FOOD!

Favorite meals I’ve made so far…

1. The discovery of mayonnaise was huge! Beans, mayonnaise, ground hot peppers and bread- probably my favorite meal ever. Don’t knock it til you try it.

2. Kupto! I love kupto!!! Its cooked moringa leaves (which are a bit like a tough spinach) peanut butter, onions, maggi (a salty yummy spice)- mix it all together. By itself or with couscous- so so yummy!

3. Rice and Peanut sauce- peanut butter, hibiscus leaves, maggi, oil, salt and water. Its like heaven.

4. Wake da shinkafa. Beans and rice, plain and simple- add a little salt, oil, potassium and onion.

5. Gari rogo. Casava with sardines and dried ground peanut extract. Oil salt and maggi.

6. Maccaroni and cheese. Using laughing cow cheese that doesn’t need to be refridgerated- an expensive treat.

This isn’t what normal nigeriens eat, just spoiled Americans working with Nigerien ingredients. The normal diet for nigeriens is millet with some more millet on top. Their diet is carb heavy and not varied very much at all.

Qucik Note on Photos:
I want to upload pictures so badly, but the internet has thus far been too slow. Hopefully in the next week i'll be able to upload some.

First 3 Months

The first 3 months in village I’m not going to be doing any projects really. My primary tasks are to learn the language, learn culture, make friends and integrate into my community. I’m excited and nervous. I scored Intermediate High on my language exam! Woohoo! That is better than what I needed in order to be cleared to go to post. Get it Laura!

The basic set up for the next 2 years will be to spend about a month in the bush, in my village, then 4 days in Zinder city at the hostel. Plus some vacations at some point and visits to other volunteers and a 4 week technical training after the first 3 months.

POST!!! My Village! December 27, 2010

POST!!!!! I’m going to Zinder!!!!!

The name of my village will remain secret for security reasons, but lets just call it D’ageLand (D’age means bush). My village is in the Zinder region and I’m totally stoked about it! I hear Team Zinder (Team Z) is really strong. They like to cook and dance a lot. I will spend the next 2 years in D’ageLand. 2 YEARS! Woah! I am going to get to know probably every person in this village and hopefully become a effective member of the community. Its going to be one of my biggest challenges- to build these relationships and gain the respect of the community. This is the crucial first step which will allow me to implement sustainable projects in the community as well as build friendships. I am impatient to get started.

The Run Down on D’ageLand:

- Population 1,700
- Access: Dirt Road
- No running water or electricity
- Limited cell phone coverage (if I walk out into the bush)
- Primary School, Monday night market
- My closest Peace Corps neighbor is about 15 km away and my closest neighbor from my stage (training group) is 50 km away.
- I’m 150 km from Zinder city, it takes 2 bus taxis to get to D’ageLand- one from Zinder to outside Magaria down a very bad, but paved road. Then you catch a second bush taxi from there to D’age Land, about 50km down an unpaved road.
- Super close to Nigeria, about 12 km or so. I’m going to be using Naira the currency of Nigeria, compared to the Nigerien CFA that are used in the rest of the country. Its about 500 CFA to 1 US dollar, and about 680 Naira to 500 CFA, so you can do the math there.
- According to a reliable source- there is no shakatawa (entertainment) in D’ageLand, but the regional capital, Zinder city, has several restaurants and some pastry places.
- CHEESE Zinder has cheese! Cheese is worth its weight in gold in the western part of Niger I swear, but apparently there is cheese in the East. Cheese and avocadoes and watermelons and sugarcane and mangoes. Nigeria has lots of fresh fruits and vegetables also that it exports and since I’m so close to the border I should be able to buy some pretty awesome stuff.

