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First Weeks in Lokossa, Benin!
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Hi everyone!
I'm doing pretty well here in Lokossa! I have now been here for 3 weeks and am really starting to settle in. I have a really great host family who have been really kind and adaptable. They're fairly well off for this area so I lucked out with a flush toilet and a shower head! I share a bed with my counterpart, but we have our own room. The family is pretty big; I have 4 sisters and two brothers along with my mom and dad. It's interesting for me to have all these people around and sometimes even more children from the neighbourhood, too!
The group is getting along pretty well. I get along great with all the Canadians and also with the Beninois men, but the Beninois girls are a little more challenging. All the Canadian girls are having a tough time with their counterparts and finding ways to relate and connect with them. We definitely live fairly different lives and have really different interests and values, for the most part. It's definitely a big challenge for the group, but it's not like there are fights or anything, it's more just a lack of connection between the girls.
My work project is kind of non-existant at the moment; which is why I'm at an internet cafe instead of at work! My friend Jon and I were placed in the maternity ward of the health centre here, which we were both happy with. But, we go there for 9am only to sit around and be told to wait when we ask how we can help. Then we're told at about 11 that we can head home. It's been two weeks of this and we're really feeling a bit frustrated and slightly useless. Our supervisors are trying to find us an alternative, but it seems to be taking quite a while.
Even with these little bumps in the road, though, I really am enjoying my time here and we really make use of our time. We've visited a local orphanage, which was probably my favourite experience so far. It's one of the most beautiful places I've seen to this point, too. It has an amazing view of the valley as you're walking down the hill to the orphanage. There's about 20 children there and they were all SO excited to see us and have us come to visit. We're going back this Sunday to see a performance they're putting on for us.
On the weekends, the whole group seems to be making a tradition of going to a local buvette, which is the kind of bar they have here. They're these little straw huts with tiki torches and such all that kind of stuff - pretty cute! We tend to attract a lot of attention from locals when we go out at night, so I am really happy to always have the Beninois guys in the group insist on walking the girls home!
The Beninois guys in our group have really helped with how safe I have felt here so far. They really look out for us when we're all together and make us feel quite comfortable. I walk on my own quite a bit, as well, and for the most part haven't had a problem. I definitely get a few marriage proposals, which really aren't proposals here. They're actually more like "I'm going to marry you", so more of a statement. I've learned that it's not really something to take offensively or be frightened of. You just have to know how much information to give out and when to make up an excuse to get away. I haven't been able to be witty enough on the spot to joke with them like some of the girls do, but maybe it'll come!
The children are all very interested in us and are constantly trying to get our attention. They have a song they all sing to us when we pass and they call us "Yovos" which means white people in the local language. It's really funny when we see some children who just get really giggly and excited to see someone so different. A lot of the young babies actually cry when they see us because they've never seen someone who looks completely different from what they're used to. At times it's interesting to attract so much attention, and other times I really which I could be inconspicuous again.
There are so many new and incredible things all the time; it's hard to remember everything! I'm really trying to write it all down and remember the details. It's crazy when I think I've already been gone from home for 5 weeks! It's definitely going by quite quickly!
A bientot!
Rhian
Latest Comments (1)
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Yovo Yovo, Bonsoir! (reply)
Sep 23, 2007 22:21 EST by liz23
Rhian! I'm glad to hear you're having a good time. Keep up the journal entries... And don't let the Beninese girls get to you, the same thing happens program after program. Its all part of the experience!
Liz
p.s. Have some fan choco for me!
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| 1. | First Weeks in Lokossa, Benin! - Lokossa, Benin Sep 21, 2007 (  1 ) |
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