Early March - Elephants and Hippos and Lions, Oh My!

These are photos from a trip I took with other volunteers to Park Pendjari, one of Benin's two national parks.  We saw lots of great animals!

Hippos!

And a reminder of the love surrounding us

If you look closely there's a lion in this picture

February 15 - Month 6 Work Post

The month the heat began.  Here in Benin, they don’t say “the hot season” – they say “the heat,” as if the heat is an entity unto itself.  It really is.  It defines your schedule – work is done in the morning, until around noon, and again in the afternoon, after four or five.  But nothing in the middle of the day.  Since this is meant to be a work post, here’s what I’ve been doing in my mornings and evenings:

Gardening

The garden has continued to grow well.  I’m really spoiled, gardening in Africa – plants grow at breakneck speed.  I’m sure to be disappointed and impatient when I garden back at home.  During the month I continued to tend to my bed in the women’s garden, eating my first lettuce, summer squash, and amaranth in early March.  I prepared natural insecticides several times out of leaves from the neem tree, hot pepper, and tobacco leaves, and these seemed to work well for keeping bugs at bay.

On an organizational level, my counterpart and I established an official meeting day for our gardening group – Tuesdays.  Women work in the garden throughout the week, but on Tuesdays everyone has to come to help with any collective work that needs doing and to take part in a short meeting to discuss any issues we may have.  They also hand in their dues, 100f per woman.  As a member of the group and a gardener with my own bed, I’ve been paying dues too! I work with my counterpart to plan the meeting and bring up points I want to discuss.

This month, I met a man who is in charge of coordinating adult literacy classes in our area for an NGO.  He mentioned they are looking for new villages, and thought that our gardening groups might be a good partner for them.  Most of the women don’t read, write, or speak French, and the literacy classes could also include basic accounting and bookkeeping so women can track their garden sales.  We plan to meet with SELF/ADESKA, the project that supports the gardens, to see if a partnership can be worked out.

Progress has been moving forward nicely on the elementary school garden.  The students have finished building their fence out of corn stalks.  The next step will be to make the raised beds, and then start planting!

Mud Stoves

I made another foray to Boa Gando this month to build stoves.  I built 4 in total while I was there, and checked on ones that I’d built earlier.  This was probably my favorite trip to Boa Gando.  One of the people who wanted a stove was a young woman, probably younger than me, who speaks very good French.  She had started high school, but dropped out when she married and had a baby.  She was very eager to learn how to build the stove, and mentioned that she wants to be able to build them when I’m not there.  I suggested that she could even build them for other women and earn money!  With the help of another French speaker who was there, I asked several women for feedback about their stoves.  I was told that they’re using the new stoves every day, and have noticed that their meals cook quicker, and use less wood.  Success!

I also “built” part of a house while I was in Boa Gando.  This is house-building season, people have a little extra money from selling their cotton harvest and the dry season is best for building with mud.  While I was waiting for women to collect mud for their stoves, I watched a man smearing a final coat of soupy mud over the walls of a house he was working on.  “Come over and learn how to do this,” he said, and  I did!  It was really fun.  We took big handfuls of wet mud and threw them at the wall, splattering our faces and clothes, and then smeared the mud into a smooth coat with our hands.  He got such a kick out of my working with him that he sent someone to find a photographer in the village, and paid him to take a photo of us doing the work.  We both got teased for that.  The women sitting around said he’s my husband now, and asked him teasingly “We’ve been here forever, and you’ve never taken a picture with us – and she comes today and you take a picture with her?  Why?” 

Other

During the second week of March, I traveled to Porto Novo to attend a training about nutrition.  This was my first trip to the south since I swore in as a volunteer in September, and it was nice to see my host family again.  The training was more focused on pre-natal and young child health than most of us were expecting, but parts of it will still be useful.  I invited a woman who works at my health center to attend with me.

While in Porto Novo, I took some time to learn about SRI (system of rice intensification), a new way of growing rice that many people have found effective.  I’m hoping to work with my counterpart and a farmer here in Peonga to set up a test plot of this system; more details about it when our plot gets started.  I visited a farm north of Porto Novo run by a man who is doing his PhD on SRI.  I plan to attend a three-day training at his site in April.

