Dirty Business

by Lorraine Berry

With friends in the center of the village

Rosalynn Frederick '98 owes her very existence to the Peace Corps. Her father was a volunteer in El Salvador when he met her mother, a native of that country. After their marriage they split their time between Central America and the United States, and as a child Frederick spent five years living in Belize. She majored in Spanish education at Ithaca College, and when she herself decided to volunteer for service in the Peace Corps it seemed natural that she would be sent to Latin America, perhaps to teach English. Instead, she spent her term as a natural resource management extension agent --- in Niger.

Her primary responsibility, as defined by the Peace Corps, was to help villagers prevent wind and water erosion of their soil. Once she arrived, however, she was on her own. "I soon discovered that my real job was to help villagers assess their own needs," she says. "It was a new idea for them." Frederick found that there was a pervasive attitude in the villages of this Muslim country that "everything is left up to Allah. It was quite a challenge to get them to participate." But she feels that she eventually planted seeds of empowerment that continue to grow today.

Partway through an hours-long braiding session

For Frederick, one of the strongest feelings that arose from her service was the honor she felt at being accepted by the people of Niger. "It is an ancient culture," she says. "People still cook their meals by fire. There is no electricity, no running water. I felt so lucky to be able to experience that culture."

She recalls one amazing day: "I was walking to see a woman I had become friends with. It was about a five-mile walk through the bush and there was no path, so I always pointed myself in the direction of my friend's house and set off. It meant that I never went the same way twice. One day I stumbled across a household that I had never seen before. In front of the house was an old woman pounding millet. I was going to skirt around the house to give her privacy, but she saw me and called me closer. Then she took me inside and prepared a large gourd of a sweet millet drink for me. Here was a woman living in the middle of nowhere and being generous to a complete stranger. She apologized to me because, even though she had chickens, she didn't have any eggs. She told me to come back, that she would give me eggs. Eggs are very scarce there. I was really moved."

Frederick's life has taken a different direction since her Peace Corps service. While she's qualified to teach Spanish, she's doing something she fell in love with in Niger --- agriculture. She's working on an organic vegetable farm while mulling her options for the future. And although she is pleased with the work she did as a volunteer, she is quick to point out, "I gained more than I could have ever given." For Frederick, a lot more than plants took hold in the soil of Niger.