The trouble with eggs

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you are doing well, and I hope you are enjoying the blog!

It’s been a pretty good week, but before I get into that I want to explain a little about traveling.

In our first three months at post, we are allowed to be away from our village at most two nights per month. This is to encourage us to get to know our community and the assets there. After the first three months we have three ‘mental health days’ a month instead of two, and we will also have access to our vacation time. For the time being I have budgeted out my time so that I would get to spend a night at the workstation every three weeks. Last weekend however, I got a little extra internet in because I went and visited the Kandi Workstation for the day and got back to Founougo before dark. All in all I spent 4 hours in the workstation and 5 hours traveling, so it’s not a trip I will be making every weekend, but it’s nice to know that it’s an option.

Now for some anecdotes. The day after I got back from my Kandi day trip, I had a tricky social experience. I came to find out that the price I had been paying for eggs was more than twice what the price should have been. Now prices are often flexible here, and I sort of new it was only a matter of time until I paid too much for something because I didn’t know what the price ought to be. However, I had started to develop a rapport with the women who sold the eggs. They would recognize me (which admittedly is not that difficult) and we would go through some friendly salutations in Bariba before they utterly ripped me off. At first I was just embarrassed, but the more I thought about it the more annoyed I became. I decided I would have to talk to them.

Even though it wasn’t market day, I went to the place where they usually sell the eggs and asked some men who were standing there were was the woman who sold these eggs. It was lucky that the men were there, and got a little bit involved, because they spoke French, where many women do not. Also, shame is very significant in this culture, and I was ok with letting a few people in the community know that I wasn’t going to stand for being treated that way. I explained to them that I am a newcomer here, and everything is new for me. (I knew that in this culture it is an important mark of politeness to welcome newcomers). I explained that I am a volunteer and am not receiving a full salary. I told them how I am here to help Founougo and these women had tricked me. They could see that I was upset, and were able to reflect back to me what I was saying and translate it into Bariba a little. The women for their part looked embarrassed.

When market day came around two days later, I didn’t need to buy eggs even if I had wanted to. However, I did make a point to say a very quick hello to the women selling the eggs, and they were looking out to see if I would greet them. I hope we can move forward with some positive respect for each other. I am optimistic that we can.

Tuesday was Suzanne’s birthday, (she is one of the five volunteers here in the Banikoara area). Because I was traveling for some meetings, I got to visit her town, Toura and along with Josh surprise her and wish her a happy birthday. It was really great to see another volunteer’s town, and get to catch up with Suzanne and Josh. They both seem to be doing really well. Suzanne is an English teacher like Camille, so classes are really starting to get rolling for her. Josh is an Environmental Action volunteer like me, and he said that there was a lot of interest in his work (and his knowledge of English!) at the high school in his town. It was great to hear about little things that are starting to get moving for each of them. Suzanne and Camille were in a Bariba class together during Training, so Suzanne speaks Bariba a lot with her neighbors in village. For me, it was really encouraging to see how much I could understand based on the studying I have been doing here in Founougo. Some days it seems really daunting, so it’s good to have those moments of recognizing that growth is happening.

For my part, I had a very edifying meeting with a supervisor this week, and he encouraged me during my service to look seriously at latrine construction. Financially significant projects can be a little tricky, but I am glad to hear where there is an interest, and a project like that that has tangible lasting benefits certainly has it’s appeal. I also got to visit classes at the local high school. It was really exciting to make the jump from the primary schools to the high school and see how much the French level improved. One of the teachers is even interested in starting an environmental club! So work is piecing together, little by little. This week felt busier than weeks past, and I am trying to push myself to maximize my time. It’s always a challenge in a culture that almost can’t focus on promptness.

Well, those are the thoughts for this week. It could be three weeks, (or thanksgiving), before I get to post again, though you never know. I will try to type up a weekly entry regardless and post when I get the opportunity.

Thanks so much for reading, I’m so glad to get to share these experiences with you!

With Love,

Lauren

School in Benin

Hello everyone!

I hope you are doing well. I am enjoying being able to be in touch, even if it is in little bits and pieces.

