A Surprise Voodoo Celebration

You never know what a day will be like here. You wake up with a plan, a hope for what you would like to accomplish and you let Benin do the rest.  Two weekends ago I thought I was going to give a lesson to my Care Group on making hand washing stations with using a small amount of resources. I did accomplish my goal for the day but then things took a surprise turn. First mistake, deciding to attend a celebration without knowing beforehand exactly what type of celebration it would be. I was invited to this particular party by a work partner in the village of Kikele, about 7km away from me. She explained that it was an annual celebration of her family. So I assumed it would be a typical Beninese celebration where I'd get fed, so I definitely wasn't saying no to that. 

It began with her leading me behind a cluster of houses where a tent had been set up with chairs underneath. Men, women, and children were dressed in their finest clothes. I sat with the immediate family of my work partner and watched as a man with a small broom in his hand prayed over people and they in turn gave him money. He came and prayed over me in a language I didn't understand, he could have honestly been praying that I give him all of my money and I wouldn't have known. I gave him 200cfa, which is less than 50cents and he went on his way. Once this was finished a traditional music troupe began to play and it was then that things began to get a little strange.

The crowd started to move toward the music and dance. I noticed women were really absorbed in their dancing, even more than I have observed at other Beninese celebrations that I've attended. One women was dancing with her eyes closed, sweating profusely and then had to be carried away to sit down. It is then that I noticed a large male goat tied next to a small mound of clay dirt with brown liquid poured into the dent that had been made on top. People began kneeling around this mound and praying on their money before dropping it to the ground. The intensity of their faces while praying is what really fascinated me. As far as I could see they were just praying to a mound of dirt. It wasn't until I asked someone next to me that I understood what it was that I was witnessing.

The woman told that it was a voodoo celebration and the people on the ground were praying to their voodoo Gods for help with various problems in their life.  The cousin of my work partner explained that some people were praying for their families and ancestors and then knelt down and started praying herself. I know that my co-worker comes from a Muslim family yet this was what everyone was taking turns doing. At that time people began to clear from the around the mound and four men brought the goat over.  At this point I knew what was happening. They were going to sacrifice this animal. It wasn't my first time seeing an animal sacrificed. What surprised me were all the small children around. Children still in their mothers’ arms were watching as the goats neck was held over the mound and cut. Blood squirted into the dent and I was close enough to it all to get blood on my foot. Some children were closer than that.

The dancing was started again and this time with even more intensity. At one point a woman started screaming in local language. My new-found interpreter explained that the woman had been possessed by the spirit of her ancestors and was eliciting all the pain that they had experienced. She was recalling the wrong the Europeans had done to her family and was literally crying at this point. Since I was the only American at this function I felt this was the best time for me to make my exit. I slid out the back and as I was saying goodbye to the family of the coworker, two elderly women walked by and threw two bowls of water on me. My coworker assured me that this was not done with bad intent. At any rate, I was now confused and wet. So I found the first taxi-moto I saw and made a quick exit home.

So I wasn't completely lied to, it was a "family celebration".  It was held to bring together a family for the purpose of celebrating being a family. It was a celebration connecting family members present and those who have already passed. In celebrating the family they had to also recognize the pain that their family had experienced. I noted that Christians and Muslims were worshiping the voodoo mound. I believe that that is because Voodoo is something that is significant to the culture of their family’s culture; something which I have also found to be significant to the culture of the Beninese in general. This is the opinion from an outsider looking in. 

The highs are high and the lows are low

Back to give you all an update on my life here. How yuh do’in? Me, Im fine.

You know, there are many things that set a Peace Corps volunteers experience apart from other international programs but the biggest that I have remarked is that we live with the people. We’re not just visiting. For most Peace Corps countries and especially Benin we’re not given a posh apartment with all the luxuries of home to the point that we don’t realize we’re in a foreign country until we step foot outside. Through living with our communities we learn their beliefs; we adapt to and sometimes adopt their culture. I've now been in this country for 10 months. I’m amazed by how much I've been able to become habituated to and then still at times I’m amazed by how many other things I’m still not used to.

