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.

----

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.

More Pictures!

[forgot to post this at the end of January]

As promised, here are the photos that were taken in Vicky's village. Enjoy!

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

Well, I'm getting on a bus at 4:30 am heading back out to Maradi. I plan to head out the next day and get back to the village.

While you are all watching the Super Bowl I'll be preparing for a radio show for the 4th.

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

Barka Da Sabon Shekara (Happy New Years)

I hope y'all had a great holiday season and I missed being there terribly, but we managed here.  I'm headed back to my village tomorrow and I just wanted to let everyone know what has been going on in my (our) world.

 

If you've been reading, you'll remember that I went into Niamey at the beginning of December to prepare for In-Service Training at the training site in Hamdallaye.  IST was supposed to run from the 5^th – 17^th.  It was so good to see all of my fellow stagieres and the training staff. 

 

On the 10^th of December we receive word that a land mine was run over in Maradi and the explosion injured several people.  The driver died the following day from his injuries.  The Bureau acted and we were all put on Standfast (read: stay where you are).  For those of us at the training site, this meant we would continue doing exactly what we were doing… training.

 

The next day we wake up and hear reports that a second landmine was hit late on the 10^th, this time in Tahoua. 

 

We find out we will be on Standfast until at least the 18^th which is the Republic Day celebration.  The celebration was in Tahoua and was without incident.

 

In Dosso about two weeks before these incidents there was allegedly a land mine found undetonated at a petroleum depot.  Reports are mixed about the validity of this incident and if it did take place whether or not it was staged. 

 

On the 19^th, two men were discovered while trying to lay a land mine north of Zinder.  The land mine was never armed and was dismantled before doing any harm. 

 

Standfast was lifted on the 21st and nothing else has happened.

 

It is my understanding that no one ever claimed responsibility for these incidents and it was never proven that there was a link between any of these incidents.  This is by no means an exhaustive report and if you are itching for more information I encourage you to do some research. 

 

Niger has a history of peace and no precedent for large scale political violence. Throughout all of this I never once felt as if I were in danger.  So, if you were worried about me before… worry the same amount (no more, no less) and if you weren't worried about me before, stand the course.

 

During this time, we also celebrated Tabaski.  None of us at IST were able to spend Tabaski in our villages, which is a bummer, but the training staff made sure we didn't miss out completely.  Tabaski was described by our training manager as, "Bigger than Christmas".  From what I could see it was a huge deal.  People traveled to be with their families.  They've been fattening up rams for months.  Everyone is wearing new clothes.  If people don't eat meat any other day of the year, the eat meat for Tabaski.  It's a big deal, meat is expensive.

 

We were able to get three rams.  Those that cared to watch, watched the staff "prepare" the rams.  I was there and I took too many pictures.  Probably won't post too many of those, a bit graphic.

 

I spent Christmas in Niamey.  All of the people from our stage had a Secret Santa gift exchange and I received an awesome new button up shirt made from local fabric.  You will see soon enough in pictures because this brings my total shirt count to somewhere around seven.

 

New Years I spent in Maradi which was also a lot of fun and I've been waiting on my shuttle since then.  Today, I did have a meeting with the other MCD volunteers in Maradi at the Eastern Regional Office about project ideas.  It went really well. 

 

Fun note:  Several people went out to eat tonight and we all had on jackets and were complaining of the cold.  It couldn't have been any colder than 60-65 and was probably closer to 70.  Barka da parka!

 

I'm running out of steam typing (sorry, I'm out of practice) and I want to thank everyone who sent packages, Halloween cards, Thanksgiving cards, Christmas cards, or cards for no reason.  It means so much to be able to read what those of you at home are thinking.  Also they all have the tendency to arrive at the same time.  So, I celebrate all of my holidays at once.  Thanks!