TravelStream™ news feed for member lgcarter on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lgcarter en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:09:36 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231186020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231186020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231186020/tpod.html Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:09:36 -0500 The only British PCV in Benin

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Cotonou, Benin

Back in the heat! Have to wait for a day in Cotonou before hauling myself up to Parakou for In-Service Training (IST)
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Dakar, Senegal

Wow, what a wonderful view watching the sunrise from Dakar international departures. Still waiting with West Wing - come on Air Senegal!
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Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

'Home' is a great thing, and I am a grateful PCV, who being the Briton, could return to London for a 2week break so early on in my service (with the condition that this will not be my only time to see my parents over the course of my 2 years service). After an exciting lead up to departing, I danced a little jig onto the Air Maroc flight leaving Cotonou at a spry 3am. I marvelled at the purchasing opportunities on offer at the Casablanca departure terminal for 5 hours (all unobtainable - they may have a LaCoste shop, a food court etc but no way to change money into Moroccan Dhiram). Casablanca to London, with the excitement growing, I met 3 COSing Niger PCVs on their way home - Peace Corps following me home. After an overenthusiastic greeting with the unenthused border officials, too long waiting for my one small checked bag, I managed to completely miss my Mom, walking right by her.

To go into such small detail here would be ridiculous, and impossible. I somehow managed to fit in HUGE amounts of stuff, movies, friends, Studio60 on the Sunset Strip, a more fully-grown Poppy, decorate the banister ...etc ...etc ...etc. The family Christmas was as wonderful as always, with the attention to detail being key. There was all the good food I had wanted to eat, all the new movies I needed to watch, and all the new Wii games to play. There was also my wardrobe to rediscover - including my personally coveted scarf collection. All of these things were expected, and of course all were fully appreciated. I also did a silly thing in slamming the Apple Mac onto the hardwood floor, effectively killing it. So with only a few days left in the UK, I made a trip to PC World to obtain a new laptop, mostly to aide my sanity through the long days at post with the West Wing Collection I also received for Christmas. But then there were a few things that caught me off guard.

First of all there was the cold and the darkness. First bear in mind that I left England at the end of June, when the weather was relatively warm and the days long. I then went to Benin, where the proximity to the equator means it's always hot and the length of the day is generally the same the whole year through. So after my 6 month perpetual summer, I was caught off guard when darkness fell at around 4pm. The cold was expected, yet I didn't realise just how acclimatised I had become to the heat, and how I seemed to feel the cold more than my family. On New Years Eve, I sat bundled up and shivering in the boy's apartment - despite them telling me it was 'sweltering'.

Second; there was the economy. Partly protected by my set USdollar PC -stipend, and my lack of access to international news, the reality and all-consuming nature of recession-talk hit me. I wandered around a closing down sale of Woolworth's, 'just saying goodbye', and I watched 'Year in Review' after 'Year in Review' show talking about all the news (including economic) that I had missed. Listening to my friends talk about the struggle to find jobs, and then to hold on to them with the hope of making ends meet, if not paying off their student loan, was depressing. Again I was thankful for the relative security I have over the next 2 years as a PCV *knocks on wood*. This helped to put the thought of ET-ing further from my mind, realising just what little prospects I would have to go back to instead of finishing my service.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231094820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231094820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1231094820/tpod.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:05:26 -0500 The only British PCV in Benin

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Casablanca, Morocco

As predicted, despite a new years resolution to write more entries, I didn't write down anything while I was back in London. Partly I guess due to mental aversion and having so much fun with my friends and family I didn't want to think about going back until the last possible moment. It was slightly disturbing how easy it was to fit into the old routines with the daily luxuries of well-butchered meat, the cinema and Nintendo Wii. Although I enjoy Benin hugely, it's hard to get excited about travelling back into poverty, pate, cold water and being called 'Yovo' on a daily basis. My feelings manifested themselves in my very last minute packing of gifts and goodies taking back - all of which will probably get scrumpled on route.

I now have the extra possibility of crumpledness - due to the fact another flight connection got added to my journey. My flight from London to Casablanca was delayed as such that I missed the second flight to Cotonou that evening. Since flights between Casablanca and Cotonou are sporadic at best, I had the option of staying in Casablanca (and we're not talking about the city here, but the airport hotel with other stranded passengers) for 2 nights or flying via Dakar after 1 night in Casablanca before getting a connecting Air Senegal flight to Cotonou.

Due to the Air Senegal flight getting into Cotonou 12 hours earlier and on monday afternoon rather than in the middle of Tuesday night, I chose the 'via Dakar' option. However, by all circumstances Im probably going to turn-up at In Service Training (IST) travel-weary and grouchy and, at best, half-a-day late. So I guess my next entry will be from Parakou during that week. I have a sweet new laptop which does allow me to type up stuff now. I also have the seven seasons of the West Wing to entertain me while I speculate about hw flat the area around Casablanca airport is, despite the hotel being named after the country's mountain range.

