10/24/09

Today we moved in with our host families after a day of language and culture debriefing at the training site. I was placed in a Hausa family in Hamdallaye with another fellow trainee. We are both vegetarian and the host family was notified that we don’t eat meat, so it’s not as much of an issue as I thought it would be. As we walked out of the training site to our home-stays down the hill, we got our first look at the village of Hamdy. Some of the houses were very nice, but others were somewhat dilapidated, and it was also sad to see all the trash scattered along the side of the road and next to the houses. Even in a village that has a large market every Tuesday and that steadily reaps economic benefits from Peace Corps training activities, one can still see the mark of Niger’s rampant poverty here. Vegetables are not readily available here, so it’s rice and sauce or rice and beans for pretty much every meal. Some of the children walk around with signs of kwashiorkor. Most families do not have electricity and no one has running water, although I was surprised that some do have TVs here. It is a strange and disorienting feeling to walk over to the neighbor’s house where some fellow trainees are staying to watch a Brazilian soap opera dubbed over in French while sitting outside on a mat under the stars with goats bleating in the background.
My host family has been really great so far. We live with an older woman and three of her grandchildren (she has 20 grandchildren in total!). My Nigerien name is Sharifa, after the 10 year old girl in our family. She is really fun to talk to, and has been teaching me the numbers and body parts in Hausa. The other granddaughter and grandson are both in their late teens and also speak French, so they are really helpful to have around when I have no idea what is going on. I can’t wait until I learn more Hausa so I can interact more easily with everyone!