Where have Charlie and Miranna Benin?

The Final Post & Final Projects: Why We Were Too Busy to Finish our Blog

2012-02-09T09:12:00.001-08:00

Charlie and I completed our service in Benin on September 16, 2011. We want to apologize that we didn't post for the last 8 months of our service, but we really busy and it became more difficult to have access to a computer- mainly Internet! However, we would like to thank those that did follow our blog and write a final entry to conclude our time in the Peace Corps.

Charlie and I spent out last year working hard on two projects for the community of Lalo. Many of you are most familiar with the school's library project because we reached out to many of you for a donation to help us complete this project. Thank you, again, to those of you that supported this project!

These are some "before" pictures to give you an idea of why we decided to re-do the school library. It was a mess and totally inaccessible!

These are pictures of the project in progress: Cleaning and classifying the books, installing the new furniture, and moving the books into their new home.

And... the final product!

We could not have completed this project without the support of those that donated, so again a big THANK YOU on behalf of the students at CEG Lalo.

Charlie worked hard on organizing a project to install 10 latrines for communities in or near Lalo that did not currently have them. You may be thinking, "Where, then, did they go to the bathroom?" Answer: the closest field. As a public health specialist, Charlie had to do his part to make sure that the citizens of Lalo had access to the most basic means of sanitation! Here are a few pictures to show that process:

While it may seem that these projects made a large impact on the lives of those living in Lalo, we feel that the Beninese made a larger impact on our lives than anything that we left behind. We had a great experience and wouldn't trade it for anything. We miss our friends there, but they will stay in our hearts forever. Again, thank you to all of our friends and family (and blog readers!) for their support- we wouldn't have made it through without you!

Becoming a Real Beninese Family...

2011-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

Community integration plays a key role in the Peace Corps experience. We decided that in order to better integrate into the Beninese culture, we needed more children! One child is not acceptable in Benin...so KoKoKo helped us out in this effort...we have three new additions!

Too cute for words...the kitties that is, not Charlie!

Birthdays in Benin

2010-12-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

Birthdays are not big celebrations in Benin. Most people don't even know when their birthday is. This makes teaching age in English class very difficult when you have children telling you that they are 18 years old and they look like they are 12. Most really have no idea how old they are!

A popular nightly TV show here is the "obituaries." They have a 15-20 minute segment of scrolling pictures (with really awful, mournful music) and the dates people died. Sounds dreadful, right? But people love it! It is common for people to have over 100 years of age when they died- 113 years old for example. We don't personally believe they were that old, but however they kept track of their age from the time they were born, that is what they believed!The oldest women in Lalo recently died and she was supposedly over 150 years old. I'm not kidding. People tell us this with a straight face. We have yet to figure out the secret to longevity in Benin!

However, our birthdays were still big celebrations! In October we celebrated Miranna's 31st and in January we celebrated Charlie's 33rd.
Below, a few pictures to document the celebrations!

1) The first of Miranna's two birthday celebration was at the village chief's house- with the 13 kids! We attempted to make a large rice krispy treat to share...it didn't turn out so hot. Considering the Beninese had never eaten a rice krispy treat before, they still thought it was good!
2) The second event was a smaller affair with our neighbors. The youngest daughter also has an October birthday. This is the preparation of the birthday meal at our neighbor's house. This is a typical Beninese kitchen- the open back area of the house with a mud stove or fire circle.
3) Friends and neighbors singing "Happy Birthday."
4) Dancing the night away! (sidenote: notice the 2 dads in their matching track suits!).
5) Last, but not least, Charlie ringing in his 33rd year with the local beer named "33!" How appropriate!

Holidays- American and Beninese Style!

2010-12-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

Where as our "holiday season" is from Thanksgiving 'til New Years- the holiday season here pretty much lasts the whole 2 months of December and January! So, we have been doing a lot of celebrating!

It all started with a "traditional" American Thanksgiving meal- all made possible with the help of a package from home containing all the necessary ingredients. We didn't find a whole turkey to stuff, but we made grilled turkey wings, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and a homemade pumpkin pie!

Charlie enjoying a grilled turkey wing and Meredith (a volunteer that lives near us) displaying the green bean casserole.

Bon Appetit! We were joined by one of our neighbor kids, Moreau- he wasn't thrilled with the American food, but he did like the mashed potatoes!

Charlie and Erik (our closest volunteer) grilling the turkey wings. Andrea, one of my students and the daughter of our neighbors, supervising.

Meredith and Miranna doing the prep work: Chopping potatoes and rolling out pie crust!

They do celebrate Christmas in Benin- at least in the South where we live. The North is predominately Muslim so I’m not sure if is the same in the North. Christmas is often referred to as a "kids" holiday. However, they don't believe in Santa Clause- if you ask anyone they'll tell you he is dead so how could he leave you presents?! You can imagine how confused they were when we tried to explain that Santa comes down a chimney and leaves presents in stockings! Children make masks (called Kaletas) and go from house to house singing and dancing in exchange for a small donation or candy. Its kind of like Halloween!

Gifts are not exchanged between families- mostly because of the lack of money. Families spend their money on buying a lot of food and drinks with which to celebrate. Families typically kill a goat or a pig, which are too expensive to be everyday fare, and have that with rice- also not something typically eaten on a daily basis because it is also more expensive. They invite friends and family over to eat and drink. On Christmas Eve we had some neighborhood kids over to make Caletas and then that night went to midnight mass with our neighbors. On Christmas day we went to a mass that the Catholic Church had at the health center where Charlie works and then we went to 4 different people’s houses to eat, drink, and visit.

Below: 1) Kids in front of our house in their masks singing and dancing- one even on stilts! 2) Miranna with neighborhood kids in a mask making session we hosted at our house. We saved all the goodies from our packages (ribbons, wrapping paper, etc) and were able to make some great masks. 3)Charlie helping the kids whom live at the health center make Kaletas.

New Years Day is a bigger celebration in Benin than New Year's Eve- mainly because it isn't religiously based. However, it is very similar to Christmas because it also consists of visiting friends, eating, and drinking. All-in-all it was a pretty low-key holiday, but we were happy to spend it in Lalo with our friends.

Next entry...and the celebrations continue.

Back to School

2010-12-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

Despite what you may be thinking, we have not abandoned our blog. Life has just been very busy- which by our standards is a very good thing (it makes you forget about the heat…kinda)! So, since we last wrote, what have we been up to?
At the end of September we went to Ghana for a week. It was a great vacation and a good break from Benin. Ghana is much more developed than Benin, so we were able to eat sushi and go to a real movie- what a treat! We spent most of the time travelling along the coast visiting historical European forts and slave trade sites- as well as enjoying the beach! (will post more on this later along with some pics)

School started at the beginning of October- and well, that is mainly why you haven’t heard from us (because I am the one that writes the blog posts)! The beginning of the school year is always interesting because it is a demonstration in the lack of efficiency of the Beninese government. So even thought the 1st day of school was set for October 4th, that didn’t mean much. The school administration showed up and started paper work, but teachers and students don’t actually start showing up until about a week later- and classes really start another week after that. So the beginning of this year was even more interesting because a week after the “official” start date, the government announced administration changes. Why they didn’t take the 3 month break to do this so that the new administration could be in place for the new school year, I am not sure. The top 3 people in my school administration were to be sent elsewhere. Even though this was good news (the Director was very dishonest), it meant a huge delay on the already delayed start to the school year. However, Madame Miranna ignored the confusion around her and started teaching. Another week later the government held a mandatory week-long training for all the teachers. Again, why didn’t they take any week in the 3 month break to do this? The new administration arrived at the end of October and it was at this point that teachers began receiving their class schedule. So, most teachers actually started teaching at the beginning of November- a full month later. It is now one week into December and exams are next week. After 1 month of classes (and not even a full month, depending on how often teachers actually show up for work) students are going to be tested.

All in all, I love teaching and am so glad this was my assignment. But, there are many frustrating moments- not just because of the structure of the system, but also because of attidues towards learning? By the time I am get the students in my classes they have already spent 7-8 years in the Beninese school system. This is a system that rewards those that can copy, memorize, and regurgitate. There is absolutely no creative thinking developed in these children. I push my students to try and think outside the box in multiple ways but it is a struggle because students don’t want to be pushed. They simple want the answer so they can memorize it. As long as they can get the passing average on the test, that is all they need. There are no rewards in this system for top students, no honor classes, no scholarships, etc. So, why does it matter if a student has the best grade in the class? There is no push for students to be the best and the brightest. To me this is really sad, because I have a few really talented students and I see them just getting lost in the system.

These are just some of the many problems with the Beninese educational system- I can’t even begin to write about them all. It is so frustrating to watch the inefficiency of the school system because it is just hurting the children- and subsequently the future of Benin. Since we’ve been here, I have concluded that this is the #1 problem in Benin. Granted, I might be a little biased in my view because I see the problems on a day to day basis- whereas an environmental or health volunteer might have a different opinion. However, until the education system is reformed Benin is never going to be able to develop. The lack of creative thinking permeates all levels of society here and this will take a long time to change.

I am only one person and I can’t change the system, but I do my best to be a positive role model for the other teachers to inspire them to change teaching methods and attitudes. I also devote a lot of time and energy to working with students- especially those that excel. On this end, I also hope that I have helped one or two students decide to stay in school, be creative thinkers, and be the best they can be.

Good Times in Ghana

2010-10-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a trip to Ghana at the end of September to enjoy the last bit of "free time" before Miranna started back to school. While Ghana doesn’t seem that far from Benin, from our house in Lalo- through Togo- and then to Accra, the capital of Ghana, it was about a 7 hour taxi ride- multiple taxis, that is. But, the reward at the end of a long travel day was mojitos and sushi- a big treat for us!

