Lil' Update of your favorite African

I have just returned from the City of Fog, to find myself in nearly the same place, except replace the fog with haze (a lovely mixture of smoke and sand) and the modern land of England for the backwards land of Benin. Returning to my life in Benin allows me to recollect and understand what I am doing better than I did before. This return is not shrouded in my excitement and wonderment of a new place at the start of a new adventure, it is just a return from a vacation to my home on the west coast of the Dark Continent. I am able to further understand the difficulties that stand before me, attacking me on a daily basis for the remaining 20 months that I have left here. (Yes, I did just say 20 months.) The people are different, the land is different, the food is different and the lifestyle is different. Nothing in my life has ever been like this. I am accustomed to constant change but have been able to blend in with the culture, become "one with the people" and become "one with the land" but not here. I was easily reminded of this the second I stepped off teh plane and the first person to great me said, "Bienvenue Yovo" ("Welcome Whitey/Foreigner"). Welcome back to the land of misunderstandings, the homogenous land, the difficult land. The happiest person/thing to see me was my dog, Dounyan. My homologue (boss) was as welcoming as a Beninese person could be, until I told her the great news of my meeting with a friend that could potentially (fingers crossed) end up with a partnership, greatly increasing production and the overall size of the cashew factory.

This may sound extremely negative, but I am glad to be back. Glad to be back to the normal life of waking up in the morning, showering with a bucket, working, and stress. I am masochistic in that way, enjoying fully enveloping myself in work, ignoring everything else that potentially could cause problems. I have so much in front of me, that I doubt I will be able to finish it in time, but I will call back to my college years (now seeming so far behind me) and may have to pull all-nighters to finish the work, draining the life of myself staring at Excel worksheets, doing accounting work. (Can't Wait!) The factory is closed for the season until February until we receive our first shipment of nuts. Preparation work for the new stock, that has never been done before, will take up most of my time. This comes at the worst time, as the holiday season starts here. Most of the country takes the next three weeks off, but not I. My homologue thinks I am crazy because I end up at the factory, even though it is closed, all day, staring at the computer.

I have great news though that does not have to do with anything to with work: I have new additions to my house that I am proud to announce. I have a FRIDGE/FREEZER and a COUCH (arriving on Saturday)!!!!!! My house is finally going to be actually livable. Now, all that rests, is some bookshelves for storage and something to put my clothes on. The final touch that will make my house a real house is some paint for the walls, erasing the dreary grey of concrete.

There list of books that I have been reading if you are interested in some good books, everything that I have read has been good except for the ones that I wrote "bad book"  next to. I am gonna start writing a blog on each book I read if you are interested.

Good night everyone, tomorrow I have friends coming down and am going to the North for Christmas and/or New Years (Nattitingou, if you wanted to look at a map).

Things to EAt

This is a list of things that I will be eating in London....things that I miss on random days like today when I am doing everythign I can to ignore the work that I actually have to do.

1. McDonald's McChicken Sandwich

2. Full English Breakfast (Fried Eggs, Bacon, Roasted Tomato, Mushrooms, Baked Beans, and Brown Toast with a real cup of coffee)

3. Steak and Ale Pie

4. Bangers and Mash

5. Steak

6. Steak

7. Steak

8. Matzah Ball Soup

9. Tanqueray and Tonic (I know you don't eat it, but it just tastes so good I couldn't do without having at least one)

10. Jack and Coke (Samething as above even though I can buy it here, its just too damn expensive)

11. Nothing that has to do with spaghetti or rice or fried yams.

12. Pepperoni Pizza

I think that is a good list for right now but if you think of anything else that I am missing that is just too good to miss, let me know.

Boredom

It is amazing what time on your hands, boredom and being alone in Africa does to a person.  In the past 48 hours, I have gone to the market, spent too much money on food that I normally would not eat but I was feeling experimental, gone to a buvette (Beninese bar) by myself to see if I could start a conversation with anyone that was willing to lend their ear, finished a book, started a second, watched 2 films, finished a puzzle, cleaned my house (which shows just how boredom has gotten to me, since I pay someone to do this), researched different options for internet in my house, looked into adding a shower to my house, made a gourmet meal for me and my dog (raviolis stuffed with local cheese called "wagasid", beans, chilis, tomatoes and onions, with a fresh tomato sauce called "jus" which is just sauteed tomatoes, onions and chilis with a little concentrated tomato paste), made french toast (which is harder then it sounds when dealing with African bread and things), contemplated making my own bread but don't have yeast, and slept a little.  All of this has still not completely satiated my thirst for entertainment, so I have been messing with my blog and reading others blogs on Benin.  Hopefully within a week or so I will have internet fast enough in my house that I will be able to download pictures and upload pictures here.  I will leave you with the thought that I am actually thinking about how fast my internet is in my house in Africa....contemplate it for a little.

 

