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.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
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.
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.
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
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...
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.
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.)
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.)
Saturday, December 11, 2010
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!
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