It’s been so long since my last post that I don’t even know where to begin. I stopped writing after Kate’s death because I didn’t know what to say, and though I still don’t know what to say about it – what can one say about such senseless, terrible tragedy? – I don’t think I can keep using it as an excuse not to post here. What I will say about Kate is that she was a warm, wonderful person, an exemplary Peace Corps volunteer, and she is missed very much. We still don’t know enough about what happened to her or why, but I think we have learned enough to know that no explanation or justification will satisfy. Sometimes horrible things happen to good people, and Kate was one of the best.
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My first school year in Benin ended last week – not officially, of course, but the national examinations have begun and grades have been calculated, so consequently all students have stopped coming to school. Although I’m certainly glad to have a break from lesson plans and grading and telling kids to be quiet, I’m sad that I won’t see my students for four months. They’ve been trying my patience lately as the vacation approached, but I usually have a lot of fun with them. Plus, I don’t know what I’m going to do with all my free time now that I’m not teaching!
Actually, that’s not entirely true – although I’ll certainly have more downtime this summer than I do when school is in session, I do have a lot planned for the next few months. Our regional girls’ camp is coming up in a few weeks, which will require quite a bit of preparation. We’ve invited 60 of the best and brightest girls from 15 schools in the Donga to a week-long camp in Djougou to talk about health, family planning, and career and life goals, play sports, and do crafts and other activities. We’ll also take a field trip up to Natitingou to visit a cyber café and a women’s bracelet-making cooperative. It will be the first time many of these girls have seen either of these “big” cities, so even the journey will be exciting – the rest of the program will be icing on the cake!
After the camp, I’m traveling with a group of PCVs to Ghana for some sight-seeing and beach-lounging. We’ll get back just in time to greet the newly-arrived Stagiaires and to celebrate my birthday (24! I’m old!) in Cotonou. My sister Jessie arrives for a two-week visit on the 27th, and after her departure I’m hoping to be joined by a few more visitors somewhere on the continent, details TBD. I’ll be working Stage the first few weeks in September, and by then it will be time to head back up north to get ready for school again…phew! See – my summer’s gone by already!
In addition to my travels and visits, I have several other work and personal goals for the summer. First on my list: learn more Anii! I was really working hard at it when I first got to Penessoulou – saluer-ing people as I passed, talking with Mamas in the marché, asking people to translate what they were saying – but as time has passed I’ve slipped more and more back into French and have become lazier about asking questions.
Then, I am determined to have my law school applications ready before Thanksgiving, which (again, considering my schedule) means I need to start writing personal statements and editing my C.V. as soon as possible. To facilitate this process, I’m looking into getting internet on my computer through my mobile phone – it’s expensive, but it might be worth it if it means I don’t have to spend weeks on end in the capital glued to the LSDAS website. Don’t get too excited – I don’t know if it will work – but it might soon be a lot easier (and cheaper!) for you to contact me! Stay tuned.
I also want to get to work on a few of the secondary projects I’m hoping to get started next year. I’m looking into helping my school set up a computer lab (they have the computers, but they need some additional equipment and assistance), and if it works out, Jessica (my post-mate in Bassila) and I might be able to teach some sort of computer literacy course in the fall. We’re also hoping to do some kind of sex education/health sensibilizations, either in the form of a weekly class or a few programs. (There is no sex education in Beninese schools, and as a result kids (and adults) are often woefully misinformed about the mechanics of reproduction and disease transmission. Being here gives me a new perspective on hot-button U.S. debates like abstinence-only sex education and school busing. Though I still have strong opinions on both topics, now I’m simply thankful that we can have those debates -- thankful that we have sex ed and school buses to fight about!) I’m also hoping to get a jump start on my English club by meeting with some students over the summer. So far I’ve only got three students sitting on my porch on Friday afternoons, but it’s a start!
Additionally, last weekend I was elected Scholarship Girls Coordinator by the Gender and Development Committee, which means that next year I’ll be in charge of administering and hopefully revitalizing Peace Corps Benin’s scholarship program for girls. Currently, the Scholarship Girls program sponsors about twenty high achieving, financially-needy girls in secondary school. Once a girl is selected for the program, her scholarship follows her through graduation, provided that she meets a few minimal academic requirements (when I say minimal, I mean minimal – i.e., you can only repeat a grade once). The program stopped taking on new students in 2005, in part due to a lack of renewed funding (I’m not exactly sure yet where the original funding came from). There were also problems with the program’s administration and monitoring (it’s difficult to track girls across the country, especially if there is no PCV in her school) and its structure. I’m hoping that we can deal with some of those problems this year and get the program re-funded so we can take on new girls in the future. It will take some work – probably more than I realize! – but I think that putting girls through school is one of the most (and maybe only) effective way to empower girls in this country, and Peace Corps volunteers are well-positioned to identify and support strong female students deserving of assistance. So, I really must get to work now on figuring out how to make this program work!
And, to procrastinate this lengthy to-do list, I’ve been watching copious amounts of West Wing (I’m already in the third season) and reading good books (rather, re-reading, at the moment – Anna Karenina). To be fair, I did have the excuse of being laid up at home for the past few days with what resembled amebiasis or giardia…I’m not sure which, but whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant. It seems to be resolving itself, fortunately, so hopefully I’ll be back on track with my summer work soon!
I know I always say this, but I do hope to update this a bit more regularly in the future as well. These lengthy updates are all well and good, but I know I miss so much of the small stuff that really shapes my experience here when I’m writing about several months at once. For example, I might forget to describe how my neighbor kids rush outside ecstatically shouting “Avion! Avion! Avion!” whenever a plane flies overhead, or say that killing a chicken is a lot harder than it looks, or mention that my next-door neighbors’ baby (Maldiath, my favorite little munchkin) is starting to crawl and has her first tooth poking through! So for now, à toute à l'heure -- more to come!
Matt, former Djougou volunteer, came back to visit and introduced me to his work partners, Nady and Dean. They run a scholarship program for underprivileged, at-risk girls and are in the process of building a dormitory to house the girls in Djougou.
A bird's eye view of a Djougou CEG.
Yes, that is a twig holding the power lines apart.
The Germans have a pet monkey!
Dismembered snake
Melissa, Serpent Slayer!
