Fo Fo, Fo Fo a Nigerien’s Life for me!

[Date Palms of Gidan Muni]

I made it back to Dosso!  It’s hard to believe that I left a little more than two weeks ago.  It feels like was gone more like a month.  Overall, the trip was a successful one.  I worked with a few people at the national radio station and talked with other volunteers about their radio experiences.  Zinder is a very large city filled with mostly Hausa speakers.  It was actually the first place that I’ve visited where I felt like a total outsider.  Virtually no one spoke Zarma and I found very few people able/willing to speak French.  As a result I didn’t go out in the city too much.  I did explore the large outdoor market for a while and also checked out the artisanal center. The area surrounding Zinder is very hilly and the landscape is dotted with large boulders.  That was probably the most unique feature of the area. 

I also met up with my best friend from Dosso. He’s currently working on a project in Zinder.  We visited his cousin and enjoyed a meal of pounded sorghum with meat sauce.  We also borrowed his motorcycle for a night tour of the city.  Typically we’re not allowed to ride “cabu cabu” but no other transport is available in the city.  No worries, I was wearing a brand new helmet from the US.  We drove past the sultan’s residence (a more modern, miniature version of the castle from Aladdin).  We also rode through some of the old town.  Even at low speeds, cruising down the narrow alleys was exhilarating.  I’ll probably be re-visiting these sites during the day when my Dad visits in December.

There were a couple of other interesting things about my stay in Zinder.  Saturday marked the end of the first month at post for the newest group of volunteers.  To celebrate, Zinder had a pirate party.  I gathered a few articles for my costume as I stopped in the different regional capitals.  While there were no official judges, my representation of a pirate wench of sorts, got rave reviews.  Maybe I’ll post it at the very end of this blog. 
I also got an opportunity to watch about 40 minutes of Cameroonian television.  I was surprised to discover that virtually the entire 40 minute period was about Barack Obama.  A series of comedy skits joked about Obama fan clubs, easy access to visas after his election, and close family ties with Obama.  Following the show there were two serious music videos all about Obama.  The videos had the common elements of many African videos: men singing and dancing in western clothing with a sprinkling of booty shaking from the women. In addition to these familiar sites were photos and video of Obama.  It was a bit of a shock.  I had no idea that Obama had become such an international celebrity.  It turns out that musicians around the world are lining up to sing about him. Here are a few examples. BTW, I voted!  I did not receive my official Ballot in time, but I was able to send in the generic overseas absentee ballot for president!

Before I left Zinder I headed 3+ hours (60km, the road was very bad and the car broke down for about 45 minutes) further east to visit a radio station in Guidan Muni. I arrived just after sunset, ate and found a nice place to sit beneath a clear, moonless sky.  It was the peak of the Orionids meteor show so I caught a few impressive shooting stars.  The next morning I realized that the village was unlike most of the region. It was a beautiful area dotted with date palms and baobab trees with large mesas to the north.  The village has a large area of spring fed gardens that provide a wealth of vegetables year-round.   I took a long walk through the gardens and around a crocodile filled lake (I didn’t see any).  While the 4 hour walk was pleasing to the eyes, it was quite painful.  The fields were filled with sand burrs and some of the walk was through deep, scorching sand.  After removing hundreds of burrs and rehydrating, I headed back to Zinder with a dozen baby bannanas in hand.   I started the 12 journey back to Dosso the following morning. The journey started out with a guy puking in the middle of the bus, but luckily no breakdowns or delays!

Since I arrived back in Dosso I’ve been preparing for the arrival of the newest demysters.  A new AG/NRM stage arrived a few weeks ago and this will be their first time out of the training area to discover for themselves what volunteers really do.  This time I’ll just have one PCV.  However, I’ve also been put in charge of escorting several of the other demysters to their host villages. It will involve more car time but I’ll get to see a little more of the Dosso region.
Besides that I’ve been eating caramel cubes, soft gingerbread men and watching the movie Sahara (my mom sent me a package).  While Sahara wasn’t a brilliant film, it was filmed almost entirely in Mali.  It was a great preview of what I’ll be seeing in just three weeks on my first trip outside of Niger!

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Enter The Nomad

[Woodabe Festival near Tahoua]

A little more than a week ago I left my home in Dosso to visit a few radio stations, visit a few other volunteers, and see more of Niger.  Since then, I’ve spent more than 24 hours traveling on buses, bush taxis, and by foot.  The first stop was Badagishiri, one of the larger villages on the way north to Tahoua. On the way I met up with a few other Niger volunteers and 3 from Togo. We headed up together in a   station wagon not built for 10.  We stayed in Badagishiri and checked out the large camel market the following morning.  More than 50 camels and their owners gathered in a pasture on the edge of town beginning early in the morning.  One of the Togo PCVs purchased a camel ride and I set of in search of the local snake charmer.  I failed to find him, but did find an old man selling sticks used for animal herding.  I spent about $2 on one that made a great walking stick.  The sticks had all been freshly stained with an odorless liquid which turned my hands orange for a few days.  Little did I know, this was no ordinary stick.  It attracted attention wherever we went, especially our next destination – a nomad / pastoralist festival deep in the bush.

