Cats That Don’t Chase Rats and Other Confusing Things

So, you should probably not read this first part anywhere outrageous laughter is not permitted. Just FYI.

So last night, I went to hang out with Maria after I finished making photocopies for my upcoming business club. We drank some wine, talked about life’s problems, put on a movie, and passed out super early like the old women that we are.

Around 430-ish in the morning, I begin to stir. “Oh thank god you’re up,” exclaims Maria. She explains that she has been up since two in the morning. She had gotten up to get some water, and was scared by a shadow she saw flit across the floor. She herself scurried back to bed, and was unable to sleep. She texted with her father in Puerto Rico, who was giving her moral support. She later admitted that she had been undertaking a series of attempts to wake me up—from bouncing the bed (which as it was already broken, it actually fell in a bit) to make various noises. I had to remind her that I am a heavy sleeper, and like I tell everyone, they could probably drive an ambulance into the room, and I would not wake up. It’s been this way since I was little.

But now I am awake to strategize with her. Unfortunately, the electricity was out in Kérou, meaning that we couldn’t turn on the lights. And as you know, everything is much worse in the dark. For me, my biggest fear regarding rodents is the chance of stepping on them or having them crawl over my foot. Clearly, being in the dark would only increase the chances of this happening.

So to give you more of a visual, Maria’s house is basically two rooms. When you walk in the front door, you are looking directly at the back door. To your right is her family room, then past that begins a hallway with a door to your to go into the bedroom. Through the back door is the private outdoor kitchen and shower So we are sitting on her bed, and hear the sounds of something bumbling around in her main room. With every crumpling of paper, of course, this creature got bigger in our minds. “Where is my cat?” demands Maria. He was lying peacefully on the bed. So I—who have no problems with disturbing animals, and in fact often make that my life goal—pick him up, shake him out of his slumber, and toss him through the doorway into the hallway. He gives himself a little shake, throws us this remorseful look. But then, suddenly, he too hears the disturbances of a rodent. His body tenses, and he jogs away. So Maria and I think to ourselves, “Yes! Caye (the cat) to the rescue!” But then we wait…and wait… There are sounds of movement of a tiny thing, plus we can hear Caye’s bell on his collar. But no final death moans from the invading creature. “Come on Caye! Kill it!” we yell.

There is a tiny squeak. Is that it? But both of us are too scared to go investigate. Then we hear the sounds of movement again… the invader is not finished.

At this point, a little black shadow runs by the bedroom door, down the hallway, towards the back door. Caye follows it leisurely. I only got a short glimpse, and out of direct range of our tiny flashlight. So, keeping my knees firmly planted on the bed, I lean my body out through the bedroom door, bracing myself on the wall. I point the flashlight back the hallway. From behind the half-open screen door, I see a little black nose peak out. Caye is sitting casually by, just staring at it like an inquisitive child. The rat starts running back from the door (towards me). I see Caye bat at it slightly—nothing lethal—before I hurl myself back onto the bed, out of proximity of the creature. It skittles by, and Caye, again follows it at a jog. “That thing is huge!” I exclaim. “It must be 5 or 6 inches long.” Then seeing the horrified look on Maria’s face, I tried to backtrack but it was too late.

“Why isn’t he killing it?” she asks about Caye. “I don’t even like cats. I got him for one reason and one reason only: to kill rodents for me. What good is he otherwise? I hate him.”

At this point, Caye, apparently over his curiosity for this invading rodent, pokes his head back in the bedroom door. Maria and I both yell, “NO!” at him, and point him back at the door. He shoots us a scared look and runs off, only to run back in and under the bed moments later.

Anyway, this routine continues for quite some time, with Maria and I trying to encourage the cat to get the rodent, and him wanting nothing to do with it. As the first hints of light begin to creep into the countryside, Maria gathers up every brave ounce in her, and runs to the front door to open it, hoping at the very least Caye will chase it out, or perhaps it will leave on its own accord. All that this accomplished however, was that Caye ran out the door, leaving us to our own devices. “It’s over! Don’t come back!” yells Maria at the retreating figure. She texts Pierre to see if he still wanted a cat. She has an available one she informs him.