Things I am used to:

-Fetching water out of well and carrying it on my head to my home everyday

-Hand washing clothes in buckets

-Washing dishes in buckets

-Bucket baths; outside rain showers

-Pooping in a hole

-Riding a motorcycle/moped as my main form of transport

-Goat poop on my front stairs

-Spiders hanging out in my home, I realize that they’re there to protect me

-Being disconnected, I use internet once a month whereas when I was in the states I used it once a day

-Recognizing social cues

-Wearing skirts everyday

-Riding a bike everyday
-Communicating in French

-Having worms, it really is the best diet plan

-Daily power outages

-Riding in a 5 person car with 8 people and a goat

-Waiting

-Disputing prices “You want 2,000cfa for that shirt? That’s expensive. I’ll give you 1000cfa. No? OK bye. I’ll go to the next 10 shirt ladies”

-The food. Care for a spaghetti and rice sandwich anyone? Yeah.

-Taking fat as a compliment. “Tu as bein grossi” You have well fattened. Thanks… -_-

Things I am not used to:

-Being called outside of my name
-Communicating in local language

-Lack of customer service

-Fatalist frame of thinking, ou bien “I have six children if my seventh is sick and ready to die I’m not going to worry or go buy him medicine because at least I’ll have six still living”

-Working with people who think they have no control over their future

I’m sure I’m missing some things but for now that’s it. Well hey, would you look at that. The list of things I’m not used to is shorter than the list of things I am used to. That must mean something good. Sometimes I hate this country; other days I love it so much I think I’ll never leave. But hey, it was the same when I was in America. 

French

One of my goals is to be fluent in French and Arabic by the time I leave here. Now that I’m here I realize that maybe I set my expectations too high. French is so difficult and I have history with it. I took French in high school for two years and in college for two semesters. The foreign language you learn in a classroom is different from the foreign language you actually use in the field. School is good for teaching you the basics, the structure of the language. It is impossible to truly learn a language by sitting in class or sitting in front of a computer. You have to be able to talk to native tongues. You need to hear the accents. I was warned before coming to Benin that the French spoken here is ehm, special. So true.

A Day in the Life of a Trainee

7am: Wake up

7:30: Eat breakfast, head out to class

8am: French class

10am: Break

10:30am: More French

12pm-ish: Lunch (beans and rice, pasta, bread, or fried plantain)

1:30pm: Even more French, cultural class of some sort, personal study time, French game time

5:00pm: Finish! Hang with the wonderful RCH, bike for an hour, or go home for even more French

7pm-ish: Return Home (help mama cook, French review with papa, sit awkwardly while everyone talks)

8pm: Eat dinner with the family, go to the masjid

9pm: Head to my room, shower, and study more, read, watch a movie, type up a blog post, or call home

11pm: Lights out

Timeline

 

September 20th, 2012- Submitted application
I knocked it out in 5 hours in one night because I knew if it didn’t get done that night it wouldn’t get done at all

October 16th, 2012- Last recommendation submitted. Interview Scheduled.
The reason why it took so long for my last recommendation to be submitted is only one of the many reasons why I use the word friend very loosely. Also, it seemed like my recruiter was waiting at the phone for that last recommendation because no more than 5 minutes after it was submitted I was called and my interview was scheduled for two days later.

October 18th, 2012- Interview conducted. NOMINATED!!!
My interview lasted about an hour and during that same phone call she nominated me. I was only told that my nomination was for a health extension program, my program may entail some food security, I would have to bike long distances, and that if all the legal and medical goes well and timely I could be leaving as early as the day after my graduation, May 5^th.

October 31st, 2012- Legal Packet arrived
I'm staying on campus and so I have been calling my mom basically everyday making sure she checks the mailbox. Two weeks later it finally came! I worked a 7pm to 7am shift, and went home to pick it up that morning. No, I play no games with this. Time is of the essence and I know the sooner I get everything to them the sooner they will get everything back to me.

November 1st, 2012- Legal Packet sent out
The very next day I went to my campus police dept., had my fingerprints taken, filled out the forms, packaged, sealed and sent everything right back to them. This process requires diligence and commitment.

 

November 13^th, 2012- Legally Cleared

Checked my portal like I habitually did multiple times a day and discovered that I was indeed legally cleared.

