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.