A Sense of Belonging in a Strange World

This email is probably something a mother wants to hear when her son is sent off to work in another town in the western world or Europe and North America, not Africa, but it probably makes her happy to an extent, either way. The past twelve days, I have spent in Parakou, the unwritten capital of the North, at a Peace Corps Workstation. The workstations are like hostels for traveling volunteers from any country, but mainly for the country in which they are found, to be used as a safe haven and a place to do some work that cannot be done at post. Their third reason is to be used as places to hold domain-wide conference/meetings. This is why I was there, but the meetign was only one day long. I was there the weekend before for a VAC meeting which can be summarized as a high school student council type meeting, where people complain and the representatives take them to headquarters and get told nothign is going to change!!! But anyway, the week was awesome, because I got to see everyone from my training group and my work group and spend a lot of time partying, drinking and eatign good food, as you read in the last email.
The ESC (Early Service Conference) is a check-up on the new volunteers, to share experiences, give each other advice and to generally here that you are not alone in your problems. After this week, the main thing I found out was that I am too busy as a volunteer in comparison to most other volunteers, but that is how I like it. I didn’t come here to sit on my ass but to work and come out of here with as much experience and lessons as possible. But more importantly, I suddenly realized that I missed home. Not America-home, but my two bedroom house in Savalou. I missed being able to walk down the street and be called all the random nicknames that everyone has created for me by mispronouncing my name (my favorite being “god); I missed my own bed, my own kitchen, my bars and most importantly, my dog. When I first saw him, after he spent the week at my managers house, he was soo nervous cause he thought I was angry at him, but the second i sat down he came running, cause his Papa was home. He hasn’t been more than 5 feet from me since I have been home. (The people on my street keep asking home my baby is doing cause he is always with me.)
The strangest thing to me is that I have found this home. It is a relief at the same time as an omen. Work is finally picking up, my neighbors are friendly, I have made true friendships with the French volunteers in town and people generally know me as me, and not as that Yovo that came here to offer more gifts (which I have given none of). I am home, not something I ever thought I would say when in Africa, but here I am. Now the next thing to do is make this place even more livable with a soon to be added shower in “plein aire” and a couch, so I don’t always have to be in my bed. Anyway, I am off, need my good rest for tomorrow, whcih I will spend all day in the factory catching up on everything that I missed.

Preparing food in Benin

Let me just start saying that my meal last night was the best meal that I have eaten since I have been in Benin and I was apart of creating it. The meal consisted of grilled eggplant, a sheep, couscous and a tabouleh. The girls made the couscous and made the tabouleh, while me and a few of the other guys went to work on making the sheep/mutton. We went to the market and bought a dog-size sheep for 12,000 F CFA (about $25). One of the guys brought it back to the workstation strapped across his lap on a motorcycle, while the rest of us walked about 20 minutes back. This is where the fun began...It was time to kill, clean, and cook the mutton. One problem with this....we are a bunch of city dwelling, whities that have idea what it takes or how to kill or clean an animal, let alone a decent sized sheep. Solution...talk to the Beninese guard who has grown up without K-Mart, Walmart, grocery stores with prepared foods, i.e. he grew up in Africa. So he took the sheep outside, dug a whole with a knife, and saw at the neck, cutting everything in the throat up until the spine and let it bleed itself out, but of course, before we did this, we needed to make it kosher, so me and the only other Jewish guy here decided to bless the sheep and properly slaughter the animal, just for kicks.
To de-skin a sheep, the guard, named Pedro, tied off the open neck with a bit of rubber. Then he cut a little whole under the skin, but did not puncture the meat underneath. He then proceeded to literally blow into this whole, creating (as we dubbed) a sheep-aloon. Possibly one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen, just imagine a sheep blown up, legs sprawled cause it was full of too much air, its impossible until you see it yourself (by the way). Pedro then went about cleaning the sheep, peeling the skin, gutting the animal and preparing it to be cooked. (By the way, a headless sheep, without any fur, if propped up in a lying position but with its head up (without a head) looks exactly like a full grown dog, kinda creepy, but helps you imagine the sight.
We grilled the sheep’s meat, liver, kidneys and the best part of the animal for all, its testicles. Because none of us had ever eaten animal testis before, of course it all had to be at once, all 14 of us. On three we all ate the white mass, half squinting, just expecting the taste/sensation/texture/idea of it to make all of us to gag us, but the moment was answered by nothing but silence. Finally broken by one of us turning to another and mumbling, “Dude, I just ate balls.” The weird thing about sheep testis is the fact that they tasted like a bland hard-boiled egg; the exact same texture, consistency, and flavor. After 4 hours of smoking the meat, I bit into the greatest, juiciest, smoked piece of meat I have eaten in about a year. This entire episode will be repeated in a week, but most likely with either a pig, chicken, goat or yet another sheep, we shall see. It is planned that at our next conference for all/most volunteers we are going to buy a cow. I can’t wait!

I'm in the Newspapers!

I have made my first couple newspaper clippings!!!!  I am mentioned by name (Toold Odes) in La Diaspora on Oct 27, Le Progres on Oct 28 and this website, I am the Corps de la Paix volunteer that is mentioned in the last paragraph.  In La Diaspora, there is actually a picture of me.  The NGO is called AMSHART.  They do sensibilizations for artisans on basic safety protocol from wearing eye protection for carpenters to AIDS awareness for women's groups.  I am working with the HQ helping plan their events and their activities, not doing the formations myself.

A little update for all

These past couple weeks have been really hectic. This was supposed to be my first full week at post in Savalou, but an emergency (notregarding directly my person but I was involved) drove me from home again. Every week so far I have either had a meeting, had to go to headquarters or some random emergency has come up that has taken me from post and to another city, mostly to the capital, Cotonou. Before I get to this week I will just recap the past two weeks. They basically went like this: Woke up in the morning, went to the factory till lunch, came home for lunch took care of the house and the dog and slept a little, then wandered the city talking to people. I did have my first formations with women's groups in two villages. One village is along the highway so it looks just like Savalou but poorer but has electricity and running water and concrete buildings. At this village, Covedgi, I started leading the women in finding out what market research is and how to perform it. The problem with this group is that they thought I was going to be doing the market research for them on gari (corn flower or topioca flower) in all of Benin, but that is not my job. So the first day I led them through finding out their exact product, who they have sold to, who they sell to now, and who they actually want to sell to in the future. This took nearly 2 hours to do because they never thought like this, and also I got in an argument with my counterpart who was translating in the middle of the formation because he does not find it necessary to have the women answer the questions and he likes to answer directly for them. But that defeats the purpose of the exercise. So after 15 minutes of actually getting into a yelling match, that he started after I asked
him to repeat the question to the women, and he refused. By enough of that, the women are now HOPEFULLY working hard on the homework that I gave them and we will see if it actually worked.
The second village was the coolest village in the world. It is called Dammedoho. It is 11km west of Savalou on the other side of the mountain, 20km from the Togo border. To get there you have to take a dirt road that is only passable by a motorcycle because the road get extremely small at times. So the journey takes about a half an hour, through some of the most beautiful, natural farming land. Between the backdrop of the mountains we left behind and the cashew, corn, and tapioca plantations it is an incredible sight to behold. The village itself is at least 15 minutes by motorcycle in either way from the nearest other village. It has no electricity, running water, nor concrete/permanent structure. The village survives on tapioca production and farming. I am also doing market research for them primarily, but I will also be doing a 12 week business class that covers accounting, marketing, business planning, and vision. the amazing thing about this, not only the village that I am teaching in, but also the fact that only one man "speaks"/"reads" French out of everyone there, so I have to teach all of these modern/complicated ideas to a group of illiterate individuals that have the drive of any
other person I have met that has a will to make money.

