Blogs from Benin, Africa - page 6

My youngest host brother, Feujus, is the cutest six-year old monster. His eyebrows even turn up a little, like horns. He beat me twice at UNO; he gave himself all the wild plus-four cards before dealing. I hadn’t been to visit my host family since my return from vacation, so I stayed the weekend. I watched a lot of TV- Papa had bought a small satellite and my host brothers and sister were skimming the eight channels for films and music. On Monday back at home, the waste-management tractor came through my neighborhood. We had to wait until the river left this neighborhood before beginning the trash collection. All of my neighbors know me and understand French, so I worked door-to-door to sign them up. All homes but two joined. Florent, from As.P.E.L., was visibly encouraged ... read more

‘Sit in your yard and watch the leaves fall.’ Dove Dark Chocolate Promise. Yes, the front porch with a book and a breeze is all well and good until you’ve done it for a week. Sorry Dove- I don’t mean to be bitter, but all I have been doing is sitting. I wish I only had a moment to watch the leaves fall, rather than that being my main activity. This first week back at post after the States was harder than I thought it would be. I was lonely as I had never felt it before. I had been used to living alone of course, before my vacation, but after being constantly with family and friends in the U.S., I was jolted by the return to a lack of conversation in my home. No matter ... read more

Working with students at the local library on the history of Athieme eventually led to a field trip to Abomey to tour the royal palace and the statue of the last Danhomeian king (Danxome being the previous name for the country of Benin) who resisted French colonization. We had a lot of fun looking at stuff and hearing blood and guts stories of ancient times.... read more

These pictures are also from a while ago... The HIV/AIDS awareness bike trip was in April 2007, and covered the enitre Mono/Coufo region and followed the old train tracks. It was a wonderful trip. See www.peacecorps.gov/volunteerjournals to read more about the trip.... read more

I visited another friend of mine in the Collines region, or in English, the Hills region. It's beautiful up there, and a drier climate much like the north. These people fleeed the Fon by living in the hills during the time of slavery because the Fon would take prisoners to trade with the Yovos. The pictures show a little of the life in the hills. The basketball pictures are there because I like them a lot- the first one is the boys' and girls' teams, the second is of the basketball court on the day of the regional school tournament, looking its best.... read more