Adventures in Niger

I will be a community health agent with the Peace Corps in Niger, Africa from July 2006 until October 2008. DISCLAIMER: Any views or opinions presented in this website are solely mine and do not represent those of the U.S. Peace Corps or Niger.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

jan 1, 2007

How bout them Dawgs! Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a good Christmas and a happy new year...We had a fun Christmas out in Zinder, and spent all christmas day making empanadas. That is a labor of love, let me tell you. They took forever, but they were yummy. It's cold season her right now and cold season is no joke here...I went out to my village for a couple of days in between Christmas and New Years, and it's so cold and windy I barely leave my house until noon. Even then it's with longsleeved shirts, sweatshirts, jeans, and a thick skirt over the jeans...There are harmattan winds coming in from the Sahara, and it's so windy that it whips all the dust up into the air, so you can't even see very far at all for all the dust. When I went and visited with some of my friends in El Kolta, they were all burning fires inside of their houses.

I went out to my village for a couple of days mainly to get my pup and to celebrate a bit of Tabasci, the Muslim holiday with my villagers...It was pretty cool, on the day of Tabasci, all the men went to the mosque to pray, and when they return, each family kills a male goat and basically they just eat the meat for days..I came back into Maradi on the 31st to celebrate New Years and one of my crazy fun friend's birthday(Becca). Since I was coming in on the day of Tabasci, I didn't think about it, but there were no bush taxis going to and fro because everyone was celebrating...i Also brought in Zita because everyone wanted to see her and I just didn't want to leave her alone in the village...I waited 3 hours on the side of the road and there were NO cars coming through...finally I flagged down this car that wasn't even a bush taxi, just a random car, and begged them to take me into Maradi. They said OK, but not the dog. My village friends finally convinced them to let me bring the pup, since my hausa didn't seem to suffice...Well Zita was in fine form, howling the whole time, peeing on me, she does not like being in a car. I was mortified the whole way. She's been good in Maradi, though, and everyone is in love with her. We had a crazy fun party for Becca's birthday. We dressed up 80's and had a dance party. It was fun. Hopefully, you will get to see the pictures soon!

One of the things we focus on as health volunteers is Vitamin A and better food to feed your kids so they're less malnourished. It's so hard because they can't give more variety of foods if there is not enough money for eggs, liver, orange foods, etc. Sometimes there is nothing but millet, millet, and more millet, with some sorghum thrown in there. And no money to buy the foods that their kids really need. In Niger, there was a "food crisis" or "famine" in 2005. Every year, just before Nigeriens harvest the millet, right after rainy season, there is "hungry season." This is when the millet harvested the year before is running low or empty. The harvest was good in Niger last year, so the hungry season of this year wasn't as bad as the famine of 2005. Unfortunately, the millet harvest was poor this year, so while people have enough food for now, hungry season is shaping up to look like the hungry season/famine of 2005. Keep Niger in your prayers that there will be enough millet to make it last until next harvest. Happy 2007! Love Lots, Katie

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