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