September’s gone…
So here is a little breakdown of what I’ve been up to the last month…
Well, I’m an official Peace Corps Volunteer! September 17 was our swear-in at the US Ambassador’s house in Cotonou. All the Peace Corps staff, our host families, the Ambassador, every TV station in Benin, some current volunteers, and any other “important” white person currently in Benin was invited to the occasion. It was totally surreal because we got to be “back in America” for a few hours and sit on comfy couches J. After the ceremony we all headed back to Porto-Novo to start preparing to make the move to post.
[September 28, 2010] POST
I’ve been here at post for a week already! After unpacking the surprisingly few bags I had and settling in to my house I realized that I’m in for a whole new round of culture shock. Village life is quite different than the “big city;” think American small-town where everybody knows everybody…and when you’re the only white person living in a village, you become somewhat of a celebrity. This may be a good or bad thing for me. The village kids are very curious about me and are constantly coming and standing in my doorway to watch me, even if I’m just sitting there reading. My days go somewhat like this…I wake-up around 6ish when the kids start yelling, the roosters start crowing, and the women start sweeping; I open my door and everyone in my concession comes to greet me (in Lokpa, the local language); I make breakfast (usually oatmeal or bread and nutella) and head out on my bike on the dirtroad by my house towards the farms and forest. I run into many people on the road, many of whom are struck to see a white-girl riding a bike through the countryside; I return back and hangout a bit in my house then usually go to my homologue’s 2nd wife’s tailoring shop where I sit for at least 2 hours and hangout. Sitting (mainly in silence) is a pastime here in Benin…you can literally spend hours just looking out from your bench. It’s great since I can’t really communicate past simple salutations and chit-chat in Lokpa and the villagers can’t say much in French.
I’ll be honest, post is a pretty big adjustment from the busy days of training in Porto-Novo; for example, the constant interaction with Americans to speaking little or no English everyday, moving from having no choice in what I eat to relying on my Beninese cooking skills, and basically having hours each day to do anything/nothing/whatever I want. Oh, and no electricity or running water is thrown into the mix too. The downtime is a blessing and a curse! For the first 3 months at post we are not expected to start any big projects or do major work so that puts the pressure on to “integrate” into our communities. By integration I mean getting to know people’s daily activities, sitting with Mamas, learning about what is grown around my village and what is brought in from surrounding villages to sell at the market, and just getting a feel for what kind of projects I can do in the future and who will be reliable work partners. My homologue takes me to surrounding neighborhoods sometimes to greet people and we are going to start having “fieldtrips” to see what kind of “products” are being produced in my village. By products I mean honey, gari (which is similar to breadcrumbs but it’s made from a potato-like tuber, not bread), bread, soy cheese, wagashi (the other kind of cheese here), tree nurseries, and peanuts. I’m slowing learning the pace of life in my village and people are also slowing getting used to seeing me everyday, which alleviates some of the initial staring I received when I first ventured out of my silly little house. On the subject of my house, I have a little bit of renovating to do like paint my gray walls, get a screen-door put on so I can control the people who come in and out, and get some more furniture made. Little by little its coming together and in no time it will feel more like home.
October 2, 2010
Right now I am in Natitingou, a city about 4 hours north of Prekete, at the Peace Corps workstation, which is actually a “little America” specifically for Peace Corps Volunteers. We had a meeting yesterday for our region and all the volunteers) about 25 of us) on this side of the country met to discuss “things.” Its great to be around friends and hear stories about people’s posts…some sound great and some sound less-than-great to be honest. The workstation feels like summer camp, with bunkbeds and people just hanging out and relaxing. It’s crazy because you can forget that you are in Africa for a second…until you walk outside the walls of the workstation. It’s nice to get a break for a while and be refreshed when I go back to post to start doing some small projects here and there.
I thought I would be able to post pictures this weekend while I was here but of course the wifi isn’t working in the workstation…I will try to post a few and hopefully soon I will be able to show you guys more! Let me tell you, some things are just easier to explain with a picture.
And here is my new address too:
Lauren Smith, Peace Corps Volunteer
Corps de la Paix
BP 168
Natitingou, Benin
Afrique de l’Ouest
Just some hints about packages…padded envelopes often get here faster, put ALL food in Ziploc bags to help keep out the creatures, it also “helps” if you write “Dieu te regarde” or “Dieu est grand” on the box to deter people from going through the package J
I’d love to hear from everybody so send me some letters!
PS I cut off about 5 inches of my hair…The bucket showers just weren’t working for the massive amounts of hair I had!
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