Letting Walls Down

Hi everyone,

Over the last week I have discovered something that has been missing in my life – a little kid that wants to touch all my stuff. This little girl, who like me and basically everyone else is called Bake (Bah-KAY). She is visiting the family that lives in the concessions around me. She showed up one day, trailing my 11 year neighbor behind her, and just started rattling on in Bariba (regardless that I don’t really speak it) and singing and dancing and wanting to look at all the things. Since then some of the boys in my concession (Jean-Marie, Sarre, Phillipe, and Giael) have felt more comfortable coming into my house and hanging out too.

Honestly, it’s kind of a welcome change. When I first moved in here, the kids were old enough to be a little bit shy and to respect my space. At first I really appreciated that. It was good to have the privacy and security. Over time I have gotten to trust my neighbors more and more, through positive interactions, and especially since they have watched my cat Jack a few times. I think that it’s always good to be aware of your stuff, but I am at a point where I feel comfortable opening up a little more. And frankly it can be a little lonely having all that privacy!

Now Bake will often come in at some point in the day and I will give her paper and a pencil or a magazine to look at. One of the first times she and a few boys came in, they asked, “Do you have cards or something we could play?” As it happened I did have Uno, still in it’s plastic wrap from training. Apparently the kids recognized it from a previous volunteer back in 2008-2010 and they were excited to get to play again. We have set up an informal schedule of playing a couple rounds before lunch and dinner every day.

The kids sometimes come in and tell me that the floor needs to be swept and start cleaning it before I have a chance to respond. Sometimes I tell them I am going to go get water from the well and they take the bucket out of my hand. All the hanging out has been great for my Bariba, and great socialization for Jack too.

Of course they have lots of questions about all my weird fancy American stuff. I had been dreading those questions, but actually, it’s felt good to be honest and get to share some of that stuff (though I haven’t unveiled the laptop yet!) It has lead to some funny conversations like “What’s this?” “Sunscreen, it protects my skin from the sun.” “What’s this?” “Mouthwash, it helps make your teeth stronger.” “What’s this?” “Sunscreen.” “What’s this?” “Actually, that’s also sunscreen.”

I decided to be brave and show them my digital camera. They love it and they are even pretty good about not touching the lens and all that. I am happy to have a team of photographers to take the pictures of the concession that I was too shy to take. However, they do really like taking pictures of my shelves, bike, and frog wall calendar. I don’t think those pictures will hit Facebook.

Amidst the newly discovered socialization, there has been some work getting done. With the help of the secondary school administration, I picked a scholarship girl. Her name is Adiza (Ah-DEE-zah) and she is very shy, but wrote a good application. I hope that I can bring her out a little bit and find effective ways to support her. Almost none of the secondary school kids have cellphones and she lives kind of far from me, so it will be interesting. There’s always something to move forward with.

Besides that, we are compiling lists of latrine recipients to announce on the radio. After that I am afraid that project will be on hold until July, since it doesn’t make sense to start construction (and therefore hold information/training sessions) until the end of the rainy season. Girls Camp is coming up soon and some of the preparations and paperwork for that are underway.

I also cut my hair the other night. I am happy to say that the faux-hawk is back. I will post pictures soon. I had been thinking about it for a while, and then, like jumping in a pool, I just decided I was going to do it. I am really happy with how it turned out, but suspect there may be some uneven parts. Camille is coming over this afternoon, and hopefully she will be able to help me out if need be. My neighbors haven’t said anything about it. I don’t know if it means they haven’t noticed, they don’t like it, or it just doesn’t seem like it needs to be commented on, that could be a cultural thing. With hair braiding, people’s hairstyles often change dramatically over night. Anyway, I chose to play it casual and not really mention it, and they seem to have followed suit.  

I have to say, getting to interact more with my neighbors, really feeling confident that I know their names, getting to share my life a little more, it really makes me feel like I’ve ‘leveled up’. I’m in the second third of my service, and the new volunteers will be arriving in a little more than a month. How crazy is that? I am glad to be here. Glad I’m still learning, and glad I get to share all of this with you!

