Atou is returning with a bag of grass and weeds gathered from the bush for the animals. In the background is the north side of my village. Atou let me carry the bag into the village and pretend I gathered it all myself. Most people just laughed watching me walk slowly trying to balance the bag on my head.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Walking through Malbaza I saw this dog sitting on top of an 8-ft wall. One of the villagers who was walking me around said he could make the dog howl. Here they are howling together.

My friend Hussi has flowers put into her ears by her big sister Atou after a long afternoon walk gathering grass and weeds for the animals.

My friend Halima pulling water from a traditional well. She is helping bring water for a friend of the family who just gave birth and cannot carry her own water for a while. As it gets hotter this well and many others will run dry.

These religious leaders are selling charms and talismans. They are decorated with dyed leather, fur, mirrors, and shells. Inside they hold tiny pieces of paper with scriptures written on them. The long belts may have 50 scriptures, one in each fold. The smaller ones contains only one. Each talisman has a different purpose. Some protect you from illness, some protect you from enemies, some protect you during travel. Before I left for America my village mother gave me a special leather-covered seed that is supposed to make you invisible in the face of danger, allowing you to avoid any physical harm.

A medicine man in the market in Malbaza. I was there visiting a new volunteer, Jen, during her first month in the bush. All of the bark and herbs are to be steeped in water and drank or made into a paste and used topically. Studies done on some of these herbs show them to be very effective in some cases. However, I often encourage villagers to seek treatment from a health professional as well.

During rainy season this low-lying well in the neighboring village of Ambaroura is always surrounded by water. As people and animals walk through this water it becomes contaminated and then leaks down into the water supply. Stephen, the volunteer who lived in this village, remedied the situation by building a concrete barrier called a well apron that protects the well from the dirty pond water.

During Mid-Service Training outside Niamey we went down to the Niger River and met this fisherman. This was taken in November, when the stillwaters are covered in lilypads.

Mahammadou Kabirou greets his baby brother, Hakimou. They are the two youngest sons of my neighbor and friend, Jadi. I was really surprised to see how white the new babies look the first few weeks. Now I just tell them it must be my baby and they should give it to me. Saying nice things about a baby is taboo. It is customary to tell the mother how ugly her baby is and how it has "no goodness". This will make the devil or spirits less likely to take the baby from the mother.

Top: This is Kaliza, my neighbor's new baby, about 4 months old here. In order to take care of the infant, Kaliza'a older sister stays mostly with her grandmother at the cheif's house. Since her 3-year-old sister is also one of my best friends, Yasira, she also spends a lot of time hanging out with me. Bottom: Here is Yasira listening to my CD player, I think it was Matisyahu.

A little boy stretching in the late afternoon. In the background you can see the line rounded structures. These are the graineries.

Three villagers are moving bundles of harvested millet nto graineries. They use a homemade ladder to get on top of these silos. Each family has their own grainery and the harvested millet can be stored for up to two years, though all the millet is usually sold or eaten withing 9-10 months.

Here is what is left of my training group at the Swear-In ceremony held at the Ambassador's home in September 2006. Of the 39 volunteers who arrived in July 2005, only 24 remain. They are an amazing group of men and women, I am proud to be counted among them.

Here is part of Team Konni showing their solidarity by making a pyramid at the Ambassador's house.

Lauren, Tyson, Kirsten, and Chuck help chop vegetables for stir-fry at the hostel around Halloween. Limited food options in Konni have forced us to learn how to cook for ourselves.

Kelly and Suzannah sleep during the car ride back to Konni, their new home. They were sworn-in as official Volunteers just a few nights before. Every 6 months a new group of trainees comes in as another group is leaving.

Before I joined, I thought this was what all volunteers would look like. Straw hat, traditional drum, giraffe shirt, and a necklace made of giant seeds. This is Jason getting ready for the Gender and Development Auction.

My sister Cara and Arthur the Great Pyrenees on our hike. He stayed outside and romped in the snow because he is related to The Abominable Snow Man.

A view of the frozen countryside. All the color is stifled by the icy grip of winter. It reminds me of the Care Bears' epic battle against Professor Cold Heart. Of course, he froze people's feelings.

Ice Storm 2007- I went out for a walk in the woods with my mom, sister, and friend to survey the damage. The previous night we stood outside listening to trees and branches crash down every 20 seconds or so. My mom's house in Pleasant Hope, MO is still without power. They use a generator to keep themselves and their exotic animals warm.

I was riding my bike down an unfamiliar road and ran into these brick-makers. I ask them if I could take their pictures and they all ran over to jump in the water. They invited my to stay and help them haul mud, mix it with millet fiber and pour it into molds. I told them I really had to get going.

This was taken during rainy season in my village at sunset. During dry season, the sky is dusty, like everything else. But rainy season sunsets gives me a reason to stay.