Accra is very developed, probably the most developed city in West Africa, so we took full advantage and pretended we were back in America for a few days. This included a trip to a mall and a real movie theater!After a few days in Accra, we travelled along the coast to visit many of the coastal forts that were used during the slave trade days- mainly by the Portuguese and Dutch. It was really interesting- and also sad- to see this side of history. One the forts was visited by Obama when he was in Ghana. The fort has a place where visiting dignitaries lay reefs as a memorial to those having gone through the slave trade. Aside from some historical tourism, we also spent some time relaxing on the beach in the coastal towns and visiting a national park where we walked across a swinging bridge through the tree canapoy. Ghana really does have a beautiful coastline! Enjoy the pics….

Our beach hut.

Portuguese Catholic mission that turned into a fort to fend off the Dutch.

Fishing village.

M making me pose while the fishermen bring in their catch.

Animal santuary we visited that protects endangered monkeys, birds and just about any other animal brought in. The owners pay the hunters to not kill trapped animals or young who are orphaned by hunting.

View of Cape Coast from the top of the fort. That's Charlie's Benin Squirrels soccer jersey. Yes the national team is called the Benin Squirrels.

Terrified, we took this picture from the hanging bridge. The suspension system hung some 80 meters above the ground in the giant trees.

Cape Coast fort.

Believin' in Benin

2010-09-10T01:15:00.000-07:00

Benin is a very religious nation. Christianity is the largest religion in the South (there are a lot of Catholics, in particular, in Lalo) and Islam is more prevalent in the North. However, the national and biggest religion of Benin is “Vodoun,” or Voodoo as we spell it. Voodoo is an animistic religion, but its beliefs and gods are usually mixed with other religions. That is to say that if a Beninese is Catholic, they also practice Voodoo as well.

Voodoo in Benin is not the violent religion of bloody-sacrifices and voodoo dolls that we think of, but instead it is about the power of nature and the natural forces in life. It permeates every aspect of life in Benin because they believe that spirits are everywhere and are an integral part of daily happenings in life. It is most easy to relate Voodoo beliefs to the Native Americans’ beliefs that there were spirits in every part of nature and they must be properly cared for, if they are going to care for you in return. For example, this rainy season there was not a lot of rain. The Beninese explained this by saying that the gods must not have been properly thanked after last year’s rainy season. In this case they would do a sacrifice for the gods- typically a chicken or a goat. That being said, this is not an everyday occurrence that we see here.

The Beninese also use voodoo to explain what happens in life that they can’t understand. For example, if a person suddenly dies, it is assumed that they must have done something bad and they were either cursed by someone or a god. Whereas we would contribute a death to a medical condition and then have an autopsy performed, the Beninese assume that they died for a reason. We have seen this on multiple occasions, including with one of Miranna’s students, Ivette, that died in November. It was explained to us (in a very matter of fact manner) that her sister had refused to get married because she wanted to stay in school, so Ivette helped her run away. Her father was upset with her and put “gris-gris” on her. Shortly thereafter Ivette developed a headache and then she died. This story was hard to digest because common sense tells us that people don’t just suddenly die of headaches. Maybe she had already been sick and it was a coincidence that she died when her dad was upset with her- or maybe the Beninese have some rhyme and reason to their beliefs.

“Gris-gris” is a ceremonial process where someone is either partaking in an effort to protect themselves from evil spirits or performing an act to bring harm to someone. An example of the latter is mentioned above. As an example of protecting themselves, people often make a special soap with which to wash themselves. We were privy to watching one of these soap making ceremonies- which was very interesting. The process was as follows: grounding up a lot of leaves, roots, and herbs that all have medicinal powers, mixing in some sodabi (the local alcohol), sacrificing a chicken on top of the soap, and then chanting in the local language. We were told that if you wash yourself with this soap at least once a month, then you are protected from all the evil spirits. We personally declined taking some home, we’re happy with Dove.

The Village Chief adding alcohol to the soap during the ceremony.

Another aspect of voodoo that plays an important role in life here is the strong belief in the afterlife. When someone dies they turn into a spirit- and this is one reason why funerals are such a big event (and why so much money is spent on them). Not only is it necessary to celebrate the life they lived, but it is necessary to welcome the rebirth of their spirit. The two types of “spirits” that we commonly see are pictured below. At some point, before, during or after a funeral service the spirits come out and dance and “speak” to the onlookers. These are really big events in Lalo which involve a lot of drumming, singing, and dancing. The spirits also “chase” the onlookers and it is forbidden that they touch you because you will then die- so you better run fast!

Zangbetos (don't they look like the characters in the book "Where the Wild Things Are"?)

Egunguns (While not the most friendly of fellows, their costumes are really bright and colorful!)

This is just an overview of beliefs here in Benin- as we have experienced them. Voodoo is a complicated and mysterious religion that we will not fully understand even after 2 years. It’s hard to explain the depths to which these beliefs affect everyday life. In addition, religion, whether voodoo or otherwise, has an enormous economic toll. The amount of money that is spent on special clothes, religious items, funerals, and offerings blows our mind. We have been to a few religious services and at each one they take offerings no less than five times throughout the mass. At the end of the service, they then announce how much money was raised for the church that day. However, when there are not too many other distractions in life in a small village, on what else are you going to spend your money and time?

Miranna with our neighbors after Inez, the youngest daughter in the family, was confirmed in the Catholic church. For a ceremony such as this, most everybody in the church will wear outfits made of matching cloth. We had been out of town before the big event, so we were not able to purchase religious fabric featuring the Saint Augustin. We were crushed!

Mud Houses and Millet Beer

2010-09-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last month we took a few days to explore an area of Benin that we had not yet been to: the Natitingou region. Natitingou is the largest city in the Northwestern part of Benin and it is very close to Benin's wildlife park. We didn't visit the park this time around- that is another trip we are planning for the holidays. We are excited to already have another trip to this area planned because it is absolutely beautiful! Much of the scenery and landscape reminded us of East Tennessee. Too bad this area is an 8 hour bus ride from Lalo or we would probably make it a point to come here more often!

After spending a night in Natitingou, we jumped in a taxi and headed an hour southwest to a town named Boukoumbe. There is a volunteer there with whom we spent the weekend so that she could show us all the sites. This town, in the middle of no-where, is noted for the "Somba," one of the oldest ethnic groups of Benin. When Benin was still divided into many kingdoms, this group was hunted to be slaves by the Dahomey, the largest and most know kingdom in Benin. Therefore, they created protective houses to defend themselves, called the Tata Sombas. The Tata Sombas are 2-story mud fortresses in which a family could hide themselves on the second floor and survive for days if they were being attacked. The houses are not used for the same reasons anymore, but they are still lived in. This area was pretty much "undiscovered" by the West until about 40 years ago, but is becoming more and more of a tourism site. It was fascinating to vist some of the houses and see the creative means that were utilized for survival.

This region is also famous for its "tchouk." This is a fermented-millet beer that seems to be drunk everywhere in this region, but that we don't see in the South of Benin at all. Every five days there is a large tchouk market near our friend's house that we happened to get to visit while we were there. In the picture you can see one of the "marche mamas" with her three choices of tchouk for the day. The cost is about the equivalent of about 10cents a bowl and you drink them out of dried gourds. It is an acquired taste, but it can be best described as a combination between apple cider and beer- but with a fermented taste.

We spent one more night in Natitingou before heading back to Lalo so that we could visit the nearby waterfalls. We climed down the rocks for a better view of the waterfalls and also to find the swimming area at the bottom. They were beautiful and a swim was quite refreshing!

And, of course, Charlie is always on the search for another mask for his collection. Don't worry, the hat was not also part of the purchase!

Neighboring Niger

2010-08-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

At the end of May we finally got a chance to take our first vacation OUTSIDE of Benin- to the neighboring country of Niger. It was fantastic!

We first traveled to the Northern part of Benin, where we met up with our friends Ryan and Kimberly (the other married couple that arrived when we did). They live near a larger town called Kandi, but their town is called Gogounou. After spending a night at their house we then went to the Northern most town in Benin and on the border of Niger, Malanville. Here we spent the night with another volunteer so that we could cross the border as early as possible and catch the bus to Niamey, the capital of Niger.

Even though we crossed the border (which involves a trek across the mighty river Niger) as early as possible, we somehow still managed to miss the bus to Niamey (though we aren't convinced that there really was one on that day). So, we got to cozy up with 25 of our best friends in a 19- passenger van for a 7+ hour ride. Did we mention that none of us speak the local language in Niger, nor do many Nigerians speak French! It made for quite an adventurous day, but we were relieved to finally arrive in Niamey.

Miranna and Ryan loading up for a cozy 7 hour "bus ride" from the border of Niger to Niamey.

As soon as we crossed the border into Niger, it was amazing how much the landscape changed. It was much drier, browner, and it was also evident that the people there are much poorer. The Muslim influence was also much more pronounced. However, Niamey is the complete opposite of Cotonou: the streets were quite and organized, there were taxis everywhere, instead of motos, and there weren't people always calling us "yovo." It was a very pleasant capital city to visit! However, it was HOT!!! Riding in a taxi with the windows down felt as if you had a hot hairdryer blowing on your face. Yes, it was hotter than Benin and we promised ourselves to never complain about the heat where we live again!

Our first night in Niamey was actually our 2nd Anniversary so we treated ourselves to a nice Italian restaurant. Niamey has some fantastic and diverse selections of restaurants so we had good eats all week- plus real ice cream! We did also try the local fare: pounded couscous and guinea-fowl meat mixed with bean, greens and sauce. It was yummy! A cold "Biere Niger" also couldn't be beat on those hot days!

