On the Road Again, Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again

Well, as you can tell from the title of this entry I am about to get traveling once again. I am happy to report that after little over two weeks I am finally going to be returning to post. I've been gone forever and a day because on the 6 of this month I had to come down for a middle of service medical evaluation (all volunteers have to do it so don't worry) and i'm happy to say that i'm pretty damn healthy. i have ameobas which i have to take meds for when i get back to post but other than that i'm probably in better shape than i was when i left home. but anyway, the exam went to the 8 because i had to have a tb test (all health volunteers have to do this, so once again, don't worry). again i'm happy to report no tb here. the reason i did not go home after this was that health and environment volunteers had to do a HIV/AIDS training starting the 13. Well you see, i live so far away from where this training was being held that it would have been pointless and just plain uncomfortable to travel from the medical unit to post and then back down to this training. so i stayed down here. i'm pretty sure i've already explained all of this in an earlier post. i'll try to post pictures in the comming weeks from the training and give you a better overview of what we did. it wasn't anything too special, but like always it's nice to get everyone together. and it's not like i'd turn down an opportunity to spend a week with a shower, cnn, and air conditioning. you may be wondering why, if the training was done on friday am i still not back at post, well the answer is that i am taking advantage of a free ride. my peace corps superivors is scheduled to come by and visit my post this tuesday. so me and meagan have decided to wait around and ride up with her because peace corps staff always get to travel in nice air conditioned suv's. i'd take an suv trip over an 10+ hour taxi or bus ride anyday. the only down side is that having stayed here i've spent even more money. in the past two weeks i think i've blown 100$!! i'm a little freaked out about this b/c i'm suppose to be saving this money for my vacation to mali. gotta live like a hermit the next couple months to make up for this huge splurge. i guess that's it for now. i hope to have an opportunity to post again, but i have no idea when.

so until then...

Trying to Play Catch Up

Well, this was going to be letter (sorry gram) but I thought ya'll might find it interesting to hear what I've been up to, so here it is.

So last Friday after two weeks of planning and being up off one other time I actually was able to do a cooking demonstration for the women who come bring their kids in for vaccinations. Basically what the cooking demonstration consists of is teaching these women how to make the foods that they already more nutritiously. People here tend to eat a lot of empty calories, most carbs, stuff that really has no nutritional value. So what I did was take a food that everyone feeds their children bouille, or as we know it porridge, and show them by adding things, in this case peanut flour and mashed bananas they can make this be nutritious and help prevent malnutrition in children.

In the left corner is a mix of mashed bananas, sugar, and oil and in the middle is a mix of peanut and corn flour.

I want to focus what time I have left here on nutrition and trying to teach the people here how to use what they have more efficiently. I don’t know if it’s going to work because honestly, they don’t like change. We are talking about a nation that will literally eat the same thing every day for days on end. You may think you eat a lot of the same thing, say for instance you like spaghetti and meatballs, but I bet you can’t imagine eating it every day for lunch and possibly dinner for weeks at a time. We’d get sick of it first. So bringing in any kind of change is slow to say the least;

This is Safia my in village work partner. Here she is putting the whetted flour into the pot of boiling water to heat up.

which is partly why I am in the process of trying to plan/schedule nutrition lessons around my region. I want to target young girls and boys and teach them this information and get them to try some of the food so that when they become adults themselves there is at least a chance that they might bring some of these practices into their households.

This is one the women who had come in to get her child (the lump on her back) vaccinated. Somehow she become in charge of dishing up the food for the other women.

Earlier in the week I went up to Niger with Meagan to do a radio show over nutrition and Morainga. For all of you who don’t know what morainga is, it is a tree that can be found growing in most underdeveloped countries. It’s called the tree of life because every part of this tree can used for something, from putting the leaves in a sauce to eat to using bark and roots for various things. Anyway, this tree is incredibly nutritious and parts of our training when we first joined pc was to learn about morianga so that we could go back to our communities and teach them about it and encourage them to use it. It is a good supplement to make up for the fact that they are all malnourished pretty much too some degree.