We left Basagishiri on a bush taxi crammed with about 20 people and arrived at the bush departure point just before sunset. We were almost immediately greeted by a British woman who lived nearby.  She ended up giving us a place to sleep outside, complete with cushions, towels, and running water. She even invited us in to have tea with the rest of her family.  The next morning we found an old open back truck to take us to the festival, about 40km east on sandy roads.  The trip was incredibly bumpy, but the landscape was beautiful.  The flat fields of millet found back in Dosso had been replaced by rolling hills of dried grass dotted with herds of livestock.  We also spotted a flock of White Storks taking a break from their migration route.   After an hour and a half or so we arrived and were immediately greeted by several Woodabe men who took us to their camping area for tea.  We introduced ourselves and learned a little more about what was happening at the festival.  It was a sort of Gerewol and also a gathering of pastoralists to discuss issues and problems facing the community. The most pressing issue dealt with a lack grasses in pastoral zone of Niger.  This year produced grasses that were about a third of the height seen in previous years.

The main camping area was located next to a small dry seasonal pond; it was the only nearby place with trees. We sat in the shade during most of the afternoon and drank tea with our hosts.  We met a mixture of Woodabe and Tuareg people, mostly men.  Dozens of people stopped me to inquire about my stick.  The conversation usually began with “you have a stick”.  Most people held it and studied it for a moment considering its weight, size and shape.  Then the questions began.  Do you have animals?  What are you going to do with it?  Where did you get it?  How much was it? Each of  them said I should give it to them and in some cases they offered to buy it.  One guy even offered me his sword.  Luckily the two other Niger PCVs I was with spoke Hausa which was by far the most common language there after Fulfulde. They provided answers to all the questions.  In response to what I’ll be using it for i usually said to beat snakes or ward off evil kids. Fulans typically keep their stick on their shoulder when they aren’t beating animals so they didn’t really get the idea of a walking stick.

Around 16h, the first Woodabe dances began.  Slowly the men gathered on top of a nearby sand dune, engulfed in sunlight wearing brightly colored traditional clothes, jewelry, and makeup.  The dancing and chanting help show off their beauty.  They showed their bright white teeth almost continuously and make a seemingly limitless number of unique facial expressions.  As an ethnic group they tend to have a lot of very defined features that could be considered as beautiful,  high cheek bones for example.  Just check out the photos and I think you’ll see what I mean. (That’s my friend Jaie a few photos down. Check out his hands..)  The men all care a lot about how they look especially for this event.  They all carry around small pocket mirrors and eye liner which they use almost immediately after waking up.  They whiten their teeth by bushing them with a small branch from a tree that grows locally.  I tried it out for a few minutes.  My teeth definitely felt very smooth after the tree treatment and I think they may be whiter too.  Virtually everything they use is found locally.  The yellow, white and red makeup is made mostly from local rocks and the feathers they wear in their hats are from Ostriches.  Niger has Ostriches!

The dances continued well into the night, but once the sun set they changed from a single line into a circle and the chanting was supplemented with a unique alternating clapping rhythm.  Some men clapped slowly while others clapped a faster more defined rhythm. Every few minutes one member of the circle would come into the center to show off his dance moves.  Once it got dark our host brought us into the center of circle.  The sound of clapping all around us was incredible.  I’ll try to put it online soon. (Update: the Line and Circle dances are now online, they’re small but it will give you an idea) Technically this event wasn’t an official Gerewol.  Technically a Gerewol is a meeting of a couple different Woodabe tribes who’s members come together to compete in a sort of male beauty pageant and to potentially find a mate.  However, this event captured many aspects of the unique culture of the Woodabe people. Once men have a son that is old enough to dance they step down and help their sons look and perform their best.

Not only are the Woodabe beautiful, they are very welcoming.  We came to the event with very little. Total strangers provided us with comfortable mats and helped us find food.  Although, drinking tea all day surprisingly reduced my appetite.  Every morning I went for a walk in the bush and every night I slept beneath the stars.  Since the environment was so arid and the nights were a little chilly, there were no mosquitos.  Of course that also means that there was no water.  It was brought in on a truck everyday, increasing the price by 5 times.  Needless to say, I went without a shower.

After my 2nd night there I decided it was time to continue my trip and do some radio work in Tahoua.  Unfortunately the trip took a little longer than I anticipated.  Just 5 minutes after departure, the ancient 4×4 truck I found to take me and about 20 other locals back got stuck in deep sand.  It took about 30 minutes to get it out and then we were back on track.  5 minutes later we were stuck in even deeper sand and an hour later we were back on track.  Another 30 minutes down the road we stopped at a large puddle to collect water for the empty radiator and to provide fluid for the failing bakes.  Another 5 minutes down the road one of the tires explodes.  Guess what…  No spare.  I decide to complete the rest of the trip on foot.  Luckily it was only about 4k.

Back in Tahoua I met up with a married couple of PCVs and stayed with their Tuareg friend, Hammed.  He greeted my late arrival with a mixture of warm milk and millet porridge followed by more tea.  That night one of his friends was finishing up a week of wedding festivities with a live band.  As the only white people there we wore forced onto the dancefloor while guests threw small Nigerian bills at the bride.

The next day I joined Kathleen and Justin at their village since there was a lack of work at the radio station.  We took a 30+ year old land rover to get near their village.  On the way the axel fell off the vehicle, so we had to wait around for an hour while they put it back on. The wait was worth it; an incredibly beautiful place surrounded by cliffs and valleys.  Unfortunately it was very dusty so most of the views were almost totally obscured.  The area is also overflowing with fossils.  They showed me their collection of fossilized clams, sand dollars, and nautilus.  I was there for less than a day, but definitely plan to go back.

I returned to Tahoua and did manage to get some work done with the director and technician at the radio station despite a 6 hour power outage.  I stayed with Hammed and his family.  They were extremely welcoming.  We ate dinner, shared photos, and conversed in French.  Once my work there was finished I headed here to Zinder with brief stops in Konni and Maradi.  Luckily no more broken down vehicles.  However, apparently the entire Nigerien cell network has gone down so I had a frustrating hour trying to find my way to the Peace Corps house.

