A New Year, A New Leaf

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.