Trying the local brew while overlooking the Niger River.

Our main purpose of going to Niger was to visit the last remaining herd of wild giraffes in West Africa. They are located in a village about an hour outside of Niamey, so we took a day trip to see them. Once your guide spots a heard, you follow them around for a couple of hours and can take as many pictures as you want. It was really amazing to be as close as we were to them and see the giraffes in their natural habitat. You can read more about them here: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/giraffe.html

The other highlight of the trip was riding, though ever so briefly, a camel. We never see camels in Benin, but they are abundant in Niger, so it was a must-do (especially for Charlie- he wouldn't leave Niger until he had ridden one).

Other than that we visited the Grand Mosque and the National Museum/Zoo, shopped at the central market, went swimming at the American Rec Center, and saw a concert at the French Cultural Center.

So that's about it for our travel log today. Stay tuned to hear about our recent trip to the North of Benin to see the 'Tata Sambas' and the waterfalls. We're planning on a trip to Ghana in the next few weeks before Miranna starts school again. Of course, you too can enjoy the sites with us if you plan your trip soon. Look forward to seeing you here!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

2010-08-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

The last week of June we participated in a girl’s camp called Girls Leading Our World, or “Camp GLOW.” This is a week-long camp which is planned and led by Peace Corps Volunteers at the end of every school year. Volunteers select 50 leading girls in their communities and bring them to Porto-Novo. We were able to bring 7 girls from Lalo, as well as 1 “toutrice” (mentor) for the girls. Even though we were allowed to bring 7 from Lalo, which is a lot from one village, it was a pretty tough decision! In the end Miranna ended up selecting the top girl student from each of the 6eme classes (equivalent to 6th grade) at her school.

This camp is a great opportunity for the girls that are selected- not only because they have the opportunity to learn many new things, but they get to have a week full of fun- not work! In Benin women, but mostly the girls, do all the work- cooking, cleaning, laundry, getting water, working in the fields, etc. This is one of the reasons that girls aren’t able to stay in school. After primary school (which is free), there is a huge drop out in the number of girls that stay in school. Every year in secondary school (which is not free) there are less and less girls in each class. For example, in a 6eme class (6th grade) the students will be about half girls and half boys, but in a 2nd class (10th grade) in a class of about 40 students there will be less than 5 girls. There are many reasons for this attrition rate, but the main one is that families don’t have the money to keep all of their children in school, so they pay for the boys to stay in school since the girls are the ones that are responsible for most ALL of the work at home and in the fields. If girls are allowed to stay in school, it is very difficult for them to succeed because their work leaves them with very little time to study. Thus, it is a huge achievement for the girls that manage to be at the top of their class! Therefore, we choose the top girl from each class to participate not only to reward them for their hard work during the school year, but also to encourage them to continue working hard and stay in school.

It was a lot of fun travelling from Lalo to Porto Novo with all the girls- some of them had never left Lalo before so it was quite an experience for them! Every day was different at camp, but there was a good mix of fun activities as well as educational ones. The favorite session of most all of the girls was our visit to a cyber café where they were able to learn how to use a computer (most of them had never seen, much less typed on a computer before)- and the internet! They also visited local museums and the Benin National Assembly where they got to sit in the representative’s chairs and use their microphones. A panel of professional Beninese women came to speak about their careers, how they got to where they are today, and how they balance their family and professional life. Their stories were really inspiring for the girls to hear. We also invited guest speakers to talk about personal hygiene and sexual health, women’s rights, and study skills to help them stay in school. All the activities were not educational- there were also lots of fun things too: arts and crafts sessions (the girls loved making collages out of American magazines), soccer games, singing, dancing, and relay races. And the best part of the week for the girls: they didn’t have to do any work- the volunteers did it all! We really just wanted them to relax and have fun because this would be one of the only times in their lives that they would be free to do so.

All the volunteers involved agreed that his camp was one of the most rewarding experiences of their Peace Corps experience thus far and we are really looking forward to next year’s camp!

A few pics from the week….

The Lalo gals (and Charlie!)

The week ended with a dance party- Beninese style! This was really, really fun!

We've Benin Here For 1 Year!

2010-07-22T01:52:00.000-07:00

One year ago today we left Tennessee for Philadelphia to board a plane bound for Benin! The new group of volunteers arrived this week- and we can't believe we were in their shoes just one year ago. Wow- time has flown! (for us anyway, maybe not so much for those of you at home)

A lot has been going on- hence the lack of recent blog posts, but just letting everyone know that we are alive and well. It is "rainy" season, so the weather here has been very pleasant- I actually think it is cooler here than for those of you at home. Miranna finished school about 3 weeks ago, so she is officially on "summer vacation." Charlie is still moving along making sure all the inhabitants of Lalo are happy and healthy! KoKoKo is doing well and keeping our house mouse, lizard and cockroach free!

We have a lot we want to write about, but haven't had the time (or internet access) so check back later to learn about:
- Our trip to Niger
- This year's girl's camp- Camp GLOW (Girl's Leading our World)
- Miranna's 1st year of teaching

Greetings, Greetings, and more Greetings

2010-06-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

Greetings are a very important part of the Beninese culture. It can take much longer to get to your desired destination because it is necessary to greet most everyone that you see. The greetings used here are a bit more in-depth than the standard "Hi, How are you?" that we use in the US. So, we thought we'd share some examples of the local sayings and greetings with you to give you a taste of Beninese culture.

A typical morning conversation between Charlie and any neighbor:
Charlie: Good morning. How did you wake up?
Beninese: I woke up well. And you?
Charlie: I woke up well too. How are your children?
Beninese: They are well.
Charlie: How is your wife/husband?
Beninese: He is well. How is your wife?
Charlie: She is well. And your health?
Beninese: It is good.
Charlie: And your work?
Beninese: It is good. And your work?
Charlie: It is also good See you soon.
Charlie: See you later. Have a good day!

A conversation later in the day between Miranna and a Maman at the marche before actually attempting to buy something:
Miranna: Good Afternoon. Are you there?
Maman: Yes, I'm here.
Miranna: Have you done a little?
Maman: Yes, I've done a little. And you? Have you done a little, or a lot?
Miranna: I've done a little. Have you sold a little?
Maman: Yes, I've sold a little.
Miranna: And your children?
Maman: They are fine.
Miranna: That's good. I would like to buy 2 onions and some tomatoes.

Other interesting expressions:
If you haven't seen someone for a while you would start the conversation with "It's been three days!" and their response will be "And plus one more." Why the magic number is 3 days, even if it has been a week or month since you've seen someone, we are not sure.

When you are visiting with a group of people for a while you will get told "Good sitting" many times. This expression is used to fill time between conversations because it is impolite to just sit without having anything to say to someone.

Everybody is familiar with "Bon Appetite," which is a very common saying before every meal, but every meal is also followed by "Good Digestion."

In the evening you will wish people "Good Night" followed by "May God wake us up well." They respond: "Amen."

Most of this, while it could be said in French, is done in our local language Fon. For example, "Good Morning," or "Bonjour" in French," is translated as "Mi fon gangi a?" This is actually a question of "Did you wake up well?" Charlie can also do a series of greetings in Adja, another local language used in the villages around Lalo.

Some of these sayings seem silly but they have grown on us! It is going to be very hard for us to drop some of them from our vocabulary once we return!

Giving for the Girls

2010-05-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the Peace Corps volunteers hosted a charity dinner in Cotonou to raise money for the Gender and Development programs. This was a similar event to the one in March (see previous post), except instead of only being for Peace Corps volunteers, it was more formal and open to the Beninese and American communities in Cotonou. With the money that was raised from these two events, volunteers are able to implement activities in their communities to promote gender equality and education.

Many of the activities that volunteers choose to pursue focus on girls' educaton. Beninese girls are seriously disadvantaged in terms of education and face many obstacles to stayng in school. Therefore, in conjunction with this event, Peace Corps had an essay contest for 8th grade level girls to win a trip to Cotonou. This was a great opportunity for the girls that won, as most of them had never even left their villages before. From Thursday- Sunday each girl stayed with a prominent Beninese woman (called "Maman Modeles"), went to work with her ("Bring your Daughter to Work Day"), and participated in a seminar about setting goals for themselves and how to achieve their career goals.

There were two girls, named Reine and Chantal, that were choosen from Lalo, so Miranna was able to escort them down to Cotonou. Reine stayed with a Maman that is the owner of a fine dining restuarant (she caters for the President of Benin!) and Chantal was paired with a Maman that is the director of a private school. Other girls were paired with famous journalists, doctors, and businesswomen. The girls were also invited to the dinner and gave a short presentation on what they had learned from their Mamans over the weekend. Our hope is that the girls will take back what they learned to their villages and choose to stay in school to pursue their dreams- no matter how big or small.

All-in- all it was a great weekend for the girls, the volunteers, and auction-attendees alike. I look forward to participating next year and giving other girls from Lalo the chance to as well!

A few pics from the event...

Us posing in front of artwork for the auction. Charlie used the event as an occasion to sport his Beninese flag bumba again!

Three of the girls modeling wooden Beninese masks that were available in the silent auction.

Miranna with Reine and Chantal, the girls from Lalo.

Chantal with her Maman Modele (in red) and her Maman's sister (in blue), who will also be Miranna's new Education Director for Peace Corps Benin.

A Beninese Family Photo

2010-04-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

We thought everyone would enjoy a recent family photo. The matching tissue (or cloth) that we are wearing is called the the official "Family Tissue"- which is represented by the chickens and their baby chicks! So it was only a matter of time before we bought some, and we had to give KoKo some to wear as well since she is our official Beninese baby!

