Friday, September 26, 2008

Backer Than Ever


I'm back from Morocco and France. It was so great to spend some time with my family in Bretagne. I wish Kelly and Ian could have made it. The food and wine were excellent; I ate till it hurt everyday and soaked up the sun at the beach as often as possible. I had my two and a half weeks of adventure and now it's time to get serious again.

I hit the ground at 3AM Thursday morning and got a hotel room at PC mainstay: Les Hirondelles (a bug infested hoetel we like to call home when we come to Cotonou). Dragging myself out of bed and into the bureau, I learned that my medical review had to be changed because I couldn't stay in the medunit all weekend. No big deal, it was changed to that same day. I gave "samples" and was poked and proded until the doctor was satisfied that I could survive another year. Then I was free to be on my way.

In my email I was informed that my Moringa grant proposal just needed minor tweaking before it could be put up for review next week. Excited, I celebrated by watching some episodes of the Office and eating Ramen.

I go back to post tomorrow. I'm really relieved to go home. School starts in a week or two (maybe) and I'm looking forward to structure in my life again. All of that good French food and Moroccan adventure is really only tolerable for so long, ya know?

Time is a Human Construct

Having just returned from my excursion to Morocco and France, I have come face to face with the fact that I can not possibly post the blow-by-blow of my travels. Yet it is insufficient to simply sweep them under the rug and move forward. So I've struck a deal with the forces of the universe, and from this day forward I will be spontaneously taking the Hillbilly back in time every so often to cover my travels. If you are really impatient my father has posted a couple of entries and photos on our time along the Bretagne coast at Exechobos.

Thank you,
The Managment

The Great Escape


I did it! Along with my travel partner and fellow PCV Anna, I took to my heels for two and a half weeks of vacation. We couldn't have had an easier time getting out of Benin. Our flight left before dawn but we had no trouble getting out of bed and through the airport process. The airplane food on Royal Air Moroc was incredible. We hadn't seen anything like it in over a year. The plane was even comfortable. We were off to a good start.

Landing in Casablanca, things went smoothly. I checked no luggage (it's a hereditary obsession) so I skated through customs with the wave of a uniformed hand. Things get better when a train was leaving just as I changed my dollars to Dirhams. Anna and I jumped aboard and were off on the second leg of our journey in a new land.

We took another train for Marrakesh and met some Algerian restaurateurs also vacationing in Morocco. They couldn't have been nicer and it was a really interesting culturral exchange. We looked at photos and were told that we must pay their country a visit some day, perhaps. But for now we simply absorbed the Moroccan country side.

The train floated smoothly amongst the rocky, burnt orange hills. The broad slowly winding rivers were bordered with rugged, weather-beaten trees and spatterings of farmland enclosed with fences of cacti. Soon we found ourselves in Marrakesh.

Arriving in Marrakesh we were charged with energy. The city was beautiful and though our loads were heavy we decided to walk through the Ville Nouvelle. the Ville Nouvelle is comprised of new buildings and developments, grand hotels, malls, an opera house and all the trappings that come with large-scale development. Coming from Benin it was like a walk through a wonderland. I would eventually develop a hunger for something more traditional and historic, but for now I was content to be walking down clean streets and taking in the landscaping. The first thing we did was head straight for the supermarket. The plan was to buy supplies for three days of hiking and set off again immediately for the countryside.

An hour and a half later we decided to scrap the rest of the day's itinerary and spend an extra night in Marrakesh. We found a hotel in a small back alley away from most of the other tourist trap joints and got a room. The hotel was beautiful. Two floors, built in a traditional Moroccan style with rooms opening to a small tiled courtyard in the center. Our room had high ceilings, was beautifully painted and impeccably clean. We had a window to the alleyway decorated with ornate filigree. We couldn't have been happier. We showered, and took off to see the evening scene. The sun was coming down and it was almost time to break the Ramadan fast.

Arriving at the square in the center of the old city we took in the bright lights and chatted with a number of guys who do nothing but try to get passersby to eat at this or that stand. After a while we told one of them we would be back soon and made our first foray into the alleys that make up the market. Too thin to drive a car through, the Moroccans have no problem zipping up and down the thoroughfares on scooters and bicycles. Making things more treacherous are the shops that line either side of the street and the bright colored goods they are stuffed full of. We ran into some friends from Benin and made plans to meet up later. We walked until we couldn't ignore the growing void in our stomachs and we turned back.

