Grafrica: Choke holds and Photos

Grafica's Back!

Hey everyone,

Long time no blog, eh? I've spent the last 2 months avoiding responsibility (for the most part) and enjoying my friends in Niger. I was back in Konni - where I've been living the past year-and-a-half. To break it down, Konni is the nearest city to my village and it's also where our regional Peace Corps hostel is. Rawfi, my village, is about 20 km-or-so away from Konni (and amazingly enough it takes over an hour to get there from my village via the market car). I know I've stated this before, but I thought I'd say it again for clarity's sake.

Yup, so I was back in Konni trying to get back to work and also sweating out the last gasp of hot-season. Not too eventful. I think the period highlight was our perennial summer solstice party in which we constructed a 40-foot-long slip-n-slide complete with pool at the end. It was my brainchild - and nothing short of awesomeness. Of course the plastic was placed on top of a combined padding unit of mattresses and grass mats. Top-speed head first dives in the manner of Jose Reyes (you old-timers need to check this kid out). We even had a ramp that launched us into the pool. For the most parts the injuries consisted of scrapes and bruises. Well worth it.

And after the plastic was ripped to shreds from overuse we proceeded to turn the pool into a mud wrestling pit. It's the longest day of the year you've got to go for it, ya know? Well, we found out that this one girl from my cluster in Konni named Claudia is an absolute beast. And we also learned that former military guys take backyard BBQ mud wrestling seriously. I was made aware of the latter when Crazy Matt (a former Army guy) put me in a completely unexpected larynx asphyxiating tap-out choke-hold. But as fate would have it we soon learned of the force that is Claudia when she dominated Crazy Matt in the mud pit and inadvertently (perhaps) took both he and his shorts down. This lead to a mud-brown white man quite literally streaking for cover.

Surely there's a picture of it (the slip-n-slide) somewhere. I'll keep my eyes open and try to post it.

Mmm hmm. I'm a doctor! No not really, but sort of. No that's not true either. But I am currently the newest member of the staff at the Konni hospital. Some of you are aware that I'm interested in a career in medicine... blindly searching for something to do with my life is probably more accurate. Experience! Why not try it out and see if I enjoy it, right? So, I've spent three days there shadowing one of the nurses at the adult clinic and my oh my I have seen some things. Patient confidentiality doesn't really exist here, and that's glaringly obvious when I (the foreigner with absolutely no medical training or credentials) am present for the consultations. Malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, hernia, HIV, something resembling elephantitis of the testicle (I kid you not, it was actually a case of hydrocele), attempted suicide, and an insane guy in need of a shot of sedative. Yeah. This is not your average American health clinic. So, that's been an interesting new assignment for me and I'm looking forward to continue volunteering there for next 6 months. After I get to see the inner workings of the hospital (and I use hospital very loosely because there's only one surgeon present for the entire hospital - such is medical care in a small city in Niger) I'll likely find some way to lend a hand.

PHOTOS!

Niger vs. Nigeria in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match. In Africa, this tourney is bigger than the world cup. And this match was held in Niamey. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a soccer powerhouse and Niger is a soccer outhouse. Nigeria won 3-1, but it was a lot of fun.

Fulani boys! Pardon all the exclamation points. I've been on the computer all day working on a graduate school application. So... Fulani boys! Fulanis are an ethnic group of pastoralists found all over the Sahel in West Africa. These young guns were walking by the village and allowed me to take some photos. Some of them are wearing their everyday out-in-the-field-herding-cattle-gear while others are dressed up. There's an annual celebration where the young men get together to show off their bravery by getting done-up, taking off their shirts, and getting whacked very hard in the chest by those wooden sticks. The sticks are for whacking the livestock, usually. While procuring welts these young men keep a vibrant smile on their face to show that they can take the pain.

Friends of mine at the Niger/Nigeria soccer match.

Giraffes! There aren't many in Niger, but there are some. And while heading back to Konni one morning we saw them hanging out on the side of the road. Notice how the giraffe on the far left is trying to align his lips with my Red Sox cap. He knows who to love...

My neighbors the teachers - Abdoullaye, Adema, and their son Aboubacar. They are two of the three teachers in my village, and I spend a fair amount of time at their place hanging out and eating meals.

The new well in action! This is the well I helped create in Rawfi. The logs are there so that the rope wears down the logs and not the cement mouth of the well when the women are pulling up water.