A Day In The Life...

It amazes me how boring and run of the mill I tend to think that my life is. However, when I sit down and think about my life, especially here in Benin, it is pretty cool.

I live in a mid sized town called Savalou in the Collines region of Benin. Every morning at about 6am I am awakened to the sound of traditional brooms brushing across the red clay earth outside my window. Women here get up as early as 4 or 5 am to sweep. When I first arrived, my neighbors were amazed that I was not doing this as well. As a matter of fact they are amazed that I don't spend more time on domestic tasks. They have asked me why and said that they didn't expect to see the white volunteers doing anything but because my skin is Black, they expected it to be different with me. So I have to explain that we, Americans, don't tend to do those things here because we don't have to do them at home. It's about quality of life not color of skin.

Most of the roads in Savalou are dirt roads so the amount of dust that blows into your house (most people don't have glass in their windows... just screens and wood shudders) is maddening. I used to try to sweep right after I got up in the morning but I just got sick of it and said forget it. I'm just going to have to get used to living in my own private dust bowl. When I do finally get around to sweeping every two or three days, my neighbors stop to watch how much dust I push out of my door. The animals also have learned to chill by my door in anticipation of me sweeping because there is always some tasty morsel of a dead bug waiting for them. I think that the best fight that I have seen since I've been in country was between a chicken and a pig over a dead roach that I swept out one morning.

The chicken emerged victorious if in case you're wondering. :o)

Oh! I'm skipping a step. Just after I get up, I grab my traditional broom made of palm fronds (or something) and head outside to my outhouse or "latrine" which is about 100 yards from my back door. I live in a concession with another family (a husband, two wives, and lord only knows how many children). From a cultural standpoint, I have to "salue" or speak to everyone. There is a series of questions that you have to ask about how they are doing that morning, how well they slept, if their spouse slept well, if their kids slept well, etc. It's a good thing that I am a morning person or I would be in trouble.
When I reach my latrine, I sweep out all the dead bugs then do what I have to do. I have a squat latrine which, how can I explain this, is basically a cement hole usually covered with tile or sometimes just with small cement foot groves. In my case, I have a toilet seat plastered to 4 or 5 inch cement pillar. Squat latrines are great because using it is a bit more "natural". But the openness of the hole seems to cause more roaches to feel brave enough to venture out. But, of course, you know me. I think of everything so I have this godsend of an insecticide called "Crae Miraculeuse" or "Miraculous Chalk" which is basically 99 cent store boric acid in the form of a piece of chalk. You just trace lines in the corners, the cracks, and wherever else you tend to see bugs and it kills everything!!! Even rats and bats. It's great! Some of our environmental volunteers have given me flack about "disturbing the delicate ecosystem" and "wreaking havoc on the environment". I just look at them and go "ummm-hmmm... delicate ecosystem. ummm-hmmm... environment" But the whole time I'm thinking "Please??? Are you going to come kill the scorpions the size of mice that show up during the dry season??? ... I didn't think so...

(smile)

After I sweep and/or mop or whatever house work I decide to do, I get ready to "shower". I just moved to a new house (for reasons that I will explain sometime in the future) which has a "douche" or shower inside. My last house had an outside and uncovered douche. It was basically three walls made of stone bricks and a tin door. I really liked it because sometimes, if I showered early or late enough, I would find myself showering under the stars. The moon, stars and sky look so beautiful here. They look so close that you feel like if someone gave you a good boost, you could slap the hand of the man in the moon. Sorta like Stockard Channing in the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" when she slaps the hand of God in the Sistine (sp) Chapel...

Ooops! I rambling...

After my shower, I refill all my water buckets and pour some water from my water filter into a pot for boiling. I have to filter and boil water every day to keep from getting sick. The concession that I live in now has a "robinet" or a faucet in the common area so I can fetch my own water. At my last house, my neighbor had to get it for me from down the street and around the corner. To carry water long distances like that, you have to put it in a big basin and carry it on your head. Carrying water on my head was not one of the skills that I picked up while living in Frisco. So, instead of risking a tragic neck breaking, I let me neighbor help me out. ;o)

I usually have a breakfast of bread, cheese, and a hot beverage like tea, or Milo which is a really chocolatey breakfast drink that seems to be popular everywhere in the world except the US. It's really tasty especially on those chilly mornings when it gets down to 80. :o)

My trek to work starts at about 9:30-ish. The "Centre Promotion Sociale (CPS)" or health center where I work is about a 10 minute walk from my house. Along the way, I saluee the people that I tend to see working along the road. People are pretty friendly and are really excited that I am trying to learn the local language which is Mahi (pronounced Mah-hee). They always make me practice and have a great time correcting me and giving me new phrases which I can never remember but always try to use.

