Sundays:
Sunday is our only day off during training. It’s a day to relax and catch up on the things that didn’t get done during the week, much like in the United States. I’m enjoying my Sundays more and more here. It’s quiet (usually), stores are closed (meaning less to do and more time to relax = very nice). I can exercise, do laundry, sleep in, go to the cyber café (one of the places that is open), write in my journal, and read.
Another good thing about Sundays takes place at my host family. They clean the entire house; the bathroom, floors, all of the clothes, outside surfaces, everything!
Ramadan:
From August 1st to August 30th is Ramadan, the Islamic period of fasting and prayer. Since my host family is Muslim this means getting up around 4AM, praying, and eating breakfast. Afterwards they usually go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Then they fast all day until 7PM. Since prayers are more important during this time, people in the neighborhood prayer together. For the evening prayers, there are usually a group of people praying either outside of my house or in the garage on mats. It is led by an Imam I think and lasts about thirty minutes. I’ve joined them a few times, but it’s hard to follow when you don’t understand Arabic! They let me borrow a shawl to wear and showed me how to wash myself before prayer. I think the general order of the service begins with a round of prayers repeated multiple times and then a reciting from a section of the Koran . Then the prayers are repeated again and another section is spoken. These are just my observations and educated guesses! The fête for Ramadan (celebration) is on August 30th, so everyone is busy getting everything ready. No matter what fête you are celebrating here, everyone that comes wears the same tissue (material), which means the tailors are very busy.
August 23rd, 2011
Some exciting events have taken place over the last few days. We had our third language interview to assess our progress, and I moved up another level. The days leading up to the interview included a lot of studying and tutoring to prepare. I also began learning my local language-Adja. It was a nice break from French and fun to learn words in a language I have never heard before. During our technical training, we learned how to make “bouille enrichie” or enriched porridge. Bouille is a common meal or snack here that you can find on every street. It is usually made with corn flour and water, served hot with sugar and maybe a fried beignet or too. It can also be made with ground millet. Since women already know how to make it, it is a fun and easy activity to do with a group. The goal is to show women how to make it a balanced meal by adding other foods to the porridge such as soy flour, a mixture of grains (sorghum, millet, corn), fruit (bananas, mangoes), and more protein (peanut butter, dried fish powder, moringa powder, milk). Enriching the porridge is especially important for infants in the weaning process or for those children who aren’t breastfeeding anymore.
We also got to practice baby weighing in a village outside of Porto Novo. It usually takes place at a health center once a month, maybe on the same day as vaccinations. Mothers bring their infants, ages birth to about 24 months old along with their health records. We held the session outside under a tree. We tied a scale to a swing type apparatus which was hung from a tree branch. As it was our first time doing it, we practiced weighing in pairs. One person called the names and held the baby while the other recorded the weight and charted it. The chart makes it very easy to identify babies in the normal or malnourished weight-for-age range. All of the babies were adorable and only one decide to pee in the seat J. The mothers were helpful in undressing the babies and keeping them calm.
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| Baby Weighing |
In other news, we got to go on our first field trip outside of Porto Novo. We visited Ouidah, on the coast of Benin. It’s a popular spot to visit because of the slave trade history and voodoo culture. We saw the Portuguese fort (one of five different countries forts) and learned about the slave trade. They also explained how West African religion and customs were spread to places such as Haiti, Brazil, and Cuba. Later, we visited a sacred forest (voodoo) and a python temple. Pythons are considered sacred here, so there is a temple where they live and are taken care of. The story goes that a woman once picked up a python and it didn’t bite her. When the enemies saw her holding a snake they thought she had special powers and they ran away. Visitors are allowed to hold the snakes and take pictures with them. Although I am not a snake person whatsoever, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to take a picture with a python! None of them were very big and they really were beautiful. After lunch we saw places with memorials that were significant during the slave trade. For example, we saw the place where slaves were held while they were waiting for the ships to arrive, and mass graves. Supposedly Ouidah was the biggest port in West Africa and slaves had to walk there from all over the region. There is a large archway in front of the ocean symbolizing the port of no return. The beach was beautiful and the temperature of the water was perfect! It was a nice day away from the city and the beach reminded me of home.
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| The Port of No Return, Ouidah |
August 22-27 Counterpart Workshop and Post Visit!
On August 5th, all of the trainees received their post announcements. This was a very exciting event and they made it special by calling the names of volunteers in each region to come forward. Even though we don’t know that much about the country yet, we had all some preferences as to which part of the country we wanted to live in. I was placed in the south-west part of Benin, right next to Togo. After the announcements, we couldn’t wait to go and visit, but of course we had to continue on with training and wait a few more weeks. When the time finally came, we had a two-day workshop with our homologues (work partners or counterparts). After everyone met theirs and got to know each other a little there were various sessions. Some topics included the role of volunteers and of homologues, what the Peace Corps is all about, cultural differences between the United States and Benin, and what we have learned in training so far. The goal was to make sure the work partners understood what the volunteer can do for them and how to they can work together. We also planned our three-day visits to our posts together.
