The HEAT is On

Yes, the hot season has arrived. Bye bye cool nights of sleeping in my bed with a sheet and hello to nights of sleeping on my cement floor next to my screen door.

I’m sure you’ve all been wondering where I have been for the last 6ish months and why I’ve not written about my weird life, the crazy happenings, and other miscellaneous events that have taken place here in Benin. The truth is I’ve got words coming out of my ears! I have so much I want to say and can never seem to find the appropriate way to explain. A new year means new habits (or broken resolutions) and one of mine will be to better document these remaining months I have as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Weather report:

December and January I used 2 sheets at night and wore a sweater in the mornings. A sort of African winter.

February is hot. Not much else to say but the heat is here. L

About work:

I have been BUSY these last few months. As most of you know I have been planning my latrine project since last year and have finally begun construction. The “Prekete Poo Pit Project” is officially underway; a big thanks to everyone who donated or spread the word about the pits. (Look for pictures through the link to the right!) It’s pretty amazing how quickly the mason and his helpers can make the platforms and bricks with just their hands and a shovel. Manual labor is the name of the game. No pre-fabrication by machine here.

I’ve been really lucky to have a great counterpart who is helping me organize the project. I was so afraid that I would be the only one trying to organize buying materials, transporting them to my village, and getting the families on the same page but that fear has dissolved thanks to my counterpart and other helpers in the village.

Honestly, I had my doubts about the value and sustainability of constructing anything here in Benin because there are so many foreign agencies, NGO’s, and international aid that comes in and builds wonderful buildings that are not used because they’re not really needed. The problem is that these groups give money just to give but it doesn’t trickle down to the people who really need it or it is wasted on an office building that is not necessary. Luckily, since I have been living in Prekete for a year and a half now I can say that I really understand what the village could USE; hence the latrines.

Another project I have been working on is my environmental club. Sharing information (ie education) is the KEY to development and change. My reason for even applying for the Peace Corps was to teach people skills that I’ve learned and more specifically to do environmental education. I attempted a club last year but my French level wasn’t really all that great and I was still adjusting to EVERYTHING. This year I have great students who understand my broken French and are eager to learn. The kids are about the age of 6^th-8^th graders. Last week we chose the President, VP, secretary, and disciplinarian (these kids can get a lil wild) and the kids are even more invested in the club now. This week we are planting our garden and hopefully we can use our vegetable money to take a field trip to the sacred monkey forest about 40 km away.

I really just want to give these kids something different. There are not many (or any) extra curricular activities for them, which is so different than our American uprbringing, right? One thing the kids here are not is OVERPROGRAMMED! But that can be a little boring so hopefully this silly American girl can get them interested in protecting their fragile environment.

I have some secondary projects too such as helping with the pre-natal consultations at the health center (I am basically the scribe), helping the gardeners improve their crops by teaching about compost, natural pesticides, etc, and planning the Girls’ Empowerment Camp for June. I am also planning a bike tour with the volunteers of my region; we are planning to do a tour of the villages along our road for a few days in May. We will stop in each village to do an environment related session.

Things have really taken a turn for the better these last few months and I’m hoping the momentum will keep me going strong til the end! I will officially be finished in Prekete in September of this year. How the time has flown. I have had some of the longest days of my life in this village where time passes slower than you can imagine. Thankfully I have found some outlets to the mundane. It’s amazing how different my life is this year compared to last year even though I am in the same place. It took me about 9 months to get completely comfortable and really learn my limits here.

If you can speak a little of their local language, learn to greet people every morning (between 6 and 8 am), eat their food, wear their clothes, and change your daily routine to mirror theirs you’ll have a much easier time just living. In America we have a thousand things to distract us or to “do” to keep us from monotony; they usually involve technology. In Benin, if you are bored, the best thing you can do and sometimes the only cure is to go outside and be with REAL people. Funny how the best form of entertainment here is people (or often dirty little children), huh? You can’t be a hermit in this society.

If you've ever read Kerouac's Big Sur, living in Prekete is much like living in the desolate cabin in the canyons on the coast of California. Sure, I am not alone but I often have the same realization that Kerouac had; he says he went crazy (or possibly stir crazy) after just 3 weeks of isolation. Again, I'm not isolated in that I'm alone but isolated in a culture I am still trying to grasp. Well, I think I beat Kerouac in that I have endured being somewhat stir crazy with a dash of cabin fever for the last year and a half; but, I am afraid I will have the same realizations he did upon returning to what he calls the "gooky city." Guess we'll see when this is all said and done.

Farewell and I hope I didn’t ramble too much.