I held an essay contest at our secondary school to choose a girl to accompany me to Cotonou in April, to spend three days shadowing a professional woman there as part of Peace Corp’s “Take Our Daughters to Work” event.  The essay assignment was to write about their career goals.  One girl wrote about wanting to become a student leader in her class, and another wrote about wanting to be the first lady of Benin, married to the President – I think these girls could certainly use more Beninese woman role models to give them examples of what women who have finished school are capable of.  I’ve submitted a grant request to invite professional women in our area to speak with the girls at our secondary school – I’m planning to have two panel discussions in May.  More on this later!

And in other news…

Work aside, this was a fun month because during the first week of March I took my first vacation, to Pendjari  National Park with other Environment volunteers.  We spent three days there, seeing lots of animals (around 90 elephants and lots of hippos!), spending hours in the hotel pool when it was too hot to drive around on safari, and swimming in a beautiful waterfall.  And on my way back from the nutrition training, I stopped in Parakou to attend the GAD soiree, sort of like Peace Corps prom.  It’s a “formal” dinner/dance that raises money for Gender and Development projects, like the grant I’m applying for to invite women to speak in Peonga.  Lots of us had western-style dresses made with Beninese fabric.  When will the next time be that I get to have a personally-tailored dress made to go to a dance?  Lots of fun. 

February 14 - A Day in my Life

I’ve been wanting to do a “day in my life” post for a while, where I record pretty much everything I do during a random day.  So here’s what my February 14 was like.  Perhaps a bit more busy that some days, but otherwise it’s pretty typical.

Around 6:15, I was woken up by the sounds of the women in my concession sweeping the courtyard and starting their day.  I slept in until around 7, and then made my morning trip to the latrine – greeting the members of my concession family that I saw along the way.  “How are you this morning?  How’s your body?  How’s your fatigue?”  Then I moved my little wooden stool into my house’s open doorway, looking out into the concession, and read my weekly Bible Lesson.  Nafisa, my 10-year-old “sister,” was eating rice with sauce and offered me some.  I told her I was going to go buy bouillie- millet gruel- at the market for breakfast, and she told me they’d made bouillie next door.  My neighbors often make bouillie to sell.  I went next door with my bowl, to buy some.  They’d prepared a lot of bouillie for a baptism – it’s traditional to give away bouillie at baptisms – so I got my bouillie for free.  I got frustrated when they laughed at my Fulani as I tried to understand the situation.  I went into the room where the newborn was sleeping, to see it- it was a boy. 

Back home, I finished my Bible Lesson and got dressed.  Then Bana, my concession “mother,” dropped by and said “let’s go to the baptism.”  We headed next door, walking around the courtyard greeting everyone and then sitting with the other women.  There are certain things that happen at baptisms, such as shaving the baby’s head, but it’s mainly just socializing and a little dancing to drums.  It’s traditional to give money to the family – I gave them 200 francs- but it’s also traditional for them to hand out money as “favors.”  So I was given 100 francs.  Other traditional “favors” to give guests are sugar cubes and kola nuts.  I got a kola nut; an old man was throwing them at people, the first time I’d seen that at a baptism.  I shared mine with another woman, only eating a small bite- they’re very bitter. 

I left the baptism around 9:15 to meet my counterpart, Guene.  The door to his house wasn’t open, so I went to a place where they sell pounded yams in the mornings, next to our health center.  Both he and the “major”, the director of the health center, were there. “I didn’t even stop by your house, I knew I’d find both of you where they sell pounded yams!”  I joked.  We headed back to the health center, and met with two nurses to choose someone from the health center to attend a Peace Corps-organized seminar on nutrition with me.  A woman, one of the nurses, was chosen.  It will be fun to get to know her better, she’s new in Peonga.

Next, I walked to our CEG (secondary school) for English club.  I waited about half an hour for the teacher leading the club with me to show up.  Although not 200 kids any more, it’s still a huge group.  A big hit with the students was learning “The Hokey Pokey” – even more popular than our last song, “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” 

After English club, I went to study Fulani with Kadija, my tutor.  The class consisted largely of me asking questions about random Fulani words I’ve heard around.  My language is getting pretty good!  Around 12:30, we finished our lesson and I walked home.  I stopped at a “shade hut” – a covered area – where men were sitting and eating a powdery dish made of corn flour.  “Come eat!”  they said, so I bought some with beans for 50 francs.  The man who invited me to eat was Ali, who drives a zemidjan (motorcycle taxi).  I’ve often traveled with him when I’ve needed to go to nearby villages.  “You didn’t go to Derassi today?”  He asked.  Today was a major livestock market in Derassi, a village about an hour away.  “No, did you?” I asked.  “Yes, I just got back.”  “Did you buy a cow?”  I joked.  “No.”  “Why?”  “No money.”  All of this in fulani! 