Chillin' in Sunny Benin

2010-04-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

After about 8 months in country, we finally had time to take our first real vacation in Benin during Miranna's Easter break! We went to a beach resort area near the border of Benin/Togo called Grand Popo. It is really beautiful, and despite the fact that you can't swim in the ocean we had a really great and relaxing time! Now that we know it is only about 3 hours from Lalo, we know we will be returning!

A few pics from our trip (maybe these will tempt some of you to come visit us!):

One of the buildings at the hotel we stayed at- an old colonial plantation.

Every morning, the fishermen pull in the MASSIVE fisihing nets from the night before. It takes lots of men, women, and children for this job- Charlie and I helped too!

Taking a break to pose for a pic on the beach- note the net in the background- it is an all morning process to bring in the net.

A group of boys carrying the fisihing net back down the beach.

Charlie on our tour of the Mono River.

Enjoying a fresh cut coconut after a boat tour on the river!

Relaxing on the beach just before sunset!

Wearing the flag for charity

2010-03-31T03:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Parakou for a Peace Corps Benin fundraising event. All the volunteers come together for a dinner and auction to raise money for the 'Gender and Development' (GAD) program funds. These are funds that are available for volunteers to use in their communities to carry out activities that address issues of gender and development. There are multiple examples of events that qualify for these funds, but typically they help raise the awareness of girls and women's roles in Benin.

For example, on International Women's Day we held an event in Lalo for all of the girls at Miranna's school. We applied for the Gender and Development funds to pay for this event, which allowed us to carry it out without paying out of our own pockets. We invited prominent women from the community to come speak on three topics: staying in school, women's rights, and sexual health. We had about 250 girls turn (about half of the girls in school) out for the event! It was a huge success and the girls still contiunue to talk about it! We plan on doing this again next year as well.

International Women's Day event in Lalo- a great turnout!

Miranna and Charlie dressed as the Benin flag for the GAD dinner. Our outfits were a hit!

The Ins and Outs of Daily Life

2010-03-30T03:32:00.000-07:00

Just a few glimpses into our daily life here...

Miranna and her neighbor, Inez, carrying water from the nearby pump to the house. Note the girl half M's size, yet with a water basin twice as big. The girls (and women) here are so strong- and can carry anything(!) on their heads! M is still a novice water porter and does so on rare occasions- but it is a lot of entertainment for our neighbors when it happens! Typically all the neighborhood girls or boys get water for us about every other day.

We pay about 25cents for 3 of the large basins of water- and that lasts us for about 2 days. this includes showering, cooking, and drinking. Laundry requires a bit more....see below:

Miranna doing laundry in back of our house. The 3 bucket system is way more work than just putting the clothes in the washer and pusing a button! However, it is typically so hot clothes do dry in about an hour. We have yet to make the water as suddsy as they do here and the girls all laugh at our feeble scrubbing attempts, but we make it work!

Some Recent Pictures & Events

2010-02-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

A Beninese funeral procession in Lalo. Funerals in Benin are a BIG deal- they are like a big party. Unlike in the US, people do not dress and black and you never see anyone crying. A huge procession of people and a band walk around town with a large picture of the deceased. They go from neighborhood to neighborhood, dancing, singing, drinking and visiting.

Miranna with some local women at the funeral reception. After the procession, everyone gathers at one location for the reception- more food, singing, and dancing. Note the hat: this is a typical hat women wear for special events here.

Lunch at our neighbor's house last weekend.
This family is super nice and we have enjoyed getting to know them. The dad is a primary school director at a neighboring village and the mom makes and sells food. They have one boy and two girls at home with them and then two older girls who live in Cotonou. Believe it or not, five children is actually a reasonable size family for Benin! The two girls that live there- Andrea and Inez- are always at our house playing with Koko, coloring, or just watching us do whatever we are up to at the moment. The girl in the front of the picture, Andrea, is in the same grade as I teach (but not in my class) so I often help her with English as well.

Charlie, KoKo and a student name Prosper. Look at the size of the papaya that he brought us! It was bigger than the cat!

Not a great picture, but Miranna teaching "Parts of the Body." It was a really fun lesson followed by a revised version of the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

KoKo waiting in Miranna's bag- ready to go to school with her.

Miranna with her school director's youngest children at New Years. In Benin, families often wear matching fabric for important events, such as funerals, holidays, or weddings. The two girls are twins. They were so cute in their matching outfits, we couldn't resist taking a picture!

Life is Full of Surprises

2010-02-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

We woke up one Sunday morning to find a mouse swimming in our sink! Miranna screamed for Charlie, who then put Ko Ko to work...

In the end, Charlie had to drown the mouse...

Mouse Kill Count:
Charlie: 2
Ko Ko: 0

However, she is very skilled at catching cockroaches (and keeping us company!). Hey, we're not all perfect, right?

Random Updates

2010-02-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Wow, it’s February! We’ve just hit our 6 month mark in country!

What is cooking in our side of the world?...

Charlie is currently in the northern part of Benin (look for Kandi on the map) on a HIV/AIDS education bicycle tour with other volunteers. Miranna could not go because she had to teach. However, if all goes well there, we hope to do a similar tour in our region in the near future.

Miranna just finished her first semester of school this week- calculating semester averages for 160+ students should be fun! This week she has been teaching family vocabulary and the possessive case which was a lot of fun. She used all the fun magazines that friends have sent to make up an imaginary family tree. Did you know that John Travolta and his wife are parents to Renee Zelwiger, the Olsen twins, and Patrick Swazye? Who knew they were all related! Of course my students didn’t know who any of these people were (the just loved looking at the pictures) so only I found the humor in it.

A few weeks ago we started learning Fon- the local language in Lalo. We have lessons for 2 hours on Monday afternoons between Miranna's classes. It isn’t easy! It’s not really a written language- it is very phonetic, which is fine if you’ve studied phonetics (which the Beninese do). But, the locals of Lalo love it when we bust out a greeting in Fon!

Because everybody is dying to know: Our kitty’s name is “KoKo.” This is taken from the local saying “KoKoKo,” which is what you say when you go to visit someone at their house. She is always at the door to welcome us, so we thought it was appropriate.

We’ve now had one week with no power- so no lights and no fan have given us the taste of the “real” Peace Corps experience. Man, do we miss our fan! There is a bit of a dispute with the electricity bill with the 30 or so houses that are on our block (and on the same bill) so we’re not actually sure when we will get power back. I won’t even try to explain how it works here because it is incredibly nonsensical, but, we’re coping!

So, all in all, life is good!

A New Year, A New Leaf

2010-02-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

We can’t say that we don’t like the food in Benin. In fact, that is the problem; we like it too much! However, most of the foods are not very “figure friendly” due to their high contents of oil and carbohydrates. Most everything here is prepared in lots of palm oil and fried- everything! We also don’t have easy access to fresh vegetables so a salad is very hard to come by! So, we recently decided that it was high time to get motivated and begin an exercise program. Our two main original hesitations were a) the heat- who wants to exercise in the hot African sun? and b) people staring and thinking “What are those bizarre Yovos doing now?” We get enough attention as outsiders on a daily basis, we didn’t need one more reason for people to stare at us.

A few months after school started, Miranna began to notice students walking around in gym uniforms. After a little bit of investigation she discovered a “track” behind the school and learned that all the students have 3 hours of sports every week! I was quite surprised! So, maybe if we started sports too, it wouldn’t be that bizarre of a concept! Given the hot weather and Miranna’s teaching schedule, we decided that if we were going to exercise it was going to have to be at 6:30 in the morning. Most of you know, we are not morning people, so this was going to take some dedication!

On the first morning that we arrived at the track, a small gathering of children slowly began to arrive before their 7AM classes to observe our turns of the track. We smiled and waved and continued to run. Slowly word began to get out that “Madame” was doing sport in the morning and every morning we had a bit bigger of a crowd watching. One day, Miranna went by herself and was running her usual laps when all of the girls from one of her 6eme classes appeared on the track- in their Kacki uniforms. Their math teacher was late and they were concerned that she was running by herself. She assured them that she was OK, but they insisted on running with her. The girls got such a kick out of this- as did Miranna! This wasn’t the first and last time that this happened. Most times when we arrive at the track there is always a group of students who join us- either because of their concern that one of us is by ourselves or because it is a good opportunity for them to practice their English (and hang out with the coolest teacher in school!).

A few weeks later we were chatting with a student and asked her what she was doing on the weekend. She mentioned that on Saturday morning she would be doing sports, per usual. We kind of gave her a funny look and asked what she meant. She explained that “everybody” goes to the school on Saturday mornings to do sports. If this was the case, why hadn’t we heard anything about it up to this point? So, we told her that would be there Saturday morning to see for ourselves. On Saturday morning we showed up at 6:30 and begin, as usual, to run laps. Slowly, but surely, more and more students began to show up. By 7AM, the Director, other members of the school administration, the President of the Parent’s Association, a doctor from the Centre de Sante, and beaucoups of students were present at the track. Some students started to run with us, there were two soccer games, a volleyball game, a basket ball game, and a group doing aerobics all at the same time. We had such a blast paying with the kids and were happy to have found a Saturday morning activity. Yet, we were also shocked that we had been living in Lalo for almost three months and no one had yet mentioned this to us!

So, our decision to start on an exercise routine has been one of the best decisions I we have made since arriving in Lalo. Not only for the obvious fact, that it is good for our health, but more importantly it has allowed us to get to know students (in all the grade levels) on a more in depth basis. Even on days when it is so hard to drag ourselves out of bed at 6AM, once we are there and that unexpected student shows up by my side to run with us, we arrive back home feeling so happy that we made the decision to exercise that morning. What we used to view as an activity just to stay healthy has proven to be an activity in becoming more integrated and involved within Lalo.