This week I got to start observing classes at the local primary schools. It has been a big learning experience. I am hoping to possibly guest lecture in some classes, and also continue the environmental club that has been running in years past. There are lots of other small opportunities for summer camps and scholarships and things. That will all come with time.

With all that in mind I really wanted to get an idea of the teaching style, and general school protocol here. Let me share with you some of what I have learned.

To begin with, classes are often between 80 and 100 students. Teachers seem to try to be engaging, getting examples from different student and doing exercises where everyone holds up there answer on their black board. However, students really have to sit in their seat for the whole day (in fact, it is common in between lessons for the teacher to have all the students stand up and sit down a couple times). I was surprised to see that the system really works as well as it does because all the students are pretty engaged and motivated. I haven’t seen one student sleeping in class or trying to get attention by being bad or acting out. I suppose it is only the first week, so I suppose there is time for more observation in that department. Still it does impress me how much students need to be personally responsible for following the lesson, because there is just no way that the teacher can personally interact with each of them meaningfully each class.

Uniforms are required for school. I find this a little funny since, here in Founougo, pretty much all clothes are either hand me downs from the west or custom made garments in bright traditional fabric. So when it comes time to buy uniforms, parents by meters of khaki fabric and have something stitched up that basically follows the criteria of the uniform. With older and younger siblings to consider, you have students coming to school in several shades of khaki, some too big some too small, some with pockets, some with buttons… It’s an interesting mix and match.

Classes also have a long break in the middle of the day, that give things more of a college feel. Class goes from 8 am to 12, and then 3 to 5. Especially for girls, there are a lot of shores that need to be done in the day, and I think having things broken up helps with that. Also the afternoons get pretty hot, so it’s nice to break things up.

I have to say, for me, really trying to follow the French for four hours of class straight has been surprisingly tiring. It’s great practice though.

That’s been the main action in this week. I also scrubbed out my filter. Let me tell you, it’s been doing some work. I also successfully made a quiche. I was very proud of how it came out, but also felt like maybe I need to get a new hobby. So I picked knitting back up. I haven’t been working at that since August, and it’s good to be back building something. The hat is coming together pretty nicely too!

Tonight I was listening to some of my rationed-out podcasts and I was listening to a sermon from my church back home. It was from psalm 94 (“better is one day in your courts…”) and was generally about the concept of home. I was a little nervous that it  would make me homesick. However, one of the first points was about how home is somewhere you feel like yourself, and also somewhere you grow. That made me think about how I am making a kind of home here, and that made me happy. But one of the last points was that with whatever else we strive for, as Christians, God is Home. That was really powerful to hear. It’s really what I want, and what I believe. I miss my family and my home in New England very much, but I know I am traveling with my most crucial home with me. My greatest hope is to be doing God’s work so it’s also a major source motivation of growth.

Ok, I try not to get preachy on the blog, but every now and then I want to make sure I share what motivates me, as well as what I’m doing. Thanks for sticking through it.

In more anecdotal news, the other day I came home and greeted my neighbors, only to be quickly told to be careful. I immediately looked down for animal droppings. It was probably silly to expect a warning for something like that. In fact, what they were trying to warn me about was a huge swarm of bees that was in front of my house! As one of my neighbors said, they were trying to saluer, or greet me! Fortunately, bees are one animal that the Beninese and Americans seem to have a pretty even fear of. They wouldn’t let me go near the house. As it happened, hey were getting ready for lunch and invited me to join them. I’ve been wanting to share a meal with my neighbors for a while, so I said a quick prayer that everything was prepared ‘kosher’ and dug in. It seemed like a real turn of good luck after all. I am hoping to bake something for them this coming week.

I think that’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
With love,

Lauren

Looking at one month at post

**I wrote this on October 13th**

Hi Everyone,

I don’t expect to be able to post this to my blog for a little while, I thought I’d write just the same. It’s been a week since I last updated the blog in the Kandi workstation, and I’ve been keeping track of some thoughts and anecdotes that I wanted to share.