After eating I kept walking home.  Two people, a man and a woman, each asked me to give them the Gaani Fete polo shirt I was wearing  (the one I won at the 6 k race I ran last month).  Near the market, I was intercepted by three small kids, including a cheerful little girl who’s a favorite of mine – she always wants to dance with me when she holds my hand.  All three of the kids held my hands.  There was bit of tussling about who would get to hold which fingers.  We got home, and I remembered I’d forgotten to give my cellphone to the cell phone charging business in town.  My battery was dead.  Back to the market, with 4 kids holding hands with me this time, two on each hand, and others tagging along behind. 

Then I finally got back home and had time to relax.  I did my dishes, and Millie my cat dropped by.  I fed her a meal of leftover sorghum porridge, cold rice, and dried fish.  Then she hopped on my lap and wrestled with my pen while I wrote in my journal.  Then read for a bit and worked on “decorating” my house.  I put Christmas cards – which I’d recently received – on the wall and set up my “kitchen” – meaning putting a square of linoleum I’d bought on my living room floor, under my stove.  It looks great.

At 5:00 the day had cooled off and I headed to the garden.  Everyone was transplanting lettuce and tomatoes into their garden beds, but since there weren’t enough watering cans for everyone I didn’t do much transplanting myself.  I spent most of the time talking with Guene, my counterpart, and Ruth, the teacher at one of the schools in Peonga.  She was there with some of her students, who have a bed in the garden.  I also spent some time weeding my bed, and prepared a natural insecticide out of neem leaves and hot peppers soaked in water, to apply the following day.  My cucumbers had some bugs starting to eat their leaves.  I walked home from the garden as the sun was setting, stopping at two different boutiques in the market to buy rice, dried beans, and powdered milk.

Once I got back home I read some more – the book I was working on today was “Blue Latitudes,” about Captain Cook’s voyages.  Then Nafisa, Alia (my two friends who are 10 and 11), and a group of about 15 other kids dropped by.  They were heading to the market to buy food to “faire fete” (make party) because of the baptism.  “Fairing fete” means pooling their money to cook food together.  I put in my 50 francs, and when they came back from market they proudly showed me what they bought: spaghetti, a little macaroni, gari, rice, tomato paste, and a maggi boullion cube.  “Fairing fete” is part playing house, part camping, and part brawl.  They all cooked the food over the cookfires in the yard, and then everyone brought their bowls and there was a lot of yelling and arguing involved in dividing up the food.  I removed myself from the fray of kids to sit on my stoop and enjoy the stars.  The food sharing fray started outside, then everyone moved into the nearby kitchen hut and shut the door.  I could hear lots of arguing going on inside, and then kids began to emerge victorious one by one with bowls of food.  My bowl was brought to me, and I ate some outside before going in and sharing the rest with Millie.  Then it was time to listen to my ipod and go to bed.

So there’s probably more detail than you ever wanted about a day in my life! 

 

February 15 - Month 5 Work Post

Whenever I sit down to write one of these monthly work update posts, it seems like the month has been impossibly long.  Was this all really in one month?  Here’s what I’ve been up to since January 15:

Gardening

 

The team from ICRISAT, the NGO in Niger, visited our area again to give a second set of trainings.  The topics this time around included how to use the drip irrigation system, how to create and use natural pesticides, how to transplant and direct-seed garden vegetables, and organizational tips for gardening groups.  A fellow volunteer from Gomori, in far northern Benin, got a “technical exchange grant” from Peace Corps to attend some of the training and learn about the drip irrigation system.  He may be interested in installing a similar system in his area.  It was really cool to have someone else here, to show off my village!  In all I spent about two weeks attending garden training sessions, both in Peonga and in several other gardens.  Visiting the other gardens gave me the chance to see how other groups work and collect ideas for my own gardening group.  And it was fun to see more of the area. 

