NPCA Profiling Volunteers

Help Take Part By Contributing Your Own Submissions

The National Peace Corps Association is looking for Peace Corps volunteers, returned or current, who are taking action on climate change. The goal is to show how climate change affects their country of service, and to spotlight the activities that they are involved in to help reduce humanity’s effect on the environment.

The advocacy team at the NPCA is calling for submissions in the form of videos or testimonials that you would be willing to share with others showing how climate change affects communities in Niger. This is a great opportunity to showcase how this important issue affects the fragile environment that so many Nigeriens depend on.

You can contact the NPCA advocacy office by email: advocacy@rpcv.org, or through the NPCA web site.

If you don’t have videos, you can also contribute by submitting a Climate Change Profile, to highlight the work you do on a professional or personal level to fight climate change.

Please visit the NPCA’s web site to submit your own profile:

http://www.rpcv.org/pages/survey.cfm?id=60

You can see the profiles that have already been submitted here.

http://www.rpcv.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=1412

Thank you for helping to raise awareness of this critical issue!

Ingrid Patetta’s documentary, At The Center Of The Earth – Of Wells and Men, has recently won a Golden Giraffe award at the International Environmental Film Festival of Niamey.

Honoring the traditional know-how of the Hausa well-diggers of Niger, the film reveals the pride, the tradition, and the determination of these Sahelian men who dig the earth with their bare hands in order to access water.

The film has also been chosen as an Official Selection the represent the African continent for the International Water and Cinema Events World Water Forum, taking place in Istanbul in March of 2009.

We congratulate Ingrid and hope she continues to produce more wonderful and educational films about Niger.

Leslie Clark and the Nomad Foundation are putting together a festival on a ranch in the hills above Ojai, California to help raise money for the Center for Nomadic Life.

The Center for Nomadic Life is designed to meet the basic needs of nomads living near Ingall as their life becomes increasingly challenging. Tickets are still available at the Nomadic Festival web site.

Come spend the day enjoying art, exhibitions, food, music, and more, all for a great cause!

Full URL: http://www.nomadfoundation.org/festival.html

Former Peace Corps director Jim Bullington has released a book about his service in Niger. In Adventures in Service with Peace Corps in Niger Jim gives the reader “an informed perspective on poverty, development, politics, culture, and security” in our favorite region of the Sahel.

Come check out this and other books in the Books section of our web site.

Full URL: http://www.friendsofniger.org/features/RPCV_works

Partnership With Peace Corps Niger And Friends Of Niger Supports Young Girls Scholarship Program

On Friday, September 28th, and Saturday, September 29th, the EstroGenius Festival will present Voices Of Africa, a cross cultural collaboration with Peace Corps Niger, and Friends of Niger, to benefit the Young Girls Scholarship Program (YGSP). Voices of Africa features stories, poems, and songs written by Nigerien young women and performed by New York City teenagers at Manhattan Theatre Source.

The program was created by Ginger O’Neil, a former EstroGenius Festival volunteer currently serving a two year Peace Corps appointment in Niger, along with co-creators Michelle Stoner and Sheena Washington. Ginger teaches reading and writing along with music classes to young women in her village, Birni N’Gaoure, and throughout Niger. She has transcribed her students’ words, poems, and stories and sent them to New York City to be performed by teenage girls.

Voices of Africa performances will be held Friday, September 28 at 6:00 pm and Saturday, September 28 at 2:30 pm at Manhattan Theatre Source (177 MacDougal Street, between Waverly Pl. & W. 8th St; Subway: A/C/E or B/D/F/V to W 4th St.). Tickets are $15 at http://www.theatresource.org or (212) 260-4698.

All proceeds benefit the Young Girls Scholarship Program which provides academic scholarships to Nigerien girls.