Joyeux Noel

2009-12-25T03:10:00.000-08:00

or..."Merry Christmas" from Benin!

Of course we are missing not being at home for Christmas, but we’re making do here! It doesn’t feel at all like the holiday season and Christmas music just doesn't have the same ring here: it isn't "beginning to look a lot like Christmas," it's never going to snow (even if we repeat "Let it Snow" a million times) so it won't be a "White Christmas," and we won't "be home for Christmas" (even if we wish we could be!)! However, we are having a great week.

We are spending this week of Christmas in Cotonou. We lucked out and got asked to house/dog sit for an American couple that lives here, so we are enjoying the luxuries of AC, satellite TV, and internet! Tuesday night we were invited to a reception at the Ambassador’s house- it was a lot of fun and the new ambassador and his wife are really nice! Last night we hosted a Xmas Eve dinner for the other volunteers that are also in town. The menu: chicken, sausage and apple stuffing, greenbean casserole, and mashed potatoes. For dessert: homemade eggnog and xmas cookies. It was so nice to be able to cook in a real kitchen!

The Ambassador has also opened his pool on Christmas Day for the American community, so we’ll be spending some quality time there today! Saturday we are going to attend a wedding with a friend from Lalo, who is going to a co-worker’s wedding here in Cotonou. That should be fun! Otherwise, we are relaxing and enjoying a break from the heat!

We wish everybody a very Merry Christmas back home!

No photos allowed at the Ambassador’s house, but us before we went to the reception.

Bon Appetite! Christmas dinner is ready!

1st Three Months in Lalo

2009-12-24T01:10:00.000-08:00

This week hits a milestone for us- we’ve officially been at “post”- or Lalo- now for 3 months. This means that we have been in Benin now for 5 months! It really has been flying by. So, we wanted to write an update about what has been going on in our lives since we have been official residents of Lalo.

Overall, life in Lalo is good! Our house is starting to feel like a home- especially with the addition of a kitty! We are starting to get in a groove with our schedule and work, we’ve pretty much figured out where we need to buy what we need, and we feel like we know a good amount of people in town. Our next hurdle is trying to learn the local language. Up to this point it has been difficult to pick up a lot because there are two languages spoken here in Lalo- Adja and Fon. We have a few of the greetings down in both, but we never know who is speaking what and/or which one to use- it is very confusing! We have chosen to study Fon, mostly because it is the predominate language in the center of town, but also because many people in Cotonou speak Fon, so we think it will be more helpful in the long run. After the holidays we will start with a tutor (an English teacher at Miranna’s school) and see what progress we can make!

For Miranna, the month of December has been a long exam process: writing and correcting exams for all of the English classes at her school, reviewing exam material with her students, proctoring exams (boring!!), grading exams (super time consuming), and finally handing back and reviewing the exams with the students. What a process- and she gets to do it again at the end of January (they have tri-mesters here)! The grading scale here is out of 20, not 100 like we are used to, so students have to get a 10/20 to pass. Most of Madame Miranna’s students did- on English anyway- but the grades ranged from 19.75/20 to 2/20 (it was not a hard exam!). This gives you an idea of the range of students in each of the classes. Are you curious what Miranna is teaching? Luckily, up to this point, it hasn’t been anything too complicated for the lowest-level classes (6eme): we have covered the verb “to be,” greetings, school vocabulary, question words, prepositions, days of the week, and numbers 1-100. After the holidays, she’ll be teaching time, possessive adjectives, and the verb “to have.” The 5eme class has been concentrating on reviewing verb tenses they learned last year and learning the simple past. This is not so easy because of all those irregular verbs (ate, spent, bought, etc)- that are only irregular in the affirmative, but not negative and interrogative forms! It's been a learning process for me, as well as the students!

Miranna and some of her students outside one of the classrooms.

Charlie is doing fine at work. He has still been going out into villages and helping with vaccination days. There’s another PC volunteer in a nearby town called Dogbo and she comes down to a nearby village close to Lalo. Together they do baby weightings and provide consultations to the mothers on how they should continue breastfeeding their child up to 6 months, when they can start weaning the babies, and what they can do to increase the nutritional value of the food given to them. He has also visited a few villages with the chef du village, where he works with groups of rice growers. He plans on organizing some educational sessions to talk about health issues. For example, learning proper hygiene practices or doing a cooking demonstration to illustrate how they can supplement meals with the leaves from a local tree called “moringa,” which grows very quickly in this part of the world. A big part of the work for both health and environment volunteers here is to encourage mothers to use the leaves in their cooking to provide a nutritional supplement for their children.

One of several artesian wells found in surrounding villages. The water flows nonstop year-round. It’s used for drinking water, washing clothes and to irrigate nearby rice fields.

The dry season has begun because it is the beginning of the “harmatan.” It is a time when the dry Saharan dessert winds sweep over West Africa and actually make it cooler and less humid most everywhere in Benin- including Lalo. It actually makes for very pleasant evenings! Also, when we do laundry, the clothes dry in about a day which is awesome compared to when we first got here and it took several days due to the humidity! But, don’t get us wrong- it is still hot! We love our fan more and more everyday!

Boy on his way to school (this is the boy's uniform) cutting through a rice field.

Ho Ho Ho

2009-12-13T13:53:00.001-08:00

Santa made an early delivery to Lalo last week...

TOO Cute!

Needless to say, Miranna is tres content! She dosen't have a name yet- Charlie wants to have a naming contest with the local kids- we'll see what we come up with!

Another post coming later- so stay tuned!

Joyeuse Jour de Dinde

2009-11-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

...or Happy Turkey Day!

Just incase you are worried that we are not getting our share of turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie, we are celebrating Thanksgivng here in Benin. Miranna has been in Parakou (a larger city in the middle of the country) with the other education volunteers in her group all week for a training. Charlie came up today to join us! Tomorrow (Thursday), after the training is done, we will be preparing a "traditional" feast...well, as traditional as we can make it here in Benin. There were a number of volunteers that killed the turkeys tonight- Miranna opted for preparing the stuffing. Even though there will be a number of substitutions of ingredients, the menu has al the traditiaonl dishes and I'm sure the meal will still be delicious!

We are well. We know many of you have sent us packages, but we have not yet been to Cotonou to check our mail. We will be able to do so in the next few weeks and we'll let you know when we get them. As they say here, "Merci en Avance!"

2009-11-16T00:24:00.000-08:00

Going Yaya for Boni

Two weeks ago it was announced at school that the President of Benin, Yayi Boni, was to visit Lalo. This was very exciting news- the president of the country was going to visit little ‘o Lalo?! While at first this was exciting, in the end it was a pain because academic life at school practically stopped because every day the President was going to arrive. The first few days all classes were cancelled because the students had to clean (let me note here that he was never even coming to the school directly, but the athletic field behind the school- so why everything had to be cleaned repeatedly is beyond me). The other days only half of the students showed up assuming there were no classes, there were constant interruptions by administrators coming into classes to make announcements “in case he arrives tomorrow”, and oh yeah- there was more cleaning. Everyday, we wondered, “is he coming tomorrow?”
Well he finally arrived this past Friday- two weeks after the original arrival date. So, of course all classes were cancelled because he was going to arrive at 9AM. (Side note: You might not think it is such a big deal that classes kept getting cancelled, but the problem is that many of these teachers literally began teaching classes 2 weeks ago- even though class supposedly started October 1st- because of numerous other issues in the education system here. So at this point, with only another month of school until exams before the Christmas break every class counts!!) He did not arrive until 3PM.

In the meantime, however, it was quite a site to see! There were more people in Lalo than we ever imagined possible! People were brought in from surrounding villages by the truckloads- literally! Imagine an open top 18 wheeler filled with people- because that’s what we saw! There were many different groups of women, artists, villagers, etc. all dressed in matching tissue, playing instruments, and singing. We walked around, talked with students, and took in the sites and sounds as folks danced and made use of the time while waiting.

After a few hours, we decided to stake out our spot. We were with Miranna’s friend, Judith that works at the school, and the school director’s oldest son. Judith sweet talked us into a place under the sound/technical tent which was directly to the left of the main stage/tent. We stood there for a while, when the mayor of Lalo (whom we had not yet met) noticed us- being the only Yovos in Lalo, we weren’t hard to miss! He came over to the side tent, introduced himself and then asked if we’d like to sit with him at the front. Of course, we weren’t going to refuse! The good news: he led us to 3rd row seats directly behind the President’s seat- the bad news: we were instructed that we were not allowed to take any pictures. You’ll see below we snuck one.

Well his helicopter finally swooped in around 3PM. That’s right- helicopter. In a town where not everyone has electricity or running water (like us), the president comes in, hovers around with the helicopter and lands in a nearby corn field. This is quite a site to see for many who haven’t even left their village, or seen an airplane, let alone a helicopter; it nearly caused a stampede as people rushed to follow it around and see where it would land. He made a round to greet the crowds, sat down and we proceeded to listen to local representatives of the ministries and artisan groups speak for over an hour. Finally, Boni got up to speak- for 5 minutes! And then he was gone! In the end, it was a very anti-climatic day. We sat in the heat (luckily, not directly in the sun!) for 5 hours waiting for his arrival. By the time he left it was 5PM- we were hot, hungry, thirsty, tired, and annoyed! We went home, showered, ate, and took a 4 hour nap! But, the people love him. Apparently he’s done a lot of good for the country, but we are still trying to find out what and how exactly he’s benefitted Benin. He did note how well agriculture was doing in Lalo given how he had just landed in the corn field. Oh, and the helicopter was pretty cool.

