After devastating floods hit Iferouane last summer, destroying homes, gardens and livestock, they asked for help. With a grant from Rotary we were able to help 19 gardeners replant.
Gardens
Construction at the residence
On my arrival at Tamesna visitor’s residence, the masons were hard at work trying to complete yet another round of repairs on our poorly constructed building. We had two contractors do very mediocre work for which we continue to have to recover. Although adobe in Niger is in need of frequent maintenance–the Tamesna residence has […]
Irrigation at the Tamesna Garden
Last trip we tried to get the irrigation pipe installed so a type of drip irrigation could be used to make water use more efficient and increase the potential of the garden size. We will string poly hose and at each plant put a screw all the way through the hose–this makes a hole which […]
Moringa bounty
This is the very best season for moringa so we are starting to harvest from the big garden at ‘Ndoudou and the small one at my house in Agadez. We will pick every month and dry the harvest in the shade to preserve the vitamins, package it in small bags and make it available to […]
Onions!
Our garden at Ndoudou has produced another good crop of onions, but the market is again VERY low. So we have decided to try another tactic. I got Aya and Bahari to chop a 50k sack of our onions and spread them on the roof terrace to dry. We will test them to see how […]
Shearwater Foundation awards $10,000 grant for medical care and training
The Shearwater Foundation has just announced the award of a $10,000 grant to the Nomad Foundation to develop better medical care for the nomads. The grant funds the salary of our clinic staff, helps us compile much needed statistics, develop a new moringa garden to improve nutrition, and provide medicines for the clinic. Thank you […]
Final trip to the garden
Before Linda left we made a final trip to the garden to get the solar panels installed–we are adding 8 new panels to have a higher water flow. The students got the new panels built, but what we did not foresee is that a the pump had a 2″ female threaded connection and a male […]
Finally to the garden
Maybe things are getting better. Hannah finally arrived today on the World Food Program Plane. She wasn’t the only one stuck because of it–she flew in with the Governor of Agadez who was also delayed in Niamey for two days. We decided to go straight out to the garden since this trip had been postponed […]
Mission accomplished, in spite of…
To summarize and amazingly productive trip–in spite of all the frustrations we got it done. To start out with, because of fears for our security we were forced to pay for a 20 man security detail. But-inspite-of taking a big chunk out of our budget, they turned out to be very competent, we had NO […]
Picnic in the garden
Today I invited Sidi’s family to the garden. We had a picnic in beautiful weather and checked out the new onion planting. Sister and brother Fatimatou and Alhassane are nicknamed Farika and Fagaga. Farika is my closest girlfriend in Agadez . Preparing ground and planting onions
Arrival of the trees
After an suffering the insults of playing puppies, the blazing Sahara heat and wind through 1,000 kilometers of desert, the 52 fruit trees arrived–only a little the worse for wear–at the garden in Indoudou. We made the plan, dug the holes and will fill them with soil and organic matter to rest for a couple […]
Fruit trees for the desert
It is not really possible here to go to a nursery and get whatever you want. I have been trying to get grafted fruit trees for some time and finally realized I had to order in advance. So last March I went to ICRISAT, an organization working on sustainable ecological farming in Niamey, and ordered […]
New mission starts now!
We are headed back to Niger to do a third solar training session, and train midwives among the Tuareg and Wodaabe nomads of Niger. The existing 18 solar students will start manufacture of panels to create demonstration sites from which they can sell solar equipment. Five initial midwife and health care liaison trainees have been […]
Gardens for the desert
Our garden plot is next to a dry river bed where water flows for a short time each year, but is accessible only a few feet from the surface. Agriculture is becoming a profitable venture for the Air region.We had time for one more visit to our garden to see the new plantings and get […]
Garden
We had time to visit the garden which is just starting to produce onions, fennel and moringa.Below is the onion “nursery” which will be transplanted soon. We hope for a harvest in April.
Installing the panels
Last trip, since we could not actually go to our garden, we found an alternative well to test our solar panels and pump. This time we finished up the two extra panels needed and went out to install the system in the garden at Indoudou, where it was originally intended. We had a stand made […]
work on solar panels
The nomads got in to work the day we got back from our speedy visit to the center and the cows. They started right in making panels. Thirteen students showed up. The plan is to finish panels to install a solar pump at our garden in Indoudou. Install a small electrical system in the office […]
Thanks to Charlene Pidgeon
Charlene Pidgeon has been a good traveling buddy in West Africa for over 10 years. She and I shop together for our respective African Art businesses. She has been actively raising money for Nomad Foundation projects that she manages for much of this time. They include a major goat purchasing program which has served especially […]
Lecture–televisions vs water
Dr. Komp showed a film of his Malian project which was very popular since much of it was in French and they could understand it.He wanted them to understand theory, which was somewhat difficult to communicate. Especially since I had to figure it out first and then communicate it to them. When he got into […]
The First Solar Panel built in Niger
Here the whole class proudly displays the first solar panel ever built in Niger. It is a 54 watt designed to power the pump at our garden in Indoudou.
Glamour packing
Some people actually pack clothes when they take a trip. Well I not only get to pack my own bags (no clothes of course) but our volunteers bags as well (I must say Dr. Skankey has done yeoman’s duty gathering materials for the medical clinic and packing bags as well–I cannot take all the credit) […]
Arrival at Tamesna
Feb. 9On arrival at the center, I found the construction stopped because of lack of water. Our solar pump did not have enough water to continue pumping so we realized we had to dig the well deeper, but this is a difficult process. The “digger” descends into the 135 foot deep well. His voice echoes […]
Deserted Desert Towns
I have been shopping in Agadez today. The sad boutiques are still open but there are no customers. I visited each one and tried to spend a little money at each. They were so surprised and appreciative to have a customer. They all know me and there was no pressure–they wanted my money to last […]
