Demystification Weekend

The weekend long "demystification" visit to a current Peace Corps Volunteer's site was not quite what I expected. My host, the lovely Kathryn Evans from Colorado, welcomed us with a relaxed attitude into her new home in Guecheme, in the Dosso region of southern Niger. Her former house had been burglarized while she was sleeping outside so she was just moving into her new space when I arrived. She was part of the group that was relocated when there was a kidnapping in late 2009. This sounds pretty scary but it's not. She went from having electricity and running water to having neither, which she described as "not so bad." Consequently we got to experience some very funny moments in the kitchen as she tried to juggle flashlights and spatulas while making us our pesto pasta (pkg. sent from her mother) with crushed almonds (from my roadtrip stash).
As a PCV she was probably the most recognizable person in the village of 5-6,000 people. The consequences thereof included the desire of almost every villager to greet and be greeted by her when passing on the street. It didn't seem to take much energy out of her though. In a culture where each greeting is not a nod of the head, but instead a six part dialogue, this can be very overwhelming. I was amazed at her ability to roll with the excessive attention. The fact that she had two other "anasara" with her didn't make it any easier. Overall, I was left with an excitement to get to my own village and represent my entire country and culture through my unique set of interactions.