At this point we’re torn… we can’t wait in the bed, because we might miss the rodent leaving, without any confirmation. So we kind of hover in the hallway. Maria then decides to go get one of her neighbors. She brings back this girl—still in pajamas. We are explaining the rat, and that it’s definitely in the family room, etc. The girl moves a few items, and sighs. “It probably left already,” she suggests. But Maria and I assure her the creature is still in the house. At this point, we are both still standing in the hallway, and I am closest to the bed. I don’t see the creature dart out from its hiding place, but Maria does. She screams, and heads to the bed, and me startled and terrified that the creature might be heading towards us, dive into the bed with Maria, partially tearing the mosquito net in the process. Most luckily for us, the neighbor did not actually see us. We start giggling at our ridiculousness. I venture out again, and see the rodent dart across the floor, but I miss its destination. The neighbor can’t find it, and clearly wants to go back her house. She keeps muttering things like, “It’s just a question of habit” and “You’ll get used to it.” Maria responds that she will never, ever get used to it, she hates mice, rats etc. At some point, Maria ends up outside, the rat behind the bookshelves, and the neighbor trying to scare it out. It runs towards me so I jump on the bed, and it runs into the bedroom. This is Maria’s breaking point. A rat has invaded her private space, and there is now nowhere safe in this world. I think at this point the neighbor first begins to understand that Maria’s distress isn’t just silly, but a real fear/hatred of rodents. So we both come to comfort Maria. Then the neighbor tells Maria that she should go to my house. Then at noon, when this neighbor is on break from school, she and her sister will come and search the whole house until the find and kill the rodent. Maria agrees to this, but insists on seeing the corpse, for absolute proof that her worries are over.

We stop at the neighbor’s house where there is the mom and some other kids. They are laughing at our problems. Most of the discussion focuses around Caye. They ask where he was. “He was in the house!” we say. “But he just refused to kill it!”

Neighbors: “Your cat is so spoiled! He doesn’t think he needs to kill mice because you give him fish all the time, as well as Batoori cat food [dry cat food]”

Maria: “He is never getting anything to eat ever again. In fact I don’t even want him any more. Do you want a cat? I’m going to call my friend to see if he wants one.”

Neighbors: “No, you must give Caye a second chance! Here’s what we’ll do. We happen to have mice in our kitchen. We will lock him in there with out food, and within a day he will start killing mice. It’s just like children. If you want them to do something, you have to train them! All you’ve done is just spoiled him. It’s no good.”

Me: “I give my cat dry food and fish, and she still chases lizards and things all the time!”

Neighbors: “Well, I guess in that case, Caye is just dumb. Yes, he is a dumb, dumb cat. Maybe you should get rid of him.”

So at this point we leave and trek across Kérou—Maria and I live at opposite ends—in the chilly morning. I still have time to make myself some coffee before going to my meeting. As we’re sitting there Luna sees a lizard that has unwisely climbed into my house and is on the inside part of my screen door. She immediately sprints, and jumps halfway up the screen door, catching the lizard in her mouth in one deft movement.

“What the hell?” Maria exclaims. “Why can’t my cat do that? No hesitation. None at all. I hate my cat.” Then we hear the crunching of the lizard’s body. So I pick Luna up (she grips the lizard in her mouth) and put her outside, so she can finish the lizard without me having to see/hear the graphic details.

“We’re switching cats,” Maria says.

“Absolutely not,” I reply. But then I coo to Luna, who has finished her lizard and back in the house, “Luna, want to go to Auntie Maria’s and kill a rat?” Luna just licks her lips.

So I had to leave for a meeting. Maria stays and catches up on all the sleep she missed last night. I come back bringing a coke, because I know Maria loves cokes, and always has one every morning. When I pull it out of my bag, she smiles and says, “I will not E.T. I will not!” (E.T. means Early Termination [of Service]).

