Notes from Niger

formspring.me

2011-05-24T19:33:00.001-07:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/JodyMK

Pictures

2009-11-05T06:46:00.002-08:00

Ok, I know I'm lazy, so here is a direct link to my "Africa" album on Photobucket. And don't forget to click on the Giraffe album most of the pictures are from Mom and Jim's visit in Feburary but the newest one is from November!

Niger Africa Photo Album

Something to ponder...

2009-07-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

This was my view out the back of my bush taxi this morning...

ONLY in africa!!!

I've also updated my books I've read in Niger list on the right of my blog ----->

I give up!!

2009-06-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well I got back to my village Tuesday 06/16 and found out soon after I left my baby sheep got his head stuck in the fince and died....gah..it seems everytime i leave the village something of mine dies...

Babies babies everywhere!!!!!!

2009-06-10T06:20:00.001-07:00

I'm horrible at updating this thing. Sorry guys. But I have new pictures to show!!

These guys hatched on May 30th theres 7 of them total

This guy was born June 8th

Pumps and Sickness...

2009-04-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

So I've been stuck in Niamey for 5 days and a week in Maradi before that... It all started with a fervor in my village, it didn't go away after a day so i came into Maradi a week before i planned and ended up with Amoebic and bacterial disentry which total took me about 6 days to get over and i was super weak after(couldn't stand up for 1 min w/o feeling exhausted). The day I felt well enough to eat again(last Friday) I woke up and my legs had turned a dark red purple color... peace corps made me come into Niamey because of this which totally sucked!! It ended up being a drug reaction to the amoeba meds so I've been in Niamey for 5 days while my legs slowly turned Un-purple. So finally they are allowing me to return to Maradi.

While I was in my village before all the sickness World Vision came to my village and drilled to put in a hand pump in my village. The village had to pay 100,000Fcfa as their contribution to get the pump. I have probably missed some of the process in these 2 weeks I've been away on sick hold so well see when i get back whats going on.

There have also been a lot of weddings in my village lately and heres a picture of them putting the roof on one of the new couples houses!! They mix the mud on the ground and do a kind of conveyer system to get it up there and in place.

And heres a picture of my friend's 11th child (her 6th) as just over a month old!! Mom got to see him when he was only a day old.

2009-02-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

It's been cold outside in the mornings so I set just inside my door and read instead of laying in my hammoc. Dodo sleeps on my lap while i read.

There have been some weddings in my village. And before the wedding the house is built by the men and the women put clay in the house and wet it and dance inside the house so that the house has a hard flatish flooring. This is some of the dancing just outside the house.

This is the kind of thing i see on my bush walk from my village to the main road during dry season. The camels are gone during rainy/farming season because the nomadic herders take all their animals north in to the Sahara because they would eat all the growing millet and sorghum and beans if they were left in the area.

Pictures

2009-02-01T04:10:00.001-08:00

New addition to my zoo. Shes pregnant so ill have a new adition in the next 3 or so months (gestation is 5 months in sheep and goats)

Ofcorse the filtered water inside isn't good enough for him.

More new additions but I didnt buy these...theres 6 total.

And its building season in my village this wall is going up on the outskirts of the village and eventually itll be a whole house for someone in the villages son who is moving back from Nigeria.

The two guys in the photos are 2 of my friends and Uncle and Nephew (the one in red is the Uncle).

2009-01-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

Right now is watermellon season in my area of niger (50K stretch of road) and this is what all the villages on the road look like!

I go to bed some nights sloshing from all the watermellon my villagers gave me that night!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T04:56:00.001-08:00

So santa came and visited us at the hostle!

And he brought us all stockings!!

I decorated our lime tree for our christmas tree! Some ornament improvising was done!

Maradi Family Picture!!

And Ousmane petite with a christmas tree hat on!

We woke up sunday morning (some with hangovers) and opened gifts sent from home and then cooked all day getting ready for our hamburger x-mas dinner. We did secret santa before dinner each opening the gifts one at a time so everyone can see what everyone else got! We had a 2000Fcfa price limit and had to be bought in Niger (not from a care package) and a LOT of realy great things were bought!

Thought id add some more pictures

Heres 2 pictures of my village tailors.
Abdou

Chietou(Shy-e-too)

Its watermellon season in my area of Niger. This is what i call my Bush Fridge. Its the clay thing i keep my water in so that its nice and cold all year round.

2008-12-16T04:39:00.001-08:00

Well heres a picture of the New kids and all the Maradi people that went to swear in!