This week was going to be the most relaxing week I have had a post which is saying a lot since there is no stress like that found in America, and I can work at my own pace, but I had two other volunteers come into town for the week and they were going to stay with me. One came down and the week was great, but then on Wednesday she fell extremely ill, so I had to rush off with her, first to a hospital where she spent one night and then to Cotonou to the med unit so she could be seen by the doctors. She is perfectly fine now, they say it was just some food poisoning, which is funny cause we ate the exact same food for the previous 4 days and I have yet to be sick. (Knocking on wood!!!!) And because they were here and she got sick I never went into my primary work the entire week, but my counterpart understands, who in fact sent his driver to pick us up and take us where we needed to go when she was sick. I have thanked him countless times for that. It is also amazing how quickly we were seen and well we were treated for two reasons: one, we are white and African hospitals do not want anything to happen to a white person in the hospital, and two, I work for the most powerful man in Savalou and basically if I need something to be done or taken care of, I just have to mention who my counterpart is and things get done.

But on to the coolest thing that I have seen in Benin since I have gotten here. While reading this or directly after, you should check out my new pictures I just posted on Facebook or click on this link... The event was called Lutte Traditionel de Miniki (Traditional Fight of Miniki). It is a traditional wrestling match to prove the strongest and est men of the village. I'm sure it held more importance in the past but recently it has just become an extravaganza and provides entertainment for the locals and me of course! First let me describe the village and the journey up there. It is a village 16 km north along the highway from Savalou and 1 km west into the bush up in the mountains. The village is nestled between two mountain peaks. The path up the mountain is always interesting on really small engined motos, especially when you are lugging me up this hill haha. Lets just say the motorcycle stalled twice as we started to go up the mountain so I had to get off and walk up 3/4 of it. but once there, the scene was incredible. Everyone was fighting, screaming and pushing their way up to the gate. The second one guy from the village who was somehow apart of the crew puttign the fight on, saw a group of
6 white people walking up he immediatly ran up, grabbed my arm and started to drag me through the crowd with my friends following. After dodging belts being whipped at people trying to follow us, being swung by cops, and squeezing my way into the center ring, the guy then led us into the King's tent and tried to find us a place next to him. But it was the sun and we know how us, foreigners hate the sun! he wouldnt allow us to sit there cause we weren't in the shade. So they moved us. As we were walign across the center ring we saw an open area
right next to the ring inside the center fence separating all the Beninese people from the wrestlers and the center ring and we just sat down there. He saw that we prefered this and then brought us a bench and set us up for the best seats in the house. Of course, whenever you see foreigners in Benin somehow a video camera shows up and starts filming us. Imagine 8 white foreigners in the middle of 500 Beninese people and you will understand the sight. The fight was soooo cool to watch. The tradition built into this match and the understanding of what was going on was more impressive then the event itself. At one point, the invited Northern wrestling group stood up and challenged the local wrestlers. It was amazing the excitement around this fight. Of course, the Northern stronger fighters won the match and the screaming, pushing and arguing that followed was a sight. Events like this make me glad that I was brought to a foreign land like this.

Other than the fight, today I spent all day cleaning my house cause it was a mess and bugs started to show up more than usual. I have locked myself in my house tonight bcause I cannot leave because it is a festival tonight called "Le Lavage de Ville" (The Cleaning of the City). Basically it is voodoo priests walk around the entire city saying prayers to scare away/cleanse the evil spirits from the land. Because I am a Yovo, I am not allow to see this and evil spirits will join my body and I will be haunted. Or at least that is what they say. But life is still good here, things are finally settling down, I'm making friends with the locals and finding other work that is more interesting then giving constant formations to women's groups, even though I enjoy some of the groups, and work that will do more for the development of Benin than any number of formations that I can give to the women's groups.

Content....

I sit here now, at one of the most content moments of my life.  Picture yourself sitting at your dining room table having just finished a meal of fries and grilled steak, that you just enjoyed with one of your best friends within an hours drive of you, eaten by candle light while listening to Andrea Bocelli softly in the background, almost at a whisper with your dog curled up at your feet.  Possibly one of the greatest moments of any man's life, potentially romantic for some.  Now picture yourself doing the same thing, except you are sitting in a room surrounded by bare concrete walls, bare concrete floor, exchange the candle for a kerosene lamp and the fries for fried white yams, while sitting in one of the poorest countries of the world, and imagine how much more content and satisfied your life is. Life couldn't be better for this soul at that particular moment in time.  

