Mefloquine Dreaming, on a (hot) Winter's Day!

Hello from Niger!!!! More specifically from Niamey! I'm pretty excited to be writing you since it is not yet March!

I've been in-country for 5 weeks now and life in Niger is pretty good. I have a feeling this is going to be very random, but hopefully you can follow my ramblings to get a brief glimpse of the past month or so....

Hmmm, where to begin. Well as the subject line notes, it is already quite hot here. We are still technically in the cold season, but last week and the week before we were definitely clearing temps of 100 or more. And the mefloquine is regarding the medication most of us are on to prevent us from getting Malaria. Most of us have pretty lucid and bizarre dreams there are other side effects as well, but the dreams are the most noticable.

Let's see, there is so much to tell I don't even know where to start. I have approx 4.5 hours of language training most days, I am learning Hausa, which is coming along slowly but surely (sannu sannu in Hausa). A typical day is spent at the training site (Bisa duci - on the hill) where we have language, tech, medical, and cultural training. We spend evenings with our families. I live with a school teacher and his wife and 3 children (Abduwahab 12, Hacia 8, and Yasinne 1). I also have a hutmate (Ashley). We have our own hut in the concession that we share with our family and three others. It is really small, but is definitely adequate. We have slept outside, under the stars, each night since we arrived in country. It was a litle chilly at first, but we are quickly progressing into the hot season, but it is beautiful and if you don't mind the chickens and donkeys squawking randomly at night and waking up to the 5am call to prayer, I'd say it is the absolute best way to sleep! (You can practically read by the full moon here!)

Even though we have lots of intense classes we also have gotten to spend some time offsite (or away from "camp" as I like to refer to it). At the end of Week 2 we had "Demyst." All of the Hausa speakers went to Konni and we were split into groups of 2 or 3 and then matched up with a current volunteer in the field. I absloutely LOVED my demyst experience, I stayed with a great volunteer, who has an amazing relationship with his town (I demysted in Madoua which is acutally a city of 15000 or so). I got to go to a really large outdoor market (well they're all outdoors here) and went to a traditional wrestling qualifying match. It was a really surreal experience, as I was one of 2 women who got a seat (0ut of about 1000 people in attendence) and the organizers of the event made Chris (my demyster) and Lachlan (fellow trainee) sit in the fron row along with the regional governors and dignitaries. I have never been as aware of being a woman or an American in my entire life. It was embarassing that 3 American 'kids' were given that opportunity, clad in jeans and t-shirts, sitting among men and armed guards in their finest atire.
All but 3 other trainees headed back into the Konni PC hostel the 3rd night, but I decided to stay out in the field, and I am so glad I did. It was nice just to have exposure to what everday life is like. Chris has some really great neighbor kids that taught me a new Nigerien card game, and that last night we ended up having a "gangsta dance party" with a couple of 6 year olds a 1 yr old and a couple of teenage boys. We spent the evening listening to Chris's iPod, taking funny/random pictures and mini camera films, and laughing a lot! It was definitely one of those moments when you realize there is no where on earth you'd rather be then "here in this moment"
My demyst definitely has motiviated me to keep plugging through stage (training) as I realized this experience is deifnitely mine to make, and I look so forward to it!!! Our demyst was only 3 days but it certainly left a lasting impression on me.

Last Thurs-Sat I had my Natural Resource Management (NRM for short) Tech Trip. We started out in Goethe and then went toward Dosso (see the map link on the left hand side of the blog for a visual reference). It was a great trip!! We spent 3 days off-roading on sand dunes and through dried out river beds. We planted trees to help stabilize sand dunes, sat in on a french environmental ed class, planted live fencing with some school children, went to a women's literacy class, we were treated to 2 nights of local dancing, and last but CERTAINLY not least, our group was fortunate enough to see about 7 or 8 GIRAFFES in their natural habitat!! The pictures are amazing! (Unfortuantely I can't upload them here, but I will send them/post them when I can). It was a very surreal experience, I kept looking for the fencing! We NRMS are definitely HARD CORE! as we didn't get to take the luxurious "magic bus", instead we crammed into Land Cruiser ambulences and had a blast getting stuck in the sand and cheering our vehicle up the sandy dunes with our AMAZING nrm trainer Haoua!

Also, I am extremely excited to announce that yesterday we had our sites announced.

