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.
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!
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.
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!
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!
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