Now all of this having been said, this come from a man that enjoys his steaks, enjoys his company, enjoys his music, and enjoys his creature comforts that remind him of home.  This also comes from a man that enjoys the pleasures of life, like no other man in the world.  It was only a week ago, that I raved about the toilet that I just installed in my latrine, another glorious moment of my short stay so far in Benin.  I would not have changed this evening for anything else, well maybe to be eating a better quality steak and actually eating real fries with Ketchup, but one can't demand so much in my position.  The fact that I was able to eat a steak in Benin, that was grilled over a real charcoal grill is an amazing feat in of itself, that took nearly 1.5 hours to complete, but it is the experience isn't it.

On that note, who ever knew there was a beef season.  Isn't beef a meat and aren't cows living all year round?  Well, yes! but not in every part of the country.  When the cattle is driven from the north of the country to the south, by solitary men walking along with the cattle every step of the way, selling a cow at each village they pass, one is able to realize that beef is a cherished commodity (and expensive) that must be appreciated the few times a year that it is available to eat.  I explain this, just to further enlighten those (like me, no less than 3 months ago) that do not know any different, since we are used to having beef, for example, readily available at any time of the year.  This is just one more lesson that I will be able to take back to America with me, when I return, enabling me to understand how lucky I am to have been born and brought up in a country with all commodities, including food, readily available at little expense to me.  Life is too easy and that is why we have become corrupted in ways that we do not even understand, including myself.  The adventure has only begun and will continue throughout the rest of my stay here in Benin.

Forgot to mention...

I forgot to mention that I have skype as well and I will be on it.  My name is toddodess.  Look for me online and we can talk.

Internet Connection

I have great news!!!  I have successfully hooked up the internet in my house and will be able to be online whenever I need to be to check emails!  I love technology!

I've been busy thinking and writing this week...

If someone was to ask me 5 years ago...fuck it, a year ago, what would I be doing in a year, I would never have said lying under my mosquito net, sweating my ass off, living in the fifth poorest country (which I still do no believe is a true fact) as a Peace Corps Volunteer! A year ago people said I was a capitalist, a frat boy (well as fratty as one can be at GW), and most of all an America-loving college kid with his eyes set on working for the government in the defense/security sector; at least, that is what I thought of myself. Less than a year ago, the Peace Corps was nowhere on my radar as a possible career choice that I was willing to make. Less than a year ago, I loved my life of semi-luxury, living in my two bedroom, two story townhouse in the middle of DC on the GW campus with what seemed like endless funds (thank you credit cards, that later came bak to bite me in the ass).
 

Less than a year ago, when I began the application process, people said that saw a change occur with me: I became more open to other’s ideas, more open to helping people, calmer and more in control of my life. Without even noticing these changes in myself, I was subconsciously preparing myself for the two most difficult years any middle to upper class American can endure. Less than a year ago, my life looked as if I was about to make the choice between going into the private sector of defense/security/consulting with a relatively high salary for first-year recruits and taking the government’s “vow of poverty” to work in the public sector; nowhere did I perceive that I was going to literally take a “vow of (relative) poverty” and live in Benin.

The past couple of days, my life has come into full view for myself. I have noticed many things about myself that have changed within the short, 3 months that I have spent in-country. Riding along the gudron (highway-type road), praying for my life as the chauffeur sped about 100 miles per hour up the road doing slalom esses, dodging both canyon sized potholes and on-coming traffic, sometimes passing them on the wrong side of the road, or using the bush as a third lane, I began to think, “What the fuck have I gotten myself into? Why did I turn down three job offers that would provide me with relative security both physically and fiscally and accept a life where my physical security is in the hands of a random Beninese chauffeur that sometimes is too tired and/or drunk and should not be operating a car and my fiscal security rests in the hands of an incompetent woman that can never pay us on time? Why did I leave my life of being able to relax, drink, hang out with friends where I do not have to think to myself: is someone gonna jump me because I am white; is someone gonna think that by sitting/walking/talking to a Beninese girl that I am her husband; or is someone gonna come up and ask me for money based on the simple fact that I am white?” Who in the right mind would ever turn down the life of a middle class American for the life of a Beninese?

The things that changed in me during the last few months before leaving America, changed specifically to prepare myself to answer those questions. I became calmer and more controlled to allow myself to sit back and register everything that was going on around me. This is needed in Benin, in the Peace Corps as a whole, because without this, one would never be able to survive, both mentally and physically; one would never be able to control themselves to the extent needed to last the two years; one would not be able to stop themselves from striking out against the constant pestering. This is just one example.

The other changes that occurred within me allow me to do my job. The problem with these changes is that one must never lose sight of what they left, of their goal. The balance between becoming fully enthralled in their work here, becoming the most glorious Peace Corps Volunteer on paper, and never losing sight of the goal of why you are here, is incredibly difficult to maintain. The goal that I speak of is the imminent cross cultural exchange and the amelioration of a less fortunate society/enterprise. Every person that I meet can be bettered just by simply teaching them to fish (to use a trite saying), but it explains what is needed to help everyone here. Helping the people, not by literally teaching them to fish, but by teaching them the basic business sense that comes second nature, that is ingrained in nearly every American.

Onto my life...

Benin has been very good to me. I speak of living a life of relative poverty in comparison to the United States, but somehow I am able to be spoiled no matter where I go in this world, and no matter what I sign myself up for. The credit for my luxurious life, in relative terms to the average Beninese, can be given to Mr. Jacques Bio for giving me the best post in the world, that is both best suited for me and no one else in all of Benin (from my point of view) and possibly the closest to the American style of work. I have now been promoted to “manager” of the factory. Basically everything that I say goes, without being second guessed by anyone, not even the owner. Madame Zoe has given me free-reign to do whatever is necessary to build her factory into an international, exporting powerhouse in Benin. Our competitor has one advantage on us and that is the fact that they have foreign investment and a lot of it. Their capacity is about 150 times ours.