After the training in Peonga, we were finally ready to plant our garden!  As I may have mentioned before, I have my own bed in the garden. Fun fact: my garden bed is 56 square meters.  My house is about 20 square meters/ 225 square feet.  So my garden bed is almost three times as big as my house.  Many of the vegetables in my bed are ones that the women don’t often grow – it’s sort of an experimental/demonstration bed.  I’ve planted green beans, cucumbers, summer squash, cantelope, watermelon, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, radishes, and amaranth.  Basil and tomatoes will be transplanted into the bed soon.  So far everything other than the carrots has sprouted and is doing well!  Each bed in the garden is divided into two equal halves by a path running down the center.  I have planted the same plants in each half of my bed, and am demonstrating different ways to grow them on each side.  For example, for my green beans and cucumbers I’m demonstrating different methods of trellising.  I’ve been experimenting with natural pesticides that we learned about in training, crushing leaves from the neem tree and hot peppers in water to treat my plants for insects.  It seems to be working so far.

Women working weeding our plant nursery on a work day in the garden

 

In my last monthly update I wrote about the PAEFE BARKA Center, the school for students left out of the education system, and their garden with the fence that mysteriously burned down.  We learned that a local farmer had been burning his fields (a common practice this time of year) and had burned the fence by mistake.  To allow the kids to start gardening this year even though they don’t have a fence, we’ve given them one of the extra beds in the women’s garden.  They’ve been coming several times a week to water and transplant. 

Students at the public primary school are still collecting sorghum stalks to make the fence for their garden.  Last week, I visited each class with a teacher to tell them about our plans for a school garden.  The kids seemed really enthusiastic – we’ll see if the fence gets built though!

In my last update, I mentioned plans to do an experiment on organic agriculture techniques in the garden.  Well, in Peace Corps plans are always, always changing – we had to abandon this idea because SELF/ADESKA decided that the chemical fertilizers used in the garden would be mixed directly into the water before it goes through the irrigation system to the garden.  We considered doing the experiment by hand watering, but it didn’t seem like that could accurately be compared to the drip-irrigated beds.  Oh well, there’s plenty else to work on.

Mud Stoves

Not a whole lot of mud stove activity this month, I’ve been too busy with the garden.  I did visit Boa Gando again after my last post, and built one more mud stove.  It was a huge one, for making bouillie (millet gruel) to sell.  I haven’t been back again to see if it dried well.  I made another announcement about mud stoves to my women’s group here in Peonga and several women said they will collect the materials needed. 

Sanitation Work

I have had several meetings with a man in the mayor’s office in Kalale who is coordinating a latrine-building project.  They have secured funding to build latrines for families who need them and are prepared to contribute part of the cost.  They plan to begin the project in the town of Kalale itself and a few of the smaller villages in our Commune (county), and have chosen Peonga as one of the villages.  I will probably help with trainings/informational sessions about latrines and identifying potential families.  We may also be working together on a trash collection/management project in Peonga.  More details as all this develops. 

Secondary Projects

I’ve continued with the English club, although we’ve only had two meetings since the last post.  One was a question and answer session with the volunteer from Gomori and the oldest kids, and the other was a normal session.  It’s sometimes hard to fit English club in, with all the gardening work and my constantly changing schedule.  But it’s fun when it happens.

I’ve submitted a request for Peace Corps funding to support a project I’m planning to promote girls education here in Peonga.  My plan is to invite professional women from Peonga and surrounding areas to talk to girls in our secondary school about the importance of staying in school.  There will probably be four sessions, with two women speaking at each one.  I’ve requested funding to help with transportation for the women, and to print thank you t-shirts to give them.  It’s pretty common here to give a small gift to a speaker in situations like this.  I’m really excited about this project.

On a regional level, I’ve volunteered to help start a Take Our Daughters to Work program in Parakou, my regional capital.  Currently, Peace Corps organizes a program in Cotonou that allows Peace Corps volunteers in the south to bring girls from their communities to the city for a few days.  Each girl stays with a professional woman, called her “Mama Modele,” and shadows her at work.  The goal is for the girls to experience what it is like to be a working woman balancing home and work responsibilities.  Currently the program is open only to volunteers and girls in the south of Benin, but if we get it started in Parakou girls in the North will be able to benefit as well.  I’ve started to talk to other volunteers in the area and collect ideas for how to find professional women who could participate. 

