Je suis Bassiloise

Writing this post has made me quite anxious for the past two months. The further and further away I grew from my last post the more and more anxious I became about writing another one. But I promised  a blog and if there is one thing that makes me loathe myself it’s when I say I’m going to do something and I don’t follow through. I won’t even go into giving reasons because despite their legitimacy I’m sure they will all just sound like excuses to anyone else reading them. So let me jump right in:

September:

After worrying (not really worrying) about whether I would reach the required French level of Intermediate High, I reached it as did everyone else in my stage. September 14th I swore in as a provisional volunteer. We all swore in this year as provisional volunteers which just meant we had certain assignments that we had to complete before the next training in December and that we’d be supervised a little closer. Basically probation. Swear in was great. It was held in Cotonou in the ambassador’s backyard. We were given two tickets for our host family and my host mom and host brother came. All rural community health volunteers were looking sharp. We all wore a matching fabric. The whole process was very democratic but in the end two girls ended up picking and they did a pretty very good job. We recited our pledge to serve and they even allotted the option to refrain from saying “So help me God” if one so chose to do so. It was sad saying goodbye to the host family that I had spent my first two months in the country with and who had helped me deal with the emotions that came with. But we promised and so far we have kept in contact. I know it’s early to say but I really believe that they will be a part of my life for a very long time.

Settling in to my new home was a smooth transition. My bed frame was ready and in my home the first night so I didn’t have to sleep on the floor. I ate an MRE (military meal) that my mother packed for my first night and I set up my gas tank the next day without blowing off my head. I didn’t have electricity the first night but that gave me the chance to soak up the significance of the moment. I was spending the night alone in my first home, in Africa. Wow. I burned some candles and sat on my porch looking up at the starlit sky and the magnitude of what I was doing put me into a state of deep meditation. I have never experienced anything like it in my life.

The next day my first visitors were three little girls (14, 11, and 7) and their little brother (4). I love speaking to children (those who don’t call me yovo) because they can understand and don’t judge my French.  We sat for about an hour and just talked about them and their schooling and the games they like to play. It can be creepy at times knowing that everyone in your village knows where you stay because you are the “yovo” but I was glad these kids found me. I read on someone’s blog that the first people you meet in village normally do not have the best intentions. While that has proven to be very true for some of the first people I’ve encountered, to this day these girls have remained good at heart. One woman I met my second day in walking through MY yard asked me for money, but unlike most little kids here these little girls still haven’t even once asked me for money. Ha-ha, this leads me to a funny story that happened in October …

October:

My birthday was October 2^nd and I had big plans for the weekend following. Since I was a provisional volunteer I knew I wouldn’t be travelling (we’re not allowed to for the first 3 months), but I was glad because that gave me a chance to celebrate a significant day in my life with people in my village. So the day of my birthday I treated myself to French fries. That night the girls visited me again I had informed them that it was my birthday a few days before so it was nice that they stopped by to wish me a “Joyeux Anniversaire”. So we’re standing on my porch and they say something about money, store, and candy/cookies in French and I assumed that the day had come for them to ask me for money and candy. I have a speech in French perfected by this point for anyone who asks me for money, food, and/or the clothes off my back. It basically goes “No. Not all Americans are rich. I am poor. I am a volunteer and this means that I work for free here and I do not make money.  I receive just a little so that I can eat and everything else you see me with is provided for by my organization, Peace Corps. So no, I cannot give you etc. etc.  ” All the while I’m giving this speech these girls are giving me a puzzled look and after I’m done talking the middle one pulls out a plastic bag and gives it to me and then repeats what she said. I misheard them! These little angels put THEIR money together to buy me assorted cookies and candy and just wanted to give me a gift. I cannot describe how big of an asshole I felt at this moment. Here these kids are having just put their spare change together to buy me something and I give them a speech about I do not have any money to give them. Biggest lesson learned so far has been that not everyone thinks I’m a whitey with money.

That weekend I held a dinner at a local restaurant and invited my host family, my partner and his family, and another work partner I work with at the health center. I invited a man who helped me set up my gas tank who brought me a cake and played happy birthday on a guitar but it turned out that he didn’t have the best intentions so we’re actually no longer in contact. Still, the guitar was cool. The dinner was great though. They even had the restaurant play country music for me in English. I danced with the kids and we ate and had a really good time. And that was how I spent my birthday week.

October 15^th was Tabaski which is an Islamic holiday, which I’ve known my entire life as Eid Al-Adha. I didn’t put two and two together until I heard talks of animal slaughtering, then I became excited. I went to the Mosque the morning for the prayer. I was then trampled trying to give candy away to kids. Note to the wise: just throw it on the floor in the opposite direction of yourself if you want to keep your clothes and dignity intact. I ate at my work partners house, was brought food from my neighbor, was gifted a Coke from a store, and gifted a hunk of fresh killed meat from my host family. I believe it was goat; there was still fur on it so I could have done a DNA check. I made it with gravy and rice the first night and as a soup the next. I’m not a butcher but I’d say I did a pretty damned good job salvaging this hunk of meat.

My work this month mainly consisted of helping with vaccination day and giving advice to mothers with malnourished children at the health center and helping at my NGO with seminars they had already started way before I arrived on women’s rights.  I started my study of my village this month which included going house to house and asking about the family’s hygiene practices and food security surveys. I worked with a translator who translated my French to more understandable French or local language for those who didn’t speak French. I also started an English club which was very easy to start up. I just announced one morning at a flag ceremony and there was already a teacher who had tried it the year before and was excited to work with me this year. This is the highlight of my week because for two hours every Friday I am the one with the superior language skills.