Here are Meagan and I a couple minutes before we started the show.

The show went off without too many hitches. My French is bad which makes me super nervous when I have to speak it in front of others. And because I'm so nervous I tend to scew up even more, but I think I did better this time than last which makes me happy and proud of myself. The more I do this the more confident I hope I will become. I'm determined to keep improving my French. I also did a section of the signing off in local language. Well Meagan's local language not mine. I managed to fummbled my way through it, though lord know if anyone listening actually could understand what I said. It was good for a laugh though.

This Week in Cotonou

Every volunteer half way through their service must go through a middle of service medical exam. It's not fun. The doctors are wonderful, but when you are use to the efficience of American doctors/nurses it can sometimes get a little rough. Anyway, originally we were asked to make our appointments around the shuttle schedule. The shuttle is car that leave Cotonou and delievers/picks up mail and other goodies and delievers them to one of the three regional peace corps offices set up around the country. I was a good volunteer and did this. Well shortly after doing so, word got out that PC got funding for all of us to go through HIV/AIDS training. The problem was that this was schedule to happen two weeks after my medical exam. Now 2 weeks might not sound like that big of deal, but for me to get home and do so comfortably it takes 2 days and so thus leaving post to get to cotonou takes 2 days as well. The medical exam takes about 3 days. So basically I would have come down, when finished gone home and then like 4 days later turned around and come right back down again. There is no way I wanted to do this. Traveling in this country is too damn slow and uncomfortable. So I tried to reschedule my exam, and I was lucky enough to be able to do so, a bit. I got it pushed back a week to the 6, which exaplains why I am currently here in Cotonou.

So my midservice started on wednesday. It was a pretty routine thing, what health problems are you having yadda yadda yadda. Based on my answers i had to have some blood drawn and put on some medication for ameobas. I also had to have a TB test done, but that is standard for all health volunteers. Don't worry anyone all my tests came back normal, besides having ameobas, i think I'm healthier now than I have been in my life. The problem is now that my medical stuff is done, where am I going to stay because you see I still have like 4-5 days to kill before this HIV/AIDS training. Life is always an adventure here, even when it shouldn't be. I could stay in a hotel but that's a bit expensive especially after several days. Last night I got the doctor to let me spend another night here in the medical unit, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do that much longer. I'm hoping so because it allows me tons of time on the internet. I've been able to talk to Patrick for the past three nights which has been fun. I miss being able to talk to people back home. But also the tons of time online is why I wrote this incredibly boring post. It's early, I can't get my stuff out of the room b/c everyone is sleep and since I have time I feel like I should write something. So here you are, one very boring blog. I promise to write something better soon. I will catch you all up on what I've been up to prior to comming down to Cotonou.

So here are some highlights about staying in Cotonou...

1. Hot Showers, I can't tell you how much I miss hot showers and for the first time in months I actually feel clean. We'll see how long that feeling lasts.
2. Internet access, it nice to be able to check email when I want and to do more than just check email, to have the time to surf a bit and look things up is refreshing
3. food, there is so much more food here than at post, i've had delicious pizza while here, as well as hummus and some sort of middle eastern cheesy dish, yummm (this is also a bad thing because you go through money like water whenever you come to visit)

That's it for now, more to come later.

Once More Before I Go

So I'm heading back up to post today, well at least back to Kandi. I don't know if I'll make it back up to Anagara today or tomorrow due to the fact that I want to get some stuff done while I'm there and I'd rather do it all at once then go home come back into town and then go back. So what am I doing you ask? I am trying to get a radio program up and running in Kandi. I've had the opportunity to help out Meagan, another PC volunteer, with hers and I really feel that it is something pay attention to and get something out of. I've approached the boss of the radio station before and he like the idea, but he needed to talk it over with other people at the radio station he said. Fair enough, well he also said that since I don't have cell phone reception that one of the men he works with will stop by in my village and talk to me since he lives in a village just past mine. Very cool, i thought. Well he never showed up, very typical and very frustrating. When he didn't show up I decided not to pursue it anymore for awhile because I knew I'd be traveling and be gone for awhile, which makes getting things started rougher than they already are. So now that I'm back this is at the top of my priority list. Keep your fingers crossed.