 

 

 

February 10 - Confessions of a Professional Athlete Accused of Doping and Suspected to be a Man

1.13.13

“People say that you got a shot to make you strong and that’s why you can run.”  I have an 11-year old friend, Alia, who tells me the rumors about me in town.  This is by far my favorite one.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I’d be good enough at a sport to be accused of using performance-enhancing drugs.  My brother Nathan tells me that I’m just going through the rumors that all elite athletes face, and could get in touch with Lance Armstrong to tell him I know how he feels.

As I’ve mentioned in a few of my work posts, I’m training for the Parakou marathon.  I really didn’t expect to run while in the Peace Corps, although I did buy a pair of trail runners from REI before leaving (my only closed toed shoes) and packed 6 pairs of socks just in case.  I’m a very off-and-on runner in the states.  I got inspired to do a half marathon with a friend after watching the Boston Marathon for the first time, but after the half was done I literally didn’t run for about a year.  I figured I’d have enough to deal with in Peace Corps without adding running in.  Besides, I can’t stand running in the heat, and I imagined that everyone would stare at me. 

But when I visited Peonga on post visit, I realized several things.  1. It is actually pleasantly cool in the mornings, not hot at all.  2. Peonga is surrounded by 4 beautiful dirt roads through trees and fields with no traffic, perfect for exploring. 3. Everyone stares me no matter what I’m doing.  Add to the equation Cara, a fellow volunteer who has run several marathons and is convinced that it’s easy and wonderful and anyone can and should do it.  She talked several first-timers like me into training for Parakou.  After all, after my half marathon I thought I’d like to try a full marathon sometime – but only when I moved to a new place and had a lot of free time and could easily rearrange my life to accommodate training.  Well, I’ll never be in as new of a place with as much free time and as flexible of a schedule as now. 

 My first run was just 15 or 20 minutes long, right after I moved to village.  That day the victory was just getting out of the house and doing it – and I was helped by a beautiful sunrise that I saw out my window that was begging to be explored. Since then, I’ve been doing 3-4 runs a week, one getting progressively longer each week.  There are many more structured ways to train for a marathon, but this seems to be working for me.  There have been some really nice things about running in the mornings.  Peonga is very small, so after 5-10 minutes at the most I’m outside of the village running through the fields.  I’ve gotten to see the seasons change, watching different plants start flowering, different crops being harvested, and all the foliage dry up and get red and dusty as the dry season has progressed.  On long runs, I leave when it’s still dark and get to experience the day getting slowly light.  On one favorite run, I was running directly towards the full moon, watching it for more than an hour as the day dawned and it gradually faded into the sky.  I’ve gotten to see lots of different birds, and almost everyone I pass- whether on a motorcycle, in a truck headed to a market, or on foot leading a cow, has waved and smiled and cheered me on. 

I’m waxing poetic, and that might be because tomorrow is long run day and I’m trying to convince myself that running for 3 hours will be wonderful.   

2.2.2013

7 days to marathon.  Not only have I been accused of doping, but I am also now, in a sense, a professional athlete – last week I made about $6 for running.

I’d gone to Nikki, a nearby large town, for a big festival called Gaani.  I’d been told there would be a race the morning of the festival, and I should go to the mayor’s office at 6 am to register.  The person who told me was going based on his experience in past years, and a volunteer who I know who works at the mayor’s office had heard nothing about a race.  Still, I got dressed in my running clothes and tiptoed over the many sleeping volunteers on the floor where I was staying.  It was still dark at 6 am and I wasn’t exactly sure where they mayor’s office was, so I asked directions several times.  The words for “mayor’s office” and “husband” are very similar in French, and I got a few confused looks – I wonder if I mixed it up a few times.  Either way, I did end up finding the mayor’s office, and a race.  True to Benin form, it started about 2 hours later than scheduled.  The race was a 6k.  Up until the last moment, I was the only woman registered.  In America, you usually find a mixed bag of people registered for races like this- a few serious athletes, several fit mothers with running strollers, many people of all ages who are just out for the personal victory of running 5 or 6 k.  Not so in Benin. All my fellow runners looked like well-trained soccer players in their mid-20s, complete with spiffy running outfits.  I made quite the contrast, the only woman, in my dusty running shoes, loose capris and stained Principia College t-shirt.  At the last moment, I was joined by two high school girls, one of which ran barefoot.  When the time came to start the race, we were all driven outside of town in a police car and an ambulance.  We were given a brief pep talk that consisted of “do everything you can to avoid accidents,” and were off.  Us three girls were by far the last in the race, and I came in dead last, behind even the girl with no shoes.  But as the 3^rd place woman, I still won 3,000 francs, a Gaani festival polo shirt, a bottle of coke, and a 2013 wall calendar from MTN, a cell phone company.  Not bad!  My time was 28 minutes 28 seconds.  The winner came in around 16 minutes, so I don’t feel so bad for being last.  My next race will be much, much longer.   

