March melange

After a three month span since writing, I have to report, I am still here! There is now officially one more semester of school left of teaching for me here in Benin, which is pretty amazing! It’s been a long road, and it is slowly, but surely coming to an end. There is still lots of stuff going on, and I now have a perspective that I have to treasure these last 5 or so months and really appreciate and take it all in.   I just returned from vacation during our February break, where I traveled up north to visit my neighbor Fati’s village in Semere, do a mini safari in Park Pendjari, and go to FESPACO, the big African film festival in Ouagadougou. Semere was a contrast to Azove, with a huge and observant Muslim population. It was a great opportunity to meet Fati’s incredibly large family, and see the beginnings of a big celebration in her town that brings together the diaspora of Semerians. At Park Pendjari, I saw elephants, hippos, warthogs, and a few other interesting wildlife. Pretty cool! FESPACO is a film festival that is held every two years in Ouga, and is a really big deal. African films from all over the continent and world are featured at this festival, and people come from all over. It began with a bang at the Stadium with dancing and theater, and we were (Carly and I) able to see several interesting and engaging African produced films. I was unfortunately only there for a few days, but it is definitely something I would return to.

In December, I also took a trip to Mali, which was both incredibly beautiful, and extremely tiring at the same time. We traveled overland from Benin, through Burkina Faso, to Mali, and definitely had our share of mess ups, ranging from mistaking one town for another, having our car topple down the side of the embankment with us inside, and being stuck and sleeping at the Malian border in an old van and insane border guards. But so goes it with African travel! But it was well worth it to see and hike in the incredible Dogon country, which reminded me so much of the southwest of the United States. A really incredible mixture of dramatic rock cliffs, and small, ancient and existing villages built along the escarpment.

Life has been good at post. Life was really busy with many secondary projects, and the end of the semester. One of my best friends Annie visited during the month of January, and I had a really great time seeing things with new eyes through her perspective. We mostly spent time at post, but did take some ventures to the beaches of Grand Popo and Ouidah. During her stay, my counterpart and I put on our school wide Spelling bee which was a huge success! The top 4 boy and girl students from each class within the grade levels of 6ieme, 5ieme, and 4ieme participated, as well as the regular attendees of my English club. Around 80 students participated, and it lasted about 5 hours, finally ending with a girl and boy winner. It was a really valuable experience and I think really encouraged the students in their English studies. The next competition is the national one in April in Parakou.

This years girls football team is going surprisingly well, and we are getting ready for our second annual International Women’s Day football game this upcoming Sunday against Dogbo, again. The team this year is vastly different from what it was last year. There are a whole new slew of very active and committed girls, and they practice nearly every Saturday for 3 or 4 hours. Their coach is a Terminale (last year of Secondary school here) student who is a regular football player in the local men’s leagues here. There is also a 3ieme student who helps assistant coach. I serve as kind of a supporter of the team. As last year Allison and I had some trouble communicating and encouraging the girls in the correct, culturally appropriate way, it has truly made a world of difference having a coach who can speak local language fluently, and coach in a way that culturally makes sense.  They have been regularly using the shoes, socks, balls, shin guards and uniforms that a friend in the United States collected through UC Berkeley and my parents brought over. It has been exciting to see the real potential sustainability of the team. It will be an exciting day on Sunday, and keep your fingers crossed we can win (or at least do well!).

Other than that, other projects seem to be going well and life at post with friends and family is good. Camp Glow, the leadership camp for girls is coming along nicely, and Project Amour and Vie seems to be sustaining itself as we get ready for another training.  I have become a lot closer to my neighbor Fati and her family, and spend the usual time with my neighbors Esse, Jacob, Rebeccah, Papa, and Mama (and little Nathaniel). I feel like I have seen those kids grow up over the last two years, and the fact that Nathaniel is almost 1is crazy! I truly feel like a “tante”  (pronounced tanteeee here and means aunt, which is what everyone in my neighborhood calls me) to them.

I am not going to go on and one…I will let the pictures be a better journal snippets of some of my life here over the past three months.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy, and if anyone knows any upcoming job opportunities for when I get back later this year, let me know!

 

Peace and love,

 

Jordan