"We Can Shake the World"

It has been nearly nine months since I packed my bags, left the Bay Area, and embarked on the craziest adventure of my life. It has taken a while, but I am finally starting to feel very content here and I feel as though I am really starting to thrive. One of my closest friends from Peace Corps Niger came to visit me in my village and he commented on how much he has seen me grow and change in the last 9 months. He even went as far as to say that I was glowing. It was then that I truly realized how much progress I have made here and that for now, this life suits me. I am excited to have reached this point in my service and I am even more excited that others can see it. I hope to be a positive example for others and perhaps I'll even be able to be an inspiration.

Even though I have reached a very positive point in my service, it can often be hard to find motivation and inspiration. I find myself listening more closely to the lyrics in songs or seeing quotations jump off the page at me as I am reading. Often times, these lyrics or quotes are just what I need to remind me of my purpose in Niger and to reignite the fire in me that made me come to Niger in the first place. I know that sometimes we tend to get lost in the day-to-day routine of the American lifestyle, so I thought I would share some of my inspiration with you in hopes that a flame will be lit anew within you.

This entry is the first of many to come, so be ready for a ton of updates!

Yes, I Do Actually Do Some Work Around Here!: My focus as an education volunteer here in Niger is going to be on teaching/tutoring English. I have chosen this area of focus for a few reasons:

1. After completing my service in Niger, I would like to go back to school to get a Masters in Education and teach high school English and English as a Second Language (ESL). Therefore, my experience in Niger will not only make for an irresistible resume, it will provide me with invaluable field experience, something that can never be learned in a university classroom.

2. English is something that I know and understand very well. I feel confident enough in my skills to help others as they learn the language and the students here can definitely benefit from learning from a native English speaker.

3. Teaching/tutoring English is something that interests me and I feel as though I can put a lot of passion into the design and implementation of English language related projects.

4. And, most importantly, the English teachers at the middle/high school in my village have expressed a desire to work with me.

I am in the process of preparing to do an “English Festival” with four grade levels in my village. This is something that the previous volunteer in my village did and it was a hit among the students. I will put my own spin on the project in hopes of making it my own and in order to keep it fun and interesting for the students who wish to participate. The project will run throughout the month of April and possibly a little into May. I will hold tutoring sessions every evening for one hour for four weeks. Each week I will focus on a different grade level: Troisieme (9th grade), Seconde (10th grade), Premiere (11th grade), and Terminale (12th grade). Troisieme and Terminale students have examinations at the end of the year – Troisieme students must pass an examination in order to move on to Lycee (high school) and Terminale students must pass an exam in order to graduate from Lycee. Both of these examinations have English portions, so I will work with those students on preparing for the test. With Seconde and Premiere students, I will focus on supplementing what they have learned in class and encouraging them to speak the language. Of the students who choose to participate in the festival, I will reward the student from each grade level who receives the highest marks in their English class.

After the English Festival, I will start work on preparing for three other projects. I would like to try and find funding in order to get the English department at my middle/high school books. There were books at one point in time, but they were essentially stolen by a teacher who has been moved to a new school. Therefore, my English teachers and their students have been trying their best to teach/learn without having books. This will be an expensive undertaking and finding someone to fund the project will be challenging, but the bottom line is that my school needs these books.

I will also work on designing a teacher training for English teachers in my sub-region. I will create a training curriculum in which my counterpart and I teach classroom management, curriculum design, positive reinforcement, and gender-sensitive teaching methods. I hope to have this project designed, funded, and implemented before the start of the next school year.

Lastly, I am currently working on designing a correspondence project between English students from my village and French students from my high school French teacher’s classes. This will be a letter writing project in which the students will write to one another once a month or once every two months, whichever time frame proves to be feasible. Each letter will have a topic that corresponds to both what the students are currently learning in class and to a specific cross-cultural goal. In this way, I hope to help the students practice what they have learned in class and to provide them with a greater knowledge of the culture of their counterparts. It is in this way that I also hope to address two of the primary goals of the Peace Corps which both involve cross-cultural education at home and abroad.

I would like to combine the letter writing portion of this project with a mini photo project. I hope to get each Nigerien student involved in the project a disposable camera and invite one of my Peace Corps friends who is a fabulous photographer to come and give a brief lesion in photography – how to use a camera, photo composition, etc. After the students learn how to use a camera, I will have them take their cameras home with them and ask them to document, through photos, a day in their lives. I will have them take photos of their home, family, friends, school, favorite places in the village, etc. After each student has taken their photos, I will have the film developed. The students will then write on the back of each image and describe, in English, what is seen in the picture. Once everyone has finished with their photos, I hope to send them to their counterparts in the U.S. I then hope to have the American students do the same thing, except using French, and have those pictures sent to Niger to be given to their Nigerien counterparts.

