One Week Report

One week in Sagafondo Completed. I was reading in one of the training manuals as a word of comfort that ”there will never be a second ‘first month’” and although that is a pretty obvious statement, the thought was extremely comforting. Things here are difficult to say the least; ever day is a physical, psychological and emotional test of endurance. Still, every day I learn a few new words in Zarma, meet a few new people, remember a few more names and what a wonderful thing it is that this first week of explaining who I am a zillion times and why I am not going to give people presents, will never repeat itself. All in all, the week went by pretty quickly…. Especially since I’ve managed to have several different and new things to do every day, while still keeping some routines.

So here’s a rundown of the highlights from the first week:

I arrive on Thursday and thank goodness my latrine whole is dug and walls of woven millet stalk quickly erected so I don’t have to go native and tell people I’m going “to the bush” when excusing myself to go to the bathroom. All of Thursday I spent cleaning because, by the look of it, the interior of my house hadn’t seen a broom for over a year. In reality it was probably a week. By dusk, an extremely dirty, thirsty Maria emerges, dust and dirt everywhere but ready to start unpacking things in her new, clean house. Well clean is relative since a house made out of mudbrick with a roof made out of sticks and straw can never be completely clean.

My Kitchen (above) and

the view of my concession (below)

Note my my finished latrine and amazing shade hangar

After a long bath, the day’s almost over and I set to cooking dinner only to be startled by a bug crawling out in front of my pot. It’s a big one. A cockroach. Perfect. Of course my hut in Hamdallaye and its minimal bug-presence had been too good to be true and I realized that I was now in the ‘real Africa’ where humans, goats and cockroaches all share the same living space. Still I had to eat so I made some macaroni, whoofed it down, resolved to do the dishes in the morning and quickly got ready for bed, finally relaxing under the safety and comfort of my yellow my mosquito net. Even though I’m sure I was inches away from all kinds of critters all night, the fact that I was surrounded by what I perceive as protective netting means as much as if there had been a brickwall between me and the creatures of the night. At least that was how it was in Hamdallaye. Here there’s some kind of bug that I can’t get away from. I don’t know what it is but its smell penetrates everything and so despite being exhausted my nose’s displeasure kept me awake all of the first night.

The second and third day I set out to scope out Sagafondo. Luckily I had paved the way pretty nicely for myself during Live-In because practically everybody knew my name already and for better or worse I spent hours responding to people shouting “Faiza, Faiza, Faiza” before continuing on with the five part greeting in which people ask each other how the body, the house, the children the fasting, the time of the day and anything else is, at that particular moment. Of course, everything is always ‘in health’ even though their house could be falling apart, their child dying and their body old and tired. I did succeed in finding a kitten which is something I’ve been dying to do ever since I learned that keeping a pet is not one of the hundred things that Peace Corps policies forbid. I’ve decided to name the cat Maya which is sort of the word for ‘cat’ in Zarma. Makes things easy when I call for her since people here don’t name their animals.


This next part has been gross stamped in red ink so read on at your own risk. I was happily petting Maya when I noticed a sore on her paw so I got some Neosporin in an attempt to reduce the risk of infection. When applying the cream I notice some movement in the sore and soon something appears to emerge from it. YUCK I think to myself but get some paper and am soon busy extracting larvae, buried under the skin of my cat’s paws and tail. I would have gotten rid of Maya right there and then if it wasn’t for the fact that she had taken care of another gross problem; the cockroaches! She eats both them and the crickets and since I learned from our doctor that the larvae aren’t really dangerous and only need to be extracted for the problem to be resolved, I decided to keep Maya which now, a week later, I’m quite happy about.

Maya - after larvae have been removed

Even though my limited ability to communicate with people is EXTREMELY frustrating and tests my patience on a daily, sometimes hourly basis, I am proud to have performed some integration activities. Twice I have accompanied women okra picking. Okra is a big thing in Bitinkodji and lots of women grow, dry and sell this prickly skinned vegetable at the market in Niamey. Because of the painful texture of okra, people were quite impressed that I remained resolute about the work, staying out in the sun for hours. Without gloves okra can rip up your hands quite badly. I donned a ziplock bag and a sock and that did the trick of protection just as well as a farmer’s mitt. Well, actually it allowed just the right amount of injury sine I did obtain a couple of cuts that everyone demanded to see and laughed when I said that I’m a real Sagafondo woman now. The okra is used to make the sauce that accompanies the millet dish that people eat for every meal, ever day. (yes malnutrition is a problem). Among Peace Corps Volunteers this traditional Nigerian food is known as millet mush and snot sauce. Despite its disaphaling nature, I’ve come to enjoy it quite a lot….just not every day.

Finally I want to tell you about this big meeting that happened yesterday (Wednesday). The practice of decentralizing the government means that every commune is governed by a council of which the mayor is president. Four times a year the council convenes and discusses matters pertinent to the commune as a whole. Yesterday was such a meeting and I’m thrilled to say that ”Introduction of the new Peace Corps Volunteer” was one of seven items on the agenda. The other ones included discussing the results of this year’s harvest, the upcoming academic school year and, of course finances. I’m sorry that I didn’t understand more than a stray word here and there especially because people kept breaking into Fulfulde. (14 out of 17 villages in Bitinkodji are Fulani) My hope is that by next meeting in December, I will be fluent enough to understand everything that’s going on, maybe even ask to have some time to speak about my development work and seek the council’s support.

