Post Visit

This week is going to be an exiting one - all of the volunteers are visiting their posts. We leave tomorrow bright and early, some of us so early that it's not even so bright. For me, I have to be ready to go at 5:30am, and have a "9 hour bus ride" to my village. Of course "9 hour bus ride" is a literal translation from west african french into english. In reality, when a beninese says "9 hour bus ride" it actually means a 17 hour sauna on wheels, which is usually stuffed to twice the capacity and going half the speed limit. This is a loose translation, mind you. Nevertheless, I will come armed with my ipod and half-functioning headphones (the left ear speaker is busted. See: Wish List - UPDATE for new headphones) and will be ready to nap.

Every volunteer has different plans, because what each person's schedule is during the post visit is completely up to the "homologue" that is responsible for showing us around, translating from french -> local language(s), introducing us to important people, discussing prices and getting the carpenters started with furnishings for our new home, finding us food, etc. That said, this is our time to figure out exactly what our villages have to offer, so that we know what to prepare for and what to buy in Cotonou before we more there permanently (to spare us from any unnecessary "9 hour bus rides" just to shop for essentials).

We only have 3 assignments to be completed when we show up for training back in Porto Novo Next monday:

- Begin making a map of the village

-Keep a daily journal of activities (in French, for French class)

-note and report any sub-standard issues with my future house

So it's ambiguous at this point whether the rest of this week will be equally/more stressful than the usual training process, or a much needed relaxation session. Obviously, I hope it's the latter, but I don't want to sit around doing nothing all day either.

On Saturday, I have been tentatively planning on organizing some transport for me and some other volunteers posted around me to meet up in Djougou (the big village/town that's closest to us, where we will be going to buy things other than food and basics, and where we will be going to use internet and other priveledged things of the sort).

From Djougou, we are also hoping to ride up to Natitangou, which is our official "work station," which means there is a library for volunteers, beds, showers, and medical supplies. The plan is to spend the night in Natitangou (the cool kids call it Nati for short) and catch the bus out of there Sunday morning, so that we can get back down to the South by Sunday evening.

This sort of traveling is not really encouraged or common for volunteers to do during a post visit - the admin mostly wants us to just stay in our villages the whole time - but I feel like it would be more useful to see what kinds of things I can buy in the nearby markets, and what to expect of the work station before moving up there, rather than spending a 4th day in my soon-to-be-village.

Pictures of the trek will come soon. I hear the intire area is very picturesque, so fingers crossed I will have some good shots by the time I return.

ma chambre

Above is a video of my room and the rest of the house I have been staying in. I have been trying to post this video for a while now, unsuccessfully each time because it is a 4 min clip and the internet connection will break halfway through and mess it up, or I won't have enough time to wait for it to load. After augmenting the image quality several times, this version, about 1/10th of the original quality, eventually uploaded. So bear with me on the quality, its just to give an idea of what my housing situation has been like since arriving, and what it will be like for 3 more weeks up until I move to my permanent residence (which i guarantee you will not be as glamorous).

contact

So I have a phone here now. To call, you need to dial:

011-229-66-27-33-05

- the "011" part is just to get out of the US. If for whatever reason you don't need to worry about that part, skip it, or replace it with whatever code you need to depending on your phone plan or what country you're in.

- the "229" part is the Benin country code. If you come visit and you're already in Benin, don't dial this part.

- the rest is my personal number. Give it a try!

Wish List

So at this point after being here for a few weeks, it have a better sense of what kind of things I should have packed more of. I have already received some pieces of mail, which was very exciting. Below I'm posting a wish-list of things I find myself wishing I could find here. Not that I expect any/all of these things, but if anyone is bored and feels so inclined to mail one or all of these things, it would make my week.

-just a letter or post card from you so i can hang it on my wall next to my desk

-Postage stamps (USPS)

-bbq sauce or any other american comfort food

-pictures of you, or of really simple american things like a house, a room, apartment, etc.

