Thursday, February 11, 2010

A Little Bit of This and That

Hey All!

So it has been quite a while since I last wrote, and I apologize profusely. :) There have been some big changes to Peace Corps Niger since I last wrote. We had some issues with attempted kidnappings in the Tahoua Region, which obviously caused a little bit of pandemonium here. The bureau was forced to shut down the entire Tahoua Region, which lies right smack dab in the middle of the route from Niamey to Zinder. Shutting down the region meant that all the PCVs there could no longer live there. Not only was the Tahoua Region completely closed, a few other clusters in the Tilliberry Region, and Maradi Region also had to close. This caused even more people to be displaced, forcing them all to relocate or go home. It was a pretty sad state of affairs, seeing that most had already been at their posts for over year, a lot of people chose to go home, and we had to say goodbye to a lot of really amazing people. On top of this loss, our sister stage who was due to COS (Close of Service) in December, was asked to leave earlier than expected. This lead to a lot of hasty goodbyes, and was also really unfortunate because a lot of people were not able to return to their sites and say goodbye to the people they had just spent the last two years of their lives with. On top of all of this loss of old friends, we also had to send all 37 of the new trainees, our future friends, to Madagascar. Overall it was a pretty sad time in Peace Corps Niger. We went from 123 people down to 73.

As of now we are still recovering from the loss of so many people. It is really unfortunate that we had to say goodbye to so many people, and it sucks that our new sister stage was sent to a different country, but I think a lot of us are happy that we are still here. It would have been devastating to say goodbye to the village, as I know it was for a lot of friends who had to leave. So while we are down, we are not out.

As for me, I am doing fine. Village life is going pretty good. Liz and I are planning a women's health fair for both of our villages next week. We are going to teach the women home remedies for conjunctivitis and diarrhea for their children, we are also going to cover basic wound care, talk about AIDS, and provide them with Moringa seeds for planting in their concessions. (Moringa is this incredible plant that provides much needed nutrients for Nigerien diets from eating the leaves. It is really tasty too!) I'm excited for the health fair, not only are we providing them with great information, it will be really nice to have something to do. Things around the village have been pretty slow lately. Its cold season, so there isn't a lot of work available for the men, so a lot go on exode to Nigeria. There are not a lot of people around, so life has been a little boring.

Right now Liz and I are in Niamey for our mid service exams. I never thought I would be so excited to go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned! We have had a pretty nice time here though, it is always nice to see our western friends, and they have really great restaurants in Niamey, so I think I have gained like five pounds from all the food we have been eating. It is totally worth it! :)

Well, until we meet again. Hope all is well with everyone!

Peace
Ari