HELP ME!!!!....s'il vous plait HELP!!!!

When I left for Niger last january everyone kept asking how they can help out, what they can send, and what they could do for me. So....here it is for ya! My next project is to bring a millet grinder for my village...so I'm asking everyone's help for the money to get it.

It's even tax-deductible. So it's easy, click here to donate now!



So, what will the millet grinder do for the village? Nigeriens use millet/corn/sorghum as a flour, so women spend the majority of their day pounding grains for their family into flour by hand in the scorching heat. This grinder will take an enormous amount of labor off the shoulders of the village women and girls. In addition to less labor, it will free up the time of the younger girls who have pounding obligations and are not able to attend school. There will be a women's group starting a business, which will allow them to use the profits to fund other projects for the village.


So how much to donate? Well, the total cost of the grinder is $2201. Allah will be pleased if you donate a mere 10% of your yearly income to get this filled ASAP. Okay, kidding, but any help will be greatly appreciated! Remember: Santa is coming soon.




















So, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. And remember, tax-deductible!

The Land of Plenty: Bacon...Chocolate.... Ice Cream

I guess a "quick" blog to wrap up the last few months in Niger.....starting with October....

~The end of Ramadan came and ended with a big fete au village. It felt like Christmas: everyone bought new outfits and shoes, braided their hair extra nicely and got their feet/hands henna'd.....then walked around the village all day to show it off while saying "happy new year." It was a fun day though, all of the women in my concession ate a potluck lunch together, each women cooked up a different version of rice and sauce. Although everyone told me the dish i brought wasn't good. The pound of salt i added wasn't enough....so the key to Nigerien cooking: nothing matters as long as its tastes like salt.

~towards the end of October i participated in a Guinea Worm week. So first off what is Guinea Worm? Its a parasite that enters the body from drinking water infected with the larvae. About a year or two after after contracting the parasite the worm will pop out of some part of your body. Most likely the ankles/legs but could be anywhere, even out of an eye! Its painful as its leaving the body, takes a week or so to entirely come out. And as its coming out you have to wind it around a stick or something, kind of imagine a long spaghetti noodle coming out of your leg over a painful one week. So I spent the week in a different village about 30k in the bush doing skits, and demonstrations raising consciousness about Guinea Worm.

~In the beginning of November I traveled out east a few hours to Konni. Went out for a Moringa training. If Allah wills it, in January the women in my village will start a moringa plantation in my village. So what is "moringa"? Its the "miracle" tree to which you eat the leaves containing tons of nutrients: vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and protein.

~Had my first international guest visit, Lauren! In a quick 4 days we bush taxi'd it to my village and back, saw some giraffes and rode camels. Even tasted the gastronomy of Niger, slime sauce!

~After thanksgiving i went out to Barbara's village and we painted a world map on her school. On the outside, probably about 8x6 feet. Hopefully villagers will be able to learn about where Niger, America and Africa are all located!

~After heading back to my villager for a few days I popped over to the city of Tillaberi for a day to do a radio show, in zarma. Kate and I talked about trees, soil in the fields, and using trees as a natural pesticide. My villagers were so excited to here the name of our village on the radio that i don't think they even learned anything from the whole show.

And finally I'm back to the land of plenty, America. This place really has everything....bacon, flowers, pig, chocolate, ice cream, meat. And its so convenient to eat! I left Niger a little bit early due to some civil unrest in the country, so I'm in New York until Thurs, Seattle from Dec. 20 till Jan 4, new york again then back to Niger on the 6th. With leaving early my entire village was yelling at me for not telling them I was planning to go to America so soon. "Kadija, we would have given you okra, and sesame, and peanuts, and sorghum and millet to give to your family! Now they will see you and say how hungry Niger is. They will think Niger's food is not tasty. And since you never told us you were leaving, we never henna'd your hands or feet, or braided your hair!" When a chicken is eaten in my village they share it between 40-50 people. But they even wanted to give me some chickens for my family of 7! Needless to say, I showed up in America without a suitcase of food, and no chicken. What do they want in return? I was told by the older men of the village I need to ask my dad to get money to buy them an American cow to bring back for the village.....

America IS great, hope to catch up with everyone while I'm home.....

War or Peace?

Originally uploaded by lulum1032

An injustice has occured.

When I left America last January given our "Mc" last names Matt McCue and I were seated next to eachother on the airplane. We both shared the same excitement of coming to Niger and talked about what the next two years of our life would bring. Matt was an Iraq war vet but when he returned he became a passionate agriculturist and an active anti-war campaigner. In mid-September Farms Not Arms flew Matt back to the states to speak about his experience of being a returned war vet turned agriculturist. About a month later Matt was reissued orders to return to Iraq. Coincidence?

