Dear Donors, dear Friends
At the end of the year I joined Mohamed in Niger, where within two weeks we visited
all the different projects. Since we had springlike temperatures in Switzerland at the time, climate change was easy for me this time. During the last three days, however, a heavy sandstorm caught us and the sandy winds filled all chinks and wholes immediately. It was difficult to breathe and the sight was all gone. Well, the desert really showed us her merciless face.....
ENMIGRAW Office in Arlit
After a very warm welcome we inaugurated the new office in Arlit. Since November 2006 Awjem Toukou had been working there for us in a parttime charge.
He handles bookkeeping, permissions if needed, brings in new ideas and is of undisputable support to our projects. Financial plans have to be set up and all the Tuareg applications for support have to be checked and reviewed. Awjem brings in experience from other NGO work which is a great advantage for us.
At the same time we have provided someone with a job opportunity.
He handles bookkeeping, permissions if needed, brings in new ideas and is of undisputable support to our projects. Financial plans have to be set up and all the Tuareg applications for support have to be checked and reviewed. Awjem brings in experience from other NGO work which is a great advantage for us.
At the same time we have provided someone with a job opportunity.
Garden in Gougaram
Once more I was delighted to see the tremendous progress that has taken place since last year. Now the garden is very well cultivated by Embelwa, who can be met in the plantations almost day and night – a truly hard working man! His family lives nearby and his grown up sons give him a hand with the heavy labour like irrigating the land or digging or lugging stones.
The carrots, leek, beetroot and beans we had brought last year were planted and the young sprouts are already stretching gaily towards the sun.
Onions, tomatoes, maize and salad have grown even higher and I am hopeful that we can harvest the first fruit in half a year’s time.
With the idea to create some shade and also to improve the food situation of the local population we had bought a couple of fruit trees in Niamey. After a long and hot ride all the way up to north Niger Embelwa planted the mango, lemon and orange trees along the beds.
For me quite a symbolic moment!
Donkey handcart
Great thanks to Susi, who donated a donkey handcart to the women of Gougaram. If you look at the picture next you can guess their joy from the laughing faces. Now they can fill and transport all the water containers in one go, which saves a lot of time and makes their life easier. Also the supply of firewood or transport of tents and household material while moving is much easier now! In addition they can also let the handcart to other women in the neighbourhood and generate some income with it.
They are calling "Tannemertnam Susi"!
Kitchen of the nomadic school in Gougaram
In a very short time only ENMIGRAW succeeded to renovate the school kitchen which was black of smoke and out of repair. Now it shines in a bright gloss. Even an escape hole for the smoke of fire has been installed by now. It seems that Swiss life has already rubbed off on Mohamed!
After a meeting with the school director we came to know that the school is now beeing used to a capacity of up to 92%. Before we started to supply the locals with free food like milk, vegetables and meat it was only 56%. Parents are happy with our engagement and send their kids to school now. This increase means that the costs for subsistance also have risen constantly. The cook who managed the kitchen already at the time when Mohamad was there cannot handle this onset alone anymore and has had an aid at his side since the beginning of the year, payed by ENMIGRAW.
The broken roof of the primary school has been repaired by the community. So the kids are out of danger from stones falling down from the roof.
Well of Ani Aghr
Unfortunately we also had to cope with a throwback.
As mentioned in the autumn news when digging the well we were confronted with a huge slab of sandstone. It was possible to remove it with great effort but below we reached another layer of rock which was even harder. The expert opinion of the geologist from the Uranium Society in Arlit showed a disappointing result. To get through the layer would require a heavy compressor or even a drillmachine. Such costs are beyond our reach and we had to accept our limits and to give up.
As mentioned in the autumn news when digging the well we were confronted with a huge slab of sandstone. It was possible to remove it with great effort but below we reached another layer of rock which was even harder. The expert opinion of the geologist from the Uranium Society in Arlit showed a disappointing result. To get through the layer would require a heavy compressor or even a drillmachine. Such costs are beyond our reach and we had to accept our limits and to give up.
Establishing ENMIGRAW in Niger
Four years ago when we decided to found ENMIGRAW, we were conscious of the great efforts that would be needed and that we would be on demand for a long breath to successfully bring in sustainable help for his region. Therefore we consider the failure in case of the well of Ani Aghr as quite normal.
But our successes, the progress which we report regularly show that we are on the right path with our concept of help for self-help.
Today’s cooperation with the local population can be judged a great success. After some scepticism in the beginning they now contact ENMIGRAW directly with their different requests. The Tuareg Nomads have understood meanwhile that our longterm projects of development collaboration will lead to an integral change in their future. We can only go this path together!. We highly respect their culture as well as the local conditions and organize our projects in a manner that we can act successfully with the means at disposal.
With your support the living conditions of the Tuareg Nomads in Talak can be improved sustainably!