Official Volunteers

Nous sommes volontaires du Corps de la Paix Benin!!

Our official 2 year service started as of yesterday, September 25, 2009. The swearing-in ceremony was very nice and was followed by a reception at the Peace Corps office. There were representatives from Beninese ministries, the French Embassy, and the American Embassy that all spoke. Also there were selected volunteers that gave remarks in French and many of the local languages. We gave the welcome/thank you speech in Adja- our local language! We really had only had about 2 days to practice, but we werent nervous because we figured no one would really understand anyway since it is not the local language in Cotonou and the surrounding areas. However, when the Minister of Education gave his remarks later on in the service he commented that he was impressed with our Adja! Turns out he is from Lalo- and now he has our phone numbers. We cant wait to invite him over for dinner!!

Here are a few pictures from our swearing-in ceremony yesterday:




Miranna and Charlie with our host Maman. The rest of the family was out of town, but she came to support us.

A Note on Mail

See a previous entry (July 14) for our address and mailing guidelines. However, a few important tips:

Never write the real contents of a package- write general items such as "food," "clothes" and "magazines"- not the specific items or brand names. Don't give them any reason to want anything that is inside.

Never write the real value of items on the customs form- always put $10 or less because we have to pay taxes on packages- if they think there are valuable items, they will open the package and then charge us more money.

Write "Dieu Te Regarde" on the package in large letters- if they think God is watching them there is less of a chance it will get opened.

Use the US Postal Service- not a FedEx, etc.

Even though we are moving we are going to keep the main Peace Corps address for now because I think there is a higher chance of us getting our mail.

Thanks for all you support! Keep it coming!

Pictures!

Finally, a few more pics... Enjoy!!

Miranna and Charlie in front of the "Gate of No Return," the point where slaves were put on ships bound for the Americas'. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is at the beach in Ouidah, a town in Benin that was the center of the African slave trade.

Miranna and Charlie posing with a voodoo fetish in Ouidah's Secret Forest, where a Beninese King once hid from being killed by turing himself into a tree. Believing in spirits runs deep in all aspects of life here! We're still working on acquiring magic powers- and no, we don't have voodoo dolls!



Miranna and Charlie with their host dad, Jean, on the balcony of our host family's house.

Miranna showing off her African moves with a local dance troop during a cross cultural session. Charlie's group was not present or he would be in the picture too!

1 More Week

One week from today we swear in as official Peace Corps Volunteers! Our training has flown by and we've already been here for 2 months!

We have passed all the requirements necessary to become volunteers. The biggest worries:
For Charlie- passing his French exam- which he did today! He has made beaucoup of progress!!
For Miranna- teaching English grammer. Today was the last day of model school which means that Miranna is officially qualified to teach English in Benin- oh la la- a scary thought- the children of Lalo will soon be speaking English with a southern accent!

We will spend our last week of training in Porto-Novo learning Aja (our local language), filling out paperwork, shopping for supplies, and spending time with our host family. Last week we made banana bread for our Maman's birthday and they loved it, so we now have to teach her how to make it before we leave!! We're thinking about making them a Southern meal as well if we can find similar ingredients needed to pull it off.

A few pictures

We know everyone wants to see some pictures, so finally here you go:

C and M enjoying the local brew - La Beninoise.


C & M during their post visit to Lalo- outside the director's office at Miranna's school. The director is to Miranna's right and one of the other English teachers is to Charlie's left (notice the matching outfits called Bumbas).



Charlie participating in a baby weighing training session in a village outside of Porto-Novo with the other health stagieres.


That's all we have the battery for now!