Success

Imagine being a girl going to school in Benin

where you might have to walk miles each day just to get to class

now imagine going to school with 8 hours of manual labor/chores to do each day (boys have none)

and imagine staying in school despite being made fun of in and out of the classroom, and being pressured to get married and get pregnant at a very young age

and now imagine, despite all this, getting straight As.


These are the girls I am working with this week, Camp Success de la Donga. We have recruited the 3 top girls from each school in the Donga, one from three different classes (classes are based on merit, not age, so the age range we have is from about 8 - 16 years old, 57 girls total). We have them here for the week, all expenses paid, and are running sessions on how to succeed in school, how to recognize malnutrition and the basic food groups, what to do before/during/after sexual assault, how to reach out to their communities, how and why you should choose a career path, how to brush their teeth, what the negative effects of early pregnancy are, how to be self-confident, how to play sports, and many more.

Some of those subjects probably seem pretty easy, and they are. These girls don't know these things simply because no one has ever told them.

The concept behind this camp was to mobilize the girls throughout the region, so that they may inspire and influence the girls and the people in their respective areas - 3 girls from each school so that only one girl doesn't have the burden of spreading this information by herself.

It will be a fun rest of the week, and after that: American Blitzkrieg!

This is a 2 day bout here in Djougou, the American Volunteers against the German Volunteers in honor of the 4th of July. Saturday is a soccer match, and sunday is an American football match. The Donga Radio station has been advertising the match all week, so we expect a turnout similar to that of last year, with a couple hundred Beninese spectators. Monday, on the 4th of july, we are having a bbq cookout.

Language

As I am currently sitting at the buvette (an outdoor bar... literally, a little drink?) typing up an email to my boss in Cotonou, I am met with the usual yet humorous reaction to my laptop from the village locals. The proprietor of my house just came up. Here's a short blip of a typical conversation:

Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAnnnggg!!! Ouorou!!(my name in this village)
Me: hey, good evening.
Proprietor: That girl, is she in there (pointing to my computer)
Me: what girl?
Proprietor: the girl that was here the day before yesterday.
Me: there was no girl here the day before yesterday. (Maybe he's asking about one of the other volunteers in the area?)
Proprietor: the one that already left.
Me. the one that left a couple weeks ago? (referring to Anne, who just visited)
Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnnggg!!! she's in there?
Me: (confused, recalling previous conversations about how I use my computer to talk to friends and family, and maybe he thinks I'm currently talking to her?). No, she isn't in there...
....
Me: do you mean, are there pictures of her?
Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnggg!!!
Me: yeah there's pictures of her (beginning to pull up her facebook page)
Proprietor: Ah-HAAAAAnnnggg! (turning to leave, not interested in seeing said pictures)



The language barrier is really hard for volunteers when they first arrive here, even for those who have taken French classes. Eventually, after months of frustration and weird conversations, you eventually learn that it isn't your French skills that are lacking, but their communication skills. And that's the point when it stops being so frustrating and starts being kind of funny. There WILL be more. Stay tuned.

Update

I have recently updated the "List" part of my profile. Instead of the very outdated "Packing List" from 7 months ago, I have replaced it with a "Project List" where I will be keeping a running list of projects I have done, or that I am involved with. Indeed, it does not look like too much at the moment, but keep in mind that I was just a Trainee until September, and encouraged NOT to start working on side projects (so that I could focus more on integrating into the community) all the way up to mid-December. Most of these projects should not surprise anyone since I described them a couple blog posts ago. New additions are the Rabbit Farm, Girls Camp, and Map Project. I'll briefly describe them below, and will go more in depth in coming months as the projects develop:

What: Rabbit Farming
Who: Me, first with my neighbors as a control group who will later help me to spread it to the rest of the village
Where: a row of cages outside of my housing area, then an entire house/structure for them outside of Pelebina
When: within a few months, after I get price estimates, apply for funding, then receive said funding
How: Most of the work will come from making the structure, which I will need to draw up and have a carpenter make for me. It will be paid for by one of the various Peace Corps funding bodies, which will depend on the overall price once it is done being budgeted. Maintenance will begin with me and my neighbors, who will then spread the word to the rest of village if they deem it to be successful. At that point, a larger rabbit farming operation could commence.
Why: meat here is sparse, free-roaming, and too expensive for parents to give to their kids. A cheap and easy way to raise their own will mean a better diet and better overall health for everyone and reduce infant malnutrition, which is mainly caused by lack of protein.