Eventually, she goes back to her house, where she opens the door for her neighbors and this other kid (Abib) who has been friends with some former volunteers. Apparently, they search the house for rat, and upon finding it, Abib grabs an arrow (Maria had bought it along with a traditional bow), and stabs the creature, killing it. Maria’s neighbor—possibly for revenge for Maria getting her out of bed so early this morning—shows her the corpse and then tosses the body towards Maria, who promptly freaks out. She laughs, and then the incident is over. I’m sure to become a laughing legend among Maria’s neighbors, far after we’re gone. “Remember those white girls who were so scared of a little rat?”

The good news for Caye, however, was that Maria’s neighbors reported that it wasn’t his fault. The type of animal in the house was a black rat. Apparently, it gives off a smell that the cats don’t like; so that they won’t want to kill it. At first we weren’t sure if this was true, or just an attempt to save Caye. But I was recounting the story later to Constant, and he confirmed that this was true. He called it a “musare” but I can’t find a translation for that word anywhere. So Maria grudgingly forgave Caye, but still refused to by him fish on market day.

Amazing Friends, Amazing Adventures

Almost every single day, I am reminded of the absolutely wonderful people that I call my friends. The majority of them are random people who were luckily (or unluckily—you’ll have to ask their opinion too) stuck in some program or other that I did; studying abroad, masters, etc. And yes, there are some people that I don’t keep up with near as much as I should, but part of that is because we’re too busy gallivanting the world doing incredible things.

The most recent example is my friend, Ryan Brown, who studied abroad with me in Senegal. Most unfortunately, she went to Duke, however, as long as that fact is not mentioned; we get along pretty well (GO TERPS! …oops).  Anyway, she’s super, super smart, and internationally minded like myself. The year I spent in grad school, she actually spent in Johannesburg, South Africa after having earned a Fulbright Research Grant. She grew a research project she had been doing in undergrad on a journalist, Nat Nakasa, who lived under Apartheid in South Africa, and after leaving, but unable to return home, ultimately killed himself at a young age in New York. And now all that research is a published book! If you want to check it out, it’s called A NATIVE OF NOWHERE: THE LIFE OF NAT NAKASA will be available on Amazon…soon.  February?

Here is a book review, from a South African newspaper:

Additionally, Ryan is one of two girls (the other one, Allison, also studied with us in Senegal, and who ALSO received a Fulbright, but one to teach English in Vietnam—see? I have freaking amazing friends) who will be meeting up with me in Ghana in January, and then we have plans to tour Ghana/Togo/Benin. So look forward to tales of our upcoming adventures.

So more than that shameless plug for my friends book, I just wanted to share how blessed I feel. I have friends that are spread out all over the world, doing various projects, research, work, and incredible traveling and living. I even admire those who may not be doing something so specific (i.e. writing a book); but nonetheless fill my life with new and awesome ideas and stories. Sometimes they help to deflate my ego [i.e. in my masters program, when I got lower grades than my friends/classmates], though my family will probably assert this is a good thing! But in general, hearing about and sometimes sharing in my friends’ experiences simply serves to make my life more colorful. I mean, I can’t do everything! So it’s perfect to have my friends visit and/or live in Honduras, Vietnam, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Guatemala, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Canada, France, Spain, Cameroon, Ethiopia; bike across the United States; have an awesome career in New York city; work for the International Refugee Committee…oh my, the list can go on for ages. And I know I’ve left tons of people out, but don’t worry, I’m thinking about YOU too. And that’s to say nothing of my family: my mom who has managed to run her own business, despite her protests that she could never do any such thing and now wants to be a life coach in order to help other women find their way. My sister who studied in Paris—PARIS—and is now finishing up school while working long hours, something which I never, ever had to do. My other sister who went to Australia and studied abroad in Spain, and now wants to work at a resort in Colorado, and maybe Hawaii next!

All of these people help inspire me to be a better person. I’m not saying that I’m not doing great things—I have people write and tell me that they are in awe of what I’m doing here in Benin—but I just never want to slack on the awesome. There are definitely some people out there that don’t want to see others prosper, because they think as life as a zero-sum game, meaning that if others prosper then they themselves are losing. But I am fully aware that I can admire qualities and experiences of others without in any way diminishing my own.