November:

November was spent completing my study, writing up my report, and forming a Care Group and Amour et Vie team. So like what the hell are those I am sure you are asking yourself.  So every RCH (rural community health) volunteer is expected to form a Care Group and Amour et Vie (Love and Life) team. The former, Care Group, is a team of 10 women that I and another health advisor from the community will train on various health topics. These women will be assigned 10 houses and after each of our trainings they will be responsible for passing on the information they have received. In this manner approximately 100 houses will be reached. It’s a really effective program; it’s just been a bitch getting off the ground. Before I start I have to go to at least 100 houses and form surveys on the maternal care, hygiene, and nutrition practices. This is so that I can group in my mind the 10 houses the mothers will touch and collect baseline data. Yay monitoring and evaluation. I’m close to finishing my surveys, 40 down and only 60 to go. Pray for me.

Amour et Vie is another team I will be forming. This consists of me, a health advisor from the community, and two responsible youth from the community, one boy and one girl. Unlike with the Care Group I will serve more as a mentor with this team and guide the youth while they design and deliver lessons on various health topics to other youth in the community. The motto is “For the youth, from the youth”, or something like that. Also unlike my Care Group, My Amour et Vie team was much easier getting off the ground, but that’s because my NGO basically chose my members for me. In retrospect this wasn’t the best way to go about this since I’ve had to kick off one member and choose an alternative. But I think my team is pretty solid now.  I’ve been holding monthly trainings with them up until we’re scheduled to start work in February, in part to get them prepared but also just to see how the team works together. So far so good. 

Oh, thanksgiving was awesome. I celebrated the weekend after thanksgiving. I traveled two hours south to spend it with other volunteers and made some of my famous baked macaroni and cheese. We had chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, apple pie and a pumpkin cake. I still find it amazing that we were able to make all these things only using care package food and what we could scavenge in village. Good company and great food, or vice versa.

December:

From our thanksgiving celebration I and another volunteer traveled to Parakou for our weeklong post service training. We debriefed on our first 3 months at post and presented presentations with our work partners in French might I add. Score. I turned in my report and sat in for hours of training on monitoring and evaluating or projects according to Peace Corps new standards and how to carry out the behavior change model. Aside from that fun stuff, I had a chance to see my group and catch up on life. We were also in an awesome hotel with good food, a pool, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, and hot water. Taking a hot shower for the first time since being in this country was amazing. I celebrated the birthday of a friend and got my dance on. But at the end of the week I was sent to Cotonou for medical reasons and ended up stuck there for another week. More hot showers, good food, Wi-Fi, and air conditioning were great but I felt homesick and couldn’t wait to get back to my cozy home. There wasn’t anything too serious and I’m fine for the moment. I just have to go back in a couple of months.

Being surrounded by only French after spending two weeks around other English speakers can be a bit gloomy to say the least. So I picked my kitten that the restaurant across the street had promised me the moment I arrived back in village. She is adorable. I think it’s a she. With all the cats I’ve had in my childhood my mom has the right to be ashamed of me if I can’t decipher the sex of a cat by now. I named her Maggi, which is short for Magnolia, my favorite flower. She was the runt of her bunch when I picked her up but she is on an American based diet now and has fattened up nicely. She is doing so well now, she already killed a lizard!

Work wise I am now free to start side projects where as for the first few months we were only supposed to work on assigned tasks and integrate. This has proven to be a good strategy because I was able to identify many potential work partners and projects. For example I will be working with my health center to start a Moringa garden. Moringa is a plant native to Benin that is filled with vitamins and nutrients like protein which many mothers complain is expensive and out of reach here. It has been proven to be helpful in combating malnutrition if mothers incorporate it into their family’s daily meals. Unfortunately hardly anyone in my village has heard about it. So my project will be growing it so that 1) it is available and giving trainings on its benefits so that 2) people want to use it. I will also be starting a health club at the second high school in my village and giving bi-monthly hygiene lessons to three local primary schools. I have more things running around in my mind but I don’t want to take on too much at once so I’m going to take it slow.

I spent Christmas and New Year’s in village. I had no idea how big Bassila did their end of the year celebrations. There was a village wide party from Christmas until New Year’s Day. They held a development festival around this same time and a new Cyber Café opened up so there was a lot going on. I ate dinner at a friend’s house on Christmas. Then I met a nice couple while shopping the next day. The husband was originally from Bassila but had met and married his wife while studying in Czech. It was his first time back in 8 years and they brought their three kids for the first time. We met and had dinner that night. I’ll write another past in the future on that conversation... The next day the Cyber Café opened and hosted a march for development open for all the local youth to participate. The boy and girl who arrived in first place both received laptops, second place received cellphones, and third place received $30. I then attended a meeting with village leaders on the development of the village and the local language, Anii. It was very interesting, what little I did understand, and I’m excited about the ideas surrounding how we should handle trash. This is another post as well. The next day there was a traditional music festival (pictures to come). The day after that there was a soccer match, Ghana against Benin. 3-0 Benin kicked arse.New Year’s Eve I had a dance party with Maggi and fell asleep before midnight. New Year’s DayI was invited to two dinners in one day, oh and you know I made both. 

 January: 

So that brings us to today doesnt it. I just submitted my first grant proposal for a small project so thats exciting. I will let you know if I get approved