My role in D’ageLand

There is so much to do in D’ageLand, hopefully I’ll be very busy. My work will fall under 3 categories
1. Work at the local health clinic
2. Official projects within the community
3. Small projects and informal educational activites within the community

Health Clinic
My home base is going to be the health hut in the village. In the Nigerien health care system, the health hut is classified as a Case de Sante. I’m not sure yet what resources the health hut has, but I’ve meet the man who runs it. I think he is trained as a nurse, but he could be a full doctor. My role will not be primary care, although they do have way more patients than the single nurse/doctor who works there has the time or energy to treat. My role within the health hut will be mainly educational.
Sensibilizations on…
- Handwashing and hygiene
- Diarrheal disesases- causes, preventions and treatments
- Nutrition
- Maternal and infant health, how to make nutritions weaning porridges.
-
Other Tasks
- Helping in immunization campaigns
- Being the connection to the community- encouraging pregnant women to give birth at the clinic, encouraging people to go to the clinic when they are sick, doing follow up home visits.
- Baby weighing
- Moringa tree project. I want to start a moringa garden outside the clinic. Look up moringa! It is seriously a miracle plant. Its chalk full of vitamins and nutrients.

CHRISTMAS!!!! Dec. 27th

Merry Christmas!

We had a beautiful Noel. Christmas feast on Christmas Eve followed by Christmas caroling. The caroling was amazing, not because our voices are particularly sweet, but because it was everyone together sharing in an American tradition. All the staff and language trainers and trainees singing Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer, I personally was too busy laughing to sing. I shared a song sheet with the Houwa Petite, a native Nigerien with a loud singing voice. She is awesome, she is the coordinator for the 20 or so Farm volunteers. We also had a Secret Santa. I got Max a fabulous hat. Shelby got me a wicked awesome zane ( Nigerien skirt).


Just minutes ago I had my last Language Placement Interview (LPI). I need to score Intermediate Mid in order to go to my post. I think I nailed it. Yay! Things are going to start happening very quickly. The learning part of PST (Pre-service training) is over. Now it’s the logistics of getting ready to go to post and swearing in. Woo

December 15th Funny

So…
Getting peed on by a new born baby is good luck.
Rainbows are bad, no one likes rainbows.
Shooting stars are taboo and aren’t talked about.
Whistling is akin to singing with the devil.
You are supposed to tell mothers that their new born babies are ugly- never tell them they look fat or cute.

Oh Niger...

December 9th, 2010 Language Immersion Cont.

I can see the light at the end of this long, dark, tunnel- language immersion is almost over! YAY!

December 8, 2010 Language Immersion Cont.

Ugh today- ugh! What a rollercoaster. Niger shakes me like a rag doll somedays and I just feel utterly unable to control neither what happens around me nor my emotional responses to those things. Ellie and I did a handwashing demo this morning at the school- it went really well, I think the kids got a kick out of it at least. After that, however, I ran out of patients. Maybe I’m a crank 6 year old – but grown ups need breaks sometimes too right? So after working all morning long on prepaing the demo and conducting it, when we jumped immediately into language class- I kinda blew a fuse. I clammed up, got grouchy and effectively shut off my brain. Following the hausa lesson, instead of having a lunch break we did a cooking exercise- so ne breaks then either, I thought I was gonna pop. I squeezed in a 30 minute nap after lunch and guess what, felt 5 billion times better.
A naming ceremony is a festival held 7 days after a baby is born, during which hey name the child, slaughter a sheep and hang out. We went to our 4th naming ceremony in 10 days this afternoon, which in itself says a lot about the fertility rate in Niger (the highest in the world- over 7 babies per woman). Naming ceremonies are very stressful events for me to begin with, because there are tons of people who all talk to you very fast and loud and tell you to take their babies back to America. Also, I am a huge form of entertainment for the women because I’m American, laughter follows about half of what I say. Ellie and I get treated like Nigerien style VIPs. This involves various activites including being served food that I am socially required to eat, but that will probably give me aemobas later. I have also found my self sitting in a dark room by myself, which is a great honor although slightly akward.
This was a very heart breaking ceremony for me. The mother of the baby asked us for medicine because the baby (actually 3 weeks old) is sick. The baby had a large bump on his head and was obviously dehydrated and had diarrhea. While holding this tiny tiny baby we tried to tell the mother in our best Hausa that she needed to take the baby to the doctor right away. The doctor is a 2 hour donkey cart ride away. I don’t know if she’s going to go or not. There is a mentality here that ‘God will provide’, and that if someone dies it is God’s will, that there is nothing that can or should be done to try to prevent it. For me- its too much for one day, heart overload- brain overload.
Tomorrow we are going to do a demo on Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS). ORS is a simple mix of sugar, salt and water that helps the body absorb liquids and is helpful in rehydrating people with diarrhea. Our neighbor, Marie, was so kind and energetic about helping us organize women to come to our ORS demo.
I knew coming in there would be a lot of suffering here, but seeing it is obviously different. Here suffering is normal, that’s just how life is. 3.5 children in Niger die every year due to dehydration alone. Sad bears. I’m so thankful for my own health at this moment.

