I Love This Country

There's nothing I love more than lying on my millet stock bed, in my mud house...with my stomach aching like crazy...going to my hole, err bathroom, every few minutes...feeling like I'm going to vomit. All this knowing I have to walk 2 hours the next morning to catch a bush taxi...to get to Niamey...to see my doctor. Too sick to cook I was eating up all the granola bars that just came in a care package from my dear Grandma. Oh, and Nigeriens pounding on my door all day and night Tuesday to greet and bless me on my health. And its 110 degrees. Amoebic Dysentery, Bacteria, and bleeding from the intestines, aka shitting blood. I love this country.

Other than thinking I'm dying, what have I been up to? A few weeks ago Barbara and Elyse came out to my village to help me paint a world map on my school. Went well, got the map painted. Unfortunately, when they were around my gas tank was having some problems, well not really working at all. So the solution? We cooked over a 3-rock stove. I kind of felt like a circus act as what felt like the entire village came to watch me cooking over fire. But we were still able to make pretty normal food: tuna samosas, zhatar bread, tortillas, potato chips. And since I just bought a dutch oven, I was able to make bread! My villagers were all doubting me when I was putting it in, but an hour later it was like magic- a loaf of bread came off the fire!



Anything else? I painted the door on my house lavender. My villagers are jealous and even want their door painted too. See new pictures I've posted. So, as soon as my stomach returns back to a normal state I'm getting out of Niamey and back to the life au village.

Another day in their life??

Well it's been a tough couple of days. When I came to Babagade just over a year ago my first morning I walked out my door and there was a baby naming ceremony, (ie baptism) in full swing. My neighbor, Ramatou, was the mom of a new baby, Umu. Since little Umu was born the same time I got to the village I often followed her growing up over the past year. We even celebrated her first birthday a few weeks ago.

This past week Tuesday afternoon as I was leaving my house another friend told me that i should go to see Ramatou as her daughter is sick. I don't think there was anything anyone could have told me to prepare me as I walked into her house for what I was about to see: Ramatou was holding Umu in her lap as Umu's eyes were rolling around and she was constantly moaning. As I choked back tears, Ramatou let me know that Umu had only been sick since the Tuesday before. Within 2 hours, Umu had died. Ramatou, probably in her late 30's, has given birth to 9 children, now only 5 are living.

The funeral was equally shocking. The men took the body almost immediately to bury in the cemetery. The women sat in the house and grieved while the men sat in a group outside. They grieved through the night and the next morning, but by 10 am or so it was back to life as usual. Not a single person shed a tear, including Ramatou. In fact, the women of my village told me that if Ramatou would have cried other villagers would have insulted her. Is that really fair, a women isn't allowed to cry over her own child's death? It was by far one of the saddest sights seeing a suffering child, but nearly equally shocking the way death is just another day in their life.

back to da bush

After being in Niger for a while, my sense of compassion became oddly dulled.... dirty, naked, hungry children, began to seem sort of normal, and the filth and frustration of the poorest country in the world seemed less shocking. Returning from America allowed me to see it with the eyes of the first world, again. The compassion in my heart grew in my first week as I saw the children's torn clothing( or none at all), their malnourished distended bellies, and their toys consisting of dead rats and cow dung as play-doh. Instead of seeing my friends, my home, I could see Niger for what it is: one of the poorest countries in the world. Seeing the poverty with fresh eyes had reinspired me and gave my projects a new importance.

Unfortunately...sometimes, I wonder if this place can possibly change. I received such a warm welcome when I returned from America, and I was excited to work on my projects. So just a few days after being back I tried to round up the men to do work with the gum arabic trees. After an hour, only 4 men came. What? In a village of over 1000 people there are only 4 capable men? The other men, all sitting around idly, even had the audacity to ask where the money is that I brought for them from America because "America has money."

So if "the developing world" continue to bring them food aid, water pumps, health care, etc. will they ever change and work for themselves or just keep on waiting?

Aside from my frustrations, it's been a great couple of weeks back in the village. I didn't sleep much, since everyone in the entire village came to greet me. Additionally, shortly after I got back my next door neighbor got married (bride: age 15, husband: age 30+?). The celebration brought lots of people from the area to my village, as well as three nights of blaring crazy music and 3 days of random people wanting to see my house. And what do you do at a Nigerien wedding? You eat! Dance! Give money!! Women sit around gossiping and every few minutes more food gets passed around. For 3 days. It was fun, and everyone was happy. With a new bride and groom they decorate the house and give them furniture, dishes, and hang cloth on the wall. The new bride even got a chandelier!





My projects have picked up, so I've been busy planting Moringa with the women, tapping gum arabic trees with the men, and working with the school for GLOBE (environmental education). About 2 weeks ago I figured out that only 1 out of 12 girls in the 6th grade class can read/write. The literacy reports say that about 15% of girls in Niger can read. But in the bush, i wouldnt be surprised if that number was more like 1-2%, as I don't know a single older woman in my village that is literate. What to do? I'm trying to organize a literacy group with the school girls. Sadly, they just don't have the time to come, since the parents make them stay home to get the housework done. I'm trying to figure out incentives to have them show up at my house....any ideas?

I also saw a piece of wildlife....

....a crocodile!! look closely

I'm in Niamey for a couple days to load up on project supplies then back to the bush on weds....

The Good and Bad

It feels so good to be back!....well, almost.

So to start things up....A BIG THANKS to everyone who donated to my Women's Millet Grinder...the proposal is filled!!! Just getting ready to head back to my village and start up with some serious meetings. Get the house built for the new millet grinder then in a matter of a few weeks my women's group leader and I will be making the purchase. So thanks to everyone for their support!!

And the bad? Well, there was a landmine yesterday in the capital, Niamey. Actually within a few kilometers from the Peace Corps hostel. Creepy? yes.
Read about it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7178529.stm

The creepier part is that no one has claimed responsibility for this landmine, or the others that were set in December. Yesterday we weren't allowed to leave the hostel for a few hours, then were only allowed to go places by foot. But today, it's life back to normal.

So back from America with probably 50 pounds of dried fruit, thanks to my mama. And lots of other food, after all who knows when I'll see a place like Costco again till the end of my service?! I even took some pictures of the grocery store: eggs, milk, chickens and produce. I'll try to explain the concept of how we buy stuff from the grocery stores. A little bit bizarre?

I put up some of Lauren's pictures on my Flickr website. Unfortunately, when I was robbed, all my pictures from the last 6 months or so were stolen with my camera. So those will never go up. But for now, I'll leave with a picture Lauren took: my friend's 8-month old baby chewing on a raw chicken head, right after it was cut off the chicken we were about to eat. Someone get these babies pacifiers! Normal? Lauren didn't think so. I don't even know anymore!

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