So sadly enough Matt left Niger last night, but hopes to fight his way not back to Iraq. Is it really fair to pull a current Peace Corps volunteer who is already serving their country for peace to pull them out for war?

How do we explain to our villagers that we are here to promote peace when we pull them out to fight in a war.

So, a fellow PCV has written up a petition to attempt to bring attention to his cause:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/14951.html

Also here's a link to an article Matt wrote on the Farms Not Arms website:
http://www.farmsnotarms.org/statements/one_soldier%60apos%60s_story.aspx

Another Month in Review

It's getting more and more difficult to write on my blog...what to write about??
So here's another rundown of some random stories of the village for the past few weeks:

~Ramadan has begun, 30 days of fasting. It's been exhausting for me in the village as people really don't understand Islam here and have difficulty differentiating culture/religion. I'm constantly explaining to people why I don't fast or pray. Sometimes people just nod their head at me saying they understand when I try to explain it. One of my villagers is constantly telling me to take her daughter, Leila, to America. I knew she understood the concept of praying, however, when she looked at me in fear and asked "Kadija, if you take Leila to Amerik, she won't pray?" Nope. "OH, okay don't take her!"



~As much as I try, some things are nearly impossible to explain to my villagers. Each farming season Nigeriens work in the fields to harvest their own food for the year and store it. As they are aware Americans don't really eat millet, my villagers are constantly asking me what Americans plant. Corn? Peanuts? Okra? Well sort of, there's just no way to explain it that if we need something we buy it, and that most Americans don't farm. Not only do we not farm, I've never planted anything in my life, besides those pumpkins.



~Another thing I tried to explain is the concept of plumbing in a house. When I say each house has a pump in America, they tell me they understand, probably assuming one pump faucet outside. "When you need to use the bathroom you sit down on a little seat with a bowl of water underneath it. When you're done, you push a little button and it all disappears and more water comes out!" Yes, God is big!



~The amount of respect I get here being an American is nearly unexplainable. The men never did the work on the gum arabic trees back in June. So I shamed them. Standing in front of 20+ middle aged men: "I came here because people said the men of Babagade Koira have a lot of effort. [cheers] But, you never did the tree work, you don't have the effort. People in Niamey and neighboring villages asked me if my villagers got the work done, I said no. Not even a little." And that's all it took, they spent 3 days out in the field and got all (500??) trees pruned within that week.



~World Vision recently did a food drop in my village. Most villagers received a soy/corn blend and oil. ""Kadija, did you get your oil?" First everyone kept trying to give me some of their oil, and then they were demanding I go get my own oil. I just couldn't really explain why I wasn't taking the free oil. I tried telling them if I want oil I buy it at the market. They told me I don't pay for this oil, it's free. Okay, if I take your oil, you won't receive any. That didn't work either; they told me there's enough for everyone. I think I was finally able to explain it to them but most people still didn't agree. And 3 days later when I came back from market with oil I bought, "Kadija, why did you buy oil? We have oil to give to you!" Generous is definitely a word to describe a Nigerien.



~One of my villagers braided my hair so I told her I would cook dinner for her since all of my villagers are constantly asking me to cook for them. So she came over my house at about 8:45 and I asked if she was hungry, if her daughter was eating. Yes. She said she will go and come, when she came back, she said she was tired; she was going to go to bed. "No, you are not going to bed, you need to eat. I just cooked for you!" Figuring that since it was hunger season I would treat her to a large bowl of pasta, since that is a luxury item for them. So after cooking up nearly an entire bag of pasta I made a basic alfredo sauce. When we started eating, she took one bite, and said she was full. "No you are not full; you have not eaten at all." I was extra frustrated given that Zarma is such a basic language, and the only way to describe how you feel is the word "happy." I am happy, I am not happy. My blood was boiling as she pretended to eat, while actually refusing to swallow a bite. I tried to explain that, in America, it's polite to eat the food even if we don't like it. I explained that if I'm at her house, I still eat her slime sauce and say its tasty! But she still refused to eat. After nearly a half hour of demanding she eat, I eventually made her leave. I haven't cooked for anyone since! And when she asks me to take her to America, I can now just say she will never go to America because she won't eat American food and will get sick. "Oh but Kadija, I like American food." Okay it's true, she only had one dish. But if its not Nigerien style they might not like it!

This week another group of PCV's have sworn-in so I'm here for the week. Tonight I'm headed to the GAD dinner/auction then hopefully back to post by Saturday...

