Wasalaam aleikum! (Peace be upon you) Mate gaygafaye? (How has our time apart been?) The big story of February was my mom coming to visit me here. It was wonderful! Below is a picture of me, her, and the bush taxi I convinced her to get on to travel to my village (yes, that is a Barack Obama sticker on the back of the car. He's very popular here... just like everywhere else!). She was a really good sport. She only stayed for a week, but I think that was enough for her.



In January I wrote that I was working on developing a monthly radio program interviewing successful Nigerien women. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to start recording interviews yet because our digital recorder is missing a cord and Peace Corps won't be getting a new shipment for awhile. I'm disappointed, but not giving up hope. Maybe by the end of Hot Season (around May/June) I'll be able to get it off the ground.

The first week of March I attended a workshop with a local NGO called "PRAHN" that works with disabled people in Niger. It was really eye-opening for me because I had always assumed that there wasn't much that could be done for the thousands of disabled people living here. Whenever you travel to larger cities and towns here it's impossible not to see the many people with disabilities begging for money. Many of them have to crawl on the ground or have children assist them because they can't afford the very expensive tricycles, wheelchairs, and braces that could improve their mobility.

PRAHN is a really wonderful organization. They offer many services to help people with disabilities find work other than begging. They also provide micro-loans for people who want to start small businesses, or help them buy sewing machines to become self employed tailors. They also help disabled people set up gardens so that they're able to provide food for themselves and their families.

The training session focused on how we can recognize and identify certain disabilities in our communities and direct people to PRAHN's services. We also learned that the majority of disabilities in Niger are preventable with better nutrition and good obstetric practices and medical care. This was how I came to identify a young man in my village who has spinal tuberculosis that has caused his bones to twist into a hunchback.

He's an awesome kid, although it's probably not appropriate to call him that. I originally thought he was between the ages of 8 and 12, but it turns out he's 19. In addition to causing malformation of the bones, spinal tb can also lead to stunted growth. Despite his disability, Hama is very well integrated into the community. He farms with his dad and brothers and hangs out drinking tea with other young men in the village. I was concerned that the spinal tb could continue to progress so I contacted our local PRAHN monitor in Birni and he's working with Hama now to get better medical care and possibly set him up with his own garden.

PRAHN also encouraged volunteers to work on destigmatizing people with disabilities. Life can be difficult for people with disabilities for many reasons, but one of the most challenging to overcome is the perception that the disabled are somehow responsible for causing their disability. In villages, particularly among people without education, disabilities are often seen as the result of sin or God's disfavor with a family or individual.

In an effort to combat this harmful attitude, I and several other volunteers wrote and performed a radio program dealing with various disabilities. The show focused on how to prevent certain disabilities as well as how to recognize when it's necessary to seek treatment. By discussing how people develop certain disabilities it helps others to take steps necessary to prevent them and also become more tolerant of those who weren't able to.

Next month I'll be going on the last vacation of my volunteer service! I will be traveling through West Africa for about 3 weeks, but I plan on returning by mid-May and will hopefully be able to post about my travels then.