2.10.2013

Marathon was yesterday.  Wow, what an amazing experience – I can’t really figure out how to bottle it up into words.  I did it!  The race started at 6 am, when it was still dark.  Most runners met up in Parakou and were bussed to the starting line in Tchatchou, about 13 miles away.  But a fellow volunteer who is also an avid marathon runner happened to be stationed in Tchatchou, so several of us spent the night at her house right by the start.  The first half of the race was along the highway leading into Parakou, and the second half wove around the city, finishing at the catholic church sponsoring the race. 

On the official marathon poster, it is billed as “Un Marathon Atypique au Benin a Parakou” –“An Atypical Marathon in Benin in Parakou.”  The slogan was accurate.  Here are some of the ways this was truly an atypical marathon:

·         There were only about 120 runners. 

·         For the first half of the marathon, we ran past villages of mud huts.  Twice along the course, we were cheered on by groups that were drumming and dancing. 

·         The roads were not closed.  The first half of the marathon was on one of Benin’s largest north-south highways, so we were running on the shoulder being passed by big trucks.  The second half wove through town, so we had to watch for motorcycles and other traffic.  (There were police directing traffic at each major turn, so we did have help).

·         At each water station, we were given bottles of water – and immediately were chased by children calling “donne moi le bidon” – “give me the bottle.”  I felt like asking them, “don’t you know that I sort of need this water right now?” They were actually after the empty bottles, which can be reused, not the water – so I usually handed my bottle off to a kid when I was finished with it.

·         For 3 of the last 5 kilometers, a young Beninese woman ran alongside me.  This was her third marathon.  She was only wearing knee-high socks, no shoes.  Several of the male runners who passed me were wearing strapped, close-toed women’s sandals.    

·         After finishing, when I went to the booth to get my time, I noticed that I’d been written down as the 6^th place finisher on the women’s list, but my name was crossed out.  When I asked why, they said “oh, we moved you to this list.”  And they took out the men’s list, where I was 35^th.  I clarified that I am indeed a woman, and they assured me they would correct their records.  Clearly, they had recorded me as a woman, then for some reason someone said “wait, no, that can’t be right, she’s a man.”  I’m sure I registered as female on my form, and I don’t think I was looking particularly manly…maybe it was my superhuman strength and speed…Only, only in Benin. 

Seven volunteers ran the full marathon, and for four of us it was the first time.  The course limit was 5 hours, and we all finished on time!  Leading up to the marathon I seriously doubted I could do it.  My longest run, about 20 miles to another volunteer’s post, had been very, very challenging.  But during the dry season (now) the roads around me are very sandy, so it was sort of like training for a marathon on the beach.  Very scenic, but asphalt is a bit faster to run on.  And me and two other volunteers ended up being about the same pace, so we ran all but the last 10 k together.  Running with us was a young Beninese man who runs the marathon every year.  He really took us under his wing (I’m sure he could run faster), directing traffic, making sure we didn’t get lost (a real possibility on a course with so few runners), and staying back to run with whichever of us was falling behind.  As we got to the half marathon mark, I realized we were going to make it.  We were making good enough time that all we had to do was keep going, even if we slowed down we would make it under 5 hours.  From that point on, although it got physically more difficult with each kilometer, I felt progressively mentally more confident and better about myself – so the two sort of canceled each other out.  Every few kilometers we’d see the distance remaining painted on the road, and as the numbers got smaller we’d say to each other “23 k, what a small number!”  “16 k, that’s nothing!”  I ran the last 10 k by myself, a bit ahead of my two friends. My time: 4 hours, 37 minutes, 56 seconds.  Way, way better than I thought I could do.  I was sore and tired of course, but nothing hurt in particular – just general sore.  And I felt – still feel – so amazing.   