Doo-Rags

My mom accidentally bought me a doo-rag for Xmas instead of buying a bandanna, it was even Harley Davidson brand. She never showed/gave it to me but told me about it. But it recently showed up in my latest care package. I laughed as I opened it up and had been wearing it around the Peace corps hostel for a few days when only one person had said anything to me about how ridiculous it was. Finally I wore it to the GLOBE conference on Wednesday. Keeping in mind this is a Muslim country so everyone prefers to have their hair covered. I took it off half way through the day and my counterpart asked me why I took it off, keeping in mind this is a Muslim country so everyone prefers to have their hair covered. I tried to explain that it's not my style, but he kept telling me how pretty it is. Whoa whoa, pretty? Not quite the word I would use for it. Then I tried to explain to him that this is for a certain type of person in the states, many of them drive motorcycles. His face lit up and he started smiling at me telling me how great it was and to put it back on. That's when I realized his viewpoint of it: the only people in Niger that own motorcycles are the wealthiest that have the funds to buy it. Moral of the story? Don't wear doo-rags and try to explain the motorcycle culture of America, it doesn't' work. Here's the link to check out the definition of doo-rag's on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-rag

On a another note, Piper's counterpart's wife had a baby last week. Because he was at the GLOBE conference during the birth, he will be naming the girl "Globe". Normal. Hopefully I can meet baby Globe in the near future.

Brochettes

Last night Brittany and I went out to a bar to listen to a band play, meeting Brittany's school teacher, Iliayasu, out. . After eating out the other night we found out he does occasionally drink alcohol so we thought it would be fun to meet him out. So when we got there he had already been there and had already bought our tickets, 500 CFA. So after ordering a few beers I had wanted some food. I ordered 2 brochettes(i.e. meat on a stick) and some fries. Then I heard him add 1 brochette to the order, thinking that was a bit odd. Normally if you order brochettes you order anywhere between 5-10, so I couldn't' figure out why he wanted only one. So when the food came, I gave him the plate with the 1 brochette on it he had ordered. But he didn't want it, Iliayasu had already eaten. After a lot of confusion, he finally explained he decided to add 1 to my order so I will eat more to get fatter. After being irritated and trying not to show it, i felt pressured to eat all of the food, which means his plan worked! He was demanding to pay, but of course I paid for myself. So today, I am 250 CFA down and a little bit fatter.

Tables and Chairs

People ask me all the time what it is I miss most about America. The food? The people? The transportation? The music? Well, it’s none of these. It’s the act of eating dinner. You sit at a chair with a table in front of you at elbow height. You have a plate, with a little napkin folded next to it. On it is a fork, knife and a spoon. Behind the plate there is a glass of water, with ice. Generally there are people around to stimulate conversation. Then to top it all off, a glass of wine. Instead, I sit in my mud brick house on a stool. Eating out of the same bowl that I cooked in, out of a spoon. To the sounds of babies crying and my neighbors new radio blasting that he brought back from Nigeria. Oh the luxuries.

GLOBE

So this week I'm in town for GLOBE. GLOBE is in 109 different countries and focuses in environmental education. Since Niger didn't have the funding for GLOBE they asked 2 peace corps volunteers to take it over. So this week they've put on a conference for about 10 PCV's and their Nigerien counterpart. It's been really interesting to see how educated Nigeriens learn, which is a lot different then Americans. They are constantly getting in fights over the smallest things. For example, we tried to play a game of jeopardy and their were constant fights over every single answer. They had to get every answer word for word. So it's been kind of a long week but interesting to see the Americans versus the Nigeriens.

It's not very often that my school teacher from my village gets to come to Niamey, much less I don't think he's ever eaten in a restaurant. We thought we would take them out for some American food: hamburgers and fries. By American standards they might be the most disgusting hamburgers but by ours they are delicious! Each of our teachers seemed to enjoy the food however they saw pool tables and kept asking about them. Barbara and I were a little bit exhausted and kept saying that we didn't know how to play and its very difficult. However they were so curious we figured we would play the game. As they watched the 500 CFA go into the game, they both nearly fell over in shock knowing that the money could probably feed their families for a week. But they were so excited about the game, but struggled with the concepts of hitting the ball. Both teachers were poking it like a stick as Barbara and I both tried to explain and had a good laugh. By the end I think they had figured out that you need to support your stick with a bridge made by your hand and probably got more balls in than both Barbara and I combined! It was fun as I feel like I'm always learning their culture and nearly explaining a small piece of American culture that they could finally see the types of games Americans play.

So, on another note, for some reason my blog doesn't have my Gotheye address posted, so here it is:
Lulu McCourt, PCV
Corps de la Paix
Gotheye, Niger
West Africa

Also I changed where my pictures are being posted as I've had some trouble:
http://www.flickr.com/lulum1032
And I finally got some pictures up of Niamey, the city of....sand. Keep in mind, however, its difficult to take pictueres in teh cities and Nigeriens were yelling at me when i took these. "Bring money" is all I kept hearing. So they were more me just snapping my camera. If I get more opportunities I'll take some again....