That, however, doesn’t mean I’m satisfied with where I am. This past week I gave up drinking. “A whole week!” you say, sarcastically. But for me, at this moment, it’s huge. I’ve been living the past few months in a pool of alcohol, drowning my boredom away; drinking almost every day. Some days I wouldn’t feel like drinking, but then I realized there wasn’t really anything better to do, so…

However, I decided to change this, give up alcohol COMPLETELY for a little bit (although I didn’t specify a period of time) and to permanently give up drinking alone (with the exception of a healthy glass of red wine at dinner). AND I started working out. Last Saturday, I decided to run to one of my events. However, all that happened was that about one whole minute into it, I realized that I am terribly out of shape, and I remembered that I absolutely hate running when I know (or imagine) people are looking at me. And since I live in a place where people stare at me ALL THE TIME, no matter what I’m doing…yeah, it didn’t work out. So instead came back home after the event, and stuck with my home-workout video, “Insanity”. And I did that for six days in a row. Yesterday was my “break” day. It’s absolutely amazing the better sleep I get after working out!

I also have picked back up on studying Arabic again. I don’t really have any specific plans for the language…but it’s a good one to know. Plus I really like how Arabic works. The grammar is fun. And I’m continuing my Spanish studies, so I can attempt to get a Fulbright in the Dominican Republic. Or if not, just live in Puerto Rico or something.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

And don’t worry, I’m doing actual “work” for Benin too. My work with the Artisans goes on—every week “Ben Club” accounting is off. This week I managed to find where they had added “80,000” instead of “8,000”, which is kind of a big deal. But they still had 6,000F missing… why is it always missing with them? At least when my new Savings and Loans group was off, they were over. Then the treasurer was like, “Oh yeah, I think I put some of my personal money with it on accident…” so I gave him an old wallet of mine, to keep the Association’s money separate. A lot of my work with that, however, revolves around trying to create the by-laws and a system by which they will distribute the profits, etc. Usually, such organization work by—after a year or so—collect on ALL the loans, then giving everyone back their savings, along with the profits divided up by how much each person “saved” (the savings work as kind of “shares” of the association as well). However, this means that every year or year and a half, the organization starts over again at zero, and has to wait to build back up the money for loans. So my idea is to create a system where the money would stay in the savings pile. Then every year the PROFITS ALONE would be distributed. Then, after two years, and in each subsequent year, each member would have the OPTION to pull out ONE years worth of savings (knowing that it would diminish the amount of “shares” they have in the Association). This way, the money doesn’t stack up in perpetuity, but it does stack up, and always provides a base amount for the loans.

I think the most boring part of my job is going to the regular artisan meetings. They are definitely necessary; because it’s only through them that I have any way to disseminate information regarding activities for artisans. But for the most part, all that happens is that I sit around for an hour while people talk in Bariba. The Solders mostly have their shit together. Occasionally, they ask for my advice. And because it’s not what they want to hear, they promptly disregard it.

The mechanics sit around and talk about how some people don’t come to their meetings, and the ways in which they will force all the mechanics to come. I have told them—very bluntly—that of course people don’t come, because ALL YOU DO is sit around and complain about how people don’t come. No one wants to waste an hour or more of their week doing that. I certainly don’t! I only come here because I want to tell you about my literacy class, so please STOP. I encourage them to make their association more appealing…so that people will WANT to come. But telling them this accomplishes nothing, they just tell me literally, “we hear what you said,” and go back to speaking in Bariba about the apparently soulless people who have decided to skip these meetings. This morning one of these people was (I think, physically) dragged to a meeting, and he asserted that he was having personal problems with another member, and was thus avoiding the meetings. They asked my opinion and I responded, “well, you’re not required to be friends with every single person here, but you should maintain a professional relationship with everyone, and leave your personal problems BEHIND you, and away from the meeting.” There are lots of nods, then they spent the next 30 minutes discussing the issue he was having with the other member, and trying to regulate it. I considered so many various ways of escaping that meeting, notwithstanding intentionally inflicting physical injury on myself.

