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 past year has been marked by a lot of learning, growing, frustrations, small victories, new friendships, cultural discovery and understanding, more than my fair share of being sick, a growing family of sorts, a visit to see my family and friends, and a visit from my sister (she is such a trooper by the way!). It is certainly a year I won’t soon forget.
The year began in Philadelphia, were 36 of us met to embark on the “toughest job we would ever love”. We spent two months in Hamdalleye, living with host families, and learning as much as we could about Niger; culturally, linguistically, and technically, only to find that we had barely scratched the surface when we found ourselves dropped off by the “white car” to find our own way in our new communities.
The first month at post, during the height of Niger’s hot season (I’m glad I didn’t have a thermometer to tell me just how hot it was), was intense to be sure. There was lots of uncertainty, frustrations, anxiety, etc. But those were also the early days of developing relationships with the people in my community that I now hold dear. It is only upon looking back that I realize how far I have come.
The next few months proved to be challenging in a different way. I managed to have e.coli, bacteria, ameobic dysentery, and bacteria again from May through July. Being sick that frequently took its toll and I wasn’t too sure I would be willing to face another rainy (sick) season in Niger. Being sick, means being out of the village, getting meds, and recouping, this doesn’t do much for developing relationships with your villagers. Many of us have found out, the longer you are out of your village the more difficult it is to go back.
While I was in my village, I spent my first farming season in the fields with my villagers planting and weeding by hand. As a villager has said “Niger is a little late”…ie’ John Deere has yet to be introduced to the millions of farmers who live in the Nigerien bush. So if you were young enough to be strapped to your mothers back, or old enough to carry and drop seeds, you found ourselves out in the fields shuffling along, planting (multiple times, due to a lack of rain) and tending the fields, only to have a disappointing harvest which will make feeding their families challenging in the coming year.
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.
Less seriously, in late September I got to attend the Swear In ceremony of my childhood friend, Maeghan, who was sworn in as an education volunteer here in Niger. Later that night I got to fly home to celebrate the wedding of one of my best friends, Amy on October 6th. I was so fortunate to be home for about three weeks, and got to see many friends and family members, that I have really missed.
I also had the opportunity to share my Peace Corps experiences with various groups while I was home. I spoke with Mrs. Duren’s fourth grade class that I correspond with while I’m over here in Niger, I also had the opportunity to speak with the freshman class at MHS, the congregation at Bethany Lutheran Church, the middle school students at St. Patrick’s, the Neecedah Girl Scouts, and the employees of Parker Haniffin. I really enjoyed that opportunity to share not only my experiences, but also to be able to bring a bit Niger and the lives of my villagers into the consciousness of my fellow community members at home. There has been an outpouring of generosity and interest in the well being of my villagers that I am beyond grateful for.
Between a trip to Minneapolis, to Amy’s wedding, lots of day trips to see family and friends, to a Packer tailgate party to wind it all up, it was a whirlwind trip, but one I am extremely thankful for. I had the chance to see this experience from a distance, which definitely improved my outlook on it, and also got a chance to recharge my batteries a bit to gear up for the remaining year of my service (a few days in Paris with Megan and Mike also contributed significantly to that).
Readjusting to Nigerien life, after having the comforts of home for nearly a month, was a bit difficult, but once I got back to my village and got back to a normal routine, life improved significantly. I am now realizing bush life agrees with me quite well (Chelsea might argue too well). Upon my return, I was able to finish up a World Map project in one of the classrooms, and also began working with the headmaster of my school to bring Environmental Education to my village, via the GLOBE program. I’ve also had a couple of meetings with my villagers to discuss larger scale projects that we will do together. Right now it appears that we will try to build a classroom for the youngest kids in my village and the surrounding hamlets; as of now they are attending school in a millet stalk shack. It was great for morale to have my villagers demonstrate an interest in projects and actually have some concrete progress made.
My first holiday season in Niger, couldn’t have been better, if they had to be spent away from home. Our team (Zinder) worked together to have a great meal to share together. I think we were all pleasantly surprised by how well everything turned out and we all enjoyed the company. The day after Thanksgiving I became a horse owner, which has definitely been interesting…Trouble has definitely earned her name…but she and my Christmas puppy are quickly becoming best friends…so that’s cute.
Christmas was spent in my friend Paige’s village. Her parents were here visiting from the US, and they brought lots of goodies for us to celebrate with, it was also great to have some parents to spend the holiday with, even if it wasn’t my own. We also had a “Christmas Parade” and went wassailing with her village kids, and spent the evening singing Christmas hymns and reading the Christmas story. It was actually kind of nice spending Christmas in a simple fashion. We even rode in on an ox cart, and the only light came from candles and the moonlit night sky; it was a beautiful Christmas.
To end this eventful year, I was lucky enough to have the company of my sister, Chelsea, for a couple of weeks! I was so excited to have her here, to see what life was like in a developing country. She got to do a few touristy things, Niger is not known as a tourist hot spot (even though it’s plenty hot), but she got to see Hippos and got very up close and personal with some Giraffes (that’s a shout out to hungry Bob and shy Frank). She was such a trooper and endured the two 15 hour bus rides across the country to make it out to and back from Zinder, so she could see my village. She also got to ride in a bush taxi that had a record number of people shoved inside (21 full grown adults in a mini van…lucky you Chels!). Besides being able to see and spend time with her, the part that meant the most to me was that she got to meet and spend time with my villagers and the people who are my family and friends in Niger. Even though they couldn’t speak to one another she got to see who I spend my time with and had a glimpse into my life here in Niger. We also had lots of adventures have made many memories that will be able to look back on for years to come! I think she really enjoyed the trip and managed to remain relatively healthy while in country, but I think she was definitely ready to get on that plane back to WI!
For those of you following international or news coming out of Niger, the past couple of months have been a little tense in-country. When I was in the US I briefly mentioned the conflict between one of the minority ethnic groups (the Tuaregs) and the Nigerien govt. This December there have been landmine incidences related to that conflict. For us PCV’s that has meant limited travel, and a two week stretch of Standfast in mid-December. We are all hoping that this is something that does not continue/escalate, but that is something that time will tell.
I don’t want to end with something so bleak, so I’ll end by greeting you all (my villagers always tell me to send greetings to my family and friends at home). My first year of service has been an amazing one (if not entirely pleasant at all times) and I look forward to the coming year, there is a lot left to experience, see, and do, and lots more memories to make on this journey, I can’t wait!
