Pangea

Hey all! It has been a busy week in Niamey, we've all been working really hard at Pangea. Pangea is a week long musical festival, it is a conglomeration of music, dancing, and education in which the material gathered in Niger is sent to New York, where they then have an event to raise money for the Young Girls Scholarship Program here is Niger. (The Young Girls Scholarship Program, aka YGSP, is a program that gives money to middle school aged girls to help they continue their education after primary school.) The weekend starts off with a young girls weekend, which involves a group of about 12 middle school aged girls, who come together and receive writing classes, voice lessons, dance classes, self defense classes, yoga, and most importantly are put in an atmosphere that encourages them to be strong women. I worked with Haley and Liz, who choreographed a dance routine, taught it to me, and then we taught it to the girls. It was a lot of fun! The girls were a lot of fun to be around, and really had a lot of energy and spirit. After the girls weekend, Pangea starts 5 days of free musical education for whomever would like to come. It involves yoga, dance classes, drumming classes, guitar classes, voice lessons, and musical theory. As some one who is not musically inclined whatsoever, but loves music, it was so awesome to be able to take part in it. Every morning started off with a yoga session, to loosen up our bodies and free our minds, and then we would attended the class of our choosing. I took the African dance class, which was basically African Dance for White Girls 101 (there were about 5 or 6 of us PCVs), but it was awesome! Our dance teacher was so amazing, just to watch her dance was a gift, her face would just light up and everything just flowed so perfectly when she moved. The classes were tough, some of the movements were so foreign to us, but eventually we caught on to the best of our abiltiy and learned a pretty awesome dance routine. It really was so much fun! And it was so exhausting! The week ended with a concert, where everyone who had put together songs, dances, or poetry got the chance to perform. The show was so good! Our girls, whom we taught a dance to, performed, and rocked it! We had some slight last minute changes but the girls took everything in stride, and did a great job performing. Overall it was an amazing week! An awesome opportunity to be around so many talented musicians and dancers.

Now that Pangea is over I'm taking a much needed rest, and this coming Wednesday I'm heading to Hamdallaye to VAT for the new stagiers. I'm really looking forward to getting out of Niamey and I'm excited to get to know all the new people!

Until we meet again!
Sai Anjima!
Ari

Hey Friends!! It has been a while since I last wrote, and so much has happened. A few weeks ago I experienced the full spectrum of life, all in one week. It started with the death of one of my best friend's daughters. The little girls name was Cheriffa, she was three years old, and died of malaria. I had known that she had been sick for a few days, but Bare (her mom, my friend) had taken her to the doctor, and usually people get medicine and then recover. Unfortunately, recovery is not always the case. I was at the pump, when all of a sudden all the girls at the pump were like, "Jamila, did you hear that Cheriffa died?" My face just fell, I couldn't believe it. I immediately left the pump, and hurried over to Bare's house choking back tears the entire way. As soon as I entered her concession, I knew the news was true. Not many people were at the concession yet, but all the women who were there were my close friends, and everyone just stared at me when I walked in, they knew how much I loved Cheriffa. I walked straight over to Bare, who was sitting on a mat, sat down next to her, put my hand on hers and said, "Bare, really? Cherrifa..." I couldn't hold back my tears any more, they just started pouring down my face. This was the first time my women had ever seen me cry, so when I started crying, they all started crying, and we just sat there and cried together for a few minutes. The next hour was kind of a blur, the concession rapidly filled up with women, there was crying, wailing, pounding, and talking - death is something that everyone in the community comes together for, so a lot of activity was happening. When the men came to take out Cheriffa's body, we all sat as one and shared in each others grief. Over the next few days, I spent a lot of time hanging out at Bare's concession, just sitting with her, meeting her entire extended family, and talking about Cheriffa.

Despite the grief and despair of death, there is also the joy and happiness of life. A few days after Cheriffa's death, I was hanging out in my friend Angie's village, when I received some really happy news. My neighbor and great friend, Kaoula, his wife, Jummai, at given birth to their first child, a baby girl. I was so incredibly excited!! Of course, I rushed home the next day, I was just busting at the seams, everyone I talked to was like, "Did you hear Jummai had her baby!" I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. :) I threw my stuff in my house, and then ran over to Jummai's to see the new baby. I sat down on the bed, (Jummai was laying in the floor), and Jummai handed her right over to me - she was so beautiful!!!!!!! She was sound asleep, and looked so content. I visited Jummai every day, each time admiring her patience and calmness. (Jummai is probably around 17, and she handled things like she had been doing it for years.) In Niger once a woman gives birth, she stays inside her house with the baby for 7 full days, on the seventh day is the baby naming ceremony, when the baby finally receives their name, and the family has a party and basically welcomes this new child into the world. I was totally excited for the ceremony, I live inside of Kaoula and Jummai's concession, so it was basically a party at my house. Kaoula was such a proud papa, he talked to a friend, and was able to get a generator, and a TV, so that guests to the party could watch music videos, and he killed a goat and had incredible food made. So guess what they decided to name their baby girl?...JAMILA!! After me! I was so touched, to be some one's namesake is such a big deal! Jummai and Kaoula just gave me big smiles, when I thanked them for the honor. The old ladies were all teasing me and telling me that because she is named after me now I needed to take her back with me to America. Over all is was a great day, and a great way to welcome Jamila into the world.