I am happy, however, that the Tailor/Seamstresses group has started up again. They were not holding regular meetings for a while. They are about half men / half women. It’s interesting, because their meeting immediately follows the Solders. So all of the solders have these big fancy motos that disappear at the end of their meeting, and the men and women walk up; the women mostly with babies strapped to their backs as well. I offered to get them an accounting book set up, and I will work on this Tuesday with the Secretary. Then I also invited everyone to join the second Savings and Loans Association. I had tried to recruit them earlier, but they weren’t holding their meetings, and the one tailor that I thought I could trust to help me (he was part of Ben Club, and formerly the president of this association) is apparently one of the biggest slackers ever. Ugh. But there is another person there who is also in Ben Club, who is I think the new Treasurer? President? He gave a speech to all the people there about how awesome Savings & Loans are, so I hope there will be some people that decide to come.

I also am hoping to restart the literacy classes. During the rainy season, they kept getting rained out, and people kept complaining about how they were tired from working in the fields that they couldn’t come, so we just left it. But now that the rainy season is over, I am hoping to start up again. Constant, who is the professor helping me, just became a director (kind of like a principle) of a school (congratulations to him). However, his school is kind of far away, so he stays overnight sometimes, meaning we will have fewer nights of classes. However, this is actually better for me, since I also hate going to these classes (it’s dark, okay, and my headlight for my bike is crummy). I am trying to work it out so there will be female students as well. The problem is that women are generally not allowed to leave the house after dark, (they might be having an affair, oh no! Plus men don’t feed themselves, and dishes don’t wash themselves, duh). So the 9PM time that is ideal for the men doesn’t work at all for the women. I originally mentioned this to a small group of men who regularly attended the classes last year, trying to see if we could adjust the times. The response was basically: “Wait…you mean…you want us to actually have class with women? At the same time? In the same classroom? But…I don’t think that’s allowed. Plus…well…” So instead, I think I’m just going to have to settle for different times, maybe having women’s classes Sunday and Wednesday afternoons. I’m not even sure if there will be any of the grown women seamstresses…their general response was that since they are mostly all married, their husbands probably wouldn’t approve, and besides, what’s the point? But they have many apprentices that maybe had to drop out of school who would be interested in going.

The handball tournament is going along. We had our first “sensitization” regarding girls in sports: how is it beneficial to girls and boys? The kids are really hesitant to participate, but Constant, being a teacher, has ways to help with that. Additionally, I’ve had to rethink the procedure. I had originally planned on the students “leading” the presentation/discussion. But I’m just not sure if that’s a thing here. So what Constant suggested was the week before go around to BOTH teams, have them write out their thoughts about a subject, then share them at the game. I think this might work out better.

I don’t know how to feel about the fact that Constant is doing most of the work. I’m not the charismatic leader at these games; but I also think that’s kind of the point. While Peace Corps might want me to say, “Oh, I organized blah blah blah and led a 20 minute discussion…” I think it’s much better to be kind of a motivational force and organizer, but mostly simply be there while the community (teachers, students, whoever) does the work. That way they could do it again when I’m gone. That’s not to say there isn’t any work on my end. I still organize the schedules, go to the games, help think of the question for prompts, etc. Plus I wrote the grant. But I’ve always enjoyed the behind-the-scenes role. So it’s perfect.

I’m also working on starting a business club. When I started planning it, I might have slightly panicked, realizing that I’ve never actually taken a business class. I’ve never had the example of someone else’s view on how business should be taught. I’ve never learned business theory or how to write a business plan. Oops. Furthermore, I’ve never written a lesson plan, or have any idea how long certain activities should take. When I worked at Mar-Lu-Ridge, we had all these essentially “lesson plans” aka games, and had over a week of training where we practice putting them together, etc. I guess if I had actually been a teacher in Peace Corps, I would have gotten that sort of training, but I’m not. Luckily Peace Corps provides us with tons of written resources, plus there is this really awesome things called the Internet…

