First feelings of home
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
9
17
Trip End
Sep 04, 2010
Porto-Novo,
Benin
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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.