Here we are just getting started on this Horse Tourney. It all started when my friend Natalie sold her horse for the Gender and Development Auction to someone in Niamey. Then she decided to ride it from her village, stopping along the way in different villages. She figure as long as she was there, she might as well get some work done. Kate offered to join her on a bike. I joined the fun with a donkey cart. Two weeks, 350K, 3 strong women trekking the Sahara. It was amazing.

Here is the donkey cart ready for the road. Notice the ribbons and how even the poles are painted. It is those little touches that made it so beautiful. Plus when we ran out of rope we could tie things together with the ribbons.

This is some Taureg wizard I met our 2nd day. I tried to buy his sweet robe off of him, but he jast laughed and said it was better for him to keep it.

Here are baby camels at sunset at the Taureg's house where we slept about 42K from Konni. When they cry they sound like whales under water.

Here is the house in the Taureg encampment where we stayed the first night. It is about 6:30am and we are trying to get on the road by 7. We made it less than a mile before our first flat.

Here is me being scared on Lola, the horse. I definitely got used to riding her as the weeks went on. Here I am trying to laugh even though I am really convinced I am going to die.

I had to take a picture of this kid in Goubey wearing a shirt that says I'm going to college. He has never even been to elementary school.

Here is Al-Kassoum on our horrible donkey, White Chocolate. This is the one that refused to carry people on the cart and sometimes refused to carry the cart at all. Twice he actually LAID DOWN while hooked up to the cart. The Nigeriens informed us later that no one wants white donkies because they are blind and weak. It looks like we were had by the donkey seller. I now consider myself an expert on the buying and selling of African donkies.

Here is Natalie carrying water in the village called Dadin Kowa, or Happy People. She was bringing water for our new donkey we bougt to replace the llazy blind albino donkey we started out with.

Here is our fully packed donkey cart on a good day. Natalie and Al-Kassoum aer trying to get some rest and get out of the afternoon sun. Can you see the pots tied to the right side of the cart? Just to make it a little more prospector-like.

Here are the kids listening to Kate read "The Giving Tree" in the village of Yaya.

Here is Kate reading a copy of "The Giving Tree" or "Icce Mai Falala" in Hausa. The book was mainly for kids but we usually drew a diverse crowd of men, women, and children.

This is me giving family planning session in Ballyara, a fairly large Zarma city. Bush women are usually too embarassed to discuss many of the issues involved in family planning. I was surprised and excited the women's leader requested this topic for the afternoon meeting.

Here is the full moon rising near the village of Muntsayka. At this time of day the temperature drops and the wind comes and everything hard about this place seems to disappear and I can't wait to do it all over again the next day.

The first few nights we had a full moon so we could travel at night. This allowed us to do a few more sessions in the mornings before taking off on the road again. ere is Natalie and Al-Kassoum who is wearing the bike helmet, just in case.

This is us leaving Ballyara after a two-day stop over at a Peace Corps transit house. We could not be avoided on the road- and many towns had heard about us before we arrived.

Sometimes there we had to stop and set up camp where there was no village. Or any trees. Here is Kate showing off our jerry-rigged sleeping quarters. Mosquito nets tied up to the cart, a bike, and out water filter. As you can see we are sleeping just on a plastic mat. Luckily it isn't scorpion season.

The 5 of us had made it this far. We are 96K from Niamey, having already travelled 254K from Konni. From the left is Daoui, me, Al-Kassoum, Natalie, and Kate. We were the core group all 14 days.

THis was one of the town we stayed in toward the end. All of the houses were covered in vines that grew huge gourds. The gourds are used for bowls, ladles, and storage. This woman only spoke Zarma, so she very well might be telling me to go away. I assumed she was aking me to take more pictures.

Here are some of my favorite people. We are on the bank of the Niger taking a break from our sessions during mid-service training.

This was the day the CARE organization came to my village to register all households with children under 3 to recieve food aid. I have lots of thoughts on this issue to be discussed at a later time.

This is a little girl coming home after a long day in the fields with a traditional farming tool. These hoes are made by the metal smith in my village.

After helping my friend farm his field we met this woman on the road. I liked her red powder make-up and took a picture. She was travelling with her grandson to her field.

This is my friend Djadi working the fields to plant millet. He dug about 60 holes inthe hour I was there. Almost all villagers have their own field though they are often far from their homes. Many walk and hour a day just to begin the labor required to maintain their plot.

My mom's daughter-in-law Hadiza doing laundry with a traditional iron on the right. It is filled with coals and weighs about 6 lbs.

Zachary measures out millet sold outside the cereal bank built by the previous volunteer in my village. They store the millet at harvest then sell it for a good price during "hungry season", June through October. There are more complicated versions of this that work with micro-credit agencies, but the main purpose of this bank is food security.

This picture was taken by my friend Saratou who is about 7-years- old in front of my hut. The fabric over the door keeps the flies out. Kind of.