The Latest

Thank you to everyone who's written to make sure I'm okay- I am okay, really. I will be in Niger for one more week before flying to Morocco and, eventually, to Oregon. It's an earlier take-off than I'd had in mind, but given everything that's gone on here recently it is an acceptable compromise. I'll take two weeks in Morocco, why not?

And, because I promised to include more information about "the situation", here goes. To the best of my knowledge: two weeks ago there was an attempted kidnapping of Americans in Tahoua, which is the capital of my region and a few hours north of my home. There have been a series of attempted and/or successful kidnappings of Europeans in and around Niger/Mali over the last year; most (if not all) of these are presumed to be the acts of an Al Quaeda group based in Mali. Because of the proximity and boldness of the Tahoua attempt, and because it appeared to target Americans, Peace Corps withdrew immediately from the region.

And that's why I had to leave my village early. I've spent the last two weeks trying to be useful (or, alternately, sitting in an absolute daze) in Konni, Niamey, and the training site at Hamdallaye, and will tackle my end-of-service paperwork next week before embarking on my last-minute trip to Morocco.

I have managed to talk with my family and friends in my village every day; we all appear to be (mostly) over the huge bummer of my sudden departure and are just happy to be able to hear each other's voices. They're wrapping up the harvest and preparing for the biggest holiday of the year-- Tabaski, which will happen tomorrow. Obviously I won't be able to partake in the festivities with them this time, but I will celebrate here in Niamey with city-Nigerien friends. What will we do? Be thankful for each other, dress up, visit and greet many people, slaughter a sheep, and eat lots and lots of meat for two days. Barka da Salla!

Below are a few pictures from my last days in the village.

Above are Rahido, Alkasum, Idi, and Wan Mano filling a granary with newly-harvested bundles of millet. The average family will eat approximately one bundle's worth of millet a day. This year, in our area, a family is lucky to get 150 bundles out of their fields. After the bundles run out, they will rely on money sent home from sons and husbands on work exodus to purchase bags of millet from the market.

Two days before I left, a truck pulled up at 7:30 in the morning with our twenty-five gorgeous new school desks!! That was so exciting. In this picture you can see Chaibou, the school director, and Isseuf, the man who arranged the construction and delivery of the desks.

Here is the inside of the new classroom, with new desks in place. In this picture are Narba, Balkissa, Rabi, Malim, Chaibou, and Isseuf. Balkissa, Rabi, and Malim are teachers for the youngest students; Chaibou will teach the two oldest grades in this new building.

There are so many more pictures that I wanted to take before leaving. I guess those will have to wait.

Community classroom photo update

The classroom is FINISHED and it is realllly nice- shiny green doors, smooth cement steps, a roof and walls... I will send pictures asap! THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!! Letters from the kids of the village soon to follow-- if you donated to the project via check and would like a card, please send me your address! Otherwise, if you donated online, I think I have it.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures taken by my dad in early August:

This is the old classroom; the roof is made of millet stalks.

Inside the old classroom.

Bricks, handmade, and drying in the sun. They had to be sprinkled with water as they cured.

Plastering the wall

Workers

It was a lot of heavy work

Me with part of the crew in front of the new blackboard

Putting in the ceiling. This is so much better than millet stalks.

See? It looks so nice.

Working on the door frame

The building, not yet plastered or painted, from a distance.

With the crew

Community classroom update: We've got walls!

I left Foloa on Thursday to start the trek to Niamey to meet --gasp!!-- my PARENTS, and took a picture on the way out. I think by the time we get back, there may even be a roof.

Classroom update: the foundation

July 14, 2009

I left for Tahoua on my bike today, and snapped this picture on my way out. In the background you can see the cement bricks that were made by a crew last week. We have been sprinkling them with water ever since, while they cure in the hot sun.

Classroom construction update: hauling sand

June 20, 2009

Well, the work is starting!

This young man and his donkey just brought a load of sand to the construction site. The new classroom will be in the space you see to the left. Next step: we will mix cement and create bricks.

Funded!

So happy!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

The Community Classroom Project was fully funded as of today, June 4. As work progresses on this project I will give you updates!

Back from exode

The men are all back from exode (months away from Niger, working to bring home cash), and waiting for planting season (i.e. RAIN). The village is full of life and activity. When I returned from my weeks away, I saw that they had brought in a pile of gravel for the community classroom; remember, they agreed to provide 33% of the cost and that's part of it. But it was a tiny pile of gravel! I worried that once the rains start we wouldn't get the gravel and sand, but they assured me "No, no, Samsiye, we know how much is needed!" And sure enough, the very next day I saw donkey cart after donkey cart bringing in loads of gravel and sand; they're getting this stuff from way out in the bush somewhere.