*raises complementory cocktail with Royal Air Maroc voucher*

To safe flights
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1229474340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1229474340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1229474340/tpod.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:17:21 -0500 The only British PCV in Benin

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Cotonou, Benin

'Expectations' is a pretty big word in Peace Corps circles. As with any life-altering 2yr adventure in a new and foreign land, pre-departure your mind is filled with expectations and ideas of what your new life is going to be like, and how you will come out of the experience (changed, more confident, perhaps with a few tropical-disease stories in tow). On arrival at Staging in Philadelphia and then in Benin, PC then stresses the importance of loosening and abandoning your expectations - perhaps with the idea that instead of trying to make Benin fit around your expectations you'll incorporate a more flexible attitude (which tunes in with the general PCV Benin need for flexibility, patience and a certain amount of unflappability). I personally believe 3years in London, especcially Camden Town/King's Cross helped me develop an unflappable attitude. But then the PC staff seem to do a U-turn on you, and in the various interviews to determine what post/community you might fit into well, you're immediately asked a lot of questions about your 'expectations'?

'Where in the country do you expect to be living in?'
-Well, I've only seen Cotonou and Porto-Novo, which is only a little bit of Benin. I have no idea what the rest of the country is like (but according to other PCVs - it's 'different')

'Do you expect to live in a village without amenities, town with some amenities or city?'
-Again, only been in Cotonou and Porto-Novo - two of the largest cities. What is a Beninese village like? What size are you talking when you say town?

-... hey, I thought you told me to predispose of all my expectations before I got here?

*My answers weren't exactly phrased like that - I do have some interview style!

So somehow, through my vague answers I somehow got fitted with Pobe, which at the moment seems like a good fit.

But on this topic of 'expectations' ..

I am currently in Cotonou, killing the hours until I am getting my taxi to the airport for my 3am flight to Casablanca. It's then a layover of 5hours before heading into the second leg into London Heathrow Terminal 2 and onto the Meads for Christmas/NY two week vacation. Now I most definately have some 'expectations' of what I want from this visit home, and most of it centres around all the different food I'm going to eat, how many times I'm going to be cold at night (wrapping up in my duvet, with a little prayer of thanks). So in no particular order, a run down...

-I'm looking forward to being cold, properly cold and not perpeptually sweating (I want to actually hear all those pores in my body close up going '...zip').
-I'm looking forward to the look on my mother's face (happiness.. with potentially a hint of maternal disapproval at my foolish turnout) when I walk out the arrivals gate in a tissu summer dress and flipflops.
-I'm looking forward to seeing how much Poppy (the cat, who was a 6wk old kitten when I left) and Amelia (the 10yr old sister) have grown.
-I'm looking forward to seeing what's different about Fleet high street.
-I'm looking forward to being given the tour of the new landscaping work on the garden by enthusiastic family members, starting before I've even put my bag down.
-I'm looking forward to my bed.
-I'm looking forward to pub trips with Fleet friends, catching up.
-I'm looking forward to drinks selections that go beyond regular, syrup-like Coca-cola and Beninese beer.
-I'm looking forward to my Mom's cranberry jelly mix - watching her make it, taste-testing it, stealing cheeky finger dips into the mixture, eating it on Christmas day and eating it everyday afterwards until a) I leave or b) it runs out, whichever comes first.
-I'm looking forward to not sleeping under a mosquito net.
-I'm looking forward to getting my big black cat back in my arms.
-I'm looking forward to wearing perfume without fear of mosquito retribution.
-I'm looking forward to running water, and most importantly HOT running water.
-I'm looking forward to DIET coke/pepsi.
-I'm looking forward to maple syrup (not the vannilla essence/sugar/water mix I made up in Pobe the other week).
-I'm looking forward to seeing London again.
-I'm looking forward to testing out my french on my brother, and beating him into the ground with it.
-I'm looking forward to wearing socks.
-I'm looking forward to the West Wing - whatever happens I'm coming back with it!


These are all things I am looking forward to, and hopefully 2weeks and a bit will be enough to satiate my appetite. And although I don't want to think about leaving my family right now, I'm looking forward to coming back and enjoying the life I've created back here in Benin again.
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Parakou, Benin

This is a much better opportunity to write an email, I came down early this morning on a 7hr bus ride from Parakou to Cotonou, with a few hours to spare before catching a bush-taxi back to Pobe. The rest of the southern volunteers will be able to catch a PC vehicule shuttle back down on Tuesday, but I had to come down a day earlier to meet with Jacques (SED APCD) who is visiting my post on Tuesday and prepare for my second formation on Wednesday. Then a busy week of to-and-fro-ing I do a day trip again down to Cotonou on Friday for meetings (including one on the girl empowerment camps inherent to all PC countries - Camp Glo).