First I wanted to tell you about the taxi ride back from Kandi to Banikoara (before the motorcycle taxi ride from Banikoara to Founougo). Taxis tend to be over crowded as a rule, but this one was a record breaker. Four of the five of us Banikoara area volunteers decided to find a taxi together. We would up smushing into the middle row of a three row station wagon, with 4 adults and 4 kids under the age of 5 in the back, and three adults in the front row with the driver. At 16 people in a station wagon, we felt like we had reached capacity, even in Benin. But after about 20 minutes on the road we slowed down almost to a stop and Camille and Suzanne, our two best Bariba speakers started laughing. When Josh and I asked them what was funny, they said that a man had approached the driver, and the driver had said in Bariba, “Let’s go” and then the man jumped up on the roof with the luggage. Sure enough when we looked back there was a pair of feet dangling from the roof. All 17 of us made it to Banikoara with a good story to tell!

Coming back to post after visiting the workstation in Kandi was a little bit of a transition. I journaled about that, and thought I would share my thoughts with you now. I’ve been glad that I shared challenging moments in the past, so here we are.

I wanted to talk a little about how life has been different since I visited the workstation in Kandi. There it was cooler and cleaner, and I ate delicious food, and listened to American music, and talked to other Americans. I also spent almost the entire time on the internet – downloading the new Mumford Album, and pulling other information like West African Folktales, and posting to my blog, and posting pictures and emailing. It was great. I also didn’t get very much sleep trying to fit everything in.

When I got back , the next morning I slept in and never wound up leaving my house. Given, I did work. I worked on my compost pile and read up on rabbit raising and studied Bariba. But still. The next day I was in my house until mid afternoon when I finally got stir crazy and went for a meeting with my homologue. For most of the day Tuesday I was just happy to be in my house, studying and doing paperwork. I got worried that now that I’ve seen how awesome it is to go to the workstation, I will just spend my time waiting for the next time I get to go there. I certainly do look forward to those trips a lot already. When does that become wishing your time away? Maybe it’s when you look forward to those things more than you enjoy your daily life. I certainly like my house, and I care about the people I interact with. I am eagerly searching work opportunities but trying not to jump at every stray opportunity.

Anyway, I did feel a lot better after I got out of the house. On the way to the meeting I met someone who said they would teach me Peuhl, one of the other local languages. (I haven’t followed up with them yet, sometimes people make offers like that just to be friendly, still I’ve been looking for someone who speaks both French and Peuhl.) On the way back I saw the coiffure, or hair salon where one of the mamas in my concession works, and I saw Sabi, the old man who sat next to me at church. The meeting itself was less exciting. I got worried that I am becoming less of an exciting novelty. Still, I did have work matters to discuss and it seemed to go well. I would like to get working on an ongoing project. I’ve started messing with the school garden a little, that’s good. I am also hoping to install a living fence (made of trees) there. Soon I will be able to visit classes at each school and before December 9^th (when we have In Service Training) I would like to guest lecture, at least a few times. Soon enough it will be mudstove building season, and things seem to be going well with Gnon Tori (she worked on mudstoves with the volunteer I am replacing). There is also the tree nursery with Seidou, who knows what will happen with that. I guess we keep organizing and keep on keeping on. It’s a challenge but I do feel lucky to be here.

A few days after I wrote that journal entry I got to share a laugh with Gnon Tori. She has been helping me with Bariba, and that day I was studying vocabulary on physical descriptions of people. While we were working a man came by to talk to her briefly. As he was leaving Gnon Tori leaned over to me and whispered, in Bariba, “He’s fat!” I appreciated the teachable moment. Do remember that here it isn’t considered rude to comment on people’s physical appearance, and actually being a little heavy means that you are well off and haven’t been sick. She’s a good hearted person, that Gnon Tori. I think I like her sense of humor.

Incidentally after the Bariba lesson we wound up sharing lunch. And by sharing I mean eating off the same plate with our hands. I’m getting a little better at not making a complete mess of myself when I eat with my hands (though it’s taken me longer to learn than learning to eat with chopsticks!). I was so grateful to share a meal with her.

So that was a positive experience, here’s a frusterating one. A few days back I had been walking past the market with someone when a woman selling food called out to great me. The person I was walking with said, “Oh, that’s Foussena” and I looked over and believed it was the woman who wants to raise rabbits. I think you can see where this is going. I actually stopped by and made a point to great her and ask about the family, and the rabbits after that. A few days later, my homologue Baron and I wanted to have a meeting with Foussena. I told Baron she was selling food by the market. When we arrived there I said hi to the woman and then Baron said, “Where’s Foussena?” I was mortified to realize I had gotten her confused with someone else. I was so embarrassed. Baron was very understanding about it and just said, “Yeah, in Bariba there are a lot of women named Foussena.” Oy vey. Incidentally the real meeting with the real Foussena did go well.

