project update

thanks dad for the project information. I've been trying to stay in my village recently, hence why there has not been much activity on the blog front. However, the house has been built for the grinder, and it looks like i need around $164 to complete my project, which isn't too much more, considering I started out with close to $2,000 to raise. And the more we talk about the grinder the more excited my village women are becoming. I asked them last night if they would still pound when we install the machine, an they said yes, a little, but not nearly as much as they are now. I saw a women finishing up her pounding at 9 last night, and they were up at 6 starting again. And although my villagers are lucky now just to have something to eat, thinking how easy it is for those of us living in countries where we can just pop some food in the microwave and still complain about inefficiency is somewhat absurd while comparing food preparation in other countries, like Niger. Well, that's enough of a guilt trip for today, all else is going well over here. Only have a few months left, which is crazy to think that i've been here for almost 2 years. It just seems like yesterday i was freaking out at home, getting ready to leave. So, probably by January i'll be back in the good old u.s., we'll see. When the grinder project is done i'll put up some pics, hopefully that's soon.

Liz initiates Grinder project

As you probably know, Liz is posted in a rural village in Niger, one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with over 80% of its territory covered by the Sahara desert. Liz' villagers are subsistence farmers who basically live on the millet they can grow and prepare. The women and girls in her village spend hours each day pounding grain in big wooden bowls with long wooden poles. This is their top priority, since no pounding = no eating. Hours of pounding leaves little time for women to care for their families' health and welfare. It also makes it difficult for girls to go to school. I took this picture when I visited her village this February, and you can see how young these girls are. The poles are bigger than they are!

The women in her village have asked Liz to carry out a project that will change their lives. In response, Liz has organized her villagers to elect a committee to secure land and build a structure to house a gas-powered grain grinder. Once the grinder is installed, the committee will be responsible for collecting fees to operate and maintain the machine. This project will help village women develop organizational and supervisory skills that will elevate their status in the community. And, once they get some relief from the daily grind (literally!), they will have more control over their lives and more time to devote to improving the lives of their families.

In order to buy the machine, Liz needs to raise about $1900 from family and friends. As of this writing she still has about $1300 to go. The easiest way to contribute is to go to www.peacecorps.gov/contribute and select her project either by Project Number 683-164, or by her last name, Leemon. Liz hopes you'll take advantage of this opportunity to make a real impact (no pun intended) on the daily lives of those in her community. Thanks for your support.

I visited Liz in Niger, and took a lot of pictures

This is Liz' dad again. In February I finally took the plunge and visited Liz in Niger. Travel options were limited, but fortunately Air France flies from Paris directly to Niamey, the capital of Niger, four times a week.

I'll be editing this post to include more details of the trip soon, but for now, I just wanted to let you know where you can see pictures from my trip. I took over 400 photos, so for now I've just posted pictures from the first two days of my trip, when I stayed with Liz in her village. You can find these on my Photobucket picture pages. Here's a link to the Slideshow view, which is the easiest way to browse through the pictures. Since I've written up some long descriptions, you may want to change the speed to SLOW using the controls at the bottom of the page, or just hit the Pause button at the bottom left and advance each picture manually, either by clicking on the picture or the right-facing triangle to the right of the picture. Most of the photos I have uploaded are larger than screen size, so if you want to zoom in on the pictures to get more detail, you can use the Album View and advance each picture by clicking on the rightmost thumbnail in the filmstrip at the top right of the page. When you click on a picture in this view, it zooms in to full size and lets you scroll around to see the details

1 year!!!

so it's been one year here, and i can't believe how fast the time has been going by. Right now i'm working on a bunch of projects. This weekend we're having a conference for the young girl's scholarship program, which gives money to girl's going into middle school, since some have to move away from their homes and live with other families in a new city. Then after that, next week my friend and i organized a boat trip stopping at numerous volunteer villages talking about AIDS awareness. Then my dad is coming the next week and we'll be going to my village and the national park, followed by a nice, relaxing week in europe. Last week I also had the privilege of watching the inauguration on t.v. in the capital city, which was really cool, and i felt part of something bigger. Especially when Obama mentioned something about developing countries and the responsibility of America to help those who need it.
Everyone in Niger it seems is just as excited about Obama as I am, and it really makes it easier being abroad here, especially travelling around.
Also in better news i haven't gotten sick in awhile, which i'm very happy about, and my villagers finally finished the improved cookstoves we started so long ago. I'll also be starting up a tree nursery with the local school, and working on getting a grain grinding machine put in my village as well. Lots of stuff happening lately, and I'm coming home in May!!! more to come on that later