9 weeks later…

One word to describe:

- these past two weeks:  hectic

Lots of language classes (to prep for the exam), our final language exam (to make sure we won’t die in our villages), the goodbye dinner with my host family (pretty self-explanatory), the Peace Corps barbeque (meeting all the current staff and volunteers), the auction and after-party (to raise money for the Gender and Development scholarship program), the swear-in ceremony (when we officially become volunteers), the mesa party (as you might have guessed, on top of the mesa), and a day at the Ambassador’s pool (to relax before making the 15 hour-long drive to Zinder)  

 

-the swear-in ceremony:  long-awaited

After nine weeks of intensive training (in language, culture, technical skills, medical know-how, safety/security, etc) 33 of the original 48 trainees took the oath of office (the same as the president takes) in order to officially become Peace Corps volunteers.  This quite formal occasion is held at the US Ambassador’s residence (with lots of security and media coverage).  The best part was seeing all of trainees decked out in traditional Nigerien clothing.

 

-the vegetable soup I just at:  delectable

Part of the relaxation process (which includes soup, French bread, internet, and swimming) before my duties as a volunteer commence.

 

-how I feel right now:  relieved (with mild strokes of anticipation and fear)

Tomorrow we make the unbelievably long trek out to Zinder.  Our team will spend a day shopping for the odds and ends we need for our houses, a day doing protocol meet/greet with the regional authorities (mayor, traditional chief, police, etc), and then I will be installed into my village (doing protocol with the local authorities) after which the Peace Corps car will drive away and leave me alone in my village for a whole month (hence the mild stokes of anticipation and fear).

                                                                     

I’ve posted about 10 more pictures for you to enjoy.  Follow the link on my last post to see the album.  Also, since I am moving I have a new address:

Laura Ballard

Corps de la Paix

BP 14

Matameye, Niger

West Africa

 

Feel free (and encouraged) to write often.  Make sure you write “Par avion” and “Air Mail” on the envelope/package!!!  Can’t wait to hear from you  : )

Sai hankuri…

Last week I finally got to visit the site where I will spend my two years of service in Niger.  After a quite engaging 14 hour-long bus ride (part of which was spent next to a chicken, sai hankuri…) our addition of newbie volunteers was received by the team of current volunteers in Zinder .  Zinder happens of be the region furthest region from the capitol where the Peace Corps places volunteers (hence the long bus ride).  My first memory of our visit to the region was news that all PCVs in the region were put of “stand fast” (a fancy way of saying that somehow the volunteers are at risk and need to stay in their current location, sai hankuri…) due to the fact that about 30 landmines exploded in the neighboring region.  We were promptly taken off stand fast when the embassy determined that the incident was accidental (a local group was turning in land mines to the government when someone accidently bumped one, thus setting it off, and consequently detonated the surrounding mines.  The governor of the region was injured, along with 20ish other people, and was med-evaced to the capitol). 

Monday we spent the day in the market buying odds and ends that we needed to furnish our houses (sitting mats, bath buckets, silverware, plates, etc).  I was slated to depart Zinder Tuesday morning and arrive at my site around 11.  Unfortunately there was no gasoline to be found in Zinder and we had to wait around until a delivery was made (…sai hankuri).  Our driver was able to find some gas early afternoon, but by that time it was too late to start the drop-off process and we would have to wait until the next morning to leave (…sai hankuri).   I finally arrived at my site Wednesday morning and was greeted by my neighbor Sufiano.  The volunteer who I am replacing was kind enough to take me on a tour of the village and show me all the important things I need to survive (the school where I will be working, the old men who sit outside the mosque, the market, the egg sandwich man, and how to get back to my own house). 

