It's That Time of Year

Happy Halloween!

It's a very happy time here in this, my beloved Islamic Republic.  With Eid al Fetir (literally "Holiday of Tiredness") in Arabic, the end of Ramadan celebration last Monday, behind us, I am free to eat, drink, and be merry all the time.  It is amazing how ridiculously happy I was to be able to walk down the street in my village munching on donut holes again- yes, technically eating and drinking in public is still somewhat rude, but I think they all forgave me this lapse as I was in the middle of me I'm-not-fasting-anymore-and-the-donut-lady-is-back-at-last high.  This is also because during Ramadan, inexplicably, a man with an ice cream cart was glimpsed around town in Rosso.  That's right, an ice cream cart.  Hallucination?  We all thought so, after all, the sun is hot, and we were thirsty.  But no, Nicole looked inside one day and said that yes, there was, in fact, ice cream in there, and cones!  I have yet to find him since the end of Ramadan, but the thought that I might see him at any time while I'm in town brings a smile to my face.

Things that don't bring a smile to my face, my continuing discovery of my own mechnical ineptness.  The memory of my wheelbarrow failure is still fresh in my mind, and last time I was in town I purchased a mousetrap.  I have  no problem with the mice when they are only in my room at night, I sleep outside, and if they don't leave a mess on the carpet.  But lately Mrs. Frisby and friends have been running amuck during the day- and they don't even seem that scared of me.  The time has come for them to die.  But when I brought my shiney new trap home, I couldn't figure out how to set it.  There was the big bar you pull back, I got that part, but then there were three little bits that didn't seem to fit in anywhere.  My only memory of mouse traps was Pops making me empty one when I was 12 after I had complained that I could hear the rats running around in the attic above my room at night.  Mom thought I shouldn't have to do it,  and I learned not to complain about the mice anymore.  Tomorrow I'll just have to go to the store, buy another trap (retail value 30 cents) and make them set it up for me.

Other than glaring at unrepentant rodents and gorging myself, it has been a quiet time.  School did actually start, but no one has come the week of the holiday, and with the election campaigns starting soon, who knows what will happen.  but in an attempt to make school a more stimulating environment, I have been drawing a large map of the world on the wall of the 5th and 6th year classroom.  it is 3 meters by 1.5 meters, and I had to draw the large grid first using a two foot straight edge, so it has taken some time, but it is going to be magnificent when it is finished.

Speaking of magnificent things to be finished, my community counterpart and I have been working on a project to renew the village health clinic.  It's is basically falling down, and there are no toilets, or window shutters, or all that many windows for that matter.  We put together a proposal and a budget and I have just finally gotten it through the several hoops Peace Corps Washington lights on fire in order to get a proposal approved.  Through a program called Peace Corps Partnership, Peace Corps enables donors to contrrbute funds towards volunteer projects.  As a requirement, my village is providing a little over 25% of the costs to rennovate the clinic.  The rest, inshallah, will come from interested donors ( i.e. people like you).  So if you or anyone you know is looking for a worthy cause to donate some funds to, you can find my project proposal at :

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.volproj

 

Just scroll down to Mauritania, and you should see my name, I'm the only volunteer in country with a project up right now.  It is project number 682-079.  Clicking on the link takes you to a summary of the project, and on the summary page there is a link to donate.

Every little bit helps, so if you were planning on sending me any Christmas packages or anything like that I would rather you save the postage and put it towards the clinic.

 

Now I'm going to go enjoy eating lunch.

love

Amy