A List

With my close of service quickly approaching I have begun the reflecting process of what my time and service in Niger has been and what I hope it will mean for the rest of my life. This will continue in my last months of service and I am sure well into the first weeks and months of readjustment to American life.

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.