Last week, I was able to go on my first business trip. This was a business trip to basically intimidate the Nigerian that was sitting across the table from me. I believe that Madame Zoe brought me to this meeting to show that she has someone “competent” in business ethics and actually knows what is right and what is wrong. The Nigerian businessman is the typical Nigerian businessman, they give you as much of a bad vibe as a used car salesman gives you in the United States. You know, behind everything that he is saying and behind is stupid smile is a lie, you just need to know what to ask and you will get the right/true response. Needless to say, about an hour into the meeting I was able to have him double the amount of money he was paying us for our nuts, simply by asking him questions and presenting him with facts.

But I do believe I have found what I will be doing with my life once I am done with the Peace Corps, and it is either sales or it is running factories in third world countries. By the end of my two year stint, if I am not able to run a factory or know how to start one up (what I basically am doing now) then these two years are a waste. I’m sorry mother but Yes, that potentially means that I will be in Africa on business more often. I don’t know if I will want to live here afterwards, but we will see about that when the time comes and how much money people are willing to pay me.

In other news, I have just purchased and had the greatest invention of all time installed in my house today. I had a toilet put in today! It is amazing what a difference being able to actually sit down on something while pooping makes, compared to having to squat. You don’t have to worry about aiming or praying that you have pulled your pants far enough down or your legs are wide enough spread. It is glorious!!! It cost me all of $30 to have it actually made and installed in one day. Now this is not your ceramic thrones that you find in America, NO, this is a poured concrete, handmade comode with inlaid broken tiles on the seat. By the way, it ways about 500 lbs, cause I nearly gave myself a hernia trying to lift it by myself before I called my neighbors to come over and help. I am just waiting on the second greatest invention that will be ready in about 10 days, and this one is a table and chairs!!! I won’t have to use the floor as a desk, a chair, a table to eat on, nor a table to prepare my dinner. Lately, I have been using the lip of the well in my back yard as a seat to sit on and prepare my dinners in my hands. In 10 days, I will become a civilized person, cause then I will have a toilet, a bed, and a table!! Who ever knew that it would come to the fact that I was waiting on a carpenter to make me a table to become a normal human being. After that I may have a couch or possibly a cabinet for my food made, but who knows, I gotta relax and wait upon the glorious table/chairs.

Another amazing thing is that I am writing this lying in my bed about to go to bed and it is only 8PM, G-D I’m old! oh wait, no, I’m a volunteer. The average bed-time for us is about 9PM and we all wake up by 7AM naturally, from the lack of things to do to entertain us because it is just not smart nor safe for a white person to leave their house after the sun goes down in Africa. But now I resign myself to the words of Dostyevsky to lull me to sleep.

Hello from Savalou

Sorry it has been so long but I have not had internet access for a while now because I have been so busy with everything.  But I have great news...I am finally at post!  I moved in today (Sept 7).  My house is awesome (details below).  My neighbors are great, a lot of little children and two houses.  My house is a lot bigger then my first impressions.  But it is wierd, I am actually in my first house that I can call my own on my own, i.e., no roommates (minus my puppy).

I am so very excited about everything.  Also great news is that I am not the only white person in the area.  My counterpart is hosting a French girl/woman (my age) who is a Physics teacher.  She will be teaching at the school that my counterpart also owns.  So at least I have a friend.  She also speaks fluent English so we are helping each other perfect each others languages.
 

I will be working for a company called "Groupe Kake-5".  The company is called this because the group is comprised of 5 different companies: a hotel, the cashew business, a honey factory, a private primary school, and a private secondary school.  I will be specifically working with the cashews, but the honey kinda runs right along side it, even though the factory is in another city a couple hours away.  They primarily want me to work on digitizing all the information, maintaining work-flow/making the work flow process more efficient, and increasing the quality control to later export to America.

SAVALOU
Savalou is a beautiful city.  It will be the most beautiful place that I have ever lived in.  The city is built on and between three "mountains".  One of the "mountains" is actually a mountain while the other two are hills.  The city is built up the side of the biggest.  My house is in the valley.  The city of Savalou is gorgeous though.  It is basically a city built on a mountain in the jungle.  When I went to the top floor of a house I looked out and could not see anything
but green foliage dotted by little villages/buildings.  I am going to find out how to get to these villages and I think I am working in a few of the villages for my secondary project, which I will explain later.  The city is known for its voodoo.  They say that Savalou is
the "beating heart of voodoo" in Benin.  Everything in their life is directed by some voodoo power or something.  I love it, cause I will actually be able to understand the voodoo here.  As I was being driven around the city, you would see women just drop, start convulsing, then
jump up and start dancing.  Somehow random dudes show up out of nowhere and start playing drums and people surround them and watch. It was incredible to see.

       The people are extremely nice cause they have always had a good experience with white people who live in Savalou.  I am taking over a project that was started 5 years ago by another Peace Corps volunteer.  I am the third in the line that will be working on this project.

They love my predecessor so I am hoping to step right in and become their "son" and have them take care of me as they did the others (explained later).  My house is a small house but nice and plenty big for me and my dog (yes! I am buying a dog!).  It is in a concession
with 3 or 4 other houses.  A concession is a walled in area with many houses within a secured gate.  But the gate protecting my house is broken now and fallen over so it might as well be a row-house.  I havean outdoor shower in my backyard next to my shack of a kitchen.  I
have a latrine about 20 feet from my front door that will only be used during the day, otherwise it is a bucket at night if its poo or out my back door.  If you saw the size of the cockroaches here, you would absolutely understand why you stay away from latrines at night.  But
the latrine is not too bad, cause it actually has a tiled toilet for me to sit on; I just have to get a toilet seat to sit on.  In the house, the first room you enter is a room about 20ft x 11ft.  From the front door you look straight back through a hallway and out the back door to my backyard. On either side of the hallway are two rooms.  Both rooms are 8ft x 11ft.  The room on the left will be my bedroom and the right will be an office.