English, Zarma, French or Hausa?

Last night a couple of us went out for some beers. When it was time to come home it was about 1ish in the morning so Joey and I went to catch a cab. When we got in we were the only two people in the taxi, but in Niger it is custom to share cabs and taxi drivers pick up other people on the way. So, the cab driver was stopping for other guys at the bar when 2 really drunk guys came up. I was asking the taxi driver "Please, could we just go, they are very very drunk. Let's just go." He kind of kept waiting and talking to the guys but finally drove off. Eventually we reached the Peace Corps hostel and we give him the cost of the taxi, 800 CFA. He stops the car and says that is not enough, and that we agreed on 1000CFA each. We had never agreed on 1000 CFA, however, he finally says it was our "friends" at the bar, aka, the drunk guys, that said 1000 CFA. The three embassy guards are there trying to calm this guy down, sticking up for Joey and I the entire time. So, after nearly a half hour of arguing between us, 5 people against the cab driver, the guards had us go inside the hostel. 10 minutes later as I was going to bed I still heard the guy arguing it out with the guards. And with all that, he never even accepted the money we offered him.

So here was the problem of the argument: none of us spoke the same language. Joey and I speak English to each other. I could speak Zarma and French to the guards and cab driver. And Joey could speak Hausa to the cab driver and guards. So, in a normal setting this would get settled quick. But instead, it was like a circle of people yelling stuff back and forth, with the language changing by the sentence.

Joey and I kind of laughed our way through it at times though, come on, how many times are you arguing with a cab driver in Africa in 4 different languages?!?!

In other news, I'm now going to start using Flickr for photos, so heres the new url:



I updated today and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to get some pictures of Niamey up....A bientot!

A Month in Brief

This time in Niamey I thought I'd give a quick brief of random stories of the last month. Here goes:

~Rainy season is in full swing and its sweet. Its cooled down drastically and once or twice I've even felt "cold". I even had this convo with my dad:
Father: It's real hot here in Seattle today, it's about 90 degrees
Me : Yea, it's really cold here in Niger today, it's about 90 degrees.

~I've washed my hair 3 times since the last post. What else? Last market day i showed up in my shark pants, tie dyed shirt, a white bandana and le sports sac purse. I looked normal by Nigerien clothes standards and the other 2 PCVs didn't' even say anything about how ridiculous i looked. Normal.

~I waited 4 1/2 hours for a bush taxi on Saturday. When it finally came, I had a chicken running all over my feet. It was comfortable, only about 15 people in the car.

~My villagers keep patting my butt telling me how great it is that it's getting so big and I'm getting fatter. They're so excited for me to go back to Amerik fat to tell people how much I ate because Niger has so much food. I've been on a diet ever since.

~Hard to diet though, my vegetable intake of the last month has consisted of 3 cans of vegetables. Fruits? A couple mangoes each market day (1x/week) and a little dried fruit. That leaves just carbs and protein that I eat. Keeping in mind my protein is peanut butter/milk powder....yummmmmm

~Over 20 women were doing work on my house. Since when the men did repairs I cooked they were all asking if I'd cook again. I decided not to since their were way too many people and i didn't have enough food stashed up. They did however, keep working. So the women's work was putting sand in my concession, and their method was dancing around. I figured it was a good time to hand out the candy I picked up at market. So I came out of my house with the bag as soon as they saw it every single person stopped dancing and threw their hands up in the air while cheering . Who would have thought all it takes is 1 bag of candy to make over 20 women that happy after working for over 2 hours?!

~I've been peed on twice by babies.

So there it is, highlights of my month. I said random. As for work? Ive done meetings with the men/women of Babagade, however its like a ghost village right now as every one's out planting tehir fields. So much that they bring temporary houses to live in till the millet/crops grow. I guess on the plus side theirs a lot fewer babies crying in the middle of the night. But the goats, cows, sheep, chickens, and guinea fowl are still here, (and don't shut up)....

So its back to the bush for a week, then I'll be in Niamey for about a week in training for the GLOBE project...more details to come.

36 1/2

Imagine spring rolls, filled with nearly all meat. A whole tray of them. Plate after plate. 36 1/2 to be exact. That was the final number of "Chinois Nems" consumed by each Barbara and me.

We had a nems eating competition. Keep in mind a normal meal for a person would be somewhere between 6-12 nems, depending on your hunger. So 4 of us started out, talking all the shit we could about how many we could stomach. 2 people dropped out at 21, saying they were in training for the next time. At 33, I went to order another tray of 6, the cooks of the restaurant looked at me and said "No more, you have eaten too much! Enough. Why are you causing problems? You are finished!" Although they were joking around, they unfortunately brought another tray. And we finished it. Barbara and I officially ate 36 1/2 nems. Beat that.

