Starting Over

So, here I am. Back in Niger. I was reassigned to an Urban Commune, which means I’m still working with a mayor’s office, but in a larger city. I’m further east that I had been, and now have a VERY long bus ride if I want to go in to Niamey. This city is also the regional center for PCVs. The Peace Corps office and transit house (hostel) are here, which means other PCVs are in and out all the time. I wouldn’t have liked it at all if I had been placed here to start out with. I loved being in the bush, out on my own, in a village where everyone knew who I was. I even loved that I had to walk 2 hours through the bush to buy onions (and only on Mondays). I loved the tranquility of village life. BUT now that I only have 8 months left, this is perfect. With such a short time here, I wanted to be somewhere where things would get done more quickly (i.e. a city) and where there were more resources to work with (i.e. a city). And coming back from everything that had just happened at home, I felt like it might be prudent to be around friends (i.e. THIS city). So, basically, this was EXACTLY what I wanted.

I’m living in the Mayor’s compound, but they’ve built a wall between my yard and theirs so that mine opens up directly to the street. It’s actually a really nice set up, because it means I have my own space, but I sort of have a host-family, too. The Mayor has two wives (very common) and 9 children (also, common). I hang out with his wives and oldest daughters (22 and 17) pretty frequently. Most days I eat one or two meals with them. And their kids come over all the time, of course…

They also have a young girl of about 10 years old who works for them, taking care of the baby and occasionally doing housework. It took me a little while to realize this. One day she came over to my house in the middle of the afternoon, when all the other kids were at school. They are in private school, including all the girls, which is a REALLY big deal. When I asked this girl, Yasmina, why she wasn’t at school, she said, “I don’t know. I don’t do that. I do this” and she pointed to the baby. That’s when it clicked. She’s not their kid.

My house is two rooms (TWICE the size of my old house – major upgrade!) AND has electricity. My family has a pump in their yard, so I fill up my water jug there whenever I need it. Most of my things (or at least, those that I really wanted) were shipped here from my old village by Peace Corps, which was super helpful. Sadly, I couldn’t get my cat sent out here, but poor Bingley is probably better off where he is: my neighbors loved him and will take good care of him. I did get a new kitten, though. He’s black with white tips and I’ve named him Bennett (catching the theme?).

Work things are looking promising. We’ve started an English Club at the local middle school. At our first meeting I had the 18 students singing along to Frank Sinatra’s “How About You?”. I just wish I had recorded it! I’m also training some of the mayor’s office officials in using Excel (or will be, next week). Finally, I’m going to be working with women’s groups. I met with the Women’s Federation, who represent over 100 women’s groups, just last week. We were talking about the possibility of doing a goat project, like I did in Allela, but after thinking it over a bit the women told me, “No, no. We don’t want you to GIVE us anything. We just want to do trainings with the women’s groups so they can organize projects on their own”. One woman even said “Iyawa dadi ce,” which roughly translated means, “Being capable feels good”. I was FLOORED. That is LITERALLY a PCV’s DREAM. “No, don’t GIVE us things. Just teach us to do it ourselves”! Needless to say, I’m really pumped to be working with these women.