The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2003
1
21
41
Trip End
Dec 31, 2006
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Parakou,
Benin
Friday, March 5, 2004
I just arrived back in N'Dali this past Monday after a week in Porto Novo for In-Service training (IST). IST was okay. It was fun to see everyone from my stage again. So far, no one who swore in has ETed (Early Terminated). I got more teaching ideas and received some information about how to get grants, which will prove useful in the future.
N'Dali, despite a lack of electricity, now has a computer lab with internet access! The priests have just opened it up. The priests in N'Dali have everything, including electricity 24/7, which I assume is powered through the use of a massive generator. Anyway, I am negotiating with them to be able to take some of my students there to learn about computers, and I am hoping to possibly have a computer camp for professors and teachers this summer! We will see. It is in the VERY early stages, and getting things done in Benin is far from being an easy task. In fact, today, a trip to the bank was the straw that broke the camel's back...it brought me to tears. It's been a stressful few weeks, in spite of the wonderful things that have happened. Sometimes it is difficult to know whether or not my being here is really making any difference whatsoever.
I know that most of my letters are upbeat and full of exciting things that I have seen or done, and all of that is true.
Baby on Board and Ella
But I would hate for all of you to think that living here is easy as pie. It is not easy. The United States is such a user-friendly, customer-service oriented society! What I wouldn't give for an ATM machine!!! Next time you are on the phone for what seems like forever listening to easy listening music, be thankful that you are able to actually make a phone call to get that service that you need. Enough complaining! I'm not ready to leave, yet, but if you are an RPCV, send me an encouraging note, will you?! The toughest job you'll ever love... the slogan finally makes sense. So, Mama Isbath, my favorite neighbor, moved out this week, which is very sad. She still lives in N'Dali, but is now completely on the other side of town. No more singing Aka Ra Ibo over the back wall with Faouziath anymore. No more chats while doing laundry or cooking, each of us on our sides of the house. I wonder who will move in.
Yesterday, Johnny, a fellow stagiaire and volunteer in Lokossa with his wife, came up for the afternoon (he was in Parakou doing some HIV stuff) to see N'Dali and the Peuhl camp. We headed over to the camp to deliver some of the photos that I had taken during the wedding. The Peuhl loved the photos, and some of them got spruced up so that Johnny could take more. I tried out some of the Fulfulde I had learned from the guy in Parakou, and they laughed at my meager attempts to say hello, how are the kids.
Later, one of the elderly woman in the camp brought over some cheaply-made books that were meant to teach the Peuhl how to read and write Bariba and Fulfulde. Then, they brought out some other notebooks that had some sort of account/money notes in them. Through one of my 6eme students (who happened to show up while I was there to buy some millet), we learned that years ago a man from an NGO had come and promised to help the family sell their cheese. He also promised to build them a water pump, among other things, on the condition that they put down some downpayments and also get photos made, etc. They worked with him for a while, but eventually, he disappeared, taking their money with them. They searched and searched to no avail. Now, they continue to walk for kilometers to get water, carrying it back on their heads. Very sad. It is so easy for people to be taken advantage of here.
I will be heading back to the Peuhl camp next week with Kelley to learn how to make wagassi, the type of "cheese" they have here. It is not really cheese. It doesn't melt and mold and do most cheesy-type things. (It does, however, have the cheese quality of being smelly.) It cooks sort of like tofu.
I am drinking dêguê, a really tasty yogurt with millet in it, as I write this. If you come visit me, I will introduce you to it. Yum! Otherwise, I do not have much else to say. I updated the wish list. Also, I scanned some of the photos together in order to save money. Hope this is okay. Have a good week!