And to the COSers!! Well Miss you guys!

Maradi!

Ag/NRM '07

2008-12-10T02:41:00.000-08:00

I've desided to take a page out of the Flat Stanely book and take pictures with this lovely pig Cousin Sue gave me at my going away party! This is the inside of my house door!

Here is my chicken and some of the guinea fowls she raised. The redish ones are mine and the black ones are my landlady's. Unfortunatly the chicken is no longer with us as according to my villagers someone hit her and an egg died(broke) inside of her and she died.

Heres a cute little hedgehog someone caught for me. They eat them but i let this guy go.
Theres a saying here like the american "Its a peice of cake" that goes something like "Its like catching Hedgehogs" Because you just touch them and they roll up in a ball and wahlah you have dinner....

Chamillians are everywhere!!! I keep saving them and putting them out in the bush as kids kill them because everyone is scared of them.

Heres my big roster crowing in the morning.

This is a local land moniter lizard. They caught her for me and we ate it. YUMMY!!!!

Dodo playing in a bag in my house. Nigerien cats like bags too!!

2008-11-22T04:28:00.001-08:00

Well never mind on the pictures....grrr mabey in Niamey which ill be there dec 6-14th.

Thanksgiving is coming up and we are having dinner tomorrow after the new kids get here because they will be in their villages for the actual day. We have a turkey wondering around the Hostel yard right now which i will be plucking and butchering tomorrow after the guard gets it killed and then one of the other girls will be cooking it.

I've started the work on a Grain Bank project in my village and need to write a preposal for the money we need. Their village contribution is the building of the building and a small part of the grain. I'll be writing a Peace Corps Partnership proposal so when that gets aproved ill be asking yall to donate!! :D

My animal count right now is up to 2 hens(use to have 3 but one got sick) 2 rosters 3 baby chickens (i think my other hen is setting on eggs somewhere in teh village she hasnt come home in a few days) 6 teenager guinea fowl and Dodo my cat. I'll be buying a ewe after Tabaski when the prices go back down.

Team Maradi!

2008-09-13T00:59:00.000-07:00

The "New Kids" swore in yesterday and heres a picture of all of Team Maradi that came in.

And the view from the Ambassador's House!!!

More Pictures from the Bush

2008-09-10T01:53:00.000-07:00

Chickens!! The grey one in back isnt mine!

Dodo and his CRAZY eyes

Millet Field near my house its even higher now!!

My field..again plants are higher and the sorgum has heads now.

My garden in my house....the corn has flowers now....and isnt much taller.

Niamey!

2008-09-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I last posted here but I’m in Niamey till Sunday the 14th so I decided I should post something and post pictures! Life’s still going good in the bush. I’m finally starting to find out what my villagers want and after a visit from PC people the women have stopped asking me for medicine, my cloths, my water…..etc etc ….. All my animals are in heath; Dodo the cat is growing and starting to learn to catch his own food! My chickens are great though my rooster now that all the hens in our house don’t “need” him right now has wondered off, one of my hens when I left was setting on eggs, she laid 9 and I took them away and gave her 10 guinea fowl eggs and after she sat on those for a week I gave her 6 of her own eggs back but ones gone missing since then so she’s setting on 15 eggs. My other hen I think from the sounds I hear is laying eggs in my neighbors house so after I get back if she’s setting on them by then I’m going to move her and her eggs over to our house one evening because I’m afraid if I did it before then she’d just forget about the eggs I moved and continue to lay eggs next door. I plan to buy a ewe next month and get her bred and Insha Allah if she gives birth to two boy babies I have plans on ways to raise them so show my villagers different ways to raise meat animals (I still have plans for other combos of babies but boys are what I would prefer) and later on when they are older sell them to my villagers for a much reduced price for whatever reason they need a sheep (naming ceremony, holiday, etc).

And new pictures

Heres my landlords dad's grainry where he keeps his millet. My landlord is IN the structure putting the rope around the bundles and his brothers are the ones in the picture.

Here my landlord, counterpart and friend are putting more mud on the South side of my house so when it rains from the south water dosen't come IN my house. 5 bulls desided to attack my wall after all this and punched big holes in my consession wall...

Here me and my landlord are walking out to the fields.

Here's him working in his field weeding around the bean plants.

And he told me to work so he could take a picture and show everyone in america me farming.

And drinking tea with Malam Ousman and some of the younger(~30s) guys.

