 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
CIKIN
DAJI
"Into the
Bush" |
by Brett McNaught
© copyright 2001 Brett McNaught |
|
|
|
Brett’s First Two Weeks in
Niger
Greetings from
the Sahel*!
I am sitting here under an open air patio,
looking out over the valley, and it is absolutely beautiful. There is a nice
gentle breeze that feels like the ocean, and it is probably about 90 degrees. I
am really thinking I will enjoy this.
“The Grand Mosque in Niamey
was funded by Libya a few years ago. We all went to the top for a view of the
city of Niamey.” |
I just got my first round of shots in Niger. I had 3 shots before
I came, and we get 2 or 3 more every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for about 5
more weeks. I don’t mind that, though - it is better than getting
sick.
The people here are cool. Some are
really gung ho, while others are more laid back and just here to help and have
a great experience. The staff is so supportive - they make everyone feel at
ease.
I meet my host family and start language
training tomorrow, and the next day I will go with a Peace Corps Volunteer to
their village for 3 days, to see what to do hands on.
This is going to be great. I will write again really
soon.
Love,
Brett
| * The Sahel is the
desert/savannah directly south of the Saharan Desert. The Sahel comprises the
southern 2/5 of Niger. See map at (About Niger)
for more detail. |
|
1/15/01-1/17/01 |
Near the Border |
|
|
Salaam Allekum!
I am sitting in my bed under the stars and my
mosquito net and loving life. I have spent the last 2 nights in the bush near
the borders of Nigeria and Benin, in a village of about a thousand people. I am
listening to the tape Wes gave me, and it is covering up the sounds of the
goats and chickens that are roaming around.
Brett and Tony in traditional
clothing |
I am with my new friend
Tony, one of the kids in my staging group, and Emily, who is living in this
village for the Peace Corps for the last year. Tony is an African-American from
Massachusetts who went to an all male black college in Atlanta and then got his
Masters at Penn in social and economic policy. He has dreadlocks and is really
laid back. We are just soaking everything in.
This is one of my host mothers (plural - there are 3 of
them) and one of my sisters. |
I was put in with a host
family on Saturday and stayed one night with them. They are from the Hausa
tribe. Hausa is a written language, although it is still pretty basic. My host
father, Maty, is about 60, and he has 3 wives, the most recent being about
18-20 years old. I think he has about 6 or 7 kids, but it is so hard to tell
with the language barrier and all. Maty gave me a Hausa name - Abdul Rachid - so I will be going by this for the next
2 years. I like it!
Maty’s daughter,
who is my age, spent 2 hours on Saturday teaching me the basics of the language
and trying to hook up, but I respectfully declined the latter. We have spent
the last two nights in this village though and it is of Djerma descent, the
other major tribe in Niger. The people are very friendly and love to see us try
to speak their language.
One of
the elders showed me how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together - that
was the experience of a lifetime! We hiked into the bush and climbed a Mesa to
watch a beautiful sunset tonight. There are no longer any predators in the
region, because the villagers have killed them all. It’s too bad, but they
couldn’t survive with the lions killing all their goats and chickens.
I was invited to my first Muslim prayer
session tonight. I told them I was Catholic, but they just wanted me to see
what it was like. The people are just so nice.
 Tony, Emily and I met up with 4 other trainees
and 3 volunteers in Gaya, about 50k (+ 30 miles) from Emily’s
village. We had to hike for 2 hours to get to the first paved road, and from
there we paid a man 500 francs apiece (75¢) to drive us to Gaya. His car
went no faster than 50 kph (+
30 mph), and we ran out of gas twice along the way, which seems to be the norm
around here. Welcome to the 2nd poorest country in the world. (We
were 1st until last year when Sierra Leone took over - something
about civil unrest that hurts an economic structure. Niger didn’t get
better - Sierra Leone got worse.)
Anyway, in
Gaya, we went to the market because Tuesdays are Gaya’s market day. We
were the only white people there - talk about a country with NO tourism
whatsoever. We took a canoe trip on the Niger River to watch the sunset and
went to a bar for some drinks, which made everyone more comfortable and helped
us get to know each other better.