I actually met the teacher that is working with me on this when I was at the bar (see, good things can come of my drinking as well!) He has a Master’s in Business, plus a few other certificates that I was unfamiliar with. Obviously, he’s more than qualified to teach this entire business club. So while there are some things that I might be able to organize and/or talk about confidently, I mostly want to keep the focus on the kids learning from experience, with lectures from him, and prompts from me. For the moment, though, even coming up with a schedule is hard. Should I do marketing or accounting first? Does a practical exercise fit here? I’m trying to integrate lectures and practical work with the culminating effort: a Business Plan. Last year, Peace Corps Benin held a Business Plan competition, and I’m hoping I’ll be able to send my own students this year.

Friday, 1 November 2013

So I’m currently sleeping in my hammock, as a few nights ago I was awoken multiple times by earwigs that decided to join me in bed. In my hammock, there are still bugs, but at least not earwigs. I hate those things. P.S. Cousin Ryan, can you bring your anti-pest to my house, and do some extermination? Thanks…

This past week or so has been filled with unfortunate happenings. However, they all seem to end up more or less okay. I guess it started when my bike seat fell off my bike, WHILE I was riding it. It’s been loose for a bit, and I had tried to tighten it. But then the screw that attaches the seat to the bike snapped in half. I wasn’t even aware that was possible. I had only just left my house, so after I stood in the middle of the road and laughed/cried for five minutes, I walked my bike back to my house. I called someone at the meeting I was going to so that he could come get me on his moto. I showed him my bike, and he offered to help. So later, I brought my bike to his shop [he is a Solder]. He suggested soldering the screw back together, but I told him that was dumb; it wouldn’t hold up. So instead he has the mechanic across the street from him bring over a bag full of various screws. It was really insane how many they had; all different sizes. So we sorted through until we found one that was the proper length and diameter. And Voila! I reattached my bike seat to my bike, my solder-friend tightened the screw, and all was good.

…until I was biking to Kongorou, a town that is about 8 km away. Now this story is partly my own stupidity. I had a tire blow out in town a few months ago. When I took it to the mechanic, he pointed out that the actual tire was in terrible condition, and that was causing the innertube to pop more easily. He remedied this by taking an old innertube and and putting it in as a protective layer. Apparently, though, he didn’t really attach it; just laid it in there. I had Peace Corps send me a new bike tire, but figured this would do in the short run. I brought the tire to Kerou, but had been too lazy to go through the ordeal of changing it. So as I’m biking TO Kongorou, my tire is looking slightly flat, and it’s even harder for me to bike than usual. I have someone put air in it while I’m there. On the bike ride back, there is a part in the actually comes ripped apart, and the innertube is pushing through like a black bubble trying to escape. My ride becomes bumpier as this bubble goes round and round. I begin cursing myself for being so lazy, and praying to any and every god just to make it. About 100 meters before Hubert’s house [he lives in a village two or so miles outside of Kerou center] there is this really loud POP that I think scared the bejeezus out of a passing moto. I sigh, get off, and walk in the hot midday sun to Hubert’s house. I leave my bike there, and then continue on to my house. Of course, I needed to meet with a school director regarding literacy classes; but it looks like this is not going to happen. When I reach the school, I find that he is not there, but fortunately he is in a meeting near my house. So I go to my house, grab the tire, a new inner tube, and my bike-repair supplies. Then with my tire draped around me like a sash, I go and meet the director briefly [I must have looked like a crazy person]. Then I trudge on, and finally make it back to Hubert’s house. He is not there, but a lot of his kids are. They immediately rush over, grab everything I’m carrying [like good Beninese children] and then set on helping fix my tire. I had to show them how to remove the wheel from the bike, but after that, they did pretty much everything, which was really nice of them. I thank them all profusely, then finally get on my now [hopefully] fully-functional bike, and head home. When I finally make it, I stand in front of my fan for a while, then pass out in my hammock to make up for all the sleep I didn’t get the previous night fighting off earwigs.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of how I spend so much of my time being absolutely unproductive. [In addition to my culinary adventures]. There’s always something, and it always takes forever. I spent about three or more hours related to the two bike fiascos. Sigh. So now, I just need to remember to take better care of my bike. I am also having Peace Corps send me a new bike sack. My old one does not fit my bike. And this way, I will be able to carry a new inner-tube, tools, etc, in case something like this happens again.