I’ll be working with PCVs and a few radio stations in the area from now until the middle of next week.  Sai Anjima (I’m slowly learning a little Hausa)

Eid Mubarak – عيد مبارك!

[Eid Prayer outside of Dosso]

Monday was Eid, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the month of Ramadan.  It was a great time to be in Niger.  Around 7am everyone started heading for an area outside the city of Dosso, where prayer would be held.  I planned to go with a team of reporters from the radio.  While I was waiting, the family of the guardian brought me a pot of food: fried bread in meat sauce with a few nice chunks of lamb.  That was already my second meal; I made the mistake of eating breakfast.  I arrived at the “mosque” outside the city just before the traditional chef of the regional arrived.  He was escorted by a team of men a few horses all traditionally dressed.  The chef traditional wore clothes with fine gold embroidery and sat beneath an ornately decorated shade umbrella.  While everyone waited on the arrival of the governor and the imam, I spoke to some members of the chef’s group who were interested in America and also in having their picture taken(left).  Once the Imam arrived, prayer began.  The reporters I was with setup up camp in front of everyone there and they insisted that I stand with them.  Once prayer started and everyone stood facing my direction, I was a little overwhelmed.  I decided to stand with the rest of the traditional chef’s troop facing the rising sun in the direction of Mecca.  It was a very peaceful feeling being surrounded by nature listening to the melodic sounds of the Eid prayer.

After the prayer I headed back into Dosso with the thousands of other people attending the event.  Back at the radio station the eating continued with a large bowl of rice with Guinea Fowl from the director of the radio station.  Afterwards we visited the director’s family and passed around their new baby.  Everyone found it especially entertaining to see me hold him.  Next, I headed home to pick up the cookies I baked along with some fruit and candy.  I baked a mixture of about 10 dozen peanut butter cookies and snikerdoodles to distribute to my friends.  Throughout the day people yell out “Kay Yesi”, roughly the equivalent of happy New Year.  When kids say it they generally expect a gift in return.  I came prepared and carried a 400CFA bag of candy with me through the day.  While I was home, my neighbors took the opportunity to give me more food; potatoes with meat and sauce.  I loaded up my bike and headed to Yacouba’s house to see little Abdul-Majid (see right).  Check out Yacouba’s hair cut; I did it myself.  Of course I had to eat as well, pasta with fried bread and meat.  I stayed for about an hour and biked across town to my counterpart’s house.  On the way I saw about a dozen people that I knew, so I had to stop and greet each of them.  Ousmane’s family served me meal #6.  We had grilled chicken and beef with rice and a watermelon that I brought.  I ate, watched some TV and was overcome with the desire to sleep.  I headed back home and took an hour nap while some of my food digested.  During the afternoon I visited a few Americans in town and then I visited the PC program assistant and his family.  This time I ate couscous and meat sauce.  I briefly stopped and visited a few more people and ended my visits at my friend Aziz’s house.  He now has a job in Niamey and returned to Dosso for a couple days to visit his family. I ate a couple times at his place and drank a few shots of tea which kept me going until midnight.

Overall, the month of Ramadan was a great cultural experience.  I spent the first part of the month fasting and breaking fast with some of my co-workers.  The last week of the month ORTN held a competition for youth where they demonstrated their knowledge of the Koran (left).  The station collected 500,000CFA to distribute as prizes to the winner.  The announcement of winners was attended by the governor and the traditional chef who were called to present some of the prizes.  Towards the end of the event my counterpart caught me off guard and called me up to present a prize as well.  The amount of passages that some of the students could remember were impressive.  Especially since everything is in Arabic.  The next big holiday is Tabaski, coming up in December.  My dad will be here to experience it with me.

A few other highlights of the week…  I got caught in a dust storm without my cell/flashlight and no electricity.  I had to find my way to the radio station, borrow a flash light, and find my phone.  Monday, the day before Eid, my visit to the market was a lively experience.  A record number of vendors and shoppers filled the market area.  I only bought the necessities to make cookies: flour, sugar, oil, eggs, peanut butter and powdered milk.  Vendors were also selling goods at unusually high prices.  Guinea fowl that were normally sold for $2000CFA were going for $3500CFA.  It’s official.  I’m going to Mali in November with my friend Russell.  It will be a one week whirlwind tour of the best of Mali:  Djenne, Dogon Country, and Gao.  We’re leaving off Timbuktu since it is out of the way and potentially dangerous.  Tonight I hope to catch the VP debate which will undoubtedly be interesting.  Here’s a recent quote from Palin that my friend Ed sent me.

Couric:
In preparing for this conversation, a lot of our viewers … and Internet users
wanted to know why you did not get a passport until last year. And they wondered
if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the
world. 

Palin: I’m not one of those who maybe came from a
background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents
give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the
world. 

No, I’ve worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all
my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way
that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through
mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world.

Parlez-Vous Francais?

[The village mosque of Harikanassou]

A lot of people ask me about the languages spoken in Niger and how useful my French skills are, so today I’m going to dedicate most of this entry to language.