So I will take a few steps back to last Tuesday when I launched into the first meeting of a general business formation with my group of seamstresses. I had arranged with Pobe mairie to use the Maison de Jeunes (literal translation - house of youth, essentially a hal used for local functions), prepared about 5 large sheets of paper (which we cal 'khaki's because of their light brown colour) with French on the objectifs of the formation, definitions, plans for future reunions, etc. I advertised the meeting as starting at 10am, thinking with Beninese timing if we started by 10.15/10.30 we'd be doing well. I arrived at 9.30 to prepare a few things and just in case anyone turned up early. To my absolute delight (and I take it as encouraging) a large group of 35 turned up, were seated and ready by 9.45, babies in tow. The meeting went well, and was based on talking about what it means to be an 'entrepreneur', introductions and what they want to learn in future meetings, the next meeting is going to be on ''L'etudie de faisabilite'. We'll see how it goes. At the end of my last meeting they were literally singing my praises, with a nagot-version of 'if you're happy and you know it (clap your hands)'. A nice high to finish any meeting on. A big shock, and something I need to rethink is that half the group don't understand French and are illiterate, there are systems for getting around this, and the president of this group has been great at acting as a translator - but it does throw up some challenges.

Parakou was a lot of fun. I both enjoy the company of the fellow SED volunteers, and I enjoy traveling to different parts of the country, but I also do like my personal home in pobe. After getting up at 5am to catch an early bush taxi to PCHQ in Cotonou, the four volunteers (and N, who's technically in the north but was down south at a conference) caught the PC landcruiser, with Jacques, up to Parakou, stopping on the way for Igname pile and at the village of a pc staff member, who is Beninese, who's father had died the day before and they were in the midst of the death ceremonies (and there are multiple) preparations. On arriving at the work station at parakou it was a nice reunion with fellow volunteers, the delivery of packages to northern volunteers (and you are in luck when you're in the vicinity of someone who's friend/family just sent them candy). We promptly went out for dinner, sitting open air and eating really good FAT chickens (well butchered and cooked meat is hard to find here). All the volunteers stayed at the Parakou workstation, which is kind of like a stop-off point, hostel, mini-office for volunteers in that area who are far from the Cotonou main office. It is run by a PCVL (B in the case of Parakou, who has extended for a third year in country, a fellow SED vol) They are responsible for maintaining the workstation, being a liason between volunteers and staff. The workstation does look like a very informal hostel, a compound with a house, tv and dvds for vegging, library of books (both fiction and work resources) computer and office, kitchen, lots of sleeping area, and outside space too. A very relaxed atmosphere.

The following day was actually our time for the conference, we sat down with Jacques and as a group, discussing our posts, our work, issues we've had, achievements, etc. It was fairly informal, but some useful ideas got thrown around. That took up all of 5 hours and then we had the rest of the time to play. That evening we barbecued hamburgers (and when it 29 degrees centigrade, it's very much still bbq weather), mincing the meat ourselves. We were also joined by three volunteers from Burkina Faso who have just finished their service and are cycling from Niger, down through Benin and heading west across to Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire). They couldn't have turned up on a better night for fete-ing. Volunteers from other countries are allowed to stay at PC offices in other countries, for a small fee. It was a fun night of sitting out, with good food and good company. At one point the power went off (regular occurrence) and we all looked to the sky, catching the odd shooting star.

The next day was also a good opportunity, squeezing 15 adults into a 9-seater station wagon for an hour long trip south to the post of a young married couple (s and j - who are big boston sports fans), to see s's village savings and loans group, who have weekly meetings and is a system of giving access to credit for the very poorest in society, without need for literacy or French. We were also hosted with steak sandwiches and brownies from S&J. I exchanged flight of the conchords with them for Celtics nba championships dvd - nice. The group was interesting, and reinvigorated my interest in starting a similar group in pobe, or probably more useful, a remoter village in the area of pobe. So many projects to start and so little time, but it would be bad form to start a savings programme before the season of fetes and so soon after parents have had to pay school fees, so I will have to wait until the new year.

So a quieter night on Sunday and at present I'm down here in Cotonou, preparing to return to post with the customary gift to the family in my concession (who have hopefully been keeping an eye on my house) of the northern 'cheese' (not anything like what you and I would call cheese) called Wagasi.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1222183200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1222183200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1222183200/tpod.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:24:34 -0400 The only British PCV in Benin

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Porto-Novo, Benin

So this is my first official message as a qualified 'Peace Corps Volunteer' (PCV), so this is an acronym change for me from PCT to PCV (so only a slight change to the top line of my address. This is also my first message from post. By coincidence, because there's no internet in Pobe, I've got to make the hour journey down to Porto Novo anyway to use the internet at Songhai. ('Project Songhai', as it's officially known, is an interesting little place in Porto Novo - officially a multipurpose centre where they do agricultural training/have a hostel/internet and multimedia training and various other things - but more about that another time).

The Swear-In Ceremony/40th Anniversary Celebrations took place in the Palais de Congres in Cotonou, and was quite an event. We had the main event in the largest hall there, and the event was attended by a number of people. President Boni Yayi was unable to make it, but the Minister of International Relations was there, there was also the US Ambassador, the Peace Corps Regional Director for Africa and the Benin Country Director. As well as all the Peace Corps staff, the stagiares and current PCVs, there was also many officials from the Beninese government, some previous volunteers from Benin who had come over especcially for the ceremony, and also many of the host familys had come over from Porto Novo. Unfortunately it was a very wet and damy day, so my host family didn't end up making it (it is common knowledge in Benin that when it rains, everything shuts up and nobody travels). There were also lots of television cameras milling about, and apparently there were many clips shown on the television.