 

January 4^th, 2013- Placement Interview

So the longest waiting period by far was between being legally cleared and actually receiving an invitation. I don’t want to give the impression that I did nothing in between these dates. Much nagging and many emails were definitely sent, but there was absolutely nothing to be done but to wait. I’m pretty sure that fact that this also fell around the time of the holidays didn’t help. Yet and still almost two months later I received a call when I least expected it and had my placement interview on the spot. I was told that next I would be receiving my invitation, through email WITHIN two weeks. More waiting…

 

January 16^th, 2013- INVITED

Opened my email to see the header “Peace Corps invites you to serve…”   as a Rural Community Health volunteer in Benin West Africa beginning June 24^th 2013. Celebration commences!!! I have to work that night but I read over the materials at work and confirm my invitation in the wee hours of the morning. The next day tasks are opened up on my medical applicant portal and I immediately get to work getting appointments set. The infamous big blue packet is received via airmail a few days later with hard copies of everything.

 

April 29^th, 2013- Submit final medical tasks

$800 dollars and three months later I am finally done submitting all of my tasks, now more waiting to receive my final medical clearance.

 

May 2^nd, 2013- Final Medical Clearance received

Only had an issue with one form that was missing a signature, hunted down the physician for that and finally received an email saying I was medically cleared. Ain’t no stopping me nooow, I’m on the move!

 

May 4^th, 2013- Graduated from Columbia College

Finally was at the 50 days left mark and was also able to submit my final transcript!

May 24^th, 2013- Received flight information from SATO

 

June 25^th, 2013- Arrive in Philly

 

June 27^th, 2013- Arrive in Benin

 

In preparation of my departure...

Inshallah (God willing), a month from tomorrow I will be arriving in Benin! It is so surreal already. At graduation I was 50 days away and now I just booked my flight with SATO. I've been spending my time since graduating with my mother. I'm lucky that it is just me and her in the house for this short amount of time. Lots of quality time, food eaten, and movies watched together. Did I mention she's leaving me for 16 days and won't be back until the two days before I leave?! At least she gets back in time to drop me off at the airport. It will probably be my mom, my sister, and my grandma seeing me off. I don't want to spend too much time thinking about that tearful moment...
In the past I have been notorious for packing light, quick, and efficiently. I've never been a big fashionista or materialistic in any sense, but somehow packing for this 27 month adventure has been an unexpected challenge. I mean I have to fit my life into 107inches and 100lbs for goodness sakes! There is a rumor of a volunteer that packed nothing but a multi tool in the past and did just fine, I don't think I could ever do that. I mean my hair products alone are 15lbs, lol. I've been working to pay off the last of things that need to be payed off and buy the last of things that need to be bought. I managed to get all the clothes I need from Marshalls and Goodwill and I've been scouring other discount sites for deals. I truly lucked out at graduation and I am so blessed to have such an amazing and generous family. I cried like a baby on that day from all the outpouring love. It was truly an amazing day; the perfect lasting memory to bring with me. I have pretty much all the big things that I want to pack packed besides a shortwave radio, some sports bras, and an ipod. I also have a few tasks I need to complete before departing, here's my list:
-put in my two weeks notice at work (my last day will be June16th!)
- sign my car over to my sister
- visit my dad and if all works out right visit my grandma in NY
- cancel my car insurance
-buy my last things

I think ill be posting my first vlog soon and my next blog post will be an updated timeline from the day i first applied until the day I fly out!

Qadar Allahu Wa Masha Fa'al

I lay now at home, back with my mother after moving out of college for good. I really am so happy to see her and so happy I get to spend the next 52 days in her presence. Lately I have been recognizing how beautiful life is and I've caught myself either crying or smiling without much notice. When I walked out of my last exam I smiled, even though Im pretty sure I didn't get the grade I wanted. When I got off work yesterday morning I cryed, even though I would be off for the next 5 days. When I pulled up to my moms house I smiled, even though the front door was locked. Each time the emotions come as some innate response that I can't prevent even after trying. Graduation is two  days from now and I am sure I will smile and cry.
These last few days leading up to graduation have proven to me how blessed I am (I also received my FINAL DENTAL AND MEDICAL CLEARENCE, can I get a high pitched shriek of joy?). A lot went wrong these past four years but so much more went right. "Qadr Allahu Masha Fa'al" is what Muslims say when something happens that they may not have wanted to happen, it translates to "God has decreed it and what he willed has happened". This is the mindset I want to maintain while in Benin, because truly, nothing is in our control. I am sure being stood up for meetings, sicknesses, botchy communication, and other unforeseen events will make me question my being there. Through it all I just want to be able to see the big picture and remember that God put me there for a reason. So I know on my last post I said I would post next about my fears. Well aside from ants, snakes, and possibly losing a loved one while miles away from the USA, I am so afraid that I will not discover my purpose while I am gone. That I will either grow impatient and leave in blind frustration or that I will waste my time while there and come back with none of my goals fulfilled. Hopefully I can look back at this post and remember Qadr Allahu Wa Masha Fa'al.