Now I am currently in Niamey. I am here to VAT for the new stage that just got here, which means I am a volunteer trainer for two weeks, and get to help the new kids with questions and concerns they have about Niger. I'm also helping out with the music festival, PANGEA. Liz and Haley put together a great dance routine, and we will be teaching it to about 20 middle school aged girls. I'm super excited.

Well, I guess for now, that is about it. I'm sure that since I'm in Niamey I'll be able to post sometime again soon. Hope that all is well!! :)

Ciao!
Ari

Viewing Pics

Hey All! So I set up a website at flickr so that you can see my photo albums. To get there from this web page you need to scroll down to my profile picture and click on the 'view complete profile'. From there click on the 'my web page'. That should take you to the flickr account. I haven't downloaded all my pictures, but I'm working on it. Hope you enjoy!!

Ari

Ramadan Salla

Hey Friends!! So since I last posted Ramadan has come to an end - thank God!! Fasting was really starting to get to me. I have to admit, I was expecting a little more from the fete. My villagers had told me that everyone gets all dressed up, and you spend a big part of the day greeting people, and at the end of the day we feast on meat. I was thinking that maybe there was more to it than that, maybe lots of dancing and singing, or a big morning prayer where everyone attends. Not so much. It really is exactly what they said it was, getting dressed up, greeting people, and eating meat. Here is how my day went...So I got up in the morning and put on normal everyday clothes to go out and get breakfast, I wanted to see what everyone else was wearing before I put on the outfit I had made for Salla. So I went out and some of the men were all dressed up, but that was about it. So I went home, and did my housework that needed to be done - carrying water, sweeping, pulling weeds - then I decided it was time, I just needed to suck it up and put on all my fancy clothes and step out. (I've never before worn a full complay out in my village, so I knew that as soon as people started seeing me all dressed up, it was going to be a big deal.) As soon as people saw me, they just got these goofy smiles on their faces, and were like, "Now you are like us! You need to dress like this all the time!" I was really happy that they were all happy, however, I was the only adult woman dressed up! I was like, "Why aren't you dressed up?" Well, I didn't get the memo, but the women didn't get dressed up until the evening. I got over it pretty quick. :) So I spent most of the day greeting people and taking pictures - I think I took like 150 pictures that day. It was fun, but it can get crazy, because everyone wants there picture taken. That evening we feasted on macaroni and goat meat - and it was so good!! That was pretty much it, there were some girls dancing for a little while, but that isn't unusual by any means. And that was it, the Ramadan Fete was over. So that was my day, it was enjoyable, but needless to say, I'm glad another Ramadan season is a whole year away!

Until we meet again.
Cheers
Ari

A Hard Month

Hi All! Just got back to Zinder, after almost three weeks of the village. It was probably up there has one of the hardest times out in the village. The Ramadan fast is hard! Let me explain... So I had originally planned to do the full 30 days of fasting along with my villagers, however that didn't work out because I wasn't in my village at the time the fast started. Not a big deal. So then I planned to fast along with my villagers the entire time I was out in my village. The plan had good intentions, however, once I got out there and started fasting, I quickly realized, I was definitely not going to be able to do it the entire time. When fasting the day starts at 4 am (my neighbor, Jummai, would wake me up everyone morning), I would get up and make myself some oatmeal and try to drink as much water as I could, after that I would go back to bed with the knowledge that I wasn't going to get anything else to put in my stomach until the sun went down at 6:45 pm. This is terrible! I am definitely one of those people, who has strict feeding times, and let me tell you I can get cranky really quickly if I don't get to eat. So not only was I not getting to eat, it was also well over 100 degrees out, I wanted to die! OK, so I'm exaggerating on the dying part, but it was terrible. As Washington couldn't tell a lie, nor can I, I did cheat a little, I usually broke down around noon and had to drink a little water, I have no will power. Still, those little sips of water got me through the day, which is what counts, plus whenever I stole a drink, I sent up a little prayer to Allah telling him I was sorry, so I drank with the heart of contrition. So far I have completed 14 days of fasting, and have one more to do. Luckily everyone is almost done, 5 more days! Despite the agony of fasting, there is a really awesome part of the day, that I think is greatly overlooked at most other times - dinnertime!! Everyday I go over to my family's house and bring along my water bottle and some delicious pankasou (fried balls of wheat flour dough, with squash sauce on the top - AMAZING!). My mom, my sister, and I would all just sit there and stare at each other, the look of hunger in our eyes - and every minute ask - "Is it time yet?!" It was the hardest part of the day, followed by such sweet bliss. Despite this, I am happy the fast is almost over, honestly fasting in the desert - crazy! Well I hope all is going well! Until we met again!