Miranna (wow- do I stand out in a crowd here?!), friend Judith, and lots of women from Lalo in matching tissue at the entrance to the school. The sign says “The population of the commune of Lalo welcomes his Excellence the President Yayi Boni to Lalo.”

Our view of Boni- just two rows away- but you could barely see him from his surrounding entourage.

Two girls selected to greet Boni. One girl is holding a cup of water- it is a Beninese custom to offer water to visitors. The other girl is holding flowers.

A Few Good Questions

2009-11-01T03:07:00.001-08:00

Our good friend, Matt, called us last week. (Matt, thanks for calling- it was great to hear from you!) He asked us a few questions that we thought other people might be thinking as well, so we decided to expand upon them on the blog.

Do you experience racism?
Well yes- but not in a negative way. In Benin, the word “Yovo” means “white person or foreigner.” We are constantly called “Yovo”- which would be like walking down the street in the US and having someone call you by your race- like “black” or “white.” But I should also preface this by saying that here everybody is referred to by their title or job. For example, you call the carpenter “Carpenter” or the school director “Director,” etc. Names are not so important here- pretty much everyone is often referred to as “brother” or “sister” even if they are not brother or sister. This is a very bizarre concept for us coming from a society where there is such an emphasis on individualism. Can you imagine just calling your teachers “teacher” and not “Mr. and/or Mrs. So and So”? It has taken some getting used to, but now being referred to as “Madame”, “Monsieur,” “Teacher,” or “Yovo” is normal and by the end of the two years, we might even forget our own names (c said he still might call m yovo)!

When kids see us here they start singing a song:
Yovo, Yovo bon soir
Ca va bien, Merci!
This is left over from Colonial times where the colonialists taught the Beninese children this song. The children would sing the song for the Colonialists and then they would be given treats and candy. They are not singing it to get gifts, but just because that is what they have been taught to do when they see a white person. They are not singing it to be malicious, but usually because they are super excited to see us- someone so different from them! Also what’s interesting is that often times the kids actually don’t even know French and our merely singing the song just to sing it to us not even knowing what they are saying- most obvious when they sing the song first thing in the morning saying bon soir “good evening” and not bon jour “good morning.”

So yes, the name “Yovo” does get old, as we would prefer Madame or Monsieur. However, we have been assured many times over by friends here that it does not carry a negative connotation. While we hate to be constantly referred to by our race, in Benin “Yovo” is a prestigious term because they see “Yovos” as the superior race, who are more intelligent and have more money. Even though they are not only referring to Americans- but basically everybody not from West Africa- we hate to be thought of in this manner. We have expressed that we don’t see ourselves in that way and our friends and colleagues that see us everyday don’t use the term “Yovo” we’ve just come to accept that there is no way we can change the mentality and history behind this word in the two years that we are here (or for the 40 years that Peace Corps has been here, as a matter of fact!). So, yes, by US terms, the fact that we are called by our skin color everyday- that is racism. But, in Benin- c’est la vie!

How much do things cost there?
The easy answer: a lot cheaper than in the US! Things in Cotonou and Porto Novo (the 2 largest cities) are, of course, more expensive. But, here are a few examples of costs here in Lalo:
Lunch (rice, beans, fish) for 2 and 2 cokes in a buvette: $2
beer: $1
8 oranges: .25 cents
bunch of bananas: .25 cents
½ dozen eggs: $1
baguette: .30 cents
pile of tomatoes: .50 cents
Charlie’s haircut: $1
water (refilled every other day, about 30 gallons): .40 cents

That is about all we spend our money on in Lalo. So, our day to day expenses are next to nothing which is nice! While you are loathing how much you just paid for that fruit you bought or the lunch you ate out today- just remember the difference in how much money you are making at the same time!

Please send us questions that you may be wondering about our life here- others might be thinking the same thing!

Package Requests

2009-10-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

Want to send us something?

These are some things that we’d like. Don’t worry about if other people have already sent something on the list, because we can definitely use more than one of anything listed!

Food:
beef/turkey jerkey
dried berries (like craisins, but any variety)
dry roasted almonds & sunflower seeds (can get peanuts here)
tea (anything but regular lipton which is what we can find here)
whole wheat pasta & brown rice (we really miss whole grains!)
condiment packets (all those free ones you get from fast food joints- including soy sauce, honey mustard, ketchup, lemon juice, jellies, etc- hint- we love chick-fil-a)
splenda/equal packets
granola bars- a variety (M requests Fiber One bars)

Other items:
stain removal sticks
ant traps (wrapped up in a separate bag)
coloring books and crayons (generic pics- no Disney, etc- all the characters, etc that are so popular at home don’t mean anything here)
uno cards- a plain deck
calendars- new and old (don’t throw those 2009 ones away!)- will be used for pictures for visual aids for M’s classes- and also are good to show people here pics of scenes from different states, seasons, holidays, etc- all of that is so foreign)
variety of magazines (after we read will be used to cut out pictures for visual aids for M’s classes)stickers (for graded papers)

Merci!!

Where Have You Guys Been??

2009-10-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

Charlie adminstering polio vacinations in Lalo.

Miranna with our taxi and all of our luggage when we left Porto Novo for Lalo.

We are now official residents of LALO! Yes, we are alive and fine, but we do not have access to email in our new town. Hence, the lack of communication from us. Today we have come to the regional capital, Lokossa (which is about an hour away for us), to do our banking, check email, and most importantly, celebrate the big 3-0 for Miranna with other volunteers in our region.

Things are going well- wow, where to start? We have been in Lalo for about 3 weeks now. Our house is great, though it is taking time to get settled in since it was completely empty when we arrived. We have acquired a bed, bookshelf, and a dining room table with 4 chairs from another volunteer nearby (he moved into a previous PC couple’s house, so he had lots of everything). We just put in an order with the carpenter for some other items such as a chest of drawers, a clothes rack, and another bookshelf. It’ll be nice to finally take clothes out of our suitcases that have been there since July! Well technically we have been living out of a suitcase since May, so you can imagine how excited we will be to not have to dig through a suitcase everyday! Once we are really settled in, we’ll take some pictures and post them.

But to give a general description, we have a large main room that we will use as a living room/dining room/office. Then we have 2 smaller rooms- one is our bedroom and the other is our storage room- clothes, food, etc. We have a small outside area in the back- one side has the kitchen, the other side has our toilet (yes, we have a real toilet, not a latrine- but since we don’t have running water, it is pour flush) and an area for our bucket showers. It is very comfortable! We have electricity which helps- so we are able to run the fan and have lights at night.

Everyone has been really welcoming and we feel very safe here. While Miranna was initially hesitant about the small size of Lalo, we now realize how better it is to be in a smaller town where everybody knows who we are. It would be nice to be in a bigger town where access to goods (and email) is easier, but you’ll never get to know as many people and not feel as comfortable as we are getting around town. One of Charlie’s work counterparts, named Fagla, is the Chef du Village of Lalo. Our house is very close to his and he has taken us under his wing. We eat dinner at his house most every night, he introduces us around town, finds us things we need, etc. He has known other volunteers in the region in the past so he is familiar with Americans and is excited to show us Beninese culture. We’re not sure how many wives he has (at least 3), but he has 13 children! Not too atypical for here. The older girls (between 13 and 10 years old) fetch our water for us every other day and sometimes they just come over to hang out. So what does “fetching water” mean? Basically, they use large aluminum basins that we have to go down the street to a house where the person charges folks to collect water. We give the girls enough money to pay for it and give them sweets or fruits once they’re done. It works out nice for everyone. Eventually we want to start teaching them English because none of them are in secondary school yet and it’ll give them a jump start in a few years when they do start English in school – where M is teaching.

And, what about work? The reason we are here, right???
Miranna: I officially started school on October 1st, but after a week and a half, I had not yet taught a class. The “1st day of school” has a very different connotation in Benin than in the US. Basically it means that students start to show up to pay their school fees and clean the school grounds and classrooms. Primary school is free, but secondary school (the equivalent of middle and high school) costs about $20 for continuing students and new students have to also bring a bag of cement to help finance the construction of new buildings. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but for families here it is a lot of money. This is one reason why after primary school many girls are not able to continue school. If a family only has enough money for one or two of their children to go to school, it will be the boys. So, students are not allowed to find out what class they are in until they have paid. So, even if I had wanted to start teaching the first day there wouldn’t be any students because they hadn’t yet had a chance to pay. What this means is that there will be about a 3 week period that every time I have a class that meets, I will have new students. This makes it hard to teach because everything will have to be repeated until all of the students are finally present. By the end of this past week classes had started to fill up- I had about half my students in all my classes (the average number of students in a class is 50- so classes of 25 sure did feel full- I’m not too excited about that number doubling!). I am tired of teaching “Good Morning,” “How are you?,” My name is…,” etc… I really don’t want to start teaching anything important, such as the verb “to be,” until everyone is there. I am one of the only teachers that has actually started teaching- so I don’t see everything getting into full swing for at least another week. It really is bizarre!
I officially only work 18 hours a week, but I spend at least that amount of time at home on class preparation- so my days are still full. My schedule is as follows:
Monday: 8-10AM 6eme A (equivalent of 6th grade); 5-7PM 6eme BTuesday: 8-10AM 6eme C; 3-5PM 5eme A (equivalent of 7th grade)Wednesday: 8-10AM 6eme B; 10-12 English Department meetingThursday: 8-10AM 6eme C; 10-12 6eme A; 3-5PM 5eme A
I don’t have class on Friday, which is great, but by the time it gets here, I’m exhausted- especially after teaching for 6 hours on Thursday. Everybody has “repose” between 12- 3PM. This is fabulous because at that time of the day it is too hot to function here. The mornings and evenings are very pleasant, but it is so HOOOTTT in the middle of the day, I now understand why everyone takes the repose- think “siesta” like in Latin American culture. Between classes and for repose I typically come home, prepare for classes, do laundry, take a nap, read, clean, etc.- but most important sit in front of a fan!
Overall, I am happy with my school placement thus far. I enjoy the change of pace from an office job and the challenge I have everyday creating lesson plans. It is sad to say, but with my limited training I am one of the better English teachers at my school- mostly because I always show up and I actually care if my students learn something. Everyone at the school has been nice and open to answering all my questions. I am super lucky because the person at my school that takes the school fees- called the Comptable- is a women (named Judith) and she is also an English teacher! In Benin the majority of school staff and teachers are men. In fact at my school, we are the only women; in such a male dominated society it is nice to see a woman in an important position. You can tell Judith is super excited to have me there and I am glad she is there! I am able to go to her about anything- including how much I should pay for eggs or tomatoes in town, where I should get clothes made, etc. We have talked about finding a night for her to come over and exchange 1 hour of speaking in French for 1 hour of speaking in English. I look forward to getting to know her better!