What: Girls' Camp
Who: the 2 girls with the best grades from the main CEGs (High School equivalent) in the Donga region of Benin. The counselors are most of the volunteers of every sector here in the Donga.
When: One week during the summer, when they are out of school.
How: Project will be funded by Peace Corps and various Mayors Offices around the Donga. Two girls have been chosen from each school so that only one does not have to carry the burden of sharing what they learned when they return to their communities. The best students have been picked so that we may hold them to a higher standard of comprehension, new ideas, and maturity when addressing topics. Guest speakers of influential women in the community, along with selected volunteers, will teach them about how to succeed in education, birth control options, health, basic computer/internet skills, athletic, and team building exercises.
Why: The condition of gender equality here in Benin leaves a lot to be desired here in Benin. Whether looking at problems from a a business, education or health point of view, empowering women is an undeniable facet for development. Since most girls get pregnant in their teen years and drop out of school, and many women can't/don't space the births of their children because they are not allowed to abstain from their husbands.

What: World Map Project
Who: Me, other volunteers in my area who are available, students in my village
When: Starting in a day or two (when the white paint gets here).
How: I'm drawing a grid on the side of the school with chalk, and another grid on a picture of a map of the world. I will color code ever country and label them in French. In the top right corner will be a smaller map of the world that contains no country borders and is color coded and labeled only for each continent. Below the big map will be a list of every country alphabetically, as well as what continent it is on and what the official language(s) of that country.
Why: Talking with kids, adults, students, uneducated people, I see very consistently that nobody has a clue what the world even looks like. In fact, when shown an unlabeled map of Benin, MOST people have no idea where they are even in their own country (follow-up projects, of course, will be and Africa map and a Benin map). People are confused about the difference between China and Asia. Some think Brazil is in the United States. Some think the US is in Europe, while others think the US is the entire North AND South America. Some think Germany is not in Europe. Clearly there is a lot of confusion about world geography. By giving this community a resource and educating people about geography, it will open up discussions about other cultures and ideas that they have never heard of. The more new ideas they are open to listening to, the more prepared they will be to cope with the issues they have here in the Donga.

Guest Post: Anne's Visit

Ok, I’m slightly hesitant to say this, kind of in the same way that a local hates to spread the word about a favorite hole-in-the-wall hangout, in fear that it will become overrun with outsiders – but Eric is an amazing tour guide. Seriously. I mean, one’s first time in a third-world country can be kind of intimidating (apparently a 9th grade, church-sponsored Tijuana trip doesn’t count), and he did a great job of letting me get comfortable in the environment before forcing me to eat strange stuff or sacrifice puppies to the voodoo gods. Kidding! In fact, he let me eat nice, expensive food for the first couple days, and by the time we headed out of Cotonou, the most developed city in Benin, I was down to sample the more local cuisine. Along the same lines, when I arrived in Benin in the middle of a thunderstorm, he conceded to a taxi instead of pushing me straight off the plane onto the back of someone’s moto, bags in tow. In addition, just the amount of information he was able to share, whether he realizes it or not, was incredible – it was like having my own personal, relevant guidebook. I could point to anything and ask, what is that?! – and he would have the answer, usually along with some background info as well. It was awesome. I should also mention that every time I noticed a baby sheep, goat, dog, cat, or chicken, I would point it out to him in the most annoying and unashamedly girly manner, and he never complained.

