Training. Eck.

Alright guys, I’m finally ready to start doing some real projects…kind of. I just got back from my In Service Training, where all the volunteers learn how to actually go ahead with projects. I’m so happy to begin more formalized work than our vague assignments of “integration” and “learning Hausa.” Step one is trying to figure out what exactly my community needs; step two is finding people who think my ideas brilliant enough to pay for them. I’ve been out of my village for a month for this training, so it’ll be crazy to go back. I have to get back into my Baraka (that’s my name in Niger) mode and out of my American Kelsey way of living. I’m most nervous about Hausa; hopefully I haven’t forgotten everything I’ve learned thus far. My first project I’ll start up is part of a bigger campaign called Marketing Social. I’ll organize 2 groups of women to listen to a radio broadcast once a week about HIV/AIDS and woman’s rights and lead a discussion group about the issues raised in the radio plays. First I have to find a good Nigerien counterpart to help me because there’s no way I can do it on my own. I also would like to paint a world map, a map of Africa, and a map of Niger on one of the walls of my school. This is a fairly common project among volunteers round these parts. I want to find a way to implement a peer education group to teach about HIV/AIDS and how the surrounding countries affect the AIDS population in Niger. As of now, Niger has a very low population of people living with HIV/AIDS, but it is growing. Part of this is because of men going into other countries to find work, contracting the virus, and coming back to Niger where it spreads. In towns close to boarders like mine, this is especially dangerous. Enter my peer education group and map of Africa. I’d like to find a way to show where AIDS is more prevalent and how it is spreading and teach prevention techniques to High School students before they go off to these surrounding countries to find work. I’m also in the process of planning a tourney with one of my friends in a village close to mine about the importance of family planning. We’ll be traveling around to the villages in the bush on an ox cart performing skits, showing videos, and teaching about why it’s important not to have 10 children when you can’t afford to feed, medicate, and educate them. As of now, these are just ideas that I’ll be sure to keep writing about when they come into fruition. Until then, it’s back to the same old same old of village life in Niger. Lots of reading, trying to talk to all my friends in Hausa, and desperately trying to learn guitar so I can finally claim that I’m a rockstar. Speaking of rockstars, be on the lookout for Ben Ruttenburg, because soon enough the whole world will know what a rockstar he is. Thanks for reading, enjoy British 2009! (Any excuse to speak in a crappy accent, right?)T