Typical Day in the Life

Typical day in the Life (when I'm not in the field):

Two and a half hour meeting in the morning at UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees) on the relocation of Malian refugees in the north of Niger currently in temporary sites to a more permanent site.  Stating what my organization and others represented around the table can and will do in the camp relating to water, shelter, food, sanitation, hygiene etc., and listening to everyone argue how frustrated they are with MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres) who were yet again not represented at the meeting yet are supposedly running the WASH sector of the camp.  Oh, and listening to a French representative from ACF (Accion Contre la Faim) trying to take over the meeting (though he wasn't the one who called it) and complain that nobody was volunteering to do anything when at the end of the meeting his own organization hadn't volunteered to do anything.  The whole meeting was in French, creating a somewhat indecipherable set of Franglais notes in my notebook as I tried to write in English what was being discussed in French.

On to a 1.5 hour meeting at OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) to receive the latest coordination news of humanitarian efforts across Niger, and reading the mind-boggling monetary figures of how much is being poured into development efforts here.  United States is the number one donor by far...even though USAID (United States Agency for International Development) doesn't even have an official office here.  The first part of the meeting I couldn't stop thinking about the sweat running down all parts of me and wondering why nobody had turned the air or fans on in 108 degree weather.  Finally, halfway through, the meeting head asked if anyone else was hot to which the whole room sighed in relief as he got up to turn the air on.  More Franglais notes then ensued.

Back to the office to grab a plate of rice and sauce before heading to the office that I share with 5 others on the second floor.  Another 6 hours of drafting a near million dollar proposal on a 3-year food security program we plan to implement in Niger, interrupted (happily) about 3 times by deliveries of shots of my favorite traditional Touareg tea, to keep me going of course :-)

17 tabs now open in my browser (from left to right):

• Google Translator (French/English)
• French conjugation tool
• Africa News - Headlines, stories and video from CNN.com International
• Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)
• USAID Niger - Food Security Outlook
• Sahel Food Crisis website
• Sahel Crisis OCHA
• Sahel Dashboard Feb 2012
• Global Response in Niger manual by OCHA
• Relief Web - Niger
• WFP - Niger (World Food Programme)
• Official Niger government website
• Medair -  Relief workers abducted in Afghanistan
• UNHCR
• Moringa-the miracle plant
• Gmail
• Blogger (just opened to post this)

Hurriedly pack everything up and drive off through the maze of Niamey traffic to the French Cultural Center for French class.  Afterward got in my car, turned the key to absolutely no response from the engine.  Dead.  Several calls later, Hassane shows up on his moto, gets a troop of guys standing around watching the whole thing to help push, and stalls it into starting. Thanked him profusely and drove away only to find myself a couple kilometers down the road stalled again in the middle of a 3-way intersection, at night, in the middle of Niamey.  I've never heard so many honking horns in my life.  Another call, Hassane again, more pushing, harder to start this time, but finally some life.  Hassane decided to drive me this time.  Made it home.  More thanks.  Collapsed under the air conditioning to recover.  Power went out.  Power went on.  Power went out.  Power went on.  End of day.