2008-07-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

So life goes on in the Bush! I'm up to 3 chickens and a cat. My tomatoes are coming along but im having trouble with Dodo(cat) eating my corn plants before they get big enough to survive his chomping... My field is looking good! I planted Sorgum and had to replant a good chunk of it last Friday( 7/18) because of ants and planted a little Okra with it. We tilled up and thined out the sorgum that had grown. I wasnt able to do the tilling because i couldnt see the sorugum for the millet that had grown in my field. So in my field I have Sorgum and hopefully Okra and Mellon, Millet and some kinda plant they eat the leaves all that i didn't plant.

Last monday was so weird! My land lord came home from the field limping and i was thinking his hip hurt because he had mentioned it Sunday when he was helping me in my field. Well come to find out while knealing to pray the 2nd prayer of the day a scorpian crawled up his pants and stung him twice on thigh. I joked with him that Allah was mad at him and we all laughed. Well last saturday I bought a 4th chicken, a realy old one that was beyond her egg days. She was huge. So Monday I planed to slaugtor her and share the meat with my landlords family and my counterparts family. So 2 of the guys killed her and not even 2 mins later it started raining and one of them made the comment "Barkatou you kill a chicken and Allah brings us rain" I had to laugh and make the comment "Yes and Mamane prays and a scorpian stings him" we all laughed about it and it was talked about for 3 days.

I have loads of pictures but dont trust these internet cafe computers to not have a virus to infect my thumb drive so those'll have to wait till im in Niamey.

I always have so much to say when im in my village but by the time I set down to type theres not much i can think of.

I'm not so great about writing letters ill try but idk what to say. So the best way to get a letter from me is to write me one and ask questions or what not.

Another day in Niger

2008-06-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

So life is great. I have 2 new chickens. For those who dont know while i was in Niamey for training one of my chickens died and the other 2 got real sick so my villagers ate them so they wouldnt just die and the meat go to waste. So the 2 villagers who's families at them bought me 2 new chickens. I'll get pics up some time. My cat is good! My corn, tomatoes and watermellons are growing in my yard! I need to plant my fields!!! I'm going to be planting Sorgum and peanuts! I plan on saving the peanuts i grow this year and giving them to some of my villagers that help me throughout the year to plant next year so we'll see. I have to come back in to Maradi on the 16th for my last HPV and HepA shots so hopefully I' ll beable to get online then. Now that im setting at a computer I cant think of anything to say on here. I guess thats about it for now.

The Story Continued

2008-05-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

To, now for the story...

Our counterparts got her Sunday the 18th and we spent Monday and Tuesday with them at Hamdy learning Peace Corps stuff. Tuesday evening they were suposed to be leaving for Niamey to leave back to our villages Wednesday. Well late that afternoon a HUGE sand storm blew in me and some of the other girls spend 10 mins bringing in all the mattresses and mosqueto nets so they wouldnt blow away or rip (pic below is AFTER we did all this). Then after the storm....the skys opend up and it POORED!!!! It rained all night

Here is Me my friend angie's counterpart and my Counterpart Mamane.And heres a picture of all of us and out counterparts and the formatures(teachers)

So I'm done with training now and heading back to Maradi tomorrow at 5am I'm not sure what day ill head back to my Village because i have to do my first Triyearly report before i head out. Ill try to get to one of the internet cafe's before i head out but no promises.

WOAH!!!

2008-05-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Look what rolled in last Tuesday May 20th.

I have more pictures but this up load session was cut short and i dont have my pictures with me so this'll have to keep yall till i get online with pictures again...the whole story will come with them

Home

2008-05-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

The view through my concession door.

Here's a picture of my house from next to my latrine.
Heres a picture of my house from right behind my shade hanger wall Ive hung my hammock sence this picture was taken..it hangs from the log next to my door to one of the logs thats about in the middle of the millet stalk wall on my shade hanger

Chickens

2008-05-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

So now that i have some time let me post the pics I have of my chickens. I have 2 hens and a rooster the Rooster is the whiter one in the pic of them up on my concession wall.

And heres a Charriat Spider or Rozo Rozo as my villagers call it Suposatly they carry scorpians on their back but none ive seen have had one!

More Pics

2008-05-13T14:56:00.001-07:00

Magari, Ousman (setting by the flag pole) his brother, the butcher and one of Ousman's sons
My landlord Mamane and his youngest Seragi and Mamane one of my counter parts is just out of hte picture
My landlords 3 kids (I think he has another one from a previous marrage but not totaly sure)
Look what my village gave me two saturdays ago before I left for market!! I also bought 3 chickens the same day at market!
Midday Prayer(~2pm) (taken from inside one of my schools class rooms)

Little girl in the school for World Vision's data collection stuff

Back for more training!