Another more positive anecdote: There have been a few people who knew Summer well who have reached out to me. One girl, Mamato  (MA-ma-toh) who goes to the local high school even came by to say hi to me at my house. The other day I was walking through the market with a very heavy canvas bag. Mamato saw me and said hi, and when she saw that I was going home she offered to carry my bag. I automatically refused, but she insisted. Truth be told, I had already been walking for 20 minutes or so, and I can’t say I wasn’t grateful for the help. We talked about her English class and the school garden, and when we got to my house I was able to give her some of the fried bread I had splurged on. I’m still grateful to her.

I thought of another anecdote from a while ago that I didn’t share before, but I found it funny and wanted to share it now. I hope I’ve mentioned before that people are generally pretty willing to drop what they are doing to help when someone needs it. That’s actually very well demonstrated in the story with Mamato. I should also emphasize that kids do a lot of work. They are sort of the first line of attack for any chores that need to be done.

Well one day I had been out all morning and didn’t arrive back at my concession until after noon when the sun was already beating down and it was very hot. I was tired after walking home and so raedy to sit down and drink some water. I was surprised to find that when I got to the entrance to my concession the door was closed. When I tried the handle and shook the door a little it didn’t move. For a while I stood there and looked at the door, trying to decide if I would go to some street food vendor to sit until someone came home, or if I would just sit in front of the door. I even considered trying to climb over the wall, but if nothing else that seemed like it would attract a lot of attention. There was already a little kid standing watching me deliberate. Then a man came up on a motorcycle and stopped in front of the concession. I wasn’t really sure if he lived there or not (this was still early on). The little kid stepped up and the two of them talked in Bariba a little bit. I just stood there, totally passive in the heat. The man tried the door and also tried the large metal gate next to it. Both were closed. Then the kid climbed over the gate into the concession. I was so hot and tired it was all good with me. The little kid and the man talked back and forth across the door in Bariba. The kid couldn’t get the door open. Then he tried the gate. After various metallic banging noises he couldn’t get that either. Then, because there seemed like nothing else to try the man noticed a rope tied around the gate and looped through part of the lock of the door. When he untied the rope the door fell right open! I felt silly, but mostly I felt tired. So just as if he and the little boy had just held the elevator door for me, I said thanks and went inside.

Ok, that’s all the anecdotes that I have saved up for this week. I did have one more thought that I wanted to share with you. I want to talk a little more about when I first rode into Founougo. As I was riding in that rickety peugot truck down the dirt road, I was hit by a thought that I have often revisited since then. I kept thinking my whole life, I was always going to come to Founougo. And the whole time Founougo has existed, I Was always going to come here. You can take that as literally or as metaphysically as you want to. I know it’s possible things won’t work out between me and Founougo. And it’s always possible that some political unrest that never actually affects the town itself could mean I have to leave, there are a hundred unforeseeable circumstances. Heading towards Founougo for the first time almost felt like a betrothal. I wondered if I would love the town right away, and new it didn’t really matter, because I would slowly get to know the town and find things that worked and come to love it little by little. That’s been true so far. Even though there are a lot of things about being here that are hard, I feel a sense of pride and even a little personal ownership for this town. I certainly have some affection for it. And yeah, I keep coming back to this idea that all my life I was always going to come here.

There are still some adjustments. I don’t think this entry would be complete if I didn’t point out that it has been a whole month since I have seen a movie. I don’t think that has ever happened before. At what age did I start watching movies Mom and Dad? Still, all things are going pretty well. The latrine is doing well, the well is doing well, the kitchen is great, and I’m doing just fine.

Thanks for reading, and as the saying goes in Bariba, ‘May God bestow spices upon you’.

With love,

Lauren

My house in Founougo!

First three weeks at post!

Hello Everyone!