Our Beninese friend runs with Heidi, Kelly, and me

This marathon was sponsored by the Catholic Church, and the motto on my medal reads ‘”Tout par Amour, Rien par Force.”  “Everything by love, nothing by force.”  A very clear parallel to the text from the recent Christian Science Bible Lesson I was studying on Love: “With Love, all things are possible.”  On my last long run, the one that was so difficult, I dealt with a lot of hip pain.  I was limping half of it, and for the whole day afterwards.  I was afraid of that happening for the marathon, but it didn’t happen at all.  And I didn’t have the experience of “hitting the wall” that many marathon runners talk about either.  Really, the whole experience was so characterized by love.  Thanks those of you who were praying with me in the days leading up to the race, helping me see this experience as a spiritual one, an opportunity for me to learn more about my abilities as God’s child. 

My friend Cara talked a lot about marathon running as a metaphor for life.  And really, it is.  Life isn’t like a short race that’s a burst of speed and then you’re done.  In a marathon, your body hurts and complains but you just don’t listen, you continue running in the way you know you have to.  Life, perhaps especially Peace Corps, is a lot like that.  All kinds of mental complaints demand your attention and try to throw you off track, but you need to just keep moving forward, living your life in the way you’ve chosen to. 

It’s a struggle to sum all this up and this blog post is getting quite long – but I’m sure at least those of you who have done this will know what I’m trying to say.  Any other marathon runners have thoughts to share?  Even today, the day after, I’m pretty sure I want to do this again.  Maybe not next year, maybe not right away, but sometime.  I’d like to try an American marathon, maybe one with large crowds of runners and no need to dodge traffic…        

At the Finish

     

February 10 - Photo Post!

Mom mentioned that some more photos on the blog would be nice, so here is my February gift to all of you - the time and patience to upload these lovely photos.  A little picture of my life here in Benin.  Sorry they're a little small, but it was either that or hours, hours of upload time. 

A favorite photo from a church function during training in Porto Novo.  In case you were wondering whether I stick out here in Benin...

Walking to the fields in Peonga with women from my concession.

The first mud stove I built, with the family I built it with/for

 

Helping unload a basin of water during a compost-making training in Peonga's garden

Trampling corn stalks for the compost

Chatting with Fulani women at Gaani, a festival in Nikki, a nearby large town

My fulani outfit for Gaani fete

A wild elephant I saw in a village near mine

 

January 16 - Holidays in Benin

Holidays in Benin

Happy 2013!  It’s the end of the Holiday season.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in Benin were certainly memorable.  Since I haven’t written about any of the holidays yet, here’s a summary of what I did for each:

Halloween was spent at the Parakou workstation with other volunteers.  Perhaps not surprisingly, I was not thinking about Halloween costumes when I packed my suitcase for Benin back in June.  But no challenge is insurmountable to the creative Peace Corps volunteer with hours to spare.  I spent several nights trying out costume ideas in my little house in village, using my camera’s self-timer function to see how each looked since I don’t have a mirror.  I settled on a fairy costume that I’m rather proud of – it was made entirely out of one tie-dyed, flowey skirt, two coat hangers, duct tape, and lots of safety pins. I gathered leaves near the workstation to pin on as a final touch.  Here’s a photo of me and my friend Lauren at the party, whose ballerina tutu is made out of the ubiquitous black plastic bags we find everywhere in Benin. 

 

Other costumes at the party included typical Beninese culinary dishes (two girls came as pounded yam with peanut sauce, and akassa – slightly fermented corn mash), Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, a Beninese schoolgirl…Activities included highly competitive bobbing for apples and carving watermelon.  For those of you who have never tried it, watermelon are great to carve – they work as well as pumpkins and the pulp is delicious to snack on as you’re working.  A new 4^th of July tradition, perhaps?

I ended up double dipping for Thanksgiving, having two delicious dinners.  The first was in Kalale, the commune head (like county seat) about half an hour from where I live.  A young French couple lives there, and my closest Peace Corps volunteer (Devon in Bessassi) and I got together with them to make dinner on Thanksgiving day.  The couple lives at the office of SELF/ADESKA, the project that supports my community’s garden, and guests that night included a Canadian and a Rwandan expat living in Boston who were both in town to help the NGO install solar panels.  A very international thanksgiving.  And a very proud day – Devon and I produced stuffing, mashed potatoes, tomatoes in balsamic vinaigrette, pumpkin pie, banana cake, and chicken (reheated from an earlier meal), all on a two-burner gas stove.  Learning how to bake in a pot has been one of the coolest things about cooking in the Peace Corps. 