That actual ceremony started at 9am and lasted for about 3hrs, It was lots of speeches, mostly in French. There was also speeches in some of the many different local languages of Benin, made by the stagiares who had learnt more of the local language (those who had come in with a high level of French). There was also a video, a cake, some songs (which I performed in as part of the choir), and of course there was the point where we all stood up, as instructed by the Ambassador, and swore our allegiance to being a Peace Corps Volunteer as a group. For me this was the one moment I had a real hard time keeping a straight face. Not that I don't take the position seriously, but it was my little British accent amongst these Americans, swearing to 'uphold the Constitution of the United States' and then ending with 'so help me God' (which of course, I sounded bizarre going 'GOd' amongst the 'GAd's). Afterwards we then turn round to congratulate each other, and T grabs my shoulder saying 'Well done, you are now american'.

The day-ceremony was followed by a reception, and then we had a few free hours to mill around 'the bureau' (Peace Corps Benin HQ in Cotonou), which basically meant a lot of new volunteers stocking up on books before we all go to our respective posts for the 3 month lock-down period. We were then able to retire to Saint Jean Eudes for a few hours (this name should be familiar as the place where we initially spent our first 5 nights in Benin, on arrival). Being a rainy damp day we all just about managed to dry off, and clean up before we were shuttled back to the Palais again for the evening soiree, a 'buffet and cocktail evening' hosted in our honour. The food was great, and the cocktails a rare treat. A really interesting part of this session though was the presentation of one of Benin's highest medal of honour to the PC Regional Director, and a long speech about Benin's steps towards forming it's own domestic volunteer service, modelled on the PC. It was a poignant moment of being in the midst of international policy in motion. Of course after all this, and relief that the rain had finally stopped, it was a night of fete-ing back at Saint Jean Eudes where we spent the night, before returning to Porto Novo the following morning.

After all the excitement of Friday, the weekend was fairly subdued, There was plenty of hugs and final hurrah's as people begin to realise we are all very much going to our own seperate corners of the country, and when we next see each other will be uncertain. There was also the process of packing. So we did a last big buvette trip with SED/TEFL, and then that last evening with my host family I prepared very basic pizzas. Being muslim I had to refrain from using ham, but I did manage to top the pizzas with cheese, peppers, onion and of course pineapple. Feeling insecure with making a makeshift dutch oven, I cheated and although I made the tomato base from scratch I just used sliced baguettes instead of going as far as making dough, It all turned out fairly well, and they did seem graceful and it was a nice way to end things. Overall I think that I was very lucky with my host family, there were no particular issues, and they did give me my space when I needed it. But I also like to think that I wasn't too demanding as a visitor.

Departure for Post on Monday morning (at 7am!) was fairly uneventful, We had a great vehicle, a beat up Peugeot van (Dad, thoughht you might get a kick out of it, so I took a photo). Saying 'Goodbye' too the family wasn't too emotional, (it is not in the Beninese culture to show emotion anyway). So I was picked up first, everything loaded and the driver kept on popping the hood of our van, or scrambling under the vehicle - I feared that we would make it to Pobe at all. Due to Peace Corps budget cuts they had us sharing taxis, so with my stuff loaded up we went off to pick up M (or 'Chadsey') - an energetic Environmental Volunteer from Florida. So I had someone to share worried glances with as we began the journey north and out of Porto Novo.

We dropped off Chadsey at his post first, which is only about 20 minutes out of Porto Novo, but to get to the small village of Dra (which isn't even on the map) you have to turn off the paved road onto a small, hidden path. It's very very rural, proper PC sans running water or electricity. We had quite a trip getting to his house, lots of hills and taking the van up and down 'non-existent' roads. In the confusion of moving though, there was a slight mix-up and I now have Chasey's pillow, which I'll need to return at some point (no running water, no electricity, and now no pillow ... tough life). It was then back on the paved road and up to Pobe.

The biggest surprise was going to be my new house, as the previous large house had not passed PC safety standards and so I had heard word that they had found me somewhere new, and someone had dropped a hint that I might be getting a proper toilet, instead of a latrine (which is a big deal!). Because I had no idea where to direct the moving people I had to first locate Bernadette's and then we followed her down a series of lanes, and then we finally stopped outside Chez Moi. So a description of my new home for the next two years, it's located about 5minutes walk off of the main road, so it's just far enough to be quiet but not out of the way. It's a walled concession, which I share with a family. There's even a guard dog which they let loose at night to guard the property. The family is very nice, a mother with 4 kids, ranging from 9 to 18 years old (2 boys and 2 girls). On my part of the concession I have 2 reasonable size rooms, each with a large window each. The rooms are clean, painted and in good shape with a concrete floor. The first room I'm using as a kitchen/living room. Then there's another lockable door through to my bedroom. And off the bedroom is 'le piece de resistance' - the bathroom has a proper toilet, fawcet and shower! Although the shower is positioned kind of over the toilet, and there's no light in the bathroom, I cannot describe to you how relieved/happy I was. Although latrines aren't that bad I do appreciate my little porceline luxuries. It may just make the difference for the next two years. So although with only 2 rooms this place is substantially smaller, for the security and the bathroom, it is totally worth it.