2008-05-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back in Niamey for 2 weeks of training so im on LAN here in the hostle because the wireless broke so I'm try and put up some pics. I'm only posting a few pictures right now because somene else wants to use the internet! I want to give a great big shout out to Chay's mom Mary! I'll post more later tonight

This is Mamane my land lord

Nigerian School bell
My Magari (village cheif) If you click on the picture you can see his facal scaring he has full on whiskers!

One Month In

2008-04-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

So Ive been in my village for 3.5 weeks and Im in Maradi for the weekend! Im getting my bike and was going to go back out on monday morning but my APCD (head of the Ag sector) was suposed to come out to my site last tuesday but never showed up but he wants to go out tomorrow so Im going back out with him tomorrow because hell bring my bike with us so i dont have to wait for the next PC shuttle to bring it out!

So as for my last month! So far so good! I havent gone insane yet and things are getting better!

My land lord, Mamane O. (the mans whos house my house is in), has been in Kano Nigeria for the last 2 weeks because they needed money! Hes a realy nice man, hes about 25 years old (most adults here dont know exctly when they were bornbecause of a lack of a birth certificate and they dont celebrate b-days here) has 3 kids and his wife, Maramia, is nice too. Shes about 23 and they got married when she was 15, their oldest kid is about 7.

I hang out a lot with the men, 'studying' Hausa with Mamane S. , and playing cards and drinking tea with Sani, the market man, and his brothers. Sani is kewl, hes about 27 and, I think I figured out 1/2 the kids who bug me are his...... he has like 10 kids....... having 2 wives helps with that. The old men found out Thursday night that I have cards so I may be playing cards with them now some too!

I plan on buying some chickens next market as me and Mamane O. talked about me buying some and him feeding them and some other things in Hausa I dont remember. My village has so,e kittens theywant to give me and I told the, to wait till I get back from Niamey at the end of May.

So im at an internet cafe so let me cut this off here. I'll be in Niamey starting the 15th for 2 weeks of training so I'll update more then and add some pictures.

Swear In #2

2008-03-30T00:57:00.001-07:00

Ok I got one picture from our swear im Us 8 and "The Rock" Tondi

A PCT no more, a PCV forever more!

2008-03-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

So swear in was 2 weeks ago but me along with 7 other people didn't make the language requirement and for the 1st time ever they didn't allow us to swear in...NOONE was happy about it even the staff! So 6 of us got 2 more weeks of Hausa in Maradi with 2 of our language teachers and 2 went to Gotaye for 2 more weeks of Zarma. All 8 of us passed and today we headed back to Niamay (12hr bus ride for us Hausaphones) for our own separate swear in! I love these guys(language teachers) soooooo much! I don't have much to say right now as i havent slept much or eaten much in the last 24 hours but what do you expect when you have to catch a bus at 4am to ride 12 hours and you're car sick most of the ride!

Heres some pics of swear in 2 weeks ago. I forgot my camera in Maradi so itll be some time before I get pics of my swear in today!

These are the guys! The guys here in the LONG tops are wearing the traditional clothing called the BuBu! The other guys except the one on the far right are weiring whats called the Funk(Functional) Sute. And for those who cant tell they are suposed to be acting out The Last Super.
Here are most of us girls being scandlious showing our knees and shoulders which is a NoNo in Nigerian and Muslum Culture. Sorry, I'm only the silly pictures
Me and Tondi(Rock in Zarma) hes one of the sweetest men I've met and has a laugh to fit his size! Its booming and he laughs with his whole body and in a country of laughter you can imagine he laughs a LOT! Theres a saying here in the PC..."You go to PC Asia and learn about religion. You go to PC South American and learn about Politics and you go to PC Niger and learn to laugh" Its sooo true!!
Here is out entire teaching staff from left to right top to bottom
Top Row
Abdou Hamza the money man
Mariama in blue one of the Hausa Teachers
Abdou the Hausa teacher that got me where I am with Hausa today!
Abas one of the Zarma teachers
Tondi "The Rock" the Site Manager
2nd Row
Bobaye one of the other Hausa teachers
Ousman another Zarma teacher and the man that keep me laughing the entire 9 weeks
Absatou another Hausa teacher who kept me on my toes with "threats" of beatings
Mourtula another Hausa teacher and a complete sweet heart!
Soba the guy in charge of all the language program
Oussanie another Zarma teacher
Mani the man in charge of all our Cross Culture classes
Bottom Row
Haoua Grand the lady in charge of all the Ag training
LaLa another of the Zarma teachers
Rakia, behind LaLa, is the Soda and Letter lady
Haoua Patete the lady in charge of EVERYTHING Natural Resource Management

I love these guys and galls so much! Abdou and Absatou spent 2 extra weeks with us who didn't pass the language! They all have so much love to give and show us all so much of it putting up with a lot of our American ways! I had every single Hausa teacher for atleast a week Mourlula for 3 weeks and Abdou for 4.