Cheers!
Ari

There and Back Again

So, I'm finally back to the city after three weeks of self imposed village exile. I received a great welcome back from my villagers after being on vacation for a month. My friend Yaya, ran up to me and gave me a huge hug (which is really not a Nigerian thing to do), which makes me realize how much they like having me around, which is always a nice homecoming. We had so much to talk about the first week I was back, and there was so much going on. However after being back for a few weeks village life did get a little boring, there just wasn't a whole lot going on, so everyday was the same thing. Being out there for three weeks with nothing to do but sit around with my village women, really started to get to me. It really makes me realize how much I need to start projects!

However despite being mostly bored, there were some exciting things that happened, my neighbor took me out to the fields and taught me how to farm Nigerian style. One word for that: HARD! Fields here are planted in rows, like at home, however there is no heavy machinery to do the hard work, everything is done my hand. They use a long piece of wood attached to a v shaped metal tool. I had blisters all over my hands, and I only did it for like an hour. My village men go out and farm everyday for hours, I have no idea how they do it, they have so much effort! I've also been going out with village women and picking grass for the animals. It is kinda funny, because they ask me as we are out in the fields picking grass, "so do you do this in America?" I have to tell them that, "No, we don't have to do this in America, because there is grass everywhere!" They don't really get that concept, however seeing as they have been surrounded by sand their whole lives, I can't blame them.

Other news... Ramadan started today, which means a month long fast during daylight hours. There is no drinking water and no eating food. People get up at 4 am to eat food before the sun comes up, and then don't eat or drink again until the sun goes down. Once I get back out to my village I am going to attempt to fast, however, it is going to be tough!

We have also reached that point in time where we have to say goodbye to two old friends (actually three, but one already left us) and hello to six new ones. Jen and Michelle have finished up their service, and are getting ready to leave us in the next few days. However, we have six new people heading out east for the first time to check out their villages and meet their new team. It is a time of conflicting emotions, because saying goodbye is always hard, but at the same time it is exciting to see new faces. I guess that is the story of Peace Corps though, always changing.

Well, I guess that is all for now. Until we meet again!

Cheers!

Ari

Back to Niger

We are finally back to Niger! Of the last three days we have spent 37 hours on a bus! It was kind of ridiculous, but we made it in one piece. It feels so good to be back in Niger, it is nice to finally be able to comunicate with people, and to actually know where you are going and what you are doing. This morning, for example, was so nice, we got into our taxi and we all greeted eachother (which I totally missed!) and we knew exactly how much the taxi was going to cost and how long it was going to take to get there. It is good to be home! So today Liz and I our taking a well needed day of rest from traveling, and then tomorrow it is back on a bus for 14 more hours to Zinder - home sweet home! Well, until we meet again!

Cheers!
Ari

Life so far...

Hello friends! For those who don't already know, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger. I am almost 10 months into my service, and so far I am loving it! Some days are harder than others, but I guess that is life where ever you live. I'm actually on vacation right now, currently in Ghana, but headed to Burkina Faso for a few days tomorrow. Vacation has been so much fun, and it was definately needed! I'm out here with two other volunteers (Liz and Nichole), and we have been to Benin, Togo, and Ghana so far. Here are some of the more exciting points:

• Starting off from our region to Niamey (Liz and I live in the same region) was a little scary, our bus tipped over because we think our driver fell asleep at the wheel, so that part wasn't so much fun. (We were all ok, there were six of us, a little shaken up and bruised, but ok.)
• The Lion's Bar in Grand Popo, Benin, was our first chance to get in the ocean. We didn't really get to swim because the currents are really strong, but we got to splash around so that was awesome after only seeing sand for the last 9 months.
• The market in Lome, Togo was pretty cool. It is huge! Considering none of us speak French we did pretty good, and put a serious dent in our wallets.
• Hohoe, Ghana was beautiful! We went there to check out the Wli Waterfall, which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. We walked through a tropical rain forest to get to the falls, then, despite the water being freezing, we were able to jump in and get pretty close to the falls. The splash coming off the falls was pretty intense, but it was awesome!
• Accra, Ghana has pretty much been like being in America. We went to the mall, which was a little bit of a culture shock, and we have gotten to see two movies in a movie theater! We actually made a special trip back because Nichole and I had to see Harry Potter 6 - it was totally worth it!
• Cape Coast was a nice surprise, the town is so beautiful! We went to Cape Coast Castle, which was really interesting, and depressing, they have the slave dungeons and holding areas, it was sad!
• Kakum Canopy walk, was another favorite! It is these 7 bridges set up over the tropical forest canopy. It was a little scary when the bridge would start to sway, but it was so awesome!
• Green Turtle was so relaxing. We had been in 9 hotels over 10 days, so we spent 5 days at the Green Turtle and just hung out on the beach. The rip tides were still really strong here, but we were able to swim, which was nice.

Like I said before, tomorrow we are on to the last leg of our vacation, sadly! Although, seeing as we have been gone for almost 3 weeks, I'm ready to get back to my village. Well that is about it for now.

Cheers!

Ari