I inherited a lot of furniture and objects, and after spending the first week with my mattress on the floor and living out of my suitcase, I now have more than enough furniture, including a lot of baking and kitchen stuff which makes me happy no end. I also have the double bed I put together myself, a massive bureau for clothes, bookshelves, deck-chairs etc. It did require a rather dusty and dirty tuesday spent hauling and sorting, which meant hiring a bush-taxi and some man power for a couple of hours. It was quite a scene, when they piled the bookshelf, on top of the double mattress, on top of the bureau, on top of the battered old peugeot station-wagon with sections of my bed sticking out the back. But now I definitely feel settled into my little home, curtains and all. I also saved a LOT of money. But I fully intend to leave it all in good condition for whatever volunteer should follow me. (because S's house was substantially bigger than mine, and I didn't need all the furniture I'm also storing some of it for M, a female volunteer to the south of me).

So my first week was spent getting to know Pobe, and getting the people of Pobe used to seeing me about. Bernadette has been superb, setting up meetings for me, and helping me to settle in, while giving me time to get my house together. I discovered that S and I share an interest in food, so she was able to show me where I can get what for cooking, the best places to eat out and the best street food vendors (avocado sandwiches are a favourite, and there's also the lady who shall be known as the 'bean-lady' - I won't patronize you by stating what she sells). So each day was generally spent walking about, getting lunch out, usually a meeting with Bernadette, either to discuss work with her, or sit in on meeting of different artisans group - listening to a 2 and a half hour meeting in nargot/french about embroidery apprentices, a little tedious and my mind did wander. I also spent some time at the NGO that S worked well, called GABF, who were very pleasant and offered to let me work a bit with them if I want to. Also there is Judith and Andrea there, two friends of S who I can hang out with and get help from if I need. The marche is every 4 days, so exploring that was another day.

I've also been doing a lot of reading and having read all the ones Stewart and Clare gave me, I'm onto the ones that have been floating around 'the Bureau'. The one I just finished was particularly interesting, and I'm sure Dad would have approved being a historical novel. It was 'the last full measure' by Jeff Shaara, which goes over the last 2 years of the American Civil War, something I knew very little about. It's the last of a trilogy, so I'm keen to see if I can track down the first two books. Although it starts after Gettysburg, it definitely gives me a renewed desire to visit that battleground. Quoting father 'because it really happened, and it happened right (t)here'. Dad, I encourage you to go seek it out, if you haven't already read it. Now I'm onto 'Rebecca' (another Big Read book, I might try to get through that all list by the end of two years - beat Stewart once and for all at that little contest). I also inherited a LOT of magazines from Sunny, a combination of Newsweeks and fashion mags - I've found myself particularly enjoying smelling the perfume advertisements in the fashion magazines (with mosquitos, sweat and dirt, perfume is very impractical here).

So the next few days should be very much filled with meeting more artisan groups, and trying to find a french tutor. This email has been very long, but it's a combination of me sitting and typing and writing a few paragraphs at a time over the past two weeks. Although my emails are sure to be less frequent, they will certainly be mini-novels when they do get sent. The great thing about the laptop is having the time to pre-write emails.





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Porto-Novo, Benin

This
is probably going to be one of my last posts during 'stage' as it is now very
possible to see the end of PSL and the swearing-in ceremony. Since post-visit the last week just flew by
with lots of language classes and two TDAs (Training Directed Activities) where
we had two afternoons of teaching some local artisans of Porto Novo accounting
and marketing. All this needed to be
taught in French and was a bit of a struggle to get through. I was working with N, and the
accounting was a bit more of a struggle, but we quickly learned (in-time for
the Marketing formation) that the best way to teach these are to split the
class into groups and do activities, which created a much more productive class
atmosphere of them figuring it out for themselves and sharing ideas (and if
they're giving ideas to each other, that works out so we need to speak a lot
less french and just facilitate the learning).



This
week was also about the french, which accumulated in us having our final
language interviews on friday morning.
I was a little less happy with my performance this time than in the
mid-PSL interview, although I was able to use more tenses properly. I had a particularly random question when
she asked me to describe my house in Porto-Novo, and I realised I had never
learned the vocabulary for buildings, I didn't even know the word for
'wall'. However, to my delightful
surprise on friday afternoon I found out that I hap jumped up to 'Intermediate
High' (which means I surpassed the required level of 'intermediate
middle'). Unfortunately not everyone in
our group was as lucky, and two people need to take another interview next
thursday where they have an opportunity to reach their required level so they
can be allowed to swear-in. Of course,
we're all pulling together trying to make sure that noone gets left behind.



The
other big activity of the week was all the volunteers got invited to a gala
hosted by the Mayor of Porto-Novo, who asides from feeding us dinner we had
some speeches and a show of traditional music and dance which was a lot of
fun. I took some photos of the
traditional dances, which were really really great.



