This is Africa
Loading Map
Materi,
Benin
Sunday, November 9, 2003
Hey everybody
We just got back from the most amazing voyage...
Thursday and Friday we went to a conference where we met our supervisors from Materi. The responsable of the center for promotion of social health (CPS) came for Rebecca, and a retired science teacher/principle/retired mayor/guy who is really interested in the envioronment came for Jason. And the Vice Mayor came for both of us, kinda as a representative of the community. Then Saturday we left and headed to Natitingou where Jason and I stayed at the PC workstation. It was a very long drive, but the workstation is a place where PCVs can sleep and do work/research and watch movies, shower, etc. Most people stationed in our area will come there every few weeks. The next day we got to Materi.
The trip to Materi is amazing, with a road through the mountains (only about 2000 foot tall mountains, but still beautiful), and then a drive through the grasslands/savanna. This drive was the first time we really felt like we are in Africa. Its a great feeling. The people were all smiling and waving as we drove in, curious about these white strangers. And the entire week was full of salutations with these extremely warm and friendly people. We stayed with Charlotte, a lady who works at the CPS, and she is a great cook and a really nice lady. She taught us the correct salutations in Biali, the language spoken there. We took a few Dendi lessons, and a few people speak it there, but most speak Biali, so we'll have to see if we can find someone who can teach us this laanguage during the rest of training.
Materi is a little spread out, but there are lots of grassy areas, but also spots of trees, mostly eucalyptus, which is grown for lumber, and mango, neem (used to treat malaria), coconut, occaisionally a huge baobab, and palm. There is no electricity, but there is a bar with a generator (very important) for cold drinks. There are wells, hand pumps, but we'll have access to an outside faucet for our water. The house is 3 rooms and in the same coumpound with a family that only speaks Biali (good incentive to learn it). We got to meet Franci, the volunteer we're replacing, who was a health volunteer at the CPS. She has done so much, its great to see what can be done in just 2 years. She enthusiastically took us around all week, answering our questions and showing us where to get good food, and the people who worked with her, etc. She loved her time in Materi and had mixed emotions about leaving after sharing all the wonderful things with us. There is a really big market every thursday where we bought some more fabric for more boombas. This time Jason found a really cool giraffe pattern. Overall we're very happy with Materi and its exactly what we wanted out of a site.
On Thursday there was a big exposition for the CPS for the opening of a new mill for the center. Several womens groups were there as well as the important people of the village. This was great for us because we were able to be introduced as the new PCVs for the village to a lot of the people we'll be working with. The really cool thing was the women got to gether and danced and sang a welcoming song in the beginning and then at the end they danced and danced. We were taking pictures but they insisted that we join them and it was really really great joining them. Just a wonderful first experience for us.
Well our times running out so we'll talk again soon
Love,
Jason and Rebecca
PS...
Everyone please email us your IM name if you have one so we can see if youre online when we are and chat.