-a small mirror

-melatonin

-duct tape

-a guitar capo

-nylon guitar strings

-jazz guitar books (bonus points if it's joe pass)

-gardening gloves

-small speakers for an ipod (battery powered or not)

-a couple lighters

-tea packets (the more interesting or exotic the better, chai par example)

-seeds for cool or aesthetically pleasing plants for my garden (they say indiginous plants from India work well because they have a similar climate. hawaii probably works too)

Tech Visit

This previous Wednesday, the RCH (rural community health) volunteers all got to go on technical visits to current volunteers' posts, which we would return from by either Saturday or Sunday. Groups of 3-4 people were assigned each post, and we basically just got to be shown around the village by the current volunteer. Accompanying me on my tech visit were two other trainees named Tom and Maggie.

The volunteer I stayed with was named Louis and has been in Benin for a year. He has electricity and running water and a dog named Rex. He works at a health center that is only about a 20 minute zemi ride outside of Porto Novo, making our commute way less stressful than other volunteers whose tech visits were in Northern Benin (about a half-day commute). Despite its proximity, the village was very slow and quiet. We didn't really get the opportunity to see what it was like working at the health center because the workers were on strike so it was shut down. They did, however, keep open the maternity ward because they average about a birth a day. We swung by the health center on Thursday to get orientated, learn how to take blood pressure, do malaria tests, fill out baby weight charts, the works. We returned on Friday to find a woman already at 8cm as if she was waiting for us to arrive. We were invited into the birthing room in the heat of battle, only to discover several minutes later that this was a very rare birth. The  baby was breeching. Specifically a frank breech, as I would find out later, which is where the baby's bottom comes out first, with its legs extended so that its feet are under its head. That would have been enough excitement for one day, but there's more. The baby came out with an eerie-looking pale blue skin color. She wasn't breathing. The three of us volunteers watched in horror as the med center workers tried resuscitating the baby by massaging its torso. Minutes passed. They tried vacuuming her trachea to clear up any mucus. Hours passed. They put a respirator pump over her face to manually pump air into her lungs. Days passed as we stood motionless watching. Finally the baby began coughing, and I checked my watch to find out that only 4 or 5 minutes had passed. Wow, it felt a lot longer. Louis nonchalantly walked back up to us with some gloves on, apparently having just finished up some other work we didn't think to ask about. He mentioned that babies die in delivery a lot here. He's seen it before, and thought it was going to happen that day. The other 2 volunteers and I were able to move our mouths to start talking again, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we were glad that we didn't watch a newborn baby die on our technical visit before we even got to post.

Later that day, we were doing a vaccination visit to a nearby community when me and Tom noticed that the queasiness from watching the birth had not worn off several hours later. Maybe it was progressively getting worse? Is that even possible? Turns out it is possible, provided the queasiness is not from watching a birth, but instead the symptom of an actual illness. A couple hours later Tom and I were "bed" ridden (and by bed ridden, I mean couch and Benninese-yoga-mat-thing ridden, respectively). He had a temperature of 36 degrees, and I was clocking in at 39.5. I guess we had 2 different illnesses. Both of which weren't malaria, which is reassuring, but makes the question of why Maggie didn't get sick too all the more mysterious.

During the night of my fever, I heard from afar a mystical spirit entity roaming around the forest/jungle of the village. Now I know what you're thinking: crazy dreams from a high fever, but you're wrong. Need I remind you that Benin is the home of Voodooism. The spirit of Oro (a secret society of important people, voodoo priests and other frat members) will come and go, appearing only at night. You can hear him whistling and whooshing around town, making a sound kind of like when you tie a piece of wood about the size and shape of a credit card to a piece of string a few feet long and spin it really fast over your head. As much as Oro's presence is made while you're sleeping, you're strictly not allowed to see Oro or you will be killed. For this reason, the Peace Corps Safety and Security Advisor has advised us that we should not look at Oro. Everyone in town is given ample warning as to when Oro will be out, not to mention you can hear him coming a mile away, so it is not an issue, but regardless sometimes volunteers will evacuate their village for a month at a time so as not to accidentally catch a glimpse.