At
the end of the week, with the final hurdle of language interviews over for many,
we (the stagiares and our trainers) took a well-deserved break, and we did a
big group excursion out to Grand Popo.
Grand Popo is one resort-like area of Benin, with lovely beach et al. It's an approximately 2 and a half hours
drive from Porto Novo - but it took our bus (one of 3 ferrying the volunteers)
5 and a bit hours to get there as it broke down on a number of occaisions. It even looked like at one point we would
throw in the towel and wait til we could get passing bush taxis back to Porto
Novo. But they eventually managed to do
enough repair to get us to Grand Popo safely.
Although it's a lovely beach, the most entertainment is wading. The sea is incredibly strong, and you have
to exercise a lot of caution. If you're
not careful the wave breaking will knock you down, and the backwash drag you
in. Of course the boys were putting the
waves to the test, seeing how far you could go in before you got wiped out by
the next wave. Because our group
arrived so late we got to stay late, but that meant I returned to the host
family's house, all sandy-and-salty, only to be greeted by a large fete for the
eldest daughter who passed her BAC (university-entry) exam. I danced and conversed, but then was quite
relieved that because my family is muslim there was no alcohol to be forced on
me, and it finished at the rather conservative time of 11pm.



This
nest week is going to be pretty relaxed, and should involve very little, just
wrapping up training, preparing for the swear-in ceremony and getting ready to
depart for post. At the moment
everything is a bit up in the air regarding my post, because last time I spoke
to Jacques on Thursday they were still in the process of finding me a house. It was deemed that the house I saw on
post-visit had security issues, being on it's own and so large. So we'll see what happens with that. Hopefully they'll find me a place in time,
and I can move up on monday as planned. What is most annoying is that they're
not telling me anything at the moment.
As for the swear-in ceremony/40th anniversary which is this friday it
seems to be getting more and more extravagent.
We're having it at the Palais de Congres in Cotonou, in their largest
room. The ceremony actually starts
around 9am, but we've also been invited to a banquet with the government that
evening. President Boni Yayi will be in
attendance and I've just had my 'swearing-in' outfit made. It should be very grand. It sounds like it's going to be a series of
speeches and receptions. They also have
a song which some of the volunteers are meant to sing, so I'm a part of
that. I'll be sure to post lots photos at some point.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219767360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219767360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219767360/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:19:23 -0400 The only British PCV in Benin

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Porto-Novo, Benin

Into week 8, the final
full week of stage and just came back from tech visit in Pobe, which was very
eventful with lots happening. The week
began with monday and tuesday being the 'Homologues' conference (homologue is
PC Benin term for Beninese counterpart- techincally who I'm working with).
This meant regular language classes in the morning, but both afternoons
we were shepharded (a lot of
'shepharding' of PC Trainees
happens during stage - we've learnt how to squeeze 10 of us into one of the
unmistakable US-built Peace Corps SUVs) to a local hotel where we met with our
homologues, discussed projects, did classic team-building/ communication
exercises and PC rules and regulations were reiterated.



After 2 days of this, all
the other volunteers (except for TEFL, who are stressed and in the midst of
'model school' after they did their post-visit in week 4) headed off bright and
early with their counterparts to their respective posts on wednesday. Of course, with my schedule being dictated
by the Oro fetische that grips Pobe at this time of year, I had a free day in
Porto Novo and travelled up on thursday morning. I made the most of my free day, I used the internet, I studied
french, bought tissu for clothes (the pattern is wonderfully garish, bright
primary colours of envelopes and hearts) and went to one of the more western
supermarkets to buy strawberry jam.
This last purchase, along with the peanut butter one of our trainers
sells, I made PB&J sandwiches for my host family later the night. They seemed to go down quite well, and I
certainly think they appreciated the gesture.



Thursday, with the
homologue being late (something we've learnt to expect as being totally normal,
it's 'Beninese time'), I rode with Bernadette (my homologue) by car on the
asphalt road (I say 'THE asphalt road', because there's really only one which
goes out of town), with driver for an hour north of Porto Novo for Pobe, a
small town right on the same asphalt road.
Bernadette is legendary among SED volunteers and people in my
region. She's fifty years old, a former
seamstress, and wears amazing tissu outfits, and she is now the female
president of the artisans association of Pobe.
She was described to me as a 'very strong woman', and from what I've
seen this is an understatement. She has
the remarkable ability to make people at their ease, enjoy herself and have a
roomful of people doubling over in laughter (and she laughs freely and often -
which I always take to be a good sign).
The best thing about her though is that while she's quite the fun-loving
character she also commands huge respect in the community, and when she gives
orders to the other officers in the association listen and respect her
orders. She's very enthusiastic to have
me, and looks set to make sure that I'm taken seriously and am able to be
effective. During my stay up in Pobe, I
stayed with her family; hubby and 17yr old son, and various other visitors who
popped in often. I was very well-looked
after, and after arrival I was whisked off by moto to have lunch out at a
igname pillee restaurant, (igname pilee is a special beninese dish, with cheese
or meat, a yam dough and peanut/tomato sauce - I'm a fan). She's then conscious enough to let me rest
in the afternoon back at her house. My
first look of Pobe was good, it lies along the asphalt road which passes
through it, so you originally think that it must be quite linear, but it in
fact goes back a ways, with dirt roads which are reassuringly wide, but the
network seems a bit muddled and it was hard to get bearings on anything.



