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You are viewing the most recent 14 entries April 3rd, 200804:38 pm: March 3rd
hey everyone, First I'd like to apologize for the length. but I promise, it is a good read.... How is everyone doing? Miss me yet? It's now March, and I have been back for 3 months now. Went by super fast didn't it? I can't believe I'll be home at the end of this year, only 9 more months from this point on. Anyway so since last you've heard me, I've done a lot. I had some of the new stage (group of volunteers), 15 of them actually, at my village for an evening. There they were fed by my villagers, they rode camels that I had to set up, and then my villagers performed some traditional druming for their enjoyment. It was pretty cool, and except for the stress of setting this whole thing up, I had a very good time as well. My villagers still haven't stopped talking about the night 15 white people came to the village, tried to dance to Nigerien music, and rode camels for fun. I suspect they won't stop talking about this night for a very long time actually. lol... The next morning we took the new stage to see the giraffes, and I gave a session on Ecotourism which is my main job here. To try to raise ecotourism in Niger. The session didn't take very long and was pretty informal but it was cool having the new stage sit there and listen to me since I am now the expert when last year it was the other way around. very cool... After the tech trip as it was called, I spent a record of two weeks in Niamey which may be the most I've ever been there at a time. There I worked with women with Fistula. Not sure how many of you have heard about women with Fistula problems, but it has recently been getting more publicity in the states so maybe you have? Anyway Fistula is when women suffer from prolonged labor, being in labor sometimes for more than 3 days, this from poor medical treatment, not being able to get to a hospital in time if there is one that is, and lack of C-sections (not sure if anyone knew this, but C-sections are miracles, save lives of millions of people in the states. Also apparently Brazilians have the highest percentages of C-sections which I thought was interesting, almost 99%!). What occurs during the prolonged labor is that the baby is usually in an odd position which is why the labor is prolonged. Usually the baby's head is pushed against vital nerves in the woman and against her bladder, so what happens is the woman can develop a 'foot drop' as well as a hole in her bladder/urethra. The 'foot drop' being the most noticeable can cause the woman to limp or even crawl for the rest of her life. The bigger problem, the fistula, is the hole in her bladder which causes her to leak urine from her vagina, sometimes if the problem is so bad a hole in her rectum can also form causing her to leak feces from her vagina. This is horrible for these women because of the embarassment and shame it brings to her from her villagers. So not only do these women have the pain of the death of the child because the stress on the baby will usually kill it, the pain of the 'foot drop' sometimes, they also have to deal with their families who often turn their backs on them, and lastly for the divorce their husbands put them through (which in this culture is unthinkable). A group of surgeons from America (actually most of them were from Mount Sinai in NY city which I thought was cool) came down and for two weeks, I worked for them as a translator for these women. The first 2-3 days us volunteers spent with the women we quized them on their histories, asked them questions on when did the problem start, did the baby die, etc etc... very embarrasing questions that I am sure none of these women ever wanted to talk to a complete white stranger about ever, but they're desperate. They're so desperate they travel to Niamey hoping that we can help fix them. Some of the women have waited over 10 years for a surgery, and for 10 years they've lived in the hospital waiting and waiting. These women are amazing... suffering embarrasment and pain to be healthy. I was so impressed with them, and so amazed. After the first 3 days, we did exams. The doctors would take in each woman and exam them to see where the fistula was, if they could operate, etc... We volunteers would go in as well and help to translate. Imagine getting a pap smear with a complete stranger, who doesn't speak your language, having to open your legs to probably the first man since your husband... they have so much strength. I don't know if I could ever do that. I mean in our culture it is normal to see a gyno, to show skin, to be free with your sexuality. Imagine their point of view which is the exact opposite of ours. I can't believe the things they did so they could be healthy. The last week and a half were all operations, and yes, I did get to sit into most of the surgeries!! amazing. And I really thought you needed some sort of medical degree to do that (actually i'm pretty sure you need a medical degree to sit into these operations in the states) but the reason they needed us, totally useless medically was because the women had to be awake through the whole surgery. This because here in Africa they do not have the proper equipment to not kill the women when they put the women fully asleep. So for 2 to sometimes 5 hours they stay up during the surgery after getting an epidermal to put the bottom half of their body to sleep. Epidermal's though wear off after 2 hours if lucky.... The times I had to yell at the doctors to stop operating because the woman was starting to feel pain.... (probably not my place in the states of course; thats right babes, me, i told DOCTORS to stop operating... i'm cool...) Anyway the doctors needed us during the surgeries to keep the women calm, to talk to them for 5 hours straight if need be, to tell them not to worry, to find them a blanket if they're freezing or uncomfortable, and most importantly to tell the doctors if they were starting to feel... anything... I've never had my heart beat so fast and then slow down and then beat fast again... Cool things I've seen these past two weeks: a uterus, a bladder, the inside of a woman's... well everything, amazing surgeons i would let operate on myself, a hermaphrodite, a surgeon cutting through layers of skin, epidermals (huge needles going into your spine), being able to tell the doctors someone needs more valium (drugged up nigerien women are hilarious by the way), grey's anatomy in real life (but disappointingly I hear they don't really do it in many supply closests like they do on the show... yes yes, i really DID ask that question) Uncool things: power hungry doctors who think they're better than nigeriens because they can't understand the language, but worse of all were the women's stories... Lantana: poor Lantana, only 14, never been married, never had kids, but had a fistula. how was that possible? apparently being raped and mutilated with a knife can give you a fistula Haoua Hamstadou: 18, three months ago was expecting her first child, excited, happy, a month later her baby is dead, her husband has divorced her, she can barely walk due to 'foot drop,' and now has a fistula... Mariamah: for 20 years had a fistula, finally after multiple surgeries had a diversion, had a succesful surgery, now lives with the fistula women, works for the hospital, talks to the women about fistula and teaches them 'hey it's okay and NOT embarrasing to have a fistula' ...Kudos to the women of Fistula... anyway it was a pretty hectic few weeks and i've learned a lot in so few time. especially this... those people in Grey's Anatomy are total liars. You can NOT hear anything when someone is talking to you through a mask!!! love all of you and have a wonderful day my friends, Barbara p.s. for all of you unaware, my birthday is in a month. send me a birthday card!!!!!!! and mommy, send me girl scout cookies! yum yum matt b: if you skipped this email and went directly to the bottom to see if your name was here, I will kill you. Karen: i love you sweety, and i'm sorry i forgot u in the past email, you dont deserve to be in the same boat as matt!! hehe marie: i love you, hows the new place? nick: you are awesome. thank you for being the first person to write me an email in over 5 months. expect an answer soon and lastly to the few who have left us in the past few months. April: your father was amazing and loved. I am so sorry Ben Friedle: My old roommate who died in a bad car accident, for the little time I knew you, you were one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. Piper/Ashley: we will miss you so much here in Niger. (they did not die, they just left niger) Pics: -me and fellow peace corps volunteers -operation with Alexis, a fellow volunteer standing by bed on left calming down woman -us volunteers again -Me in operating room with some fellow doctors (I could totally be awesome on Grey's) (if you want more pictures, check this website out, sent to me by one of the doctors who came on the trip: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=qtyn112.878lj6gq&Uy=-ujgjwp&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1)
February 3rd, 200812:36 pm: Feb 1, 2008
hello everyone, So it's been about 3 weeks now since I've been back in the good ol' wonderful country of Niger. Ahhh... It's good to be back, where there is no cheese forced down my throat everyday, no ice cream to make me fat around the thigh area, no soft warm comfortable pillows and blankets to make me want to sleep all day, no friends to buy me free drinks because I've been in Africa for a year. oh yes... I am very happy to be back in good ol' Niger... where I bike ride 5 miles every few days keeping me fit, where I eat with my villagers every night millet and snot sauce helping me to lose the 15 pounds I gained in America, where the heat during the day forces me out of bed every morning out of the house and back to workkkkk! and yes, it is good to be back working! Work keeps me sane, and I have been crazy busy the past few weeks (just the way I like it). Since I have been back I have done 3 radio shows on air, each 30 minutes long, 2 GLOBE lessons where the kids had the opportunity to identify local trees and learn their uses, found out my souvenir shop has increased the giraffe guides and musee's income by over 200,000 CFA (about 400 dollars, a ton of money for Niger, more than I make here in 2 months, yay me!), did a giraffe environmental education class with my good friend Jean-Patrick and the 6 animators we've trained to spread giraffe love across Niger, gave about 50 families in my village garden seeds to plant personal gardens in their concessions hopefully increasing their nutrition and vitamin intake, and lastly I was on tv TWICE already this week because of a press conference I had to attend. The press conference was for the presentation of the updated Giraffe album to the ministry of Environment, some big guy in Niger who I got to shake hands with. I also got interviewed for a radio program during the press conference. very cool. got questions like how do you like Niger so far, how do you like working with giraffes, etc etc... very cool. As it is, I am now a famous person here in Niger. I'm awesome... alright so maybe I was only in the background but I was still there, and you can see me, little white girl in the middle of all the big black men.... thats what I'm talking about. famous... Onto more personal affairs, my villagers love that I'm back in the village. They missed me like a zoo misses their top attraction. It's good to be back home. I gave away the candy and photos of my friends in the village that I had taken. They loved their pictures. Everyone was so grateful seeing as that may be the only time their picture had ever been taken. They were grateful to get them. I also had to play host to two new volunteers training to be Peace Corps volunteers for a few days. I made them walk around my village with me, showed then village food (haha), and showed them what niger is all about. I also made them walk the 2 hours in and out of my village with all their sleeping bags and stuff. I can be cruel sometimes. lol... but it was fun. They seemed very nice, and now I'm officially one of the old volunteers with amazing knowledge and skill. Its good to be looked up too... so maybe they were older than me... but whatever. I got skills. In the next few months, I also plan on being very busy. Next week the new volunteers are spending a night in my village (all 30 of them, where are they sleeping? i have no clue). They'll be doing their tech trip. They'll get to see the giraffes and get to hear me rant and rave for an hour about ecotourism and why we should save the Nigerien giraffes. I can't wait. Then sometime next month I have plans to travel to Lulu's village to paint her world map in her village. If you remember she came to my village and we did mine in November of this past year. I also have plans to continue GLOBE lessons and do more radio shows. Radio shows are fun. the subject of the last radio