Let the Development Begin

Sorry, no pictures for this one. But it’s really short so bear with me.

Three weeks back in Niger now. Feels like much more. The vacation over, Christmas is reduced to a glorious dream that I, quite inevitably, have woken up from. Still, it is good to be back in Niger. After four months apart, the people in my stage have come together at Hamdallaye once more for In-Service Training (IST). Over the past three weeks we have furthered our technical knowledge of our sector and been updated in the paperwork aspect of being a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). This means that we have learned how to do quarterly reporting on our work, tracking how many people are affected and actually benefit from what we do here. We have also learned how to write project proposals and apply for funding.

Tomorrow is the last day of IST, and I am scheduled to go back to Sagafondo on Sunday. Even though I went back a couple times since Christmas, I feel like I’ve been away from my village and my cat for too long. I’m so excited to go back and resume my routines of work, exercise and community involvement. Now I also have the tools to do ‘real’ work in that I can officially apply for funding to conduct anything from womens’ groups trainings to building infrastructure. Many funding sources have deadlines in March so stay tuned for a grant-writing sprint!

As I said, our entire group, or what’s left of it has come together again. (31 out of 48 initial trainees remain.) Next time we come together like this will be 1.5 years from now for Close of Service (COS) Conference. Crazy. Looking at it right now, September 2010 seems sooo long away but I know that time will fly, especially once I get busy with projects. YAY work!