We had our post visit Wednesday – Sunday of this past week. Benin
may be a small country, but it is not quickly traversed. My supervisor, Djafarou, who is the
president of the women’s gardening group, came down and was in Porto Novo for
meetings and stuff Monday and Tuesday.
It was a little nerve wracking him, mostly because I had no idea what to
expect and had to sit and talk to him for an extended period of time. We left
très
très
tôt
Wednesday morning (I’m talking 5:45) and were in Parakou by around 3 pm, then I
took a taxi with Dave (close mate) to Péhunco.
The pavement ended about a third of the way into the trip,
and then it really started to feel like Africa. The sun was setting, the landscape was beautiful, and I was
crammed into a car with eleven other people – I remember thinking to myself dude,
so this is it. It’s weird that you
can be in a place for a while without really…realizing where you are, if that
makes any sense, but going out to my post was a reality check. We got to Péhunco around 9 pm and I stayed
the night with my supervisor’s family – his wife and 8 kids who were very nice
and clearly excited that I was there (a white person!). The next day we met the mayor, king
(also happens to be my language teacher’s father in law), police chief, and ag
extenstion office workers of Péhunco.
Northern Benin is really pretty and has a much different
feel and pace of life than the South.
It’s a lot calmer and more relaxed, and because it’s the rainy season
it’s very green and is sort of lush grasslands with some tall trees. It monsooned Thursday night (all night)
so we couldn’t go out to Tonri, my post, until Friday. Tonri is about 20 mins
(by zem) outside of Péhunco. It’s
tiny. Definitely a real African
village – my host mom called it “vrai Benin” – kids everywhere, sometimes
wearing clothes and sometimes with big bellies, animals at random, no latrines,
wells and pumps for water. There
is a small store that sells essentials – soap, tomato paste, spaghetti, nail
polish (?!?), and sometimes rice, and a small marché every four days. Other buildings include an abandoned
health center, and abandoned micro-lending office, and an elementary
school. That’s sort of it. Oh but plus my house! I will be living in another family’s
concession, which is the word for a group of houses all clumped together around
a center courtyard/cleaning/cooking area.
Floor plan: big, long front room that acts as living room and kitchen,
and three rooms along the back – bedroom, bathroom, extra room. Cement floors, but a real ceiling –
Peace Corps requires a roof but not a ceiling, so it’s nice to have one to
minimize mice and lizard friends.
Being at post was a little bit of a shock – no one speaks French. Ok, SOME people do, but it’s not a
whole lot at all and it’s mostly older men and high school aged kids who are
only in village during school vacation.
I could sort of do salutations but mostly I just repeated the same thing
a lot (luckily ‘a laafia’ is the response to a lot of greetings) and
smiled. The volunteer I’m
replacing, Kristen, walked me around and introduced me to important people in
the village and showed me the women’s group’s garden – pretty cool. I was given
two yams and some money as presents, and I had a few women dance and sing for
me. There are a lot of work
opportunities with the gardening group but it’s kind of intimidating and
disheartening that none of the women speak French. I guess I knew this before, but now I’m wondering how I’m
supposed to help them or make any sort of change if I can’t communicate with
them and if they all have more experience than I do gardening. To communicate anything past greetings
I’m going to have to bring someone along with me, but we’ve talked a lot about
how it’s better to hold meetings and stuff with men and women separately
because women won’t always speak freely in front of men. So. Saturday night I stayed at the Peace Corps workstation
in Natitingou, a 3-hour taxi ride from Tonri. Opening the gate to the workstation is like walking into America
– there are couches, a whole wall of bookshelves with books you’re free to
take, a tv and lots of movies, and best of all electricity and running
water. Even, wait for it,
brownies. Good god, so awesome,
even if you have to pay for them.
We left Sunday at 7 am and got back to Porto Novo around 6 pm. Sounds long, but just wait, because the
best part is that the whole trip was on a bus that played ridiculously bad
Beninese soap operas played at an excruciatingly loud volume. I can’t believe it’s already September
and we only have two weeks of stage left, it’s crazy.
Updated mail info!
Letters and padded envelopes from here on out can go to:
Molly Rosett
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 40
Pehunco, Benin
Afrique de l’Ouest
Boxes are fine too, as long as they aren't sent via DHL. Address
for boxes:
Molly Rosett
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 168
Natitingou, Benin
Afrique de l’Ouest
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| View of my concession from my front door |
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| On terre rouge from Parakou to Pehunco |