show was 'how to treat white people.' Kelli and I did a skit. here's an example conversation of the radio show: Kelli: (pretending to be a villager) white person!! white person!! Me: (acting as a Peace Corps Volunteer): sigh.. hello black person Kelli: give me a gift! you are white and rich Me: I am not rich, I am a volunteer. I'm here to help you Kelli: thats good. help me. give me a gift. 100 CFA now! Me: I dont have money. I dont get a salary Kelli: then give me your watch. give me your shoes Me: I need those Kelli: I need them too. give me gift! Me: I have no gifts. Kelli: then give me medicine. You are white so you are a doctor. give me! Me: I am not a doctor. I have no medicine Kelli: You are a cheap white person. You have no money Me: I am. I have no money. Just like you. Kelli: You have truth. We are the same. Me: yes, we are the same. Sooo... give me a gift! After that do a little sensibilization on how to treat your white person. Not to ask for gifts, etc, etc... it was pretty funny. The nigeriens who heard it loved it. Will they change their ways? probably not... i can understand though. I want gifts all the time too... Oh, here's a blog written by one of my team members. If you scroll down to the thanksgiving entry, you'll see a picture of me de-gutting two chickens, practice for the turkey. It was great, and pretty funny looking. http://niameynights.blogspot.com/ And now i'm off, to go save another poor child... or something like that. I leave off with saying how absolutely wonderful my vacation in the states was. Thank you everyone who took the time to hang out with me. I know I wasnt home long, and that I couldnt see everyone I wanted to see as many times as I wanted, but I still had a great time. Gained the 15 pounds that I wanted to gain, thanks to my Mother's delicious cooking. (can you send me a lasagna in the mail??) I also realized how many people actually DO read these emails. thanks guys. i'm glad to know i'm not just writing to write. I appreciate it. Also I promised a few people to mention them in my emails, lol... so... here goes. matt p: how's the training going for the new job?? justin: thanks for reading my novels.. lol... what part of the country are you off to now? V: when are u coming to visit me? or better yet, hows the esophagus? marie: how'd the job interview go?? GOOD LUCK adam: tell ur sister happy 21st for me caitlin: i owe u a souvenir. dont worry. i havent forgotten Mandy / Lemesha: I'm sorry we couldnt meet up. I really wished I could have seen both of you. sarah: how's the body? sandra: I adore you and thank you thank you thank you for taking time to come see me. I had a great time with all of you at Tia Cao's. oh and thanks for the donuts... yum... Tia Cao and Billy: Thank you for hosting my sister and I for a night. Everything was amazing, and I had an amazing time. Maria Jose and Vanessa: I love you all. Thank you for coming to see me. Scott and Tom: thanks guys for driving all the way to New York just to see me and hang out. Emily: thank you for everything. meow. i love you. WRITE ME Mikey and Ben: thank you guys for a wonderful time in NY. ben, thank you for hosting me at your place and giving me all that cappuccino. Save me some vegetables from your garden. ok? mikey, thank you for all those amazing dinners and the champagne bottle. ahhhh... that taste of champagne is going to have to last me until next year. lol... And to all the rest, mentioned or not... I love all of you. I will be home soon. it is february. Only 11 more months and I'm back home!!! yay! thank you love, Barbara
12:35 pm: December 16, 2007
Hey Everyone, How is everyone doing this fine hot day? I? oh, I went to the pool, sunbathed a little, had a nice cold lemonade. you? oh? It's snowing? Oh you poor dears, must be all cold over there in the states. Maybe you should come visit? lol... I'm just kidding. I'm more jealous of you than you are of me. Trust me. But it's okay because I will soon be freezing to death in both New York and Pittsburgh. I heard its snowing insanely over there. Okay... so I haven't actually heard anything but i'm hoping its snowing insanely over there. My villagers want me to take pictures of snow to show them. They dont believe in it. Anyway so I've been very busy lately. Been doing a lot, but also been having fun. My thanksgiving was great. We killed a turkey, and guess who had to de-feather it and de-gut it? thats right, me. Why? well apparently no one else knew how to do it, and I've seen my mother do it a few times in Brasil. (thanks mommy) Everyone voted and assigned me to the job, saying I was less likely to mess up. So I got put in charge of turkey duty. It was huge. When it was alive we had to tie it up so it wouldnt attack us or kill the dog. Dead... well it was heavy, gross, bloody, and delicious (after it was cooked). Anyway how did we cook it? well the problem was it couldnt possibly fit in the mini oven we had so we fixed that problem by cooking it over a live fire, spit style. It was great. At first we were thinking of getting a lil nigerien child to turn the spit, but that didnt end up working out. Either way, it was amazing. The turkey was probably the best tasting turkey I've ever had. It took 7 hours though! I also made a few pumpkin pies and apple pies. The whole thing was amazing. Everyone on the dosso team made something and there ended up being an amazing amount of food for everyone. Right after thanksgiving, Lulu came and spent a week in my village. While she was there, we got our world map done on my school wall. It's beautiful if I must say so myself. It's also huge, about 3 meters across and a meter and a half up. Even my chief came out to look at it. He was adorable with his lil cane walking over to it. Kept being like which one is Niger?? So I ended up giving my chief a little geography lesson. It was cute. He now knows where US is compared to Niger and told me it was too far, and I had kokari (guts) for coming to Africa. Almost brought tears to my eyes. Glad Lulu was able to come out. She needed to get away from Niamey. A few days before thanksgiving she got robbed and all her stuff was taken including camera, money, and memory stick so she lost all her photos of the past year. It was sad, but I'm glad she got to spend the week in my village relaxing. We had a ton of fun in my village, made a few delicious meals (although we were each on one last month before america diets... lol... which means we did nothing but eat like normal and just yell at each other for eating. she also had a package of smores sent from america so we had smores.... every night... i love diets, i really do). The world map was also a lot of fun to paint. I'd forgotten how much i miss painting, it was good. It took 3 full days to paint! it's beautiful. I'll send pics. I also started GLOBE lessons in my school. We've done two lessons so far, on what GLOBE is and the scientific method, aka how to create experiments correctly. I teach along with my director, 20 kids each week in Environmental Education. The lessons were so much fun. I haven't stood in front of a class of kids in the longest time, since my kidscience class at the zoo. It was nice. The kids didnt know whether to answer my questions cuz I'm their teacher or because I'm white. It was hilarious. Their vacation is at the same time as mine so it worked out really well. Speaking of kidscience, I also set up a time to go talk to my kids at the zoo while I'm home. To discuss niger and answer questions, etc... I've been writing them letters about every other month and so it'll be nice to go and show off pictures of my time in niger. Although I guess that means i'll have to make a slide show though... hmmm... maybe i'll do that tomorrow, get it out of the way and kill off another day before my flight. After that I did a radio show with my friend Kelli here. We did a few skits on malnutrition, washing hands, and other sanitation topics. It was fun. The villagers loved it, and I became an instant celebrity. During this time the AIDs bike ride was in process. I didn't sign up this year, but i'm hoping next year to be a part of it. What it is, is a bunch of white people (draw in attention and people) go from point A to point B. This year it was from Gaya to Dosso, about 157 kilometers or about 100 miles. It takes a week. What happens is along the road are villages. As the bike riders are traveling they stop at each village and do sensibilizations on AIDs. What it is, how to avoid it, etc... stuff we've learned from childhood but villagers have never heard before. I didnt do it this year because I want to do it next year when more of my friends will be doing it. It's a huge event. After the bike ride, there was a giant concert in dosso for AIDs awareness. I helped out with that a little. Made food for the bikers. It was cool. The next day I finally got to travel out East!! I was super excited. The trip took about 5 hours but it was worth it. I went to check out the gum arabic plantations in Konni because I wanted to know the ins and outs of starting a gum arabic plantation as my giraffe guides say they want to do (cross your fingers for me). I spent a week out in the region of Konni, visited a few villages. It was fun. They also are the only place in all of niger that have fried chicken which we volunteers call Konni Fried Chicken or KFC. not quite... the same but still good. Finally back in my village where I had plans to spend the last week and a half in my village before leaving for america!! yay!! Had plans to maybe braid my hair and get henna done for america so i can be super african when I showed up at the airport. My goal was to embarass my sister. I was even thinking about wearing my complet! (outfit the women here wear) My villagers were also planning a nice goodbye party for me which would have occured actually last night if things had gone according to plan, but of course, such things were not meant to be. On monday of this past week Peace Corps Niger underwent what we call a standfast. This means that where ever we are we are not allowed to travel. We are forced to stay put. As I was in my village and had been planning to stay in my village until sunday (today) anyway I didnt really mind. But then we got the news that the standfast was taking place until the 21st. How was I going to get to the airport on the 18th if I couldnt travel?! Thankfully my boss gave special permission to people who were leaving the country. We were allowed to travel into Niamey only on the wednesday. It was either that or not go on vacation. So I pack up my suitcase, throw it on a cow-cart (yes, seriously... because of the standfast my shuttle was canceled and that meant I had to transport my luggage myself... aka on a cow-cart) A trip that normally takes 45 minutes took around 4-5 hours. It was hot, and I was pissed. But I got to Niamey safely... still mad 1) because of the trip in 2) because the shuttle was canceled and 3) because all my plans in the village had been ruined!! (my villagers did walk me around wed morning though and it was really sweet. Everyone was saying they were going to miss me, and even made me walk over to the high priest and get him to bless me on my traveling. Not going to lie, I cried a little. I'm going to miss them) We got here to Niamey and we were told not to leave Niamey. We did though get the option to move up our flights which all my friends (flying air morocco) were able to do, but I got stuck in niamey because I'm flying air france and the earliest flight out was this monday (not really worth moving up a day) so now I'm in Niamey stuck... by myself pretty much. Don't feel bad though, the past few days I've been going to the pool and working on my tan so i can laugh at all you white people when i show up. hahahaha... Thats right, laying out at the pool working on the tan of a lifetime, and about to freeze to death in a few days. haha Okay... so why a standfast? This has occured only once before during my service and that was a practice run. This though wasn't for practice. Standfasts are the 1st step in our Emergency and Evacuation plan... only put into effect during times of problems. This is one of the only times it's ever been put into effect actually in the past 45 years that peace corps has been in Niger. 2nd step is consultation (moving to your safety regional capital, or niamey in my case). 