It wasn't so bad until the taxi ride home. In Niger they pick up other people and you share taxis. So as if the bumps in the roads weren't enough, next thing I knew I was squished between Barbara and a large Nigerien women in the backseat. Thankfully I didn't puke, however we kept saying "We are not in health!" and when we got out he came to open our door for us.

Now we both sit here feeling dizzy, sickly full, and wanting to vomit.

As my sister said it, "It's like you ate 3 feasts!"

Yea, something like that.

Tying up the loose ends....

Okay, to tie up some loose ends, this blog entry will be scattered, but theres a lot of questions i get asked, so here's to understanding my life just a little bit more. First off, where do i live in Niger? Near the city of Gotheye, its about 80 km east of Niamey, across the river. I live north, about 28 km North of Gotheye. If you see Tillabery on the map, I'm more or less across the river. Look it up.
You can check out google maps:


My sister just informed me you can check out Google earth (or something) and see my village on it, so let me know....


A lot of people have been asking what I do on a daily basis in the bush. Here goes:

7:00 AM Wake up to the sun shining in my face. Or my villagers banging on my door to say good morning. And the occasional kids peeping their heads through my windows staring. Eat breakfast(oatmeal). Take a quick bucket bath.

7:30 AM Open up the door to my house, greet everyone that comes by, which is every 2-3 minutes. Sweep my house. Sweep the sand in my concession.

8:15 AM Walk to the well. Wait at the well. Pump water. Put the bucket on my head and walk back to my house.

9:15 AM Relax! Close my door, sit on a mat, read a book!

10:00 AM Walk around the East half of my village. Sit down with people, chat. What do we talk about? The heat, the wind, the fact that I came and sat. How I'm getting fatter. Their kids. Their pounding. Their millet.

1:00 PM Go back to my house. Cook up some pasta for lunch. Or eat with my villagers for lunch. RELAX! Enjoy some reading time. take an afternoon nap. Wake up sweating. Embrace the heat because after all, i could be in Mongolia!

4:00 PM Walk around the rest of my village, chatting the day away. Go to the well again if needed.

7:00 PM Return home for dinner. Cook up more pasta/rice.

8:30 PM If I have a lot of energy, go for a night walk. Dance with the women. Drink tea with the men.

10:00 PM SLEEP. That's a late night though, some nights I'm in bed by 8!

So far this is a typical day, until now. Before I was just practicing my Zarma, which is coming along. Sometimes my days include weddings, baby naming ceremonies, or going to market. Sometimes I'll go to the school and play with the schoolkids. However, now that I am much more proficient in Zarma, I can begin my work in Niger. Since my work is anything to do with the environment, I can do any projects the village needs! So, as of next week I am going to hold a meeting with the men of my village about the gum arabic trees. Hopefully, the village men will prune the men now, then come cold season I will teach them how to tap the trees for gum arabic. Right now Senegal is exporting 90% of the gum arabic that is used in products such as coke, soap and candy. So, this leaves plenty of room for Niger to get in the market and sell since it is the perfect climate to grow gum arabic trees.

That's my first project. In the coming weeks I am also planning on holding a meeting with the women to find out their needs of the village, and brainstorm ideas for projects we can work on together. Hopefully I'll be starting a literacy/numeracy class in the coming weeks, as a lot of the women are interested. So, I guess to answer the question of when I will start work? My work is any projects i choose to do with my villagers, ideally to deal with the environment.

On another note, this past Saturday was African Children's day. World Vision in Gotheye through a party for the kids, complete with millet sack races, egg on a spoon, and other songs the kids were singing. It was great to see adults pay so much attention to kids in a society where kids become adults too soon.

To change subjects once again, someone recently asked me about eating with my villagers. Well, the general protocol for meals here is the women cook the food and the men eat it. Men eat separately from women, yet women sometimes eat with kids, too. Its generally just rice and sauce on a platter-like dish, placed on a mat on the ground. 5-7 people eat together, scooping it out with their hands. And my villagers love to laugh at me since I still haven't quite mastered eating with my hand, my right hand that is. The left hand is left to take care of "food when your body has finished with it", aka, poop. Yep, learn it live it love it, no toilet paper in the bush.

So to round this out, I'll repeat a quick conversation i had the other week with a friend in America:

Friend: Lulu, how often do your clothes get washed?
Me: Well, as often as i want!
Friend: WOW! That's great! Often! Well, why??? How??
Me: As often as i want to go to the well to fetch the extra water to wash my clothes with!

Also, i put up a few more pictures. Unfortunately Internet is as slow as dial-up, so they are time consuming....maybe in August ill get more up when I'm in town for a while. But the link is on the right. Till next time....

