Saturday, 16 February 2013
So the last time I wrote was a
month ago. But that was because I decided that this time you didn’t need to
hear all of my bored, angsty rants. And this time in Contonou, all I did was
watch the entire TV series, “The Wire” (awesome show, btw), and other mundane
things. I did get to see the superbowl (not the commercials, though).
But anyway, enough about that. I
did get out of the medical unit a week ago, and had the opportunity to go to a
mini-training that the Peace Corps has decided to try out. This one was
specifically for irrigation. I wanted to go because Fétékou has been wanting me
to work on a irrigation system for them. It was a really interesting training.
The only problem was that the trainer was from Songhai. This is the center I
mentioned before, where we spent a lot of time at training. They do amazing
things, like with agriculture. Their goal is to be really sustainable, environmentally
friendly, and do agricultural research. A lot of the equipment that they use,
therefore, is expensive and/or specialized, so it really is practical to use it
in the tiny villages that we work in, in Benin. It would kind of be like trying
to take the equipment that the huge farmers in the Midwest use, and have
someone with a garden in their backyard use it. It wouldn’t make sense.
However, it did give me a better
overall understanding of how irrigation systems could work, even though I would
probably never use the specific one we were trained with. Additionally, the
volunteer whose site we were staying at brought us around to other area
gardens, and showed us the various irrigation systems available there. So I
hope that I will really be able to use this knowledge when I get back to Kérou.
The other cool part was that this
volunteer has also started a chicken-raising project, which I have expressed
interest in doing as well. So when we had some free time during the training,
we went to the place where she had done that with a women’s gardening group.
The chickens actually laid eggs for the first time while we were there (they
usually don’t start until they’re about 5-6 months old). I got to see exactly
how she made things work, and the volunteer brought up all kinds of things that
we should consider, such as keeping the chickens vaccinated—meaning getting
them when they’re a day old, so they can get all the vaccines they need in the
first week. She even wrote out a contract with the local vet, so that he comes
and checks on them regularly to make sure nothing is wrong. I would need to
find ways to keep them cool enough, and warm enough, which might be somewhat
challenging in the north, where the seasons vary more than in the south.
One of the more challenging things might
be the chicken feed. It might be possible to make it on our own, but it
involves complicated mixing, and so on. In order for chickens to regularly lay
eggs, they need certain nutrients, and so on. Pre-mixed feed is available;
however, not exactly in Kérou. I want to look into if Natitangou has such feed
available, or what might be other options.
So anyway, a lot to think about. I can’t
wait to get back to my site and start working on all of this, or at least
discussing it with the groups I am working with, and see what they want to do
or where they want to go from here, and so on.
That is where I am headed, I am finally
going back to Kerou!!!! My goal is to make this into the “integration period”
that I never had. I will stay there, do specific community assessment, and so
on. I am really determined to make this happen. Sometimes I really do feel like
Benin doesn’t want me. Like having me get these medical problems, being plenty sick more than what landed me in the medical unit (thank you, internal parasites), bad luck with
money. With my computer (oh, because now half of my keyboard doesn’t work, and I
had to buy an external one). I've also had frustrating problems with my projects. Such as, while stuck in Cotonou, one of the artisans informed me that they didn't want to use the Maison des Jeunes after all, because of the fact that they one day want to build their own meeting space, and are worried that if they are using the Maison des Jeunes, the mayor won't give them the land for it. Firstly, I think the whole idea of building a whole meeting space is a waste of money, especially since the whole point of say a community center--aka the Maison des Jeunes--is so community people can have meetings. But buildings are a thing of prestige here, and people all over spend stupid amounts of money, just to build thing that sit around collecting dust. Mostly I'm just frustrated that the artisans would encourage and be happy with it, then a little later come up with excuses not to use it. Like, please, BE UPFRONT with me. And stop planning on spending stupid amounts of money on a stupid, unnecessary meeting space. I am just trying not to take everything
personally, and hope that I can make all this work out. Plus I’m stubborn, so I
refuse to give up on being here, and doing some semblance of good work :)
Now i just need to survive this upcoming "hot season" ... 120 degrees, here I come!!!