Wow. It’s been a while. There’s a saying here that goes, “It’s been two days!” and it certainly has. I hope you all are doing well. I think about you all back in the western world on a daily basis. Ok, we have a lot of ground to cover and less than infinite time to cover it in. Let’s get started.

Work:

My work as an Environmental Action volunteer is largely unstructured. Major areas of focus include: working with the area schools to teach about environmental awareness and also start/continue/assist with an Environmental Club or Clubs, building and teaching about fuel-efficient mudstoves, and generally gardening and planting trees with people.

For me personally the first three weeks have involved a lot of meeting people and establishing connections. I met I man named Seidou (SAY-doo) who works with the neighboring national park and will also be recommencing with a tree nursery in November. I am planning to tag along with him and at least pick up some local tips and insights on growing things here. I also am particularly interested in organizing saving seeds (seeds are very expensive) and planting fruit trees (which are woefully rare). If there’s anything I can do to help Seidou and the tree nursery, I am interested!

Seidou also introduced me to Foussena (Foo-SAY-nah) who would like to start a women’s group to raise rabbits, which would then be sold for meat (very sorry rabbits!). This idea has been met with a lot of enthusiasm. People in Founougo like rabbit and there isn’t really anyone who sells it. Rabbits also grow very fast. I am interested to see how I can help her. I have been networking with Summer’s old homologue to find interested women. I think there may be some grant-application in the future, since Foussena would like to build more cement rabbit hutches.

School is also /starting/ to start up this week. I was told that it would take a while for the schedule to be published and lesson plans to be subsequently written and for classes to actually start. When they do, I would like to observe a couple, until I get a feel for the rhythm of classes here. After that I am hoping to offer to teach a couple classes, at different levels, on environmental topics (possibly with a nutrition tie-in). There also is a vegetable garden started which I now believe is shared between the three primary schools. I am eager to get working with kids on that. There is a lot that is still growing from last year; carrots and tomatoes and cabbage… However, since it’s the end of the rainy season, the fence around the garden is breaking down and animals can get in. That’s kind of stressful, and not very easy to fix immediately. I’m talking with people about the problem.

I’ve also gotten to see some of the mudstoves that already exist in Founougo, many of which were made with the last volunteer. I’m hoping to see more of them this coming week. Once the rainy season ends some people will be repairing their stoves, and it will also be an ideal time to make new ones!

There are other little bits and pieces but those are the broad brush strokes. I am eager to tell you about daily life!

Non-work:

I am actually really living in a house with no running water and no electricity. This provides a shifting scale of excitement and contentment and anxiety. I will say I am missing the internet and movies. However being able to call home has been a big, important lifeline. Not having running water was tricky the first couple days. The first time I went to wash dishes and had to think, “wait. Where… do I… put this.” But in a twister-like game of one thing and then another, I’ve figured out a system, and the lack of running water doesn’t really phase me, I just need to make sure I stay ahead of having good water in the house. That is becoming more and more routine.

As for the house itself, I actually really love it. I inherited a respectable amount of furniture (even after sharing some with Camille, my post mate). The house has bright green walls and stays relatively cool and well lit during the day. I have a porch with a garden and compost bin already set up. I love the kitchen and am spending a lot of time there.

Lately, cooking has been my major creative outlet. I cooked all my meals for myself while I was in Hawaii, and I am really enjoying getting back to that. It is so nice to be in control of how my food is prepared, and to be able to choose what I am going to eat, and it’s just so nice to get to create things every day. I’ve been eating a lot of eggplant, both stir fried and in tomato sauce. I’ve also had a lot of African yams – sweeter than potatoes, but savorier than sweet-potatoes. I have been pleasantly surprised that so far I have been able to find a constant supply of fruit – mostly guavas with some bananas, oranges, limes and coconut mixed in there. Rice and beans have also been a trusty staple. I haven’t branched out into meat and cheese too much yet. I wanted to be sure I mastered safely cleaning and preparing my fruits and vegetables, and also get to know the market a little, before I jumped into that culinary deep end. I’m still taking my time.

I get out into the community every day and get lots of practice speaking Bariba (the most common local language here). Salutations are very important in this culture, so it’s easy to get to introduce myself to the neighbors!

On that note let’s take a look at a slice of daily life in Founougo.

