Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A PCT no more, a PCV forever more!
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.
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 bottomTop 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
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.
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.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Live in and Niamey
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!
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!
Monday, February 18, 2008
New Address
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.
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.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Pictures
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
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....
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....
In Niamey again...
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")
Monday, January 28, 2008
News from Jody
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.”
“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
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!
Hope yall are havnig fun with out me!! Its into the 50s in the mornings now!
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