There is little doubt that learning a foreign language has played an integral role in getting me to where I am today.  When I say that, I don’t just mean where I am physically (Niger), but also mentally, socially, etc.  I started taking a foreign language in the 10th grade, the first year it was offered at my high school.  At the time I really wanted to learn German, but was limited to two choices, French or Spanish.  Since German was unavailable, I went with French, which was the better choice anyway since it’s spoken in a larger variety of countries and is also a diplomatic language.  The following year my French teacher organized a trip to France and with some help from my parents I jumped on board.  Besides visiting some of France’s major sites(see left), I stayed with a host family for a week in Provence.  I was only in France for about two weeks, but during that time I was constantly bombarded with new experiences. The familiar aspects of daily life in the US had been replaced by cultural oddities, unique perspectives, historical treasures, and lots of new vocabulary.  I probably didn’t realize it at the time, but I came back from the trip a changed person.  I had gained a greater appreciation of the world’s diversity and as a result some of my priorities began to change. The next school year I got a job and returned to France the summer of 1998 after high school graduation and continued my French studies in college.  The summer of 2000 I headed back to France for a year of study and work.  Since that first visit in 1997, I have spent more than 2 years in Europe and visited 20 countries scattered across 5 continents.  OK, I do really like to travel and French has been useful even outside of French speaking countries.  Knowing multiple languages increases your chances of being able to communicate with anyone you meet and can make for a much more personal experience anywhere you travel.  It also gives you more opportunities to live and work abroad.

I joined the Peace Corps mainly to do something more meaningful with my time than just making money for myself and my boss.  However, I also did it to get some of the same things that I received from my first trip to France: language skills, cultural exchange, and some additional perspective on life.  The US doesn’t have a lot of French speakers so PC did not hesitate to place me in West Africa.  Hundreds of local languages are spoken throughout the countries of West Africa, but French is the one national language that most countries have in common.  French is one of the national languages of Niger, but most of the population does not speak more than a few phrases.  Zarma, Hausa, Fulfulde, and Tamacheq are the more prominent languages spoken by their respective ethnic groups (language maps).  These languages, especially Zarma, have a very limited vocabulary so French words inevitably find their way into many conversations.  In cities (20% of the population), where the education is better, a higher percentage of the population speaks a moderate amount of French.  I live in the 7th largest city in Niger (Dosso) and use French daily, especially at the radio station where I spend a lot of my time.  However, to participate in group discussions, to get fair prices at the market, and to really integrate I must speak Zarma. Virtually all PC volunteers in Niger learn either Hausa or Zarma during their first months in country.  The area to the east of Dosso speaks mostly Hausa and the region from Dosso heading west speaks Zarma.  Hausa is also spoken in some neighboring countries like Nigeria.  Zarma is also spoken in parts of Mali.

So what are the differences between French French and Nigerien French?  First, the accent that most people associate with French is totally non-existent.  I probably came over here speaking something much closer to Nigerien French (my French accent sucks).  The lack of a heavy accent makes comprehension easier in many cases.  Sometimes I have a hard time understanding native French speakers, especially French men.  At the beginning of the week I mistakenly agreed to help type the report for an intern here at the national radio station.  The process was long and painful for the portions of the report I could not read.  I found it impossible to differentiate between many sounds like de/du or ce/c’est. Some words were completely mispronounced. Overall, the level of French Nigeriens speak varies widely despite the fact that all classes are conducted entirely in French.  The Nigerien education system is one of the world’s worst. Students are lucky if they even have a teacher at their local school, yet alone one that speaks French well.

If you want to check out French in Niger watch the national news. News broadcasts are also made in the other 4 national languages. If you’re interested in learning more about Zarma there are several related links to the right.  In addition I hope to have a few of the radio programs I’ve produced in country available online later today.

This week many of the people I’m working with have started learning English on the computer using Rosetta Stone.  I’m hoping to conduct a weekly group meeting to talk about what people are learning.  It is nice to see people using the computer for something other than solitaire.  If the software really leads people to learn and improve their English, I hope to get youth involved at a local computer lab.

Some people I work with are also interested in finding an email pen pal.  If anyone is interested in communicating (in French) with someone from Niger just let me know.  

This week I’ve also made some progress on the radio script database I’m developing for Peace Corps Niger.  Currently about 200 scripts are searchable by keyword and easily accessible through the database interface. I’ll probably roll out a test version of the database when I travel out east in October.

Rainy season is definitely coming to a close. It hasn’t rained in more than a week and temperatures are starting to climb.  This week there has also been a population explosion of grasshoppers.  See all those little spots on the wall(right)…. grasshoppers.  There are always a few hopping around in my house that enter whenever I open my screen door.  A few days ago the kids next door caught a whole container of them for my cat.  Sam loves to eat grasshoppers and just about any other small moving creatures.

…Saturday morning
I received a package yesterday afternoon from my sister.  I ate the best York Peppermint Patty ever!  She also included a new Nalgene bottle without BPA.  
I woke up last night around 2:30 as a large thunderstorm was rolling in.  I caught the last half of the first presidential debate.  I can’t say that I was especially impressed by what either candidate had to say.  The debate was supposed to focus on US foreign policy, which needs a serious facelift.  I felt like Obama really stressed that point while McCain hardly mentioned it.

I don’t have much planned for the coming days.  The end of the month of Ramadan is just a few days away.  Everyone celebrates, apparently by eating lots of food.  I’m planning to make a variety of cookies to distribute. I’m thinking about buying a guinea fowl as well.  I’ll also be working on my Peace Corps report that is due every 4 months.  I’m about half way through my 9th month here.

[Next Weeks Dinner?]

