Eating with your hands and bringing water on your head!

IST or in-service training is going pretty well, learning lots about funding opportunities, project ideas, and other stuff to be a more efficient volunteer. I am having a great time with my friends. It’s an amazing group, plus enjoying the air conditioning and running water! I have also had dinner with my host family a few times this week and it’s always great to spend time with them. They are amazed at how far along my languages have come, which is encouraging.

I just wanted to write a blog entry about day-to-day life in Benin. A friend from the US asked me if I took my clothes to the Laundromat…so I figured I left out a few things. I get up around 7AM every morning because everyone is up cleaning, cooking, etc…aka making noise. I greet my family and sit around for a while, and then I sweep my house and usually dust off cobwebs and wipe down my tables, it gets super dirty here fast. After a while I get ready for work and shortly head off on my bike. My neighbors don’t have electricity and no one in my village has water except for the nuns. I eat bouille aka porridge at work with some peanuts for breakfast most mornings, sometimes with fruit too. The work schedule is going to change though because as of now I am spending too much time in my office and would rather work on project planning and finding other organizations to collaborate with. I return home in the early afternoon. Sometimes I stop and hang out with people that live along the road to integrate into the community better and practice local language. When I get home I sweep again, read, study French, teach English, French tutoring, practice Fon (local language) with Maman, among other things. I go on walks, hang out at the market, help prepare dinner, listen to the radio. I could go on, but I think that is enough examples.

Laundry and water. Water comes to me on a child’s head and then goes into a large basin. I use that water to cook, bathe, drink, and do laundry. The kids help me with my laundry because I am not allowed to do it myself since my fingers bleed, what a whimp! It takes about an hour to do my laundry for the week we use three large basins and everything gets scrubbed and cleaned twice, then rinsed and put on the line to dry. I wash all my undergarments in the back of my house because it’s taboo to have them on the line. I do the dishes using two bins on with soapy water and one with regular water, hand wash everything and then leave it on the table to dry. And we have latrines; it’s basically like a port-a-potty. If you want more details feel free to email me, haha!

The Beninese have a very high amount of carbohydrates in their diet. Pote (not spelled properly) is sort of their version of mashed potatoes; it’s made with cornflower and water. There are three different types, pote rouge, pote blanche, and pote noir. A moderation on that is akassa, it is fermented pote (not my favorite). I think I have decided I don’t like fermented food in general… Then each is served with a sauce and sometimes a protein (fish, cheese, soy, beef, chicken, eggs). In the southern part of the country where I am there are more choices, in the north it is very different. Most people can afford fruit, which varies based on the season (bananas, mangos, oranges, guavas, pineapple, avocados). In the north there is igname pilee which is awesome and tons of cheese! Two or three women hand mash the yams with these big mallets into these tall wooden basin things. This is served with a peanut sauce and a protein…delicious! It’s easy to buy bread and people have cous cous, pasta, and/or rice for meals as well.

The sauces: basic red sauce (tomatoes, piment (spicy peppers), onions) , sauce legume (greens, tomatoes, onions, piment), ginger red sauce, peanut sauce, and there are other variations. There are many types of means as well. Beans are served with rice or gari (like the leftovers after they take the corn to the mill…I think), it’s really good though! You can get vegetables in the cities and there are supermarkets with “white” people food too. You use milk powder if you want milk, some villagers have their own animals for meat consumption, and many have private gardens as well. People use lots of oil and lots of salt when they cook. There is a variety of street food available at all times. Tons of fried stuffà fried balls of dough, fried bananas, fried yams, fried manioc (another carb, similar to a potato), etc. Cooking happens over wood or coal fires and in the cities some people have gas. I eat most meals with the family in my concession and cook once in a while for them and myself. I have made macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, cakes, and banana bread for example. It’s hard to cook for Beninese because they are very picky so I am cautious about what I cook. I could go on and on. Again questions, just ask.

Transportation throughout the country is really fun (sarcasm—except I really do like the motos)! There are hardly any paved roads, so travel time depends on whether or not it is the dry or rainy season. For short travel distances people travel by moto. They are motorcycles and you have a driver, you have to discuss the price or haggle. Oh yes you have to haggle prices pretty much all the time, not my favorite thing to do. Then you take bush taxis, 16-20 passenger buses or the large commuter buses for longer distances. A bush taxi—there are 7 place taxis and 9 and up place taxis. Compared to the US a compact 4 door car is normally a 7 place. There is the driver two people share the front seat and 4 people are crammed in the back. There are not really enforced driving rules, it can be kind of scary, and I’m surprised there are not more accidents. Animals, food and other baggage are tied to the top, put in the back, tied to motos, carried by hand on moto, among other ways. Travel can be slow and frustrating, unless you have one of those white, big, 4 wheel drive SUVs. For example my post is about 15 miles to Cotonou the commercial capital and most days it takes about an 1.5 hours and it has taken up to 3 hours before…crazy huh?!

There’s a bit more detailed information about my life in Benin…I hope you enjoyed it. I also hope the holiday season is going well for everyone and wish you the best! Talk to you soon. Hugs and kisses!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!