Council Meeting before I take me seat up at front and get officially introduced

In all the hardships of limited language, bugs, annoying children and heat (rainy season is over so here comes the sun), one thing makes me extremely grateful and happy to be here. People have a TON of kokari, meaning effort. There are already 72 women’s groups in the Commune of Bitinkodi. That’s 1900 women already organized in groups working on various development projects. I saw one of these projects the day I went okra picking. 160 women from four villages hike up to a big hill and use millet stalk and twigs to build fences as a means to keep the sand from blowing away, into the village and the river. You might have hear of the term ‘pushing back the desert’ and this is exactly what these women are doing. It was so inspirational to hear how proudly the woman I accompanied talked about the project, the fact that it was run entirely by women and how important it was to the survival of her community. If all the women’s groups are like hers, I know there is GREAT POTENTIAL for all kinds of microfinance projects, community enhancements projects and sensibilization sessions.

(Note: if you don’t know a sensibilization is a session serving to enlighten people about a certain aspects of life such as the importance of sending girls to school, sleeping under a mosquito net, hygiene or family planning. The session is conducted part by lecture, part by group exercises. Essentially, it seeks to present a perspective and a theory, allowing the participants to come to the realization of adopting x or y practice on their own. Leading and/or facilitating sensibilizations is a major part of a Peace Corps Volunteer’s work.)

Last before site-installation

Last day to enjoy extreme creature comforts like running water, electricity and internet for quite a while. Tomorrow I go to live in the bush for month straight. This is the first blog post I am writing in real time rather than retroactively uploading. I am camped out at Amendines’ which is a restaurant run by Lebanese targeting rich, white people such as myself. Best of all: they have free wifi. I have already been here for three hours responding to emails uploading pictures etc and have no problem sitting here for another three while ordering another caffe frappe.

Shopping is almost done. In a typical Maria-fashion I went crazy at the prospect of decorating a two-room house of my own and managed to spend a full month’s pay in one day. Oops. I guess it’s a good thing then that my village doesn’t really have a market so there’s nothing to spend money on once I get to post.

Happy was the day of September 13 when I proudly proclaimed that I had made it through PST without getting sick once! Naturally I should have kept my mouth shut because sure enough, Come Monday I start hearing funny noises from my stomach and when we came back from Tillaberi having visited 13 different men in prominent positions I learned that I had finally been indoctrinated into the Amoebas Club! 360something cases of intestinal parasites per year in Niger, one of which can now be claimed by me!

Yesterday Ricky, Jessica and I, all with delayed installation dates were out getting some (non-alcoholic) drinks chit-chatting about our first month in village. I tune out for a second and when I refocus, I realize that Ricky is negotiating with the waiter. I listen in and soon realize that I am the product being negotiated! Ricky is asking for three camels but the waiter is hesitant and eventually they settle on two with the condition that I have to go live in Mali for a year. At first, I am flattered. Camels are expensive and I wouldn’t mind riding one to Mali. Then I learned that Ricky had gotten the three camels for another girl in our training class the night before and my happiness turned to disappointed at not being of equal worth. In the end I was so distressed by this inferiority that I called it off, telling the waiter that I’ll go with him to Mali when he’s old enough to grow a beard. This will probably a couple years away and by then I’ll be done with Peace Corps and out of Niger so if the waiter does show up with camels, he will have to find someone else to give them to if he wants an Annasara wife.

Jessica and Camel.

BTW; Jessica was voted 'Most likely to Marry a Host Country National' in the superlative awards ceremony. I got 'Most Talented' because of a fire performance at Cafe Langue.

I am granted Volunteer status

Today is Swear-in In day. I will take an oath (in French) swearing to serve for two years in the Peace Corps, using y skills to work with Nigeriens in furthering the country’s development. I also just signed a written contract promising to serve on behalf of the United State Government “discharging my duties as a Peace Corps volunteer”. Quite official indeed. Over 400 people have been invited to the ceremony this afternoon and I encourage you to google “Peace Corps Niger” and I bet there will be some news hits since it’s apparently a pretty big deal for the Nigerien media whenever a new set of volunteers get sworn in. Yay for finally earning the prestigious title of “volunteer” after nine weeks of slaving away as a mere “trainee”.


Swearing in also means that we get access to money and even though are pay only amount to a couple hundred dollars a month, it seems like a fortune in the local currency. We are all heading to the bank first thing tomorrow and I am excited to do some serious shopping for my house, that finally is done and waiting for me! Because of a long list of protocol visits to various officials, I won’t actually go to my village until Thursday.

