Greetings from us to you!!
Contact Info
Monday, November 24, 2008
Progress
Greetings from us to you!!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Here We Go!!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Many Thanks!
Phew! I was beginning to think I wasn’t ever going to be able to write this blog entry. After lots of waiting, hoops, hiccups, red tape, frustration, and lots of hope and persistence, I can finally say that funding for the school has been secured and is in transit to me and my villagers as I write this. In the next week or so (hopefully) we will begin construction of the school.
I will be posting pictures and hopefully some video of our progress in the next few weeks So be sure to check back fairly regularly to watch our progress. My villagers are beyond ready to begin construction, and the kids are very excited about having a room to call their own. I am sure I haven’t seen my last set of challenges with this project, but it feels great to have made it this far, and with my villager’s help we will get this project completed in a “timely” fashion.
I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed in any way to the project, I don’t have all of your names, but I know you are out there. To everyone who has been able to contribute any amount, to those who have provided encouragement and support, and to those who have helped with logistics, I am so grateful. It is hard to express how difficult it is to coordinate an undertaking like this in a place with little reliability in phone and internet access. I have had lots of help from back home and some from the staff here in Niamey. Without their assistance, I can honestly say this project would not have been possible.
This has truly been and will continue to be a group effort. I am thankful for everyone’s generous contributions, but I would specifically like to thank a few people who have gone above and beyond to assist me and my villagers from day one of the project, I hope I haven’t left anyone out:
+ Mary and Dick Pirwitz and the congregation of Bethany Lutheran Church for their organization and donations through Brat Fest fundraising efforts.
+ Dave and Brenda Cook for all of their help and the wahala (misery) they sha’d (drank) to help me and my villagers through the fundraising effort, and for their contribution.
+ LaCrosse and Portage Rotary for their contributions.
+ Thrivent Financial for their matching funds of the Brat Fest.
+ Amy Hamm for her fundraising projects and efforts through Davis Child Care.
+ Heidi and Craig Finucan, Wayne and Veronica Flock, Molly and Joe Flock, Mary and Wayne Preuss, Judy and Terry Sosinsky, Jim and Meryle Henry, and Linda and Henry Huetten for their contributions.
+ Vacuum Technologies, Inc. for their generous contribution that got us to our goal!
+ To Mary Abrams for her assistance and follow up with this project with the bureau in Washington. She has been instrumental in getting the funding mess finally sorted out.
+ To my villagers for their support in guiding me through the protocol, helping with contractors, for their upcoming labor efforts, and for their patience in waiting for this day to come.
+ To my fellow PCVs who have listened to me vent, offered their advice, and support, encouraging me to keep pushing through…I have a feeling I’ll need some more of that before this is all said and done.
+ And last, but certainly not least (actually most) to Dale, Chelsea and especially Cindy Preuss for all of their unwavering support and dedication to this project. I can’t even begin to cover what they have done for me and my villagers. Thank you for all your phone conversations, chasing paper trails, listening to my tears and frustrations, contacting potential donors, following up with Washington (multiple times), and for your generous contribution. Without them I surely would have thrown in the towel long ago. It is because of you that my village kids will have a new classroom, you should be proud. Thank you.
So now that actual fun begins. Stay tuned.
-J
Saturday, October 04, 2008
A List
An incomplete and on going list of the things I will miss about Niger, and those that I wont.
I'll Miss...
- My Nigerien family, Binta and Ousmane and my three little brothers Samedi, Harlit, and Maman Ser
- My best little buddies in my village, Awoli, Basilou, and Oonounou (Hamadou Tdjani)
- Walking through the bush.
- Aspects of rainy season (the sky is blue instead of a sun glared white, green everywhere, millet and sorghum fields, semi-cool temps, the storms, sleeping outside when it rains)
- My dog.
- Zinder (city and team).
- Time.
- The simplicity of life in a rural village.
- Pulling water.