Thursday late afternoon,
I met with other officers of the artisans association; the vice-president, the
logistician/organiser, and treasurer; all men.
We then went so that I could be introduced to various other people, including
people in the Mayor's office. With a
late dinner back at Bernadette's home, a card game with the son and watching
some of the Olympics, that was thursday over and done with.



Friday also started with
meeting more people, the gendarmerie (the rural police - but they look like you
really don't want to get on their bad side), the rechercher (still not exactly
sure who this is) and the King of Pobe, who was so much better than the King of
Ketou (who was a little scary, brisk and foreboding). The King of Pobe is more relaxed with procedure and bowing, he
also doesn't speak any french, only yoruba and english - he's Nigerian. I wanted to speak with him a little bit
more, but I got shepharded out fairly quickly.
Also met the director of the local radio station, they took some details
and I think my arrival got announced over the air later that day. Another trip to the igname pilee place, an
afternoon repos (siesta), dinner, etc.
That was friday come to an end.
Bear in mind all through this time, I managed to get through 'Atonement'
(the book) and study a reasonable amount of French.



Saturday was another busy
day in the morning with meeting people.
First off, Bernadette gave me a tissu outfit to wear for the day, with a
skirt that was really not made for getting on and off the back of motos (which
was a big part of my day). We headed
off into the rural outskirts of Pobe, to a small meeting place, seemingly in
the middle of nowhere, where I met the 'moto mechanics' association, all
crowded under a traditional straw gazebo (which you have to really bend down to
get into the tent-like structure, but there's more standing room inside). This is when Bernadette really seemed to
come into her own as 30 male mechanics listened silently and seriously as she
spoke. It was pretty much just an
introduction and short explanation about what I can bring to the
community. After that it was across
town for a meeting with the velo mechanics, and because it started raining it
was a poorer turnout. Then we went to
go see my house. Unfortunately what
they failed to tell me was that we were going to go see my house right then, so
it wasn't until we were wandering around this empty house that I realised it
was mine.



The house was a shock,
partly because of what I've seen/heard of other people's houses and I was
expecting a 2/3 room space with private latrine/shower area, but within a
shared walled concession. What I have,
and it's a new house for the PC, is a 6 room MASSIVE house, within it's own
walled yard (complete with my very own mango tree!). It's a big big space, and all completely devoid of furniture,
shelves or anything. Some great
attributes of it are a front wrap-around porch, free of hassle from local kids,
but somewhere I can read outside, and the many windows (with bars) are glass,
so the rooms are light and well ventilated.
But it's a lot of space for just me, a lot to take care of and a lot of
space to furnish so I don't feel like I'm rambling about in it. But don't begrudge me just yet, for I have 3
'holes in the ground' latrines, none of which have doors, covers or even
roofs. There's an outside faucet (hence
I have 'running water') but it's bucket showers from now on. There's lights and electricity, which will
be nice. With the 'settling in' allowance
provided, I think my main expenditures are going to be basic furniture, kitchen
equipment and improve my latrine/ shower area.
I didn't have a time to take photos on this brief visit, but I will send
you photos/video within the first few weeks, before and after of course. Not the first time I've lived in a
'fixer-upper'. ;-D I affectionately
think of it as the Meads of Benin.



So these series of
meetings took us to 11am on saturday, so deciding that 'work time' was over, we
turn our attention to social activities, which involved going from buvette to restaurant, to buvette, to
one of Bernadette's friends house (and inbetween I went to a funeral in a
neighbouring village). The 'fete'-ing
went on fr hours, involved a lot of giggling, food and drink. However, a combination of tiredness made it
impossible for me to keep up with the conversations in french, so I phased out
for a while - never has socialising been so tiring and it had been an intense
few days. By the time we had finished
and returned to the main house around 10pm I was exhausted. During this whole time I was completely
spoiled and no money was demanded of me - I certainly felt like the guest of
honour.



Sunday I was due to
return to Porto Novo, and I was so tired that I was ready. But my 10am departure turned into leaving
Pobe at 1pm as we went through a process of meeting yet more family members,
food and drink and demands being made on me to improve my french. It's particularly exhausting as there always
seemed to be one character who would insist that I not phase out, practice
their english with me, and insist I learn french and yoruba by repeating words
over and over again (and I have long since learnt that this verbal learning
will never work with me - I need to write it down). It was on the drive back with one such character, (who was on his
way to Togo for his work as an exporter, but going via Porto Novo so he could drop me off) that I had sharp moments
of anger and frustration and I lost my patience with the french, and my voice
started snapping. Because of this I only returned to the host family long
enough to say a short 'hello', drop of my bags and high-tail it for the
SED-house (where our PCVTs live, and generally open house for SED stagiares) where
people were gathering and I could necessarily diffuse. Had a very nice relaxed afternoon/evening
with my fellow trainees, cooked a great stirfry, listened to music and told
stories of our individual trips.