I will miss ‘tondobon’ which is the name of our training site, literally translating to ‘the top of the hill’. It has been an excellent place to slowly integrate to Nigerien life and even though it’s been tiring having classes from morning to night, it makes me long for the time when I can set my own schedule of daily activities and mealtimes. And I do look forward to coign for myself even though the food has been alright. In fact, I am superthrilled at the prospect of finally making use of the powered sauce bags that Mom brought from Sweden to the US this summer so that I could turn around and bring to Africa. It’ll be the most well-traveled brown gravy in the world by the time I consume it!

Time to head off to Niamey and actually pick up the outfit I will be wearing since I haven’t had a chance to go to the tailor yet. I hope it fits because if it doesn’t I’m a tad bit screwed.



Posting this blog retroactively, I know that I got my clothes. Above you see a line-up of the New PVC's in Niger.
I also happen to know that google does not produce any results when you search for nes stories. Oh well. Guess it's not worthy of international recognition.

Meat

One week left before swearing in as a full volunteer. 9 weeks certainly seemed like a long time when we first landed in country but as always, time passes and we are now talking about things like ‘what to do the three months at post’ since we can’t actually facilitate projects during this time. I am eager to get out to Sagafondo and my counterpart has been texting to check in, making me feel all the more welcome. Still I am scared because it’ll be a total shift in routine. From seeing American on a daily basis and always having English to fall back on if Zarma fails, I will be surrounded by all Nigeriens and have to rely on Zarma for all communication. Nothing like shock therapy to quickly integrate in a community.

Another two people left Peace Corps yesterday, meaning that of our original 48 PCTs only 40 remain. The group morale always takes a hit whenever somebody leaves for the US, never to come back. Thanks God for Tondi, our training manager who is a completely lovable guy, honest and super-understanding of everything we’re going through. Yesterday afternoon he gathered everyone and announced what had happened, giving people a chance to ask questions (since one of the people leaving had been administratively separated) and generally giving us some space to regroup and draw strength from each other. YAY Tondi!.

Tondi trying my poi

I have come to an important decision that I’d like to share with those of you who know me (and anyone else who would like to know me) I have decided that when I get back to United States I will no longer be a vegetarian. My reasoning for this decision s based on the idea that if I can eat meat here in Niger that has been sitting in the sun all day with flies crawling all over it, I can handle whatever chemicals they put in the meat in the US. I still don’t approve of how many of the animals are treated in the US which means I will use my purchasing power to support the organic meat industry when cooking for myself but ordering big steak at a nice restaurant will definitely be one of the first things that I do once I go back.

Ups and Downs

Back from Live-In with extremely mixed feelings. The upside is that I know that there are plenty of things to do in Sagafondo once I gain the trust of people. The one day Amadou Boreima (the mayor) came from Niamey, a million things happened and that was great. On that one day, I was officially introduced to all the various groups in the village; 5 women’s groups, various artisan groups and a youth group that are all potential work partners. They seemed excited to see me even after I explained that I’m not there to do work FOR them but rather WITH them. The mayor also made sure that the worker that was building my latrine knew what he was doing and getting properly paid. I know that the people I will be working with are all competent and motivated and I am really optimistic about the work.

The downside, since there always is one, is going to be the time between me moving to the village and actually becoming a part of the village. These past two months have been all about getting used to Niger in terms of people language and culture. The next three months will be all about getting to know individual Nigeriens and making personal connections. I knew that my impatience would come back and bite me by joining Peace Corps and every day I am tested to keep my mouth shut not to ask a logistical question and instead trust that things will come together in due time. Once permanently installed in my village I know the challenge will be even greater since I will want to start to fix what I see as problems right away and only by using cold reason will I hold myself back since I know that if I push myself on people, whatever I do will not be sustainable and at worst; rejected by the community.

The Peace Corps Bureau in Niamey


Oh Patience. Tested every day. Like last Friday when I came back from Live-In and was told that my petition to go on vacation over Christmas was rejected because of a Peace Corps Niger Policy not to grant out of country vacation for the first six months of service. Be patient with the administration Maria, just like you have to be patient with host country nationals. Too bad that this rejection is my first real encounter with the people that are supposed to be on my side. In their defense, their first encounter with me was a request to leave Niger after only a month in country and that must come across as a little like lack of commitment. I hope things work out between me and the administration because God knows I’ll have a lot more to do with them over the next two years. Luckily, I am beginning my patience therapy early and am already getting myself re-psyched for going on vacation in March instead.

Finally I want to end with a story from last night. After dinner, I was planning to go to bed early as usual and watch the Bourne Ultimatum but my host sisters begged me to dance with them and I couldn’t refuse. They asked me to sing a song that I apparently had sung before going to live-in but it took me a while to figure out what they were humming. When it finally clicked what they were referring to, I burst out laughing; they wanted me to sing and dance “London Bridge” by Black Eyed Peas because even though I only know the 10 word chorus, of “how come every time you come around the London, Bridge wanna go down” they wanted me to repeat that over and over again. The night ended with us all lying on top of each other on the mat laughing and I had instant flashbacks to a time not long ago when I played human sandwich with my biological siblings in the farm house in Sweden.

My hostbrother; Abdou Karim