As always, thanks for reading,

With love,

Lauren

Women's Day and Camp Applications

Hello Everyone!

Life has been busy this week! The Latrine Project is charging along, as we continue to view possible sites for construction. It is also the last week of classes at the CEG, or secondary school. That caught me by surprise, and I am scrambling to select students for summer camps and a scholarship for next year. I am excited about all of these things, especially the scholarship girl, so I am trying to really hustle to have all the meetings and paperwork in order to make them happen.

I have also gotten an opportunity to read some 60 applications from students, with more to come. There have been some really good answers and a lot of really funny ones. Sometimes students didn’t understand what the question was asking. For example, on the Environmental Camp application, I asked what they thought were significant threats to the environment. Some people started listing things like plants and trees and one person even said God! It’s been interesting that’s for sure. Their have been some applications that rose to the top, and I am excited to get to work with these kids at camp (Scholarship girl will be picked next week).

My church is having a big party on Sunday to celebrate women (in connection with Mother’s Day?). I actually had a meeting with my pastor because, to put it mildly, I didn’t think there was enough emphasis on the strong and assertive women of the Bible. You know, Deborah, Esther, Miriam, Ruth, Abigail, Rahab, Mary, Mary, Lydia, Phoebe, just to name a few. He seemed pretty receptive.

In addition for trying to do some cursory theological women’s empowerment lessons, Women’s Day does also mean that the church ordered a specific printed fabric for the Day. I bought some meters, and it is being stitched up right now. I am actually really excited to have a matching outfit with my church. Getting matching outfits is something that families will do, as well as clubs or organizations, and, as in this case, for special holidays. I don’t know, it makes me feel included! I will try to muster up the courage to take pictures.

Those are the updates now. Thanks for reading!

With love,

Lauren

a fish and three cakes

Hello everyone,

Happy May! This week has had a surprising number of celebrations here in the commune of Banikoara, so it’s been a fun week.

On Sunday I was excited to get back to the church I attend here, since I had missed the last couple Sundays because of travel. The service was good, but surprisingly short. Afterwards people were talking a about a party that would be held by the church in the town of Banikoara. They were making up a list of people going and someone turned to me and asked if I would like to go.

“Well, when is it?” I asked.

“Now!” they said.

With not much else planned for my Sunday afternoon, I said yes and piled in to the truck that would take us to Banikoara. I was happy to socialize with people from my church, but as soon as the bumpy, crowded truck ride started, I began to regret my decision. It turned out to be worth the long ride though, because the church service was very nice (I am jealous of the guitar and bass that the Banikoara worship band has!) the food was good (fried fish), and I even met two different people who had very good relationships with previous Peace Corps volunteers. All of this was very encouraging at a time when I was feeling a little homesick and lonely. By the time we were heading back, even the truck breaking down didn’t sway me from thinking that I was pretty lucky.

Tuesday was Camille’s birthday, and Suzanne and Josh were able to come and visit. It was great to see them and catch up (and good motivation to really clean my house too!). I got to surprise Camille with a homemade vanilla-chocolate chip cake. It was a little crumbly, but she seemed very happy about it. We had a great time walking around Founougo, sharing stories and work tips, and celebrating Camille.

We ate birthday dinner and cake at my house, and my neighbors teased that they hadn’t been invited. They don’t know Camille very well, so I don’t think our small party was a major faux pas, but I did feel a little bad. That was still on my mind when the lock on my front door, which is often sticky, finally gave up the ghost and refused to turn. My neighbors got a welder who, for four bucks, took the whole door off and replaced the lock.

That afternoon, my neighbor Pena was hanging around, so she and I baked a cake together which I gave to my neighbors to thank them for their help.

It was good to have all the cake ingredients out again because… Thursday was Josh’s birthday! So as soon as my neighbor’s cake was out of the Dutch oven, I put Josh’s cake in, completing my cake hat trick.

