Moringa Money Call!

Greetings again from Niamey!

Having sufficiently recovered from that nutty trip to the Gerewol, I am set to head back to the bush tomorrow with a brick of cash for the cereal bank... don't tell anyone on the bush taxi with me. They're all convinced my bags are stuffed with cash anyway. Markets here don't take plastic, so I have to bring the cash back, in small bills, on my person. I've done this before. Not my favorite thing.

I've been out of the village for what seems like forever now (trainer training, Gerewol trip, now this!). Last night I called Maimouna and asked her to pass on congratulations to my neighbor Saouda, who gave birth to a baby boy last week. I'm so upset I missed the naming ceremony yesterday. I got so antsy to go back to my mud house and my friends that I'm downright panicked anticipating what I'm going to feel like leaving them for good in a couple short months. Yikes... sad... not going to think about it.

But hey! Good news! We know how YOU fine people can donate to the Moringa project, meant to improve the nutrition of thousands of children in southern Niger. Thanks to the generous efforts of the South Whidbey Rotary Club, along with several other clubs in Rotary District 5050, and, of course, our local club here, we have a fundraising goal of $4,000 by Thanksgiving. This should allow Peace Corps Volunteers in at least four villages to get big plantations started in March 2009.

So - for anyone who missed donating to the cereal bank, or to the milllet grinder, or to both - this is your last chance to donate to one of my projects (because I'm coming back soon!). Here's how:

- Make out a check to the "South Whidbey Rotary Club Foundation" with "Moringa Project" in the Memo line
- Mail to:
Catherine Scherer
2280 Whidbey Shores Rd.
Langley, WA 98260

Donations are tax-deductible and Cathy will be keeping track of all the accounting. You'll be sent a letter before tax time attesting to your contribution. Checks should have your name and current address printed on them or included in a cover letter.

Phew!

Tomorrow Kate and I will record two shows in Tillaberi, along with new volunteer Aisha (her name since Amerika - her parents were PCVs in Chad and Burkina - Tamtalans were pretty excited about that). Kate and I, after more than 50 radio shows, are looking forward to NOT writing a script every week! In Tillaberi I'll buy Saouda's little boy a little boy outfit wrapped in crappy Nigerian plastic, and I'll get her some soap, because that's what you do.

Wednesday I finally get to be home, isha'allah. I finished my bean harvest before I left, making edamame three nights in a row: delicious! The women in my concession were very impressed that I could cook something Nigerien right on the first try. But all my millet and all my sorghum is still in the ground, waiting to be "killed," as we say in Zarma. Luckily I'll have "demysters" this weekend, two or three current trainees in my village to see how a volunteer spends her time in the bush. Maybe they'll want to help...

Yes, that's right - 26 new people showed up two Thursdays ago, all bright and shiny, pale and clean, coming off the plane. Because I'll be a trainer in a couple weeks, I got to go with the group to the airport and welcome them with warm bottles of water and much enthusiasm. They seemed excited, dazed, hot... like looking at myself two years ago. It's strange to think that among these people is one that will inherit my village, my house, my friends, my cat.

I'm off now, then, to work on letting go.