In better news, things are moving a long. Not with any of my grants, which are still waiting on Peace Corps Washington to get its act together and roll out the new submission form. But the handball tournament is going, last week we talked about whether it is okay to start having sexual relations while still in school. This week we will talk about the same subject, just with the two other teams. The final of the tournament will fall on World AIDS Day, so there will be a lot of talk about sexual health and AIDS prevention, etc.

There were three women seamstresses who came to my Savings and Loans meeting. I am really excited about that. That brings the total number of women up to five, which is one quarter of the Association. Actually, pretty impressive. The actual association is struggling now. Apparently, these months are the “critical period” in Kérou. That means that no one has much money. They are waiting on the corn to be harvested (December), and then the cotton (January). At that point, everyone will be rolling in money, subsequently build all the houses, etc, they want, maybe buy a moto, then come next October/November/December, starve again. But since people don’t have much money, they can’t pay the artisans, so there isn’t much work or income. This means that the artisans don’t want to come to my meetings, because they can’t pay the weekly savings/fees. I am trying to spread the word that it’s fine if they can’t pay. For me it’s more important for people to come, talk about the Association, finish the By-laws, etc. It’s taken us an absurd amount of time!

The literacy classes have started up again, although only with a few people. This is normal, however. People don’t want to come initially, incase things don’t work out, and they waste their time. But once they hear that it’s going, more people will start showing up. I learned a few things from last year. I think we’re going to start collecting money (just a tiny bit). This will go towards paying for the measly electricity we use, as well as giving a little something to the professors involved. I set up a notebook to take attendance and record payments. I gave this to the artisan that is the most motivated, and comes to every single class. Constant, the professor, will help him write people’s names. I hope this leads to a more organized experience. I also want this to be able to continue without me, so I’m trying to figure out a system to set up.

Tuesday I went to Constant’s new school. This school has existed for two years, but this is the first year that the school has officially recognized it. Apparently here, the individual communities must provide land, and build a two-room building, etc, before the state will step in. The school is actually really far out into “la brousse”, or “the bush”. I had to go through many cornfields, a forest, and a small stream to get there. It is in the center of a Peul area called, “Tingbaou” This apparently means “rich earth”; as in the soil is better and produces more/better corn. The school is really under-equipped, so Constant and I are currently trying to organize a project to help out. The good news is that they already have a water pump nearby [actually given by Saudi Arabia], so planting a garden or something would be easy.

Constant and his students

 That’s pretty much it. My business club schedule is completed, and the teacher was quite satisfied with it. Now we just have to go talk to the director to get approval. Who of course is out of town. So a little bit of waiting with that…

I had a taco night with some local volunteers. It was really incredible. Maria was coming back from training, so she picked up Cilantro in Cotonou, then avocados and green peppers in Nati. We made corn tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole from scratch. We used the meat grinder and taco seasoning from home to make the taco beef (or the seasoning and soy “cheese”—basically tofu—for the vegetarian). We had beans; plus I made “Queso Fresco”, which impressed everyone. Then Maria also brought tequila and an absurd amount of limes from Nati as well, so we had fresh margaritas all night. (well, as long as the tequila lasted). It was really awesome and fun. We are thinking of doing more get-togethers with different cultural themes. I wish I could say we included neighbors, but they are always so unimpressed with our concoctions. Maria once made tacos with Anna and Thomas, and her neighbor just tastes it and goes, “Oh. Interesting,” and walks away. I guess it’s weird to remember that even though Beninese food is so odd to us, that’s what people here eat, and they don’t have access to much else. They aren’t used to being adventurous. So we hoard our precious food for us Americans who will really appreciate it. It’s only one night. And we share things out neighbors like more, such as banana and mango cakes, etc.