Host Family

2008-03-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of my host family

The two women in the back are my 2 moms Fati and Bibae(bee-bay) with 2 of my sisters Barkatou(6months) and Aishatou(3 years) and the woman in blue is Scott's mom and her 3 kids, in her lap(Hadiza) and in the front of the picture Samsiya and Abdoulkadare.

Carrying water! You try it its not easy!

This is Mahamadou one of my host brothers. The white stuff is medicine for something a LOT of the kids have

From Right to left
Zalika, Hadiza, Aishatou, Me, Samsia, and Rizack

Rizack is the oldest of my host siblings Zalika is my host dad's niece she lives with the grandmother and her parents live in Niamey.

Live in and Niamey

2008-03-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

I got back from Live in Saturday March 1st. My village is so nice, real small 2 wells both about 120ft deep, they have 2 grain banks and a school. Maradi is great..its has nearly everything ill ever need with out being Niamey. Its a 12hr bus ride from Niamey to Maradi as long as everything goes well so I wont be in Niamey much!

I'm in Niamey for the day. I'm in the hostel on their wireless internet. We have a party tomorrow evening and then a BBQ in Niamey Tuesday, a party with our host famlies Wed GAD (Gender and Developemt) Auction on Thursay and swear in on Friday then we leave for our reagions Sunday...12hr ride in a ambulance type vehical...im not looking forward to.

I'll post more later when i can think of more

Here's a picture of my well if you look real close you can see some donkeys off to the right pulling something...they are pulling water up for themselves and the other animals in the picture!

New Address

2008-02-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

Jody's new address is:

Jody Kincaid, PCV
Corps de la Paix
BP 226
Maradi, Niger
West Africa

Jody has been selected to serve the next two years near the city of Maradi in southeastern Niger. There will be 32 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) serving in the Maradi area.

The plans are to have the trainees come to Maradi from Niamey on Sunday, Feb 24. They'll then spend a few days in their respective villages, and return to Niamey the following Saturday, March 1st where they will complete their training. The volunteers will be sworn in on March 14th. At that time they will return to the Maradi Transit House then on to their villages. Jody will live in a concession with a young family. In a village 30 kilometers West of Maradi and 2 - 3 kilometers north of the main road.

The Maradi PCVs share an email account: marpcvs@intnet.ne
You should write Jody's name in the subject heading. The computer is pretty good about shuttling messages into individual volunteer inboxes. Jody will pick up her emails when she is able to come the PCV Transit house in Maradi which could be only once a month or so. Therefore do not expect a quick reply.

Pictures

2008-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

I'll post more later! Its taking to long to upload right now! Selena and her daughtor Lela, SeaBass's cats durring our tech trip!!

We had class in the bush and these guys came up RIGHT next to my class!!!!

One of the sheep my family owns and her week old babies

A Fulan lady and her kids at the culture fair

The Wadabi(sp?) the coolest ethnic group in NIGER

A Wadabi girl

These are teh sheep and goat we (the Animal Husbandry people) bought durring PST the sheep is the one thats half and half! Some of the girls named the goat Fudgie and the Sheep Moonie after the Secretary-General of the UK!

26PCTs in a Bush Taxi built for 19!!!!

This is what I have every Sunday for lunch! Shincaffa da wake(rice and beans) with Tonka(red peppers, chicken bullion cube and salt pounded into a powder). My dinners are usually Rice and Sauce with some nights having a small piece of meat. I had Tuo Massara (corn pounded up then ground into a fine powder then boiled untill its a THICK blob) one night and it didnt agree with my stomach so i eat only sauce the nights they give me that....

2008-02-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

This is Muse(cat is Zarma) the cat at the Gotaye hostle! Hes so awsome! I was there durring Demyst weekend!

In Niamey again...

