Nigerien Culture 101
Lesson #1: Gestures A handy little YouTube video showing various gestures used to help get your point across in Niger. Watch video on YouTube
News & updates
DVDs of Brother From Niger Now Available Free of Charge
During this year of the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps the Board of Friends of Niger would like to encourage Friends of Niger members to distribute copies of the DVD of Brother from Niger, which follows former Friends of Nigerpresident Jim Schneider in 2002 as he returns to Niger, a country he once called home, a country that is still as poor as when he left it in 1966. In a 'Brother from Niger', award-winning journalist Andrew Younger...
Peace Corps Suspends Program In Niger
Due to recent security concerns in Niger, the Peace Corps program has been suspended until further notice. All 96 Peace Corps volunteers in Niger are safe and accounted for. This notice from the Peace Corps web site has some more details. Full URL: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1691 With similar concerns, Boston University has also suspended their Study Abroad program in Niger. It is not...
Some Good News From Niger
Policy changes are paying off for the environment. This is a note originally sent by Jamie Thomson to the Niger III group. It is reproduced here to spread the good news about what's happening in the struggle against desertification in Niger. It's a slightly long but very inspiring read. It is nice to know that, as a result of a policy change, a reform of the forestry code that was in force in the mid-60s in Niger, which removed the institutional...
A Unique Opportunity To Help A Worthy Niamey School
The April 2010 Issue of the Camel Express Showcased the Hampaté Bâ Middle School Competition to Win GlobalGiving's Open Challenge. Now It's Up to Us! Les Amis de Hampaté Bâ, the non profit supporting the Amadou Hampaté Bâ school in Niamey, has been selected to participate in the Global Giving Challenge for September 2010. During the month of September, the association needs to prove that it can raise funds, and if it succeeds, it will...
Hard To Explain
A video compilation by Marisa Wong (Niger 2008-2010) that captures life in Niger pretty well. Set to the song Hard To Explain by The Strokes.
MercyCorps Raising Funds For Niger Food Crisis
This year, as many as 7.8 million people - more than half of Niger's total population - face the grim prospect of months without sufficient food. Sporadic rains during the last growing season have had a devastating effect on harvests and food supplies, leaving households with little to save for the long "hungry season" between harvests. There are already widespread reports of families - particularly women and children - skipping meals and having...
Peace Corps Week: March 1 – 7, 2010
Celebrate the 49th anniversary of the Peace Corps This year join the Peace Corps community nationwide and celebrate the Peace Corps' 49th anniversary with a third goal activity! Honor Volunteers of past and present and your host countries by bringing the world home. You can do this through a variety of ways such as organizing a cultural event, presenting an exhibit of photographs or crafts, or visiting a classroom. Don't forget to register your...
Niger ’66 A Peace Corps Diary
Five Returned Peace Corps Volunteers began filming their experiences during a return trip to Niger in 2008. Now they are hoping to turn these experiences into a full-length documentary. Jic Clubb, Filingue 1967 From the documentary web site: In the summer of 1966 a group of 65 idealistic Peace Corps volunteers headed for Africa and landed in the dusty, heat-scorched desert of Niger. We stayed for two years working in agriculture, digging wells...
After Nearly Four Decades Apart A Friendship Blossoms
In case you missed it, come check out our April 2009 Camel Express (PDF, 1.3 MB), posted directly below, for the heartwarming story about how a Peace Corps volunteer from the early 1970's reunited with his old Nigerien friend over thirty years later, and they continued to enrich each other's lives. John and Idy reunite after 31 years John Baird first met Idy Gondah while living in his village as a volunteer in the early 70's. John never thought...