So the men have some time on their hands right now, and have asked for English lessons. Why not? There is a group of 25 or so who come to my compound every evening for a 45 minute English class, hoping to pick up some English for when they next go on exode to Nigeria. It's fun, and they are good students.

Details of the community classroom project

A future student of the proposed classroom

A big THANK YOU to those of you who have brought the donations for the Community Classroom Project up over $5,000! We are getting close now: only a little over $2,000 left to go, and then the village will get a new classroom to house those 72 kids currently attending school outdoors. If you haven't yet donated, please consider it: 100% of your tax deductible contribution goes directly to the classroom project. All donations are very much appreciated!

The total cost of the project will actually be $11,478.12, but the community has agreed to contribute 33% of this cost, which will include the land on which the classroom will be built, all sand, gravel, and water for cement mixing, transportation of all raw materials to the work site, food and lodging for all skilled construction workers, organizational labor by the Classroom Association, desks to furnish the new classroom, and a full-time teacher (on government contract). This community contribution amounts to $3,805.21, leaving another $7,672.91 to be raised thanks to the donations of folks like you.

Some of you haven't seen the budgetary details associated with this project, so I thought you might find it interesting to see what the actual costs will be to undertake the building. We got two different bids from contractors, and we also considered trying to do the project without a contractor; we ended up settling on a contractor who has worked with Peace Corps in this region successfully and reliably for years. Here is how it breaks down:


Excavation:
Channel and embankment of compacted dirt
$196.46

Foundation:
Reinforced concrete for interior, columns & crossbeams
Masonry of full mixture
$1,172.08

Lower floor:
Reinforced concrete
Concrete for staircase
$510.42

Masonry of walls:
Masonry of hollow walls
Reinforced concrete for window bays, crossbeams,
columns, high crossbeams, channels
$1,790.63

Coating & Surfacing:
Interior coating
Exterior coating
Chape Bouchardee
Coating of cement for blackboard
$932.86

Ceiling ('scuze my lack of ability in translating the French):
Panne IPN 100
Tube carre 50
Fentre bitumineaux
Bac alu zinc
Plafonnage en contre plaque
Buses de ventilation des combles
$2,353.80

Metal work:
Metal door & fixtures
Metal windows & fixtures
$275.00

Paint:
Interior walls
Ceiling
$441.67

Total: $7,672.91

A co-ed meeting and a new project

A view of the village, with the mosque on the left, granaries on the right, seasonal lake in the background. A clinic was not feasible, however the villagers decided that a new multi-purpose classroom is also a much-needed addition to the community.

And, newest to the list....drumroll....

New Classroom!

Here's what happened: Months ago, in December, I held a big meeting with a bunch of men to discuss potential projects I could collaborate with them on in my last year here. After brief deliberation, they decided that they wanted to try to get a clinic built here. I have no beef with that: spend five minutes here and you will see the need, which varies from mild to severe to absolute, for health care. If I started to name the ailments, accidents, and tragedies that should not have ended as such, I will never stop and this entry will become a list of sadness.

So the short story there is that I rode my bike to lots of faraway offices where fat men wearing boubous and with easy access to doctors all told me "No way, we're not putting a clinic in Foloa. Even if you build it, it won't get staffed and you'll have the same problem stocking it with medicine that all of the other clinics have." Eventually, as of last week, I stopped pushing and moved on to plan B.

Plan B meant having another village meeting. This time, I met with 100+ men and women (the co-edness of it was a point of great amusement to all involved) to discuss other, more feasible projects for my next 8 months here. It was a productive meeting- people talked, asked questions, argued, yelled, nodded, laughed, and eventually agreed. We're going to try to raise funding for a new classroom for our school. Go us! We have three existing 'real' classrooms used by about 180 students, and one millet stalk classroom used by a class of 72. (72 kids, all under the age of 8, one teacher. Try not to think about it...). So, there's a need. And there's a means:

As of March, 2009, the village has raised over 30% of the total cost of the project, more than their expected portion.
As of April 6, 2009, Peace Corps has approved a detailed proposal for raising funds through the Peace Corps Partnership Program. So here goes, folks:

If you would like to donate to the Community Classroom Project, please go to the Peace Corps Partnership listing for this project. Any money you donate is tax-deductible, and 100% of it goes towards my project. We in the community all thank you for your interest and your support.