WORK
       My work is awesome.  I am so excited about working their.  The owner of my company is the wealthiest person in Savalou.  She basically runs the city.  She has a couple chauffeurs with nice cars, a house in most major city in Benin that I have access and use of, and she has a
vacation house in Paris that she is at right now with her husband. She allowed my predecessors to use all of her things whenever they wanted because they became part of the family.  If you come to visit you will be able to see all of this, trust me, Savalou is alone worth
it to visit me!

       I will be mainly working in the cashew factory.  I am trying to post pictures.  But my other projects with the company is introducing American standards to the factory, i.e., not hiring children to work in it, cleanliness, waste management, higher production, increased efficiency, increased output, and professional packaging.  I am also aiming to add product diversification to this since they only do buttered/salted cashews right now.  The problem is that there is basically no domestic market for cashews because they are too expensive for the poor Beninese.  I need to convince the people that it is healthier, tastes better, and just better then the devil (peanuts).  Peanuts are everywhere here.  The thing that amazes me is that there are no peanut groves/trees in Savalou but the city is famous for a dish called yam pilee avec sauce d'arrachide (mashed yams with peanut sauce).  It is fricken good.  But what is amazing is the
fact that there is a cashew factory in Savalou and not a single person uses them to cook with.  This will change.  My first project is creating little cards with a recipe for cashew sauce.  It is the same process as peanut sauce but tastes sooooo much better.  I am also
coaching the saleswoman on American salesmanship.  It has sort of worked already, but she doesn't use it every time she does a sale which is annoying.  I have convinced Madame Sounlin that I am a specialist in marketing and sales so I will be meeting with people, hopefully selling cashews to internal markets.  Right now, she only sends a few to local markets and the rest to Nigeria, but the Nigerian is under cutting the prices so I have to fix that.  That meetign will
be interesting, which will be in a week or so.  I am hopefully opening the markets in Ghana and Senegal.  I have decided that they are the best markets for cashews because they are the wealthiest places in the area, excluding Nigeria.  Nigeria will be tricky for me because I am
not allowed to go there, so I have to convince the distributors to come here to meet with me.

       My secondary project will be working with an artisan/farmer group.  I will be going out into the bush teaching small formations on accounting for illiterates, marketing, business administration and other things like that.  You may be thinking, "How are you qualified
for this since you have never had a single business class in your life?"  Well, I thought the same exact thing until I met my first Beninese businessmen.  Their business capability is equal to that of a 2nd grader.  The little girl selling lemonade on her driveway on a hot day has more business acumen than the average Beninese person.  So it will be like pulling teeth.  But I will enjoy it.  This secondary project will be what you call "My TRUE Peace Corps Experience."  This will include me teaching outside using chalk on the side of some
random building while a group of farmers sitting on the ground looking at me as if I actually know what I am talking about in French/Mahi. (I am learning Mahi, which is the local language of Savlou.  It is called the "Lazy man's Fon" because it is Fon minus a few syllables or a few syllables have been combined, making the language all that more difficult for me to learn, mind you its also written in another alphabet.)

       Other than that I am still alive and kicking.  I hope everyone is doing well and stays healthy.  Keep me up to date on all the happenings back in the States please!  Don't worry about the length cause I have nothing but time here!

I have arrived!

I know I have not been keeping this up lately, but it is extremely difficult to do this when internet is not at my fingertips like in the States; and when I find internet access, it is extremely slow. I am trying to do this as much as I can. When I am able to I will be loading pictures on my Facebook account, but not all the pictures as the internet is impossibly slow here. But anyway, enough excuses....

Life in Benin is definately different. Everyone has been asking me: How is it? What is it like over there? Well...it is impossible to describe in words. It is nothing like you have experienced. Some of you may have visited Africa or destitute places, but I assure you, it is nothing like experiencing life as a fellow Beninese, living amongst/with them. I have been taken in by the YASOUBA ADJIBI(?) family, embraced, first and foremost, as a brother, a son, an uncle, and lastly as a friend/confidant. I live in an around called Hlobou(?). My host brother/caretaker Habib is beyond helpful. Despite one major understanding when he thought I was disrespecting him and his family, he has been nothing but cordial; opening his home to me, even moving his own room to the other house to provide me with privacy and the only bedroom in the house with a ceiling fan. YES a CEILING FAN in Africa. I even have a bidet if I wanted to use it, but I don’t. I am the only stagiere (Peace Corps Trainee) that has only taken one bucket shower since I have been here. My house is in a concession with one other house. In my house there is a seating area, kind of like a family room, that is empty, a kitchen with a fridge, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. One of the bathrooms is the douche (shower) that has the sink and the bidet in it. The other bathroom is just a western toilet. No matter where I am in the world, it seems that I can still be spoiled. The other house on the property is where my Mama and Habib live. There is the tv room and a kitchen (that they don’t use, cause they cook outside). The entire concession surrounds a well that is only used when the water is not working, which is never (so far!).

