“The Milky Way” and “We’re in Africa” – Realizations

Every once in a while someone in our group will just blurt out “Hey guys…We’re in Africa.” I can’t think of another way to describe what it is like to have your world flipped upside down. It’s the moments where we start to feel the comfort of home, that we are thrown a curveball to let us know we are far from it. For instance, once a week, a bunch of us have gotten together to have a “movie night,” and we all gather around outside on mats in a concession that happens to have electricity and we use my tiny laptop with some cheap speakers, to watch what we like to call “Niger-friendly movies.” We have to keep the material pretty PG because sex & alcohol & drugs & homosexuality are no-goes in Niger, and even though one of our “more liberal” host families watches with us, they’re still pretty tame (Italian Job & Good Will Hunting). Halfway through the movie, when we’re at the ‘good part,’ you start to hear a donkey braying in the background. All the American start laughing and someone blurts out “Hey guys…We’re in Africa.” (Oh, ps – we’re running out of Niger-friendly movies…send me anything!)

Every night I lie under my mosquito net and stare up at the stars. I can still see the big dipper here, which is exciting because I can see it at home too. It really is the deepest I’ve ever been able to see into the sky. I see shooting stars every night – it’s truly incredible. One thing that was pointed out to me while I was hanging out with a volunteer was that what I thought was a weird cloud in the night sky is actually the Milky Way. You can see it with your naked eye…That’s really intense…I really am in Africa.

One of the things I did not realize prior to arriving was that we would be sleeping outside every night. We put our mattresses inside our hut during the day (it could monsoon at any time), but we pull them out every night, hoping that it won’t rain. There were a few nights we had to rush inside to beat the rain, but it cools off enough that it’s not too terrible. Another major difference that takes a little getting used to is using a latrine. Basically, we have a hole in the ground and that is our toilet. They have an entire session dedicated to learning the proper way to use a latrine, how to manage without toilet paper if we so desire (I don’t desire to yet…haha), how to do our own laundry, how to sweep our hut, how to light our lantern, and how to take a bucket bath. It was an entertaining and enlightening session. A couple days later, they taught us to filter and bleach our own water. I’m pretty sure I ended up drinking unfiltered water without even knowing it, which explains why I was sick after one week of being here. Another note - bucket baths aren’t as terrible as they seem. I’m learning some major water conservation techniques. I really feel like this is the ultimate camping trip for two years. I wouldn’t exactly say you feel clean, but I feel like you just stop feeling dirty.