For Real This Time

No website glitches, I've talked to a real person who oversees the funding process and my project is now FULLY FUNDED and I should have a check in about three weeks (As the money works its way through the maze of Peace Corps Headquarters in DC). I'm in Niamey right now, in transit to Gaya tomorrow, and using my time here get quotes from book stores and confirm they can get their hands on 900 books.

It's definitely a relief to know that the US side of the money is no longer a question, now if I could just get my students to bring in their contribution (like 75 cents a piece), but that's always a factor of parents seeing the money as a waste because it's for school or as a benefit because it's for school. Too much of the old, "What's school good for?" mentality hangs around with the older people. That's changing though and this donation should help to motivate even more young people to continue their education and to think it important to education their own children.

Paris for the holidays was great. Cold, but nice to be cold really after two years of HOT.

Though it's late, in celebration of being back in Africa, here's a quick pictorial rundown of my Tabaski (Eid in Arabic), the Muslim feast in memory of when Abraham (Ibrahim) was going to sacrifice his son because God told him to and then God stayed his hand at the last moment, proving Abraham(Ibrahim)'s devotion. To celebrate Muslims kill and feast on sheep (in place of Abraham's son). It's a straight up story from the bible. And I bet some of you never knew that Islam and Christianity had so much in common. This year, the celebration fell on the 10 of December.

Anyway, on a more worldly level, it's always an interesting process for me here to see food go from "baaa!!!" to "yum" in just a few short hours. Last year's thanksgiving turkey for example, but this year I bought a goat, name of Billy, and we had him for Tabaski (And for days afterward as well, sheep meat makes good sandwiches). Due to the graphic nature, viewer discretion is advised.


Meet Billy, he's your average male goat of indetermiable age. I bought him for 20000CFA, or 40 bucks.


Don't look Billy!!! (You're next)


Goodbye, God Bless, Irikoy ma Halesi, Asalam Alaykum....


A small cut, and air blown into it, helps to seperate the skin from the muscles


Then the skin's taken off and can become a prayer rug if it's in good shape


Then the insides are taken out. But don't worry, we'll eat this too!


Yum! Guts, Liver, Lungs, and Heart, my favorites!



Billy gets himself stretched and ready for cooking


Head and hoofs.... which will ALSO be eaten, but are cooked directly in the flame for that charred flavor.


At this point Billy started to smell really good. I was getting hungry!


And, after two hours of cooking, we're ready to eat!

Family Album (though since I'm terrible at names and only know two of them I won't try, but these are my buddy Ousmanne's kids)










Ousmanne and his lizard he's fattening up (to, ofcourse, eat)


Well that's about it for now. Off to see some people about some books.

Oh, and I added more christmas pictures to my Picasa page if you're interested.

Merry Christmas!!

Was nice to use Skype to chat with family for christmas. Missing the white christmas there makes me sad and long to see snow. It's been 2 years!!!!! What I wouldn't give to go snowboarding.

Also have been pestering people on facebook (in a nice way) to donate to my book project. Almost there, only $1000 left and 4 days to go! If you are still thinking about donating please do so sooner than later, would like to see that total down to 0 before the 1st.


Thanks to all of you who have already donated and I wish you the best of new years wishes!!

Also wanted to post some of my favorite pictures of the last couple days:

Peace Corps Website ERROR

Earlier today the Peace Corps website told me that my project was fully funded. That was an error. There is still around $1600 left to be raised. But we've definately been making a dent in the total. Thanks for all the help thus far and lend me your thoughts, hopes, and prayers to get the rest of this money in. Thanks!!!!

FULLY FUNDED!!!

Wednessday the remaining balance on my project was $3689. Friday it had dropped to $1689. And now, Sunday, it has dropped to $0. We raised almost $4000 in a week. Thank you all for donating!

I want to especially thank my family; parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles for starting this ball rolling way back in the early fall. Thanks to the Snohomish Lions club. Thanks to friends who donated and facebook for facilitating that. Thanks to Om Musa for posting the project on his website about all things Nigerien. $4000 in a week is pretty impressive and I'm amazed to see that come in. I think a lot of that can be credited to the American sense of good will that manifests itself around christmas time. Wonder if Santa Claus donated anything....

So, my dad asked for some pictures of our place here in Paris. Here's the website I found it on originally, which has photos, floor plan, and map of the area.

Will have more pictures and stuff to say about Paris as soon as we actually get out some more.

a Return, a Conference, a Bike Ride, and an Exit

So I haven't been exactly on top of uploading this blog... surprise anybody? Didn't think so. BUT, it has been a very active last two months. Last time I wrote I was taking a little airline inflicted sabatical near the Charles De Gaule airport in Paris and now I find myself back in Paris to pass the Christmas vacation with Kelsey. Funny how life runs in little circles.