My family is extremely wealthy for Beninese standards. Mama is 67 years old. She ran a micro-financing operation that supported small agri-businesses in the area. She is since retired and basks in the wealth. I have three brothers and two sisters. The oldest (45 years old) is a doctor that trained in the Czech Republic, without any prior knowledge of the Czech language. It took him 7 years to finish school. He then went to the US and lived no more than 2 blocks from my house in DC that I lived in last year. He got his specialization from Georgetown in Pediatrics and worked for Kaplan doing some work that I couldn’t understand. My oldest sister is a pharmicist. She studied a little in the US but finished school in Benin. My youngest sister is a doctor as well. She studied in Benin and little in the US as well. My middle brother is Habib. He is not married, has no job, nor children. They call him a culturist, because he loves and lives the culture of the area. He is a devout Muslim, praying at every chance he gets. He is known by everyone in my part of town. My youngest brother is 27 years old. He is married and has a son. He, his wife, his son, and his wife’s youngest brother (7 years old) live with me in my house. He is training to be a lawyer and hopes to become politically involved. We have had many discussions about the difference about the politics of the US and Benin. He studied political science for 3 years before deciding to be a lawyer. His wife is studying to be a judge in Benin. As you can see, my family is extremely well educated, wealthy and have the ability to explore different high ranking jobs in the Beninese society.

Besides my family, some have asked what am I doing here? I am, right now, in what is called Stage (French for Training). I am in French class for at least 3 hours a day and some days for 9 hours. I have technical sessions every other day, to learn things like “Accounting for Illiterates”, “Accounting for Minimal Education”, “How to create a mud stove/dutch oven” and things like that. Its like being in college all over again except for the fact that I am learning practical things that I will actually have to use sooner than later. I found out today that I most likely will be put in a small village somewhere in the countryside at least an hour by taxi from the nearest fellow white person (Yovo). But I talked to them and I’m trying to be placed in a city in the north. Nothing is set in concrete yet. They place us based primarily on experience, not preferences. My experiences lend to working with an artisan group and not specifically with a product or set person. We will see though. I find out next Friday exactly where I will be placed. Maybe in the south or in the north. When I say the North I mean north of Parakou (if you are looking at a map).

I hope everyone back home is enjoying themselves. I miss all of you, but I am surviving. I do have a cell phone here. My number is on my Facebook account. Feel free to call me, but remember it is a 5 hour time difference. I am 5 hours ahead of the East Coast. I would love to hear from all of you. Until next time.....

Graduation and Reflection

Now that I am finally done with finals and almost GW, I am able to reflect on my years in DC...

From freshman year to senior year, from Rugby to Arc Aspicio and now the Peace Corps, my life has changed. I arrived at GW, a young, confident kid that thought he knew everything (I still do) but that changed quickly. I was out of place, an international student in an unknown city, surrounded by people that are not from the same ASL bubble. I wanted to drop out of college, because I thought I was not a college kid, I was something different; I wanted to do something bigger and better than be in school, being forced to reading books that I could care less about, writing papers and taking tests that taught me facts and theories that I would never use in my life. To my parents, the thought of my other choice made them sick to their stomach: the army. I thought that I had only two choices in life either college or the military. But one thing changed, possibly greatest thing in my life, my mother's worst nightmare in college; I joined a fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. As I told my chapter last Sunday, if it were not for Pike, I would not be at GW. The fraternity got me involved and I found a purpose at GW. As a Pike, I was able to get involved in intramurals, philanthropy, and general fun. After freshman year, I had my core group of friends, my extracurricular activities that kept my mind off of other things and kept me in check/in line.

The next thing that I remember about college are my work experiences that have helped me find what I like in the world and what I want to do. At Rugby, I found that I have a knack for sales. It must be in our genes because my father and brothers can somehow sell anything to anyone, as I was. My junior summer was possibly the biggest party summer because every day we would work and then go out. But I was able to learn the art of selling/flirting with anything the moved in front of me. Some people called it the "lean" because the other people who worked there knew that I was working a customer when I leaned on anything that was around me. Well, the good thing was that it worked and I was able to sell anything. My next major employment was Aramark. This job taught me the importance of my college experience because I realized I never want to ever be a supervisor at a baseball stadium ever again. It was the shittiest working experience: horrible hours, horrible boss, horrible people. But the most important work experience that I have had was my time at Arc Aspicio, working for Lynn Ann. Under her tutelage, I was able to soak up as much of the business consulting world as I could. With nearly no guidance on many projects, I was forced to work through problems that presented themselves to me and succeed. Whether it was contract management (which was the worst project) to conquering the newsletter and doing real consulting work for clients, I learned a little about the work world and the world of consulting. On that note, I have to say that I will miss working in a work place that has a resident baby (Aisling) and a dog (Magnum), and a cat that I think I saw twice the entire year that I worked there.

College has been a time of love and hate. I learned to love the things I like and to hate the idea of institutionalized education. It was not specifically GW, I would have hated anywhere I would have gone. If someone were to ask me what the most important thing I learned at school was I would have to say it was my perfection of the ability to bullshit. ASL taught me how to get close with a teacher, good enough friends that I could coerce them to give me a better grade, get me out of trouble, or not tell my mother things that I did not want her to hear; while GW taught me how to convince teachers that I was not at fault, but in fact they were, allowing me to get away with a lot. My father always told me, "Its not what you know, its who you know", and GW taught me that he was right. I watched my fraternity and friends talk their way out of trouble because they contacted the right person and followed the correct path of bureaucracy and got away scott-free from whatever it was we were in trouble for.

Now that I have graduated, people ask me why I am doing the Peace Corps. And most of the time, I can think of nothing else but why not? I am not not tied down to anyone, anywhere or anything right now. What better time in my life than to disappear for two and a half years in a small village in Africa to help other people and better myself doing it? I am done with college, so I no longer have an institution keeping me in Washington nor the US, I don't have a girlfriend so why would I stay in the US and I don't have any obligation to anyone but myself and follow what I want to do. I am going to Africa with the Peace Corps, because I feel it necessary to do what I can for other people, for myself and for my country. I was blessed with the education and the lifestyle that I have lived and it is my job as an American and a Jewish man to provide tzedakah. The best form of tzedakah is to teach others, so that is what I am going to do. By teaching the Beninese what I know (partially making it up as I go), I will not only, hopefully, better their situation but also better myself.