We left Louis' post the next day with a few experience points under our belts, wiser about what to expect when we get to post, now knowing what Oro sounds like, humbled at what size a "big" spider actually is, and full of ideas for what we will do once we get to our post. It was overall a positive experience, and I'm excited to see what my house/post will be like in comparison.

Meals in Benin

So I thought it would be fun to show what kid of meals they serve here in Benin. These are pictures of my breakfasts and dinners over the past few days as a reference for how one eats here. (Please note that I haven't had a chance to take a picture of the main staple of their diet yet because I haven't had it within the past week. So instead of waiting to post this blog to include it, I'll just build up the suspense by talking more about it later. )

As a guest at my host family's house, I eat alone at the table before everyone else. The rest of the family will either eat after me, or outside in the courtyard area. Most meals consist of a very oily bowl of onions and peppers, with a side of something starchy. You'll notice there is a lot of fish. Most of the time they don't bother processing the fish at all, and will just cut it in half (separating the head from the tail) and toss the pieces in a stew. Since I'm a special guest, I've sort of been getting VIP treatment. Stay tuned for pics of my meals once the initial excitement of my being here wears off...

Here are a few of the Breakfasts:

Egg, cucumber, lettuce, onion, tomato, for the sandwitch. Side of tea

Avacado, lettuce, onion, pulled fish, tomato, cheese, and bread. Side of tea

Pulled fish mixed with onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Tea, and a plate of pineapple

...and some of the dinners....

Goat stew with potato, carrots, and onion in a creamy mustard sauce (which I'm not too fond of). Side of papaya and pineapple.

Beans and onions, sprinkled with a powdery thickening agent. Side of plantains. 

Kind of like a pot pie. Pulled fish, potatoes, carrots, and peppers inside a fresh-baked crust. Side of coke.  

Posted Note

I have finally been assigned to where I will be living and working for the next 2 years*. I will be in a village called Pelebina, which is very close to the Togo border in the Donga region of Benin.

It is central/north Benin, so there is a little bit of French spoken still, but a decent amount of the language is still the tribal African dialects. It is predominantly Islamic, although there is probably still some Catholicism and, as is the case with the majority of Benin, there is the ever-present influence of vodooism. Should be interesting. Its still unclear what my housing situation is, but as far as I can tell from the outdated paperwork I receieved (which was written in chicken-scratch and in French) I am living in a house with multiple structures. There is no electricity, and my water will come from a well that is on the compound. It does indicate that there's a roof AND the walls are painted, which I can't help but be excited about. My neighboring volunteers are all really cool so it will be fun living within a short bike ride from them. I'm also within a short bike ride from a monkey forest. And not just any monkey forest, but a SACRED monkey forest. I'm definitely looking forward to checking that out.

*The assignment is not binding. Volunteers can apply for other projects or openings around the country if they wish, usually after a year into their service.

Moto

So I think I mentioned it in my very first post, but since I was able to successfully upload a video about moto riding, I'll go into a little more depth.

Benin is a special country in regards to Peace Corps policies. On one hand, no Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) are allowed to operate or ride on motorcycles. In Benin, however, it is the main mode of transportation, and therefore PCV would basically not be able to function without it. So the compromise is that we can ride on motorcycles (called motos, zemidjans, or just zemis here) as long as we always wear the PC issued moto helmet that we received upon arriving to Benin. 

You can get anywhere you need to go by hailing a zemi driver (the taxi service of Benin). Usually if they see a yovo (foreigner, white person) standing on the side of the street, they'll stop and ask if you need to get somewhere. You tell him where you need to go, and he tells you a price. Usually he'll try to rip you off since you are a yovo, so if you explain to him that he's charging too much, or that you live here, you can find a compromise. 

The video below was taken while I was riding on my host-brother's moto this past While we were checking out some sights for the fete national (national celebration) that marks the 50th anniversary of Benin's independence.