Another thing I should mention is that Luna escaped shortly before I left for Cotonou, so I didn’t get a chance to put her back inside. I put my neighbors in charge, but they said she would come around and meow at my door, but as soon as they came over to open it for her, she ran away. When I came back, Luna and I had this glorious reunion (I was so worried about her). But now she is absolutely obsessed with going outside. She manages to jump my six-foot wall in back. She has completely shredded my window screens in her efforts to get out. I really hate when she goes out. I worry about her, plus I want to cuddle! The other issue is that Maria—whose cat goes in and out on its own—can open her back door. No one can see it open, etc. But for me, the door is taller than my back wall, so if I leave my door open, anyone passing by behind my house can tell. Also bats. Bats fly into my house whenever I forget to shut my door. So if she gets out, she’s out for the whole night. I want to try to keep her in mostly, but also have a way for her to come back in if she does escape. I’m working on that. In other news, she is most definitely preggars, so be expecting kitten pics. I’m really excited to have little baby kitties! It will be adorable!

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

My life has been very hectic lately. I always feel like I’m running around trying to finish everything. I am finding myself always having to complete preparations for my activities at the last minute. Not always due to procrastination, but due to the fact that I was preparing for other activities, and didn’t have time to get ahead. I’m working on it though, trying to move ahead.

I had my first Business Club meeting. I definitely need to make a lot of improvements. I started by giving the students a pre-quiz. My first questions were things like, “Why are your joining this club? What kind of projects do you like? Where do you see yourself in five years?” But then I had some questions to test their knowledge, just to see where they are at. They really struggled through this, mostly because students here are not taught to do critical thinking. If they didn’t have me lecture the answer once so they can regurgitate it, they don’t know what to do. Anyway, it was a dull way to start, and looking back I wish that I had maybe still asked for the dream statement stuff. Maybe brainstormed beforehand. Although, afterward I asked the students to introduce themselves and say why they joined the club. All of them said, “My name is _________ and I joined this Entrepreneurship Club because I like enterprise.” Sigh. For the test, though, maybe made the questions multiple choice or true/false, so they didn’t have to write so much. I also didn’t plan as much as I should have. I was going over the plan with the professor, and he’s like, “the pre-quiz and this other thing will take so much time, don’t plan to do another activity too.” So I didn’t. Then the second activity took all of five minutes, so I tried to pull some of the class out of thin air… it was a mess. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, and I loved being there with the kids. I hope, however, that my performance didn’t scare them off. I will create a much better plan for next week.

I finally finished all of the By-Laws for my new Savings and Loans group. I will go over the document and edit it. Then I can print it out, get everyone to sign, we can have elections… and the club can really get going. It’s only taken 6 months… Actually, I’m glad that it’s taken so much time, it means that we have had time to really hash out their vision for the club. Today, we talked about sharing of the funds and taking out money, etc. I was worried about savings building up in perpetuity, but apparently that’s what they want. Their vision is to save up enough money, and put it in the CLCAM (the local bank). Then, once they have enough money so that every member can take out a loan of One Million Francs (that’s about $2,000) they will do that. Based on what the CLCAM has told me and the group’s current savings rates, I think this will take them four years. In the mean time, they will use their own money to take out smaller loans, and at this point they themselves will actually reap the benefits of the interest paid, etc. I’m really excited for this group. They mostly seem really motivated (with a few exceptions that I will actually attempt to expel before we officially sign the By-Laws, etc)

15:30 PM : I get a message from Peace Corps, saying that they worked out a deal with headquarters that I can turn in my grant with the old form, as long as a pinkie-swear to fill out the new format once it’s ready. If that ever actually happens. I’m jumping up and down for joy (seriously, it’s really hard to type this out). Irrigation, here I come.

For your enjoyment, here is a picture of some of my neighbor kids playing with legos that I bought in Cotonou. They love them! I know they’ve never seen legos before, and I always like the idea of children playing with constructive things, such as legos, which can teach patterns and construction. Also, there’s Luna just lying in the middle. It’s like she wants to get close and get attention. Then one picks her up and carries her around, and she remembers why she should have been trying to stay away.