My host structure is a Centre Promotion Sociale (CPS) or Social Promotion Center. They are located in every town, just like the health centers. They work with people dealing with domestic violence, neglect, physical handicaps, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, orphans and widows, and a host of other reasons. My homologue works there as an assistant jurist. He assists people dealing with domestic violence or neglect. He talks with the family to try to solve the problem and explains what the law states. If they do not comply, he can send them to court. Other activities that the center does are information sessions for the public on topics such as disease prevention, breastfeeding, weaning, nutrition, hygiene and HIV/AIDS.
After the counterpart conference was over, we all departed for our posts with our counterparts. We shared a taxi with other volunteers and counterparts going to the same part of the country. There are seven of us volunteers in the same region (Mono-Couffo departments). It will be nice to have other people close by to go and visit. The highway we take is the same one that one takes to go to Cotonou and Ouidah. We arrived in the town where my homologue lives in the afternoon of that day. He lives right across the street from the taxi-gare (station) and right in amongst the international market that takes place there every five days. My house is located in the village only 2.5 km away. I got to stay in an apartment in his concession by myself. It was unfurnished but it had 3 rooms, a space to shower out back and electricity. Additionally, he has the cutest family! His wife is very kind and welcoming and his two daughters (ages 6 and 2) are very sweet. Whenever I needed to take a shower, my homologue would bring me a bucket with water. It was nice to shower outside, especially after a hot day and with a breeze. For breakfast every morning, we ate at a road-side place that serves hot tea, coffee, and hot chocolate, with baguettes and omelets.
One the day I arrived, I was able to relax a little in the afternoon before starting to get a tour of the area. Then we visited the CPS (Centre Promotion Sociale) where I will be spending a lot of time! Right now, they are in the midst of moving offices to a brand new, much bigger building that is right around the corner. I got to meet my supervisor (the head of the center) and another staff member (there are five total). The new office is right across the street from where my supervisor lives, which is in the center of town. There are many official buildings in this area including the mayor’s office, post office, and the brigade, all surrounding a park.
The next day we visited the mayor (he was too busy to talk to us that day but we said hi), the brigade territorial, the police and the compagnie gendarmerie. At each place, my homologue would introduce me and explain why I was there. Everyone was professional and made me feel welcome. The commandant of the brigade even invited us over to his house for lunch. Later that day, we saw my future house. It is right off of the paved road that goes toward the town where my homologue lives. It’s in a walled-concession amongst a line of connected apartments. They each have a small porch in front, two rooms, and a space in the back for cooking and showering. Right across from those is another row of apartments which includes the house where the landlord lives. Out of a row of three or four latrines, I picked the one that I will be using and putting a lock on to make sure I’m the only one to use it. Everyone that lives there gets water from a spigot inside the concession. I will have to pay the landlord for electricity and water use. There is a mango tree in the center and a papaya tree on the side. Also, there are three gendarmes (policemen) living there too, so I should be safe! There was a Peace Corps volunteer that lived in the same town as my homologue who left earlier this year. They left a few pieces of furniture for me to use such as a bed, couch, table, and chairs.
The next day I saw the marché (market) where one can find just about anything one would need. The area is very agricultural, so a lot is grown there. In addition, people come there from other regions and countries such as Nigeria and Togo. Next we visited another brigade (brigade de recherches). We returned to the CPS for a good part of the day because my homologue had to see two different families. In the afternoon I got to see one of the health centers in a village. It’s supposedly a very nice one and many people prefer to go there for treatment. They have a lab, consultation room, ultrasound, pharmacy, and maternity hospital. They also have a nice gazebo-type structure that can be used for information sessions. Afterwards, we drove to a nearby village just to get a quick look because I will be working with many of the surrounding villages. Each village has a women’s group that the CPS works with.
The last day I was there, I met the Chef d’Arrondissement, which is also very close to the CPS. The chef was very nice and said he looked forward to working with me. Then I got to see the supermarché in town. Supermarchés are a lot like supermarkets except that they are very small and they carry more European-style foods and products. It has a lot of different foods, some of which you can’t find in the marché, so it will be nice to have when I’m craving something like yogurt or corn flakes!
The area is gorgeous with trees, fields, and greenery as far as one can see. Along the road you can see lots of papaya, orange, and eucalyptus trees as well as corn and manioc growing. The people are very friendly and everything is pretty close by. The town next to mine is pretty well built up, but it doesn’t have a city feel. My homologue was very accommodating and patient with my French. Before he was the assistant jurist, he worked at a secondary school teaching French for ten years. I think this will work in my favor! I think we are going to work well together.
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| My Commune! |
There are about three weeks left of stage (training) left until we get to move officially to our posts. Until that time, we will continue learning French and/or our local languages as well as technical information (like my sector, health). I am excited to finish training and start my two years at post!
