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....