Daily life:

I try to wake up right as the sun is coming up. The first hour of the day is the coolest, and it feels like a good window of time to get things done. I usually visit the latrine and then pull up water from the well and water the garden. Then I usually draw up another bucket of water that is split between water for dishes, boiled drinking water (if need be) and shower water. After that I might take a bucket shower, but most days I proceed straight to making breakfast.

I turn on the gas on the propane tank and light the gas stove. I have a small metal teapot, and I either make tea or wonderful American coffee (just like in Hawaii). The first two weeks I had oatmeal, and this last week I had Honey bread (which I made! In a ‘dutch oven’) with an orange. I almost always eat breakfast sitting in a wooden Adirondak (-esque) chair on my porch, watching the day get brighter. After breakfast I wash the dishes, first in a large plastic bowl with liquid dish soap, then rinse them in a second plastic bowl that just has water.

After breakfast I get dressed for the day and put on sunscreen. The window of time between about 8 and 10 is ideal if you have to do any laundry (this requires three larger plastic bowls). It can also be a good time to study Bariba a bit. If I’m not doing either of those things, I put on my big sun hat and strap on my sandals or put on my rainboots to go visit people.

I live across a dam/semi-flooded road, or “barrage” from most of town. I have had impressively good luck at not falling in, so far. Then I saluer (SAL-yoo-way), or greet people. I saluer the kid who is usually at the butcher’s shop. I saluer the women who braid hair, I saluer the woman who is /always/ selling fried dough balls. I saluer the woman who runs a small convenience store. Then the moto-taxi drivers, the guy who owns the phone charging boutique, and the other women selling streetfood, especially the one close to the school who loves to chat with me a little. Most of the greetings (and more besides) happen while I’m still walking.  There are a good number where I will just stop for a few seconds to exchange general questions about health, and work, and family, before moving on.

From there I visit the schools, or practice Bariba with Summer’s old homologue, Gnon Tori, or I say ‘Hi’ to Seidou or Foussena, and I almost always visit my homologue’s house and catch up with him a bit.

Around noon I head home and make lunch. Sometimes this is what I had for dinner, thoroughly reheated. In the afternoon I lie low and read some technical manuals, or practice Bariba, or possibly cook a bit. Around 3 I might venture out again. Every 4 days market comes to town and I pick up fresh produce for then next couple days. I might also go drop my phone off at the charging cabin, or go visit anyone I still need to after the morning round of social-ness.

Around 6, I water the plants and pull up more water from the well, if need be, especially for the shower. I take a bucket-bath and then start preparing dinner. As it gets dark, I usually use a solar powered desk lamp propped up on a shelf, and I can see very well to cook with that. I usually do most of the dishes while dinner is cooling a little. After dinner I wipe down the counter and put all my fresh food in a plastic container, to discourage any interested bugs and animals. Then I read, or possibly listen to the radio until bed.

That’s the basic idea of general life here. There will be other random visits, and some calls and texts with other volunteers, some sweating, some dozing, some adding a little more sugar. I have to say, in general I am really enjoying the challenge and the adjustment. I’m excited to see what work I get to do!

Anecdotes:

Now it’s time for some of the most important anecdotes over the last three weeks. Moving up here was an important one.

Camille and I shared a station wagon taxi, and we set off before it was light out. I was nervous we would never make it to Founougo before it got dark, but the roads were clear, and amazingly, we got to Founougo a little before 6! We went to Camille’s house first and as luck would (not) have it, her landlord was traveling and there was no way to get into the house! It was suggested that her stuff be taken to my house, but I pushed for it to be left there, because our houses are kind of on opposite ends of town, and I didn’t see another helpful station wagon being likely in our future. We wound up leaving her things on the porch, believing the landlord would be back that night.

Now it came time to cross the barrage. It was looking pretty flooded, but I had seen the Peace Corps jeep cross it, so I was curious to see if the driver would make it work if we asked him to. He wouldn’t make it work. He tried edging out onto the barrage, but at the first sign of getting stuck in the rocks, he refused and said he would take my stuff back to Camille’s. This was not a very appealing option, since Camille hadn’t even gotten into her house yet, never mind how far away it was.