Orange Sherbet in a Bag

One day Brittany and I decided to head out of my village. In the absence of shade we approached a tree that already had some men and kids playing cards. As we walked toward the tree, we heard a chorus of "Anasara, give me a gift. I want some candy." By nearly everyone, including the adults. Which is unfortunately fairly common to happen outside my village.

Being frustrated, Brittany approached the dude that was provoking it and gave him a little lecture about calling to us just to ask for gifts. I then looked at the kids and said "Give me your shirt, give me your pants, I want your shoes. I want your hat." They started to understand my point. Then I said to another kid "I want your orange ice." So he gave it to me. With looks of shock around me, i ate it. It actually tasted like orange sherbet, in a bag of course. And it was tasty. The kids and men probably didn't expect i would eat it. (Neither did my friends) So finally, to break the silent stares, Brittany's "new friend" she lectured about calling us white people just minutes before bought us each our own orange slushy in a bag to make up for the annoyance.

So, did they learn a lesson? Hopefully, his slushy was half gone by the time i gave it back.

We missed you!

After being gone for three weeks in training it was fun to return back to my village. At the end of my installation meeting in March, Haoua, my boss, had told my villagers that I was meant to become a child of the village. They truly take this to heart and take care of me. When I came back after the 3 weeks everyone had counted to the day how long I was gone. I actually had one of my villagers tell me:

"We don’t want you to leave. We want to see you everyday. When you were gone every car we saw we thought “is it Kadija, is it kadija?” But you didn’t come. You were gone a long time, we missed you."


But not everyone was excited. The 2-year olds were still deathly afraid of me. They still screamed at the top of their lungs and cried when I approached. Afterall, I'm most likely the first white person they've seen. When I was walking around one of the women thought it would be funny to ahnd me a screaming child. I held the boy, who of course had no underwear/pants on, in my arms away from my body as he was kicking in screaming. Next thing I know I am getting sprayed with urine all over my new outfit. Well, I guess this was better then a month ago when the baby I was holding shit all over me. Normal. Just another day au village.

Swimming with amoebas...

there are times that i wish i was sitting at home on my couch, watching tv, eating my mom's chicken noodle soup. those times are whenever I'm sick....i have amoebic dysentery, again....its horrible....pains shooting up your stomach, gas in your stomach, cramping....much less diarrhea constantly! and unfortunately shitting in a hole. just another day in niger. BUT, saw the doc, got some meds, and it's off to the pool...

Marry me?

Here's to a quick example conversation I have with Nigerien men on a regular basis on the topic of: Marriage. Never thought I'd have to deal with marriage proposals, nearly every day. So here's a sample conversation, keeping in mind that Islam allows men up to 4 wives. So they're always looking for more...

Nigerien Male: Hi white person! How'd you sleep?
Me: In health. How's the body?
NM: In health. How's your house?
Me: The house is thankful. How's your wife?
NM: She's thankful. How's your kids?
Me: I don't have any kids.
NM: No kids? Why?
Me: I don't need kids.
NM: You're married?
Me: No.
NM: Great! Let's get married! Take me to America!
Me: No, I don't want you.
NM: Why?
Me: You are ugly!
NM: You're uglier than me! Let's get married.
Me: You don't want me, I don't have strength. I can't pound like the women here and I won't cook for you. I don't know how to sweep. Plus, if you marry me, you must get rid of your other wives.
NM: It's okay, let's get married.
Me: But you have no money. I have a very high bride price.
NM: I have lots of money, let's get married. Take me to America.
Me: If you find 100 camels then I will marry you.
NM: 100 camels! God is BIG! You have truth. Goodbye ugly.

Amerik

One day of teh past few weeks I decided it's time to bring America to Babagade Koira. I started with showing teh pictures I brought. My villagers were mostly interested in staring at my parents. When they saw teh picture of my three sisters and I, they had no idea which one i was, picking me out last. I guess i did have short, straight, clean hair. Later I brought out a few magazines to try to emplain that Americans like to be thin. Instead everyone was shocked to see legs/stomach. When they saw a picture of a girl in a bikini everyone kept saying "That's not good". The difficulty is explaining to my villagers that they dress teh way they do because they're Islamic, and that the entire world doesn't dress like taht.
Next on the trip to America is corn. I thought corn was universal: you eat it. Nigeriens, however, eat corn by pounding it to a flower, cooking it, then adding an okra (slime) sauce. Not exactly culinary delight. So, I bought a couple cans of corn from the annasara grocery store and cooked tehm up. When people saw it, they stared and once again, "God is BIG!" Yet, they all had me laughing when they tasted it. Some even spit it out they hated it so much. And they eat it nearly everyday. Noraml.
A few days later men were doing work on my house. As a treat I figure I'd pass around the bag of gummi bears my Grandma sent me. The first problem was in explaining the "bear" to them, since they don't exist here. The 40-60 year old men were so excited they nearly attacked me for them. Some spit them out, some were totally amazed by them.
After the gummi bears teh women in my concession were insisting I had to feed all teh men lunch. I kept ignoring them knowing I didnt' have to. But finally one fo the chief' wives (he has 3) handed me an enormous pot and serving tray. So, I went to my house and announced to teh men I'll be cooking an American lunch. There were so excited they finished the work quickly in anticipation. I cooked up a bush version of spinach tuna casserole and watched them eat, all 11 of them. Except for one, they all liked it and told everyone in the village about the "American meal" they ate. Unfortunately, I don't have enough to feed all 1000 villagers that keep demanding i cook for them....

