Postal update from Niger!
Greetings from Africa! This is the first update that I'm sending by
regular mail, so we'll see how long it takes to get there. The date
today is October 26, 2006 at 11:15 am. I'm currently waiting in the
bank to withdraw some money, I've had to go up to the lady at the
window three times with two different checks. . . as I'm still learning
Hausa and French, withdrawing money is still difficult. But I have
faith that this time it will work and the lady will soon call my name
and give me my money. The money that I will be using to buy a horse
with. . .hee hee. . . So after doing the walk from Gafati to Zinder
numerous times and also riding the bush taxis and motorcycles, its time
that I have my own method of transportation. Walking proved to be quite
exhausting and riding in the taxis or motorcycles is a very scary and
dangerous endeavor. I was debating between buying a horse, camel or
donkey and I've decided on a horse. As fun as a donkey or camel would
be, they are both awfully slow. The reason I’m interested in getting a
horse is so that I can be more mobile and travel to Zinder and other
villages to do health work. All the NGOs have cars or motorcycles but
Peace Corps, for safety reasons, doesn’t let us operate either, so a
horse it is. After the bank I’m going to stop at the post office and
mail this letter off and then I’ll head to the market. I’m hoping that
at the market I can find my friend Inusa to help me buy my horse
because I have no idea what one needs to look for when buying a horse.
So yeah, we’ll see how it goes.
Well, what else to tell you. . .hmmm. . . How about I go through my typical day so you have an idea of what I do. Lately I’ve been getting up around 6:00am or a little after. In case my alarm clock fails, I can always count on my neighbor’s rooster to be crowing at around that time everyday. Then I prepare myself breakfast on my gas stove with three burners of which only two work. For a while breakfast was composed of warm oatmeal, but that ran out so I continued with some rice and powdered milk. And for some flavoring I would add two spoons of chocolate nesquik. . .it is quite tasty. After breakfast I’ll shower and put my mattress and mosquito net inside so it doesn’t sit out in the sun all day. If I have some time I’ll do some reading or writing ‘till a little before 8:00am when I’ll head off to the village health clinic. At the clinic I mainly just follow around the lead nurse and observe everything he does and sometimes help. The clinic is staffed by a total of three people: the lead nurse, his wife (who is also a nurse) and another man who mainly does the job of a pharmacist but also tends to patients if need be. On the beginning all I was doing was just observing but the lead nurse was excited about teaching me. Nowadays I find myself doing the major part of all pre-natal exams. I’ll take the pregnant lady’s blood pressure, check her eyes and hands for anemia, check for swollen feet, weigh her, measure the size of her belly and listen for the baby’s heartbeat. Haa haa. . . I’ve come a long ways from the strictly theatre that I studied in college.
Yesterday was a national day for Polio prevention in Niger. I gave many kids two drops of medicine to swallow. And the nurse vaccinated those who had never been vaccinated. I thought more people would come to the clinic since the vaccinations and medicine are free to them. There were also teams of nurses that traveled out to more remote villages to administer the medicine. This way they can reach more people. I believe this is an effort that is organized by Rotary International and the United Nations.
At around 1pm I usually head home to prepare lunch which is usually
pasta and tomato sauce or a salad from canned veggies. Post lunch I’ll
do some reading and maybe a nap. Many times some neighborhood kids come
over and we’ll talk or play cards. By 3ish I’m heading back to the
health clinic. In the afternoon we rarely have many people come so I
use the time to study Hausa. The nurses from the health clinic are
always willing to answer questions. The lead nurse also speaks some
broken English, so that’s a big help. I’ll stay at the clinic ‘till
dinnertime, around 7pm. Lately I’ve been eating dinner with the nurse
and his family. At night it becomes hard to cook with only the light
from the oil lamp. Plus, I practice my Hausa eating with them and I get
to enjoy traditional dishes. Which, last night, included more
grasshoppers than I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It started
with the nurse handing me a fistful before dinner as an appetizer.
We’ve only eaten grasshoppers once before and just a few to start the
meal, but today grasshoppers were the appetizer, main dish, salad and
dessert. The nurse’s wife Zeinalou brought out a huge platter full of
grasshoppers with onions. After that it was followed with a salad of
grasshoppers and tomatoes. In the end I was also given a bowl to take
home with grasshoppers for dessert. Hee hee. . . it’s a good thing that
I enjoy eating grasshopper. They sort of taste like really strong
barbecue flavored potato chips and they are really crunchy, as you
would expect grasshopper to be. ‘Till now that has been the strangest
thing I’ve eaten.
Post dinner I’ll stick around and we’ll talk a little bit. By 8:30 I’m usually heading home. In Nigerian culture, greetings are a huge part of daily life. Almost anyone I encounter on my walks to and from the health clinic I need to greet profusely. This adds about 15 minutes to my walk as I stop and greet anyone who is out and about. At nighttime I might play some games with the kids out in the school courtyard or play cards with some of my neighbors. 10:00pm is usually my bedtime and I might do some reading or writing in my journal before I fall asleep. Well, there you have it, my typical days in Gafati. As I continue to learn the language I will probably get more involved with health related stuff. By possibly taking a more active role with the NGOs and also doing some basic ??? (illegible word) on good hygiene practices and teaching the women how to make home remedies for common health problems, like diarrhea and conjunctivitis . I’m also interested in having deeper discussions with the villagers about what they feel are the biggest problems that need to be addressed. Well, that wraps it up for this update. I’ll be sending another letter next week with more about my life here. Let me know if you guys have any specific questions that I can try to answer. Okay, take care everyone!