Large Bats and Giraffes and Amoebas, Oh My……

[The village of Yeni north of Kiota]

Hey, I’m back!  I returned from Niamey Sunday morning and I am still recovering from something along the lines of a sinus infection.  I’m feeling much better now.  Nearly two weeks have passed since my last blog entry and a lot has happened.  Last Monday, before I even went to Niamey I joined a group of Jica (Japanese Peace Corps) volunteers in a small village north of Kiota.  They were there to produce a series of radio discussions about Malaria and mosquito nets.  The long ride to the village was offset by beautiful landscapes of orange/red mesas surrounded by seas of millet, ready for harvest.  The photo below shows the group of participants in the village of Yeni.  My counter part in Dosso is the guy with the tape recorder and the tan suit. He facilitated the event.  On the way back we visited the Jica office in Birni.  They have several volunteers in the Birni region whose main focus is malaria awareness and prevention.

Tuesday afternoon I headed to Niamey on a bus.  The bus left about an hour late and made several stops including one prolonged stop for 16h prayer.  On the way, I saw a young giraffe running along the road not far from Koure.  On Monday, the Jica volunteers said that they had seen nearly a dozen along the road on their way from Niamey.  During rainy season giraffes congregate in the area of Koure where the land is harder and drier.  The smaller hoofs of giraffes are not adapted to easily travel through muddy areas. I arrived in Niamey a few hours before sunset and got settled in at the hostel.  A lot of people were already there.  I got the last towel, the last bed sheet and the last bed.  I considered myself lucky and celebrated with the closest thing I could get to cheap chinese delivery: a mixture of rice, chicken, onions, and cashews with hint of a taste of the orient from Indrissa’s restaurant.

Wednesday I set off early in the morning to the bank, I visited an international bazaar and attempted to track down an affordable map of Niger to help plan some of my radio trips out east.  Besides getting some much needed money from the bank, the morning outing was fruitless.  The bazaar had very little in the way of artisanal goods and the IGN office in Niger wanted the equivalent of about $40 for a map of the country.  On the way to the office, I did walk down a street lined with bat filled trees.  Hundreds of large bats filled the trees for the length of an entire block.  I tried to get some pictures but I didn’t have much success.  The brown blurs in the picture are small groups of several bats. 

Later that morning I met up with my friend Kim to find a hammer and supplies for our dish for the BBQ later that evening.  I successfully found a small hammer for 1000CFA and purchased some beans, kudaku, and some strange beans/nuts that look surprisingly like my favorite European snack, Twinuts.  The vendor said that they were great boiled with salt.  I took them home and boiled them for lunch hoping for a delicious Nigerien version of boiled peanuts.  The large shells held a single nut with a second husky skin that also had to be removed.  The process was time consuming and the taste was slightly bitter and reminded me of a something between a boiled peanut and a garbanzo bean.  After lunch Kim and I continued our cooking adventure by making a large pot of refried beans and some tortillas. 

The new volunteer BBQ held Wednesday evening was a delicious success (although it probably gave some of the newbies bacteria and amoebas). Volunteers brought a variety of dishes including hummus, banana bread and pasta salad.  We also made cheese burgers.  I was charged with the task of slicing the large block of cheddar cheese.  I admit I ate a few pieces that weren’t quite the right size or shape for melting on burgers.  A block of cheddar that you would pay about $5 for in the US costs about $25 here.  I have food on the mind a little too much don’t I?  I really do get enough to eat here.  I’m not starving and my friends and family supplement my diet every few weeks with a small box of food from the US.  The food is probably what I miss most from the US.  OK, no more talk about food…  At the BBQ, I got to see all of the new volunteers together for the first time.  Overall they seemed younger than the group I came over with.  However they were just as excited to be done with training and ready to move to their new homes out in the bush.

Thursday, was the Gender, Aids and Development fundraiser at the American Embassy Rec Center.  Unlike many strictly development organizations, Peace Corps does not have funds set aside to actually fund development projects.  If we want funding for a project we typically must find it ourselves.  There are a variety of sources for funding and the GAD fund is one that is mainly funded from within Niger.  The bi-annual fundraiser includes an enchilada dinner, entertainment, silent auction, raffle, and live auction.  Luckily someone donated funds to hire a DJ.  Otherwise, I would have been responsible for setting the sound equipment up.  Instead I setup the slideshow and tested all of the electronics that were donated for the silent auction. The event raised nearly 2 Million CFA.  I spent about $20 at the auction and came away with some great deals.  I brought home two cases of ZipFizz, a clay piggy bank, and a satellite radio.  Since they stopped subscription satellite services in Africa at the end of 2007, they continued offering about 20 stations free of charge.  I can now listen to NPR in Africa for free!  Although, perhaps I would be happier if I didn’t keep track of American politics.  Many of the new volunteers came over with Obamma tshirts of which I’m slightly envious.  I decided that the best I could do was add a little banner to my blog (see right).  I hope that doesn’t bother my republican readership too much.  Sorry, but I find the possibility of Sarah Palin leading the country unsettling (don’t forget, McCain is 72). 

Friday was swear-in at the American ambassador’s house.  I did not attend the event since I was sick and keeping my friend Kaylee company.  She was very sick.  I didn’t miss out on too much.  Since PC is in the poor house (another reason to vote Obamma, OK I’ll stop), they couldn’t afford to provide attendees with dinner.  Saturday I bought what grocery items I needed for Dosso and took it easy for the rest of the day.  Sunday a PC vehicle was heading back to Dosso with the new volunteers so I left with them.  The trip included a stop in Hamdallaye and I was amazed at how Green it had become.  The pictures to the left and below are both of hamdallaye.  The entrie area basically looked like the first picture when I was there at the beginning of the year. The picture below was taken last weekend. Rainy season is virtually over which means no more rain until next May. 

