Azove, passover, and just living…

It appears to have been ages since I last wrote. This has to do with very limited access to internet – having not been to Cotonou in a very long time, and really an inability to summarize my experiences. This can often be difficult and a bit overwhelming of a thought. But here I go once again.

 

I guess the biggest current news is that I now supposedly teach until June 23^rd. You have to understand that our devoirs (final exams) were supposed to start May 5^th. And then this was moved to May 19^th. And then I was told June 23^rd. This is honestly by far the latest of any of the other Peace Corps Volunteers teaching English in-country. Most end now, next week of at the beginning of June. So I really do not understand why my school is going on for another month. My colleagues did not even strike for that long so it really just does not make sense to me.  I am fine – this is what I did come here to do and the students definitely do need that time to be more prepared for next year– but I just had myself prepared in a certain mindset about ending and reviewing and finishing things up – in fact I have reviewed – several times now  -  then everything is changed – several times. And we have to rewrite the exams. And what is really unfortunate is that I can not take any girls to this girl’s leadership camp sponsored by the Peace Corps called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) which starts June 22^nd. Because they have exams. I am going to have to really beg my director to let me out off even “surveying” (proctoring) too so I can even attend that and lead some sessions. I am hoping my school will get the hint and change the date, but as of now, it remains the same. So on to another month and half of teaching English! Yes!!

 

So to go back to the beginning of April…During the week while Courtney was visiting, we randomly met two Peace Corps Volunteers from Togo. They were just in Azove for the day, because one of them literally lives only 15km away from Azove and apparently he had been there several times before, and did not know that there were even Peace Corps volunteers in Azove. So one day I just decided to bike over the border to the town of Tohoun into neighboring Togo. It being only 15 km away, I can go and come back in one day super easily, only like an hour or so bike ride away. It is literally closer than Lauren in Dogbo, who is about a 25 km bike ride away in Benin. It was a really fun and interesting day – biking a beautiful road hilly road and crossing the border, and entering another country so close to my post, but the people are still Adja! Oh, colonial borders…

 

Tohoun is apparently the capital of the area but it is pretty isolated. The people though were super friendly and it seemed like a great post for a volunteer. The Peace Corps volunteer who is posted there is a Gender and Education volunteer- focused solely on empowering women and girls in school – really working with every sector. Peace Corps Benin does not have that, but to me it sounded like a great sector to have – devoted solely on women’s issues.  My adventure back to post was interesting and so adventurously perfect. Of course because the rainy season has begun it started to pour down rain on my way back. Luckily at the border, I caught a ride back to Azove in one of those huge giant pickups that lucks goods around. This super gentle old driver who spoke no French was nice enough to let me hope in – it was awesome – as we drove through the rain back to Azove.

 

A few days later in Azove, on “Marche” (market) day, there was an awesome “fête du Voodoo” (Voodoo day) that surprised me completely. Lauren and Holley had biked over from Dogbo, and we were enjoying the heaps of good vegetables in the market that day – it is very strange – there can often be a drought of vegetables, and then all of a sudden, lettuce and carrots, and peppers appear! Anyways, in the middle of one of the round points there were all of these people in costumes, and crowds surrounding them. They were these two very large costumes of what appeared to be hay colored with red and yellow paint. There were also men surrounding the hay costumes with copper musical instruments.  It swept the ground, and everytime it moved abruptly, people dispersed quickly.  I was told later that they where the fetish of ancestors, and that the reason people were dispersing is that if it touches you, you can supposedly die. After the scene at the round point, all of those celebrating paraded down the street to the king of Azove’s house to continue the festivities.

 

One must understand how potent voodoo and superstition is here. One of my friends in country refuses to return to school because his stepmother put a fetish on him that he will die if he returns. So he literally won’t return to school. I am not going to even pretend I understand the intricacies of the beliefs…It is just what I hear and witness in Benin.

 

I have been back to the orphanage a few times after not going for a long while. I have gone to find out more about the child trafficking issue, after my interest was peaked again for many different reasons. I am realizing that Benin really is one of the epicenters of this issue in West Africa. During all-vol, I talked with some people making a movie on the issue who want to get Peace Corps volunteers involved in awareness raising. So I went to go see what people were doing or had done in my community to tackle this. David, the director of the orphanage, and who I consider a friend, was brutally honest on the issue. It seems that about 10-20% of the orphans were intercepted from being trafficked. The majority of those trafficked from Benin, and I think especially from the area where my post is, are taken to coffee farms in Cote d’Ivoire. The problem stems from the parents not understanding where there child is being taken. The traffickers promise that their child will be educated – but this is definitely not true, and everyone is essentially duped. The children are taken essentially as slaves, and the parents receive nothing.  It seems like the Beninese government is taking some steps to tackle the problem, but it continues and it does not seem like there is enough of an international effort to really stop this. Apparently David used to be involved in going into villages and educating more rural, poor communities on the issue, but the funds just are not there to continue this. I hope maybe in the future to get involved in education on the realities of the situation. As of now I still have a lot to learn, but I think David would be a great community partner to confront this issue. As he is very interested and knowledgeable about it.

