This was a mad week. It was mad in many senses: as a prelude to things to come, as a launch point of new directions, as a return to friends missed, as a challenge of head and heart. Much had to do with with the Gender and Development (GAD) auction and the swearing in of new volunteers, coupled with a day long workshop to which I was central. And since it isn’t often that I get to see many volunteers, the nights were full of social events. To top it all off, I have been having trouble sleeping the last couple of weeks, at first because I found this amazing computer game, then because of nervousness about this week, and then because the week was so full that my days weren’t finishing until late. I finally crashed last night and slept like the dead, only to wake and stay up until midnight.

So anyway, Tuesday was the GAD auction, which lines up roughly with when new groups of volunteers swear in. Since I am a GAD representative for my region, I was responsible for a few things, mostly just showing up on Tuesday to help organize all the stuff for the silent auction. We get stuff by going around to local businesses and asking for donations and by collecting things from volunteers throughout the year. I work till 5:30, so I wasn’t involved in much of this (also I hate asking for donations), but I was able to get the afternoon off on Tuesday to help set up. The auction itself was great, and we raised over $3,000 dollars for GAD. I didn’t bid on anything, but there was some really cool stuff there.

Then we had a nice dinner and a talent show / live auction / raffle, which I (badly) helped MC. I did a swing dance with a girl I met from Boston University and a funny dance to a song from Glee. Also I won a small computer bag sewn like the Niger flag in the raffle.

After that it was time for the after-auction party, which includes yet another auction. I had donated four pies to that, but they didn’t get auctioned off because the new volunteers had to leave and we ran out of time.

I woke up the next day and had a workshop at PLAN to get some local input on our objectives and themes for this life skills project. Whenever we get a final draft I will put it in a post here. It was a great workshop, and we got a lot of good ideas. But having slept only a few hours that night, I was beat.

Later that night I went out with a friend of mine and met a guy who works here who is from The Netherlands. He turned out to be really cool and does interesting statistical things with a national farmer cooperative. At least he would like to if he can get them collecting a good set of data. He is new to Niger and I plan on inviting him out the next time I am doing something interesting (such as going to the horse races on Saturday?).

Along those lines, I have become a huge fan of Hand Relief International, which makes great fun of the development world (and has some pointed things to say about Peace Corps). I am not quite as cynical as they are, but they make me laugh.

Yesterday was more of the same, and this morning I went out with Moustapha, who manages this whole Youth Economic Empowerment project, to see some groups having their first meetings. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up coming back having done nothing. Here’s to hoping next week will work out better.

So that is the week in review. Today is pretty relaxed, and then tomorrow I will be helping the new volunteers in my region go shopping for supplies, and we will go to the horse races and have a goodbye dinner and dancing for the brave souls going to do a third year in Diffa.

Life is really pretty awesome. My job is turning into a great experience both professionally and personally, and I am really enjoying the group of people that I socialize with in Niamey. It is a little too much at the moment, but that should calm down soon (Incha’Allah). I find myself doing a lot more interacting with Americans, which is good, but I didn’t want it to come at the expense of knowing and spending time with Nigerians. It is some, but I’m making Nigerian friends here to and am pretty excited about that.

This particular post is being written as an ode to one of my favorite volunteers from the new stage who was recently sent (decided to go? The details are fuzzy) home. I hear he was sent home because of difficulties with the staff. I don’t really know what that means, but I do know that I struggle enough with the overly protective parent aspect of Peace Corps. I suspect as an older adult, having already lived much of your life responsible for yourself and your actions, that to join Peace Corps and have to live by its rules would be even more difficult.

There was an older volunteer in Guinea that had a hard time as well. She didn’t have a hard time with her village (from what I know), but she did not get along with the bureau and generally just ignored the rules that the bureau laid down. She was in her 60s. I can’t really blame her.

Of course I don’t know the specifics of the situation, and the bureau rarely makes rash decisions, but I am sad to see him go. He had a lot of experience living abroad and I rather liked him. Also, he was one of a small minority of male volunteers. He would have been good company.

So Alan, if you ever read this, I hope that you went home under conditions that felt right to you, and that whatever you go on to is even better for you.