December 6th, 2010 Language Immersion Cont

My 2 favorite times of day-
1) right now when its dark and cool and I can relax, tucked safely beneath my mosquito net
2) First thing in the morning- I’m becoming very fond of my morning routine.

Routine: Wake up, remember dreams and day dream for a while, mental pep talk, take down mosquito net, change, stretch, put on a pot of water to make tea or instant coffee, relax.

I love mornings, the day is so full of hopes and possibilities. Its before you’ve made any mistakes, before frustration sets in and you are still in a dreamy, fuzzy, content state. Tomorrow we are taking a donkey cart to the nearest market, 8km away- I am going to buy SO MANY COOKIES! If there is an egg sandwich man I will probably burst into tears of joy- fo rizzle. That’s shi kin na. Sai wata rana. Peace. (That’s the end of that. See you another day. Peace.)

December 5, 2010 RANA HUTU!!

Rana hutu! REST DAY!!!!

its Sunday, no class on sundays and no TDAs (trainee directed activities). Thank good! I'm enjoying hanging out in my house immensely. Ellie and I discovered that if I turn my headphones up the their loudest then it is just loud enough the enjoy. We've been jamming out ever since- Zakari too. He knows more about american pop-culture than I do. At night we sit and talk and drink tons of tea and play cards. Its the same card game every single night. What Zakari calls "America 8's" Americans call "crazy 8s". Ellie and I call it "Crazy Americans"- crazy 8's nigerien style- lots of random rules and yelling and the slamming of cards. Its hilarious- Zakari swears every American knows how to play American 8's and thinkgs its so funny when he beats us at it all the time. Its pretty sweet- if I tried I could probably write most of this in hausa. Grammatically incorrect, horribly misspelled Hausa, but Hausa none the less).

December 1, 2010

My class mate for laguage immersion had Giardia and amoebas. No good. Walter (our medical officer) is bringing her medicine this morning. Hope she gets better soon. Yesterday my task was to go to the tailor and talk to her about what sort of fashions she makes. It was really fun- the tailor and several other ladies chatted alot and I attempted to join in. I think I provided them with a lot of entertainment, they laughed almost every time I spoke. Then I held a bunch of cute babies and hung out in the tailor's house. She showed me pictures from the old PCV that was here 2 years ago. People keep giving us so much food and presents- peanuts and beans and bread and sweets from the market. We are definitely not going to starve here. Peace!

