Arrival and disaster

I have been waiting to write the first post about our arrival in Niger because I did not have very good news. Because of security concerns in the north partly as a reaction to the minister in Florida’s threat to burn the Koran…we arrived on Sept. 10…the Tuareg leadership advised us not to go. There has been a US Embassy alert for some time. These are usually and understandably conservative, but it is the people who live and circulate in the territory that know best what is happening there and I listen to their advice.
So I am here with Dr. Rich Komp, an expert in solar energy, ready to do a workshop to train the nomads how to make solar panels–and we are 600 miles away from them and can’t get there. SOOOO…plan B:
On Friday we will load up a group of 16 candidates who are interested in the program on a bus and bring them down to Niamey, rent a house here, bring our cook and materials from Agadez, and transplant the whole operation to the city. This will probably not be too pleasant for nomads who dislike cities (like I do) but I hope they think of it as a great adventure.
The rains have been great this year so the festivals are in full swing, all the Tuareg have left Niamey to attend them and I can’t go…boo hoo…
But the mission is salvaged and we are off to buy the local materials necessary to start on Sat. Sep 18.