The World Changes Every Day

Welcome one and all to my first blog post from Benin!  I’m at the Peace Corps workstation in Cotonou.  We arrived Tuesday night, and were met at the airport by a very enthusiastic welcome committee of current volunteers.  For the past two days we’ve been living at a religious retreat center, to have a few days of orientation.  It’s been intense – days packed with information sessions on safety and security, Peace Corps policies, general information about our programs, diversity in Peace Corps, peer support options… it’s all really interesting information, but a lot to absorb. Today we were issued our mountain bikes and had our zemidjan (motorcycle taxi) lesson.  Zemis are one of the most widespread types of transportation available to volunteers here, so we are one of few countries where volunteers are permitted to ride motorcycles.  We had a group of zemi drivers come to the Peace Corps office, and we had to practice haggling for a good price and th...

I'm on an Amtrak train right now, headed to Philly for Peace Corps staging.  In an hour, I'll meet with about 60 other volunteers headed to Benin for an afternoon of orientation.  Then tomorrow morning, we board a bus for New York City and a plane for Benin!  Very soon, these blog posts will stop being about me thinking about the Peace Corps and start being about me experiencing it.  It has been quite a process to get to this point.  I want to give the deepest, sincerest thank you possible to all of you who have supported me and continue to do so. It really makes a huge difference.  I've wanted to do this for as long as I can remember, but it's felt a little overwhelming the past few days.  And often just when I needed it, I've gotten a heartfelt card from a relative or a call or message from a friend that's boosted my confidence.  In the past when my friends have gone off to new adventures, some joining Peace Corps themselves, I used to wonder...

I'm on a 13-hour train ride down the California Coast, leaving Petaluma after a great 3 months at Green String farm.  Long trips like this are a great opportunity to reflect.  I went to Green String hoping to learn skills that I could contribute to my Peace Corps experience, and I certainly think I have.  But the experience has also been more than that; I've learned a lot about myself and about life that goes beyond technical agricultural skills.  And this brings me to the title of this post. At the farm, we had lessons every afternoon on a variety of topics.  These could range from classroom lectures on soil science, to hands-on lessons on how to use a scythe or sharpen pruning shears.  About two weeks ago, we had a gun lesson, using 22s for some target practice.  The next day, we learned that the farmer who runs the internship program was losing the land that he has worked on cultivating and restoring for the past 30 years.  It was difficult ...