So, from my own experience, here’s what the uninitiated visitor to Benin should know:
Transportation – As my athlete friends at UCLA may be able to attest to, I am not the best vespa passenger. I guess I just don’t trust them NOT to run into something. That said, the best way to get around cities in Benin is on a zemidjan, or zem, which is a motorbike taxi. However, after the first white-knuckled and slightly embarrassing ride, I started to enjoy them. For some reason, it was fairly easy to just sit back, hang on, and relax. I will admit that at times I had a running commentary going in my head, especially when approaching crowded and crazy intersections, a commentary that went something like “oohhh my goddddddd here we gooooo…” I hear that sometimes zems will take clueless foreigners to the beach, instead of their destination, to mug them, but Eric knows what’s up so if you’re with him you should be good. 
Taxis are used for intermediate distances, and they’re cars stuffed to the brim with people. Think a ’89 Peugeot sedan, cracked windshield, trunk held down with rope, loaded with cargo, with four people in the front and up to five or six in the back. Not the most comfortable way to travel, and a definite chance of losing circulation in your limbs. Now imagine it swerving around the huge potholes in the road, the ones big enough to lose a goat in, right into the path of oncoming traffic, only to swerve back at the last moment. This made me nervous. I think Eric sensed it, probably when I was gripping his shoulder like a preteen watching a scary movie, so he didn’t tell me until later that one of our taxis had, in fact, sort of hit a zem.
Buses, in comparison, were pretty luxurious. We took them to go up and down the length of the country, journeys that took a loooong time due to the condition of the roads. But – we had our own seats, a window with a breeze, and we weren’t pressed up against any strangers. No complaints there. 

I can’t say there is any food that I didn’t like, but that’s because even Eric didn’t have the heart to make me try gumbo, a substance that looks like green slime and which had supposedly caused another volunteer to be sick in a culturally insensitive way. Much of the street food consisted of some starchy, play-doh-y substance and an oily sauce, sometimes with chunks of meat or soy cheese, which is actually pretty damn good. Also, eating with your hands is surprisingly satisfying. On the more expensive side, I can tell you that antelope (and rabbit) with fries is marvelous, especially when paired with a beer and a view. Speaking of beer, they’re twice the normal size, and a quarter as expensive. If you go to Benin, you will drink a lot of beer, and it will make for some deliciously relaxing afternoons (and zem rides). As for local brews, try the chouk (spelling?), a millet beer, but be aware that sodabi tastes like gasoline and is rumored to make you go blind if consumed too readily. I was lucky enough to try it at the house of Eric’s supervisor at the health clinic, who was from the south, because I was told that the sodabi from the north is the stuff that’ll really mess you up. In fact, when Eric told people up north that he was going to make me try sodabi, they looked horrified; it gave me a lot of confidence. I feel pretty good about my culinary experience in Benin, because I have it straight from the mouth of a king that, yup, that’s pretty much all there is. Potential travelers to Benin should note that, had I not blithely ignored many of my travel doctor’s warnings, I wouldn’t have tried much of this stuff, and would have missed out on a lot. I even took a few defiant sips of tap water near the end of the trip. I’m still here.

Other important information: be prepared to be stared at, and yelled at by kids and sometimes adults. It’s good if you’re a bit of an attention whore. Be prepared also to discuter a lot, or bargain (argue) about prices. Not only is it just what people do there, but everyone will try to charge you more because you’re white. Eric is really good at holding his ground while discuter-ing, and I found that if you just stand quietly next to him while he’s in action, it works out. But try it for yourself, it can be extremely satisfying to steadfastly refuse to pay a full ten dollars for a necklace. Outrageous! 

Honestly, there’s a ton I could write about (such as, good lord, actual places we went? Eric can do that), but this post is embarrassingly long already so I’m going to sign off. Final thoughts: if you don’t mind your travel methods sometimes being daunting, are not a picky eater, don’t mind having dirty feet and sweet tan lines, and enjoy chillin’, go to Benin. Actually, go in any case, cause Eric is there and what other reason do you need? 

Eric, thanks for a great trip, and I don’t want to make you jealous or anything, but I’m going to LA tomorrow and I’m going to eat a Father’s Office burger and Korean BBQ. Also, I had breakfast cereal today. And yes, it was mixed.

keep the party going

I guess the dinner party last Saturday night was a classy event. It turned out to be the birthday celebration of my supervisor at the health center, and given his high rank in the community, he pulled out all the stops to show off how cultured he was by preparing a westernized dinner..

Consequently, and unfortunately for all of the guests, the main course was a cold spaghetti with canned vegetables, topped with sliced hot dogs.

Who was I to tell all 14 of the Muslims at the table that hot dogs contain pork? I'm not entirely sure about that anyway.

