It's Been A Long Long Time...

Well, it's been a while since I've let you kind folks know what's going on in my world. So, I've got a lot of exciting things to update. I think it may be easier as a list, so here goes nothing:

-I haven't been really sick since I last updated my blog in Niamey (really sick = needing medication because my body won't fight off the things living inside of it). Health is so relative.

-The volunteers in my region started playing in the camel polo league and we lost our first two matches versus the teams in the lowest bracket in the Maradi League.

-I've been working hard to help my village get their electrical hook-ups completed and water connections finished. Much to my chagrin, they made sure that my house was the first to be connected to the grid and my refrigerator has already gone out… c'est la vie.

-The people in my office secretly slipped my name into running for the mayoral race in early 2009, which were originally slated for late this year.

-During a recent trip to Niamey, some of my fellow volunteers were filmed in the background of the next season of CBS's "The Amazing Race". Things always look more exotic with Americans in the background.

-My friends Tim and Jolene have a new family of Scientologist missionaries who have moved into their neighborhood. I haven't met them yet but Tim and Jolene both agree that they are nice. (side note: Tim and Joelne greet everyone!)

-Niger's League Nationale de la Baseball announced that opening day will coincide with MLB's opening day and due to time differences the first pitch here will be thrown about 5 hours prior to the first pitch in America. The LNB has also begun plans to enter the next World Baseball Classic.

-The Nigerien government and French venture capitalists have finished the first trans-Nigerien high speed rail system which runs parallel to the Route Nationale from Niamey in the west to Diffa in the east. The trip from Niamey to Maradi used to take me between 10 – 16 hours and average time of trial runs on the new rail system are around 5 – 6 hours.

-In an unprecedented policy change that volunteers have dubbed "No Volunteer Left Behind", Peace Corps Niger has decided that volunteers would be more efficient with laptops and have started bringing laptops and generators to the volunteers without electricity in their villages. It shouldn't cost that much money because we will probably just be buying gas that's been illegally smuggled from Nigeria.

It's been a busy busy few weeks here in Niger and I hope everyone reading has had a great first few months of the year. As always, I hope to get another update as soon as possible, but technology in Niger 'tis funny sometimes.

To all of my family and friends in America, my family and friends in Niger greet you and wish you a happy April Fool's Day.

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UPDATE: 04.16.2008

Click here for more information.

Sharo

As cold season transitions into hot season the Fulani in my area start preparing for Sharo. Traditionally the Fulan are pastoralists and therefore spread out over a broad area and several tribes will come together for Sharo. Sharo is a test of a young mans bravery and ability to endure pain, rendering the young man very attractive to the ladies. In some places, I'm told, they take turns hitting an "opponent" usually from a rival tribe. That's not quite what I saw.

I'm not entirely sure how to describe what was seen, but I hope the pictures help. It was a bit overwhelming. I saw several scars from past years but only saw one boy actually being hit. These pictures are from the trip Daryn, Tim, and I took on February 8th. Katie and I went back two weeks later but I didn't have my camera. Maybe Katie will let me steal the pictures from her camera--or, better yet, check her blog and photos of the February, 22 Sharo.

Well, here are my pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/william.e.jones/FulanSharoStickBeating

Tonight the poeple from the first Ag/NRM stage of 2008 will swear in. Congratulations, you will soon be full-fledged volunteers!

I'm heading back to Maradi on Sunday and will try to get one more post up tomorrow.

Take care and thanks for reading.