 

In mid April, elections were held in Benin for regional and local positions. Nothing too exciting happened on that end – definitely different than my experience in Uganda in 2006 with the disputed win of Yoweri Museveni and the continued parading and intense campaign. It appeared calmer here, and although I would see campaigning posters everywhere, it did not even seem people were discussing the issues a whole lot.  Boni Yayi’s (the President) party has control of most of the country with the FCBE party, and apparently the Couffo area where Azove is, is one of the only “departments” with a heavy ADD-PSD party majority, so I guess there was some conflict there. And the day of the elections created the first legitimate traffic jam I have seen in Azove, with all of the campaigns and such.

 

And now, to talk about Passover: I wanted to try to have an actual real Seder type of thing with my neighbors and other Peace Corps volunteers in the area, but because of the Beninese elections, we were all on “standfast”, and no one could leave their posts.  But it turned out to be one of the best experiences for me here in every way – with a bunch of neighbors, my postmate, my “homologue” and some other friends in the community. We of course did not end up having a real seder, but instead made “yam pile” (pounded ignames – yams) with the amazing peanut and tomato sauce and “wagashi soja” (soy cheese – essentially like tofu). And then we also ended up having an option of fish and rice to make sure there were was enough food for everyone. It was seriously so delicious! Especially being part of the process of making it. So a unique Passover experience…Not sure how “kosher for Passover” it actually was thoughJ.

 

It’s so funny because ever since I mentioned I wanted to “fête” (party, or celebrate) Passover, all of my neighbor kids were insanely excited about prepping for the party. They started to practice theater, and dance, and songs like a week ahead of time. And they all kept asking me if they could bring certain friends, and we made lists for the shopping before hand. They got so into it. The day before the fete I went with Krystal to the “marche” to buy all the goods – the food to make the meal.  I always love going with her because she introduces me to all these different aspects of the market I did not know before – even though I have been there a million times. And it was great to actually have an intense purpose of tons of stuff to get. We bought tomatoes, ignames, peanuts, wagashi, spices, rice , fruit, and all sorts of good stuff.

 

The next day on Saturday we spent all day preparing for the meal. I tried to help as much as I kid, but most of my neighbors took over the reigns because they of course knew what they were doing. Most of the prep work required “ecraseing” (kind of like blending on a stone – I honestly don’t know how to explain it in English – look at the pictures), peeling, boiling, and mixing…and of course “pileing” (pounding) the yams to create the perfect consistency! It was so fun to be a part of and to see the excitement of the kids and to really just be working with my little community of neighbors on this Passover fete. I tried to explain the concept of what Passover is to most of them, and they seemed to understand it – they definitely understood the Moses leaving Egypt part! And got the fact that I was not to eat bread! So a cool cultural exchange!

 

During the party, the food was excellent and most of the menusiers and neighbors joined in for the food and festivities. The kids did in fact perform dance and theater and I joined in as well. Super fun.

 

 

For the most part, my relationship with my teaching colleagues is going well. I have to say it is really great to finally have my official “homologue” (counterpart – work partner) – Wilfred. I feel like I can discuss issues with him at school, he can act as a mediator and partner, and is also a friend.  These partnerships were made official at our Peace Corps training in March, where we both attended the teacher training together. He has been especially helpful in the continued conflicts I have had with the head of the English department. About a month ago, at one of our rare AP (teacher) meetings, I had a misunderstanding with the English dep. head again – really I think it was just a cultural misunderstanding – he just kept pushing an issue and he turned out to be really offensive, and I walked out in anger because we were getting nowhere. Apparently that is a big “no-no” here – when you walk out after being mad at one person, it will offend everyone. So Wilfred was professional and diplomatic enough to really explain to me all of the cultural sensitivities of anger, and talk me through my issues with what I consider the unprofessionalism of our meetings, and my continued disagreements with this particular teacher. I ended up apologizing, and things are running smoothly again. It is great to have a professional confidant at school. I am also becoming good friends with another English teacher Eric, who just had a new baby with his wife. Their sons nickname is “Lumiere”, and I visited them at their home a few weeks ago. Eric and his wife Clarrise are both teachers, and in their mid 20’s with their first child. Sometimes a rarity in this area. Really cool, awesome, smart people.

 

Teaching in general is going fairly well. Continues to be fun often times, but a real challenge. I know that next year I will be such a better teacher. Or at least I hope so. There are so many mistakes I have made this year as a first year teacher here. I am going to change so many ways I approach things. But I am getting better all the time, and just so much more prepared to handle things.  I still love teaching my 6iemes (first year English), but have a really difficult time with 5iemes (second year of English and second year at Secondary School). I actually walked out of their class last week because they were being so undisciplined.  One of the students came to apologize to me about it – apparently it is not just me! Their math teacher has even walked out of their class. They can be so disrespectful sometimes and there is sometimes nothing that can be done about it. 