November 30, 2010

Language Immersion-

I'm spending 2 weeks in a small bush village. No electricity or running water in the whole village, nor a water pump. The women here pull their water by hand from a well that is 225ft deep. Its only 8km from a main road and the nearest market town. There isn't a single shago (shop) in the village, nor any ladies selling breakfast foods in the mornings (like there are in Hamdy and other lager villages). I'm in the village with one other PCT (Ellie) and out Hausa teacher Zakari. We are not supposed to speak any english at all. It is very difficult (akwai wuya so sai) but I can already, after 2 days, see improvements. I am constantly getting frusterated with myself and constantly having to remind myself that it is perfectly normal that I don't know hardly any Hausa. I've only been here for a month now. Sannu sannu- as they say here -slwly slowly. Also- zero privacy- we'll see how that goes. Sai hankuri- have patients. The nights in the village are so beautiful. There is no moon and the samaniya (sky) is so huge on this prairie landscape. Reminds me fondly of west Texas nights. Gosh language immersion in hard. Class last all day long and there is NO ESCAPING HAUSA! ha.

Tea Time: Drinking tea is a big part of the social scene in Niger. To pass the time, men sit together on the streets and make tea in tiny kettles over small charcol fires. Each night Zakari (lnaguage trainer) and Ellie and I sit around and sing random American songs that Zakari knows. The tea is about half sugar. You drink it out of tiny tiny cups about the size of shot glasses. What makes the tea good, according to Nigeriens, is the amount of bubbles the tea maker can manage to produce by swiftly pouring the tea between two cups. Its mostly the men who make tea- but its fun so I'll probably make it a lot. Its kinda funny- the women tend to visit eachother's houses but the men hang out in the streets and outside of shops. Its a muslim thing- that the women stay separate from the men.

Wednesday, November 24

Language, language, language. Three language lessons in a row today- ugh. Bigg stuff coming up soon- tomorrow is Thanksgiving and the fashion show where we're all supposed to wear our Nigerien best. Thanksgiving is gonna be a dance party! Also we had a mini-olympics yesterday- we strapped fake babies on our backs and carried water on our heads around an obstacle course. Then we pounded peanuts into peanutbutter. Then we started a fire and made tea. Way fun- PURPLE TEAM WON. Thats right, we kicked ass. Then we learned how to make several dishes out of foods commondly found in local markets. I didn't think I'd ever do anything with sardines- but thy are one of the 4 or so protien sources commonly available (along with peanuts, peanutbutter, moringa and black-eyed-peas). These ingredients plus onions, hot red peppers, maggi, rice, garlic and random wild-growing leaves are the bulk of our diet. Peace!

My Gida

Yo Yo!

HIIIIII!!! Barka da rana [Greetings on the day]! I am so excited to get to finally update the blog. I’ve been in Niger for an entire month, almost. Each day seems long but still a month has passed by so quickly. So much to say, ok...

Lets start with a normal day in Hamdallaye….

My computer says its 3:08 am, BUT don’t be fooled! There is a 7 hour time difference btw. Hamdallaye and ATX.

Enviornment: Although the area around Hamdallaye isn’t technically a desert it sure feels like one. The ground is brown-red sand and its hot 80% of the time. People live in huts made of straw or small buildings made of adobe. People don’t really spend time in these enclosures, life happens outside in people’s concessions. The village is only beautiful if you look from eye level and up, the sand streets are literally covered with trash. Plastic bags are taking Niger by storm and while it makes many people’s lives much easier, it it not helping the aesthetics of the land at all. There is no garbage collection system. People either just throw their garbage into the streets or burn it. The smell of burning plastics is very common indeed. The landscape in the Dogodutchi region is the most beautiful I’ve seen in country. There are mesas and lots of shrubby trees and camels, it really is beautiful.There are also some freakin HUGE baobab trees in the Dutchi region... if you've ever read The Little Prince you know what I'm talkin' about- oh yeah!