On Thursday Camille and I visited Josh’s village, Goumori, for the first time. It was funny to see Josh and also Suzanne again so soon. And I have to say, Josh knows how to throw a party! One of his neighbors had given him a sparkly shirt in traditional fabric, and Josh had organized for a donkey cart to drive us all around village. It was so much fun. That donkey can move!

Aside from all the fun and festivities (“party-party-party” as my Dad says) work does continue to move along apace. This week I got word that the Director of Peace Corps Benin officially approved the Latrine project, and the money is on its way! We have been getting green lights all the way through, but it certainly is a proud moment to know that the grant really was approved.

Besides that there has been some continued networking for the rabbit-raising project and for summer camps. Unfortunately none of that yielded any particular anecdotes this week. Stay tuned!

On Sunday the Director of Peace Corps Benin is coming to visit Banikoara commune. Hopefully that will all go well. It is exciting to have the opportunity to show him where we all live and work. Camille and I are still working on the agenda for his visit to Founougo.

Those are the news items for this week. I hope you are all doing well, I think of you very often.

Thanks for reading,

With love,

Lauren

Latrine Sites!

Hello everyone,

We are coming to the end of my first week back in Founougo after vacation and in service training, and it has been a rollercoaster. I got a little time to unpack, re-settle in my cat Jack (he’s doing very well), and organize my house and thoughts from in service training.

Wednesday and Thursday things kicked into high gear and several latrine committee members and I visited sites for the latrine project! We confirmed there was a good spot for a latrine at 20 households, half the total for the project. Thanks to a suggestion from Josh, a volunteer who is doing a latrine project in Goumori, I took pictures of a person from each household at the location where there latrine will be. I hope and expect to be able to share some pictures with you the next time I am at a workstation. It was very tiring work, out in the sun, totaling to about 4 hours each day. I was lucky I had people with me who spoke multiple languages and did most of the talking. Besides the pesky details of writing down contact information, measuring distances from wells, and making sure the translators didn’t forget things, I apparently performed the role of ‘looking official’.

There were one or two households that were far enough away that you would want to take a moto, but I didn’t have my helmet. I told my counterpart Baron, and Ibrahim, our translating Committee Secretary, that they should go and check it out without me. Ibrahim said, “If we say it’s not a good site for a latrine, people will argue with us, but if you say it’s not a good site people will accept it, they will be content.” It’s good to know I was helpful!

Still I think my counterpart Baron was actually more helpful when it came to towing hard line. He would be the one that would notice first if a household already had a latrine. He was the one who would stick it to Ibrahim and say, “So we’ve seen houses in the nice part of Founougo B, what about in the center of town where houses are closer together and things really are dirty?” I really appreciated the insight (though there is some town politics to wade through).

I’ve also been spending some time writing up a grant for rabbit hutch construction. We will see how that goes. Talking with other volunteers at IST made me realize again how much projects can be on different scales for different communities. Working with a group leader who is illiterate and doesn’t speak much French cuts down your options for traveling for technical exchanges. Still rabbit raising seems like a good goal, so I am trying to reinvent my perception of the project, and trying to do my part to see it go through.

With the above tasks, some Bariba review, and a little bit of planning for summer camps, I have been pretty busy. That’s been really good though, because there definitely is a little bit of homesickness after having gotten to spend some good time with my family and friends. It’s really hard being away from you all. Usually unpacking my bags and finding homes for any new foods or things from home is exciting, but to my surprise, this time I just kept thinking, “but I’d rather be with the people that gave me these things, than be finding a place to put them.” God is good in that work is picking up and I can think of those people at their latrine sites and remember that I have work to do here.

All that being said, the visit to America has given me a major shot in the arm in terms of health and hygiene. Thanks to some Easter-basket soaps and enhanced heat-rash combatants my skin has never been so good in village (Thanks guys!). Timing has been pretty ideal too, because it has started to rain every few days (bringing cooler weather and easily collectible water) and mango season is finally here, so fruit is in abundance. All in all I am happy to say that village life is getting a significant boost right now.

