Happy 4th of July everyone! I’m back in the city again for a little while. I’ll get you guys up to date with life in Niger…
I was in the capital a couple of weeks ago and was able to go and see Niger play Benin in a World Cup qualifying match. It wasn’t a great game as Niger lost 2-0, but we all had a good time and were definitely supporting “our country”. We just recently went back to the training site for our Mid Service Training. We’re almost at a year which hard to believe! We shared past projects as well as future project ideas and discussed which projects worked or didn’t work and why. I think it was a productive time but it was also great to see all of the volunteers from my group together again.
The rains finally have begun. They were very spotty at first but now we are really coming into rainy season. My villagers are very thankful that they’ve begun but that also means that the real work has started. The men normally head out to the fields before 7am and usually don’t return home until 5pm. Six days a week they farm from morning to night. I plan on having a bean field so we’ll see how that goes. I guess I need to get out there and work up a good sweat. I also plan on having a rainy season garden in my concession. I will be planting cucumber, soy beans, lima beans, basil, tomatoes, eggplant and a few other vegetables. It will take some effort but hopefully I’ll be eating well come August.
I recently went and visited a volunteer whose village is right on the Niger River. We went out to see the elephants again who have not yet migrated into the deep forest. We took a pirogue up river and after a twenty-minute ride we found them on the bank on the Benin side of the river. There were thirteen in total, seven in the water playing and bathing, and six on land grazing. We were able to dock the pirogue on some rocks in the river since the water is so low. From the rocks we were only about 40-50 feet away from the elephants. What an amazing site to see! We sat there for over an hour and watched them roll around in the water, play fight, and graze. It was definitely one of the most excited things I have ever been able to witness. We headed back just as the sun was setting.
The other day in our regional capital some of the volunteers got together for a duck feast! One of the volunteers bought four ducks of which three we killed, myself getting to do the honors for one of them. We split up tasks and I was part of the grilling team. We ended up oven roasting one, frying one and grilling one which we ate with mashed sweet potatoes and brown rice. It was an amazing feast and all three ducks tasted great of course I was partial to the grilled one! We’re talking about having a pig roast next!
The new group of volunteers are about to arrive in country and I was chosen to be one of the volunteers who train the newbies. I’m really excited about being to help them out as well as see things from the flip side after being here for nearly a year. We get to go to the airport to pick them up and see all of their frightened faces so it will be fun. I can still remember how overwhelmed I was stepping foot on Nigerien soil for the first time. There are 48 trainees coming in so we will have our work cut out for us but it will be a great time!
I guess that’s about all to report for now. The dreads are doing well, locking up slowly but surely. I’ll let y’all know if anything else crazy or exciting comes up soon. Take care and keep in touch. Zatara
I was in the capital a couple of weeks ago and was able to go and see Niger play Benin in a World Cup qualifying match. It wasn’t a great game as Niger lost 2-0, but we all had a good time and were definitely supporting “our country”. We just recently went back to the training site for our Mid Service Training. We’re almost at a year which hard to believe! We shared past projects as well as future project ideas and discussed which projects worked or didn’t work and why. I think it was a productive time but it was also great to see all of the volunteers from my group together again.
The rains finally have begun. They were very spotty at first but now we are really coming into rainy season. My villagers are very thankful that they’ve begun but that also means that the real work has started. The men normally head out to the fields before 7am and usually don’t return home until 5pm. Six days a week they farm from morning to night. I plan on having a bean field so we’ll see how that goes. I guess I need to get out there and work up a good sweat. I also plan on having a rainy season garden in my concession. I will be planting cucumber, soy beans, lima beans, basil, tomatoes, eggplant and a few other vegetables. It will take some effort but hopefully I’ll be eating well come August.
I recently went and visited a volunteer whose village is right on the Niger River. We went out to see the elephants again who have not yet migrated into the deep forest. We took a pirogue up river and after a twenty-minute ride we found them on the bank on the Benin side of the river. There were thirteen in total, seven in the water playing and bathing, and six on land grazing. We were able to dock the pirogue on some rocks in the river since the water is so low. From the rocks we were only about 40-50 feet away from the elephants. What an amazing site to see! We sat there for over an hour and watched them roll around in the water, play fight, and graze. It was definitely one of the most excited things I have ever been able to witness. We headed back just as the sun was setting.The other day in our regional capital some of the volunteers got together for a duck feast! One of the volunteers bought four ducks of which three we killed, myself getting to do the honors for one of them. We split up tasks and I was part of the grilling team. We ended up oven roasting one, frying one and grilling one which we ate with mashed sweet potatoes and brown rice. It was an amazing feast and all three ducks tasted great of course I was partial to the grilled one! We’re talking about having a pig roast next!
The new group of volunteers are about to arrive in country and I was chosen to be one of the volunteers who train the newbies. I’m really excited about being to help them out as well as see things from the flip side after being here for nearly a year. We get to go to the airport to pick them up and see all of their frightened faces so it will be fun. I can still remember how overwhelmed I was stepping foot on Nigerien soil for the first time. There are 48 trainees coming in so we will have our work cut out for us but it will be a great time!
I guess that’s about all to report for now. The dreads are doing well, locking up slowly but surely. I’ll let y’all know if anything else crazy or exciting comes up soon. Take care and keep in touch. Zatara
