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 Its still unclear what my housing situation is, but as far as I can tell from the outdated paperwork I receieved (which was written in chicken-scratch and in French) I am living in a house with multiple structures.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.