Wish GRANTED!

Hanging around the bureau here in Cotonou all week had been just okay until today. I've been caught up in the MedUnit trap since Monday. I've been spending the week counting my francs making sure that I had enough money to go home. But today I was cleared to leave tomorrow and I received some great news...

My grant proposal (the one I wrote on Moringa to fight malnutrition), was approved! Well it will be as soon as my work partner signs the agreement form. Whats more is they are going to fast track the money direct into my bank account so that I will have access much faster. This is great news! The people in my community will be so happy.

There is such a great need for a clean and reliable source of protein and vitamins where I live. If things go as planned that need will be filled within the year, in a financially and environmentally sustainable way! I have a lot to start doing when I get home, with school starting, the other projects I have planned and now this, it should be a pretty big year.

Morocco: Imlil and the Hike to Basecamp

We meandered around Marrakesh a little in the morning before getting out of the city. We took a mini buss to a small village named Asni that serves as a transit hub for several mountain settlements in the High Atlas mountains. In Asni we ran into a Czech tour guide that brings groups over land twice a year from the Czech Republic. He was nice enough to offer us a ride to the village we were destined for, so we didn't hesitate. The climb along the mountainsides was amazing. In Imlil Oran, our new friend, hooked us up with a couple of his local colleagues and they got us a great room.

Cafe Soleil was the perfect countryside hotel. The room had a really nice bucolic feel. The floor was covered in layers of Berber carpets in deep reds, black, and cream. The beds in the room were extremely comfortable and we had our own shower. The view from the room was stunning. Set right off of a seasonal riverbed, and facing two mountains the hotel couldn't have been more picturesque. Down below our window a well maintained garden was framed by trees. For dinner the staff cooked us a great chicken tajine. A tajine is a traditional Moroccan dish cooked in a ceramic dish with a cone-shaped lid over coals. They are filled with a mixture of meat and veggies and are smothered with clarified butter. We couldn't believe how good the meal was, it was the perfect thing to get us ready for the next day's hike.

The next morning we took our breakfast in the courtyard looking over the dry rocky riverbed. Moroccan marmalade, bread, butter, orange juice and Nescafe, a nice start to the days walk. The fresh flavors of the marmalade and orange juice really doing justice to Morocco's reputation as a great producer of citrus.

We set off for the days walk winding through a hillside park on our way out of Imlil. Climbing a series of switchbacks led our party to Armoud, a neighboring village on the edge of a rocky graphite-colored valley floor. We made our way across the rocks following the faint trail to a neighboring hillside. On the hill we took our first break. As we ate under an gnarled, hollowed out old apple tree some Moroccan children were skipping and playing down the path. We offered them some figs and peanuts, which they gladly took as they giggled off further down the trail.

Pressing on, I watched as the landscape became more and more radical. We crossed a beautifully constructed aqueduct carved into the hillside. The structure would later symbolize a gate between a landscape influenced by the ingenuity of man and one left to the will of nature. As our progress continued the land fell away to the right to create a deep gash in the Earth's surface. At a waterfall we crossed to an adjacent hillside. There in the crook of the two peaks was a roughly constructed group of shacks occupied by vendors hoping to eek out a living on passing hikers as a “last chance” style of commerce. Thanking them, we climbed into the mountainside to eat our lunch of sausage, pita, Vache Qui Rit (cheese spread), and dates.
After lunch we continued on our way making good time. We had a long day ahead and I wanted to make it to the base camp before dark. Eventually we came upon another vendor selling cold beverages in a very inventive way. He had blocked a natural spring and attached a hose. He led the hose to a water bottle and used it as a sprinkler, wetting down an overhang. The rock would drip over the drinks making them cool and enticing. I was blown away with his ingenuity and wanted to stop and ask some questions; unfortunately we didn't have the time.

Continuing the vegetation was dwindling to mosses, tumbleweeds, and only the toughest shrub-trees. We were traveling in the hot season in Morocco, so much of what we saw was on the extreme end of the seasonal swing. Roots seemed to be minimal as the trees stretched, reached, and twisted as far as they could to catch the sunlight that poured in as the sun skipped between the surrounding mountaintops. We also encountered a crossed several local Moroccans trafficking goods and gear to and from Imlil and the surroundings. They used mules to carry the large loads. Saddled with bright blankets and harnesses the mules slowly persisted under the weight but surefooted, they continued.


Along the way we met several interesting people. A couple of Americans coming back from a small day hike recounted their travels of the last 8 years that had kept them out of the US. They seemed to have come into some money and decided to tour the world on a sailboat. “Our money is running out.” they told us; unashamedly and not disappointed, simply stated as a fact. They were heading back to the US after a couple more stops and going to look for work. We wished them luck and continued on our way. Now several hours and many kilometers into the day's hike, we were feeling rather exhausted. Luckily we soon ran into a pair of vacationing Irish. The couple seemed to be gushing after coming down from the summit that morning. The warm exchange was reassuring and sure enough just around the bend we saw the refuge where we were going to stay the night.