Not much else to report. The anniversary party and swearing in ceremony of new volunteers was nice. I'm glad I went and saw everyone but I definetly could have done without comming down so early. As it is, I have now been away from post for over a week and I am ready to go home, lol. I have to travel down to Cotonou at the beginning of October for a midservice medical exam that all volunteer have to go through half way through their service, fun fun. And then I'm staying down there because PC recieved funding from someone to have us and someone from our village recieve hiv/aids training. So basically I am going to be gone from post again for two weeks next month. it defiently makes getting things done a bit harder.

I guess that's all from here for now. Not sure if I'll get a chance to update again before I head down south in Oct. But until next time...

A Very Long Time

Wow, it has been a very long time since I last wrote anything, and for that I apoligize. I will be suprised if anyone actually even reads this since I'm sure many of you have given up on hearing anything from me. But I am here, 3 months later, but here none the less.

So, what am I up to these days you may wonder? Well to back track a bit, when I last left you I was in Lokossa just finishing up a confrance with my supriversor with all the other health volunteers and I was getting ready to go to Nattitangou to turn boardgames into health games for kids. It was a fun time up in Natti. We made Shoots and Ladders and Candy Land and made them health related so that we can play them with elementary school aged children. What was also nice is that the volunteer at whose house we were doing all this all at lives in one of the most beautiful places ever. She lived near these waterfalls that we were able to walk to and swim in during our down time.

When i got back to post from that it was closing in on the end of the school year so I was in a bit of a rush to do any last minute things with my girls club. I decided to do a world map mural on a wall of one of the buildings at my school. I basically decided to do this project because it is a popular peace corps project to do and i needed/wanted something to do. though the actual doingof the project wasn't as much fun as i was told that it was, the reaction to the painting by my community was much greater than i had ever anticipated. so that in and of itself has made the project worth doing. the director liked it so much that he is interested in me doing another one at the new school that was just finished being built this year.

In June or July (I can't remember right now) I participated in a 3 day bike tour where we visited several small villages and gave talks on malaria, the symptoms, where it comes from, how to treat it, how to prevent it, and how to properly take care of a mosquito net. I was suprised by how many of these people already knew the information, but I would be interested to see how many of them actual do any of the things we talked about. That being said, we are still fighting a common belief that malaria is caused by the sun. It can be a frustration at times. But who would have thought that I would ever be able to take part in a 3 day bike tour. Even if I had wanted to I don't think I was ever in the shape to do so. During the 3 days we covered roughly 35-40 miles, pretty impressive huh. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures with me at the moment to share, but sometime soon I hope I can share some with you.

Since then work has become pretty nonexsistant. It is the rainy season here which means everyone who can work is doing so in the fields. My village is like a ghost town. So I've been reading a lot and trying to take walks and just get my face seen by those in the community.

Right now I'm down south in Cotonou because we are preparing for the swearing in cermony of all the new volunteers who came in this summer. It is almost impossible for me to believe that that was me just one year ago (and that I only have one year left, time flys). We are also celebrating the 40th anniversary of PC being in Benin. So all of us are down here which is fun and overwhelming. I like when we get together in small groups, but when we all get together like this it makes me miss my village and my quiet life there.

So I guess that's it in a nutshell, or at least the highlights. Hopefully the internet will become more reliable where I'm living so that I won't go another 3 months without posting. But just think everyone, in 12 months I will be back there with all of you. (Beware, lol) Anyway, I thought I'd close out today with a picture from my house. This was taken from my doorway just a few nights ago, pretty beautiful huh. Until next time...