Now it is time for me to pack up my life and move on to a new adventure.

Final Stage before Departure

Last night, I received my final clearance and no longer have any holds on my account. All I have to do now is prepare, oh and maybe graduate college. Today was my last day at work which is kinda wierd because I do not know what I will be doing with all my time.

My final stage before departure, besides graduating is buying everything necessary, reading up on everything I possibly can on business enterprise, micro-finance and perfectign my french (easier said then done).

From here on out, I will be keeping you up to date with what I am going to be doing while I prepare, maybe giving you a little insight into my future plans.

The country

So I sit here waiting for my final health clearance, waiting to hear what problems I have, I am left wondering when I will finally be fully cleared. I will probably have to take some sort of drugs to take care of myself. The problems I have are nothing to worry about at my age but they worry because it is what the Peace Corps does.

I have been reading a lot about the country so here is a little update about the country.
Climate: The north has two seasons, a long wet season and a long dry season. During the wet season, there is little to no sunlight, but it is 90 degrees and raining. While in the dry season, there is little to no rain. The temperature varies from 50 degrees at night and well over 100 during the day. The south has 4 seasons, two wet seasons and two dry seasons. The wet season are the same as in the north. The dry seasons don't really fluctuate nearly as much.

Terrain: There are four regions in the country. The north is split in half, one desert-ish area and one is a forest type region. The south is beach area that is partially forested and low-grasslands. Int he middle of the country it is a grassy plateau.

Religion: The vast majority of the country is a religion that most of you now know as voodoo. It is was brought over to the United States and the Caribbean during the Slave Trade. 25% of the country is semitic. The north is predominantly Muslim; the South is Christian.

All of this just gives me an insight into the culture of what to expect. The weather is gonna be interesting because I will be in a mudbrick hut. I am gonna have to get used to no AC in 100 degree weather, while sleeping under a mosquito net.

Pere, my roommate, has threatened if he sees me with my Burberry scarf in Africa he will have to slap me. This will be an experience of a lifetime that will change everything about me. I have people that require to see me after I am back to see how much I have changed. We will see.

For now, all I can do is wait...

My Next Bog Adventure

For everyone that did not receive this, this is a full description of what I will be doing in Benin.

Enjoy....

Dear All,

I am writing to announce that I have received the honor of serving as a volunteer for the Peace Corps! I will be serving for 2 years and 3 months in Benin, Africa (West Coast). I will be working within the Small Enterprise Development program. My duties are to help grow and sustain profitability for small artisans (carpenters, masons, etc.), NGOs and GOs. I will work alone with these and sometimes with other volunteers. Even though Benin is a tiny country (about the size of Connecticut) it has been split into 12 counties with 3 volunteers (PCV) per county.

On July 1, I will be leaving for my staging area which is my orientation place. I do not know where this is. I will spend 3 days with other PCVs getting my necessary immunizations and learning everything I need to know. Sadly, I will be leaving the country on its birth (July 4) and not returning permanently till September 2010. I get 2 vacation days per month that accrue while I am there and can take up to 14 days off in a row and travel wherever I want. (If anything important and sudden were to happen while I am in Africa, I am able to come home.) I get a diplomatic passport during my term of service, so I get treated as a diplomat not as a tourist. Everyone is encouraged to visit if you are willing and want to. From July 5 till September 5, I have an intensive orientation that will teach me the language (French) and the culture. I work 24/7 for that entire 3 month period. From then on I will be working full time.

Now for the fun stuff....

Living Conditions:
I will be living in a mud brick hut...i repeat, a MUD BRICK HUT with a thatched roof, or if I am lucky a corrugated, tin roof. There is no running water nor electricity. I will have access to the internet when needed at my work place or other places. I will be living by myself in this hut, but in a village with locals. The bathroom is a latrine or a hole in the ground separate from my house. To shower, I have to fetch the water from a well in the village, boil it and then wash.

Transportation:
When I land, I will be handed a motor cycle helmet and a mountain bike. Even though there are over 50,000 km of highways adn roads, only about 4,000 km are paved. The helmet is because the taxis in the country are mopeds or motorcycles. My main mode of transportation will be my mountain bike.

Safety:
Many of you will read how unsafe Africa is nowadays, with many coups and civil wars, but do not worry, Benin is 1 of 3 successful democracies in Africa and has been stable since 1991 when they had their first election. On top of that, within one week of arriving I will mark out a "rescue/safe zone" that is designated as a emergency pick-up zone. This is used if there is ever a national emergency when the state department does not think it is safe to be there anymore. The Peace Corps' given full use of the US military if there is ever an issue like this, but this rarely ever happens. On top of that, I have daily check-in calls after my first three months, after which I am on my own and no longer with all the other PCVs.

I am extremely excited and nervous at the same time. This is yet another stage in my life that I will attack with as much excitement and hard work that I can. I am excited to learn a new trade and about a new culture. I have never been to the "real" Africa before. It will be fun and exciting, not only for me but my family that will see a whole new side of me that I did not even know I had until December 4, when I had my first interview for this.

If anyone wants to come visit me in Africa, maybe in another country other than Benin, maybe Ghana which is close I would love to share my experience, just it will have to wait until after September 4. If I forgot anyone please feel free to forward this on to others. If you have any questions, let me know. My email is todd.odess@gmail.com.

Love you all,
Todd

Welcome

Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog. I will try to keep this updated as much as possible while preparing and on my adventures in Benin. For all of those that do not know I will be serving 2.5 years in Benin, West Africa. I do not know what village until I am there.

Keep your eye on this blog, because I will be updating this as much as I can and as often as possible. Who knows how often that will be when I get there.