Saturday, November 20, 2010

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 3rd 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!