The “hut” or “refuge” was far from what the words conjured up in my imagination. Climbing up to the first we were impressed with the massive scale of the building. Here, more than 30k or rough mountain trails and bad gravel road, people had built some impressive stone structures. The refuge had hot showers, electricity (generator), plumbing, and was detailed in well-crafted wooden trim. We entered got our beds in a bunk-style room, and went down to shower and eat.
Dinner was more of the same sausage, fruit, nuts,etc. We added on a bowl of warm Harissa soup. Harissa is the traditional soup that Moroccans eat to break the fast. It is a thick tomato-vegetable base. Its was a great way to get back some nutrients after a long day of walking. At dinner we met a couple more Czechs, Ales and David. They were planning on climbing, but David had fallen ill. Ales asked if he might join us. We talked a while and got to know each other. Ales had finished a job as a programmer and decided to take a trip to Morocco before settling into another job. David had been living in Ireland for four years or so and was also thinking of changing careers, he was very interested in long-term volunteering so we talked a bit about the challenges and rewards of such work. David and Ales had met over the internet and only really met face-to-face there in Morocco. They made a very interesting pair, Ales being more solemn and serious, where David seemed to laugh at everything. After chatting a while and making our plans to meet in the morning, we repacked our bags for the climb and went off to bed.

Down on the Farm

I've been keeping busy 'round the village these days. I'm still waiting for school to start but I'm relatively certain classes will start next Monday. I've planted some sunflowers in front of my house, and I've got some garlic and onion growing pretty well there too. I've also been making small improvements for the coming year and hoping to make my house as nice as possible.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited out to the farm f a friend. Getting up at 7AM I made myself a pot of real coffee, listened to the news, and did a sodoku. According to the BBC the Western world is suffering a major tempest, even football (soccer) teams are watching the horizon so you know it's bad. After cafinating my self and thawing my brain, I gt on my bike and made the 9k jaunt out to a farming settlement northwest of Ouedeme.

Arriving there surprised the locals, most of whom never even make it to the paved road. Children ran around yelling "Yovo, yovo!" as children do. When I made my to my friends' family compound I was warmly greeted and quickly exhausted my minute Fon vocabulary. I came with the desire to do a little work in the fields and learn a little about Beninese farming techniques. My friend, Alban, all of the sudden seemed a little skittish about me doing any sort of manual labor. After I pushed, he said we would, but he wanted to visit his sister first. So we walked through the village, saying hello to everyone.

We sat and spoke with his sister a while, scared some children, made some others laughed. And then we had to eat. Igname pile at 9AM is not the lightest breakfast faire. Luckily, ignames are one of my favorite Beninese foods. So I dug in. After that we walked back to his parent's compound and sat down for... some more igname. This time boiled (think boiled potato) with a chili-oil dipping sauce. It was delicious, but I was full and was scolded for not eating enough.

Large-bellied and full I was sitting under a mango tree surrounded by small children. So naturally I started to entertain them. I pulled out my camera and we had some fun to pass the time. The kids here are such hams, and when they see that they can see themselves on screen they get blown away. Even the most timid children start to perform for the camera. They couldn't get enough.

Eventually, it was time to take a walk and we went to tour the fields. Alban said it was too hot to work that day, and to his credit none of the other men in the settlement seemed to be out, so I gave up on any hope of doing some real work. The family's fields were packed with lush green bushes of soybeans. Its about midway through the season now, the harvest will come in Dec. I'm planning on gorging myself on edemame.

The farming system is pretty interesting. The largest part is, of course, for the father. Everyone has a section for himself or herself. In the mornings the family members all work the father's land and in the afternoons, if all the work is finished, they start in on their own plots. It seemed like everyone had been doing a pretty good job at managing both responsibilities.

Back at the house it was time to start dinner. In my honor they decided to kill a cock. So the father called all the children and told them to go catch it. The kids scattered to hunt down the ill-fated bird, and I chased, camera in hand. There seemed to be much argument about where the chicken had gotten off to. He seemed to have heard them talk about his demise and decided to make a run for it. He was found on the outside of the settlement, and chased back in. He dashed into a dense grove of banana trees and the children were forced to go around. Slashing at the foliage with sticks they kids couldn't seem to find him. As they returned some one yelled they saw it on the other edge of the clearing, and the mini-hunter swarmed in that direction.

They chased it through a fence, knocking down a makeshift structure, and still couldn't seem to catch it. Round and round they went. Eventually I heard a big cheer. I came around the corner and it turns out there was a guy sitting in his house watching the kids and chicken from his couch. So he picked up his slingshot and killed it from where he was sitting.

Papa cut the chicken's neck neck with a pretty dull blade and Mama got started on cooking dinner. The two young boys pounded the igname when they were boiled enough and then it was time to eat. We moved into a dark mud-brick hut for the meal. The sauce consisted of sesame, palm oil sauce served frequently with igname pile.

Soon after dinner I had to get back on my bike if I was going to make it before the sun went down. So we said our good byes and I thanked them for a great afternoon. I took a family photo for them because their son is moving away to go to a higher-level school. Making my way home I felt a lot of the stress I had about my return to Benin. These types of days are why I love life here.

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.

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.