First a little back ground, there are currently 36 of us at training (1 girl had to go home for medical reasons) we are split into 2 sectors, Agriculture and NRM. We are also split into 2 language groups, Hausa and Zarma. I noted above that I am learning Hausa, which is spoken east of Niamey and Dosso (Konni is the nearest "west" region for Hausa speakers to be posted). So we are technically in 4 groups.

It has been a very tense/anxious week as we have all been anticipating and not so patiently awating word on where we will be spend the next two years of our lives. Which will undoubtedly shape/influence the rest of our lives. So yesterday, we were all on pins and needles, and around 1pm the festivities began. A current PCV read a description of each of us that started out general but got more and more specific until only one of us was left standing, then our regional representative stood up to welcome us to our particular region (there are 7 regions PC is in). They continue to test our patience on a regular basis here ;)

Which is actually what I am going to do to you now.... we get to call home tomorrow morning, and I would like my mom and dad to be the first to know where I will be living, but you can be sure that I'll have my mom post my future where abouts as soon as she knows.

Today we had a small group scavenger hunt around Niamey in which we were sent out to locate local areas of importance and most imporatntly find our way back to the PC bureau. We will offically have rights to travel into Niamey on our Sunday days off now, as we all made it back :)

So, now that there is some suspense, (do you hate me yet?), I'll ask how things are with you. What's new and exciting in your neck of the woods? I've heard that Hilary and Obama are running for '08, (thanks mom, I actually was the first to break the news about that here at stage! )
I also hear that WI has gotten a bunch of snow, and the last I heard our basketball boys were ranked #2!!!!

Do you guys have any specific questions for me? I should have planned what I was going to write, I know I'm leaving tons of stuff out, but I've sent a few letters home so they can help to fill in the blanks after I chat with them tomorrow.

Oh, but I hope you will all check out the following link about the great developments in Niger! This article, while not specifically mentioning the Peace Corps, gives a really good synopsis of what the NRMs are involved in and what we are trying to accomplish here in Niger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/world/africa/11niger.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Oh, just a correction on my part, I know my mom let some of your know that I had a small bought of food poisioning, it actually turned out to be a bug that a bunch of us trainees got, I was just 'lucky' to be one of the first to get it, but after a few days of fever and all the fun stuff that goes along with a stomach trying to adjust to a new continent, vomiting and the like, and a night in the Niamey infirmary, all is well. I've adjusted to the low maintence life and I'm not completely sick of rice and sauce yet, but I must say eating with my right hand (literally with my hand) has proven to be a little challenging...but it's all part of the adventure right?!

Well send me an e-mail or post a comment if you have any specific questions about anything Niger....my experiences, tech stuff, the climate, the people, etc. I'd be happy to entertain them, there is just so much to share I don't even know what I should try to address first.

Oh I've been asked this a couple of times: There are 4 of us originally from WI, and another one who went to college at Marquette. So WI is definitely well represented. Washington and Missouri also sent 4.

I hope all is well with you, I think of you guys a lot when there are great little daily victories or exciting events that I want to share. Well I guess this is it for now, but I'll hopefullyhear from you all soon!

News from Niger

Hello, this is Jamie's mom with an update, from Jamie's first letter home, (she does not have access to phone nor internet during her initial training).

The trip to Niger was long, beginning with a couple days in Philadelphia for orientation and the beginning of the immunization process, (immunizing continued in Niger and as of 1/18/06 there were still more to come). Jamie and 36 other volunteer trainees had an 8 hour flight to Paris and then onto Niamey, Niger.

She wrote: "I was in much disbelief that I was finally going to Africa, after years of talking about it....the 1st sight of the Sahara made it real for all of us."

The group was greeted by Peace Corps staff and volunteers who have already been in country for awhile. The group are at the Niger PC training center for about two months, where they will spend many hours in culture & "intense" language training. They are currently learning the languages of Zarma and Hausa, those along with French will be the basic means of communication.

All trainees have been placed with host families, who also work with them on language and customs, etc. Jamie wrote: "the kids are great and they are willing to humor us be repeating everthing about a million times before we actually get it."

She is quickly adjusting to not having all the comforts that she grew up with, but finding her way and comfort in becoming a part of this wonderful opportunity in her new home.

I will share more info about my daughter's journey, as it becomes available. Until next time.....