Emergency room doctor Jack Saunders recently returned to the African country of Niger, nearly 40 years after he served there in the Peace Corps from 1966-69



“I guess I was most impressed at how Niger has continued to be such a pleasant place in spite of the tripling of the population. No cops with machine guns, no shakedowns at checkpoints, no bribes requested, and little in the way of angry looks and reverse racism. It's amazing to feel absolutely safe while walking around in a large noisy city with no white folks in sight. I get the impression that although things are run quite differently there, there are actually run well, in a sense, given the extreme poverty of the nation as a whole.”

Emergency room doctor Jack Saunders recently returned to the African country of Niger, nearly 40 years after he served there in the Peace Corps from 1966-69

40 years later, Peace Corps volunteer returns to Africa

By Paul Boerger

Published: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 5:28 PM CDT

Caption: Jack Saunders, right, a Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta emergency room doctor, and Joel Neuburg returned to Africa nearly 40 years after serving in Niger in the Peace Corps.

Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta emergency room doctor Jack Saunders recently returned to the African country of Niger, nearly 40 years after he served there in the Peace Corps from 1966-69.

Saunders made his recent trip with two other men with whom he served in the Peace Corps and his 27 year old son Adam.

The trio had worked primarily in the village of Lido and Saunders said he saw huge changes in some areas and little change in others.

Saunders, Sandy Leeder and Joel Neuburg primarily worked in the village of Lido. They came together this year to revisit the villages of their youth and view a total eclipse that coincidentally had optimal viewing from the area.

“We were there in the '60s to teach them rudimentary improvements in agriculture and build a rural agriculture cooperative,” Saunders said. “I didn't recognize Lido. The streets had changed and modern buildings, by their standards, had gone up.”

Saunders and Neuburg had maintained sporadic contact since their days in the Peace Corps and a call from Leeder to view the eclipse brought the trio back to Africa.

Niger is located in northwestern Africa below Algeria and Libya on the edge of the Sahara desert.

Saunders kept a journal during the trip, and quotes from his writings are mixed with a recent interview for this story.

By our standards, Lido is a primitive village with water drawn by hand from wells, no electricity and shelters made of dirt bricks or primitive stalk huts. Millet is the main crop with white rice purchased as a supplement.

Saunders said the population had grown from 1,000 to approximately 4,500.

From Saunders' journal:

“The town in HUGE. It is unrecognizable to me. It has quadrupled in size. There are many large trees, which is nice.”

“Everyone used to have a horse. I rode a horse until I got a small car in my last year there. I spent several years on horseback,” Saunders said. “There were no horses left. They had to sell them because they couldn't afford to feed them. There are lots of motor scooters and a few cars now.”

Another large change that struck Saunders was the dearth of manufactured goods.

“There is so much plastic. Everything used to be made out of biodegradable local materials,” Saunders said. “Now there are so many imported items and they wind up on the ground as trash. They have no tradition of cleaning up.”

From Saunders journal:

“There are plastic wrappers everywhere except in the swept dirt floors of the compounds and houses. The half mile between the rouga and the town is strewn with faded pieces of clear, blue, and black plastic.

When we were PCVs, there was relatively little trash because everything was biodegradable. Most everything was made from local materials, so there was little plastic. We noticed that nearly everything in the roadside stalls is imported.”

Saunders said poverty has grown in his absence.

“There has been a tremendous increase in poverty in the villages. They are no longer able to sustain themselves,” Saunders said. “The populations have grown and there is not enough water. The Sahara desert is growing. The dust from the desert is like fog. When we were there before, the farmers would get 100 bags of millet from an acre. Now they get ten.”

Saunders noted that all is not grim and what may seem like a small thing to us is large for the villagers.

“We measure progress in huge leaps. They went from one millet sack on the back of a donkey to three millet sacks and the driver on a cart pulled by a donkey. For them, that's a huge increase in productivity,” Saunders said. “The millet for the most part is still pounded by hand, but a few gas engine mills have appeared.”

Saunders said despite the problems, the people of Niger are hard working and gracious.

“There is a tremendous increase in energy for the people to better themselves,” Saunders said. “We were able to travel in one of the poorest countries in the world in complete safety. We were never felt threatened or asked for a bribe.”

Saunders said they were remembered by a few of the Lido villagers.

“Sandy had married and divorced Kawaji the daughter of the village chief. She was still there. She was a beautiful young woman and was still a very good looking 62 year old,” Saunders said.

From Saunders journal:

“To our surprise the old chief was still there, somewhat blind but otherwise unchanged. We also greeted the chief's father-probably about 90 years old and blind also.

We toured the town and visited for 2 hours or so. Many townspeople recognized and greeted Joel and me, but some got me and Sandy mixed up. Joel recognized some of the people, and I only remembered the chief.”

Saunders said there are few men in the villages because as a pastoral people they are out moving the cattle for hundreds of miles for grazing or have moved to the cities in search of work and money.

“The women were hot for for my son Adam because they knew he could make them rich,” Saunders said.

Saunders said although Niger is a democracy, chiefs still head the villages.

“When were there in the 60s', we tried to institute democratic elections in a village. We were escorted out of town at gun point,” Saunders said.

Saunders said Islamic influence has grown dramatically since he was there last.

“Islam is taking over. Libya and Saudi Arabia are supporting building mosques and madrasses,” Saunders said. “Unmarried women would go bare breasted when we where there before. I didn't see a single bare breast on the trip. Women in the cities are wearing veils.”

When they left the country, the trio left behind almost everything they had brought.

“They are so poor. We gave them just about everything, sleeping bags, flashlights, luggage, medicine and clothing,” Saunders said.

In addition, Saunders had brought medical supplies for the missionary hospital and notebook paper and pens for the children.

“Niger is looking ahead to the future. They have cut down on government monopolies and there are cell towers everywhere along the highways,” Saunders said. “There is a tremendous amount of commercial activity.”

Saunders said the Peace Corps work they did in Niger was “temporary.”

“We were part of the green revolution adding fertilizer into growing crops,” Saunders said. “They can't afford fertilizer anymore and the population has outstripped the production.”

But Saunders sees bright spots in the Niger's future.

From Saunders journal:

“I guess I was most impressed at how Niger has continued to be such a pleasant place in spite of the tripling of the population. No cops with machine guns, no shakedowns at checkpoints, no bribes requested, and little in the way of angry looks and reverse racism. It's amazing to feel absolutely safe while walking around in a large noisy city with no white folks in sight. I get the impression that although things are run quite differently there, there are actually run well, in a sense, given the extreme poverty of the nation as a whole.”

“This is an African country that is taking care of itself. It's beautiful to see,” Saunders said.

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