3rd step is evacuating the country. It's never gotten to 2nd step. So why put us in the 1st step? Well the problems in Agadez, not sure if any of you have heard about it, but the Tuaregs are demanding more representaion, aka... civil unrest. The day before the standfast two land mines were detonated in Tahoua and Maradi. Those are both cities that contain peace corps volunteers. Tahoua is also 2 hours away from Konni, where I was the week before. Now nothing to really worry about. They believe that the land mines were put in place because of the festival thats to take place this week on the 18th, day I leave actually, until the 20th. (reason why the standfast is until the 21st) And I just learned that the Tuareg leader is now on the way to France for peace discussions. So hopefully by the time i'm back it'll all be figured out. If it doesnt, that means in the next few months I could be evacuated from Niger. That would suck a lot... working so hard to learn a language and get to know your villagers and get friends. One of the volunteers here, my friend Jen, the one I work with at the museum actually, was a New Guinea volunteer before being evacuated during their problems there. but that wont happen for at least a few months, so i'm just going to concentrate on being excited for america!! and getting a tan! I can not wait to be in the land of plenty and the land of dreams, two names we call the states. starbucks coffeeeeeee.... Anyway I just repacked for the fourth time this week. Marie I was able to fit everything in one suitcase by the way... well i am in niamey though so maybe i'll buy a few more things. hehe... I've got lots of fun stuff and can't wait to get there. Oh! can't forget. also had my first kill this past week. My first scorpion!! yes... it was great. That sucker had no chance. Right after I screamed bloody murder and jumped up onto my bed. But after screaming at it a little I realized that wasnt killing it, so I used my shoe. It looked like this guy: http://www.photovault.com/Link/Orders/EntomologyInsects/Scorpions/OERVolume01/OERV01P04_03.jpg -one of the deadliest scorpions in niger. Oh did i also mention that I'm bringing him home for show and tell? thats right. Me, the winner, is bringing to the states it, the loser. you'll get to see him. I can't wait to see everyone. I miss all of you. Plans are leave here tuesday at midnight, get to new york at 11 am on wednesday due to the time difference. yay! plans for new york... food, visiting friends, and food. Leave new york the 22nd. get to pittsburgh the 23rd. where my plans are eat, exchange gifts, and eating. I love America. kisses everyone. i miss you all. Barbara p.s. if i havent talked to u specifically about meeting up and you would like to, write me back and give me your information (cell phone number). bye
12:33 pm: December 18, 2007
hey guys, this is just a lil mini letter from my country director, aka big boss, explaining the situation, probably in better terms than i could have put it. barbara p.s. countdown to airplane: 11 hours 30 minutes!!! Title: The State of Things Body: First I want to thank all of you for the excellent work you have done so far in responding to our standfast status. As of yesterday morning, we had contacted all the Volunteers and knew that they were safe. Please keep contact with your APCD and your Regional Rep in the upcoming days as they will know all the latest information. The situation in the country remains very uncertain and therefore of concern. We had two incidents on Monday 10 December. The first was about 8h45 in Maradi where a market vehicle ran over a land mine just on the edge of town. The explosion injured a number of people and the chauffeur died of his injuries yesterday (11 Dec). Then that evening (about 22h00) a private passenger car pulled into the parking lot at the traditional wrestling stadium in Tahoua and hit a land mine. The driver was killed in the explosion. Some news sources are also reporting an additional incident a few weeks ago in Dosso that involved a land mine found at the petroleum depot in Dosso. This incident was widely pronounced as a staged rather than real event which is why we did not send out information when it happened. There is still no information or evidence that it was truly an attempt on the depot. No one has claimed responsibility for any of these incidents which is quite different from the incidents that have occurred in the North which are claimed by the rebel group (the MNJ). The north of Niger remains in a State of Alert so the military is still stopping and detaining anyone they want to hold; there was a very unfortunate incident in the north over the weekend where a number of civilians were killed by accident in the North; and there is a strike with the large transport companies particularly between Dosso and Niamey. And we have Independence Day coming up on 18 December which is planned to be held in Tahoua. Due to the location and symbolism of this event it could be a potential target event. As a result of this general uncertainty and the lack of any information from the government on the recent incidents, the political climate in the country is tense. The US Embassy has issued a warden message asking that all Americans limit their travel east of Dosso. So we are going to hold the standfast status at least until the end of today (12 Dec) at which time, in consultation with the Senior Staff and Peace Corps Washington I'll review the situation and we will get information on any changes out to the Regional Reps. I will be explicit about instructions if we change the standfast status but in general I think you should all plan to limit your movements until after Tabaski, even if we are no longer on standfast at that time. I know this is inconvenient and I appreciate all the cooperation you can give. As with any standfast situation, we have a number of complications and I'll try to address them as much as possible as we go along. - A number of you are either expecting to go on vacation or are anticipating visitors who are arriving for the holidays. I have a list of the Volunteers and dates involved and I'm trying to find ways to accommodate as many of these situations as possible. However if you are one of these Volunteers please advise your people who are traveling or that you will be visiting of the situation. When you do talk to people in the US please remember their frame of reference is very different than ours here in Niger so think carefully about how you describe events. - Some of you were not at your sites when standfast was called and are anxious to return to your sites particularly before Tabaski arrives next week. I am working on ways to facilitate getting Volunteers back out to their sites. - Some of you were planning to participate in a couple of team projects - the fistula training in Maradi this weekend, the Independence Day event in Tahoua next Tuesday, or the VAC meeting next Monday in Zinder. I have notified Natalie, Nate, and sent word to the VAC that all three of these events are off for the time being. We will try to reschedule Nate's training and the VAC meeting once the situation calms down a bit. While this is a tense and difficult moment for us here, it is also important to remember that we are in a relatively stable country that has no history of large scale political violence. Given that context, I am hopeful that this situation will not worsen. Please continue to be prudent and alert but do not panic. If you feel you need more information please contact your Regional Rep or APCD. It is also important at this time to remember the effect of these events on our staff, this is their country so it is an additional strain on them to have such incidents occur. Thank you very much for your support and understanding.
12:30 pm: December 14, 2007
Hey Everyone, This is really important to me so please please PLEASE take a moment of your time to read this AND sign the petition. Matt was a really good friend of mine here in Peace Corps. We came at the same time, trained together, and if you remember, Matt was the one who helped me out when I got bit by that mysterious snake/spider/strange African creature. He was there for me so I want to help him out as much as I can. He did not want to leave Niger early, and it was awful to see him go. Please sign the petition. I know not many of you understand the importance of Peace Corps but us as volunteers should be able to have the option to stay in Niger until we decide to leave. Thank you very much for taking the time to read! Barbara Bertrand Greetings fellow PCVs, As most of you know (if you read Emily's email from the 30th), our friend Matt left Niger on Monday night on a summons from the US Department of Defense. The circumstances surrounding this are ugly, but as Emily said, we can help prevent this from happening (and hopefully get Matt back in the process) by signing her petition. The attached press release is the whole shebang - it includes a link to Emily's petition and a summary of the situation with input from Josh, Danielle and me (as well as The Man of the Hour himself). We want to have a unified message that will still appeal to the more right-leaning of our friends, family and fellow Americans. So this is what should go to politicians and the press. That said, when you send this information home, you need to make sure you send it as a private citizen, rather than a representative of Peace Corps/Niger. Mary has read and approved it. As individuals writing home, by all means, say whatever you want, but be careful when talking to the press (Matt, of course, being our tragic example of this). Thanks guys. Rock on. Brittany Here it is in plain text in case wherever you are isn't conducive to opening Word documents: Matt McCue Should Continue His Service in the Peace Corps In January 2007, Matthew McCue, a seasoned farmer and veteran of the war in Iraq, began his service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger. This October, the U.S. Army demanded that Matt abandon his Peace Corps service more than a year early to return to active military duty. Matt McCue is a proud veteran of the war in Iraq. He spent one year there serving his country as an infantryman, and was discharged with exemplary honors. After his military service, Matt soon discovered he had a passion for agriculture and farming. Once Matt gained experience in organic farming and sustainable food systems, he found an opportunity to continue to serve his country: the United States Peace Corps. Peace Corps service would allow Matt to work towards the goals John F. Kennedy articulated for the Peace Corps in 1961: fostering friendship between the United States and other countries, and using work skills to help Nigeriens build better lives. Since his arrival in Niger, Matt has dedicated his full energy to the Peace Corps mission. He dove into several projects to improve the well-being of people in a drought-plagued country. He has planted new crops and trees that can bring the poor food security and a source of income. Matt has also worked with a women's group to help them sell sesame oil in local markets and villages. Peace Corps Niger's Country Director Mary Abrams said, "In just ten months, Matt has become an outstanding Volunteer and a leader in his community." More importantly, Matt has made a personal impact on both Nigeriens and Volunteers. According to fellow Volunteer Alex Towns, "Everything about Matt – his sense of humor, his honesty, his excitement – has allowed him to cross cultural divides. He sets an example for the rest of us." On October 25th, Matt was forced to say goodbye to his village and women's group. His mission was cut short. If the federal government values the service of Peace Corps (as well as other federal service volunteers – VISTA, JOB and Crisis Corps) , Veterans like Matt should be allowed to complete their service before being eligible to be called back to military duty. Matt's impact as a Volunteer goes beyond his small village or volunteer community. The United States Peace Corps, currently in 74 countries, has an important diplomatic function: prevention. The presence of Volunteers in foreign countries helps give an authentic face to Americans, and Volunteers learn local languages and customs while living in the same difficult conditions as the people they serve. Niger is a moderate Muslim country. Forcing Volunteers to withdraw from their Peace Corps service in such moderate Muslim countries comes at a high cost to U.S. diplomacy, to the communities where Volunteers served, and to the Volunteers themselves. If Matt can return to Niger, he will complete the service he began with as much dedication and commitment as he demonstrated when he entered the military. He will also be serving his fellow citizens. As Americans, we must ask our government to recognize the importance of Matt's noble endeavor. We must ask our representatives to defer reactivation of veterans until their Peace Corps service is completed. Veterans around the world are being withdrawn from their Peace Corps service to return to Iraq. If you believe this should change, please follow the link below and sign a petition, organized by friends of Matt currently working in Niger. Please send this to friends, family and any press or government representatives you know. PETITION: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/keep-reservist-peace-corps-volunteers-out-of-military.htmlREAD A REUTERS ARTICLE ABOUT MATT MCCUE: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN06329055 READ AN ARTICLE BY MATT HERE: http://hometownsource.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2735&Itemid=86 *This letter and its contents are in no way endorsed by the United States Peace Corps and its administrative personnel.
