First Thing's First: The First Week

A fɔn ganjià ?

On Saturday, I woke up (fɔn) recovered (gangi!) from jet lag in a bustling Cotonou, ready to depart for our training center in a quieter city in the south. The ride brought us across plains of tropical savannah and lakes spotted with fisheries to the pleasantries of WiFi and ping pong at the Peace Corps Training Center. It’s here that instructors will push us on improving our French (so far so good!), learning the local language of Fon, and branching out in cross-cultural workshops and agricultural extension classes. I welcome the chance to walk around the city with my fellow trainees and chat with Beninois outside the cadre of our excellent facilitators.

Training will, however, occur primarily in nearby villages where host families will facilitate immersion and instructors will live alongside us to conduct most of our lessons. Doing this in small groups of volunteers sprinkled across several villages provides a more personalized and interactive learning environment than the large group orientation we have otherwise had. Training will last 12 weeks: the first 5 mainly in villages for Community-Based Training (CBT); 2 weeks at our (yet to be determined) placement sites for preliminary observations and work; and 5 weeks of more intensive technical training on best agricultural practices, gardening, business management, and tree planting. E nyo ganji !

Orientation and training so far have been stressful, touch and go chaotic, and absolutely thrilling. The intense training schedule appears daunting, but it’s what’s necessary to become competent, effective, and compassionate volunteers. What’s most fun is talking to current volunteers (PCVs) who are over the moon talking about their work, integration, and the ups and downs of service.

The appropriate authorities fitted me to a motorbike helmet and trained me in paying for and riding the notorious zemidjan taxi-bikes. Volunteers aren’t allowed to drive one themselves, which is perfectly fine by me. Nonetheless, they fitted me with an XL helmet. I welcome all big-headed or hard-headed jokes you can conjure. Pictures pending.

NƐ a ɖegbɔn ?

How have YOU been? I’d like to know! Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s ambition, the basic elements of Facebook are free. Since I’m never that far away from seeing or sending a message, feel free to drop a hello my way and we can swap a few stories. Once I feel settled in at my CBT village, I’ll start mailing those who have signed up to be snail mail pen pals.


In the meantime, read a relatively recent OpEd from the Washington Post by a Benin PCV currently serving in community economic development. He offers an awesome argument on the relevance and strength of Peace Corps as an unparalleled diplomatic, development, and educational government agency.

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