October 2006

October 14, 2006

Every region has a meeting once a month for all the volunteers to discuss affairs. I had a lot of new information about our funding source to share with the volunteers in my region. The meeting was Sunday so I needed to spend one more night away from the village. After a long absence I finally returned home Monday morning.

The official date for school to start was October 2. However, this date means teachers start preparing for class. Students begin to come in order to help clean, set up classrooms, and, in most cases, build classrooms out of millet stalk. Usually actual class begins sometime a week later. Since Ramadan is to last until October 22 there is not much hurry this year to prepare things. There is also a lack of energy to do much during the day as a result of the fasting.

Ramadan occurs once a year. It lasts for one month. It is determined by the Muslim calendar, which is lunar, so the date changes by a few days each year. From sunrise until sunset everyone physically able to must fast. They young, those with health problems, and pregnant or nursing women are excused (although the lattermost of these groups sometimes ignore the advice and put themselves and their kids at risk). Fasting includes more than just refraining from food. During the day fasters cannot drink anything, including water. They cannot even swallow their saliva. Because of this extreme measure everyone is constantly spitting in the sand. When inside they resemble  tobacco chewers as they turn old cans into spittoons. Smoking is also banned, which may be the toughest challenge for some people. I am not positive on all the other restrictions, but I have heard cards, games, and sex are forbidden in the daylight.

The time was inopportune to begin new activities requiring extra work from tired Nigeriens. With people at the schools I was able to visit them, permitting me to stay out of the office. While I discussed potential projects most of the conversations were about me not fasting. Last year my excuse was it was too hard. I said I tried it for one day and gave up. Everyone would laugh. They would ask me about fasting every time I saw them, even months after Ramadan had ended. This year my excuse is that it is too painful to fast and that I am scared I might die if I do it. This reason draws a similar reaction as last year's version did. I expect to be talking about fasting for months to come.

This has been the least comfortable time of my service. Everyone is tired and miserable from not eating. There is no food available during the day. Out of respect for the fasters I do not drink water outside of my house, which is difficult when I walk to the schools (I do not know how they go a full day when I struggle with five hours). Mini-hot season began. It has been going for three weeks now. I do not remember it being this hot or lasting this long last year. The rains have not completely stopped so there is a lot of humidity some days. The bugs are still around too. I pity all the new volunteers for starting at such a difficult time,

October 21, 2006

The radio show is still going strong. Last week one of the new volunteers came into town to use the bank. It happened to be a Tuesday so I dragged him to the studio. We were unable to improvise a show featuring him prominently since he is a Hausa speaker and I, a Zarmaphone. To do so would have required extensive planning which we did not have time for. I stuck to the originally planned script on improvised cook-stoves with my partner chiming in when he could. Improved cook-stoves are constructed of mud. Their main advantage is insulating the heat under the pot; therefore, requiring less wood than the traditional three-stone-stove approach. After the show a man approached me in town. He said he heard us on the radio and wondered if we could come to his house to show him how to make one. Next time my new neighbor is in town we will undertake the project. I am pleased to learn my efforts on the airwaves are effective.

I wish I could say the same about all my projects. Unfortunately my days of <i>professeur d'informatiques</i> are behind me. The school is having a tough time financially and are scaling back on the courses offered. My computer class was cancelled as a result. It was an easy choice for them since all of the machines still require many repairs (thus more money).

Our young girls scholarship program fell through this year. However, after many meetings and some persistence I was able to get our recipients funding from another source. Fortunately it was for more money so I promoted the change as what the other group did right rather than what my group did wrong. They never believe me when I tell them money is hard to get in America too.

There are currently renovations ongoing at the maison de juenes et culture. This is the community center geared towards youth when I plan on opening the English library. Once renovations are complete my efforts to add an English section to their refurbished library will resume.

October 22, 2006

Ramadan ended today. The festivities began at 9AM with the prayer. All of the men in the village and some women assembled at the large field used for holidays. Since it was Sunday I had my own religious service to attend. Fortunately this gave me a legitimate excuse to avoid the crowd and their attempts at converting me. Last year I went along to witness but ended up being caught in the middle of the gathering, thus forcing me to go through the motions of the prayer. This left me feeling quite uncomfortable.

After church ended I began to make my rounds through the village to greet friends. My first stop was my Zarma tutor's house. Although she is Catholic her husband is Muslim. She needed to miss mass in order to prepare the meals for the holiday. We chatted briefly and she provided me with juice.

Next I visited the radio technician at his home. Not long ago his wife had a baby. I have been stopping by regularly to see it and scare his other kids (many young kids are frightened by my lighter skin). We talked about the Beatles. He fed me coos-coos with chicken and gave me tea and frozen juice to drink.

After I went to our guardian's house. He protects a building intended to be for volunteers to sleep in when they come from the bush. Most volunteers have a market occurring only once a week in their town and even then the options are limited. They need to come to my town with a daily market to obtain necessary supplies. Since traveling at night is incredibly dangerous they need a place to stay. The house we have is maison sans bois (house without wood). It was made about fifteen years ago during a time when the Peace Corps emphasized these structures to conserve natural resources. My town was not ideal for this type of house because the heavy downpours in rainy season inflict much damage on mud abodes. With time the people who know how to maintain these structures have vanished. Our best efforts at repairing the special-need building could not save part of it from succumbing to a storm in late July. A storm that dumped six inches of rain and reduced part of our house to rubble before the skies cleared. From time to time I visit our guardian as he sits a watch over a seldom-used pile of mud. Today I greeted him and his family. I ate some fried dough (like funnel cake) and played hand-slapping games with his kids. I continued on to the house of a teacher who works in the bush. Though he had gone out on a mission similar to the one I was engaged in I still talked with his wife and held his baby. And of course I ate.

About one o'clock I made it to my friend's house. He had invited me for the meal but did not specify a time. Apparently he meant 9AM. The other guests and him waited a bit before eating without me. At noon they even sent a search party to the church to find me. Other invited guests included a Nigerien Tai-kwon-do instructor nicknamed Dolph because of his size (after Dolph Lungren from Rocky IV and He-Man fame). There was a volunteer from Japan's version of the Peace Corps and a Lebanese merchant who controls a large share of the used clothing industry in Niger. Regrettably I missed most of the cultural exchange as the guests left shortly after I arrived. However, I did not miss the food. I was helped to a large portion of fried dough, coos-coos, and half a guine fowl.

After resting during the hottest part of the day my friend accompanied me to houses of two mutual friends. Fortunately for my stomach's sake one was not home. Though we greeted the family there was no pressure to sit and eat. At the other friend's house there was. I forced down more fried dough and guine fowl while chatting with the family. We made one more stop -- to greet the family of my girl friend (the five-year old that has a crush on me) � before I returned home.

I showered then headed out to greet my neighbors. It was already dark and time for dinner, though I did not need it. Only one of my neighbors fed me � pounded millet � so my stomach was not too taxed. I walked around the market wishing happy holidays on all the friendly merchants. At 9PM I reached my last destination, the shop of my friend whom I had seen earlier at church. Since it was Sunday we decided to celebrate being Christians and went for a beer. The alcohol on an incredibly full stomach will surely bring me a deep sleep tonight.

Today was the last holiday I will spend in Niger. It is exciting to see everyone and share in their celebration. It is also a time to realize how much importance a simple thing like greeting someone has in this culture. But it is tiring for the body and trying for the stomach. A great experience though I am happy it is over. I am going to bed now.