Changes

This blog is a combination of events over the last few months .. starting with the going away party on July 7th ... Below is Bri and Katie on one last drive before both headed to Africa.

There were some pictures at the airport, but they were taken on Brian's camera and I'm still waiting for them.

For 2 months, Brian was in training learning the language, customs and how to not get malaria. Here he's studying? Nice waterfront property! Hmmm, maybe that's where he's going to use the 1 man rubber raft he won in the auction to benefit education for girls.

And on Sept 10th, Brian was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, wearing a customary Niger-ien style outfit. He said that during the swearing in, while they all had their right hands up, a bee kept swarming around his face so close he had to start swatting at it, and ended up making a scene until finally the bee got the best of him and stung him on top of his head! I'm hoping someone got some video footage of that.

In our last conversations, Bri had just arrived in his new place  and is enjoying some foods other than millet. He's the only PCV in the area and will again start to meet new people and now learn the local language - zarma. It'll be another month, mid-October, before school opens as this is their rainy season which means everyone is busy with growing and harvesting and the children all help out. There seems to be a lot of "down time" for him, so he'll be looking to keep himself busy and start meeting neighbors and get acquainted with the area.

Visit

Brian visited his new place for a week which is where he'll be for the next 2 years. It is a larger area and is nothing like the desert area he had been in. It's lush and much more up to date.

His new living place will be a 4 room concrete house. It's already furnished by a previous PCV and there is electricity and water. He has an oven/stove, there are ceiling fans in the house, a bathroom with shower and even a front porch to sit out. There's also a fence around his concession with a gate. So different from his training area. He is blessed!

Outside is a garden growing with corn, basil, green beans and aloe. He spent part of a day weeding and is excited about eating all these foods again. He also has a papaya and banana tree.

The school district he'll be working in has elementary, middle school, high school, trade/tech and private schooling. There are even computer labs which he's excited to work on.

One of the PC's took him to the local market area and there he bought coconuts, sugar cane, papaya and bananas. He'll also have access to vegetables, fish, tofu, meat and fried cheese. He'll have his own post lock box and can get his mail easily, and a bank he'll open an account. There's an internet cafe which he can access for 75 cents per hour!

As you might guess, he's looking forward to his new home.

Internet & Email

Photo: Brian (far right, seated) in a PC classroom.

The following is an email Brian was able to send out - yeah!

Its aug 27th and its my first internet time... the keyboard is in french and all the letters are mixed around.

Im about done with my livein week - a taste of what my new post is going to be like.... i have the best place in all of niger!

i basically live in a mansion with electricity, a water spicket in my yard, a garden with corn, papayas and a BANANA tree!!!! I also have a shower which is amazing - no more bucket baths!!

ps: Brian has a new mailing address (see right side for address)

A special visit was made by another PCV (Jessica) and her parents (Kerry & John) who stopped to encourage this group in their adventure. Kerry passed out some hugs from moms - here's one to Brian.

Hanging Around

Planting Trees

Family

1. Me and my dad 2. My Family 3 & 4 - My best buddy

Home Sweet Home

My home consists of a hut made of mud, mostly to go in when the rain and winds come. Otherwise I sleep outside under the stars (under the mosquito net).

Going to *******

Brian will be finishing up his training in a few weeks and then he'll be going to his post on Sept 12th for the next 2 years. He'll be in ********* part of Niger. He'll be going there to visit in a week, for a week, and is excited about having water, electricity, probably internet access.  There'll be trees and vegetables and he's hoping to see giraffes.

When asked about side effects of the Malaria pills, he said he's had some pretty wild and crazy dreams, all funny. Some of the volunteers dreams have not been as amusing as they've fought bears and such.

Since his mail wont change for another month, he asked everyone to keep writing to the same address. He finally received the 2 packages I sent to him and especially enjoyed the sports pages which got shared with all the guys.

Loving it in Niger

Brian called and said he loves it in Niger and is having a great time! Training is going well, it's only a 2 minute walk from "home" to training. Being the first time I've had opportunity to speak to him, I had lots of questions. Here are some things he shared with me:

Bus trip - cheap - only 50 cents american money for a 1 hour bus trip; but i guess you get what you pay for as the bus trip not only took people on board, but also goats and people carrying their chickens, holding them upside down by their feet. Maybe next time he'll pay for the upgrade - lol.