So what is it that has been keeping me busy these last two months? Well let me tell you:

First, I came back to finish the preparations and hold the student government conference I had been working on for almost a year. After writing the grant in February I finally, after many set backs, found funding through the American Cultural Center. Problem was they couldn't fund MY project, only a project put on by a local group, so I teamed up with my inspection in Gaya and used their name heavily. Made it an issue when I finally received the check for 3,000,000 CFA made out to the inspection so had to scrabble around to find out the correct way to get authority to cash it. That hurdle done, we prepared for the start of the conference.

Things were going fine until the second night as I was going to be I had a sudden feeling of dread thinking back to a conversation I had had with my 'supervisor' at the Peace Corps over the hotel rooms we would rent for participants. Somehow, two months after this conversation, I suddenly knew we had miscommunicated on hotel room prices. She meant 13000CFA a night PER PERSON and I meant PER ROOM.Straight away next morning I went to her to ask about it and sure enough, I had mis-budgeted the hotel rooms by HALF!!! Instead of the 800,000 I was to pay I had to find 1,600,000 with a budget already a third spent. Holy Sh!t, I thought, I'm gonna have to end up paying this myslef. Well, after a little skimming from budgeted areas here and there, cutting out a planned school visit, and asking the 10 volunteers to give up their transport re-imbursement we cut the gap to 3000CFA and I was glad to cover that amount just to have the disater behind me.

All and all the conference went well and other volunteers have since held their elections or are planning them. Their Nigerien counterparts are now excited and informed about student governments and I hope that this means that soon students in Niger will have a bigger role and voice in their own education.
As far as my own elections, they're scheduled for January. Incha Allah.

Second item that I had one the plate was the 2008 AIDS Bike Ride out in the far East of Niger. The bike ride is a yearly tradition organized and paid for by volunteers. We pick a region, usually along a 150km route, and then hope on bikes and ride from village to village informing people about AIDS, how it's caused, and how they can protect themselves. It's a good time as many of the villages are small and to have 30 white people roll up on bikes and start dancing around (we have a stereo mounted on a land cruiser to announce our presence and get the party started) creates quite a stir from the usual sleepy village life. It's also a different experience for me since we really get out into the bush, away from all creature comforts, even the limited ones you have in a place like Gaya. Bucket baths were not a daily occurence, but more like an every other day thing so we were pretty dirty, hot, and sweaty, but [most people] were having a good time.
Being out in Zinder toward the far end of Niger I was deep into Hausa Land and my Zarma was almost completely useless. Well at least I learned a little Hausa, but not enough to feel confident at all.
We hit something like 17 villages in five days and hopefully made an impression and taught some people about the dangers of AIDS in an area where men will usually go on 'exode' to find work in Nigeria or Benin, often consorting with a prostitute or two on pay day, before sending money back home. It's an important message to get out in a place where people are all too woefully un-aware and un-educated. It's a miracle Niger has been realitvely untouched by the AIDS crisis in Africa.

The only other 'work' thing I have been up to is starting to collect the money for the text book project I'm running. Which, by the way, I have a deadline for donations (imposed by a impatient Peace Corps headquarters). I have to have all my donations by January 1st. So PLEASE, this is the season of giving. I ask you all to donate 10 dollars to purchase a book for a student in Gaya as a way of spreading the good faith and will towards men to those who could really use it. Thank you to all the people who have already donated, we've raised $3000 so far, but the remains another $3000. Whatever I bring in will be used to buy books, even if the full goal is not met. And actually at the moment a strong dollar is helping me get closer to the total goal, but there remains a big gap. I'm gonna make an appeal on Facebook, but please pass the word on to your friends, families, wealthy employers, etc. Thanks!!


So now I'm back in Paris. Still 'working' by blogging about Niger and appealing for donations, but really, just enjoying being with my Kelsey and eating good food. Sure, I'm FREEZING though. It's a little colder than the 100 degree temperatures I left in Niger.

We rented an apartment in the Montmarte neighborhood of Paris, up a little north of Sacre Coeur. It's a nice place, just the right size for two people, on a quiet street, but close to pretty much anything you could want. We haven't gone to see the 'sights' yet, as we've both done the eiffel tower, the louvre and such, instead we've devoted the last couple days to exploring the neighborhood a little bit, cooking up good food (eggplant parmasan, yum) in the apartment's kitchen and getting to know each other again.

Still need to pick up a christmas tree though. Will post pictures of Paris in a later post, but wanted to let you all know the new Niger news now and will post a Paris photo piece later. For now, check out my bike ride album on Picasa and the other one on Facebook. Also there's a new album of camping photos on Picasa as well.





Remember my project as you think of your year-end donations and charity! Thanks!

Stuck in Paris with the Naimey blues again

By this time I was supposed to be in Niamey, seeing my buddies, getting back into the African lifestyle. Instead I'm staying in a hotel next to the airport in Paris.

