Thursday, January 19, 2006

Back to the beat


From my last Niger field visit

I last wrote about leaving Diffa, something I managed to successfully do—even after looking at (and, gasp, filming) the horse. My last month in Niger was a blur of activity, right up until the moment of boarding the plane to Paris. I scored a side-contract with the Peace Corps to facilitate a close of service conference for a group of volunteers at Park W. The sessions went well and were fun, and the volunteers seemed to really appreciate my experiences and perspective. I didn’t tell them that if they end up being like me that 8 years from now they’ll be hard-pressed to remember anything they heard during the conference. The safaris failed to produce sightings of any sexy mega-fauna; in November animals can still find plenty of water off the beaten paths. We partied hard with some Gourmanché dancers, who after getting hepped up on the local millet-beer brew-choukou-shook their groove-thang until midnight. The dancers weren’t the only ones to partake of an adult beverage: Here’s a shot of me and some drunken hotel staff.


Everybody's feeling just fine!

After the conference, I put back on my CARE hat and headed back out into the field for one last campaign. This time I was going back to my old stomping grounds, Konni, (west side, ah-yeah!) to visit a village where a CARE project is working to help prevent moderately malnourished kids from becoming severely malnourished. The visit was positive and I think I’ll post my human-interest story later that describes what I saw. Thankfully, I had enough time in Konni to travel out to Kristen’s old Peace Corps village and greet the folks there. And, by some fluke of topography and technology, there is one spot on the outskirts of town by a big Neem tree where you can get cell coverage. So one night, with a small group of Kristen’s old buddies, we placed a call to Madagascar, and visited with Kristen. Once back in Niamey, there was no shortage of things to do, which kept me busy right up until the end.

Also on the plane with me were other foreigners who were returning to the west after having helped with the crisis in some way. Unintentionally eavesdropping on conversations, I listened as some tried to process the experience of being in Niger and of living and working with Nigeriens. They struggled to articulate their feelings about how their experience had done more to change them than to impart any lasting influence on the Nigerien population. I smiled inwardly, as I listened to a familiar debate and mused over the power that Niger seems to hold over its visitors.

I returned to Madagascar almost exactly three months after having left. And, after a month-long period over the holidays traveling about, I’m back where I started. At first it was difficult going from a charged environment, full of pressure and deadlines to one without, but I’m back in the swing of things and the cadence, in absence of anything else, suits me fine.

I’m trying to implement a New Year’s resolution to be a better blogger, although with one month already burned in 2006, things aren’t looking so good...

Thanks to all who made frequent visits to the blog and who sent words of encouragement. It meant a lot. Stay tuned for more posts.