Back in Benin

I took a quick trip my first weekend back to the northern city of Parakou


The flight back to Benin was delayed one day. I did not know when the airline instigated the change, but it evaded my attention up until I checked my bags in at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Int'l Airport to their new “final destination” of Paris. Then, out of artful negotiation, corporate responsibility, or sheer dumb luck, the airline put me up in a hotel for the 30-hour layover. The result? My first visit to Europe and the sites of Paris. This auspicious woopsie-daisy capped off a restful and joyous three weeks’ leave home in Minnesota. There, many of my preoccupations from my last blog post where dampened or managed with the help of loving family and friends. 


Now, I’m back in Benin and have been for the last three weeks. I’m back to eating boiled dough with fish, rice and beans, and cassava porridge. It didn’t take long to dream again of takeout, but these dreams keep themselves working the night shift to much relief. The slow pace of village life was easiest to readopt, perhaps because the holidays at home felt like a leisurely vacation. It helps that work was off to a slow, though deliberate start. My garden wasted away in my and my counterpart's absences. Tending to that was a good first task, but January is notoriously slow and easy-going in Benin as a kind of extension of the holiday season and the end of most agricultural activities for the season. I could thus avoid hurrying into too much work besides that good start. 
. 
The most difficult adjustment has been assessing what the heck I want to (can?) accomplish in my second year. At times existential, my counterpart has been a rock and pilot in carving out a vision for the next several months. Angst subsides to determination the more we talk about it. Here are our plans: revamp our gardens with new plants and improved pest management; investigate the feasibility of a women’s group marketing canned tomatoes; commission a model mango dryer to demonstrate a way to reduce post harvested losses; teach women how to plant avocados and moringa, prepare guacamole, and make the most of moringa leaves; organize a march for Int'l Women’s Day (March 8); and start a second village savings and loan association (VSLA). 
My host organization also led a three day training in goat raising


I also look forward to a few of my own side projects. First and foremost, I will be director for Camp GLOW/Unite Ouidah in July (for which I served as accountant last year). I am also teaching literacy classes to adult women learners, conducting two elementary school English clubs, and signing on as an assistant coach to a brand-new little league baseball club across the lake. My Minnesotan readers might have read about this organization in the local news. 

No matter the ups and downs, the work keeps me busy and motivated and it is good to be back in Benin. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Road Home

Image
My last week at site began with a party. The savings group from my last post celebrated a successful savings cycle. We sang and danced twice -once in the morning, again in the evening- and ate fresh fish, rice, and fried chicken. The group members even sang a goodbye song to me as the evening progressed. It was an excellent start to my week-long send-off. Later, my counterpart and I led one last compost session, and those women then gathered for a goodbye discussion of memories and mutual appreciation. It was profoundly touching to reminisce and share a few compliments. The next day I bade farewell to my favorite market vendors and spent my last day at site wrapping up my move-out preparations, walking around my community, shooting the breeze, and giving away my household goods that have no place in the Peace Corps office or my luggage. Leaving site was not a logistical nightmare, but neither was it a walk in the park. Final packing and cleaning was done quickl
Read more

Yovo

Image
“Whatever white people do not know about Negroes reveals, precisely and inexorably, what they do not know about themselves.” James Baldwin When walking or biking around village most people call me Noé , a name that is no more than the French equivalent of Noah. I like the name. It's basically the same as Noah but still different, a kind of metaphor for who I feel I am in Benin. Other people in village and just about everyone outside of it call me something else: yovo . Many Beninese, especially in the south, use this label for foreigners, particularly those of a foreign race. Yovo becomes my name away from village, how strangers greet me, and the punctuation of shouts in my general direction. Generations have even passed down a song, often sung by children, with lyrics to greet and attract the attention of yovos: “Yovo, yovo, bonsoir! Ça va bien? Merci!” The label has often frustrated me. Some people in my own neighborhood still call me yovo instead of Noé eve
Read more

Stomping Out Malaria

Image
The month of May heralds the beginning of the rainy season throughout Benin. Farmers prepare their fields, and temperatures fall. While everyone welcomes these advantages to rain, the ambitious rise of puddles and filling catchments (even those unintended) can create breeding grounds for the world's least favorite buzzer, the mosquito. Mosquitoes make for annoying and itchy evening in the United States, but in Benin the Anopheles mosquito can transmit malaria. Malaria is a disease most everyone recognizes but knows little about. It's caused by a parasite with symptoms of fever, chills, head and body aches, and even anemia and respiratory distress. It resembles and is treated like the flu, but even mild cases can take their turn for the worse and become fatal if not diagnosed and treated within 24 hours. Diagnoses confirm cases through blood samples, and oral medication for a few days can treat even the worst cases. That makes malaria preventable. Avoid mosquitoes by sl
Read more

A Visit from the Embassy

Image
The US Embassy in Cotonou visited my site and made a promotional video on the work I do with CRIPADD ONG and other community partners. Beware that the whole video is in French. For those sans savoir, I discuss our work in gardening extension, tree planting, nutrition, environmental education, and tomato conservation. Enjoy!
Read more

Reprise July

Image
The second year of Peace Corps service brings with it an odd mix of old and new. Routines are pretty set. New projects arise and with them a more level-headed approach to community work. We take on more leadership roles. In my experience, it’s a lot of the same, just better because we’re acclimated, comfortable, and more empowered. My month of July has seen many moments played on repeat from last year from a Fourth of July party to youth camp, and I’ve enjoyed the chance to improve and soak it all up anew. The same applies to a visit from a dear college friend where I shared common Beninese sites and sights, in so doing shedding light on my experiences for myself. Taken together, that’s why I call this month 'Reprise July.’ First, just like last year I hosted a Fourth of July party at my site. We had the same girls and boys inter-village soccer tournament followed by a ceremony, hot dogs, and a film screening. This year we had two nicer trophies for the winners as well a
Read more