How’s The Cold? It’s Here

Everything is going well in my neck of the woods. It is cold here, something I never thought I’d be saying. It has been getting down into the 40’s, but that’s just what I hear—I don’t have a thermometer. I received my new Christmas present, a sleeping bag, this week. I've had such great sleeps. I just still can’t believe that it is this cold in the Sahel. This past week it hasn’t even been hot during the middle of the day because the winds have been so strong. Of course that's a whole new problem.

On several mornings when I’ve gone out to buy breakfast I’ve been wearing my sweatshirt, windbreaker, beanie, pj’s under my pants, and socks (!!!). I’m still cold. Usually I go get food and greet people then scurry back to my house to eat inside. You can see what my new beanie looks like in the cook stove pics (we all got matching hats). It’s the time of the year where “Ina dari?” is a common greeting. How’s the cold? It’s here.

I have been assisting other volunteers with their projects. This has been really good because I get to meet Nigeriens and learn new language and logistics of projects. I helped with a fistula training for Nigerien Scouts (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts) who will in turn go out into the bush and do sensibilizations. I went with three other volunteers from my cluster to greet a village 2.5 k north of mine who really wants to have a Peace Corps Volunteer. Also with other volunteers in my cluster, I went to greet the Serki, to inform him that Katie would be working on a project to build a water chateau in her village—this is a formality that you do out of respect to the traditional power structure. He even donated the 65,000 CFA ($115-120) for the estimate to be done and invited us to lunch where he roasted a lamb. I also helped with the construction of improved cook stoves in the village chief’s concession in Lachlan’s village.

I think that is it for the sort of formal activities I’ve helped with/been present at.

I have to get shots so, I’ve gone back into Niamey. But, it’s not all bad I’ll get to see some of my friends while I’m there. I’ll also be able to get on the internet and try and do some communicating with the outside world. Which is always nice. Hello outside world!

I'll be heading back out to the village in about a week and on February 4th I'll return to do some small town radio. After that I'll be helping out with a mural project.

I've started to gather resources because I would like to do a youth leadership conference. If anyone has any ideas feel free to email me. I think this will take up my time for a while, but I hope to continue doing radio once a week.

Yesterday, I went to my friend Vicki's village. She is in Zarma speaking village but it wasn't difficult for me to find people who spoke Hausa. She is also by the river so it's so beautiful and green there. I took a bunch of pictures on her camera and will link to them or post them soon.

That's all I've got for now, but I'll make sure y'all are the first to know if anything else happens.

Take care and thanks for reading. Check out the new pictures... More to come.

Bush Walk Pics
Fistula Training Pics
Improved Cook Stove Pics