I met my “host family” and had dinner with them (we had tuwo, the traditional pounded millet mush served with tomato based sauce).  Thursday morning I met some of the villagers (the old women who sell homemade snacks, the local drum maker, the soccer coach/PE teacher, and the sometimes pleasant and sometimes annoying neighbor kids) and walked around to do the traditional greeting (see last post).  My host sister was supposed to meet me at my house to take me back to my host family’s for lunch around 12, but 12:15 rolled around and I was starting to wonder if I had misunderstood what they had told me the day before (She did she say she was going to come and get me, right?  Did I get the time wrong?  Maybe I just misunderstood her French/Hausa completely!).  It turns out that she did come to pick me up, she just meant 12pm Nigerien cultural time (12:20) and not American time (…sai hankuri).  For lunch we had rice and the traditional tomato based sauce, and for dinner that night we had tuwo with the traditional tomato-based sauce (see a pattern here?).  The current volunteer and I also swung by the water department to have my water turned on, but apparently when it rains people just decide not to show up for work, so of now no water for me the week I officially move in(…sai hankuri). 

I traveled back to the PC hostel on Friday in order to catch the bus to Niamey at 4:30 the next morning.  The return trip was quite eventful, such as a portion of the trip was next to a vomiting child and two babies (sai hankuri…) but the highlight was when the bus came to a screeching halt when we almost collided with a giraffe that was taking its sweet time to cross the road.  Check out my pictures at the link below (the giraffe, my house, the view from the bus, etc). 

So, all this to say that I am learning to “sai hankuri” or have patience.  I’m told by current PCVs that much of my time in country will be spent waiting (for bush taxis, for paperwork, for people, etc) so I am glad that my first visit to my village accurately reflected how the next two years will be  :)   Sai hankuri….

 

Photos:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012410&l=d84ab&id=183201212

Babu gajiya!

On greetings: Here is a glimpse of the hospitality and social orientation in Nigerien culture. Each time you see someone this is generally how the greetings go. The more you greet people, the happier they are. So in the morning when I buy my yogurt and bread in the market, when I come home at night to my host family, when I see the guards at the gate of our training site, etc… this is the conversation that ensues:

Q: How was the sleep?
A: In health.

Q: How the family?
A: In health.

Q: How’s the tiredness?
A: No tiredness.

Q: How is the work?
A: I am grateful for the work.

Q: How is the health?
A: There is health.

Q: How is the world sitting?
A: Have patience.

I love the fact that you can’t buy something in the market without greeting someone profusely. And keep in mind that you can ask someone basically about anything and they designated response is always positive (even if it’s not true). When I come home I often answer the question “how is the tiredness?” with the response “no tiredness” and then five minutes later will say “there is much tiredness, I feel like sleeping, see you tomorrow…” Set responses are crazy. Another great thing is that if you don’t really understand the question that is being asked you can always respond “alhamdallahlaye” which means “praise god” : )

One month down…

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Niger for a month now, some days it feels like I just walked off the plane, and some days it feels like I’ve been here for years. Training keeps us pretty busy, on average we spend about 10 hours at the training sight (7:30am to 5:30pm). My day is packed with language sessions, safety sessions, medical sessions, culture sessions, and technical sessions. Here’s a look at a typical day:

6:30 Wakeup

7:15 Walk to the market to get breakfast (bag of yogurt-$0.25 and a 1/4 loaf of French bread- $0.06)

7:30 Walk to training sight (maybe a half mile away from my compound)

8:15 Announcements

8:30 Language class (French) and break

10:30 Cross-Cultural Session or Medical session

12:00 Lunch and language immersion session

2:00 Language Session and break

3:45 Technical session or Safety session

5:15 Happy Hour (Sports or hang-out time)

6:15 Go home to host family, help with chores, chat

7:00 Bucket bath at sunset

7:30 Dinner with my sister while watching a questionable Brazilian soap opera, play cards or games with my host kids, chat

8:30 Set up my bed and mosquito net, read, DQT, exercise, play guitar, etc

10:30 Sleepy time!

I’m loving my host family, it’s true that Nigeriens are the most patient and hospitable people group. In my family I have a dad, a mom, two sisters, two brothers, and a niece. I live in a monogamous family (not all trainees do) and I spend most of my time in the concession with my 13 year old sister who does all the cooking and a good portion of the household chores. Sometime I help out by sorting rice or beans, but most of the time they make me sit in one of the two chairs that they own and just watch them do work (in Niger your guest is your god). Everywhere I go they carry a chair around behind me so that I never sit on the ground (and I get yelled at when I do sit on the ground). My host parents are extraordinarily old for this culture (my baba is 59 and my mama is around 55). The average life expectancy in Niger is 45. I would attribute their health to the fact that my family is quite educated (my baba is a retired school teacher) and all of the family speaks Hausa as their first language and are at least conversational in French (which is unusual).

