Blogs from Benin, Africa - page 7

Oh- this site is so neglected! Pardonnez-moi beaucoup! Here are some pictures, maybe that will help...... read more

At the border of Benin it is possible to get a 48 hour transit visa, thus saving a lot of time and money messing about at embassies. It isn’t as much of a race through the country as you might think because fortunately, the country is only 100km across and its two principal attractions lie quite close together. Ganvie is a town built on stilts in the centre of a large, shallow lake. The 27000 Tofinu people that live in the town, are descendents of a large group that escaped the Dahomey slave traders in the 17th century. It took half an hour to reach Ganvie in a precarious wooden boat with a bed sheet sail. It was pleasant to cruise amongst the tumbledown shacks, past fish traps and alongside so many boats, equally likely to ... read more

This is an entry I have posted on the Peace Corps website, but I am publishing here because I want to add pictures. The pictures with this entry actually have no relation with the writing. Following entries might or might not have the same pictures/writing relationship. I have kept a journal for along time; since third grade, with only a few months missing here and there. Usually writing, especially journal writing, flows easily from my brain to my pen-controlling hand, as easily as one foot follows the other while running. Lately I have had many false starts- the 18th of March, again the 25th, and the 26th- attempts to interest a larger audience in my only occasionally interesting life. Was I stressed, trying too hard? Maybe. But this evening, sitting on the front porch steps ... read more

My eyes met directly with two others this morning. Two blondish ears, kind of over-large for my companion’s being, perked eagerly, awaiting my response. This was the unspoken dialogue: Bubs: “Can we wake up now?” Erika: “No.” His elbows thunked and he sighed as he went back to waiting. The weather has changed again. Harmattan and its dust have left, leaving clear blue skies. These clear blue skies are otherwise known as direct sunrays. Ugh. Hot. My elbows thunk and I sigh as I, and everyone else, wait for the rain. Work is moving, if I translate directly. Le boulôt bouge. The Planificateur from the mayor’s office and I have started a clean school competition for all the primary schools and the secondary school of Athiémé. I didn’t branch too far from the idea of the ... read more

Harmattan has arrived. Harmattan is a wind that blows from the north, from the Sahara desert. The wind carries dust, and it’s the dust that blocks the sunlight and creates “winter” in equatorial West Africa. To me, Harmattan is as close to winter as I will get for some time still to come. I am colder than I was during the rainy season, and more regularly. I close all the doors and cover with a sheet every night. I sleep all the night through, no dripping sweat to awake me, and I get out of bed slowly, wearing two pagnes and socks, or pants if they’re clean, and heat my water for coffee and a warm bath. And I still shiver, until 10h or so, when the sun has sufficiently heated the porch to be warm ... read more