Training: I train 6 days a week from 8am to 5 pm. Training is mostly focused on language. In language sessions I sit around with 2 other students and a language trainer (who is a native nigerien) and we just talk about things in Hausa for hours and hours at a time. We’ve covered the basics- Where are you from? What do you like? How many wives does your father have? How much should a goat cost in the market? Haha, you know- the usual small talk. Also we have cross cultural training where we learn the faux-pas of Nigeriene culture- such as NEVER eat with your left hand or show your shoulders if you’re a woman. I’ve also learned a lot about Islam and the unique way it is practiced here. My favorite part of training is the technical sessions. This is where I learn about the Nigerien health system and practical skills to implement in my village to better the health of the people there. I’m learning so much. Unexpectedly, but I’m actually learning a lot about gardening and making tree nurseries. Nutrition is a huge huge problem here. Hunger and lack of variety of food in the diet. Most people here are small, stunted because they didn’t get adequate nutrition as growing children. This is why young people look so much younger than they actually are. My host brother, for example, looks about 13, but he is 18 years old. Sad, but this is why I’m learning to plant moringa tree nurseries and make weaning porridges for babies and find effective ways to talk to women about maternal health.

Rainclouds & Sunshine:

Some snippits of the great, and not so great aspects of life in Niger...

- I’ve been doing yoga and jogging in the mornings. Earlier this week on my I literally ran threw a field of camels. Exercise feels awesome.

- Dance parties are wonderful stress relievers. Either with my fellow PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) or with my host sister and her friends – shakin’ it like a polaroid picture!

- Record temperature thus far: 113F in the shade, 188F in the sun. Yeah baby!

- Polio- polio is a problem. Its the most apparent and appalling issue that you can see just by walking down the streets of any town or village. Children who crawl on all fours because they've lost the use of their legs. Peace Crops does a lot with immunization and vaccination campaigns to address these problems.

- My host family is so so sweet!

- I planted a garden. It has tomatoes and lettuce and bell peppers and hibiscus. I love my garden, I hang out in it and water it all the time. The harvest is going to go to my host family.

Friends- I miss y’all bunches and bunches. So sai! [so much] Usually I’m so busy with language class and cross culture sessions and health technical sessions and volleyball games and dance parties and hanging out with my host family that I don’t have much time to think about home. This is a good thing, keeps me happy and focused. I think about the co-op a lot, not that I’d be living at Pearl now, but being in Niger has really helped my to realize how much I really enjoyed my time there and I think I have a new appreciation for that kind of inviting, kind, comfortable environment. I think I miss hugs. Hugs are NOT appropriate in Nigerien culture, except for with little kids. Not even between husband and wife or friends or anything.

Sorry no pictures this time. I forgot the cord I need to download them onto my computer. Just use your imagination!The internet is super slow and I only get it when I'm in Niamey, so WRITE ME LETTERS if you want to talk to me.

October 25, 2010

Barka! Greetings All!

I am healthy, happy, and working hard. I’ve been in Niger for 3 days now and last night was the first night I stayed with my host family, the family I will be living with for the nine weeks I am training. There is so much to tell, everything is so different than I imagined. The ground is sand, red/brown/orange, smooth with fine grains, while some areas are more rocky. Shrubs and small trees somehow grow sporadically on the sand.

Our training site is a gated, fenced compound with a guard. Sleeping outside here with my host family is the safest I’ve ever felt sleeping outside, and the most comfortable. I sleep under a mosquito net at night; it’s like a little sanctuary from creepy crawlers. The moon has been full and the night is full of new sounds. Large bats chirping, pigeons that sound like monkeys, donkeys, goats, and things you would not expect, like televisions; people keep their televisions on at full volume all night long. The call to prayer is around 5 am and the roosters start crowing. The best part of the night – I wake up cold! Who would have guessed? My bed is so comfortable. On top of a bed frame of sticks crossed and bound together is a thick foam pad and borrowed sheets on top. I wake up with the sun around 6 am.

Hello -> Sannu! I am learning Hausa! Hausa is the local language spoken in eastern Niger. I had my first language lesson yesterday; we learned greetings:

Ina wuni? How are you?

Lahiya lou. I am fine.

Sunana Zalika. My name is Zalika.

Guess what?

