It's been a while....

Hey everyone, sorry for the long delay between posts. With the holidays and everything I've been keeping pretty busy. First of all, for those who have been reading up on Niger or stay in tune to the BBC, there have recently been some landmines throughout the southern part of Niger, where PCV's are posted. We were put on something called "standfast" for a while....right before Christmas and for about a week, but now we are off of it. Don't be alarmed, things have calmed down a bit, but we are all trying to stay alert and be cautious. I feel safe and Peace Corps has done a decent job of keeping us informed. Just wanted to let people know and clear the air that things are good. Another bizarre things happened yesterday. A couple of NGO volunteers were at a restaraunt near the Zinder hostel when their car got hijacked. The mom and one of her kids were thrown out their car and the carjackers drove off. However, a four month year old baby was still inside. So a bunch of NGO's and some PCV's (me included) did a massive search last night and this morning. Luckily the baby was found and is safe and sound. In fact, we were told he was smiling when they picked him up! It ended well, but it's been a bit crazy what with landmine scares and this bizarre carjacking. Not to worry though, I still feel safer walking down the street here than I did in downtown dallas!

On other news....I go to my village tomorrow and will be happy to get back. I've worked on a few proposals and just wrote a grant for a well/garden project that will happen (if funds get granted) at the end of this year. I held my first meeting with the heads of my village to talk abou the proposal. It was interesting trying to get everyone to meet at a certain time and place...they really have no concern with punctuality here :). Regardless they sounded excited about it.

I leave for Ghana very soon and am super pumped. It will be good to see some pretty beachscape and get a vacation. Hopefully I will be able to see one of the African Nations Cup Games live. Very exciting.

Hope all is well in teh states. I love hearing from all of you. Till next time!

Soms