Excitement

This blog marks an exciting new milestone! I am actually sending this blog post from my laptop, sitting at my post, somewhere on that map of Benin in one of the general areas that nobody really cares about. I was finally able to purchase a USB internet key, with unlimited monthly access (a necessity, I found out, when I was sampling a fellow volunteer's pay-as-you-go internet key, and wasted all my credit reloading pages that hadn't loaded properly time and time again. The connection, as I'm sure you could guess, leaves a lot to be desired). Nevertheless, the glass is definitely half full, and as a re-teaser into what my blog is all about:

Although Benin is featured in travel guides for the entirety of West Africa, or of the continent of Africa, travel books for Benin alone are mostly just rumored among ex-pats and volunteers, and very rarely seen. Which is why, when I saw I copy of Benin: the Bradt Travel Guide written by Stuart Butler lying on the table in the library section of the work station, I decided to commandeer it for a look. While thumbing through, I couldn't help but notice a striking dichotomy between Mr. Brandt and Mr. Butler, specifically the passages written below:

"AFRICA IS HELL

     As you'll know if you've already visited the continent, there's nothing that's good or comfortable about Africa. There is nothing at all nice, nothing gentle, nothing friendly, nothing pleasant and nothing easy. In every possible way, Africa is the worst place in the world. Whatever way you look at it, Africa is Hell. Don't think of it as anything but your worst nightmare. Don't imagine that you might like to exchange your supermarket chaos, your credit-card bills, your mortgage or even your stroppy boss for the life of an African villager. You wouldn't. And if for some reason you did, the chances are you would now be dead. 

     Harsh words from a guidebook writer trying to encourage you to buy his book and visit Africa, you might think, but just look at the facts.

- Africa is the only continent to have grown poorer in the past 25 years.

- 70% of sub-Saharan Africans live on less than two dollars a day and 49% live on a dollar a day or less

- One in three Africans is undernourished

- 17 million Africans have already died of HIV/AIDS, whilst a further 28 million currently have the disease and there are already 11 million AIDS orphans. This year alone two million Africans die of AIDS.

- One million Africans will die of malaria this year. This is 90% of the worlds malaria deaths and 70% of them involve children under five years of age.

- A woman in Africa is one hundred times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than a Western woman.

- 200 million Africans go hungry every day - while the amount spent annually on ice cream in Europe would be enough to provide every single person on the planet with clean, fresh drinking water.

- More than 14,000 people a day die from problems related to extreme poverty"

-- Stuart Butler, page 78

Indeed, interesting words from a travel book writer. In the publisher's foreword, however, we find a different message:

"First, a confession: I was keen to publish a guide to Benin because I was an admirer of the beautiful 15th-century Benin brasses (or bronzes) that grace many British museums. It was only after the book was commissioned that I learned the truth: Benin City, capital of the Kingdom of Benin, is in modern Nigeria. I had the wrong Benin. Stuart's emails during the course of his research suggested that although African art may not be central to Benin's culture, African arts - magic arts - certainly were. 'In fact I don't think there was a single day that something weird and memorable didn't happen. We met kings and princesses, sorcerers and witches, as well as more than a few dead people. The average day could see us being pissed on by a python, whipped by a god or having a party with some dead twins.'

The manuscript lived up to expectations, and when I'd finished reading it I told anyone who would listen that this was the most extraordinary book we've ever published. Truly! What other guide could justify a heading: 'The Bradt field guide to gods, ghosts and dead people'? Where else can you get advice about dealing with sorcerers, and tackling bicycle chickens? In how many other countries can you meet the local monarchy, mostly in human form but including a tree that was once a king? Magic and folklore abound, people change into lizards, or ants, or just about anything they fancy - and through it all run practical instructions for enjoying this amazing country. It's super!"

- Brandt, Publisher's Foreword

Two very different viewpoints for one book. As for me, having lived here for half a year, I can't say for certain which side I'm leaning more towards. That answer, I guess, will come. Stay tuned and find out with me.

Still here

Wow.

Yes i'm still here; didnt forget about the blog.

So ill try to do a quick update in an attempt to avoid overwhelming you the reader and me the writer. I am having a fun Christmas up in Natatingou, my work station. Most of the volunteers spent christmas at Grand Popo beach resort on the border of Benin and Togo, but a handful of the northern volunteers stayed up north to have a quainter, less crowded christmas, save money on travel, and go on safari at Penjari (on the border of burkina faso, where the city of Nati is the jumping-off point for the park). So that's where i'll be for new years.

