23rd Birthday and Voodoo!

I celebrated my 23rd birthday with some other volunteers in Cotonou the Friday before, we went out dancing until the wee hours of the morning. We all had a really fantastic time. Then I had 3 birthday dinners, one with my postmate, another with the family in my concession, and the last with my French professor and his family. I had a great time, of course I missed many of you too, but having so many good friends here helps! I had another birthday dinner this week, I guess you could call that Beninese time. Another example of Beninese time is when you invite women to come to a formation for 9AM and they all arrive at 11:30…yeah that’s normal here. I was freaking out the first time thinking that no one was going to come, haha!

Work is going well! I am doing around 2 formations every week as well as going out into the smaller villages and working. I am working with other volunteers in Benin on a country wide spelling bee with the students in the US equivalent of 6^th and 7^th grade. The boy and girl winners in my village will be going to the national competition in Parakou in April. They are really excited and working hard. I got my GAD (gender and development) grant for the computer class I am going to start teaching at the school for girls in Premier and Terminal (senior high school, freshman college). I will start teaching the first week in March and I am super excited, but nervous since it’s all in French. They are definitely going to have to be patient with me. I also put in a grant to do an HIV/AIDS mural and education session in Yêvié at my ONG towards the end of March. I should hear back in a few weeks. I am still working on the plans for the health camp in August as well, but that is going to take quite a long time.

I have been to some voodoo ceremonies over the past few weeks, not to mention that the “oro” has been coming out at night. They make this really eerie, scratchy record sound at night and you aren’t allowed to leave the house when they are out. Unfortunately this poses a problem when you have to go the bathroom in the middle of the night, but I won’t fill in the details of what I had to do, you can imagine I’m sure. I was pretty scarred the other night, not to mention I was having really bad hallucinations because of my malaria prophylactics. Hallucinations are a side effect of the medication, as well as many other things, but I don’t want to switch to the daily medication. Plus, having hallucinations is a pretty surreal experience that I have never had before, especially not in a small village in the middle of Africa.

I went to visit a friend, in Oudeme, she is an environmental volunteer. She lives on a lake, like literally check out the picture, that's the view from her porch! It was so beautiful in her villageand there was a constant breeze, which would be good for me considering that everywhere I go in my village they ask me if I have just finished doing "the sport" since I am constantly sweating, haha. Her second level porch is larger than my entire house. Her village was voodoo crazy, but the people were fantastic. I mean really I thought I was in a heavy voodoo area, but I think we are pretty even. We had a great time making a traditional Beninese dinner together and hanging out with some of her friends. We also met up with about 7 other volunteers in Dogbo one night and made homemade lasagna and chocolate cake. It was absolutely delicious, we devoured 2 chocolate cakes in about 15 minutes. It's always great to spend time with other volunteers, although my French professor hates it when I get home and can't speak French, haha! I get back into the groove after 30 minutes or so. After my two week IST in December, I was miserable, I had been with an American everyday for almost an entire month. I think it's going to be worse when I take my vacation in May, we will see, it's right around the corner!

I hope everyone is doing well. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!! And talk to you soon.

Santa Claus in Benin!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! It was and still is very busy here in Benin, from Tabaski (a Muslim holiday in December based on the moons) until the end of the voodoo festival in March it is a party, especially in the South, lucky for me! As you saw in the title, yes Santa Claus came to my village. One of my friend’s, another volunteer put on a Santa costume that I found in Cotonou a few weeks before Christmas. My family in my concession was thrilled; I even made him bring out the gifts I got them in a sac. It was a great time and I made some brownies and banana bread. I had never made brownies from scratch, so I thought they were bad, but my friend told me that’s what they are supposed to taste like…haha shows that I am used to the box brownies I guess.

I had a great Mexican dinner of sweet potato and cheese enchiladas with some other volunteers a few days after Christmas, and then spent New Year’s with my host family in Porto Novo. My friend Mani and I got us all matching tissue outfits and we had a great time dancing, eating, and just hanging out with the family. I also walked to this village that borders my commune, I thought it was on the water and it was in October, but now it is dry season so there is no water. I was shocked, it was still really beautiful though and these people live half of the year on water! The architecture of the houses is amazing as you can see and I did still get to cross the river in a boat. I would really like to do some work there, especially about malaria.

My local language is still coming along, I hang out at the market almost everyday after work to listen and practice with my maman, and it helps me out. Work is going okay, I had a meeting with the director of the CEG (middle and high school) about a summer camp I want to plan for August and about teaching computer class, it went well and I’m excited about getting everything underway. I am starting formations every Thursday at my ONG, which isn’t a huge thing, but it’s still getting necessary information out there. I hope everyone is doing well, stay warm, while I continue to try and stay cool!

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!!!!!!!!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!! I didn’t do much on the actual day, had dinner with my post mate, vegetable and tofu stirfry and a tomato and cucumber salad, it was quite delicious. But today 15 other volunteers and I are getting together and having a potluck style Thanksgiving lunch, which I am really excited about. Today I am also going to teach English at an ONG for refugees of other Sub-Saharan African countries, I’m a little nervous, but hey I would say I know English pretty well, haha!

The past month has really flown by. I had a good post visit with my APCD, but nothing really exceptional to report. I helped with two eye screenings one here in Zinvie and the other in Houegbo where a married couple is posted and a friend from my training class, Satin, is also nearby. Her village is gorgeous! I am taking anyone that comes to visit to see it, it was breathtaking. I think she is at one of the most rural posts in Benin. We tested over 300 children between the two screenings, so I would say it was a success. The next thing is working with an eye doctor in Cotonou and a really neat organization called Mercy Ships to get them a professional screening and glasses. Mercy Ships is basically a hospital on a boat that ports at developing countries for around 10-12 months and performs a variety of medical treatment from dental care to orthopedic surgery. They will be in Benin starting next March I think and I am planning on sending an email to see if I can volunteer for a week or so.

Last weekend there were a couple of days of voodoo festivals in my village. I went with my family to watch and it was amazing. The costumes were gorgeous and the music and dancing were spectacular, I had such a great time. I am sad because one of the big Muslim celebrations will be when I am in Porto Novo for my in-service training so I will miss it. 2 weeks of training—Dec. 7^th to Dec. 21^st—that’s a long time! On the plus side I get to see all the other Health and Environment volunteers, my host family, and stay in a hotel. We are staying at the Songhai Center which is a really interesting self-sustaining agricultural thing. I don’t know that much about it at this point, but I’m sure I will by the end of two weeks.

All my love and Happy Holidays! Go Tarheel Basketball and Football!!!