So Far at Site
I have spent a little over a month at site, something that amounts to about 5 percent of my total service. I thought it was about time I updated you all back home on my actual work situation. I work with a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) called CRIPADD (Cercle de Recherche pour l’Identification et la Promotion des Alternatives du Développement Durable). Our partnership was orchestrated by the Peace Corps and is meant to provide mutual support for our respective missions on food security, environmental protection, and community economic development.
My host organization supports agricultural development and environmental protection in a chain of villages on the east shore of Lac Ahémé. My work so far has been to support CRIPADD’s extension work among a few women’s garden groups. They grow local leafy greens for sale at the nearby market or to pre-order customers. Each group has a plot of land that they manage year-round but focus on during the dry season (December-May). Then during the other months of the year, they return to the fields for staple crop production. Before I arrived, the women were trained in composting, fish farming, resource management, and the use of paillage, a mixture of green and dead leaves, to cover exposed garden bed soil. Since then we have been supporting their efforts to implement these activities wherever possible. We have also been experimenting with different variables of bed depth, shade, and intercropping for a variety of vegetables in hopes of finding what works and what doesn’t.
I arrived December 17, and since then Benin has celebrated three major holidays. That and beginning-of-the-year planning by my colleagues away from site has made the beginning of my work at site a bit slow-paced. This has allowed, however, two things: First, I have had the chance to explore options for clubs at local schools. Primary school directors have shown interest in English clubs, where I would teach rudimentary English skills. I would include exercises on nutrition to align the club with my food security sector goals. I’m working with the directors to accomplish the necessary bureaucracy before starting. There’s also the potential of a business club at the local high school, director and PTA approval pending.
Second, I have had the chance to focus on socializing and integration. I take walks in the afternoon, go to market, cook and clean, take language classes on Sahwe, and spend plenty of time sitting with others. All this -especially the sitting- has many advantages: The more I am around, the more I get to know my community and they get to know me; it helps me pick up local language and cultural norms; and it helps me complete my Etude du Milieu assignment for the Peace Corps, which will report on CRIPADD, my site history, and potential projects. In fact, all this is sort of the point of the first few months at site. PCVs are meant to assimilate to local culture to further our goals of development work and intercultural understanding, and this kind of work can’t get started in a matter of weeks. It takes time and a foundation of relationships and knowledge of local context. Thus, it doesn’t matter that work is slow-paced so far. As a matter of fact, it should be.
This conclusion is easy to forget. I recently returned from a weekend of travel to PC HQ in Cotonou to work on a few assignments and attend a workshop on coping with stress. I went into the weekend a bit anxious about my work and life so far at site, doubting that I knew the local language well enough, worked often enough, sought out new work opportunities enough, and spent enough time socializing and integrating. Talking these worries out over the weekend helped, but anxieties lingered as I rode my taxi-moto into site. It didn’t take long for people to recognize the white Peace Corps helmet and shout “Noé! Bonne arrivée!” my way. I recognized then that in all my worries about my work and me I had forgotten that it’s the people at site who matter most, and those I knew were thrilled to welcome me back. I have spent only a little over one month so far at site, but it’s already beginning to feel like a place where I belong. I don't always feel it amid the stresses of PCV life, but those moments that I do mean everything. Everything else will come in due time, as it should.
My host organization supports agricultural development and environmental protection in a chain of villages on the east shore of Lac Ahémé. My work so far has been to support CRIPADD’s extension work among a few women’s garden groups. They grow local leafy greens for sale at the nearby market or to pre-order customers. Each group has a plot of land that they manage year-round but focus on during the dry season (December-May). Then during the other months of the year, they return to the fields for staple crop production. Before I arrived, the women were trained in composting, fish farming, resource management, and the use of paillage, a mixture of green and dead leaves, to cover exposed garden bed soil. Since then we have been supporting their efforts to implement these activities wherever possible. We have also been experimenting with different variables of bed depth, shade, and intercropping for a variety of vegetables in hopes of finding what works and what doesn’t.
I arrived December 17, and since then Benin has celebrated three major holidays. That and beginning-of-the-year planning by my colleagues away from site has made the beginning of my work at site a bit slow-paced. This has allowed, however, two things: First, I have had the chance to explore options for clubs at local schools. Primary school directors have shown interest in English clubs, where I would teach rudimentary English skills. I would include exercises on nutrition to align the club with my food security sector goals. I’m working with the directors to accomplish the necessary bureaucracy before starting. There’s also the potential of a business club at the local high school, director and PTA approval pending.
A bed of red amaranth
Second, I have had the chance to focus on socializing and integration. I take walks in the afternoon, go to market, cook and clean, take language classes on Sahwe, and spend plenty of time sitting with others. All this -especially the sitting- has many advantages: The more I am around, the more I get to know my community and they get to know me; it helps me pick up local language and cultural norms; and it helps me complete my Etude du Milieu assignment for the Peace Corps, which will report on CRIPADD, my site history, and potential projects. In fact, all this is sort of the point of the first few months at site. PCVs are meant to assimilate to local culture to further our goals of development work and intercultural understanding, and this kind of work can’t get started in a matter of weeks. It takes time and a foundation of relationships and knowledge of local context. Thus, it doesn’t matter that work is slow-paced so far. As a matter of fact, it should be.
A bed of spinach
This conclusion is easy to forget. I recently returned from a weekend of travel to PC HQ in Cotonou to work on a few assignments and attend a workshop on coping with stress. I went into the weekend a bit anxious about my work and life so far at site, doubting that I knew the local language well enough, worked often enough, sought out new work opportunities enough, and spent enough time socializing and integrating. Talking these worries out over the weekend helped, but anxieties lingered as I rode my taxi-moto into site. It didn’t take long for people to recognize the white Peace Corps helmet and shout “Noé! Bonne arrivée!” my way. I recognized then that in all my worries about my work and me I had forgotten that it’s the people at site who matter most, and those I knew were thrilled to welcome me back. I have spent only a little over one month so far at site, but it’s already beginning to feel like a place where I belong. I don't always feel it amid the stresses of PCV life, but those moments that I do mean everything. Everything else will come in due time, as it should.
DƐdƐ wƐ ohƐ no ɖà ado eton. It's in going slowly that the bird builds its nest.
Piti piti zwazo fe nich li. Haitian Kreyol for “little by little the bird builds his nest.” It really is a perfect sentiment for becoming familiar in a new culture. Happy to hear you’re doing well! Keep us posted where else you visit- we may have friends for you to stay with!
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