By this point a small crowd had gathered around the car, with several people offering their opinions. A couple able-bodied young men offered to carry my stuff over the barrage to my house. I looked around. I didn’t know any of these guys, but it seemed like they were going to be my new neighbors. I thoughts about all my stuff, and trying to haul it piecemeal from Camille’s house. I looked at the guys and thought, “lets do this.” So with one moto, one bicycle, 7 guys, and Camille and I bravely and foolishly taking more than either of us could carry, we set off across the barrage in the failing light.

Amazingly, nothing fell in, and even though I was far and away the last one to make it to my house, all my stuff was there waiting for me. After getting in the door, one of my neighbors helpfully took me aside and explained that it was expected that I pay them, and then recommended a price. I was very grateful that she realized I didn’t know what was normal for men carrying all your worldly possessions across a flooded road. All things considered, I think it went amazingly well.

Camille, as it turns out, wound up spending that night and the next one, at one of her neighbor’s houses. She was incredibly resilient and easy going with the wait, and she is very happily moved in now.

Church:

The morning after I arrived was Sunday morning. So, as was the logical thing to do, I stepped out my front door and said ‘hi’ to my neighbors that were pulling up water, preparing breakfast, and generally hanging around. I said, “is anyone going to church, and can I go too?” They took me to the Catholic Church in town, which I had visited when I was in town for two weeks in August. This time around I was more prepared to introduce myself during the announcements and was even half waiting to be put on the spot. Everything went smoothly, and afterwards I was able to say hi to my hosts from the previous visit.

The next week, my homologue’s kids took me to the local Evangelical Church. When we got there, there were about 10 adults all standing up and praying out loud simultaneously. I had seen this in the Boston area, so I wasn’t too thrown off. After some minutes of this a bell rang and one man said, “Now we are going to have French inside, and Bariba outside”. I stayed inside and everyone else went outside except for the man who had made the announcement and one kindly old man. To this day I am still skeptical of his level of French. As he and I sat there and listened to the man speak, I thought “I like the tone of this church, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go to a church that only has two people showing up on Sunday morning.” However, as the man continued to talk another five or so people showed up. I was surprised by how much the man who was talking would single people out and asked them for examples. After about an hour the Bariba-speakers came back in and then church started. I had been at Sunday School that whole time! The service itself was well attended and had really lively music that was easy to sing along to. It was a good experience.

Church also featured one of the best tee shirts I have seen here. A lot of English tee shirts make their way to Benin, and people here don’t really stress out about what the shirts say. I’ve seen a man with California Kittens on his shirt (another favorite). In this case a young man was wearing a brown tee shirt and it took me most of the service to finally be able to read the whole thing. It said, “Good Boys go to Heaven/ Bad Boys go to London” I couldn’t help smiling to myself. Does that take on a different interpretation if you wear it to church? I don’t know. I thought about asking him for it, but it wouldn’t fit me anyway!

Mail!

So with regards to sending mail: First off, emails are great, and so are facebook messages. Thanks for those, and feel free to keep ‘em coming J

Large packages should always go to Cotonou:

Lauren Mawe

Corps de la Paix

BP 971

Cotonou, Benin

That stuff is sent to Cotonou where Peace Corps Administration picks it up and delivers mail around to the work stations once a month. This means it can take a long time for things to get to me, but it is definitely the most secure means of sending something.

For letters and small package envelopes, the 5 Banikoara volunteers are sharing a PO box, at least until the end of the year. That mailbox is only 45 minutes away for me, so it’s easier to get to, and letters will probably get to me faster than they would via Cotonou. The address for that is

Lauren Mawe

01 BP 37

Banikoara, Benin

West Africa

Also: Recieveing calls is free, so if you ever want to buy a calling card, or figure out sSkype calls or Google voice, or any of that fun stuff, email me and I will give you my phone number J

To Sum up:

Adjusting to life here is a daily (weekly, monthly) process. However, the challnges have been so exciting. For the first time in my life I really feel like the physical challenges put before me have made me strongerthan I was before, and I have surprised myself. Not having he internet is tough, but I am so grateful to have so much support from my friends and family.

I am glad to be getting to share this all with you. If all goes according to plan I should be able to update, and get a long gulp of internet, in three weeks time. Until then, keep being awesome. J

With much love,

Lauren