Fistula Translations

Doctors perform operations in the capital city, Niamey,to correct fistulas caused by the lack of medical attention available to pregnant women. Katie translates between the doctors and their patients in Hausa. Other volunteers also participate translating Zarma, and French.

This is the second time Katie has been able to participate in this program and has indicated that it has been a very rewarding experience for her.

Happy Holidays

Hello again everyone! I'm still here in Niger, and in health! Hope the holidays went well, I was missing America, but things were good here. So, my chateau project is coming along, Rotary is still finalizing the budget approval, but we're hoping to get everything ready soon! As for me, I'm enjoying the village and the cold season. It's nice to sleep inside in my sleeping bag. It's nice to be able to go the whole day without sweating. But of course, every season has it's postitive and negatives, and for me the main drawback to cold season is all of the nasal infections. How do I get the infections you may ask? (only if you've never been here during cold season, otherwise you know) Well, cold season is also dry season, which we all know causes hard boogers. And it really hurts to blow your nose if you have them, so you have to either pick your nose or farmer blow it. It draws much less attention to just pick it, so that's my normal choice. And because you never know when and where you'll need to pick, I occasionally pick it after playing with dirty children and keep ending up with impetago(sp?) in my nose. I have gone to the Med Office in the past, but it's embarrassing to be told to "be cleaner" when I'm a health volunteer... So, I've stopped going, and I have come to accept the fact that I'll have a sore nose for a couple months. So for anyone planning on coming to Niger during cold season (November-February), bring hand sanitizer or wet ones and avoid it all together, because it's impossible not to play with the cute little kids everywhere you go.