- Sleeping under the stars.
- Living outside.
- Open-back bush taxi rides through the bush.
- The feeling of "this is Africa!"....the good version.
- Wane.
- Eating with and napping at Binta's.
- Holding babies everyday.
Those I Won't...
- The RED TAPE
- 14-27 hour bus rides across country.
- Reaking of gasoline everytime I take a bush taxi into or out of Zinder.
- Sitting on gas tanks in said bush taxis.
- Aspects of rainy season (mosquitos, termite infestations, mice, roof cave-ins, illness, humidity, cross country bus rides are at best 2 hours longer)
- Being told I don't hear Hausa or that I still can't do things the "right way"...even two years later.
- The feeling of "This is Africa"....the bad version.
- The wahala of trying to get anything accomplished.
- Having no control over when and or how long it will take to get somewhere.
- What appears to be a lack of elementary logic/common sense.
- The feeling of being baked in an oven, and it's only 10 a.m.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Let's Build a School Together
Wow, it has been far too long since I've updated the blog. I've been quite busy as of late, which is a very good thing! I've been planting trees with my students, having a girls fair for 15 girls from the Matameye sub-region, and now we're getting ready for the upcoming farming season.
In addition the keeping busy with smaller projects, for the past six months my villagers and I have been getting the wheels moving on the construction of a classroom for our youngest students in the village.
My villagers have been awesome in demonstrating their effort and desire to get a classroom built. They have been holding meetings and making work schedules for the families to provide water, sand, gravel and labor during the building process. We are now at the part where you can help. Since my villagers are subsistance farmers, rarely generating income beyond what they need to feed and clothe their families, funding the construction of a school is not possible for the villagers of Gourmey.
Lots of family and friends have inquired about what they can do to help either me or my villagers. The opportunity to do so is here!
Currently our youngest students are attending school in this shack:


The students are exposed to the sun, wind, rain, blowing sand, and believe it or not the cold throughout the year. This discourages students from attending class, and being distracted while they are there. Our goal is to provide the students with an environment that will promote learning. After being in Niger for a year and a half, I believe that educating its young people is Niger's greatest hope for improving the quality of life for all Nigeriens.
If you, your co-workers, family, friends, church groups, civic groups, etc. have any interest in contributing to the construction of our classroom, my villagers and I will be eternally grateful!
Click here to make a tax deductible donation!
The link will lead you right to my project's listing, no amount is too small, every dollar will get us closer to our goal. If you have any questions about the project or logistics of donating please feel free to contact me at jamieinniger@hotmail.com . Feel free to pass this website along to anyone you think may be intersted in donating (http://www.jamieinniger.blogspot.com/)
Together, with your help, we can get this classroom built in time for the upcoming school year.
I'd like to thank everyone who has provided me with support for projects, encouragement, letters, and care package during this past year and a half. Kind words of support have helped me get through the rough patches, and have encouraged me to keep giving it my all when I wasn't so sure of myself. I thank you sincerely for all you have given thus far.
Lots of you have sent care packages for me and my villagers. If anyone was still thinking of sending one, consider donating to the school instead. As much as I love getting a magazine or dried fruit and M&M's from home, getting this school built means the world to me and my village.
On behalf of myself and the villagers of Gourmey we send sincere thanks your way,
Jamie
Monday, January 14, 2008
A Year In Review (Part II)
It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I set off to begin my Peace Corps journey. It has certainly been an interesting ride, and time has flown by!
The end of August and most of September were spent in Zinder, with a villager and her young, malnourished infant. At eight months old, Shaibou only weighed eight pounds. It took nearly a month at the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) feeding center before he gained the two pounds required to be released. I am happy to say that Shaibou is doing much better now, and while he is extremely small and developmentally delayed for being nearly one year old, he is still around and fighting. I hope that no one in my village will ever need the service of MSF in the future, while they do excellent work, that is no place any mother or child should ever have to be.