2008-02-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

this time I'm spending the night in the infermary. I've had a sore throat and a fevor for 3 days now and finaly since it didn't go away I was sent here. I have strep throat accompanied by a 102.9F fevor!!! Fun! Atleast its not intestional amobeas and/or bacteria (Niger is said to be the poopiest(cencerd for little eyes) in Peace Corps so all of the water we drink is filterd and treated with bleach by us. Site anouncements was this afternoon! I will be the first PCV in my village about 30km west of Maradi and about 2-3km off the main road and hopefully the ground is hard enough for me to get a bike!!! I asked my APCD(Assoiate Peace Corps Director...i think) to please, if he can, not to place me in a village where i have to walk in a LOT of deep sand and he seems to have done the best he could!!! So far I've seen a lot of Zarma land (the west) because Hausa land is to far for them to do any of the trips in. I'll post more later when my brain is still working! I'm going to try and upload pictures (In sha Allah "God Willing")

News from Jody

2008-01-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

I received a letter from Jody today written Jan 12 & 13. She says:
“I have moved in with my host family and will be learning to speak Hausa. I’m living in a village with Mamane Issa’s family. One other volunteer, Scott, also lives in the family group but he lives on the other side of the concession with the other half of the family. My family named me Barkatou Grand. One of the babies is named Barkatou Petit. They named Scott, Mamane Sanie. We spent some time while dinner was being cooked to learn some language from the kids, drawing pictures asking what things were and trying to get the kids to draw. We found out 5 of the kids in our gida (family) attend one of the three schools in the village. Our gida has a bull, some sheep and chickens. We spent Sunday in the village with our families. Mamane (Scott) and I spent a lot of time learning words from the kids. One of the first things we did was walk through the village with the women. We think to pay our respects to the family of someone who died or is dying. We came back and played with the kids and went to buy some ingredients for lunch. Some of our neighboring PCTs (Peace Corps trainees) came to visit and we played Frisbee with the kids and wrote numbers in Hausa on UNO cards. We went down out of the village with the kids to a water hole where a man was making bricks and helped the kids pick some fruit/bean things off some trees. The food is good but rich, lots of rice with veggie sauces and fried pastries for breakfast. Monday we go back to the training site for more lessons then back to the host family for dinner.”

Demyst

2008-01-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

Hey guys I "snuck" on the computers at the PC Bural for a few mins! Just got back from Demyst where they set us in a PCV's village for a few days! Fun times! Rode back to the Hostal in Gothaye in teh back of a Police truck because they offerd a ride and we hadnt found a bush taxi yet! Rode back from there this morning on a bush taxi...4 to a seat and at one point some chickens in the front!! I'll have to get a picture of a bush taxi with cattle on top and post it! But thats it for now I'll post more when i have permisson to be online! Change in what ive told everyone..yall can send me packages in boxes and stuff it dosent cost much for us to get it...only a 1000cfa or 2 at most! (440cfa/$).

Hope yall are havnig fun with out me!! Its into the 50s in the mornings now!

Safe Arrival

2008-01-13T08:02:00.000-08:00

SAFE ARRIVAL

34 new Peace Corps Niger trainees arrived safely on 10 Jan 2008 in Niamey, Niger. Upon arrival they were taken out to the Peace Corps training center in Hamdallaye and were settled in for the evening. The next morning they all looked quite good, curious, a bit tired, and definitely excited about their new adventure. In the next 9 weeks they will not have access to internet or (for the most part) phones

2008-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Jen and I dropped Jody off at the Corpus Christi Airport on Monday Jan 7th for her 6 AM flight to Philadelphia where she joined 34 other Peace Corps Volunteers for registration at 1:30 pm. They spent the afternoon in training . They completed the staging process the afternoon of Tuesday Jan 8th. Wednesday morning they reported to the clinic , checked out of the hotel and boarded buses for the airport for their 7 pm departure to Charles De Gaulle airport, Paris, where they boarded a connecting flight to Niamey, Niger on Jan 10th. This group of 34 volunteers will then complete a 3 month in country training.

We wish you safe travels and good luck on this Great Adventure.
Love ya. Mom

The Peace Corps

2007-12-12T13:59:00.001-08:00

I decided while I was still in college if I did not get into Vet school I would join the Peace Corps and help out those less fortunate with the knowledge I gained in College. Well, here I am a year and a half after graduation waiting to leave. I leave January 7th for Philadelphia, PA for staging and then on the 9th I'm off to Niger for 2-3 months of training and then 2 years working with a local village doing something with Small Animal Husbandry, most likely working with mainly goats. This blog is where I will be journaling my adventures in Niger.