12:29 pm: October 10, 2007
hey everyone! finally news from me. I know everyone is excited about this. lol... I've been pretty busy the past few months. First 45th anniversary of Peace Corps in Niger. This is riduculus and I can't believe I'm telling you about this. But I had to make a 7 foot paper mache giraffe for our exhibit. My boss wanted it done. It was riduculus. I have pictures that i'll forward to you all about it. I mean everyone loved it. All the kids wanted their pictures taken with it. It was huge. Anyway I made it out of wire and paper so next rainy season I expect it to melt into a thousand pieces of nothing. As it is, its still on the lawn of the Peace Corps office. The Nigeriens loved it, couldnt believe that you could make something so big out of just paper. but this is what Peace Corps does, breaks stereotypes and biased opinions. lol... Next thing I did was work with our GAD auction. (gender and development) its a program created to fund some of our Peace Corps projects, for example I plan on doing a few projects with the money we raised. I had to go around Niamey and make businesses give GAD gift certificates. It was actually a lot easier than I thought. Just have to be white, speak the language, and they love you. Then the GAD auction dinner, I had to sell raffles. We made a lot of money so it was a great success. Then Swear-in for the new stage of Peace Corps volunteers. I am no longer the new kids here anymore. It's a very strange feeling. I had to do a live-in with one of the girls. Live-in is when you stay with the new volunteer in their new village the first day to set up rules and help them out since they most likely dont have any of the language. This poor girl, first day in her village, and she gets stung by a scorpion. I felt so bad! (but I also couldn't help but laugh. I'm a horrible person, i know). Also while out of my village this past month. (i just told this story to you scott but I love it and so I have to tell everyone). So I'm at this restaurante and in the front yard is this crocodile just chilling out. So a couple of my friends are hanging out and get this brilliant idea to feed it. So we buy a chicken, and 2 seconds later we have a very satisfied crocodile. It was awesome. I have pictures. I'll forward them. lots of blood. Other news Ramadon was this month. Tomorrow is the last day, and it'll be amazing feasts and parties all day in my village. I'm getting my hair braided, my feet henna'd. My villagers also want me to wear makeup and go around the village asking for money. Apparently they do that. It's kind of like Halloween here in Niger. The kids wear makeup and dress up, then go around asking for candy. I'm really excited. The family I eat with also bought a huge sheep, and bang, it'll be killed and I'll have meat in my village. I'm really excited. I'm leaving in a few minutes for my village right now. (I'm only in Niamey for the day to receive a HPV shot, one of the many benefits of Peace Corps. I'm vaccinated from many exotic diseases and now! I'm less prone to get cancer of the uterus! yay!) Projects coming up in my village: -I had a few women's meetings. My first meeting only 46 women showed up. The second one 89 women showed up!! which is amazing because it was during Ramadon and everyone was tired from not eating or drinking. This is amazing, and shows how excited my women are to start projects in the village. The first project we want to start up is a cold season's women's garden. This would be amazing. We could plant vegetables, which they almost never eat and therefore are very vitamin deficient. They would also be able to sell some of their projects and get more income from their vegetables. The only problems I have right now, are figuring out how to get funding for a fence so the animals stay out of the garden. Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) I can get funding from GAD -Still working on the gum arabic plantation with my giraffe guides. That may have to wait a little as I'm working on the cold season garden first. Unlike the garden, the plantation could wait a few months. The garden should be set up soon because cold season is coming. If the vegetables are planted in too hot weather they'll all die. Trees are sturdier. -Lulu and I are planning on doing an educational mural at each of our schools. We're planning on painting world maps on the outside walls of each of our schools. We'll hopefully get GAD funding for this as well because this will help the children of each of our villages understand and probably see what the earth looks like for the first time. Most adults don't even know where Niger is located in my village. I once had a man ask me if he could jump in a canoe and go to down the Niger river to get to the states. Of course, that isn't possible. So this will be a wonderful project teaching kids (and the adults) where their country is located in the scheme of things. -My souvenir stand is doing wonderfully! Sales have gone up, and I'm so excited about it. This means more money for the guides and the giraffes. On monday next week we have meetings set up with the Mayor of my region, my guides, and the Museum to set down the official details in writing. I have other things going along as well but i'm running out of time! It's almost 3, and I have to catch a bush taxi to my village. That takes about 45 minutes. Afterwards I have a nice 2 and a half hour walk to my village! yay! and todays temperature is only 107 degrees. So I must rush, I haven't written in awhile though so I wanted to update everyone. OH!!! and how could I forget my main reason for writing. I'm GOING HOME!! thats right. In december I have a wonderful vacation planned. First a stop in New York to see my roommate and pick up Marie, then on to Pittsburgh to visit my mommy and daddy for christmas. Then New years, and Raphy's 21st birthday! I'm very excited about this. I don't know if its noticeable. The dates of the trip are the 19th of december to new york, probably pittsburgh on the 22nd or 23rd. then pittsburgh till the 9th of jan. then back to niger! haha... So if you want to see me, plan to come to pittsburgh for christmas. oh... and to have a nice welcome home-you've been in africa for a year party! yay! love all, Barbara
August 29th, 200701:16 pm: August 29
Hey guys, So apparently I will be in Niamey a little longer than I had originally planned. I have what peace corps volunteers like to call the tri-fecta. I have bacteria, amoebas, and giardia. Apparently called the tri-fecta cuz although common to get all three diseases during our service here, getting them at the same time is very very rare. Most of the volunteers when I tell them usually congratulate me on my ability to get all three instead of wishing me health. I know, I know... gross and did you really need to know this? of course not, which is why I let you know. cuz it's funny... but anyway when I'm not in the bathroom vomiting, I'm on here cuz I'm bored so write me! I'll write back. I should be here till saturday. probably... hopefully... Don't worry, it's really nothing to worry about. I'm fine... sort of. but this stuff is really common here. I should actually count myself lucky as this is the first time I've gotten sick in country other than food poisoning that one time. My friend Lulu gets sick at least twice a month. I can't imagine going through what I'm going through right now all the time. It'd be awful. But really, it's normal. love and miss all of you, Barbara
10:58 am: August 28
hey everyone!! yes i know, I'm sorry. It's been a really long time since I've written an email. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better except I've been so busy (which is a good thing!). But you're right, you're right. I need to do better. I know all of you sit at home and wonder when, when will I send my next email. Don't lie. We all know you check your email every day for news from me. It's alright. I forgive you guys for not having lives other than the one that revolves around me. It's cool... I love to be loved. OKAY.... so here's my life the past few weeks (months? has it been months since i've written?? ah! i'm sorry) - Giraffe Count. was probably the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. Picture this. Me on top of a road ranger, out in the middle of nowhere in the african bush, with my trusty binoculars, driving around, very safari like, looking for giraffes. Then we would find them. I would jump up and down in joy for a minute or two, then off we go after them on foot to identify them and take their photos. To identify a giraffe you use their spots. Their spots are kind of like fingerprints. Every giraffe has a different spot pattern. We then take a picture of them so that our 'giraffe photo album' is up to date. So looking for giraffes would take about 20 minutes or so. Then we would find the herd. From there identification would take about 5 minutes, and taking their pictures would take about 3 hours. so.... there i am, very very excited for about 30 minutes then bored out of my mind for about 3 hours while the frenchies took fancy giraffe pictures... then very very excited for 30 minutes... then very very bored... then very very excited.... etc... anyway it was very exhausting. I'm also now a pro at identifying giraffes. I was actually better than most of the people with us, but i just thought it was easy. Most giraffes have very distinctive spots. Overall it was a ton of fun. I was out with two other PCVs, kelli and Ben, about 20 random nigerien men who said i was "a ga lalla" (very dangerous... i dont know why), and the 2 frenchies or rather Jean Patrick (JP), and Pascall. This lasted about a week. By the end of it i was glad to be done though. I was exhausted... and dirty, very dirty. I saw a ton of giraffe though, gazelle (that was awesome), and other random things I've forgotten by now. OH! And I also have a giraffe named after me now. There was this one giraffe with a spot that looked like a 'W' and the nigeriens were like, look it's Wasilla's giraffe... and now I have a giraffe officially named after me. I love it. - Okay now... about the frenchies. These two VERY french dudes, youngish, mid 30's probably. They were really cool, and loved my crappy french that I would try to speak with them. May I stress, very crappy french, but it was fun, and we got along. This relationship is very very important, I can't stress this enough. JP is the guy I will be working with for the next year and a half. He's the one who sets up all the giraffe research projects in Niger. The next one he is working on involves finding the DNA of every single giraffe in Niger. Now this doesn't mean much to you guys probably, but it means a lot to scientists interested in giraffe population, species, growth, etc... because we in Niger are fortunate to have the only wild giraffes left in West Africa, as well as the only giraffe population that does not have any natural predators. This means that the giraffes are free to breed, eat what they would want, live where they would want, etc... This is important to the study of giraffes because it means we also have the only giraffes in the world who are the perfect study group. Okay I'm boring you so I'll move on. Just know that Niger is awesome, and we'll be okay. JP also wants to open up a scientific research center here in Niger, along with accompanying money and ecotourism benefits. He wants me along to help him with some of the english translations as well as all the research projects he's doing. I am so excited, you can't even begin to understand. -GLOBE. Right after the giraffe count, I spent a week in Niamey for a conferance. There I was part of a group of PCVs chosen to learn about a program called GLOBE which is funded by NASA and other large fancy shmancy corporations. I got to bring along my teacher from my village, and we learned environmental education and how to present it to village children. So now I have plans to start up an official environmental education class in my village once school begins in late October. My teacher, Hassane, is really excited as well. I took him out to get a burger in Niamey while we were here. He's never eaten one before. It was probably the funniest thing I'd ever seen in my life. He kept eating it in layers. He didn't know what to do! - Projects I've started in the past month or so: I'm now teaching my giraffe guides english. I hold classes every Saturday and Sunday. It is such a complete and utter high every time I do it. I've never had so much fun doing anything like that. My guides love it. There's about 12 of them who show up for classes every time. There's so motivated and really really want to learn. Most of the time I have to beg off because I'm so tired that I need a break. Yesterday on my way to Niamey, I dropped by to visit them. They were holding a review session for themselves. It made me so happy to see that. I'm not going to lie. I may have gotten a little teary eyed, but it makes me happy knowing they really want to try. - I'm also starting up radio shows with my friend kelli this week. This means I will be on the radio here in Niger where everyone in my village can hear me speak Zarma. We'll do radio shows on environmental education, health education, and of course my favorite subject ever, giraffe love. -This next month we're celebrating the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps in Niger. I'm going to be crazy busy, but it should be really fun. The director of all of Peace Corps is coming out from Washington to check us out as well. He's coming to visit me in village! I don't know why I get picked for this stuff... must be because I'm so cool and awesome and the best PCV ever... definitely not because of the giraffes... definitely not. Either way he's visiting maybe a total of 5 volunteers so I'm pretty nervous being one of them. My boss, Haoua, love her to death and all, but she also volunteered me onto the 'welcome' group who has to get ready for his coming which means I have to set up pretty stuff to make him think Niger is awesome. We'll.... see about that... The anniversary celebration also falls on the same day as the new stage's swear in day which I have to be there for as well. I can't believe my stage is no longer the new kids anymore!! Crazy. Right after swear in is the GAD (gender and development) fund raiser which I'm helping with. Oh god... i'm getting panicy just thinking about all the things i'm doing in the next month, but GAD is crazy important. GAD funds most of all the projects that peace corps volunteers do in Niger. Without them, PCVs would never get anything done