Organizing this project is a slow process as I have limited access to internet and phones, so communication takes more time than usual and nothing in Niger seems to happen in a timely fashion, according to American standards of time. But, I have about five months to get ready. This again will require that I procure outside funding and it may be difficult to do so, but this is something I truly believe in and can see a great deal of value in it, so if need be, I will fund it myself to make sure that it happens and these kids get the chance to participate in this project, something they may not otherwise have the chance to do.

High Hopes and Realistic Expectations – The 44th President of the United States of America: I know this entry is a little late as President Obama was sworn into office over two months ago, but with the current state of America’s economy and the difficult times many Americans are facing, I thought it would still be poignant to remind people that while it is necessary to put great faith and pride in our President, it is also necessary that we remember that he is just one man, one man who has inherited a very difficult task and has a mountain of damages caused by bad decision making to reverse. It is important that we hold President Obama to a high standard, but we must keep our expectations realistic and always remember that he is only human. We must trust that he will do his absolute best to turn America around and pull her out of this great hole she is in, but remember that this mess was not created over night and it will not be remedied over night. As Nigeriens would say, “Have patience.”

This was a prayer said for President Obama by The Right Reverend Gene Robinson (made famous as the openly gay Anglican bishop). Unfortunately it was not televised because of an "error in executing the inauguration ceremonies."

“Before this celebration begins, please join me in pausing for a moment to ask God's blessing upon our nation and our next president.

Oh God of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears, tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die a day from malnutrition, malaria and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants; women, people of color; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Bless us with discomfort at the easy simplistic answers we prefer to hear from our politicians instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed any time soon and the understanding that our next president is a human being, not a messiah. Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion's God judges us by the ways we care for the most vulnerable. And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of the President of the United States. Give him wisdom beyond his years, inspire him with President Lincoln's reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy's ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King's dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady calm captain. Give him stirring words, we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color blind reminding him of his own words that under his leadership there will be neither red nor blue states but a United States. Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters' childhoods. And please God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents and we're asking far too much of this one, we implore you oh good and great God to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand that he might do the work that we have called him to do. That he might find joy in this impossible calling and that, in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

Amen.”

I found this prayer to be absolutely beautiful and a wonderful reminder that it is not just President Obama who has changes to make. We, the American people, have the resources and ability to make a difference in this world, whether it be at home or abroad. With the inauguration of President Obama, the United States has stepped into a new era, we have been granted a fresh start, and we have a responsibility to our nation and the world at large to take advantage of this opportunity and start inciting change.

Motivation and Inspiration: My mama sent me the new John Legend CD in a care package and being starved for new music the way I am, I listened to it right away. The last song on the album is called, If You're Out There, and as I listened to it, I got goose bumps from head to toe. It was one of those songs that really spoke to me and has a lot of bearing on my situation here in Niger. So, I thought I would share the lyrics with you and encourage you to listen to the song and take the time to really listen to its message.

If You're Out There
John Legend

If you hear this message
Wherever you stand
Calling every woman
Calling every man

We’re the generation
We can’t afford to wait
The future started yesterday
And we’re already late

We’ve been looking for a song to sing
Searched for a melody, searched for someone to lead
We’ve been looking for the world to change
If you feel the same then go on and say

If you’re out there
Sing along with me
If you’re out there
I’m dying to believe
That you’re out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you’re out there
Tomorrow’s starting now, now, now

No more broken promises
No more call to war
Unless it’s love and peace
That we’re really fighting for
We can destroy hunger
We can conquer hate
Put down the arms
And raise your voice
We’re joining hands today

Oh I was looking for a song to sing
Searched for a leader
But the leader was me
We were looking for the world to change
We can be heroes
Just go on and say

If you’re out there
Sing along with me
If you’re out there
I’m dying to believe
That you’re out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you’re out there
Tomorrow’s starting now, now, now

If you’re out here
We can shake the world
Believe again
It starts within
We don’t have to wait for destiny
We should be the change that we want to see
If you’re out there, oh oh oh

If you’re out there
And you’re ready now
Sing it loud
Scream it out

If you’re out there
Sing along with me
If you’re out there
I’m dying to believe
That you’re out there
Stand up and say it loud
If you’re out there
Tomorrow’s starting now

If you’re out there
If you’re out there
If you’re out there

If you hear this message
Wherever you stand
Calling every woman
Calling every man

We’re the generation
We can’t afford to wait
The future started yesterday
And we’re already late