The REAL Beginning

Celebrating Christmas in Niger was a little weird, I’ll be honest.

We began the week with the Supervisor’s Conference, a two day affair in which a significant Nigerien member of every new post came to our training site to debate cultural barriers and common expectations. To relive this experience, you should think of angry gesturing, much shouting, awkward interactions in Zarma and few accomplishments. I did meet a staff member of the clinic where I’ll be working, but instead of making a productive work schedule, she asked me questions about America. I don’t know about America! I’m in Niger!

After two days of the stress of hosting and interacting with our Nigerien counterparts, we said goodbye to them and hello to bureaucratic nightmare. Mounds of paperwork, rules, regulations, and logistics followed us well into Christmas Eve.  And then, without the usual buildup or Hallmark advertisements, surrounded by hundreds of Muslims, Peace Corps Niger celebrated Christmas.

There wasn’t a lot of energy (physical or mental) to spare for the holidays as our training came to a rapid close. We spent days preparing for our final language test, and after I’d explained why I wanted to do Peace Corps for the eight hundredth time (but first in Zarma) we moved on to our swear-in ceremony at the U.S Embassy.  The Ambassador was on crutches and thus waved at us from the balcony of her expansive residence instead of attending the talks. The ceremony itself was quick and painless – we heard representatives from the US and Nigerien governments as well as the Peace Corps Country director, fumbled through our oath of service in English and then in French, and without any further fuss were declared official volunteers.  I drank about seven sodas (they were free!) and felt rather ill later on, but it was worth it.

As we enter the New Year, there are many changes coming up for me and for many of you. I think it’s appropriate to cite some resolutions that will later be discarded, as such things usually are.

1.)    Kala suru. (have patience…)

2.)    Kala suru (have patience…)

3.)    Kala suru (have patience…)

That’s it!

I’m not sure who is reading this blog, but for those of you who know me well, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see how patient I’ve become. I sometimes feel strangled by American concepts of punctuality and productivity, as such things in Niger simply operate differently and I've yet to shed what has been wired into me. Patience is required in abundance. The other personality trait that is a saving grace in Niger is a sense of humor, which I have thankfully been blessed with. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated by hordes of children yelling “Hello stranger! What is your name! What is your name!” we reply “My name is towel.  My name is soap. My name is poopface.” We laugh as children repeat the names, then forget and ask again the next day.

Small successes also need to be rewarded, something I’ve fallen out of habit with. For example, I wanted a dress to be made for our swear-in ceremony. I negotiated for fabric in the market, brought it to the tailor, explained what I wanted and paid a bargain price. I felt pretty darn proud of myself until I picked up the dress and realized it had so much excess fabric around the waist it would be been better as maternity clothing. Not all women in Niger are pregnant! Oh well, you can’t win them all. I wore it anyways.

I am currently sitting in the Dosso region hostel, waiting until tomorrow when I’ll be officially installed into my village. Installation is a logistical nightmare for Peace Corps, for two reasons: first, we are required to perform all sorts of meaningless protocol i.e. meeting with the Governor, the Chief of Police, the Prefet, the Sultan, and not just of Dosso proper but of our individual smaller regions as well. I’ve had to sit through several meetings in French, nod prettily and smile as if I had any idea what was being said to me. I’d better get used to that, I suppose.

Secondly, fifteen people need to be installed in the time period between this Monday and Thursday, for Niger holds its first democratic elections on Friday and we are not allowed to leave our posts for safety issues. Third world elections are always a tricky business.  Installations consist of loading two years’ worth of luggage, furniture, housewares and storage onto one small car, driving it up to 5 hours, unloading, and holding a small town meeting to announce our arrival. To accomplish this for fifteen people in the span of four days seems near impossible, but they’ve made it work so far. Inshallah I will be moving tomorrow and my next blog will describe my first (and hardest) month at post.

Happy New Year – and so it begins!

Phoebe