here. Plus I want them to fund a few of my projects coming up, so I have to get in good with the boss. Therefore I volunteered to help out. - My souvenir 'shop' at the giraffe guide stand. I've mentioned it before of course, and I'm really excited because it seems to finally be getting off the ground. My friend Jen and I have had a few meetings with the President of the Giraffe organization as well as the President of the Musee (museum) in Niamey. We've created a partnership between the two of them which means the guides are willing to sell artisan crafts at the stand, and the Musee is willing to promote the guide organization at the musee. Next week is the first week of the month long test period we've decided on to see if it'll work. That means for the next month the giraffe guides will be selling giraffe figurines, objects, etc... at the stand. I'm really excited, and I hope it works out for the best. Rainy season is here as well which means all the fun of hot season (heat, tiredness, heat), but add to that wetness too! And you get heat, tiredness, heat, humidity, and mosquitoes!!! Yay! They aren't lying when they call rainy season, Malaria season. But the nights are getting colder (thank god) and I'm finally able to support staying in my house for long periods of time. Although I think my house may be falling down, or at least a wall... it is made of mud you know... we'll see. Ramadon is coming up. The Islam religious holiday where Nigeriens will fast all day until evening for a month. When I say fast... i really mean fast. They refuse to put anything to their mouths, not even water, cigarettes, anything until sundown. This is insane... This is also falling during the same time as harvest season. So everyone will be out in their fields all day, in the sun, working, and they aren't able to drink water, nothing. I don't know how they will do it. I'll write more about it later when I see whats up, but right now I'm not envisioning good things. Okay now for some news. Apparently Niger has raised stamp prices to an insane one dollar. Now nothing to you I'm sure but you are forgetting I only make 8 dollars a day here. Anyway as it happened a huge stack of letters I had given to my RR (region representative) to mail for me while i was in my village got stuck in dosso for awhile because she didnt have the money to cover the difference in stamp prices. This meant that a huge stack of letters I had written about 2 months ago weren't mailed out. I am really really sorry for this. Especially to the people who sent me care packages and letters. I've written everyone back but unfortunately wasnt able to send the letters!! I'm so sorry! I didnt even know until recently that this happened. Anyway I've finally gotten the letters back, and as I ALSO didnt have the money to cover the stamp prices, I've stuck a lot of american stamps on them and put them in the pile of letters that gets sent out when someone goes back to the states to mail. Now i'm really sorry about this but I have no idea when the next person will be flying home, so there are letters for you... just you wont get them for a long long time. Oopsy daisy.... sorry... for people who's birthdays that meant I missed, i'm extra sorry... this goes for Adam, Emily, and Caitlin... sorry... Speaking of birthdays... I'm going to go ahead and wish everyone with a September birthday a very happy birthday. So Matt B, Liana, and of course my favorite sister (also the only one) a very Happy Birthday. A little early I know, but I have to cover my ass here. For people who's birthdays I've just forgotten or never knew.... Happy birthday to you too. Sorry, I'm in Africa, I look at starving children all day, and sometimes I get weird worms in me... so forgive me. Anyway I love you all. Sorry for the very long email this time around. Miss all of you. PLEASE write me. I love all correspondence. I heard Harry Potter 7 was a huge success... tell me more! Barbara/Wasilla August 14 From: "Barbara Bertrand" <barbmb@gmail.com> Dearest Everyone, Ahhhh.... Back in Niamey, after a long, looooong time out in the bush in my new village. I am glad to be here in the land of electricity and running water. I may have said this before but running water is underestimated there in America. Showers are amazing. Water that continually flows from a faucet, water that you don't have to pull from a well yourself, water that you don;t have to carry on your head... ahhh... the goodness of running water. I have been here in Niamey for about a day or so now getting ready, yes, you know, the giraffe census count!!! yay! yay! yay! finally... after so much time, it is time for me to actually do something very productive here in Niger. It starts today, and I am really excited. I'll be going with two other volunteers, Ben and Kelli. My boss is actually also joining us for the first two days. that should be amusing. I will let you know more about how that works out in the next email. I'm keeping this one short today cuz I have a lot of work to get done before I actually have to leave. (sorry! promise a nice one in a week or two) Anyway my new village. I spent a month out there in good ole Babousaye. It was a lot of fun. I really really like my new village. It's a lot more bush than Koure was, which means it has less of everything modern. I can't buy phone cards or anything there.... I can't actually buy anything there.... My market is still in Koure so thats nice, but unfortunately Babousaye is now a 5 mile bike ride away from Koure. As I have to bike ride into Koure every other day now, I can't wait for some sexy bike thighs at the end of these two years. As it is I have to carry a ton of water with me. But I love the people in Babousaye so much more. Because I guess they are more bush, they're not used to anasaras (white people). because of that I get treated as a queen in my village. Some guy the other day gave me 26 eggs as a gift and for the first two weeks, people would bring me food constantly. That was wonderful to be treated like that. They really wanted me there and that made me feel so nice and wanted and loved. Unfortunately after two weeks of snot sauce and millet I had to stop the gifts. So now the routine is if I want food, I will come to them and eat dinner with them like a family (i've started eating dinner with my neighbor now) but i make my own lunch. This suits me just fine and my villagers didnt seem to mind too much. I also carry my own water now. Fun but a major work out. I'll send pictures out asap of it. I'm sure it looks awesome because it makes my villagers laugh every time they see me. Mariamah, the neighbor I eat with, is also my best friend in the village. Shes wonderful. Speaks french, Zarma, some english, and Hausa. I talk to her mostly in Zarma because I need to practice, but it's so amazing and inspirational to meet a WOMAN in Niger who is so educated and knowledgeable. She helps out a lot, and we've had so many wonderful conversations about our cultures. This is something I didn't have in Koure so I feel so lucky now. It's wonderful to have a Nigerien friend who understands what you are going through (somewhat). She has three kids, Safoura, Fati, and Amino. two girls and a boy. Amino is a buttface... seriously... still hasn't stopped crying in fear every time he sees me, but Safoura is probably my favorite kid ever. Seriously the cutest thing ever. I'll have to send out a video of her dancing because it's the funniest thing ever. So yes, I love my new village, and I love my job. I love the 5 mile bick ride to Koure as well. Its awesome. (okay not going to lie, at first it sucked) but now that the giraffes are around i see them almost every time i make the trip. Makes it worth it. I'm happy. I love all of you and miss everyone terribly. I'm sorry this is short but I have to run. kisses Barbara ps. marie! have fun moving. Good luck with everything, and i'm glad to hear you did good on the bar. good girl. I knew u could do it. oh and adam, happy birthday again.
July 1st, 200711:27 pm: July 1st email plus attachment
Hello Everyone, It's been about a week, and a lot of things have happened to me. I went off to Lulu's village for a week, and it was wonderful. We sat around and gossiped a lot, made some awesome bush food (sorta normal food made out of the weirdest combinations of packaged items and gift packages from America), we also had a meeting with the men in her village where we talked about the joys of pruning her Gum Arabic trees.. even had a demonstration on how to prune trees. very fun. we also did a few nature walks along the Niger River (the only large body of water in Niger which she happens to live right up against) It was beautiful, and completely different than the area I live in which only has seasonal rivers that as of yet, have not been filled by the rains. She even has rice fields! gorgeous... I'll send some pictures of her village next time. Anyway we went in search of Hippos, but apparently they hate the sun and only come out later in the evenings so I never got to see them. We did have a sighting of crocodiles though. That was awesome. She also happens to be queen of the scorpions. Has more scorpions coming to live with her than any other volunteer. In hot season she told me she kills on average 3 a day.... thankfully, I went to visit her during rainy season when the scary lil scorpions go and hide. I only saw one HUGE scorpion. It was down her latrine thankfully... although I couldnt go to the bathroom at night after I saw it in fear for my life. hmmm... what else did I do? OH! I carried water on my head the whole week with her in practice for my new village. In Koure someone used to bring me water, but as soon as I move into my new village, I want to try to carry my own water. So... I did it for the week, and it was fun, and very very wet. oh who am I kidding... you try carring a 25 liter bucket on your head full of water. It SUCKS, and makes you never want to bathe or wash clothing.... but do not worry people. I will find a little nigerien child who wants to do stuff for me... heheheheheheheehheheehehehehheehe Anyway I just want to take this time to thank Lulu for being with me during this period. She had to suffer my complaints of my old village, and during this week had to suffer through my nervousness of moving into my new village and my worries. Also and most importantly she was there for me when I found out my grandmother died last saturday. She may have cried more than me actually. So thanks Lulu. If I had been by myself in my village I don't know what I would have done. Nigeriens view crying as something not done in this culture. If you cry, you are weak. It is just not done. It's completely different than the American mentality of letting your feelings show. Here Nigeriens if they hear of death they shrug, say kala suuru (have patience) and say it is what God wanted. I guess their mentality has to be like that though because unfortunately more of them die than Americans. I just want to add that I wish I was home... I couldnt do anything, but I still wish I was home. I send my love out to my family both in America and Brazil. In better news, I move into my new village tomorrow! I'm definitely excited but very very nervous. I'll let you know more about how it goes later although I may not be in for awhile. I want to see if I can spend as much time in my village getting to know my villagers during this next month. In the begining of August I come to Niamey to help train my teacher in Environmental Education for a week so I want to spend time now to get to know my future villagers. Also the giraffe census count is occuring in the next month! that will be super exciting. My boss is meeting the giraffe people on tuesday and they will determine exactly what days to take the census. It will be a week long, out in the bush (super camping), with a bunch of nigerien girafe guides and a team of volunteers I get to pick. I've been doing a lot of research into this and I am really excited to be starting actual work and starting my primary project. Theres a bunch of projects I want to start right after, but this is one of the most important ones. I will be upholding the tradition of Peace Corps involvement in protecting the last wild girafes in West Africa. That my friends... is cool. What occurs during a census count is we go out in cars, search out the girafes, take photo identification shots of the girafes. Girafes are very unique and awesome in that they are like humans with fingerprints. No girafe has the same shape and number of spots along its hide. So we take the pictures, compare the spots to our databases, and watch their progression. We have also heard that there have been a few births in the last few months! that will be wonderful. Girafes have a gestation period of 15 months... imagine having a baby in you for that long... poor little giraffes. Anyway I'll let you know more about it after it happens. I am really excited about it though. I'll attach a document I wrote up for my boss about other future giraffe projects I want to do, so you can read all about it... or not... but you should if you're bored. Anyway a lot of people have expressed concerns about a change in my address. Do not worry. My address now is actually a PO Box kind of thing. It goes to the box, my Region Representative (my Dosso team leader) picks it up and drives them out to us on our shuttles. I will still get any mail you have sent me lately, and my address will stay the same for the next two years. There arent any private mail boxes around here unfortunately... oh and my sister would like me to post this for all of you http://www.komennyc.org/site/TR?JServSessionIdr001=8ympfrcz24.app7a (put in her name, Marie Bertrand) she apparently is going to run in a RACE!!! Apparently its to raise money for breast cancer or something boring like that. Wasn't really paying too much attention to her when she was explaining it to me. I just kept giggling about her being in a RACE. But maybe you people should check it out, throw her a dollar or something... because frankly the thought of her in a RACE amuses me. anyway I'm off now cuz I am tired. I spent all day reading scientific papers on giraffes... Did you know that giraffes have the same number of bones in their neck as humans?!? crazy... talk about weird evolution... LOVE all of you, Barbara Barbara Bertrand, PCV Future Research Projects Ideas: * Haoua, I know you seem to think that the research project looking into what the giraffes are eating is a good idea, but frankly this has already been researched into a lot of depth. Lauren Caister does a wonderful job in presenting the results in her dissertation as well as in the research article on ‘Female tannin avoidance.’ They just need to be translated into French. They were done in 2001 and 2003, and I do not think that even a research program for finding out if their habits have changed over time will be useful because not much time has passed since the research was done. Researching it again will be a waste of time and money on the part of SNV. There are so many more important things to research. If SNV wants to create more research programs on the part of the Giraffes, I have a few ideas. I think it is a great idea to create research programs for the Giraffes, but I don’t think that doing this particular research project will hold any benefit to the Giraffes since it has already been done. I have listed a few ideas presented by past volunteers that I think are very good research ideas and maybe you can bring them up during your meeting with SNV on Tuesday? • If SNV really DOES want to study the feeding habits of Giraffes, why not change it up. Research if the trees/plants they eat during the rainy season are the same as what they eat during the dry season. Lauren Caister only did research during the dry season. Maybe there is a difference of eating habits during cold and rainy seasons. * • What is the optimal Giraffe population size that the landscape will be able to support? What quantity and quality habitat is necessary to support Giraffe herds? • What are the Giraffe migration patterns? Will they eventually move of Koure/ Dallol-Bosso region in favor of other habitats? * • Individual Giraffe territory areas. Map of areas that each individual is most frequently sighted in. This would help determine the giraffes individual migration pattern as well as territory claims, if any. * • Are the Giraffes that travel to Gaya and Bellyara the same as the ones that stay in the Koure area? They apparently are believed to be, but there is no real basis to these ideas. * I put a star beside the ones I think are more feasible/ more important for you to mention during the meeting Other things I’d like you to bring up during the meeting if possible, or if you can get this information to me in any way if you have it (Chris??): • UICN computer Database; do they still exist on computer? If so, can we have a copy? Are the giraffe pictures alongside their descriptions? * • PURNKO (which I think SNV used to be or at least work with??) had created an Environment Education Program in the local schools in the year 2000. What did the program consist of? Do they have any information on that? Is it possible to do it again? • Lauren Caister also did a DNA analysis of the Giraffes through the State University of New York Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). A very good idea because: * o It would help determine genetic viability of the species; rule of thumb: 200 individuals are needed to make a viable gene pool that would create enough genetic variation. Niger does not have that many giraffes so determining if the gene pool is viable and stable is incredibly important otherwise inbreeding may destroy the giraffes by introducing factors such as disease and other physical weaknesses to the population. The DNA analysis would determine if there is a need for diversity (introducing outside male Giraffes to the population if possible). o It would determine if the Nigerien Giraffe is a true race or a subspecies in which case it would be more important to protect them. This was done by comparing them to other Giraffes in Africa. o It would help determine the maternity and paternity of Giraffes. o This was a GREAT idea, but where is the data?!?!? Does SNV have it? It was supposed to be returned to the Nigerien Government. Can we get our hands on this information? o Lauren also apparently created a photo identification of the trees the Giraffes eat as well as had field notes on vegetation surveys. Where is all this information? Can I get my hands on it? • Supposedly an observation Tower (Mirador) or two? was created in January 1993, as well as a nature trail that went along with it to see the Giraffes. Where are they? Are they still up and running? How come the Giraffe guides don’t take the tourists to see them, or have them listed at least? If they are no longer running this would be a wonderful project to bring back as nature trails are hugely popular among tourists. * • There used to be / is a tourist agency in Niger? Called Niger Car – Voyages (tel 73-23-31. fax 73-35-69) Is it still around? Supposedly it used to be a place tourists would go through to hire a car to see the Giraffes. If they are still around, we should see if they’ll collaborate with us in maybe creating more Giraffe awareness with their tourists, maybe through pamphlets, etc… • A short documentary on Niger Giraffes was done in 1998 and translated from French to English by a PCV. Is there a way to get a hold of this video? * I put a star beside the ones I think are more feasible/ more important for you to mention during the meeting Future Project Ideas: • Adopt a Giraffe Program o Where each giraffe is cataloged and put up for “adoption.” Online? Website? Or paper at Giraffe stand? People are then able to “adopt” the giraffe. The money could then be put into use for Giraffe protection or research programs. The Adopter could have the added benefit of naming the giraffe as well as periodic updates and pictures of “their” giraffe. benefits: bring in extra money that could be used for giraffe protection many zoo’s and wildlife centers do this in America, and it works really well. o Through NGO partners (SNV – would they be interested?? or Friends of Niger so it can be tax-exempt) • Retraining Giraffe Guides in such avenues like better salesmanship demonstrations (sometimes they can be a bit intimidating to the tourists… that isn’t good), knowing more giraffe facts to share with customers, etc… • Souvenir Stand /Artisans center placed near the Giraffe Stand. I think this is a great idea because currently there are not many souvenirs at the stand. The ones that are there are cheap looking, and I have yet to see any tourists buy them. I have talked to Jen, PCV, who works at the Musee, and she is interested in creating a stand where the artisans from the Musee would be able to place their objects. She has apparently talked to the men at the Musee and they also seem to like the idea. Maybe we could even ask Dwight if his Artisans in Tahoua would be interested, bringing together a wide variety of art from around Niger to one central area that tourists from around the world can go to. This could also be combined with some income generating programs through womans’ groups from neighboring villages (Jen said that the local women could be easily taught how to make boutiques. Bag making and stuffed animals could also maybe be done), etc… If this could work, it would bring in a lot more money that could be used in various Giraffe projects because tourists are suckers and buy souvenirs. It is what they do. • Creating a Giraffe exhibit at the stand itself, would educate the community as well as the tourists that come in on the importance of Giraffes, etc… This, if done right, can also be aesthetically pleasing to the eye and make the stand more interesting. We can also incorporate the community, maybe have art contests at the neighboring schools that could be then shown at the exhibit. • Same idea as above only the exhibit would be placed at the Musee (I plan to talk to Jen about it, see if it is possible). Apparently a temporary exhibit had been done before there with much success by PCVs. I don’t see a problem with attempting to do one again especially since it was so successful and better yet, cheap… The only thing the PCVs said in their final report is that they should have tried for a permanent exhibit, not just a temporary exhibit. • Traveling / Live Theater. Also done in the past with much success. It would take a lot of time to find interested school students, train them, create skits, etc… but apparently the surrounding population loved it, and it is a great idea to incorporate the community in Giraffe awareness. (See if Ginger will want to get on this, something like a traveling Pangea??) • Radio theater program (or comic strip). This is a past volunteers’ idea. The idea would be to create an “Ideal Citizen” who would have trials and successes (such as health problems, tree Pepineres, Giraffe involvement, etc…) that would be aired on the radio. Sort of like a radio show of a mythical character. Radio ‘soap operas’ used to be widely popular in the states before TV. I don’t see why they can’t be done here. * These future project ideas do not have to be discussed at the meeting of course, but I just wanted to give you a written document of some possible projects that could be done with giraffe involvement in the Koure region. This is obviously not any sort of proposal writing, but more of a “is this at all possible?” kind of thing. I would love to get any advice or input possible before I start the actual proposal writings. Reading through the packets Chris gave me showed me how sad it was that not more has been done in reference to the Giraffes lately. Apparently from 1995 to 1996, 6 ETs occurred in the Koure area. The volunteers who should have been placed there would have worked to help protect the current Giraffe population. Unfortunately after the ETs, other than Lauren Caister’s research work, Giraffe involvement among PCVs went down. If anything I think more volunteers should be placed in this area that are solely dedicated to the preservation of the last Giraffes in West Africa. The importance of these Giraffes to Niger as a country can not be underestimated. (Sorry Chris and Haoua, I know you guys are going to kill me for making you read all this, but this is really important!)
June 29th, 200710:45 pm: Disclaimer
"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps."
09:40 am: June 20th
Dear Everyone! hello everyone, how has everyone been these past few weeks? What are people's plans for the summer? post-graduation? etc...? Write me back. Hope everyone has awesome summer plans, maybe a little traveling, maybe to somewhere exotic like Africa or what not, maybe off to visit some friend who you desperately miss and can't live without? well let me know what the plans are... i'm free... *cough cough, hint hint* if anyone wants any ideas on what to do for a great vacation, i may have some suggestions. Anyway... so I'm not going to lie, the past week or so has probably been the hardest ever since coming to Niger. Some stuff has been going on, and it has been really hard on me. The whole story: This has been going on for a few months and only added up this past week. My concession contains 2 buildings. One of the buildings I was living in and so I had the keys to. The other building I was supposed to get the keys to, but never did. It is Peace Corps policy that you can not share a concession. These is because of security reasons as well as not having to share a latrine or shower. Anyway it's a good policy. It makes sense and is inforced. This is why I was supposed to get those keys from the Mayor. The Mayor though kept telling me that the owner of the house had the keys and was traveling. He led me around for a few months. Then when I went to IST. I came back and realized that while I had been gone, someone had been living in my concession in the other building. This isn't allowed under PC policy, so I let my Region Repressentative know, and we had a meeting with the Mayor. He told us to go ahead and change the locks, take out the stuff from the building, and he would let the guy know (who had been living there) for us. So we did all that (This WAS peace corps property and it was my house so I wasnt being mean about taking out his stuff. He didnt have that much, just a few mats and stuff, so it wasn't weird) I finally had the keys to that building. I was really excited about it too cuz those rooms were bigger, and I couldnt wait to occupy them. Anyway then a few nights ago the man (who had been living there) came in and began to yell at me about it even though I wasn't really the one to blame. As it was, it became a security issue, and I was removed from the village to Niamey until we could figure out what was going on. Anyway what it turns out to be is that the Mayor, who is a government official, and my chief au village, who has village traditional power, are at a sort of disagrement with each other. This is called decentralization, one of the things we are trying to fix in Niger. It is where traditional powers are starting to be at war with the new government. Depending on the village the mayor or the chief can have more power over the other. This depends on if the village is more traditional or modern. UNFORTUNATELY I got stuck in the middle of this little war where my chief is trying to sabotage my Mayor's powers, etc etc... as it is, I can no longer live in that village and was moved to Niamey for the past few days until I could figure out 1) where I was going to live for the next two years 2) if I could still work with the giraffes. As it was I've had an exhausting few days in which I was pretty much not sleeping and giving thought to ETing (early termination). BUT I refuse to ET, at least not for this reason. One of the things I positively did not want was to give up my project which is working with the giraffes. I let my boss know this so the past few days we've been looking around at different villages around the giraffe guides. And yay! I think I have found my future village. It is called Baboussaye, also spelled Baou Saye depending on the map. It means Daddy's Luck, so hopefully I have more luck with this village. lol... It is further away from the road, about 8 k, which means i'll be bike riding a lot more (mommy, that'll make you happy, getting my excercise). It is on the north side of the road directly opposite of Koure who is on the south side of the road only 2 k off the road. Now the good things about this village is that it is actually IN the giraffe zone which means more giraffe sightings for me, it is still very easy to get to the giraffe guides (by bike), off a laterite road, and the village is more bush which hopefully means the people will be friendlier to me and not ask for as many gifts because they will not be used to rich fat tourists who come into Koure. yay! Bad things about this is that it is actually BIGGER than Koure which i've stressed before, Koure is huge. Normal villages have a population of about 300-500. Koure had 6,000. Baboussaye has more than