Last week was our IST (in service training) back down in Porto Novo, forcing us to return than the intensely unpopular city we spent 2 months of our training, amongst the Goun people (pronounced GOON, appropriately enough, totally lacking any respect for anyone with white skin). Despite dreading my return to this city, i actually had a great time. I think this was mostly due to the fact that i was in a hotel room with fellow volunteers, most of whom we havent seen since the end of training, with air conditioning and TV, speaking english. We also got a per-diem of almost twice our normal pay, despite getting 2 free 3-course meals a day at the hotels restaurant. Our days were spent suffering through training classes, reminiscent of our training last summer, but the evenings, rather than awkward culture clashes at our host families' houses, were spent eating out at nice restaurants and having dance parties on the roof of our hotel. IST also marked the end of our First Three Months at Post, where we were only allowed to leave our post/city for a max of 2 days per month. Now we are free, real volunteers who can travel throughout the country, or any country for that matter. We're all pretty excited about that.

The main point of IST was to give presentations about our respective villages to our bosses and each other, since our First Three Months were supposed to be an integration period solely for learning about our village, and isolating any potential projects that we could carry out for the next year and a half. IST was also for learning about the various forms of funding available to us for our projects.

My ideas for projects for my community are:

Moringa Plantation -
Moringa is a tree indigenous to northern india, that easily grows in tropical climates, and pulls considerable amount of nutrients into their leaves. Apparently, gram for gram, moringa leaf powder has 17 times the calcium of milk, half the vitamin c of an orange, 10 times the vitamin a of carrots, 15 times the potassium of bananas, 20 times the iron of spinach, and 9 times the protein of yogurt, just to name a few. (moringanews.org). Given the malnutrition rates of my area (about 46% of kids less than 5), and the horrible horrible diet of boiled maize gruel and oil/pepper sauce for most meals, Moringa could be a really great tool to get kids to grow up right. My plan incorporates starting a plantation of 500 trees once the dry season is over, and finding funding to build a shack to dry and process the moringa leaves on-site. i would then stock health centers and pharmacies with packets of the powder, and inform the health workers of how moringa will help with various conditions they see on a daily basis. I would also issue them to mothers who come to my health center for nutritional recuperation (my role at the health center). Eventually, as people become more familiar with it in my area, i would collaborate with people who work at the village markets and phase myself out of the entire process, creating jobs and a consistent source of this new food group for the people in the Donga.

Radio Show-
Considering my area is very under-developed, decentralized, and uneducated, I think it is a perfect place to have a radio show. Most people don't have electricity, and there are not many recreational activities, so the majority of people have battery powered FM radios that enable them to listen to music or pick up some news in french, all while staying in the comfort of their home/village. Many of the radio shows that are played are in french, and several in local languages, but none of which offer health advice/sensibilizations to its listeners. My plan is to find funding for air-time on a weekly basis, and broadcast health advice pertaining to what I've recently seen at the health center. I would intertwine american hip-hop so that it would be fun to listen to and not just preach-y, but would ideally have two different shows, one aimed at mothers (usually the most uneducated) for advice about how to take care of their baby (turns out its very much not intuitive, and even the basics are tough for them to wrap their heads around). The other target demographic would be the later teens and adult males who tend to have the most power for change in their homes and in their communities. The show would be broadcast out of Djougou, and would be for the entire Donga region, which would be about a million people. It would require a monthly trip to the Djougou radio station to pre-record the following month's shows. To make sure people are listening, i would at first host various Majors of health centers, and various village chiefs, one or two at a time. When they return to their respective villages, they'll probably make sure everyone is hearing them on the radio. Once they know about the show, they'll probably continue tuning in, since a lot of the airtime is unused, and they pretty much will listen to anything being broadcast. I would also use the radio show to plug my moringa plantation.


So that's what i have for now in terms of projects. i would also continue going to the health center for nutritional recuperation consultations and follow-ups, as well as random stuff like painting world maps on the side of schools (if you show kids a map of benin, they say its a map of africa. if you tell them it is benin, the ones that do know it's benin dont even know where they are on their own country's map).

So that'll be it for now. Stay tuned for updates on funding for my projects. Should be pretty exciting if it can get them going within the next couple months or so. (see facebook for pictures, its slow i only have time to upload on one website)