Charlie: Hmmmm, where do I start? Work for me i.e. health volunteers, isn’t exactly as clear cut as Miranna’s teaching gig. It’s not too unexpected for me, but a challenge to deal with. In Benin, people at work have very specific roles, so to have a volunteer come in and start working is a bit of a challenge because they don’t know quite what to do with us. It’s not to say that I can’t find something to do or they don’t want me there, it’s just that coming in to working as a community health volunteer doesn’t give them much to go with…..yet. On top of it all I have my language barrier to work with and everyone speaks local language to each other for the most part. What’s frustrating is that they will do it in front of you and leave you completely stranded trying to figure out what they are saying. I have to then ask, “what’d he/she say?” and get a short version of the story. Oh and did I mention they actually speak 2 different local languages around here?

While we were in Porto Novo, we had gotten a few courses in the local language Adja. That was great and helpful to know we would get to learn that language. Of course, we get to Lalo and everyone in town is speaking Fon, another local and more widely spoken language throughout Southern Benin. Then one day I go on a trip into the bush with Fagla to see the rice fields and scare away birds – its rice harvesting time so this is a very important activity! We meander through narrow dirt paths and come along a small village at the outskirts of where he is still considered village chief. Here, he says, is where they speak Adja. “Wonderful”, I say, and immediately bust out the few greetings and phrases I knew. Let me tell you it’s one of the most rewarding experiences to be able to be in such a strange, different, culturally awkward environment and make a connection that is as simple as- “hello, how are you?” They love it!! So, after a few shots of the local brew, sodabe, I leave slightly buzzed and confused about what language they do speak around here. I’ve come to find out everyone pretty much understands bits of the other and just depending on where you are you have to speak that language even if the village is only a few kilometers away from another speaking a totally different language- it’s really fascinating.

In response to an increase in polio (yes, the polio that has long since been eradicated in the US) cases within West Africa, Benin is participating in a door to door campaign to vaccinate all children under 5 years of age. As soon as I found out this news I quickly began asking around to find out how I could help out. Turns out they put me on a team to work within the center of the village here in Lalo. I even dragged Miranna to help out giving vitamin A doses to the kids. It was an amazing, and not to mention incredibly tiring, 3 days of literally visiting every house in town and performing the vaccination which is simply done by administering 2 drops of vaccine into the kids mouths. It was a great way for us to see parts of town we would have never gotten to visit (there’s not really a reason we would go there) and also just get the word out that we were here for the next 2 years and make new connections. (See picture above)

Another question that might be on your mind:
What do you eat? For breakfast we typically have bread, fruit (bananas or oranges), and tea- nothing too fancy. For lunch we eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, soy cheese (most easily compared to Tofu), tomatoes, rice or couscous, and fruit. Dinner is more typically Beninese when we eat at Faglas’s house- it consists of pate blanc (a staple starch made from corn or cassava meal boiled with water- about the consistency of really thick mashed potatoes) or rice, a sauce, such as sauce de legume (a vegetable based sauce made with tomatoes and cassava leaves- basically the only form of green vegetable you get here) or a tomato and sesame based sauce, and fish or chicken- all eaten by hand (the right one, of course!). The few times we have cooked for ourselves we have made some version of American dishes, but you have to be pretty creative since finding ingredients isn’t too easy! What we can find on a daily basis: tomatoes, eggs, rice, beans, fried dough concoctions, onions, ginger, and peanuts. Things we get excited about when I find them in town (or walking past me on top of a women’s head): bread, pineapple, bananas, oranges, avocados, soy cheese. And that is about the extent of our diet! While we eat well, we do miss the variety from home!

Please send us your questions and we’ll do our best to answer them in the next blog post. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to check email again in the next few weeks! In the meantime, if you miss us, please call us! We’d love to hear from you! Our parents have been buying phone cards that work well that get you about 20 minutes for $5. Our numbers:
Miranna: 011-229-96695532
Charlie: 011-229-97914934
Keep in mind that we are 5 hours ahead of ET, though that will be 6 hours when you all change time. We are typically home after 7PM our time.
A bientot!

Official Volunteers

2009-09-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-22T09:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-09-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-15T02:04:00.000-07:00

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!

A Quick Update

2009-08-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are alive and well. I know everybody is anxious to see some pictures, but they are proving impossible to upload. We will figure something out and post some soon. We have not had as much access to internet as expected because our days are packed so full. This past week Miranna started teaching model school: a free summer school for local kids so we can practice our teaching. Charlie is learning how to weigh babies and has started learning our local language: adja. So needless to say, free time that was previously spent after school checking email now goes to lesson planning or language studying. We have a lot to write about and hope to catch up soon: our host family, model school, our visit to Lalo.

A week ago we spent a few days in Lalo and the surrounding area checking out where we will be living for the next two years and meeting our work counterparts. We’ll write more about this in the new future, but all in all it was a good visit and we look forward to settling down there at the end of September.

Thank you for all of your emails, we will work on typing up responses this week and sending out updates soon. Keep them coming. A few of you have asked what you can send us: magazines or books, pictures, individually packaged snacks and drink mixes, anything creative you can think of that will fit in a padded envelope and entertain us, and of course old fashioned letters with all your news. Our address is in an older post below. Merci en avance.

A Day in our Life as Peace Corps Trainees

2009-08-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

We thought you might be interested to know what have we have been up to since we have arrived in Porto Novo. We are called trainees because we are not officialy Peace Corps volunteers until we complete training and swear-in at the end of September. There is a group of current volunteers that are with us each week to help in our technical sessions which has been very helpful. So, this is pretty much what our weeks are like (there is a little variety from day to day):

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
6:30-7:30 Get ready, have breakfast (Charlie typically has an omlette, bread, coffee and Miranna has pineapple, bread, tea)
7:30 leave for school (Miranna goes via zemi because she lives far from her school, but Charlie can go via bike- pour schools are about 30 minutes apart so we dont see each other during the day)
8-10 Language class
10:30-12:30 Technical class (For Charlie this includes classes on child and maternal health, AIDS, maleria, etc; for Miranna this includes lesson planning, grading, grammer review, etc)
12:30-1:30 Lunch at school- we buy lunch from women that bring something theyve made to our school- typically rice and beans, or avocado sandwhich- also easy to find pineapple and bananas
1:30-3:30 Language class
3:30-4:30 culture or technical class

After school things vary: some days their is a soccer game, some days I come to the internet cafe, or some days well go with some friends to a buvette for a drink. We rarely go right home after school because our family dosent get home until about 7 so their isnt much to do- but we are home by 7:30 when it starts to get dark.

From 7ish-9ish we chat with our host brothers, do homework, boil and bottle water.
9ish- 10ish we eat dinner (no, im not kidding) and chat with our host maman and papa- the kids dont eat with us. We typically have fish or chicken, some sort of starch like potatoes, rice, or couscous, and some kind of vegetable- the food is very good but everything is cooked in palm oil!!!
10ish- to bed (yes, right after we eat) so we can get up at 6:30!

On Tuesdays the whole group is together and it is when we do all of our medical sessions, cross cultural sessions, and any admin work that needs to be done.

We also have class on Saturday until about noon- typically language. Last Saturday my group got together after school and had a cooking session where we learned how to cook Mexican food here in Benin! It was yummy! The next cooking session: American breakfast foods.

And there you have it- our typical days- its pretty exhausting even though we are sitting all day!

Porto Novo

2009-07-30T12:55:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we moved from Cotonou (the largest city), to the capital of Benin- Porto Novo. It is a smaller city about an hour away- towards Nigeria- and even though it is the official capital all of the government buildings, Embassys, etc. are found in Cotonou. It is nice to get out of the big city- Cotonou was really overwhelming!

We moved in with our host families last night. Our family is very well-to-do; they both work in Cotonou for the Benin Government. We are the 1st Americans that they have hosted; no pressure, right? We have a very nice room and our own bathroom with running water, so I'm not sure how this is going to help prepare us for the next 2 years that we are going to live in an African village, but we'll enjoy it while we have it! We had dinner with the family last night: fish, fried potatoes, salad, and pineapple. The food here is great- just very oily and very starchy. I'm loving all of the fresh pineapple, though! So, all in all, we are doing great!

Our whole training group before everyone departed for their host families.

A cool billboard for a cell phone company we passed on the way to Porto-Novo.