that (dont know the exact number). Ummm... okay I'll let you know more bad things later because I haven't been there for more than 30 minutes to check out my house. My new house (saddness) is unfortunately not as big as my old house. *sob* It is no longer brick but mud. (it isnt round though and that makes me very happy because it is hard to fit furniture to a building with no edges!). My concession will be miniscule compared to my last concession and I have no trees (more sadness). But I actually do like that the walls are brick, it will make things easier to hang up as well as keep the house cooler. It has 2 rooms, and it will definitely be more of a bush house than what I had before. Before I had the palace among volunteers. now i have a normal house comparable to other volunteers. That actually doesnt bother me because dude, I'm in Africa, living in a mud house, thats cool.... The unfortunate thing is the house is not ready yet. A latrine and concession needs to be built. My floor needs to be cemented. So that means staying in Niamey till that happens which if they do it ASAP should take a week, but Niger being Niger it could potentially take up to a month. That would suck. Niamey is wonderful because it has easy internet access and wonderful food, BUT the hostel we have to stay in kind of blows because it is constantly filled with other volunteers and Niamey is EXPENSIVE. okay not really BUT i spend a lot more money here cuz I go to bars and restaurantes here. Niamey also gets old after awhile, and the bush is way more relaxing and fun. Niamey should only be a place to go to when you are sick of the bush and want to go to the pool or something. As it is I've been here for 4 days now waiting for news and I am slowly going crazy. Plus not doing any actually Peace Corps work is making me insane because I feel as if I am doing nothing. I miss my villagers... SO I made plans with Lulu, my good friend here to go visit her site. I'm pretty happy about this because I'll be able to still practice my Zarma, and I'm helping her out with her project which is a Gum Arabic plantation. I'll write more on what the importance of Gum Arabic is later but just know it goes into Coca Cola and if we can create more plantations of it around, Niger can become pretty rich as Niger is one of the few areas of the world that actually can produce it cuz it needs hot temperatures to grow. ANYWAY I'm pretty excited as I'll be helping her prune trees in her field, etc... I'll be there for about a week. After that hopefully I can get installed into my village. If not I'll have to find something else to do. lol... anyway thats my life in a nutshell right now. Everything is fine, and I'm really excited about starting this new village although I will miss my friends I made in Koure. but i'll be okay and I will visit Koure as much as possible. Alright love all of you, line for the computer. I'll write again next week and tell you my crazy stories from what lulu and I do. talk to you soon! BARBARA
June 20th, 200710:40 am: june 2nd
dearrrrrrrrrr everyone, so its been a while... a week or two i guess. I dont remember. I loose sense of time here. what month is it? Am I almost home? Oh geeze, really??? June? are you serious. Oh come on guys. this is a piece of cake. I'll be home right after you guys forget what I look like. Then i'll come home and astound you with my beauty and you will all wonder how you let me leave the states. soon... trust me. By the way, I miss all of you. a lot. Anyway IST (in service training) is finally done! yay. I had a lot of fun seeing all my friends from PST (post service training), as well as seeing all my teachers again. I didn't realize it before, but it's wonderful knowing that there are people in this country who are my friends, who understand what i'm going through, and who crave ice cream and chocolate and cheese just as much as me and will share a pint or two of ice cream no problem. thats nice. trust me. oh by the way, Lulu and I (my really good friend here) searched all over niamey, and seriously found the best ice cream in country. It was awesome. Most ice cream here is more of ice with flavoring but this stuff was amazing, all nice and creamy.... ALMOST as good as the states.... or maybe my tastebuds have just died. I can believe that of course. What did I learn during IST?? -how to write up a proposal for grants from NGO's and other organizations -that Peace Corps has no money -great ideas for things I want to do with my village -how 2 years is not enough time to do everything I want with my village -how great my Zarma has progressed -how much my Zarma still sucks But don't worry! I'm still positive. I can't wait to go back to my village to start all the things I want to do. I leave Monday because I have to wait for my market day, that way I can get a car out to my village and I don't have to walk from the road 3 k with all my baggage. transportation here blows. trust me. may be the worst thing about Niger. Anyway.... I'm really excited to go back. I can't wait to eat snot sauce and millet again, oh and to see my villagers. Miss them. Next week I have plans to start teaching English classes. Wish me luck cuz I have no idea what I am doing. I also have plans to start up a souvenir stand at the giraffe guides. This may not seem that exciting to you, but it will be a great way for my villagers to get money. Enconomy generating activity. My boss loved my idea and told me to go all out for it. I'm pretty excited. I'll let you know more details later when I know more, but this is going to be a HUGE project, and may take me the rest of my time here to set it up. If all goes well though, my villagers will be fully trained to create wonderful souvenirs which tourists will buy cuz they are suckers for that kind of thing. That will make my village a TON more money, as well as help bring more awareness of how wonderful giraffes are all across the world. I ALSO if anyone is interested (cough cough Matt B, scott, tom, anyone with any website making abilities) want to create a webpage... on giraffes in Niger, and may be attract more tourists to the area. this is just an idea that I've come up with recently but if anyone is interested in going down in history for saving the last giraffes in west africa AS WELL AS bring Niger more economy and maybe helping them out of their being the poorest country in the world.... just let me know. here's a great article of what my job here in Niger is supposed to consist of. Below are also a couple quotes on the situation I thought were good. http://www.wildlifeprotection.info/news.htmThe last herd of giraffes in West Africa, Giraffa camelopardalis peralta, have not exactly put Niger on the map, but they have helped bring everything from ecotourism to European Community grants to the country. (MAKE MONEY FOR NIGER) "The truth is, a silent majority of villagers don't see what use the giraffes are," argues Boreima Amadou, a professor of geography at University of Abdou Moumouni, who studies the human populations in contact with the giraffe. "It is considered a 'useless animal'.... A useful animal is one that can be eaten, hunted, or worked. The giraffe doesn't fulfill any of these criteria." (ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TO THE COMMUNITY) anyway so let me know if anyone has any free time. You have two years to do this... no hurries. kisses and I promise a giraffe to any who are interested anyway I have been busy doing other programs during IST. Last week I did an awareness class with 25 young men on the dangers of AIDs here in Africa. AIDs is thankfully not too big of a problem here in Niger. It IS worse than the states but compared to other countries in Africa, it is one of the best. This is probably due to the fact that Niger is a muslim community, but unfortunately what happens is that the young men of Niger go on Exodus (where all the men in the village will leave for months in search of jobs across the border usually to Ghana or Benin) The consequences of that is that they will go get money for their families and usually end up bringing back AIDs as well because THOSE countries DO have big problems with AIDs. It sucks. So I did this class out in the middle of the street somewhere. It was awesome. I had never done anything like that before where people were actually listening and learning from me. It was great... Then I did the condom demonstrationon on my fingers......... yea.... Unfortunately I was not able to do it without bursting into laughter. THANKFULLY the guys were all great sports and helped me along. It was hilarious, and probably one of the best times I've had here in country. The other night I also went to visit a local NGO called PRAHN who does wonderful work with handicapped children. Some of the things they do is provide physical therapy, minor surgeries such as fixing club feet, etc... The place was called HOPE house, and it was awesome. The kids there though almost made me cry, but thankfully they don't know any better, or unthankfully.... My favorite was this lil boy named Ali. He had the cutest smile. He was there because his hands had been burned off. It was so sad. Some of the interesting things I encountered though were children with Polio (how sad, this should be erradicated from Africa!! its riduculus that this disease hasn't been erradicated yet. we have vacciness!! stupid...). Anyway I helped the physical therapist put a cast on one of the children with club feet. It was awesome. alright so i've taken way too much time on the computer and my time is up. Love you all and Miss all of you. Hopefully I'll be able to jump on the computer tomorrow, but unfortunately everyone is in town which means there's major lines for the computers all the time. LOVE ALL OF YOU kisses, Barbara
May 27th, 200703:27 pm: Peace Corps Letters (up till now)
Feb 16 hey everyone!!!!!! its me i am alive in africa somewhere so do not worry I LOVE it here: it is wonderful: peeing in a hole is fun: haha: and i actually like bucket baths: it is also very very very very very hot here: its been getting up to 115 degrees and its not hot season yet; um but its ok. i found out my area yesterdqy: my village that ill be moving into in a month is called koure. its in the region of dosso: look it up: its a big village of about 2000 people: it has its own market: and i have a very big house apparently compared to other PCVs: i cant wait to see it: learning the language is fun: also guess what my job will be for the next two years? i get to work with GIRAFFES!!!!!!!!!! seriously no joke: my job is to make sure theydont become extinct and i have to count them because niger has the last free ranging giraffes in west africa; its very cool: i saw my village and two minutes down the road i saw giraffes: i cant wait to send pics: anyway i dont have much time left: so i have to go: i love u: i miss u but i love it here so dont worry about me: i have sent ALOT of letters; if u have not gotten one then there is a problem or its taking awhile address again is corps de la paix bp 10537 niamey niger west africa March 2 hey everyone! long time no chat. Just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and well. Still in Africa. No lions or tigers have eaten me. anyway just wanted to let you know this is my peacecorps email. I can check this at my hostel in Dosso while I can not check my other email here. Although I can check my other email when I am in Niamey, and not this one. confusing?? yes I know. anyway to make it easier for you, send most emails to my other email (barbmb@gmail.com) for the next month. After this month (march) send any emails to this email address because it will probably be the one I check most often. Another important thing about this email is that it is sent to a mass peacecorps system, if you want it to reach me you have to put my name in the subject line. less confusing? i hope so. unfortunately I did not have everyone's emails in my address book that I have with me. If you would be so kind as to send this email along to anyone you think should have it. go for it. (that means you kelly, please send this email to ur sister. thanks love) I am loving it here. My village, Koure in the region of Dosso, which I visited this week was awesome. While most villages only have 2-3 hundred people in them, mine has 6000 which means that my village has a lot of things that most villages do not. For one I found this place that sells me cafe au lait every morning. I also found good use for the bike pump that Daddy told me to buy, and I helped some kids blow up their soccer ball. Then they made me play.... and then they made fun of me... a lot. But it's all good. I had a very good time. Plus my hut (not really a hut) is a palace among PCVs. It has 4 rooms! crazy i know.... I'm now known as the giraffe girl among the PCVs as well cuz my village has the giraffes. Didn't see any this week, but they're supposed to come down in the rainy season which is only a few months from now, after the hot season... which... I am not looking forward to. I know I am going to have problems during the hot season when I woke up this morning freezing, and it was in the low 80's!!! Also other big news!! I have a cell phone!!! yep thats right, i have no electricity, no running water, but i do have a cell phone. funny how that works?? Now please do NOT try to call me unless you buy a phone card and are willing to pay a lot to talk to me. If you are, then by all means, call me whenever you want. BUT the cheapest way for you is to text me. I receive calls and texts for free so I dont have a preference for either. but do NOT expect me to call you... Unfortunately it is riduculusly expensive for me to do so. I will send texts back (if I love you...) but those also are a lil on the expensive side, not outrageously expensive but expensive enough that I may or may not respond back to your text asap because I may not have the money enough to do so. To send a text to america it is 140 cfa's which means nothing to you except that I only get 15,000 cfa every 2 weeks. (also funny is that 500 cfa = 1 dollar so i'm getting 15 bucks a week. hilarious i know) Please this was not meant to discourage you from calling me or texting me. Please send me as many texts as you want. trust me when I say that I will love every single one of them and that I can not wait to hear from you. Actually this was meant to be a PLEASE TEXT ME WHENEVER/WHEREVER!