Those are the updates for right now. Next week holds some in-country birthdays, and May Day. I hope you all are enjoying some good spring weather, while I am enjoying some occasional cooler weather!

Thanks for reading, with love,

Lauren

Boston Marathon and In Service Training

Hi everyone,

Wow, what a week it’s been. It’s inconceivable that only a week ago I was visiting in America. The incidents in Boston were very sad, and in many ways hard to hear about. I am so grateful to know that my friends and family are safe, (and that I was able to be in touch with them during this time!) and very grateful to the Boston police officers and other officials that handled the situation so well. Being away from home during this time was stressful. I am not sure what else to say. I am glad that we can now deal with the aftermath. I am proud to be from Boston.

In Service training was certainly affected by the news coming in from Boston. We all tried to share information. It was kind of crazy how quickly people were able to get in touch with each other to share news.

The training itself was good. There was a lot technical information on animal raising, latrines, Malaria, hygiene, etc. that I was very excited about. It’s great to catch up with other volunteers and visit with them a bit. It has been the good adjustment I hoped for getting back into Benin. I was nervous about how it would be, jumping back into life here. However, when I got my moto helmet back on and jumped on my first zem, I had a moment of, “yeah, alright. I’m back. Let’s do this.” Though I will say it was a day or so before I traded the sneakers for sandals, accepting the dusty feet that are a part of life here.

Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I will get to finally get back into my house in Founougo and see my cat. I am excited to get back there, to see little Jack (who is doing well!) to unpack my stuff, and settle down a little.

As always, thanks for reading!

With love,

Lauren  

Vacation in America

**Written on April 14th**

Hello Everyone!

For the last two weeks, I have been visiting my family in America. I am so grateful to everyone who made the trip so wonderful. To any and all of you that I didn’t get a chance to talk to during my visit, I am very sorry. Time really does fly.

In the first couple days I had a lot of fun adjusting to the food, amenities, cold weather of life in New England. I’m happy to say, there weren’t any parts that were very traumatic.

Seeing my family and friends was absolutely the best thing about the trip. I will never forget seeing my family at the airport, and it was so goodto get to catch up and hang out with a lot of my friends.

For your entertainment and for posterity I will try list some of the highlights. I got to take a 10 hour layover in Paris and see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame de Paris. At the arrival gate I was met by my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad, Aunt Julie, Meg and her apartmentmate, Lauren Greene. Kev joined us later at the house. The first week we had an incredible amount of home made food including pancakes, Easter dinner, and home made chocolate cake. I got to go to two of Kev’s baseball games and in the second he scored the first two runs for his team! I got to have a party with my friends and show them some of my pictures. After Easter festivities died down my family got to take a hike at blue hills together. I got to hang out with Jason, and benefit from his ability to drive. I visited Kev’s University, and looked into the possibility of grad school there. I visited Meg’s apartment and got to go out in Boston with her. I went to the MFA. I visited Gordon with Jasmine, and saw a dress rehearsal of waiting for Godot. I got a hair cut and a massage and other pampering (so appreciated). And of course, I stuffed my bag with stuff to take back to Africa.

And then when it seemed like the trip had reached a close, My flight was over booked and I got bumped to a flight two days later! I had time for a few more delicious meals, some good hanging out, and even a dip in the hot tub.

I know I have missed some things, and I apologize for that, but I hope you get the idea. This trip pretty much couldn’t have been any better. I know we had a lot of fun planning it out in advance. Now I just hope that it revitalizes me and gives me happy memories to cherish during the next leg of work. I know there will be some transition time (just like there was coming back to visit home), but I hope the homesickness doesn’t hit to hard. It’s true there is a lot to miss!

Still, I am so grateful to all of you who have given me such constant support, and so grateful to all of you who read the blog. Thanks for being a part of this.

Talk to you soon and thanks for reading.

With love,

Lauren

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