Hi Everyone,

I am sorry that I haven’t written in a while. Could it be that we are transitioning into a time when day to day life in West Africa seems normal, and therefore doesn’t need to be blogged about? Surely not!

In fact March has been a pretty peculiar month here in Founougo. At the beginning of the month I was racing to finish off my grant applications for the latrine project (with much help from Baron-my-homologue, and Daniel my supervisor). Since those were sent off, I have been on the ‘waiting’ side of ‘hurry up and wait’.

However, the timing turned out to be pretty perfect, since as I mentioned, the Chaleur, or the hot season has truly arrived and it has been a pretty big adjustment. I have had an exceptional heat rash for the last several weeks (Which friends and neighbors have been happy to point out to me). The week after I sent in the grant proposals I suffered from a mild bought of heat stroke.

I had zemmed to Banikoara hoping to do some work with the waste management company Bethesda, and I really wound up traveling on a motorcycle in the hot African sun, right around noon. It’s an uphill battle to stay hydrated here anyway, and I think that really knocked me back. By 3 I was feeling nauseous and dizzy and my skin was very hot, but I wasn’t sweating. Fortunately, I was with Katrina, the volunteer that lives in Banikoara and we figured out what was happening, and I sat down and drank probably three liters of water. If you live in Founougo (like I do) and you are going to get mild heat stroke, it is better to get it in the ‘big city’ of Banikoara. I was able to sleep next to a fan and have cold drinks and a shower before heading back to post. It still took a couple days for me to really feel like myself again. I was grateful for the time to rest in my house.

The next weekend was the Gender and Development fundraiser in Parakou. Most volunteers went, and Amber, Heidi, Bethany, Liz and I all got a gloriously air conditioned hotel room together. I meant to take a picture of our queen size bed and add the caption that the hotel room was ‘the perfect size for two people or five peace corps volunteers.’ Two people brought therma-rests, and three were able to sleep on the bed horizontally. With air conditioning and running water there weren’t any complaints!

The Gender and Development (or GAD) activities were a lot of fun too. I participated in bids on the dates that were for sale. To raise money for GAD, volunteers would organize trips to their posts or local attractions, or offer to cook or pay for delicious meals. It is expected that most bids will be bet on by groups of volunteers pooling their resources together. This is especially true for the legendary dinners that the Country Director, and other Administrators host every year. I participated in three winning bids (though none of the aforementioned winning dinners). In the next couple months I look forward to telling you about ‘partying in Parakou’ seeing the Sacred Monkey forest in Bassila, and the Waterfalls in Natitangou. I don’t think I did too bad, even if I did miss out on vegan-thai night in Cotonou. The fundraiser weekend also involved getting all dressed up, socializing and dancing with other volunteers. I hope to post pictures on facebook soon!

This week I am happy to say that I have been editing my grant applications (and consolidating them) thanks to feed back I got from my program manager. I have also been starting to pack for my visit to The States. I’ve also started letting people know that I will be gone for a while. With the trip to America and In Service Training, I’m a little bit anxious about spending so much time away from my post! Fortunately, I know that my post-mate Camille will hold down the fort.

I think those are all the headlines for the moment, I am sorry I don’t have more anecdotes to share at the moment. I hope the event overviews are interesting. Thanks for reading!

With love,

Lauren