A Year In

An Electrifying Experience

One thing you come to discover in village is that extremely important events happen with (seemingly) no notice whatsoever.  Let me clarify; everyone in village will know of said event well in advance, but for whatever reason they tend to not tell the local Peace Corps Volunteer till (at earliest) the day before said event. I have found that these can include, but are not limited to: weddings, funerals, community meetings, religious ceremonies, concerts, and most recently a visit from Benin’s President, and former leader of the African Union, Dr. Yayi Boni.

For this particular event I was given a total of three hours notice, although, as he was already delayed and originally supposed to show up earlier that morning, you could say I found out after the fact.

Anyway, after searching for a pair of clean clothes that would be acceptable attire to meet the president of my host country in (no easy task for a grungy EA volunteer, trust me), I made my way down to the local elementary school with a few other volunteers to greet him with the rest of my village.

The reason for his visit was to turn on the village’s electricity, which was originally supposed to happen in December, but hey, c’est la vie.

Over the next fifteen minutes of his arrival by helicopter, he made speeches in two languages, turned on power to the school (and therefore my village!) and was close enough to me to touch (not gonna lie, I got a little bit star struck). Then, just as fast as he came, he left in a whir of cheers, music, and a dust storm kicked up by his helo’s blades.

So finally, after over a year of living in Benin, my village has electricity.

The fun part? The power went out for the next four days strait . . . and I still won’t have power for at least two months while I wait for a counter to be installed.

ALRIGHT MAGGOT!!!

I just spent the last hour picking beetle larva out of my uncooked jasmine rice. When I finished, I thought ‘I should have just eaten them for the protein; It’s not like I don’t know what they’ve been eating’.

In retrospect from an American point of view, I should have just thrown it out/given it to the livestock in my front yard, but hey . . . Peace Corps changes people.

Camp ‘les Filles de l’Avenir’ (translated to The Girls of the Future)

For those of you who donated; thank you so very much! It meant the world to these girls and you will be receiving written thanks with some photos in the mail soon.

The camp came through without a hitch, and I hear we’ll be featured in an article written by PC Washington. If so, I’ll post it here once it comes out.

In any case, I don’t have any comical comments or witty remarks for this. It was quite simply a great program that will remain one of the highlights of my service.

One week where girls from all over my region were given the opportunity to travel (many of them for the first time) outside of their villages to learn about their world, their rights, their health, and their self worth.

Has it really been that long?!?

I’ve been in here for over a year now . . . I don’t really have words for this.