Life isn’t as rough as it could be: the family house has electricity (although my hut is electricity free), we also own a tv, a fan, and a moped. Every night we eat either rice or pasta (pretty expensive), while some trainees eat millet each night (the main crop in our region, therefore less expensive and not a delicious). It’s still quite surreal when I look around and see mud huts and half-naked children (not to mention waking up to the sound of donkeys and the pounding of millet). I’m trying to take everything in, but sometimes my brain is on overload. The culture here is both welcoming and refreshing. This week I should find out where I will be posted for the next two years. I am really looking forward to having my own village, my own hut, and some locals to meet and call friends. Below are a few thoughts about my first month in Niger. Enjoy, and write me lots of letters!!! I miss you all :)

Top five experiences of the first four weeks:

5. Walking to tutoring session at night, noticing that there is a camel about four feet to my right, then managing to not pee my pants our of sheer surprise.

4. Playing cards with my host brother and sister, only to discover that cheating at games is part of Nigerien culture (so far we’ve played go fish, Egyptian ratscrew, slap jack, and something like uno)

3. Eating rice and beans with my host family (quite delicious, eaten from a communal plate with your right hand and mashed into ball), and being laughed at for dropping more on the ground than I managed to put in my mouth.

2. Understanding what’s going on in my French class (and testing out of French! I start Hausa classes tomorrow).

1. Seeing a dog being head-butted by an angry goat. Yeah.

New hobbies: Sweating non-stop. Carrying my Nalgene everywhere I go. Sleeping under a mosquito net. When walking down the street: saying “Fofo” (hello in Zarma) to everyone under the age of 12.

Impressions about the Peace Corps:  The farther I advance in training, the more I like the mission of the Peace Corps. Today we had a session talking about assessing the needs of the communities that we will work in. This is an important aspect of your work as a volunteer because without knowing the community in which you are working, it is impossible to make a lasting impact. Many NGOs offer a certain service or product to local communities (without assessing if it is a felt need) and proceed to offer the good or service (ex: installing a well, or offering English classes). Often times this leads to an unsustainable project because the villagers haven’t expressed a need for it, and after the NGO worker is gone, the project or product is no longer used. The Peace Corps, however, is all about partnering with locals to improve the communities that they live in. By living in a village, knowing the culture, and meeting the locals, you have a decent grasp on the needs of the community and can implement programs that will benefit the community for years to come (projects that will be sustained after I leave Niger)! Just a random thought :)

Daily Life in Niger   It’s certainly easy to see the impact of Islam on the day-to-day lives of Nigeriens. Many greetings and formalities begin with “salaam alekum” (peace be upon you) and a frequent answer to many a question is “inshallah” (if God wills it). There seems to be quite a disconnect between the ideals of Islam and the practice of Islam in Niger. Around 70 percent of the Nigerien population is illiterate, which directly affects the practice of Islam. A good portion of the Muslims that I have had contact with don’t speak a word of Arabic, which obviously makes it quite difficult to read the Qur’an. There are many boys who have memorized the entire Qur’an, but haven’t a clue as to the meaning of the words they know by heart. There is a big incorporation of Animism into the practice of Islam, and since most people have never read the Qur’an, they just assume that it is part of Islam. In some towns the Sheik (which would be the equivalent of a priest/pastor) is also the town witchdoctor.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012410&l=d84ab&id=183201212

A thought about communication…

I will attempt to update this blog every month, but with minimal internet availability I can’t promise much.  Please feel encouraged to send me a letter or a package (I’m sure I will need a lot of encouragement and fun stories from home).  You can write to me at:

 

Laura Ballard

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 10537

Niamey, Niger

 

Since the mail system in Niger can be sporadic, please date and number your letters for tracking purposes and write “Airmail” and “Par Avion” on the envelopes.