Now it's off to Hamdallaye for more training for a few weeks....which means hamburgers in Niamey on the weekends...

phone/pictures

Okay, first things first, i wrote my cellphone number wrong in the post below, thats my friends number, try this one,

011 227 96 24 61 69

maybe there are errors in the keyboard....

and pictures are up, well started.

http://community.webshots.com/user/lulum1032

right now they are mostly of training, so hopefully i'll get some of my village/house up tomorrow.

the last three days have spent pretty much, eating. so much so that you'd have to pay me to eat a cheeseburger right now, and i haven't eaten anything today. In fact, here's a list of what i ate yesterday: and egg sandwich, 1/2 mango, a yogurt in a bag, a cheeseburger, 2 bowls of ice cream, 4 meat sticks, a plate of fries, and then a quarter of a mango crisp. i guess that means no pool for me today.

A Celebrity Life

Hard to believe for some, but I've pretty much become a celebrity since moving to my village. Everywhere I go people are shouting my name, Kadija, to come sit with them, to pound with the women, to see/hold their babies. Although the celebrity life ends quickly as I'm treated like a non-gendered 9-year old. My villagers walk me to and from my village, constantly bossing me around. When they found out I went swimming in the river, all of my villagers lectured me, "There are animals in the river that will eat you!." I kept explaining that there were many other people bathing in the river, we were a mere few feet from the shore, and I can swim.

Since I'm the first volunteer in my village this first month was spent explaining the mere basics of my life: I have no kids and am not married (Nigerien women marry young and have kids young, ASAP); "I drink special water, it has medicine in it"; "No, I don't want to get fat"(Nigerien women like to be fat, as it shows that their husbands have enough money to eat that much); "No, i don't bathe in the river"; "my name is not white person"; "No i don't pray 5x/day(then they look at me like I'm crazy, as Kadija is the name of Mohammed's first wife). Normally after i explain things, they all just stare at me and say "God is BIG!"

Another chunk of my day is spent talking about the well and going to the well. Each morning i walk out my door with my bucket and everyone that sees me asks if I'm going to pump water. After pumping water my villagers watch as i carry the bucket on my head like I'm a spectacle, even though i look the same as a Nigerien. Then, when i see them later that day they ask me if i went to the well this morning, then they tell me they saw me go to the well. And i go through this every day, normally several times.

Being friends with a white person here is kind of prestigious. My villagers love carting me around and being seen with me. And when they take me somewhere, such as a baby naming ceremony, everyone crowds around me to talk to me. Every single person makes sure they can talk to me, pass me their babies. I'm kind of a big deal.

So, I've just really been hanging out, studying Zarma, and sweating excessively. We're not supposed to start any projects till we've been here 3 months or so, to gain respect from the villagers. Hot season is officially here. It was over 120*, in the shade. I actually happen to live in a place on earth that is the hottest that humans inhabitat. There's nothing like taking an afternoon nap and waking up drenched in so much sweat i feel like i just bathed....

sweet dreams.....

So I had a minute, so I thought I'd write a quick note about the malaria dreams I've been having. They started on the plane, I fell asleep, and thought the plane was going to crash. normal. Then, dreams kept coming. A few days later, Megan O'Reilly popped up. Umm, why is Megan O'Reilly, from fourth grade, in my dream? Megan, if you're out there, you are somewhere in my consciousness. Then recently, I dreamnt I was playing violin in my "love letter" OM skit from 8th grade. I was playing the tango to be exact. Normal? Maybe it's time I invest in a dream dictionary....

Q AND A

so, with the questions i seem to get, i figured id take a little time to do a quick q & a section, here goes

Q:What is a 'bush taxi'?
A: Well, take a van, maybe even the old McCourt Van, put in 4 benches, put 4 adults, minimum, on each bench. Put a few babies on a few of the laps. make sure your luggage is piled on top of your lap. throw a few goats under the seats, chickens in the back, pile enough stuff on top of the van so its at least the height of the van...and voila! you have a bush taxi, which transports us from village to village. wait, did i forget to mention the string on the sides holding the car together? the constant swaying that i sometimes wonder if it will actually make it? the completely cracked out windshield? hopefully this helps, but pictures to come....

