So Eric and I have are in our eight week at post. That's almost as long as we were with our host familys in training, and it feels both longer and shorter. I've probably said this before but it's often said that the days are long here but the weeks are short, and I definitely think this is true. Everyday seems to go by pretty slowly, mostly because I haven't been doing that much yet in the way of work. But on the other hand a week passes in an instant, and it's hard to believe we've already been here for so long!
Eric explained a lot about his job this week, so I'll talk about mine. I'm partnered with an NGO here who works on things like hygiene and sanitation, waste management, and other projects. There are a lot of NGOs here in Benin, some of them Beninese and some from other countries, and they all seem to do a lot of different projects that may or may not be related, so I'm not exactly sure how my NGO fits into this network. I have a counterpart/work partner who is supposed to take me around introduce me to people, and support me in the projects that I do. My NGO wants me to work with women's groups following up some projects that they did together in the past. Women's groups here are a really important organizational unit within society and great people to work with, since they tend to be open to projects to help them. So far I've met a few groups, plus the "chefs de village" of many of the neighborhoods/villages around here (I guess that could be translated as "village chiefs" but I think the word "chief" maybe evokes an image of something that it shouldn't. Really these men are just elders in the community who speak for the neighborhood/village when necessary.) For most of these meetings my counterpart has taken me around on his moto (actually a huge moto-cross style dirtbike, which I feel a little silly riding around on) and helped translate from Adja/Fon into French. However, I did have to go to a few on my own which was not as bad as I thought it would be. The hardest part isn't meeting the people and being scrutinized, because I'm used to that by now, and besides, the women want me to help them so they appreciate my presence. Really the hardest part for me was the translation from French into Adja- young men from the villages served as the translators for these meetings, and I can't help but wonder how much is lost in translation. Here's an example of the proceedings of these meetings: I introduce myself, say why I'm here and that I want to help the women help themselves, and I ask what they want me to do with them. This is translated, and their response is translated back as "yes" or "we accept your help," neither of which are exactly responses to my question. I ask again what the women want to do with me, and they tell me they want money/seeds/equipment etc. I say that I have none of this to offer as I'm not here to give or spend money except when we have specific projects developed, and again ask what they want me to do with them. The translator tells me their response, which is "we want seeds." This goes on and on and as you can see it's difficult to explain things to people when you don't speak their language! It's nobody's fault that this happens of course, but it is something that I can see being an obstacle to working effectively.
Another frustration has been that circumstances have kept my counterpart and me from having a meeting in a while, so I haven't been doing any work really for the past two weeks or so, and won't do much until he and I plan out my schedule for the next few weeks. Thus I've had ample free time, which, after living in an extremely fast-paced, stressful environment (i.e. University), is nice but also somewhat bewildering sometimes. Eric and I pass the time with a lot of reading. I also have been practicing banjo, working on planting a garden, and studying for the GRE. This is an important source of intellectual stimulation for me! In my former environment every moment was filled with something intellectual- now Eric and I are missing that and although we have each other and other volunteers to talk to we obviously aren't in a university-like setting where we are constantly being challenged intellectually. We'll get used to this I'm sure, but it's certainly a new feeling.
Both Eric and I are taking Adja lessons now. We take them apart usually since I go a bit slower than Eric and also because the types of things he wants to know aren't what I want to know. It's actually pretty fun and getting a little bit easier. I doubt I'll ever get fluent (although I think I already speak more than most PCVs in the region) but what I do learn will certainly help me integrate into the community as well as in my work with people here. Already we try to speak a little Adja in the market or when we go out to eat, and people love it!
I'll describe a typical weekday in our lives here. Eric and I wake up around 7 (the sun rises at around 6:15 usually, by the way). We eat breakfast, which is either sweet bread that we toast in a pan with some margarine, oatmeal, eggs, or baguette bread with something on it. At 8 Eric goes to school and I stay home and do yoga or read or some other pastime. I might also have a meeting with my counterpart, and I might have errands to run like going to the tailors, buying eggs and bread, etc. At noon Eric is finished so sometimes we meet for lunch at a place where we can get beans with gari (ground dried manioc which is like a topping here) or rice or pasta. We might also buy beans and gari to bring home (everything can be brought home in a little black sachet) or we might prepare sandwhiches or something at home. In the afternoon it gets really hot so we generally read or sometimes I take a nap, and sometimes we hang out with our postmate. In the late afternoon we might take a walk, a bike ride, or just go buy supplies for dinner. For dinner we almost always prepare something, and although the ingredients are pretty limited compared to what we're used to back in the states, we actually eat really well. The only complaint is the lack of fresh vegetables besides tomatoes, okra, and gboma (a type of green) but hopefully having a garden will help that. After dinner we might play a game of cards or scrabble with our postmate, or just read some more. And of course we have dishes to do, which we wash in large basins out in our courtyard. Then around 10 or 10:30 we usually fall asleep.
On weekends our days are pretty similar except we often take bike rides to nearby villages just to get out and get some exercise.
So know you have a better idea of what life is like for us here. Of course we have times when we are down and not necessarily "happy" to be here, but on the whole we are content and really glad we came. Especially as we become more integrated we begin to enjoy our time here more. And I'm really excited to use my Adja to tell kids to stop calling me "yovo" which is really starting to annoy me! I know it's not meant as something negative on their part but it's hard to ignore my own upbrining that taught me that pointing out someone's race is actually not a nice thing at all. Not to mention hearing that word many, many times a day, often accompanied by an irritating song, would annoy anyone!
I think that's all I have for now. I hope it's interesting and informative, and ask if you want to know anything! I'll probably write within a month. And here are some pictures of our house to give you an idea of what our living conditions are like here. It's not what we're used to but it's not mud hut either. I'd say we actually live a pretty posh lifestyle here!
The front of our house:
The kitchen:
Half of the living room (the other half contains more furniture!):
And one more picture, a view from our back door of the lovely sunset. The sky is really stunning here almost all the time, I think mostly because there is less atmospheric pollution in the villages than we are used to in the US and Cotonou.
