I have just gotten back to the US, but before I close out the blog for this trip I have to express the Nomad Foundation’s thanks to Susan Rosenfeld. Without her generosity the project would never have gone forward. She had invited Dr. Komp and me to stay at her house for the two days that we were to be in Niamey on our way north to Agadez for the Solar panel project, the medical mission and the famine relief program funded by Niger Food Relief, which was spearheaded by her former students in the Boston University Niger Program. Two days after my arrival and the day before I was to leave for the north I got a phone call from Tuareg friends who urged me to cancel the trip, based on their observances of terrorist activity in the region we were to visit. I struggled with this through the night while working on jigsaw puzzles with Sue. By morning trying to figure out how I could avoid wasting the money the foundation had spent on Dr. Komp’s plane ticket I asked her what she thought about transferring the program to Niamey. I have few contacts there; my support system is in Agadez, 1000k to the north, but after 26 years in Niamey, hers are extensive. She immediately offered to let me stay at her house for the duration of the program. She gave me contacts to search for a place to do the training and house the students. After a lot of scrambling, it all came together; the students arrived and the program went forward. What was to be two days at her house turned into a month. Without her help with housing and other logistics, the foundation would not have been able to accomplish or afford the transfer of the project to Niamey.
Thank you Susan for coming through once again in this time of emergency. Your continuing support helps makes our work possible and strengthens the relationship between Boston University, Niger Food Relief and the Nomad Foundation.
Here is Sue with her dog Wiley. Sue claims that I visit her just to see her dog, while Wiley and I are also very good friends, this is not true.
Two days after changing the project to Niamey, seven hostages were taken in Arlit, only 100k north of where we were to be doing the program. It was the right decision. Thanks again, Sue,
for making it possible.
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