Rest in Peace Kate Puzey

The month of March has really flown by. I am doing okay under the circumstances. It has been a hard couple of weeks with the recent murder of a fellow volunteer. We are trying to support each other and stay strong. There was a beautiful memorial in Cotonou last week which was mainly for PC volunteers and staff. Some of her very close friends made a powerpoint to her favorite music, they did a fantastic job. Her smile is unforgettable. There will be a more official memorial at the ambassador’s house this Wednesday.

This past weekend we had a fund raiser in Parakou. Parakou is a city in kind of the middle of the country, but to us down here, it’s the North. Many of the volunteers came, I would say about 85-90 in total. We had a great time and it’s helpful to be together right now. Friday night we had a talent show and date auction. The date auction was so much fun, we made over 3 million FCFA for GAD (gender and development). GAD is a part of PC-Benin and there is a volunteer coordinator, it strives for gender equality in Benin. As volunteers we do many different activities with the money, but the large events are the Camp Glow’s which empower young girls. Also the money from the fund raiser goes to funding small project grants, like the grant I received for teaching my computer class. The date I won was for a day of fun in Cotonou---beach, mani/pedi, massage, dinner, drinks and dancing! I am very excited about it! Then on Saturday there was a dinner and silent auction. I won a gift certificate at a hotel in Cotonou for a buffet dinner for 2. The money goes to a great cause and the event was a blast. I also ate delicious vegetable lasagna!!! Then there was a pool and dancing, which was entertaining because the dance floor was right next to the pool, you can imagine the shenanigans I’m sure.

My girls’ computer class is going well, we are working on clicking and mouse control, the girls are practicing writing their names in paint this week. I am happy with it, I have one class of 6 girls and another of 4. They’re all sweethearts and I enjoy them, 2 are very bright. There is an event in Ouidah in May for girls that are interested in information technology. I am thinking about taking one of them, but we will see. I have a lot to do! I also got selected to be a PCVT, a trainer for the next group of volunteers coming in July. It should be really fun, lots of quality time with my host family! I am doing my HIV/AIDS mural this week and totally not prepared yet, but as many of you know I can handle throwing things together at the last minute. I will be super busy all week though and I have 3 other volunteers coming to stay at my house to help out. PSI (population services international) is coming to help and CPEC (government HIV/AIDS branch). CPEC is providing a HIV/AIDS testing counselor and I am super excited that we can offer free testing. My health center seems to be pretty excited about it too! The grant completion report is then due Tuesday of next week as well as my quarterly report the end of next week, so again busy busy. I am nervous about how the mural will turn out with the lack of artists in our group, but we will do our best.

On a side note the reason I was sick all the time was because I had a parasite in my stomach. But I have now taken the regimen of medicine and am feeling better, hopefully we killed all the little suckers, haha. I hope all is well stateside, talk to you all soon.

Work and Bike Tour!

I just got back from my bike tour today. So yes, what is a bike tour? Well it is a volunteer led project where we ride our bikes from village to village over 4-5 days and give information sessions. This bike tour was for HIV/AIDS. There were 8 PCVs and then we had 2 other Beninese volunteers and translators. It was a great time, we did 8 sessions and biked from the village of Sakete to Porto Novo. I worked with the groups of women mostly, but it was hard to get them to understand that they could have a say in condom use. Here in Benin and throughout many countries in Africa it is difficult for women to have power in their relationships. Meaning...more bluntly...if men want to have sex, they have to have sex, with or without a condom. It was awesome having these older women in village put on condoms who had never even touched one before. Yesterday at one of the sessions I did a condom demonstration in front of the whole group--in French!!! It was a group of about 85 men and 5 women and they were all 30 and up I would say. It was crazy for them having this white girl do a condom demonstration for them, then of course I had to do the female condom. Then one of the men trying to be a trouble maker, says well I'm too big for that. Ha, then I put the condom over my hand and down my forearm and said oh really?! Haha, it was hilarious watching his face and the others. Anyway it was a fun few days and I think the volunteers that planned it did a great job, plus now I have two sweet new t-shirts!

I have been doing some good sensibilisations at work, my nutrition one last week was fantastic. And for the first time in Benin, every child I weighed from the village was a healthy weight. I must have said good work to the mom's like 5 times in local language. I was shocked, this village is so small and there isn't much there, which goes to show you can make it work even if you don't have much. Last Monday we celebrated the 2nd wedding anniversary of my French professor and his wife. It was such a tiring day. During the day my post mate and I took the two children who won the spelling bee in Zinvie to Cotonou to celebrate. We went out to lunch, to the beach, the market, we checked out the boats and fishing areas, then we took them to this little amusement park by the airport. I was exhausted by the end of it, not to mention sunburned and dehydrated...we were supposed to go to the art museum, but the exhibit was closed already so I didn't plan on walking around in the sun all day. The kids had a good time and the one girl had never left Zinvie before, so she was just amazed with everything we did. We got back and then made banana bread, salad, and cut up fruit for dinner. We didn't finish eating and everything until almost 11PM and by the time I got in my bed, I couldn't keep my eyes open. It was worth it though and I think my professor and his family and friends had a great time. I am still working on plans for my HIV/AIDS mural project and other things I have mentioned before. I leave for Burkina Faso tomorrow for the week for a little vacation. It is the Pan-African Film Festival, in Ouaga the capital of Burkina. A bunch of other volunteers are going and it should be an awesome time. Now I will be able to say that I have been to another country besides Benin!

I hope all is well, talk to you soon!

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!