Q. What kinds of things do i wear in Niger?
A. skirts down to my ankles, t-shirts, and occasionally head wraps/veils. what do the skirts consist of? fabric i buy at market that i tie around my body. normal.

Q. what do i eat?
A. Rice, beans, millet, tuo(slime sauce,tastes like vomit), rice, pasta(although its "expensive"),peanut butter(excessive amounts), rice, sauce(vegetables cooked so long they have no nutrients, and are just mush),rice, and potatoes. Weirdly enough, my tastebuds are starting to adjust, and i eat anything that comes near me like its normal. Thereare americanish grocery stores here, so it is possible to get luxeries.....at a high price...

and then to round this out, i have a quick story.....Kim, a fellow trainee, decided to take a picture of her latrine, to show her fam back home how small the hole is. so, after the picture was taken, it appeared that there was a man in the latrine, kind of creepy/funny. So she was showing the picture to everyone, including the teachers.We all got a good laugh out of it. The teachers however, did not. Instead, just a few hours after seeing the picture, they made a trip out to her concession, to see the man. They came back, assured her that it wasn't a man, yet just the way the toilet lined up teh toilet paper roles. So they poured gasoline down the hole, just for final verification that a man was not living in the latrine. To top it off, Kim never had a cockroach problem before. but now with the gas in the latrine, they live in the walls.....lost in translation?

okay, im going to try to get pictures up somewhere soon, i keep forgetting to bring my jumpdrive into niamey....one week of training left, and swearin is on friday! this means that in roughly a week im moving out to my village....okay, now im off to the pool for the day....

5 weeks deep...

Fofo! Since coming here ive been renamed Kadija, live on a farm, and eat rice and beans for nearly every meal. normal. coming here i didnt even expect things to be like they are; i didnt expect it to be sand everywhere and no roads, i didnt expect to be a "show" everywhere i go, and i didnt expect the goats and chickens running around my concession, much less the two cows tied to the tree a few feet from my bed.


im five weeks into training now, in some ways i feel like i have too much to write about and in some ways nothing at all. where to start? lets see, minor details, about my stage: there are 36 of us in my stage, all agriculture or natural resource management. right now im living in a host family in hamdallaye, outside of the capital; pc training consists of us going to "camp hamdallaye" everyday?, where we mostly get language training, med training, cross culture training, and ping°pong time. its fun though

"christmas" started yesterday, which was our site announcements....im going to Babagade Kwara(which literally means dad will buy); a village in Gotheye which is relateively close to Niamey. I got lucky though, my village is on water!! After i did my demystication in a village near the water (and very near benin) i was hoping for a village on the river. i can even have my own wooden canoe! so in another week we will be doing a site live-in, ill be living in my village for a week; then back to training for two weeks; then i move in to my village permanetnly. hopefully my language gets better so i can get through more then just the greetings!

Last weekend we got to see giraffes on our tech trip, which was raelly exciting, tehy were just grazing around in the area; also got to ride my first camel, which was fun...

its interesting being an "anasara" (white person) here, because you are stared at and constantly called anasara all the time. my host family loves to just sit and stare at me all teh time, even if im just zriting a letter. i guess white people are some type fo freak show...who knows...

okay, this keyboard is frustrating me and i have to get going soon; my gmail isnt really working here so i cant email anyone; but parents- i hope you get the message that ill be calling you tomorrow! thanks for everyone who wrote me, its fun to get mail here!

-Kadija

It's almost off to Niger....

Well after a hectic day, I'm actually in the final stages of finishing up packing. I might get a couple hours of sleep after all. Although I'm extremely sad to leave Seattle, I'm super excited to head out to Niger later this week. Tomorrow I head out to Philly for a few days of PC training, then it's on to Africa via Paris (unfortunately only three hours there!). I don't know too much about my job quite yet, but the title is Natural Resource Management, doing agricultural work. A big part will be working to create more crop sustainability, since Niger goes through huge periods of drought. I "enjoyed" my last day of this cold, rainy, windy Seattle today as Niger's weather is hot(ranging from 80-120 degrees) and sunny all the time.
After philly the next three months will be spent in a village a little ways outside of the capital with other PC volunteers. I don't know too much about it, but i also won't have internet access until I'm done training, so this won't be updated for a little while. However, I can get mail,

Lulu M, PCV
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 10537
Niamey, Niger

Please send ridiculous amounts. And email too, of course. Well, I'm out for now, I'll miss you all and please keep in touch. This girl's headed to Africa....