Post II
Meanwhile, life here has been eventful. The summer months saw me back in the States for my brother Stephen’s wedding to Linda Ryerse. After more than a year away I finally saw my family, my boyfriend who has dealt with this crazy girl in Africa the whole time, and all of my beloved friends who were available to be seen! The wedding went off without a hitch and I can not wait to be home again to spend time with the new couple under calmer circumstances! It was a whirlwind of a vacation but worth every minute. I can’t forget that America awaits me when this is all over!
September culminated in the Swearing-In Ceremony of my “Sister Stage”, the group of MCD/CYE Volunteers who came in exactly one year after me. I spent the last two weeks with them as their training came to a much awaited end and 29 trainees became volunteers. There was much drama during those last few weeks when three of their numbers returned to the US for various reasons, but it was nothing compared to what was to come. Most of you may know by now that Peace Corps Niger mourns the loss of new volunteer Stephanie Chance. Stephanie was a beautiful, intelligent, funny, outgoing girl who was greatly enjoying her first two weeks in her new home when she passed away during the night of October 7, 2010. At the time of writing this, we have not heard the final cause of death (there was no evidence of foul play), but we held a joint Nigerien/American memorial service for Stephanie in Niamey on Sunday October 10th before escorting her remains to the airport to send her home. It was an emotional time for my Sister Stage, and the whole country feels the loss as well, whether we knew Stephanie or not.
The rest of October has been busy for me as I scramble to submit project proposals for several trainings and cold-season gardening activities with the women’s Union of Falmey. The first appeal for money (it all comes down to money, doesn’t it?!) is to train the Union officers and the participating member group officers how to be a proper organization, how to manage their money in an efficient and transparent manner, and basically how to plan out their work and do it. I really want to focus on their self-promotion to reduce the dependency on outside partners. Of course, if you consider the fact that I myself am an outside partner, bringing them money, I think that my message could be a bit lost on the ladies. The second phase in the development of a successful and autonomous Union is a series of trainings on gardening techniques and materials for 30 women to garden a donated space in the middle of town. This space officially belongs to the Union and we will rely on the ladies to manage all gardening activities that take place there. The final aid I want to bring to the Union is a metal fence to enclose the gardening space. The permanent fence will really give the ladies a leg up on gardening because all they would have to purchase in the future would be seeds and replacement tools if something breaks. Taking away the need to erect a fence every year saves a lot of money and effort.
My local library is attempting to restart its school-year programming with game nights, video showings, presentations, and a new idea, a monthly essay contest for the Primary school grades. I also suggested weekly or monthly soccer games to my middle school P.E. teacher and the first game of an Inter-class tournament will be held on Wednesday, November 10 after school. I am keeping my fingers crossed for these activities, mainly because they are so much fun for me to attend! I also hope to be more involved with the English classes at the middle school, and will be meeting with the English teachers this week to discuss the possibilities.
While you have been experiencing unseasonably warm weather the past few weeks, Niger has finally begun the march to our “winter”!! The Harmattan wind that blows across this region has brought with it relief from the debilitating heat of mini-Hot Season. Although the air is full of dust, I still prefer this time of year to September and October! I will bring this post to a close with the news that my cat’s second litter of kittens (three boys to follow the first group of three girls…) has finally left the nest. Although I will miss having babies around the house, I feel it best to get Kaydiya spayed as soon as possible!
I hope all of you are doing well and that life is everything you want it to be!
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