The next day I headed into Parakou to spend the weekend with a few other volunteers and have Thanksgiving dinner number two.  In Parakou our facilities were a bit more luxurious – a real oven, for example.  I led the dessert initiative, making papaya pie (similar to pumpkin) and apple crisp.  There was a real turkey (who was bought alive and met her demise in the front yard of the workstation earlier that day, with the help of the Peace Corps guard).  One of the more exciting moments was when the drippings from the roasting turkey caught the oven on fire.  But no permanent harm was done, and we enjoyed a delicious dinner.      

And Christmas.  Definitely the holiday I thought the most about over the past few months.  I’ve only spent one other Christmas away from home, and that was in Finland, a country that has plenty of snow and claims that Santa Claus comes not from the north pole, but from the northern city of Rovaniemi.  You can even visit him in person there.  So there is plenty of Christmas spirit.  This Beninese Christmas would definitely be different.

My Christmas celebration here began a few weeks ago, when I was at the Parakou workstation for a “wellness weekend” arranged by Peace Corps Benin’s Peer Support Network.  The weekend was timed to fall right at the end of our week of In Service Training in Parakou.  At the workstation we made paper snowflakes and other Christmas crafts, and a few of us who are Christmas carol fans sang all that we could remember.  In the evening a few of us watched Christmas specials like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.  It was a really great, heartwarming weekend – the first time I felt at all Christmassy. 

For Christmas itself, I got together with two other volunteers (Ashley and Devon) who live near me.  The day of Christmas eve, we met up in Kalale.  Someone we know at the mayor’s office had invited us to attend their children’s Christmas party.  It was an experience – hundreds of elementary school children sitting in rows of plastic chairs, being given presents.  The prize presents were two bikes, to be won by children in the older grades.  A quiz competition was held for each bike.  The first competition, for the older grades, began by all the kids lining up in front of the room.  As a preliminary elimination, each had to yell into a hand-held microphone “my name is ______.  I am ___ years old.  I am in ___ class.  I go to ____ school.  My director’s name is ___.”, in rapid-fire French.  Any hesitation, repetition, or mistakes and the kid was eliminated.  Less than half the kids made it through this first test.  Then came the quiz part – each kid had a hand-held slate, and they had to write answers to questions like “Who gives presents to children on Christmas”  and “Who is the president of Benin.”  After several hours of this sort of thing we three volunteers were pretty dazed and ready to be out of that loud, crowded room.  At the end refreshments were handed out to the kids, and I realized that the true miracle of Jesus’s feeding of the 8,000 might not be the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, but the fact that he got the multitude to sit down and wait for food in an orderly manner.         

At the end of the day we headed to Bessassi, Devon’s post.  That evening we attended mass at the Catholic church.  A highlight was singing a Christmas carol to the congregation – I think we did quite well, although since all Beninese church music involves clapping they tried to clap along for a bit – which doesn’t go well with “Silent Night.”  The three of us sang more carols as we walked home through the village.  It was a pleasantly cool night.  Bessassi doesn’t have electricity, so the only lights were the stars and cookfires.  The entire scene, the singing, the sky, the mud houses, the occasional palm tree, made me feel like I was in a Christmas card of Jerusalem. 

Christmas morning we were woken up by drumming, clapping, and singing getting closer and closer – the Christians of Bessassi had come to greet us!  They surrounded the front door, and we all went out to dance with them.  Carolers, Beninese style.  Next was opening presents.  I had made stockings out of extra fabric from an outfit I had made, and hung them as a surprise the night before.  Ashley had made friendship bracelets for each of us, and I opened three letters I’d recently received from home – all three about Thanksgiving.  We were also gifted a live rooster by a friend of Devon’s who dropped by.  After presents we went to the Protestant church for their Christmas morning service, which involved more dancing and singing.  Christmas dinner was a delicious tuna noodle casserole and chocolate cake, and the Christians came by again for more drumming and singing in the evening.  A very Beninese Christmas.

New Year’s was at a workstation again – this time I went to Kandi, Benin’s northernmost workstation.  There were just 4 of us there, all environment volunteers, and we stayed up until past 4 in the morning playing board games like Settlers of Catan and Pictionary.  Nerdy, and great.  And the next day I baked up a huge quantity of sugar cookies, which I’ve been giving out to people in my village to appease them since I missed two holidays in a row here.  Next year at least one of the holidays will have to be in Peonga!