I feel as though I am standing on the edge of something, something big. There is an undercurrent here in this city, one that flows deeply and profoundly as the ancient canals beneath the streets. I have much to learn. I feel closer to Benin, somehow. Violence, love, passion, wealth, drunkeness, poverty, wind and water... My senses are piqued. I am curious, motivated, a little afraid, strong and cautious. I feel heavy, though I live and travel lightly. I am alive once again, full of emotional curiosity, excited to awake each morning and thankful to rest each night. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, it's hard to miss Benin like I do. I am in-between jobs, dealing with the natural issues that accompany re-entry into American society, and trying hard to figure out what my next career/educational move will be. Still, there are many positive aspects to my situation. Too many to count, really. But there are the big ones: I am in an awesome relationship with an inspiring woman, Barack Hussein Obama is President Elect of my country of birth, and last but by no means least, I have been lucky enough to spend some awesome moments with family and friends in the [View Full Entry]

---

---

How? How can this one place, this one small village, this one spot on the face of such a vast planet change me so profoundly, warm my heart all the way through, teach me so many lessons, inspire within me such a complex combination of happiness and sorrow? Doumè. No, not the village, not the market, not the dirt roads and the isolation and the poverty and the local language. Rather, all of it. All of it bundled into one indescribable experience. Layer upon layer unfolding itself daily, weekly, monthly in my mind. The smiles, the smells, the feel of the [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’m in my ninth month here in Benin, and I have to say that there are days when I wonder what I’m doing here still. I love Benin, but it’s not easy being who I am and living here. I mean, sometimes the injustice I witness on a daily basis is too much to handle, and other times I feel I’m getting used to it. The way women are treated, the problem of child trafficking, the lack of education… and here I am, a college educated, socially liberated American woman. What can I possibly do to improve these women’s lives, to [View Full Entry]

---

---

I was asked this question, "How's Africa?" I wasn't sure how to respond, so I just rambled a bit... Africa is a thousand books that have never been written, a thousand voices which have never been heard, a moving, dancing, singing, writhing, bustling continent with a history so rich we can only scratch its surface. I cannot say how africa "is," for I can only speak of the slice of it that I currently inhabit. Yet, even in this one small space, there is much to say. Even I, dressed in my light skin so many generations removed from the Equatorial [View Full Entry]

---

---

The night sky is something spectacular here in Benin. I don't know exactly why. There are many logical explanations, of course. Fewer lights, less electricity, the silence that settles peacefully over a village late at night... The other night I found myself awake and standing underneath a blanket of stars, planets, and swirling dust as the wind blew soft and cool, a gentle reminder of the great scorching desert to our north. I looked up at the sky from that spot of African ground, and I saw gods, spirits of ancient kings and queens swirling above me in search of a [View Full Entry]

---

---