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The sun shines on Koko at 6.30 each morning, though the roosters seem to think it should be 5 as that is when they start to crow their morning chorus. I tend to wake about 7 to the crows or the crying child Angelo from next door, or to the children already arriving at 7.30 to start sweeping the school yard.
School is meant to start at 8am, but this can be a flexible as sometimes the teachers just dont turn up, or they forget to bang the bell (an old orbital saw from a wood mill which they bang with a metal stick). Singing is a way of gathering the children and often they chant their songs before starting working, incredible energy can be felt in the songs here. Everyone always greets each other when every they meet again, and in the morning often the children or teachers come to check on me, say hello and "Bonjour, tu es une bein dorme?" Walking through the village everyone must be greeted, is creates a community feeling but can also be exhausting, because if you don't ask how someone is and they get sick they might think you poisoned them...
Envi Club
Drawing trees and bugs in detail, they always have a need to do things fast, so its a mission to get them to draw things in details slowly and notice the finer points... "regarde!!!!" The school kids have a programme in the morning so I tend not to be involved with them, but the kindy kids are often out in the yard jumping and singing at about nine. They have a ring of flowers planted in the ground which they run round and round to the bang of the teachers drum, or hop, or skip.... Then they line up and sing a song as they all go to the toilet, quite a hard thing to teach cause normally they just squat wherever needed... Then its all washing hands and a lie down to recover from the jumping skipping.
For me the mornings are with the kindy or sorting out my house, it all gets so dirty so quickly and jobs tend to take very long, like hand washing all my clothes... Breakfast tends to be fresh wild mangos chopped into muesli with powdered milk (one thing I am so looking forward to is fresh milk) and I found a tin of MILO!!! so I often sprinkle that onto top for my chocolate hit of the day. And a coffee as well, though not quite a NZ coffee...
10 is break time all
Karin and video
The kids love photos and videos, but are always so serious when you take one and then bound with laughter when I show them. Here you can see a bit the enjoyment as they watch their choir performance on Karins video the kids come running out for some food, they can buy for 25 CFA (1000 cfa is $3) a fried bread with fish (kinda like our fish from the fish and chip shops but with half a teaspoon ground fish and all batter), or a stew of some sort. Then back to class till 12, when they all go home cause it just gets to hot to work. I have made three sets of devil sticks and the kids just love them, I have them in my porch and the kids play with them outside my house. Often it is too hot to eat anything at lunch time, but I tend to drink about 2L of water each day. They have a new pump now at school, Karin managed to get funding from Liechtenstein to build the pump. But the rain season is just starting so we are having huge rain storms where it just pours like crazy for a half and hour and then finished and you have to tidy everything up, cause the water just goes everywhere.
At 3 school starts again and then I tend to work with the kids, my recent projects have been paper
Karin and me on Tobe
Tobe is the sacred rock hill (thought they call it a mountain) where Karins house is. Standing on top, you have a uninterrupted horizon circle around you, and watching the sunset is just magic boxes with the oldest class (see photo), pick a lucky number with a class, one class were learning 'happy and you know clap you hands' in French so I sung it for them in English and they back to me in Tcha. (I then taught my English club students it in English and they kinda can sing it now). I made clay wall reliefs with the art club and will paint them when I get back. Last sunday I made steiner dollies with all the kindy teachers (see photo), was a wonderful success and this sunday we will give then all hair and make clothes. I have also done a lot of paintings with the children as this is something the teachers hardly do as it is not in the state programme. (see photos of the kids painting the front of the school).
School finishes at 5 and then they have the clubs which is the extra activities which Karin organises, I help with the art club and envi club (we have now made rubbish homes with big signs and examples of what goes in them, but dont quite know if its gonna work). I have also started an
English club with the local college students, they cant believe how good english i speak, because for them they learn french at primary school and those that go to college learn very basic english. They ask me where I learnt english, thinking is must be from school and I don't think they believe me when i say it is my first language...
It tends to get dark at 7 and I cook tea with candles and the lantern, meals can be spaghetti with tinned tomatoes and tinned corn, rice pudding with fresh pineapple, noodles with local spinach and onion, couscous salad with onion and garlic, stir fry veggies, bread, fried cooking banana, yam or potato chips and always with mango before or after or during...
Currently I am in Cotonou until Wednesday when we travel back up to Koko. On Friday 6th is their sports day, which Karin says is normally a total chaos, I have made a whole lots of medals out of wood with the local carpenter, which I sanded with the kids and am currently painting when ever I get a chance. Then I have one weekend and one week left. Will have my birthday up
Mama Solange and me
Mama Solange is a retired school directress who comes up to Koko from Cotonou to help assess the school Ayeke. When she came she lived in my house with me, was an experience to watch how she went about the daily tasks of just living. I learnt a lot about what happens behind the walls of the homes here. in Koko on Thursday and my final day there will be friday. Will have a meal with the teachers and am organising with the local bread baker (see photo) to bake 400 buns for me to give each school child as a good bye prezzie. Will also give my plastic bottles to the kids that helped me, its the things they always ask me to give them, and hand out my pens and pencils. Then on sat 14th Karin and I will come back to Cotonou, to have week here, I fly back to switzerland on the 20th.
It has all gone so incredibly fast, I feel I have only scratched the surface of the culture here. After three weeks in Montpellier I felt I knew a little about living there, the trams, where the supermarket was etc. But here after three months I sill feel like a duck out of water, in the village the people slowly know me and children love yelling "silvia bonjour, ca va??" and waving and running after me if I am on my bike. To the teachers and children of the school I am still a bit of a mystery, they seem to
Fish stew
When Mama Solange stayed with me for two weeks, she insited on cooking for me in the evenings. Normally the same thing - a stew, such as the photo (the whole fish is in there), with "pates" which is mashed yams, or corn flour and tapioca and gari, cooked to a firm paste, dont actually know exactly how they do it. But sometimes I just couldnt have it, she could not quite understand why I just wanted rice pudding after a while... think I can do everything, for example the cheers and laughter when I juggle are wonderful. And the fact that I made the devil sticks as a game for them they think is something totally new, but the kids are slowly getting better than me at the devil sticks. My French is getting better, but its hard cause its also their second language, I am also learning Tcha at the same time (Ecutche - thanks, adabo - goodbye, ekaro - hello). And I have a new name in the voodoo Fon "Defisockbalu" (dont know how is written but that is kinda how they say it). oh and for the record my marriage proposals now talley about 8!!!!! My sewer was the last one and when I told him I already had been asked a million time, I suggested that rather than me being his sixth wife he be my sixth husband, don't think he quite saw the humour in that....
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