Live from Niger!

Hey everyone! This week I’m in Niger participating in the Cure Salee festival for the 4th year in a row. The festival is held in Ingall, Niger every fall at the end of the rainy season. Tuareg and Fulani herders from across the region descend on the city for its salty watering-holes, essential for their herds’ survival in the harsh desert climate, and for a few days of celebration before returning to their traditional grazing lands. The Cure provides a unique opportunity to engage this population and affect health and security across multiple countries in an area three times the size of Texas. Below are some photos I’ve taken so far on my journey. Stay tuned for more updates!

It’s a bit steamy in Niger but is great to be back to support the Cure Salee festival and US efforts to promote peace and defeat extremism.

A dusty African sunrise this morning at my US military hotel.

Inventorying veterinary kits with Niger’s Ministry of Livestock and Breeding before distributing them to graduates of SoA’s scholarship program at the Cure Salee Festival.

Veterinary kits for the graduates of SoA’s scholarship program are all ready to go. These kits will allow graduates to get to work immediately, improving livestock and human health, incomes, and opportunity across the region.

I’m on the ground at an SoA sponsored livestock vaccination site in central Niger as part of our annual support to the Cure Salée Festival.

Here I am donating a kit of veterinary supplies to a former SoA scholarship recipient alongside Niger’s Prime Minister.

Here I am rocking a traditional Fulani hat at the Cure Salée festival in Niger.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to see more updates! Best, Chris VJ
Chris is a US Army veteran having served as an Armor officer with a deployment to Baghdad in 2008-09 and then as a Special Operations Civil Affairs Officer with multiple deployments to Nepal in 2011-12.

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No endorsement of Spirit of America by the US Department of Defense, Department of State, or US personnel is intended or implied.

Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 20-1687786

“You don't have to wear a uniform to serve the nation.™” and “Patriotism without politics.™” are trademarked by Spirit of America.

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