Giving for the Girls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?