Since sunday, I can’t say that I’ve been extremely productive.  Wednesday night I made an incredible squash soup with the local squah which is very cheap.  I added a little cinnamon and cardamom and it was delicious.  Thursday morning I made blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup thanks to a large bag of blueberries that magically arrived at the Dosso hostel.  The food was also enjoyed by some of the new volunteers still waiting to be installed. After breakfast I headed to Birni to assist with a radio show introducing some of the new volunteers (the Dosso region got 10) and stressing the importance of school, which begins after Ramadan.  We also talked a little about what languages are spoken in America.  While in Birni, I met Kaylee’s new Neighbor Emmanuel.  He is one of the first volunteers from a new German version of Peace Corps.  He is a recent high school graduate and is here working with an NGO that helps protect Niger’s giraffes.  I told him that he was a braver person than me since he came here without any dedicated medical staff and will return to Germany in a year without a dime in his pocket.  He’s a very knowledgeable guy who will undoubtedly do some good for Niger.

There’s not much on the radar for the next few weeks.  Prirority #1 is to finish the user interface for my Peace Corps radio database so I can move on to more interesting projects.  Kala Tonton!

Menu du Jour

Labtanda Holiday Soup

• 200CFA of Labtanda (Nigerienne Squash)
  
• 1 Maggi Poulet Cube
  
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Boil the squash for about 10-15 minutes.  If possible, place squash in blender w/ small amount of water.  You can also mash the squash or cut into small pieces.  Add additional seasonings and simmer for a few minutes.  It remined everyone of the holidays.

Attack of the Flying Ants, The Ramadan Conundrum and other stories.

[Afternoon prayer in Niamey]

Yesterday, as I arrived the radio station on my shiny anasara bike, I felt multiple stinging sensations on my neck. I was being attacked by ants. The small black ants of Niger pack a punch. A single bite will sting for several hours and remain visible for several day days. This time of year, some members of the colony develop wings and leave to mate and start new colonies. Everyone at the radio station found the event amusing and said it would make for a good story. The event also makes for a good analogy to how I was feeling at the time. I was also being stung by Nigeriens.

As I mentioned in my last post, I started fasting for Ramadan. For starters, virtually everyone in the entire country is fasting. As result you can’t buy food on the street and consuming food and beverages in front of people just seems rude. In addition, a lot of people asked if I was going to do it and suggested that I give it a try. The first few days were great. People were supportive and glad that I was doing it. During those first days I apparently just got luckily with who I crossed paths with. On Friday no less than 7 people gave me a hard time. Why am I fasting? There is no reason to fast if I’m not praying 5 times a day. I can’t pray because I’m not a Muslim. At that point explaining why I was fasting became a lot more difficult than explaining why I was not so Saturday I slept late and told everyone that I was done fasting. Of course then the inverse happened. People were disappointed and said that all the people that were not supportive were stupid, etc. It was a no win situation. So what was the result of all this? I’m fasting again. If anyone gives me a hard time I’m just going to tell them to have patience – kala suru. Fasting just works out better. I get more work done since I stay at the radio station with everyone else and honestly eating a big breakfast and dinner is fun for the time being. I had more pancakes for breakfast today.. Yummy! Friday night I had another nice meal including fresh partially dried dates. Most of the dates here are extremely hard and dry so it was a strange sensation to eat cold fresh ones.

This week I’ve also started working with a local artist. I’m try to help him gather photos for a portfolio or possibly a website. For the most part he works with calabashes, dried gourds. He makes beautiful lamps, vases, various containers, and even statues and musical instruments. He also produces music and makes jewelry. Some photos of his work are below.

Yesterday I finally got my correctly sized pants back from the tailor. He did a very good job replicating my favorite pants I brought from the states, which unfortunately now have a hole in the rear. While the kid from next door was at my place playing a game on my cell phone, I got him to take a picture. I should have another very cool shirt waiting for me in Niamey when I go on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to the break from Dosso. I will also get a chance to see a lot of the volunteers that I came over here with. Later!

Ramadan Rocks!

[Catterpilar in a nearby millet field]

I made it through my first day of fasting without too much trouble. I joined my counterpart, Ousmane, for the somewhat ceremonial process of breaking fast. I entered his house for the first time. A table was already out covered with an assortment of pots and pitchers. As soon we heard the sunset prayer call, the process began with dates and tea. We all (adult males of the family) grabbed a few dates and hot tea. Apparently, tt is important to begin with hot, not cold, beverages preserve your appetite. Next came a round of kooko, a delicious poridge-like drink made from pounded millet. [left: millet pounding in Hamdallaye] After that we had a coolaid type drink with some organ meat and capto (cooked tree leaves). Then we paused for prayer. The meal continued with a delicious salad, rice with a meat sauce and then hayni hawru with an okra sauce. I finished off the meal with a few glasses of water and some more kooko. We watched TV for a while and I returned home around 21h. Just after I arrived, the edge of a storm passed by bringing lots of wind, lightning, and cool air, but no rain.

Ousmanne said that he doesn’t wake up early to eat breakfast. Instead he eats several times during the evening with pauses inbetween. I, on the other hand, have been enjoying a pankcake breakfast the last two mornings. Each morning I make mostly plain pancakes and eat them with honey, but I also make a few with dried fruit from the US. Yesterday I had blueberry and today cranberry ones. I also drink about 2 liters of water along with two Labans. This morning I woke up a little after 5:30 and was finished with breakfast by 6:30. So my timing was much better than yesterday, but was still off by about 15 minutes. The first prayer, fajr, is performed at dawn (not sunrise like I thought) and it marks the begining of the daily fast.

