey.  We have been very isolated from news and communication for over a month now so it’s a treat to be here.  I have a cell phone now!  Today is the first time that I get to talk to my family.  My sister, Amy, had her baby, [...]

Hello there! I’ve been in Niger for two and a half weeks now; we have been staying in Hamdallaye, a small village of 4,000 about 30k from Niamey (the capital). I am staying with a host family and learning the local dialect Hausa for most of my day. Hausa is an interesting language… it is [...]

Hello from Philadelphia!  I’ve spent the last two days here learning about our travel logistics and meeting my group.  There are 32 of us and I am really enjoying it so far.  We were told that in Peace Corps, some countries have more street cred than others and that Niger is at the top of [...]

I’m hoping that this blog will be an effective way to keep up with family and friends while I spend my next two years in Niger.  I am not sure what my internet access will be like but I will try to update this when I can.  There is certainly the possibility that I won’t [...]