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.
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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.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
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).
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