/AS MANY TIMES AS POSSIBLE! I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!! message. Anyway only 3 more weeks of training left and then I get swore in officially as a PCV. From there I move into my village. I am really excited for that day. I miss everyone back in the states though. a lot. hopefully you all miss me as well... and remember my birthday is coming up... cough cough... april 15.... cough cough... and it takes a month for packages to get to me... cough cough... ;P Love you all, Barbara (the giraffe girl in Africa) p.s. if you have sent any emails to my other email, I'm going to try to get to a internet cafe this week when I go into Niamey, so I am sorry if you haven't gotten a response to it. if you're really upset, send me a text message saying so. haha... March 11 Hello everyone, This week coming up is going to be a fun and exciting time for me. here's the deal for the next week coming up: Tuesday: party with my host family where I give them gifts for being nice to me and feeding me gross food (better understood as millet and snot sauce.... yummmmmmmmmm) Wed: GAD (gender and development) auction where everyone puts up things to sell for a good cause. I have been signed up for selling myself on a date.... hopefully someone will want to buy me.... also i hear you can buy margaritas there, and that makes me very excited. Thursday: the current PCVs are holding a barbeque for us newbies. Supposedly there is a talent show in the afternoon right after tinto olympics. that should be amusing. There i'll get to meet all the other PCVs in Niger. Friday: Swear in (finally) as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Saturday/Sunday: move into my village Koure I can not wait. ANYWAY now on to past news.... -Last friday was our last Masa party (on the hill in the middle of the desert somewhere theres some rocks, we call that a masa). So as we were planning to camp out there for the night, my friends and I decided to carry up a big mattress with us so that we could sleep on it instead of the rocks! such a brillant idea of course except it consisted of me and Piper, my friend, carrying this huge mattress on our heads in the middle of the bush. hilarious. We finally get there and we have a fire started. Matt (my hero as u will see) is playing the guitar and everyone is passing around a beer. I'm standing there chatting with some of my friends when I suddenly collapse in excruciating pain. yes thats right... excruciating pain. My first instinct was that a scorpion had stung me not that I know what one feels like, but I had no idea what else it could have been. So I am on the ground helpless flashing my headlamp around looking for a damn scorpion. I dont see anything. So everyone by this time is officially concerned about me since I am screaming in pain, and I get surrounded. I'm screaming that I got bit by something, but everyone is convinced that I just broke a bone. So Matt, my hero, runs over to the training site, a good while away, and gets a car out for me. Meanwhile I am blabbering in pain, screaming that all I want is a cup of vodka, and telling everyone that I got bit by something, and that I do not have a broken bone (although I guess it would have been funny if I broke a bone while standing and I have never before broken anything). Matt gets the car out for me and I get a miserable ride out to Niamey (45 minutes away) and I get to see Dr. Laurant (our PCV doctor) in his boxers. very funny except he reminds me of my father with his french accent and mannerisms. So long story short I missed the last masa party (sad), got to spend my first night in the infirmary, got to watch TV in the infirmary!! (this is huge for me, so sorry if I'm excited), had to take 3 pain killers, and got to see Dr. Laurant in his underwear. OH and I was right... I did not break a bone, I just got bit by SOMETHING. Apparently I had the symptoms of a snake bite, but they couldnt find a bite mark. It was not a scorpion. so in Dr. Laurant's words "you got bit by some strange exotic african creature" lovely... I am fine, the next morning my foot was numb, but apparently that was just the venom working its way out of my system and it was completely normal. I get back to the training site where everyone was convinced i was dieing of SOMETHING, or had broken a bone, or had to be sent back to the states. (gossip travels rapidly here). ANYWAY everyone had made me a get well soon/hope your leg didnt have to be amputated card, and Matt is now my BFF (best friend forever) for one saving my life and two, apparently in my pain on the way to niamey i told him my whole life story including how i love my parents and how they met and how i didnt want to die until after i was sworn in because then I wouldnt feel stupid. Anyway he told me that he feels he knows me very well now... i wonder why....oh well. in other news... I now weigh 137 pounds which means I have lost a lil less than 30 pounds in 2 months. People here have said it is because of the food and the walking I have to do but I believe it has something to do with the distance between Emily and I. (I miss you emily!) Other funny news: My friend Kim took a picture of her hole she poops in to show to her family back home. When she looked at the picture, the picture looked like there was a person in the hole. She showed everyone and we all got a laugh out of it, but then she showed the teachers. Apparently the teachers got scared (which i guess makes sense now that we realize their animistic culture, went to her house, and threw gasoline down her hole. Now her hole smells really bad and the cockroaches which used to be in the hole swarmed up and all over.... funny story as well as interesting because it shows the differances in our cultures. anyway love all you, I will write more later but now I am headed to the pool at the American Embassy. Thats right, I'm going to america today!! and then coming back to niger. funny. love, Barbara On Sat, 19 May 2007 19:48:36 +0200 "Barbara Bertrand" wrote: Barbara Bertrand <barbmb@gmail.com> wrote: HELLO EVERYONE! long time I havent written. I have been trying to send pictures though. Unfortunately that takes forever, and ties up the computer for a good while. Hopefully everyone got the pictures though, and you love them. what am I saying? you better love them. They're my pictures and as such are amazing. Plus I look hot... seriously... just admit it. you know you stare at my pictures for hours and think about how beautiful I am. Don't lie to yourselves. Thats horrible. ANYWAY, how has everyone been? Hopefully none of you are dead. I don't think so, but I haven't received emails or letters from many of you in awhile. That is horrible. Do you understand? I am in AFRICA. I am here saving the dying and hungry children of africa. I am so selfless and wonderful. the least you could do is write me. you bums. I need to hear from you to know if you are okay. So stop whatever you are doing right now... well actually after you finish reading my email. stop, then write me something. Oh my really good friend lulu here has put up a picture webpage. I am way to lazy to do that so I've stolen her webpage address. http://community.webshots.com/user/lulum1032check those pictures out. They are awesome, mostly cuz theres a lot of pictures in there of me. yea, you know you want to see them. anyway as soo many of you have questions of how life is here in niger, I have started a questions and answer page for your enjoyment. Please send more questions and I will be happy to answer them. Q:What is a 'bush taxi'? A: Well, take a van, put in 4 benches, put 4 adults, minimum, on each bench. Put a few babies on a few of the laps. make sure your luggage is piled on top of your lap. throw a few goats under the seats, chickens in the back, pile enough stuff on top of the van so its at least the height of the van...and voila! you have a bush taxi, which transports us from village to village. wait, did i forget to mention the string on the sides holding the car together? the constant swaying that i sometimes wonder if it will actually make it? the completely cracked out windshield? hopefully this helps, but pictures to come.... Q. What kinds of things do i wear in Niger? A. skirts down to my ankles, t-shirts, and occasionally head wraps/veils. what do the skirts consist of? fabric i buy at market that i tie around my body. normal. and yes, I wash them by hand.... in a bucket.... and yes, they are still dirty. oh well. Q. what do i eat? A. Rice, beans, millet, tuo(slime sauce,tastes like vomit), rice, pasta(although its "expensive"),peanut butter(excessive amounts), rice, sauce(vegetables cooked so long they have no nutrients, and are just mush),rice, and potatoes. Weirdly enough, my tastebuds are starting to adjust, and i eat anything that comes near me like its normal. There are americanish grocery stores here, so it is possible to get luxeries.....at a high price... oh and I don;t know if I told you this yet mommy, but you know all those chocolates we buy in Brazil? the ones in balls? called suenos or dreams or something like that? you can find them here!! unfortunately they all melt here within minutes so I'm usually forced to eat a bag at a time.... I dont usually mind though. yum. Q: Do I actually do any work here? A: no, well... yes... but no, not really. My first few months I'm stuck just learning the language. I am currently in Hamdyllaye again though for IST (in service training) thats where we really learn what to do on our jobs, etc. currently i have plans to start up an english class with the giraffee tour guides, an environmental class for the school children, and thats not even mentioning all the work I have to do with the giraffees which include counting them, etc!! Q: what was the weirdest thing you have eaten? A: well snot sauce is pretty weird, but weirdest thing will have to be grasshoppers and locusts. crunchy.... but delicious if you put them in the right sauce!!! Q: what do you want from home? A: currently everything I need I can get. Some things I would LIKE are... ice, chocolate that hopefully wont melt (m&ms only actually, at least now during hot season), velvetta and cheese, toothpaste (the kinds here suck), dried fruit, NO NUTS... plenty here trust me, news clippings you think i'd like, gronola bars, drink mixes to put in water - delicious and refreshing, LETTERS!!!! Q: have you seen any wildlife? A: well in the mornings I wake up to cows, sheeps, and goats.... not exactly wildlife, but you know... too hot for many other things. I have seen scorpions, giraffees, and some crazy birds.... by the way, giraffees are way cooler than i thought. I think its hilarious how many rich tourists will come out just to see the giraffees... haha... Q: Have you met your African prince yet who will make you his African queen? A: unfortunately I have not yet met my african prince. I do get many marriage proposals, I average one per day, market days I average 10 per day. here is a mock conversation between a man and myself... all in zarma of course Man: "hello, you are an anasara (white person) you must have money. I want to marry you" Me: "Thats great! but I do not want you." Man: "what? why do you not want to marry me?" Me: "because you are very ugly." (no... i am not being mean, this is a common answer which is taken as a joke and everyone laughs... i have not turned into a horrible person yet so do not worry) Man: "you are uglier than me. It will be hard for you to find anyone else" (also a common response) Me: "oh no! you are right. I am very ugly because I am white. but you dont have enough money to marry me" Man: "how much is your bridal price?" (yes... bridal price...) Me: "4 horses and 2 male camels" (incredibly impossible here... as 1 horse means you are one of the richest men in the village) Man: "what!??! God is Big!" Me: "plus I am lazy. I will not pound your food or clean your clothes. you do not want me." Man: "yes yes you have truth. goodbye ugly" Me: "goodbye boro-bi" (black person, not a racist statement, trust me) anyway thats all for now. I'm in hamdy for another 2 weeks which means I should be able to get online during the weekends, so write and i'll write back. miss you all. I love all of you, Barbara
January 6th, 200712:41 pm: Last Letter
Dear Everyone, As you all know, I am leaving the country for two years to go to Niger, Africa. Since joining, I have received a lot of comments letting me know how perfect, noble, and wonderful I am for becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. Although I have always known that I am perfect, it is nice to see that others have finally realized this as well. I could not though have done this without the support of my friends and family and some other random people on the internet. Speaking of support I have compiled a list of things I will love to receive in the next two years (see below). Now although none of you HAVE to send me any of the objects on my list, if you do not, do not expect to be written about in my noble prize winning book I will write "My adventures in Niger; Sand, Elephants, and Bucket Baths, the true story." which I expect to be published in 2010. My List: -chapstick -ice cream -money -letters/emails -chocolate -water -lotion -stamps -batteries -solar powered dvd player -dvds -pictures of what i'm missing -puppies Now anything of course will be nice to receive so use your imaginations. Remember most of you like me. Here is my address Barbara Bertrand Corps de la Paix B.P. 10537 Niamey, Niger and obviously my email is BarbMB@gmail.com Now I understand that many of you will spend the next few weeks crying and starring at my pictures, but remember two years (and three months) is really not that long of a period of time. It is the same length as how long you are supposed to keep your pillow, a few seasons of grey's anatomy, how long it will take Tom and Scott to become millionaries, a few graduations, 2 harry potter movie releases, emily to stop stalking conor (welll... err... maybe on that one), my sister to become a lawyer and support my lazy ass when I come home, jeff's band to get famous, and most importantly it will be just enough time for me to save a few trees and make some wonderful memories. I love all of you, and I will miss each and every one of you for all different reasons. Thank you for being the kind of people I will miss. Barbara Bertrand Huntres848: we have to live together again someday Huntres848: OH WAIT Huntres848: YOUR LEAVING ME FOR SKINNY PEOPLE Paris327: hahahahaha Paris327: but i like skinny people Huntres848: i know Huntres848: so what if its because they are starving Huntres848: they look so good Huntres848: so thin! Paris327: why do u think i'm going?!? to learn their skinny ways!! Current Mood:  nervous
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