This was truly the first relaxing day since we arrived in Niger. We had completed all that we had set out to do and it was time to reflect and spend time with friends on our final day. Ramatou and her mom, Fatimata, or Fati (the Mayor’s wife), joined us at the hotel for two hours. What lovely, elegant and intelligent women. We had a great time outside on the terrace and I wore the dress that Ramatou had designed and made for me last year…….. Next year she is thinking of making me one in turquoise.. She works at UNICEF, but she should definitely consider opening her own Boutique and designing clothing.

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I met the Mayor at 7:30 this morning for my trip to Liboré. Alioun his son was driving and it was great to finally meet him. Ed was planning to leave with the ORBIS bus to go to Liboré at 8:30am for the day of outreach.

We arrived in Liboré shortly before 8am and already saw many men and women and children lining up to see the doctors. There was anticipation in the air. They were unfailingly polite and sweet and kind and ended up waiting in the hot sun all day until it was their turn to be seen. Before the ORBIS bus arrived, I gave my video camera to Alioun since he loves taking videos and we both filmed some of the people and interviewed the Mayor and Chef as they were not part of the Elder interviews on Thursday.

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Today ORBIS staff under Perry’s guidance, went out to Liboré to train 17 health representatives, one from every village. From all reports, it went amazingly well. Thrilling for me to know how much ORBIS is accomplishing in Niger and in Liboré.

It was yet another great day….a touch less hectic for the first time since our arrival. Hamani came to pick us up and take us to the hospital as Ed wanted to spend time with the ORBIS doctors as they examined their post op patients from the day before. While Ed was there, Hamani and I talked business for the next hour – planning all the photos needed, the pen pal scrapbooks, the sights for the next day, and made a plan to meet later to discuss our accounting and review the books. For the next few hours, I remained in the room or at the outside terrace, working and preparing for the big meeting with the P4K committee at 5pm.

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It is midnight and we are just getting into our room. What a day. We were picked up at 7:45 am to go to Liboré, to the village of Guireginde, to launch the first ever Farmers of the Future program. There were two armed soldiers on our jeep escorting us every step of the way holding long rifles to protect us. The Mayor was taking no chances with our safety.

We (Robin, Ed, Dini, Ron, Jonathan, Corey (son of an ORBIS volunteer doctor who had been tremendously helpful to ORBIS and us) arrived at the village and there were many elders, women and children waiting for us and creating a circle around us. We met Dov Pasternak for the first time after a year of corresponding. Dov works with ICRISAT, an international organization that works in the developing world to improve agricultural opportunities. He created the Farmers of the Future program (FOF) as a way to alleviate poverty. The theory is that if you train young primary school children to properly irrigate their land, plant vegetable gardens, fruit trees and fatten animals, and then market their produce and invest their proceeds, then they will no longer farm for subsistence only, but to earn a living for the future. I heard of Dov from an article I read and wanted to bring his program to Liboré. While he had experimented with this project on a small scale in Sadoré, a village 45 km away from Liboré, this was to be the very first FOF official pilot program in the world.

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