 

Another really interesting thing I am getting involved in is working on women’s issues in more of the surrounding villages. There is this really great Beninese guy named Kantos who was a trainer for one of the sectors for the Peace Corps and lives in the area. So I went with him to talk to a church and girls groups in the village of Houdogli, which is about a 30 minute moto ride from Azove. It was a really great experience. I talked to women at the church about the important of literacy and education for women and girls for empowerment and opportunities. All French and then translated by Kantos into Adja with a little bit of my own Adja stuck in there.  And then to the girls clubs about there girls library and about obstacles they face in continuing their education.  Which are the obstacles that all girls who even make it to secondary school  level here: no time to study (doing all the housework), lack of support, etc. The girl’s library they have is really cool though (started by a Peace Corps Volunteer several years ago), but they are in need of more of their school books. The never ending need of funding…Kantos seemed pleased at our work, and next time I am supposed to almost be discussing forced marriage and the limitations of that. And hopefully go to other communities to do similar things.

 

This last week I went to a cross sector training regarding local community radios. There were only about 10 volunteers there with “Chef de Programmes” (Program Coordinators) from our respective local radios. Although the training was focused on starting “Listening Clubs” to give feedback and support local radio and make sure it was meeting the communities’ needs, there was also a time to discuss creating local radio shows. So I might start working with the local radio…about a 30 minute moto ride away as well. Radio Couffo FM. We shall see…

 

The girl’s football club is going well, although my postmate and I continue to face the obstacles of laziness with many of our girls. However, I can see a rapid improvement in most of their abilities to play and even the way many of them behave inside the classroom. I think we are also creating a space where we are legitimizing women’s ability to play football, which is really cool and I think empowering for them as well as other girls who see this. I know this because so many girls at my school now want to play soccer. We hopefully should receive some soccer equipment this summer from home that the UC Berkeley Cal Soccer team was awesome enough to collect for us and other. So that should help a lot – actual cleats, jerseys, shin guards. It will be easier for them to play against competition.

 

My girls club also is going well. I am always happily surprised at 6ieme girl’s level of understanding about the issues we are discussing, although it often takes them awhile to get there. I am always disappointed at the true marginalization of women that emerges through our discussions, but hopefully this is a space for us to think about these issues critically.

 

 The correspondence club is finishing up for the year – just sent a big package of letters to the states, so hopefully we will hear back again from the US students soon.

 

So staying busy….

 

I would say overall I feel really a part of my community. I feel incredibly comfortable with all my neighbors and feel like I am establishing some strong relationships. I think it has been good from the start, but I have just been spending so much more time hanging out with everyone, improving my local language skills, and really getting to know people much better. My local language skills are so much better than they used to be – halfway a result of another volunteer’s awesome Adja book he is creating, and just less inhibitions on my part to just speak. And this has really helped me feel a part of the community. I just hang out a lot here…most of the time, this comes from simply hanging outside my concession with the “menusiers” (carpenters), neighbors, going on my tri-weekly runs, walking around. Also just sitting or sleeping outside (under the starts) with neighbors where I am not dying from the heat inside my house. Just enjoying life . And really enjoying people. It really is a good feeling to truly really like my post. I know I am going to miss it immensely. But another 17 more months! It is just hard to imagine that after you establish these relationships and spend time in these communities, I will most likely not be able to return for a very long time. But I am returning to visit the village I volunteered in Ghana during the summer. So I know it is possible to return!

 

However, I have definitely gone through those times of questioning what I am doing here. There are weeks where I am in state of questioning, and pondering my role here. Is this sustainable? Am I integrated enough into my community? Am I being challenged enough? Am I challenging myself enough? It is sometimes easy to get cynical here, but I then just have to remind myself that this experience is an exchange – of friendships, ideas, partnerships – and I try to keep myself inspired by ideas and people and just every day’s new challenges and experiences. I am not sure if that really made any sense, but I am just pointing out that the experience is definitely a roller coaster ride. Most of the time I am happy, fulfilled, and enjoying every moment of my experience. Other times, and I think naturally and healthily (is that a word?) I am questioning my role, my experiences, etc. Hopefully that is keeping me on my toes.

 

Next Tuesday it will be 10 months here in Benin. On July 20^th, when I am on a bus on my way to Ghana to take GREs, travel, and revisit places I have been, it will be one year! Crazy! Parents are coming in August which is amazing! Very excited for that!

 

Not sure what else to say right now. Will be back at post for a few weeks before coming back to Cotonou for a PSN (Peer Support Network) training. Wish me luck with my continued teaching schedule!

 

Peace and Love,

 

Jordan