The Primary School

This is the existing primary school, just imagine three cement classrooms and only one grass hut. A better learning environment no doubt. I live with these students, they are my friends. I teach them English, how to protect the environment, we play soccer after school, and on Earth Day they helped me plant 150 trees. I help their fathers get access to better seeds, and every night I drink tea with the school director. America and Niger are half a world away, but right now there is an oppertunity to pull them closer together.


The main reason for publishing this blog is to raise awareness about a school construction project we have started here. The community asked me to add onto the school, so that the younger children had a better place to learn. This is a picture of the primary school in my village. The cement school was built only six years ago because the other primary school, west of town, ran out of room. There are now 150 students and four teachers at this primary school. The highest grade learns in the cement school while the three lower grades are taught in the millet stalk shacks. (just like corn stalk). They make due with the conditions, but cement classrooms are cooler during the hot season, cleaner, and there is more space for the students and teachers. There are 3,000 people in my village and about half of them are under the age of 15. That means about 1500 kids live in my village and only 400 of them attend the two primary schools. Only one fourth of them learn to read and write, but the primary school also teach about health, AIDS, geography, math, science, and the environment.
It is very important to build these additional classrooms, but Peace Corps does not provide direct funding for our work. We have to look to our family, friends, and community for help. In return I can share my pictures, my stories, and my communities appreciation. Every penny goes directly to building these two classrooms and I am going to document the progress on this blog every step of the way, so that even though Niger and America are an ocean away, we all can be involved.