-D.
Greetings from Africa! This is the first update that I'm sending by
regular mail, so we'll see how long it takes to get there. The date
today is October 26, 2006 at 11:15 am. I'm currently waiting in the
bank to withdraw some money, I've had to go up to the lady at the
window three times with two different checks. . . as I'm still learning
Hausa and French, withdrawing money is still difficult. But I have
faith that this time it will work and the lady will soon call my name
and give me my money. The money that I will be using to buy a horse
with. . .hee hee. . . So after doing the walk from Gafati to Zinder
numerous times and also riding the bush taxis and motorcycles, its time
that I have my own method of transportation. Walking proved to be quite
exhausting and riding in the taxis or motorcycles is a very scary and
dangerous endeavor. I was debating between buying a horse, camel or
donkey and I've decided on a horse. As fun as a donkey or camel would
be, they are both awfully slow. The reason I’m interested in getting a
horse is so that I can be more mobile and travel to Zinder and other
villages to do health work. All the NGOs have cars or motorcycles but
Peace Corps, for safety reasons, doesn’t let us operate either, so a
horse it is. After the bank I’m going to stop at the post office and
mail this letter off and then I’ll head to the market. I’m hoping that
at the market I can find my friend Inusa to help me buy my horse
because I have no idea what one needs to look for when buying a horse.
So yeah, we’ll see how it goes.
Well, what else to tell you. . .hmmm. . . How about I go through my typical day so you have an idea of what I do. Lately I’ve been getting up around 6:00am or a little after. In case my alarm clock fails, I can always count on my neighbor’s rooster to be crowing at around that time everyday. Then I prepare myself breakfast on my gas stove with three burners of which only two work. For a while breakfast was composed of warm oatmeal, but that ran out so I continued with some rice and powdered milk. And for some flavoring I would add two spoons of chocolate nesquik. . .it is quite tasty. After breakfast I’ll shower and put my mattress and mosquito net inside so it doesn’t sit out in the sun all day. If I have some time I’ll do some reading or writing ‘till a little before 8:00am when I’ll head off to the village health clinic. At the clinic I mainly just follow around the lead nurse and observe everything he does and sometimes help. The clinic is staffed by a total of three people: the lead nurse, his wife (who is also a nurse) and another man who mainly does the job of a pharmacist but also tends to patients if need be. On the beginning all I was doing was just observing but the lead nurse was excited about teaching me. Nowadays I find myself doing the major part of all pre-natal exams. I’ll take the pregnant lady’s blood pressure, check her eyes and hands for anemia, check for swollen feet, weigh her, measure the size of her belly and listen for the baby’s heartbeat. Haa haa. . . I’ve come a long ways from the strictly theatre that I studied in college.
Yesterday was a national day for Polio prevention in Niger. I gave many kids two drops of medicine to swallow. And the nurse vaccinated those who had never been vaccinated. I thought more people would come to the clinic since the vaccinations and medicine are free to them. There were also teams of nurses that traveled out to more remote villages to administer the medicine. This way they can reach more people. I believe this is an effort that is organized by Rotary International and the United Nations.
At around 1pm I usually head home to prepare lunch which is usually
pasta and tomato sauce or a salad from canned veggies. Post lunch I’ll
do some reading and maybe a nap. Many times some neighborhood kids come
over and we’ll talk or play cards. By 3ish I’m heading back to the
health clinic. In the afternoon we rarely have many people come so I
use the time to study Hausa. The nurses from the health clinic are
always willing to answer questions. The lead nurse also speaks some
broken English, so that’s a big help. I’ll stay at the clinic ‘till
dinnertime, around 7pm. Lately I’ve been eating dinner with the nurse
and his family. At night it becomes hard to cook with only the light
from the oil lamp. Plus, I practice my Hausa eating with them and I get
to enjoy traditional dishes. Which, last night, included more
grasshoppers than I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It started
with the nurse handing me a fistful before dinner as an appetizer.
We’ve only eaten grasshoppers once before and just a few to start the
meal, but today grasshoppers were the appetizer, main dish, salad and
dessert. The nurse’s wife Zeinalou brought out a huge platter full of
grasshoppers with onions. After that it was followed with a salad of
grasshoppers and tomatoes. In the end I was also given a bowl to take
home with grasshoppers for dessert. Hee hee. . . it’s a good thing that
I enjoy eating grasshopper. They sort of taste like really strong
barbecue flavored potato chips and they are really crunchy, as you
would expect grasshopper to be. ‘Till now that has been the strangest
thing I’ve eaten. Post dinner I’ll stick around and we’ll talk a little bit. By 8:30 I’m usually heading home. In Nigerian culture, greetings are a huge part of daily life. Almost anyone I encounter on my walks to and from the health clinic I need to greet profusely. This adds about 15 minutes to my walk as I stop and greet anyone who is out and about. At nighttime I might play some games with the kids out in the school courtyard or play cards with some of my neighbors. 10:00pm is usually my bedtime and I might do some reading or writing in my journal before I fall asleep. Well, there you have it, my typical days in Gafati. As I continue to learn the language I will probably get more involved with health related stuff. By possibly taking a more active role with the NGOs and also doing some basic ??? (illegible word) on good hygiene practices and teaching the women how to make home remedies for common health problems, like diarrhea and conjunctivitis . I’m also interested in having deeper discussions with the villagers about what they feel are the biggest problems that need to be addressed. Well, that wraps it up for this update. I’ll be sending another letter next week with more about my life here. Let me know if you guys have any specific questions that I can try to answer. Okay, take care everyone!
-D.
