2 months to go (minus 1 day)

As of today, Eric and I have exactly two months minus a day until our official Close-of-service date, August 3rd. It's at once exhilarating and also daunting to know that we'll be home probably before we know it. Exhilarating because of everything we have planned for our future- first, our trip overland to Senegal, then our first plane flight in over a year (we'll probably go crazy over the food and movies), arriving in America, eating everything we want and probably gaining ten pounds. And then driving out to Portland and living there, a place I love and am excited to experience when I'm old enough to partake in everything it has to offer! But for reasons I think I've brought up before, going back home is also going to be difficult. Already it's been hard going slowly through our papers and things to see what we want to bring home, give away, burn. It's always hard ending a major part of your life. And whereas a lot of people would say they are going back to the “real world”, I don't see why our life in Benin hasn't qualified as part of that real world- it's different and anomalous in the trajectory of the rest of our life, but certainly very “real”.

Thankfully I've had a lot of work this past month, although for some reason May seemed to pass very slowly by. My main project was painting a world map on the wall of the high schools in Houedogli in Klouekanme. I engaged students to help me and each map took about five days to finish. Over the course of the week I realized what an important project this is. So few schools have maps or globes (let alone students having access to them) and almost no students can afford the books where they would find maps. I was amazed at how many students (and teachers!) passed by and said “oh it's a map of Africa” or even more weird to me, “oh it's a map of Benin”. I know, there are plenty of people in America who can't point out their own country on a map, but I didn't grow up with those people and thus this experience was eye-opening. People were totally surprised to see how small Benin is compared to other countries (especially compared to America), to see that America and France do not make up “yovotome” (yovo land) but are rather two distinct countries separated by a body of water... Basically I've been taking for granted how much access we have in the west, even in passing, to constant stimuli that serve to educate us- even an advertisement in a magazine might use a world map to sell something, familiarizing us unconsciously with that map of the world! None of that goes on here.

I'm also continuing to work on my HIV/AIDS/Malaria/Diarrhea illness project in Houedogli with my Amour et Vie team. The other day we did two meetings in really rural areas. I was unprepared for the 5 or so miles we would walk in total, but it was interesting to walk deep into the bush so to speak. Whenever I get really rural I am reminded of how poor Benin really is, and that Klouekanme is not representative of how most people live. In one of the villages there was a water pump where a basin of water cost 10 francs (2 cents) and my team told me the majority of people can't afford to pay that much. Also, when we were selling aquatabs (water purification tablets) for 125 francs for 10 (25 cents) only two families bought them, even though this could be the difference between life and death for them or their children since it is now the season for nasty bugs like typhoid fever and the like. And there were a lot of really malnourished children in those two villages, to an extent I rarely (thankfully) see. That's always hard to see.

Eric and I had a really interesting religious experience last Sunday. One of the girls I took last year to Porto Novo for Camp GLOW (the girls' empowerment camp) invited us to her first communion in a village outside of Klouekanme. Eric and I, like true Americans, showed up at 8 AM sharp when we thought it was going to start. It began at around 10:30 and ended up going until 2, so we were there for 6 hours... Anyway, I've never been to a Catholic service and although I can't say this service held my attention for the 4 hours, it was not what I expected- lots of singing (very influenced by Beninese music, with cowbells and drums and actually very beautiful), dancing, more like an Evangelical service you see on TV in America. But there was also all the ritual and crossing oneself and prayer, and all that, especially surrounding the first communion of the kids. The most amazing part of the whole service though, was that not one person, man woman or child, called us “yovo” or “blanc” once, nor did anyone really give us any special attention expect for a few handshakes and a really nice, brief notice from the priest who thanked his “brother and sister for coming to participate in our service and staying for the whole mass”. It was one of the few times we have felt like normal human beings in our town (instead of novelty attractions), and it felt great. Why can't it carry over to life outside the church?

In other news, Eric's school is finished! Meaning, he never has to teach again. He's really happy about that, of course. His colleagues are throwing him a party before we leave (I'm invited too of course but I think it's more for him) and we will cook something for them, maybe chili. We thought we'd cook so the teachers don't have to spend a lot of money on us.

We've been working on a list to organize our thoughts in the last few months of service here. Actually it's three lists.

Things I will miss in Benin (in random order):

1) Friends we have made during our service (Beninese and PC friends)
2) Really good tropical fruit
3) making lots of people happy with my very presence, upon arriving at a meeting with a women's or youth group
4) The feeling of joy when I teach my name to someone and they use it instead of calling me yovo 5) really beautiful dawn and dusk, and being able to see lots of stars (not much light pollution here)
6) seeing farm animals (goats, chickens, sheep, pigs) around all the time- they provide great amusement

Things I will not miss:
1) “Yovo” song and constant taunting
2) solicitations for money from everyone from the child just learning to talk to the feeble old man who can't walk anymore
3) Torrential rains and scary rainstorms; unpredictability of weather and constant feeling of exposure to the elements
4) sleeping under a mosquito net every night
5) Crazy taxi and moto drivers and tightly packed taxis (I can just see it now, hailing a taxi all for MYSELF)

Things I will not take for granted again at home (at least for a time)
1) Access to a wide variety of vegetables besides onions, okra, and really bad tomatoes
2) Household appliances- dishwasher and washing machine especially!
3) Running water and constant electricity
4) Not having to cook every night and being able to eat out for fun
5) Being able to exercise, either outdoors or in a gym, without fear of being taunted
6) Being anonymous and not easily recognizable as an outsider
7) women’s rights!!
8) amazingly good civic infrastructure, especially for such a huge country- roads, streetlighting, parks, water and electricity
9) Having enough stimuli that I will hopefully never be bored [Note: I'm guessing some people here might think that the “simple life” we lead here is somehow appealing for the lack of modern distractions like TV and internet etc. but I can tell you that when you almost never have access to those things, and when you can't really go for a nice walk or do activities that otherwise figure into people's view of that “simple life”, you realize that is a romanticized fiction for us!] I think Eric put it well- here we have all the time in the world, and little to do with it. In America, we have endless things to do but so little time! I'd rather the time be the issue than the things to do, having lived in both worlds.

And a selection from Eric on what he'll be thankful for at home (he seconds most of what I said):
· Being able to play with dogs and not get bitten
· Not having everything be dusty all the time
· Not being hot all the time
· Not having weird people come over to greet me and then try to take my phone no.

This is a working list, of course. Those of you who have visited may be more able to relate to it, I don't know. It's a good exercise for us, though!

The photos this week:

The 1st world map I did, in Houedogli

2nd world map, done in Klouekanme- I think this one's better

Sunset at our house

At a baby weighing I did with a health volunteer- this baby was so pretty!

And this baby made me laugh a lot with it's facial expression