So this is a very long
email, but I think that's always appreciated.
Now we're into week 8. A fellow
SED trainee, K, who was my TDA partner and whom I went on technical visit with,
chose to ET while on post visit. So
that was shocking news to come back to, as he is the first one in our sector. He had always been slightly distant from our
group, by choice, and so it wasn't a complete surprise, but he always seemed
like a stubborn character. This week I
have 2 TDAs to teach, so hopefully I'll get another partner, but other than
that it's all about the language, for the big test on friday, and getting
everything prepped for the big swearing-in/40th anniversary (getting our
outfits made with the special tissu, etc).
It's now been decided that President Boni Yayi is going to be in
attendance and it's being held in the main hall of the Presidential
Palace. I'm planning on teaching
swearing-in very much as a substitute for missing my UCL graduation ceremony.












]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219252980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219252980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lgcarter/1/1219252980/tpod.html Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:42:28 -0400 The only British PCV in Benin

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Porto-Novo, Benin

Since
I last wrote a lot has gone on. We (I
was teamed up with K) taught our first TDA class to a group of artisans, we
taught them the benefits of saving and how to construct a basic personal
finance portfolio. It went surprisingly
well, there weren't too many moments
where we were staring blankly at each other.
Language wise, I got by and have been picking up more of the technical
language for business skills. We had a
group of about 10 adults, (mix of male and female) to teach, and I realise that
for my previous experience of teaching kids I have to suppress my instinct to
control the classroom, and be more a facilitator of discussion between the
adults as opposed to lecturing at them.
Beninese adult education is a world away from the quiet teenagers of
ZhenZe WuJiang Middle School.



We
teach our next TDA class tomorrow in fact, and everyone is looking forward to
it. We're teaching accounting for
illiterates which means drawing lots of boxes, lots of different colours and
shapes. To find a practice audience
we're going out of Porto Novo to a small village with some illiterate women's
groups. We also get french-Guun (local language)
translators, which will be an interesting twist.



A
big part of last week was the 'technical visit' where I shipped out with K
to go spend a couple of days at post shadowing another volunteer. We went and saw E who's up in a
medium-sized town called Ketou, 2 hours by bush taxi from Porto Novo. E is notorious within the PC for being the
tallest AT 6'7''. With K being a few
inches shorter than I am, we made quite the sight trundling about the town for
a few days. The drive up was fairly
eventful, with various types of car trouble, and a combination of paved and
dirt roads. The most exciting thing was that we passed by
Pobe, so I had my face pressed against the window trying to see as much of it
as I could as we passed through it rapidly.
Warning: there might not be a cyber, so internet is looking more limited
at the moment.



As an insight into the life of a volunteer -
it seems INCREDIBLY relaxed. We arrived
on wednesday, and it was a shame because E had taught formations on Monday
and Tuesday, so we had no more
planned. We did meet a few of his
colleagues/counterparts, and it was a fete weekend (Benin's independence day
was on the friday) so there was nothing resembling 'normal' working hours. We did a lot of walking, and a LOT of
reading. After having been there a year
E has read over 100 books. I myself,
after having some very poor luck losing my various copies, finally managed to
conquer Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' in the short
time we were there - which I absolutely adored! (So with that done, and
'Ryanland', I made a start on 'Blackberry Winter' Mom, finally!). As soon as I got back, I started a list of
all the books I've read so far so I'll be able to keep track. (I can imagine Mom thinking at this moment:
'what if we had a bet as to how many books she will read during her time in the
PC ...;). While in Ketou we also met the
King of that particular kingdom, which involved bowing, and signing his guest
book. He has an interesting role as a
local figure and has significant weight that he can add to local disputes - so
his role is very much like that of a local judge. There wasn't much going on in Ketou for
independance day, which was a bit of a dissapointmentt. Also spent some time with E's post-mate,
R, who is TEFL and finishing his service in the next couple of months. He's a great cook, and he baked us very
chocately brownies, and we exchanged recipes (snickerdoodles in Benin,
anyone?). I certainly know how I'm going
to be spending my spare time. Again, it
was nice too relax with the four of us sitting in R's house with 2 fans
going, munching brownies, watching Scrubs and playing Scrabble. After a few days of that though, and minus a
few days of french tuition, it was nice to get back and speak more french.



This
week we got our new classes, which has meant for me, going from a class of 5 to
just the 2 of us - which means it's a lot more intense and I have to be on the
ball without any respite. Also we
switched away from Lucien, who spoke clearly and with so much patience, to
Andre - who is harder to understand. But
I'm sure if I can learn to understand him well over the next few weeks, that'll be an accomplishment all on it's
own. I'm definately getting better, but
it's still with hearing the french and distinguishing the different words that I have a lot of issue with.



The
host family is good. I properly carved
up my first pineapple today, which is something like a small accomplishment for
me. I also taught the 10 year old son
the paper origami game involving choosing different colours and numbers, and
having to do different forfeits (an opportunity for me to practice writing with
the imperative in french - I never miss an opportunity!). Was a definite hit.
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