My name really is Zalika. My host mom gave me this name before I even got to their house. I’ve got to get rabies and typhoid shots and then play volleyball, so I’ll have to continue this later…

I’m trying to give y’all a good overview of what it has been like here and what Niger and the Peace Corps is like. I feel very safe here, so don’t worry about me. The community is very friendly and protective of us; they correct my pronunciation and fill in the blanks when I forget how to say things. We had a talk today called ‘Diarrhea!’ also known as Dr. D. Everyone gets it here; I haven’t yet, thank goodness. But we talked about how to stay hydrated, prevent illness, get help, all good stuff. We are learning how to filter water later today.

We are in the mini-hot season, at the end of it and about to enter the cool season. Sometimes it’s very, very hot – over 100, but now it’s windy and warm. Inside the building where we have our meals and some sessions it is very hot. When we eat Nigerien meals, we eat on mats on the floor, family style, all off of one large tray and we eat with our hands. Actually, we eat with our right hand, the left hand is unclean and you do not use it to eat, wave, greet, exchange money, nothing; it is a big Faux pas. So far the food has been delicious – a grain and either beans or meat sauce. From now on we fend for ourselves for breakfast, which means we go buy street food. Don’t worry, it’s safe because it is all fried. There is one that is made of flour and fried, basically a donut only way tastier, which you dip in sugar or a spicy spice mix (farimassa). There is also cecena – fried bean cakes – dried beans crushed to flour, mixed with stuff and fried. Also, there are millet balls, yummy.

Our fearless leader is a man named Tondi with a big smile and lots of jokes.

I’ve had lots of practice with my French, way more than anticipated because the two language trainers I have had so far both speak French, hardly any English at all. Sorry for the horrible grammar. My brains are scrambled with heat and I’ve got three languages running through my head. We played volleyball today. It was really fun; a few people can play pretty well. Tomorrow is market day; I am so excited to buy a coin purse and a tote bag, and some farimassa. We also start intensive language training tomorrow: Yiya cow! (good!)

It wouldn’t be hard-core Peace Corps without a least a few disgusting realities. To go to the bathroom, I use a hole in the ground, a latrine. Some advice for any one who ever has to use a latrine in a 3^rd world country … Do Not Look In the Hole! Haha. Seriously though, hearing the chirp of a bat is bad enough without actually having to look at it. Roaches and maggots a plenty! Eww.

I got to dance with some children, who came to the training site as part of our culture training. The children here give me a lot of hope and faith, they are all smiling and are very forgiving as far as language.

In a nutshell, I am staying very busy and just trying to take it all in. I saw two camels yesterday and – this is way cool – we met the chef de canton for the village we are staying in. The chef de canton is the top person in this and the surrounding 53 villages. What was very, very cool was his bodyguard – dressed in a red headscarf and baring a huge saber. Also wearing sunglasses, this guy looked like he could chop my head off and also totally awesome. He was excited to take pictures with us. I really hope everything is going well at home – want lots and lots of letters with all the details. Be sure to add ‘Par Avion’ to any letter you send so it will go by air and not camel! Although Niger is the poorest country in the world, Nigeriens are a hospitable people who smile a lot and always great you kindly. There are many more amazing things to share, let me know what parts of my life here you want to know about in more detail and I’ll tell you!

30 Hours 'til take-off!

In 30 hours from now I will be boarding a flight from NYC to Paris. I’ll switch planes and be in Niamey, Niger by3pm Friday. Holy Moly! Tomorrow morning, bright and early I get my yellow fever shot. Had a full day of Peace Corps staging today, which entailed 7 hours of discussion of what Peace Corps is all about and a lot of meeting of fellow volunteers. There are 44 of us volunteers, and as far as I can tell, we are all awesome. I went to dinner with a group tonight and we all laughed a lot and there was much merrymaking! So much is going to happen before I will be able to write again, I’ll be in a brand new town, speaking a brand new language with some brand new friends. Adventure awaits!