Hanging out in Zinder with My Girls

In Zinder for a couple days and just got from hanging out with Nouria and Yilli (in pink). They're amazing. I love them. Girl on the bottom with me, Ramatou, lives in the same group of houses with Nouria and is a sweetheart.

Matameye from on High

They're building a new cellphone tower in Matameye (actually two) and I convinced some of the construction guys to climb up and take some aerial photos of the town for me. Really cool for me at least. Its so flat here that its just really cool seeing things from a totally different perspective. In the photo with the other cell tower in it you can see my house, half cut off by the edge of the pic, right in the center.

I'm sort of surprised by how green the other picture it is... All streets (except the one main paved one) are totally sand. In town there are lots of trees though from street level you dont appreciate the green as much as you can from up high. Though now that its hot season we certainly appreciate the shade.

Anyway, overall things are good. Going through mental adjustments and bracing myself for the trauma of saying bye to everyone, but VERY excited about grad school and going to DC.

Oh, and the last photo I added is a group of teachers from a teacher training on gender issues in the education system that I helped organize.

DC (Johns Hopkins) Bound

Oh, and in some non-Niger news… Looks like barring any 11th hour revelation that I’m headed to Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC this summer/next fall. I’ll be enrolling in their School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) for a Masters degree in International Economics and International Development (the IDEV program). I always sort of thought and expected that I’d be back in New York. But in the end, I couldn’t ignore that Johns Hopkins was far and away my favorite program, so while I’m sad to not be living in the same city as a controlling majority of my favorite people in the world (not counting of course those I’ve met over the last few years here in Niger), I’ll be just a short china town bus away and promise to visit as much as possible. A Rub appearance is anticipated some time late summer or early fall.

Alright, now I’m back off to Matameye for as long as possible.

For any who are interested, here's the link: http://www.sais-jhu.edu

Kind of a bootleg website to be honest, but a sweet program.

My New Girls’ Group

I think a few posts ago I wrote about my elaborate search for sixieme level girls at the high school for a support group. Well we had our first meeting and it was GREAT. I’m really really excited about it. The girls are wonderful (or at least were the first day) and were so appreciative and excited to be given attention for their studies. I had them do some exercises in class and then told them I’d correct it before their next session, then they literally BEGGED me to give them a homework assignment before the next class. Kids love learning. Its awesome to see and so exciting and inspiring. Its just conversely sad that they get so little encouragement and attention in their oversized classes with overworked and undermotivated teachers.

As I mentioned, all these girls were chosen because they’re in serious risk of either needing to redo the first year or failing out altogether. So wish me luck, I’m planning to do everything I possibly can to help them avoid those outcomes. I’ll try and keep everyone posted on how things go…

Ian, Nouria, and Yilli!!!!!

So, somehow and amazingly, Ian made his way to Zinder all the way from Ghana… I’m still shaking my head in partial disbelief. Think I mentioned it before but he took a 24 hour plus bus ride from Togo to Niamey, spent the night at the bus station and then climbed on another bus to get to Zinder. Amazing.

So, one of the first things we did was track down Nouria and Yilli (who also just recently moved to Zinder). I’m already thrilled about Nouria and Yilli hanging out. Sort of like a someone who sets up two of their best friends and then watches their relationship grow into something independent of yourself... Not sure if that makes sense, but its cool to see two girls get to be good friends and to feel responsible for it.

Then adding Ian to the mix obviously put it on a whole other surreal and wonderful level. Yilli came over to Nouria’s house and the four of us along with some neighbors played a big game of soccer. So fun.

Off to Gafaty and Visiting Rachid

Next we went off to Gafaty a small village about 17km from Zinder where my good friend Danel (Rachid) lives. Its always cool seeing other peoples’ posts… Wow his is different than mine. Its part of the difference between being a “bush” versus a “city” volunteer. There’s obviously a lot of benefits to being in a large post and I love Matameye, but it is NOT chill or relaxed. It wears me out and can be overwhelming. Gafaty was great. An NGO recently built a volleyball court there so we spent our two evenings hanging out chatting with villagers and playing some ball. We also visited the villages’ AMAZING gardens. It was really impressive how much effort the villagers have. Not to be taken for granted. Pictures are of us in the gardens and another of me at a blacksmith trying to use his crazy two-bag fire stoking contraption (with only limited success, but an A for effort).

Wedding Pictures

So as promised (and if the internet gods agree) here are a few pictures from the wedding party I hosted at my house. Two of my neighbors preparing the meal, the tent they set up, a bunch of us hanging out on my porch, and the groom getting momentarily henna-ed by ladies from the bride’s family. It was lots of fun. A little crazy having about a hundred people in my house, but it was a good time. I can’t say enough times how grateful I am for my friends and how wonderful and awesome they are.