Today we
drove back to the Peace Corps training center in Hamdallaye. Tony and I hiked
into the bush in the afternoon, and we found a desert oasis with all these cool
birds and a bunch of camels. I am sure someone must own them. I guess I can buy
one when I get my assignment in my village. That is probably going to have to
happen - it’s only 100,000 francs, which is like $150 dollars American.
Well worth it for a camel.
I
definitely love this life - so simple, yet so interesting and a constant
learning experience. I feel like I’m dreaming. Speaking of dreaming, these
malaria pills have a cool side effect - vivid dreams! Seriously, though, this
is better than I ever could have imagined - just getting back to the basics of
survival. “Survivor” has nothing on the Peace Corps. Hell - you can
get a prostitute for 500 francs (75¢) or take a bush taxi 300 kilometers
(+ 185 miles) for the same
price. (The prostitute was just an example, Mom!).
On that note, my ramblings are coming to a close. I wish you all
could be a mosquito on my net for this fabulous
adventure.
Love,
Abdul Rachid
(Brett)
| Greetings from the Sahel! |
 It is Sunday, and I just
spent the morning working in the garden, and just got done doing laundry. I had
to have my adoptive family teach me how to do it the best
way.
The weather is excellent for now. I
stress “for now” because hot season will start in the next month or
so, and it will go from 95 degrees to 120.
| Give everyone my love. |
|
 |
Mama-mia, Pops,
Ryan and Jakers:
First of all, the Nigerians
have no grasp whatsoever of having a chien (dog) as a family member. I just
thought of that as I wrote “Jakers.”
I am enjoying myself in Afrique. Slowly but surely picking up
Hausa and French, at least enough to get by for now in our pseudo village of
Hamdallaye.
One of our Nigerian formateurs
(teachers) dressed up like an American. |
Hamdallaye is 2
parts Peace Corps base camp to one part African village. Almost everyone speaks
at least a little French, and even a couple of words of English if you’re
lucky. The actual Peace Corps training center has a ping-pong table and
volleyball court, and the whole center is fenced in. We can buy cokes from the
Aicha (secretary), and Miki has a bar that opens from 5:30 to 6:30 that sells
Biere Niger (ice cold). It is what I would think of as an army base set up
temporarily in a country for support reasons. Outside the safe haven we
actually sleep and eat dinner with a bonafide Hausa family. They have goats and
chickens, and they eat millet virtually 3 times a day 7 days a week. I sure
could use a pizza :-)
 I love it, though, and can’t really think of anything I
don’t like. I can handle the bucket baths and even th 6x6 inch hole in the
ground to do my business. I love sleeping under the stars and learning about
the culture.
I can’t believe it’s
only been a little over 2 weeks here. Boy oh boy I am going to have one hell of
an adventure. Don’t plan on many phone calls or emails. You can barely
find a phone to call the next city over, much less another
country.
I love you all and miss you.
Love,
Abdul
Rachid,
the Peace Corps Volunteer formerly
known as Brett
P.S. If you run into a
lightweight hammock for cheap, could you try to send me one? And please ask
Ryan to make more tapes - I’m going through batteries like crazy to get my
hour of music at night.
A note about Brett’s drawings:
 |
Brett was a
communications major, not an art major. His drawings are included here, not for
the art, but for the information they convey, which was his intent in sketching
them in the first place. We hope you will enjoy them in that
spirit. |
Next installment:
Still in his training period, Brett (Rashid) will learn more
intimately about mud huts, Muslim traditions, heat that is hotter than Arizona,
the Nigerian bush education system, and what it’s like to be
 the only white guy the children have ever seen. He will come to
know precisely what time the goats, chickens and donkeys awaken, and yes, he
will finally learn where his assignment will take him for the rest of his 2
year stay in Niger.
(If you are not already on our mailing list,
and would like to be notified when the next installment is posted,
CLICK
HERE)
|
|
| * Note: All the
contents of this portion of the site are copyrighted by Brett McNaught.
|
|
|