Today I’ve been fairly productive. I’ve been continuing work on my radio database and also went to the market to pick up some food for the next week. I brought home some millet (trying something new), a coconut (to make milk), a few tiny bell peppers, couscous, tomato paste, pasta, and oranges. I got a bag of 10 small oranges for a little more than $1. I’m going to bring them over to dinner tonight. Inshahallah, I’ll be heading back over to my counterpart’s for dinner. In Niger, any future plans you make are inshahallah.

So I can’t help but make a few comparisons between Ramadan and Christmas. I swear everyone is in a more cheerful mood (except towards the end of the afternoon when everyone is hungry). People splurge on things like tea, dates, and sugary drinks. People are also more generous. This afternoon a local marabou invited me over to visit him at his modest store where he sells ice, cold water, sodas, and bagged kooko. He sent me home with 10 bags of Lipton tea, 1kg of sugar, 3 bags of kooko and a liter of nigerienne lemonade. I had to stop him from giving me anything else. Since virtually everyone drinks tea when breaking fast, all the stores were sold out. He had to leave his shop on a motorcycle and drive around for 10 minutes just to find some. I was very thankful. We’re going to break fast together on Saturday. Tonight I had another great meal with my counterpart, Ousmane: fish, millet couscous, pounded rice with baobab leaf sauce and oranges. Tomorrow I’m visiting another co-worker for dinner.

Overall the fasting process has been easy so far. I honestly think I have more energy. Although, this afternoon I was very tempted by a piece of Hershey’s chocolate. I received a surprise package today overflowing with goodies from my friend Michael. Thanks Michael, I’ll send you an official thank you tomorrow!

Happy Ramadan!

[Rare decorated cement building in a nearby village just after a rain storm]

Asalamualikum!

Happy Ramadan! This year Ramadan began on September 1st. The night before, mosques were broadcasting prayers to mark the occasion, letting everyone know that they would need to wake up very early the next morning. Despite the fact that the sun rises well after 6am, most people assure that they have finished eating by 5:30. Today is my first day of fasting. I put it off for a while since I was sick for several days last week. Of course I’m not fasting for religious reasons but for cultural ones. Everyone has been really impressed that I am participating. Although to be honest, I did eat breakfast a little later than 5:30. Surprisingly I’m still not very hungry. I could really use some water though. Drinking fluids is also not permitted while fasting. In some villages people believe the rule also applies to swallowing their own saliva. Luckily I don’t have to experience that in Dosso. Tonight my counterpart has invited me over to his place for the first time, to break fast. I think we’re having my favorite, Hayni Hawru.

The last week has been very unproductive. I got into a great routine at the beginning of last week which included an hour of daily yoga. Thursday morning I woke up with surprisingly sore muscles, apparently I was doing my yoga correctly. A few hours later the soreness turned into achiness which was caused not by my yoga, but by a family of gas generating bacteria that found a new home in my stomach. The result was a low grade fever along with a few other unpleasant symptoms. I’m well now and life is back to normal.

I’ve planned out the rest of September and made tentative plans for October. Peace Corps Niger is broke, so my plans to head out east to Tahoua and Zinder this month have been delayed. I’ll probably head out just after Ramadan. If I’m lucky I might be able to catch a Wodaabe Gerewol festival. During my training a small group of traditionaly dressed Wodaabe visited. They are probably Niger’s most vibrant and unique ethnic group. Next week is swear-in for the new group of health, education, and municipal community development volunteers. I’ll be heading to Niamey to attend swear-in, participate in a fund raising event for PC projects, attend a few meetings, go to the bank, and shop for some supplies that are unavailable in Dosso. I’m also going to try to stop by a few consulates in preparation for my first vacation in Africa.

[Everyone at my AG/NRM swear-in, March 2008]

My friend Russel is coming in November for a little less than two weeks. We’re still in the planning stage, but I think Mali is definitely on the menu! I got a call from my friend Noah last weekend and he also confirmed plans to come visit. He’s coming for a little more than a week to get the Peace Corps experience in Niger. He’s going to bring his mom who has recently been doing a lot of volunteer work in Central America. Of course my dad is coming in December. I’m looking forward to all of the visits. I’ll get to see my friends and hopefully get a few yummy US imports (like this cheese). I’ll also be fulfilling one of the three goals of Peace Corps: “Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans”.

I finally picked up my two new shirts and a pair of pants that I got tailored. I think it ended up taking 3 weeks. The shirts turned out great, but the pants are way too small. He said it would be no problem to fix them, so we’ll see. So far the custom tailoring process, while cheep, has been more trouble than it’s worth. It’s fun though. I’m wearing the green batik pattern shirt right now. For the first time people have commented me on what I’m wearing. I don’t know how I’m supposed to respond. Well I just asked, the correct response is, “Fonda Goy” which literally means something like greetings on your work. Apparently FoFo, Greetings or Thanks will work.. Zarma is so much fun! I think that is all I have for today.

Farmer Brett heads North

[Posing for the camera after a long day in the field]

Fofo Everybody!

This week has been intense. Wednesday I was very surprised by a special delivery that another volunteer brought from Niamey. It was a package from my Mom that had been mailed from the US 6 months prior. It contained lots of goodies including a box of Girl Scout cookies! The package arrived just in time since one of the items was set to expire 2 days later! That day I also headed to the market with my friend Rachael to interview people about Mosquito nets for this week’s radio show. We talked to a few men, two women and a little kid. I still need to piece together the 30 minute show, but it should air this coming Wednesday.