At the CPS, we are opening a women's center which is the first of it's kind in my area and I work with the center's directrice. She is an incredibly dynamic woman named Augustine, who is originally from Cote Ivore but has lived in Benin for the past 15 years or so. The project was started by two volunteers that lived in Savalou before me and they did a lot of work to get the project started. Now, since they are both gone, I have inherited the project and am working with Augustine on phase two. Opening the center. We have planned the opening for May but will start classes in mid April. At the center, local women will be able to take classes in Alphabetization (Basic Literacy), Francaise Fundamental (basic French), Marketing, hygiene, and much, much more! :o) It's exciting because there is finally a place where women can come to learn the things that are important to them. Here, women don't really feel that they have a place in society. They are treated like they are just alive to serve the men so this is a great opportunity to help empower them.

I get to work at about 9:45 or 10-ish and work through the rappoe (sp) which is a three hour break in the middle of the day from Noon to 3:00. Kinda like siesta... but French. People usually go home, eat, take a nap, shower and go back to work. I can't handle such a big disruption in the day so I just work through it and in the evening, go home when I'm good and ready. :o)

We have an organization here called Songhai and they run a business in town which is an internet cafe, phone center, and sort of farmers market all in the same building. I usually stop by there once every week or so to order vegetables (must do one day in advance) and use the internet. It's hard to get vegitables in my area so I am constantly at Songhai trying to get whatever they have. One of the guys that runs the farm asked me exactly what kind of vegatables I want. I said "Look, whatever you manage to pull up out of the ground or off a tree... I'll eat".

Then I go home and change into a pagna which is a piece of fabric that you just wrap around you to walk around the house. I make it a habit to hang out with my neighbors as much as possible because they are nice and because they help me practice my language skills. Plus they remind me of my family in many ways so it helps with the home sickness. At my old house, the neighborhood kids used to come to my door to ask me to come out to play and it was often the highlight of my day. There is one little boy named Willie who would come and sit on my front steps every morning waiting for me to open my door and come outside to play "motos" with him. Motos is a game that he and I made up. We use clothespins or rocks or whatever we can find. We sit on the steps and push these items around on the ground pretending that they are motorcycles ("motos") or taxis while making car or moto noises. I used to love that! The kids love coming to my house because I am the only adult female that has time to play with them. I never realized how much, we in America, fuss over our children until I came here. People literally don't have time to do a whole lot of comforting. There are barely enough hours in the day to get basic life tasks like getting water or preparing food done much less soothing a child who has fallen down or hit his head. So, of course, when the kids hurt themselves, they come to my house because I hug them and fuss over them. The women just look at me and tell me I'm spoiling them but they like that I'm not afraid to interact with them and their families.

It is challenging being an African American volunteer because you look just like everyone else but you still come from a different culture. Don't get me wrong, there are similarities between my own culture and the culture here which are very refreshing to see but there are obvious ideological differences that exist. I refer to myself as African American. However, I have no idea where in Africa my ancestors are from and don't know any of the languages. The concept of being African without direct knowledge of your roots may not seem strange to us in America but here, people don't even realize that there are Black people in America so they have no idea what to make of me. The nice thing is that I am much quicker to bond with Beninois people that most volunteers (according to Beninois people). The postmaster who is like a uncle to me, asked me why it is always so much easier to talk to African American volunteers when other volunteers seem to only want to be bothered when they need something? I told him that I didn't really know and that one can't be sure of the reason. I said that my guess is that we (African American volunteers) may become comfortable in our environments a little quicker because we are interacting with people who look like us. So it's not as uncomfortable or intimidating. Also, culturally, I think that we (African Americans) tend to be pretty friendly and outgoing. We won't touch you with a ten foot pole until we have established that you are of good character but once we're comfortable with you, we will roll out the red carpet. Its interesting to see that here as well. But again, many things vary on an individual basis. I have to say that there are many advantagges to being an African American volunteer. But, I'll go into those in another journal entry.

Stay tuned...

I feel good about my work here. I am learning so much about myself and I feel like I am helping to broaden the horizons of a lot of people; ESPECIALLY the little girls. I have become a role model or sorts. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm outspoken and try to be open and honest about life. Some days, I feel like I'm cheating because I am learning so much from people here and don't feel like I'm teaching or contributing all that much. Then I look outside and see my neighbors and their children looking like they can't wait for me to join them for a chat. I have come to realize that this is a mutually beneficial relationship and that I am doing exactly what I want, need, and was meant to be doing... right at this moment.

For me, that is what life is really all about...

Things I Miss:
Talking to my friends on the phone frequently, spa weekends, walgreens, my mom's potato salad, watching old movies with my dad, bacon, the sale rack at the GAP, Jiffy corn muffin mix, Pine Sol, oreo cookies, doritos, Ernie (my dog), and Watching TV with my Aunt Minnie