Here's what happened:

Seattle to Cincinnati is fine, Cincinnati to Newark fine, then the problems started. First there was a gate change 30 minutes before we're supposed to start boarding; not a problem. The cabin crew was hanging around just as confused as us when we get to the new gate and there's no plane. So about an hour later, half hour after we're supposed to be taking off we start boarding. Then on board the captain comes on to tell us they're still loading bags. I look outside, being over the baggage hatch and see them UNloading bags. Turns out that they had already loaded THIS plane with bags and our bags were still on the OLD plane sitting at the original gate. So they had to unload both planes, then load up our bags. By the time we got going we were already an hour and a half late. Guess how long my connection time was in Paris? Hour and a half of course.

So I missed my connection. It's too bad because I was supposed to be on the plane with all the new kids coming in for the next wave of volunteers, but on the bright side they're putting me up in a hotel for the next 3 days (yeah 3 days before the next flight to Niamey, not a super popular location I guess). I also get lunch, dinner, breakfast each day. So tomorrow I'll take the opportunity to go see a little bit of the city again. For now, I'm watching a Naked Gun movie in french. OJ Simpson is in it. hahaha, OJ Simpson....

Wanted to thank the Snohomish Lions club for letting me speak to them and they're offering of support for me and my projects. It really is the groups like lions club, rotary, etc who get community action going on so many fronts. Why don't people join them like they used to?

The Good Ol' US of A

So I thought I'd use this trip to the States as 1) reunion with friends and family, 2) shopping trip, 3) chance to update my blog, 4)Massage, pedicure, and acupuncture, and 5) chance to find support (read $$$) for my textbook project. So far, the reunion side of things has taken pretty much all my time.

It has been nice though. I went to my cousin's marriage. Congratulations Kyle!! Check out the pictures. I had a chance to see my friends in Seattle, some of whom, I haven't seen in almost two years (Will and Kaylen in particular for MORE than two years). Where does the time go? I guess it really does start to run away from you as you get older.

And speaking of, am I starting the downward slide in age when I drive through Seattle's U-district and see a group of what look like seventh graders trooping across the road, only to realize they're freshmen? 'Wow, did we ever look that young?' I asked. My buddy said, 'Yes we did, and really, you still do.' What else are friends for?

Going back to my USA goals, #2 - I've had almost zero chance to shop. #4 - I've not gone for a massage or pedicure, but I do have an acupuncture appointment tomorrow night in Seattle for some headaches I've been experiencing. Since my last post was while I was still in Niamey, I've obviously failed in #3, and, as for #5, I haven't drumed up a single dollar for my textbooks yet, but this particular goal I'm gonna put some more effort into before I leave (This one and #2, shopping... have to enjoy this consumer experience while I can). I'm drawing up flyers to pass out, maybe even just on the street in Seattle. Check one out, print it off and hand it out to people who could help me out. Note that it's a jpeg because I couldn't get google documents to share PDFs, but it should still work.

So the reason I'm getting a little concerned about this project is that Peace Corps Washington, the headquarters that is, has emailed me, concerned that I will not acheive full funding for this project and they want me to scale it back. I don't want to scale it back; even as it is now, the books are still being shared, anything less will still be great and all, but it won't be an optimal result. I've been given a reprieve until the 1st of January to drum up the donations. It should be noted that Peace Corps doesn't fund these projects, volunteers are responsible for finding their own. If it seems to you that this can be a little harmful to the impact volunteers can have in the field, I would full-heartedly agree, but then we need to get PC more funding and alter it's structure to be more supportive of volunteers. I could talk a lot about that, maybe in a future post.

Today, however, I wanted to run down the details of this project real quick for those who may be interested: I'm working with my local school administrations to supply English textbooks at the middle school level. It would cover the two public middle schools for my town, approximately 900 books would be given for the use of 1600 students. The idea is to have them for in class work and then work after school or in our community library, but that the books would not be taken by the children as a way of ensuring they survive a longer time. Each child in each class would have a book to read from while in class. Simple idea, but requires $ to do it and so I'm at the whims of economics in the US it appears. However, your donation is TAX DEDUCTIBLE, so what do you have to lose by sending $30 or $40 and helping 3 or 4 children learn english?

But other than being worried about your project, you may ask, how was it coming back to the US?

Well, it's a trip. I can't believe all the STUFF that you can buy here. We really are quite the consumer culture. I just sat and laughed at the meat wall in QFC the other day. There was more meat on that one wall than in all of niamey, and it was all GOOD cuts, not the fat and bone I'm used to eating. I almost started crying walking through the mall when I began to think that the amount of commerce JUST in that one mall was enormous compared to what I see in Niger, not even playing the same ball game.

I'll be getting more to that in my next post, when I've had some time to digest this trip and all. (As well as the food... I've put on 10 pounds or so in a week and a half. We eat REALLY well here, no wonder I see fat kids again. They don't exist in Niger)

This is long enough to have driven some people away for sure, so last things: Couple of more albums added to Picasa: GAD stuff (GAD is a volunteer funded source of project financing, by us and for us, so it's a small amount of money) and some basketball pictures.

Thanks to all my friends for taking me out and about in Seattle this weekend. I know I just blew in and out, but it was great to see you all.