Thursday I headed to Birni to record a radio show with 5 other volunteers. It was my friend Kaylee’s birthday, so we did a mostly cultural show about birthdays and what American kids do at birthday parties. Nigeriens don’t celebrate birthdays so it makes for an interesting topic. We also snuck in some details about family planning and birth spacing. Afterwards I completed some computer work for the station. Computer viruses are really a nightmare in Niger, so I spent a few hours cleaning them off their two computers. Later we celebrated Kaylee’s birthday with some homemade Mexican food and a very sweet 3-layer Vanilla cake with Chocolate icing. I think it was the first semi-real cake that people had eaten. I accidentally made a double recipe of icing and a lot of people got sick from consuming so much processed sugar, something we’re really not used to in Niger. It was worth it though!

Friday was Yacouba’s naming ceremony so I stopped by his place to see little Abdul-Majid (my namesake if you’re just tuning in). This time I held him and after just a minute or two he tinkled all over my arm. Since he didn’t have on a diaper or anything, I had a very wet arm. He was a little wet too so he started crying. I returned him to his mom, washed off the arm of my shirt, and the women dabbed on a little cologne. Later I joined Yacouba for a rice and cow stomach lunch. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked, just a little chewy.

Saturday was my initiation into the Nigerien world of farming. Luckily it was overcast most of the day. About 80% of the population of Niger lives in rural areas. Most rural families have fields where they grow millet, sorghum, corn, beans, or peanuts. Planting happened about 2 months ago or more and harvest will probably occur around 5 or 6 weeks from now. I participated in the most difficult of the three farming steps, weeding. I biked to a field about 30 minutes outside of town with my friend Aziz. The field had been planted by his brother who died a couple of weeks ago. Now he is responsible for taking care of it. Weeding basically involves removing all wild grass and weeds from the field to reduce competition for very limited nutrients, and to a lesser degree for space, water and sunlight. In Niger most people use a long stick with a small sickle shaped attachment to break up the top layer of soil and weeds. We met up with 3 other people and were probably able to finish a little more than 1/3 of the field with about 6 hours of good work. The field was originally planted with millet and beans, but for some reason most of the millet didn’t come up. This meant that the space between plants was often well more than a meter which left a lot of empty space to weed. In addition, this was the first time the field had been weeded. Occasionally the weeds were taller than the beans, so each of us inevitably killed a few bean plants. By the end of the day I was exhausted and questioning whether the effort we were all putting forth was really worth the amount of beans the field would eventually yield. Regardless, it was great to work the earth for a day and for a scrawny white guy, I really impressed everyone with the amount of work I did.

Saturday night, I slept like a rock and unenthusiastically woke up early to go to yet another naming ceremony. I greeted everyone, was given some dates and kola nuts, stayed for the prayer and immediately went to the PC house to welcome the 12 new members of team Dosso. This is their first week at their new post. Sunday I joined one of the new volunteers at a new post north of Dosso. We met the Marie and the Chef de village, saw a little of the city and moved her into her new home, a beautiful three room house with a tin roof. The neighbors brought us hayni hawru with a spicy meat sauce for dinner and we went to sleep very early as lightning thundered in the distance. It was a very hot and humid night and relief didn’t come until just before dawn when the storm finally hit. At times the rain was deafening against the tin roof, but temperatures were cool which kept me in bed past 9. I went into town at 10 and waited about an hour and a half for the 17 person bush taxi to fill up. Now I’m back at home and I have lots of stuff to do. I think that’s all for now!
Kala Tonton!

2 Days of Rain

[Another shot from my trip to Gaya]

This will just be a quick entry since not much has happened since Saturday. I did get the full scoop on Saturday night’s lunar eclipse activities. Traditionally people pray and walk through the streets banging makeshift drums to make the moon come back. Today few people believe that these acts actually prevent the moon from disappearing forever. The past two days have been filled with rain, turning the city’s unpaved roads to mud. More rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week. Since it was so wet I didn’t carry my camera with me as usual. I missed out on snapping some great pictures of a bright iridescent beetle, a very large pink moth with multicolored circles on its wings, and my first Nigerien rainbow! Yesterday I worked with my friend Aziz to correct a radio script on mosquito nets. I’ll be recording a radio show with 4 other volunteers on Thursday.

Peace Corp’s budget has seen some cuts. It’s possible that the budget hasn’t seen a considerable cut, but since the value of the dollar has decreased while the price of gas and food has only increased it is definitely being felt in Niger. The frequency of PC vehicles traveling to villages will be reduced and some activities will be eliminated, such as the close of service conference for returning volunteers at Niger’s national Parc W. Since I live in a city, the transportation issue doesn’t affect me as much. No decreases are being made to our monthly mandates. In fact, PC is supposed to be increasing them slightly.

Today I spent about an hour with my counterpart choosing music from my itunes collection to transfer to the radio station’s equipment. He chose a selection of James Brown, Michael Jackson, Elton John, The Police, Steppenwolf, Stevie Wonder and CCR. James Brown is definitely his favorite American singer. Today’s selections included “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “Get Up Offa That Thing”, “Hot Pants”, and “I Feel Good”.

Just yesterday the chef de station had a baby. That means I’ll be attending two naming ceremonies this weekend. Today I went shopping for gifts. I found a couple cute baby outfits and a bottle of baby powder with a rattle in the top. I was surprised by the baby powder. I could not find any other toys suitable for very small babies. I also bought the more traditional gifts of soap and some incense for the mother.

Menu du Jour

Honey Mustard Potatoes

• Cubed, Boiled Potatoes
• 1 maggi cube
  
• 2T dark local honey
• 2T Dijon Mustard

Notes: Delicious! You only need a small amount of sauce; it’s potent!