At the “snak” (small grill-fry stands serving all kinds of street food) we were treated to the complimentary bowl of zesty Moroccan olives, a pepper sauce, a tomato sauce, and some thick Nan. We dug in as we waited for our waiter to bring us some grilled meats and sauteed eggplant. When he did, we could hardly believe the feast we had ordered. We enjoyed everything so much but eventually reached our limit.

We met back up with our friends from Benin and went out to a local club full of Moroccan kids sitting around drinking coke and smoking. It was a pretty tame scene. We didn't last too long, the trip was long so we went to get some rest.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Work Hard, Play Hard

It’s been nearly a month now since I've posted last. I've been pretty busy. I've been criss-crossing the country trying to get a grant proposal finished in time for the dead line. The goal of the project is to increase access to Moringa leaf powder so as to help fight malnutrition and improve the health of mothers and their children.

It has been really interesting to organize something like this. I have been pressing my work partner to keep things moving. He has been very busy due to the release of a new album and the cancellation of his vacation from the health center. We have moved the site of the trees 3 times now and had to change many other things about the project. I have learned a lot about aid work and the challenges of working in a developing nation in a capacity other than teaching.

A week ago, I sent my proposal off to USAID where they will scrutinize it and send it back (only once hopefully) so I can change a thing or two. With any luck I should be accepted and receiving money soon after my trip to Morocco and France. We will begin construction on a fence and start getting to work.

I have been around volunteers almost constantly this last month and it’s been more difficult than I thought. I had become so acclimated to being surrounded by Beninese and living my life accordingly. My French has suffered terribly, but the good news is some of my English is coming back to me. I have had some great experiences though.

I have even had a few visitors to my post and we went to the Igname Pile Fete in a near by town (think Gilroy Garlic Festival or your local chili cook-off). We got to Savalou (about 40k from my village) at around 10am on the morning of the 15th. We started to walk around and look for beer and food. To our surprise there wasn’t much going on and Igname Pile proved to be a bit elusive. After a long day and night of celebration the sky opened up and it began pouring. The party was over and it was time to rest.

This past week has brought me back down to Cotonou after only one week at post. I came down for our national Volunteer Action Committee meeting (VAC). VAC is a PC function through which the administration and staff communicate with volunteers via their elected representatives. My peers chose me as the rep from the Zou-Collines department of Benin. So quarterly I will be coming down to Cotonou to meet with staff and discuss issues, policy and concerns of volunteers. I will then be taking that information back to our quarterly meeting. It is an interesting process as many of the different districts have distinct personalities and there seems to be a rift in the points of view held by northern and southern volunteers.

This week was also the swearing-in ceremony/ 40th anniversary celebration of PC Benin. It was a huge to-do held in the Congressional building here in Cotonou. It was strange to see such a massive and well-built building here in Benin. It was fully funded by the Chinese, as many large-scale construction projects are in West Africa. There were many media outlets present, and a lot off top-Beninese brass. Our regional director, country director, some other bigwigs from neighboring countries and a hundred or two volunteers represented PC. It was a great publicity event for PC. It was also very interesting to see new volunteers coming in. As they were taking the oath I couldn’t help but think of the last year of my life and everything I’ve been fortunate to do and learn.

Other than that I am still searching for toothpaste donations from America, which my sister has agreed to help me seek out. If you can help, let me know via email. I think I can fund the shipping through a small grant. Art supplies for my art club are also in great need, so if you could do a drive for them at your job, please let me know!

Last but not least, I’m leaving; getting out of the country, region, and off the continent. Tomorrow morning I ‘m heading out for Morocco. I’ve been planning this excursion for months and it’s finally going to happen. I’m sort of in a state of disbelief. I even feel a little guilty about leaving. It seems absurd when I write it down, but it seems odd that I can just leave like this and all of my friends in village dream of traveling outside of Benin. It is simply difficult to rectify the difference in freedoms based on birthplace. Americans can go where they want when they want with few exceptions. Beninese people (and many other Africans) on the other hand, often deal with extremely corrupt and expensive visa processes, taking visas out of the hands of all but the super-rich. Not to mention that they are limited to small numbers, making traveling a pipedream for most of them.

Still I am excited to see new places and go on new adventures. I’m going to get reacquainted with protein, vegetables, and my dear old friends cheese and butter. I’ve said goodbye to Nescafe; and am secretly looking forward to a passionate relationship with real coffee for the next couple of weeks.