What's going on in the world of Jenn?

since i have some time on the computer for once with no one trying to get on after me i thought i'd take a bit of time to fill you all in on what i've been up to the last couple days. so every sector in peace corps has an early service training usually during the first couple months after volunteers have moved to post and then an in-service training a couple months after that. one of the big differences between the two is that early service training is just for us volunteers and the in service training we bring our homologues with us as well. this means that our inservce training is done all in french, which let me tell you was hard, very hard. so i have spent the last three or so days in the village of Lokossa learning about this new technique called PD Hearth. Basically this technique is based on finding someone in our villages who is doing things right, like their baby is at a healthy weight and they have all their vaccinations and what not and usuing them to teach sessions to women who aren't doing it right. we talked about things like why this would work, how to find a good teacher mother and how to motivate woman. the man who came with me, my supervisor, doesn't seem to be too impressed with the program. he doesn't think it'll be possible to get the women motivated to attend these teaching sessions which take place for 12 days. which is partly true, movtivating and organizing people hear seems to be the hardest part in getting anything up and running. same with anywhere is suppose.
this has been an incredibly stressful couple of days for me because well, i hate my supervisor. he's not helpful, he thinks himself better than others, well at least other women and i get this feeling that often he wants nothing to do with me. so having to see and work with him directly for these couple of days has been crappy. one good thing to come out of this was that he was this way towards others around me, so now they know that it isn't just me whining. he really ticked off admin because he left the confrence early without telling anyone. we came in for the last session and everyone was there but him. what an ass!
in other news i am going to be traveling even more. tomorrow i leave to go up to nattitangou which is in the north west side of the country. it is, in my opinion, the most beautiful region of the country. one of the volunteers who lives up there lives near these waterfalls and she has intevent this game to play with elementary school kids to teach them hygine. she has been cool enough to invite all of us up to hear place to show us this game and let us have some fun at the waterfalls.
i guess that's all i've been up to really. i'm pissed to say that my camera is dying. my zoom button broke who knows what's next.

Bush Taxi

Hey everyone. I got to thinking the other day that I often talk about going here or there to do various things. Sounds simple right? Well if I was living in America it would be. I mean come one, if you are over the age of 16 and have a licsence all you have to do is hop into a car and you can go anywhere you want to and more importantanly, when you want to. Travel here for us, isn't so easy and it in itself is a huge part of the peace corps experience. Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to drive cars or motorcyles but we are allowed to be passengers. Actually Beinin volunteers are the only ones allowed to ride on motorcyles. For me, my main way of transportant is bush taxis, this is due largely to the fact that I live in a small village and there is no need for actual taxi motorcylces in village.

Anyway, what I usually have to do is go and sit by the road until a taxi is driving past. This can be anwhere between 10 seconds to over and hour, you just never know. When you see a taxi comming flag them down by waving your arm and hope that they aren't full, if so they'll honk and keep going. If they have room for you then they'll pull over and ask you where you are going, once they understand price negotian then begins. Sometimes if you're lucky you'll get an honest driver who will tell you the right price, but more often than not you get someone who sees white skin and thinks dollar signs and will then try to charge you an unheard of amount. For example, I had been away from my village for almost two weeks due to confrences and what not. I'm on my way back and I'm actually on the final leg of the trip, the part that will actually bring me into my village and the driver starts out at a price 3x as high as it should be. It was insane, i had to totally fight with this guy and take my stuff from him and generally be nasty for him to do the right thing.

So you get the the right price, the driver takes your bags and puts them in the back. Now it's your turn to get in. In America there are laws about how many people a car can hold and what not. Well things like that are unheard of here. If you were in a car, say the size of my old Mazda, they would put in the front with the driver at least two people maybe three depending on how greedy the driver is. And in the back there would be at least 4 adults, several children maybe tossed in as well. Now keep in mind that it is like 100 degrees out side too. Fun times huh? LOL

But it gets even better because they often put animals into taxis as well or strap them on the roof of the car. I know several volunteers that have had goats pee on them when they were on the roof of the car, or who have had chickens shit on their bags in the back of the car. Gotta love Africa.

I thought I would include some pictures of one of the taxis i took not so long ago. Often cars have to be hot wired because keys have been lost. Usually most if not all the panelling is missing and there have been times when there are gaps in the floor so i can see the ground as we are moving. Kind like the Flinstone mobile isn't it?