Life in the Bush- Peace Corps Niger: Evacuation, COS, and Lessons of Peace Corps Niger

And two months later she finally writes again... I'll start where I left off, and probably break this into two posts (there's a lot to say)

Funny how you can have the next year of your life planned only to have it erased with one phone call. I think it was the 15th of January, at the ostrich site- it had been an increadibly productive morning and one of the first few days I really felt confident and successful at my new job; around noon I get a call from our safety and security director. 'Due to the latest kidnapping in Niamey, Peace Corps has decided that the volunteers safety is at risk and that we will be evacuating from the country as soon as possible.' Ok, so the statement he actually read to me lasted probably 10 minutes, but as I got off the phone, Im not sure I could have told you 10 words of it, only a numbness and the thought 'I'm leaving'.

That was the beginning. Note that this is evacuation number two for me, number one being a little over a year ago from the Tahoua region- and I would like to say that I took it a lot better the second time around (less tears). The message did however include 'drop what you are doing and go home and pack immediately', yet I sat teary-eyed with the ostriches for about 2 hours, then pulled it together, and sat for another hour with Abdou, Abdoulai, and their families (the site workers) and broke the news to them.

The next few days are a blur of packing, traveling in to Zinder with one of my pcv neighbors by riding in the sarki's car to the village on the main road, taking one of the worst bush taxi's I've ever had in my 28 months in country (just how many times did they take that car apart during the 6 hours of travel time?!) Though, it was hillarious that we had a 'personal guard' for the trip. Followed by a bus to Maradi, a bus to Niamey, 3 grueling hours that same evening at the Peace Corps bureau clearing all our accounts and what not, and finally, on a plane late that night to Casablanca, Morocco.

Evacuation Conference, Rabat, Morocco.

I'm not sure how many of us entered that conference thinking we were going to directly transfer to another country, but far more than actually did. We spent roughly a week looking over our options- to tranfer to another country (should there be an opening), re-enrolling, or COS. I was pretty determined at first to continue through a direct transfer, and was offered a position in Lesotho working at an Orphanage, but after some serious thought, I turned it down realizing it really wasn't what I wanted to do- I was just scared to move on without a plan. Much of the conference was how to deal with life after Peace Corps, i.e., how to write your resume, how to interview for jobs, and how to answer those dreaded 'return home' questions. After this emotionally draining week, I officially COSed (Completion Of Service) on January 21st, 2011. I feel good about my decision, and looking back on my service, I have no complaints.

So, what have I been doing between January 21st and now? I'll save that for the next post.

As the Last 'Peace Corps Niger' post, it's hard to summ up the past 2 and a half years of my life. How do you explain an experience that has completely changed me? So instead, here are a few things life in Niger taught me.

1) PATIENCE. Every day for two years, 'sai hunkuri' ('until patience'). Nearly every aspect about life in Niger demands patience- the language, the heat, the chariot spider... and waiting 4 hours for a bus that you, a large crowd, and a variety of livestock, wait for and then takes another 4 hours to get 40 K, is ok.

2) People are so friendly, and mean well. (even the ones that ask you to marry them in that pompus attitude) Everyone everywhere was happy to help me get where I was going, to invite me to dinner, to have me take their baby to America...

3) Eat what youre given. Stewed leaves, raw locusts, strange nuts found on that hill, sead pods, or that unidentifiable 'bush meat' that could be anything from a hedgehog to the neighbor's cat- Sometimes thats all they have, and they still were eager to share it with me.

4) Maggi makes anything taste good. (Even raw locust.)

5) How to drive a donkey cart: use a stick. Some of my favorite times in Niger were just riding the ostrich site's donkey with the cart attached, hauling millet stock from the field to the pens...

6) Everything is relative: hot vrs. cold, clean vrs. dirty... oh, and in the bush, hair-washing is a bi weekly activity.

7) To sleep almost anywhere. 130 degrees and packed in a bush taxi? No problem. A nap on the tile floor during hot season? Definately.

8) The art and joy of eating with hands. Trust me, it takes a little practice to be able to get it from the tray to your mouth without losing half of it on the way, but, food tastes better if you eat it with your hands.

9) To hand-wash clothes. I can get them cleaner than that washer machine.

10) Not to forget all the many lessons of the Zoo! How to raise a baby hippo, how to catch an ostrich, how to NOT catch a baboon, how to yell at kids in 4 languages, traditional medicines and what they're used for, and how to safely feed lions at the Niger Musee zoo (trust me... it's not the same as anywhere else.)

11) Lastly, that very few people in the world get the chance to have the experience that I did; my memories are hard to explain and my feelings of Niger and the Nigerien people are hard to convey. Peace Corps was the best decision I ever made for myself, and just as Peace Corps describes it, "the hardest job you'll ever love."

Working to set up millet stock screens on the ostrich breeding pens