time to start packing, starting tomorrow

Two weeks left in Alaska! The snow is slowly creeping down the mountains and I'm hoping to get out on skis or my snowboard before I leave... because I'm pretty sure I won't be using either in Africa.

To update those whom I haven't been in touch with lately (sorry!) I'm headed to Niger, Western Africa for the next couple of years to do agriculture programs with the Peace Corps. In a nutshell, the Sahara Desert has been creeping outward for the last 5000 years and farmers in the surrounding areas are having problems with raising their crops in the ensuing droughts. On top of that add in a lack of roads and transportation, the wrong kinds of foreign aid (donations from overseas that crash the local markets), and subsidies to western farmers that prevent African farmers from competing internationally, and you can imagine the struggles that these farmers face daily. Our job will be to do whatever we can to work on maximizing rainfall (storage) and to find new crops and/or strains of current crops that produce higher yields. I'll be in a small village somewhere (200-1000 people) and all I know is that I won't have electricity or running water but on the plus side I do get my own mosquito net, so I've got that going for me.. which is nice.

So, I know that you're all dying to know where you can send me awesome packages full of photos and soccer updates and non-meltey candies. My address will be:

Chantel Welch

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 10537

Niamey, Niger

Africa

hugs, chan