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sani's fam
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Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Sani's more extended family. He took me to Djougou on his moto (about 30 minutes from home). We started out at his place of work. He not only is an electrician, but today he took me to see his photography studio, too. There was a little room for taking pictures and also a dark room. It was pretty cool to see. He also has a studio in Copargo. And, it can be said without doubt, he is a popular guy all around this area - everyone seemed to know him. It's nice, though, because I can just say who I'm living with, and there are no problems. He's a very well-liked guy and this is a great thing for me. Then, we rode down to his house where he grew up. On the way, we passed his school. It seemed that he was getting a little nostalgic as he pointed out the different parts of his town. Then, we got to his house where he grew up. Some of his brothers and other various extended family live in neighboring houses, so I got to meet the whole kit and caboodle. I was greeted by uncles and cousins and brothers and other random family. So many people, I don't think I could ever keep track and I don't know how he does. After being greeted by everyone and using my best French to introduce myself, we went to his childhood home. His grandfather lives there with his wives and after saying hi to all of them, we went to his grandfathers room. His grandfather is apparently 105 years old. Don't get me wrong, he definitely looked old, but I don't know if 105 is quite accurate. Either way, he's certainly the oldest person I've seen since being here. You see, here birthday's aren't a big deal. Many people don't know their birthday or age and if they do, it's often times just something like "after the rainy season in 1975" or something. That's fine, but it's interesting to hear the mixed reviews I get on peoples' ages. All I know is that I made sure that my family here knows my birthday. They're already planning a little outing to the "buvette" (bar) for my birthday. I'm pretty happy about that since I tend to make a big deal out of birthdays. Getting back to my story...his grandfather was this very stereotypically old, wise man. He gave me advice (as translated from Dendi into French by Sani) and said that he would keep me in his prayers. After a couple pictures with him and about 1,000 other kids that wanted to be in the picture, we were on our way back home. The rest of my Sunday was spent like many of my others - wandering somewhere between my room and the courtyard, making myself busy with reading, relaxing, playing guitar and writing. I did have a meeting with my APCD (supervisor guy), Gabe, to talk about what things I wanted in my post (where I will be living for the next two years after staging). It was just very basic to see how I was adjusting to this lifestyle and gauging if I thought I could live an even more rural lifestyle. I can't really say since I haven't done it yet, but I think I could live without electricity. Of course, that would mean even fewer blog entries, but I'm willing to sacrifice that, so long as my faithful readers are, too (wink, wink). Anyway, I will know on Friday where my post will be! This is very exciting!!! I'm ready to finish up with this training already and get things going at post. We're learning a lot and I'm ready to put it into action, mannn.
Much love,
Rebecca
Latest Comments (2)
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i'm impessed (reply)
Apr 23, 2008 01:34 EST by intelligent
u guys doin a great job in corpargo.
i lived in corpargo in the 1980s but i'm now livin in new york studyin in college, i plan to come back to copargo to help them.
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Yay Copargo! (reply)
Aug 13, 2006 02:06 EST by lilfoot1598
Hi Rebecca! My name is Cristy and I'm a Benin RPCV ('03-'05). I was actually the last volunteer (if you don't count a man who left after a few months) to serve in Copargo! I heard that the Peace Corps was holding a training there and was so excited to find your blog. It brings back so many memories.....
So how many of you are training there? It's hard to imagine so many 'baturi' in t... show all
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4 votes 
