They have cut the electricity again! Just when I want to read email. So I sit in Lokossa, killing time at the public park. I killed time at my favorite coffee-flavored sweetened condensed milk stand as well, with an egg sandwich to perfect the breakfast, but all the death was attracting the wrong kind of business. About a week ago I organized an outing with As.P.E.L. and the women’s groups. There is a super-efficient center near Lokossa that produces vegetables, chickens, fish, and rice, an extension of the Centre Songhaï in Porto Novo that I have mentioned before. In hopes of encouraging the women to put their group efforts into gardening as well, we made a point to tour the expansive cabbage/carrot/spinach garden, but visited the other attractions as well. When our bus pulled up to ... read more

I know that when I am so hot, so hot that rather than drying off after a bath I just start sweating, rain will come. Sooner or later, rain will fall and my toes will be cold and I will be able to drink coffee or tea at 14h. I know I have to wait, though. I might sweat for a long time, a couple days even, before the world finally cools down. I also know that rain cancels any plans. I love not needing to wear real clothes for the majority of most days. I get dressed to leave the house, but most other waking moments, aside from those cold and rainy ones, I am wrapped only in my pagne. I love cooking; my most recent success was chili. I cooked the beans over ... read more

Since I asked to publish their journals (yes, I asked), both of my visitors left their notebook at home Friday morning, leaving two days completely blank. That is not acceptable in my writing, so while eating a late lunch/early supper at Le Petit Four, I asked a few questions to fill in the holes. Saturday, 16 September 2006 16h00, Le Petit Four, Cotonou, Benin, West Africa Greta Kraus, Grandpa Stuart (a.k.a. Steve Stuart) Ebk: What did we do yesterday? Greta: Oh crap . Rode in a car all day, met people, went to the bank, went to another bank… Gpa: Only two hours in the car! It wasn’t all day. Greta: Well it seemed like all day. Gpa: Two hours. You should answer the questions accurately. This is an interview! Greta: I don’t care if she ... read more

Late Thursday night, I read the journal Greta had been keeping of her stay in Benin. I was delighted to find an objective writing-eye with personality… so I kept it and am publishing it for all to read. I am doing the same with Grandpa’s too, but not with my own. I am the author, I get to choose. Trip to Benin 2006 Kansas City-Atlanta-Paris-Cotonou Local time we arrived about 6:30 on Sunday, 25 hours after we left. We stayed in a nice hotel in Cotonou. There were lots of rooms, and beautiful woodwork. Our room, and I assume most others, was one room with two beds. Cold running water was available, you could order up hot water for bathing. We ate yummy pizza and hamburgers at a nice ice cream parlor down the street. Grandpa ... read more

I like sleeping until 7h. That’s about the time the bedroom starts getting warm, the neighbors play music, and I have to pee. After two months, I have returned to that practice, except for those mornings I get up earlier to run. It’s not that for those two months I slept until 8h, oh no; for two months I was on my bike by 6h15 to go to work with Florent and Patrice, the two others at As.P.E.L. with whom I conducted the project “Competition: Cleanest and Greenest City.” This was quite the project. I committed myself to be in Athieme every morning for eight straight weeks. I love Athieme, but I also like to get supplies in Cotonou or visit the beach… I was able to fit in a couple days of escape. The project ... read more