Weekend Getaway- a group of them went to an americanized recreational area and enjoyed swimming, eating nachos and drinking milk shakes (not made of millet!). YUM.

Family - Brian is enjoying his host family who he's been with for almost a month now. They treat him great. Oh, and one of their lambs just had a couple cute baby lambs.

Health - he's doing well, except for that bout of violent vomiting where he needed medicine - after a couple days the nausea and tiredness ceased. All is well again.

Food: "millet jello" is what he called his nightly dinner - I hear he's lost weight. A couple times he's had some mashed potatos or pasta at lunch. I asked if he wanted me to send dried veggies & fruit and that sounded really good to him.

Weather: It's hotter and more humid than at home, but he usually can find shade during the day.

Language: he's continuing to learn french, and will start on his Zarma soon.

Other: at market, he found cheese and crackers and ate the whole thing in one sitting - mmm, mmm, good!

The local bar soap is very harsh and irritates his skin. He was thankful that Katelyn offered him some of her soap.

Will and Brian set up a hammock and enjoy resting on weekends with friends.

Home Sweet Home

Brian sent this drawing and description of his living quarters. Click on it to enlarge.

Received first mail from Brian - dated 7/12/09

How exciting to finally hear from Brian ... here's what he has shared:

Bri started by letting me know he's healthy and happy (not to worry about him). His time in Philly was basic information (important) and he enjoyed meeting the other 31 volunteers going to Niger - 9 guys and 23 girls. They were given a substantial amount of cash to cover eating and traveling expenses from Philly to Niger and Bri enjoyed a fine salmon dinner before leaving on his trip.

The flight to Niamey was long but he was able to sleep on the trip. The plane had a camera on the bottom which displayed on the TV at their seat so he was able to view Niger as they flew in, lots of red sand. Walking off the plane was like walking into an oven of 105 degrees.

The next couple days were filled with info session and language assessments .. and most importantly some head lamp ping pong at night! They enjoyed a big game of volleyball before being sent to their host homes where Bri will stay for the next 9 weeks.

Communication is tough with the language barrier, but he's thankful for the amount of french he does know, allowing him to communicate basic needs.

Brian's host family is headed by the father, Amadou, who is 41 and works for the natural preservation department, and is always reading about fish (but where is the water they live in?). He lives with Amadou, his 2 wives and 9 children (all under the age of 12). His sister is also staying with them at this time.

Most in Niger live on a staple of millet with various sauces, Bri's first meal was millet and a sauce with lamb, for dessert they had oranges and melons - he is eating very good compared to others. Brian and Amadou eat alone and the wives and children eat separately. Amadou's sheep and goats came stampeding home past them while they were eating dinner.

The next day the young boys took Brian to their hang out place, a dried up riverbed outside of town, where the ground is beachlike rather than hard clay. They wrestled while bypassers were amused seeing a white suburban young man wrestling with a dozen pre-teen Nigerian boys. Brian introduced them to american football which they love.

Bri's host family actually has a TV that gets 3 channels, their favorite show is a Brazilian soap opera dubbed in french, and one night there was american music videos on TV.

The family lives in a rectangular clay/cement building and Bri has his own place which is a small round hut with a thatched roof with it's own bathroom/shower area. The bath area doesn't have a roof but better described as "an enclosure with a poop hole in the center (the large cockroaches hang out at night)". It's a place of privacy to take a bucket bath (pour a cup of water over you and hope you dont run out of water before you rinse off). Since nights are hot and stuffy in his quarters, he's been sleeping out under the stars.

A statement from Brian ..

"Simplicity here is one of my favorite things"

Arrival in Niger

Karen (mom) is posting info from contacts she receives .. this is an email from the Peace Corps Director when the group arrived .. Brian is in the back row, 2nd from right.

Hello all -I am pleased to announce the safe arrival of the Peace Corps Niger July Training Group for the beginning of their training to become Peace Corps Volunteers. Everyone is in good spirits and, as you can see from the attached photo, settling in well to our training site. Last night they experienced their first really big African monsoon storm and they have weathered it well!We are thrilled to have this new set of trainees and look forward to working with them over the next 2 years.

Leaving for Niger

Brian left out of Boston (Logan Airport) on July 7th headed first to Philadelphia for a day then to Niger Africa. His Mom and his girlfriend Katie brought him to the airport and his dad and Wanda met up with us to say goodbye and see him off for 27 months.