Lets not be drab

Hello fellows! I just wanted to make a post letting you know some of the feelings I'm experiencing now. I've read through plenty of amazing blogs, my favorite being Elaina 's blog. I think she perfectly chronicled life in Benin, struggles and successes. Even though she ET'd (early terminated) I would suggest you all to check it out, but also keep checking on mines ;-).

I think some of the normal feelings to be experiencing right now, with 72 days to go are sadness, apprehensiveness, anxiousness, maybe even a slight feeling of excitement? Honestly, I'm only experiencing the latter two, but then again I'm about as far away from normal as it gets. Does it make me a heartless person that I'm not that sad about being away from my family (I don't mention friends because I don't have any)? I love my family, let that never be mistaken, but honestly we're not really all that close. We used to be and I'm sure we still would be if everyone were not so preoccupied with trying to make it day to day. I think it will be good for me to get away and give my family a chance to miss me and show they care. I forget sometimes to be real. It will be good for me as well to be able to get away regain a new perspective of how important they really are to me. The other day my Dad surprised the heck out of me when he called letting me know that he had Google Peace Corps Benin and learned about the Kate Puzey case and voiced his concerns. That conversation really sucked but I felt a little happy because it showed me that he does care enough to do the fatherly thing and check out where I would be going. It would be nice to feel that from all my family. I guess that's more of a latent goal of mines. As for my main goals...

 

 

 





So I'll leave you with that... next post will be on my biggest fears.

Updates, quick and thorough!!!

Hello fellow bloggers and bloggets!!!
It has been a while, i apologize for that. But insanity has insued since receiving my invitation and I've just been trying to maintain. But you don't care about that do you? Haha. Here has been my life for the last nine weeks in bullet formation:
-I have submitted all of my medical paper work and am about $800 poorer because of that
-I have been working insane hours due in part to my last bullet and because i had a hospital bill that needed to be dealt with before i left the country
-I was inducted into two honor societies (Omicron Delta Kappa and Chi Beta Phi), talk about better late than never ...
-Trying to keep all A's so that I can continue to be apart of said honor societies
- Running the Premed Club
-Trying to organize and plan a leadership project
-Became CPR/AED/First Aid certified
-Learning to play the guitar
-Trying to have somewhat of a social life and enjoy those around me before i leave for 2 years

Invitation!!!!!

OK so my slackness knows no limits. I actually received my invitation 8 days ago, January 16th, but with classes beginning the same day things were just too hectic. So where am I going you ask? The anticipation is killing you you say? Alright, Alright, lol. I'm going to this beautiful little key shaped country called Benin. My assignment is a rural health advisor and my departure date is June 24th!!!! I'm going to West Africa guys!!! AHHHH. I am still in shock, in my list of places that I wished to be sent to Benin was fourth on my top ten list so I am just too stoked.

I stayed up all night reading all the informational materials they sent and accepted my invitation at 3am in the morning. *Note: I submitted my application September 20th and was invited to serve January 16th, that's just a little under 4 months. Diligence and dedication pays off. In these 8 days since receiving my invitation I have already submitted my aspiration statement, had my eye exam papers filled out, and I am currently getting my dental paperwork filled out. I found where I can get all my physical exam related things inexpensively handled (since I do not have health insurance) and probably would have already knocked that out of the way if they didn't have to be filled out within four months of me leaving.

The most difficult thing now is trying to focus on finishing up my last semester of college when all I want to do are Peace Corps and Benin related affairs.

Did YOU Know?

The official language in Benin is French
(which is great because I took french in High School and in college)

The official religion in Benin is Voodoo
(But its not like the voodoo we see here in the states where people stick pins in dolls of exes)

There are four seasons in Benin: wet, really wet, dry, and really dry

National Park Pendjari is located in northern Benin
(Animals!!!)

Benin touches the Atlantic Ocean
(Beaches!!!)

Slaves were shipped from Benin's coast
(History!!!)