1st Few Days in Benin

2009-07-27T05:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update while we have a few minutes here in the Peace Corps office. We are doing well! We have been staying at a monastery in Cotonou since we arrived here Friday. There isn't much to report because we have been very "sheltered"- it almost feels like we are at summer camp. We have had a lot of introductory sessions on a variety of topics, medical interviews, language interviews, etc. We don't leave the compound except in a van to come to the Peace Corps office- so we don't have too many stories to share! Except yesterday I got to escape with a few other people to a "buvette" down the street with a current volunteer and some other trainees. We had a soda and after about an hour of being stared at by the people working at the bar, they came over and asked us for our picture before we left. We were like- OK- and then they all got in the picture with us. It was really funny because the volunteer that we were with said that they had never had this happened to them before.
We leave on Wednesday for our host family stays in Porto Novo and this is also when the real training classes begin. We're excited to get everything started, begin to experience the culture, and begin to feel like we live here!

A picture of traffic in Cotonou from the van window- note all the Zemidjans (moto taxis)! We got to ride one for the 1st time today near the Peace Corps office to practice. I was terrified, but it actually was really fun!!! (No worries, we have massive helmets we wear!)

Are you there?

2009-07-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

Yes! We are here! We made it! Will write when we have a chance!

US Farewell Tour: Part Five

2009-07-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

The last week of our time in the US has been spent in Knoxville/Jefferson City- where Miranna grew up. We've spent a lot of time doing last minute preps for our trip, but we've also had time to visit friends and family:

Miranna, Mom, and Noel- Douglas Dam in Jefferson City

Alison and daughter Kenzie, and Miranna- Gettysburg friends out to lunch.

Stacey and daughter Lauren, Miranna and Mom- catching up with long lost Camp Tanasi friends!

We also took a day trip to the mountians, which was important for our trip preparation so that we could practice using an outhouse!
Wow! Time has flown by! I can't believe our farewell tour has come to an end! It was great visiting with all of our friends and family and sorry we missed some of you! We leave for Philadelphia tomorrow morning where we will meet the other 54 members of the Peace Corps group going to Benin. After a day of orientation, we will all board the plane on Thursday and arrive in Benin Friday night! We're not nervous or sad about leaving- we're anxious to go and "get this party started"!

The Things We Brought...

2009-07-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants to know- "What are you taking with you?" We have packed and repacked our bags many times trying to meet the weight requirements: 80 lbs each!

The final weigh-in!

We told Cori that she weighed too much to make the cut!

As you can see, we have a lot of stuff- but come on, for 2 years, its really not that much stuff!
So what is all of this? Here is a sample list of what we are bringing:
Clothes & shoes
Rain jackets
Shortwave Radio
Camera (digital & polaroid)
The Golden Girls Seasons 1-3 (I'm not kidding)
Nalgene bottles
Solar shower
Duck tape, ziploc bags, tupperware
Hammock
Cooking spices
School supplies
Public health books
Hand sanitizer
2 flashlights & 2 headlights
Waterproof matches
Photo albums
2lbs popcorn (Again, I'm not kidding)
Garden seeds
Kickball (thanks, Missy- the kids will love it!)
And much more...

The final pack-up!

US Farewell Tour: Part Four

2009-07-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

While we were in Chattanooga, we took a weekend trip to visit some friends in Atlanta. We had a great time! Thanks Jason and Erin for hosting!

Post-brunch pic at the Essary's: Rob, Lindsay, Jillian and Callaway Lockery, Jason and Erin Essary, Miranna and Charlie Darr.

A "noche" out in the ATL after our non-tubing adventure!

Finally- Tubin' the Chattahoochee!

Who knew 50 degrees could feel so good!? After braving the cold waters of the Chattahoochee and those crazy Class I's we have our victory pose. Don't worry, no wastewater discharges on this run of the river.

1 Week Away

2009-07-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, we leave one week from today! We are very busy doing last minute shopping, packing and visiting family and friends. There hasn't been much down time, but we want to make sure we're packed and ready to go! While we probably should be apprehensive, we're actually really excited and ready to start our adventure!

Here is our address for all of those that want to begin to send us letters or packages (they take about a month to arrive):
Charlie and Miranna Darr, Peace Corps Volunteers
Corps de la Paix
01 B.P. 971
Cotonou, Benin
Afrique de l'Ouest (West Africa)

Mailing guidelines from the Peace Corps:

Write "Air Mail" and "Par Avion" on all envelopes.
Number your letters and packages (as to know what arrives and in what order).
If sending packages, "bubble envelopes" work best.
If sending any food items, put them inside a ziplock bag.
Packages should be sent via air, not surface mail.
The sender should clearly and honestly mark the contents on the outside of the package, but a general description of the contents is sufficient: "clothing and candy."

We will really appreciate everyone's support while we are gone! It will be great to get news and pictures from home!

US Farewell Tour: Part Three

2009-07-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

We just had a wonderful week in Chattanooga, TN on stop #3 of our farewell tour. We spent a lot of time with Charlie's family, including his Grandmother that just turned 95!

The Darr Family: Charlie and Miranna, Paul and Emily, Luz and Charles and Grandmother

Tourists in Chatty: Emily, Paul, Charlie, and Miranna visiting the Delta Queen River Boat
Tourists in Chatty: Abby, Mark, and Miranna overlooking the river downtown

We were lucky to have a whole crew of friends from Washington, DC and Gettysburg visit us as in Chattanooga! We visited many sites- including the Chattanooga Choo Choo!
Thanks, Dennis, Billy, Matt, Cora, Siri and Jimmy for celebrating our last American holiday with us in Chattanooga!

Our patriotic 4th of July outfits- cute, I know! I made my "liberty" shirt for a play in the 5th grade- I'm not kidding.

Happy Birthday, America! Next year we'll be celebrating in Benin, but I don't know that the shirts will make the cut in our 80 pound luggage limit!

Most importantly, our kitty Cori found a great new home in Chattanooga with Charlie's parents! She is a very content kitty- thanks Momma and Daddy Darr!

US Farewell Tour: Part Two

2009-07-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

After we left DC we headed to Bradenton, FL for stop #2 of our farewell tour. We spent a week in Florida with my Dad, Stepmother, Lydia, and Rosey just relaxing after a hectic week of moving and goodbye parties in DC.
We love to visit the area- especially because this is where we got married last year! We celebrated our 1st Anniversary at the beach and visited Snooty the Manatee at our reception site.

Snooty, the oldest living manatee in captivity, turns 61 this month!

US Farewell Tour: Part One

2009-07-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

We started our farewell tour in May: Stop #1 California

My brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces met us in CA and it was great to see them before we left! We're going to miss you guys!Charlie had to go home early, but I had a great time with the girls during the week playing at the park, picking strawberries, and visiting Shamau and Snooty at SeaWorld!

Yes, her shirt says "If you think I'm cute, You should see my Aunt"- I can't believe Uncle Charlie would pick out something so sweet!

Au Revoir DC

2009-07-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

We've been very busy in the past two months- sorry for the delay in posting!

We moved out of 1833 19th Street at the end of April as we prepared to close up our lives in DC. It was a sad day because we loved that apartment and had many fun times there! Thanks to everyone for helping us pack and move!

Part of the moving crew- Matt and Billy (Richard not pictured).

One of our last activities in DC was a tour of the White House- thanks Scott! Too bad we didn't run into Obama to wish us well in Benin- but that is OK, we're sure he is going to come visit us!
We had a going away party our last weekend in DC and were thrilled to see all our friends that came to wish us well! (Sorry we couldn't post all the pics- check facebook for all of them)

The Gettysburg Crew- Sarah and Ryan Gottschall, Kat and David Adams

The Party Planners: Allison, Cora and Dennis- Thanks, guys!

It's hard to believe that we had been in DC for 7 years! We had so made so many great friends and shared so many memories there, it was very hard to say goodbye! Maybe we'll call DC home again one day! Au revoir DC...for now!

What everyone wants to know...

2009-05-19T07:24:00.001-07:00

"Where will you be living in Benin?" This is the most popular question that we get...and now we have an answer!

Charlie got an email yesterday that gave us some more details about where we will be living in Benin! This is highly unusual because they don't normally tell you until the middle of the 3 month training period, but because we are a married couple they have already decided where they are posting us!

We will be in a community called Lalo and it is located in the Mono/Couffo department in Southern Benin near the boarder with Togo. This is the most detailed map I could find, but you'll need to enlarge it (just click on it). You'll see Lalo in the orange region at the bottom- above and to the right of the"O" in "Mono."
We think this is a great location! While it will be very HOT and humid, we will not be too far from the capital and beaches!

What does this mean for you? You'll want to come visit us! We aren't too far from one of the best beaches- Grand-Popo. Apparently the best time to visit that area is July-August and December-January. Start planning those 2010 vacations now!

A Peace Corps Haiku

2009-02-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Benin

Elephants, Hippos
Voodoo, Huts on Stilts, Sea
Warm Sun- Africa!

- Charlie and Miranna

Where in the World?

2009-02-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

The long wait is over! As most of you have heard by now, Charlie and I finally received our Peace Corps invitation- a short 14 months after we applied!

We are going to Benin (West Africa) in July!
For those of you that have to look at a map (like we did!)- let me help you out:
It is the small county to the left of Nigeria. While it wasn't where we thought we were going, the more we read, the more excited we get. It apparently has both beautiful beaches and a wildlife park in the north- so start planning your vacations now! WE WANT VISITORS!

But, wow, now we have so much to do- lots of planning to get ourselves ready to go! We hope you'll bookmark our blog and follow us along on our journey abroad. We won't know what our electricity/internet situation will be until we get there, but we'll update it as much as we can!