Grand Popo Here I Come!

First off let me say, sorry it has been so long and I surely have a lot to tell you. It has been an extremely busy past three months. To start, I don't know if everyone knows but a volunteer was murdered in Benin about three months ago, just after the last time I emailed everyone. Following this the Peace Corps has done everything in their power to ensure that all volunteers here are safe, feel safe, and remain in country. We only had one volunteer end their service early after the news of Kate's death. We have had innumerable safety checks and rechecks, had the regional security officer come through and we updated all requirements for housing and living situations to ensure further safety.

Since the murder, my life has been a battle of ups and downs. The first big piece of news is that I and another volunteer were sent to Ghana by the Peace Corps (thank you for paying your tax dollars) to meet with the West African Trade Hub, Technoserve and the African Cashew Alliance. The trip was amazing because it was 5 days in Ghana and really only one day of work, but one day of prep work for the meetings, and two days of travel. It is amazing cause it only cost us about $15 to travel across two countries in a taxi. The second we started to get into Accra central we realized we might as well have been in another world. First off, there is grass!!!! Second, the streets are paved and I mean all of them!!!! There are taxis, fast food joints, and even a few malls and movie theaters!!! Anyway, the meetings were extremely productive. I have a potential investor coming to my post on Monday to meet with my factory and discuss creating the largest cashew factory in Benin. This will be the second investor that I have introduced to my counterpart and I'm hoping she doesn't embarrass me again.

The second thing that has happened in the past three months involves a “promotion” that I did not get. I use quotes because it really isn't a promotion but it is a position that you apply for and you get more important things to do dealing directly with the HQ in Cotonou. I applied and was positive that I was perfect for the job. The job entailed being the Volunteer Leader for the HQ and the liason between the volunteers and HQ. I would move to a regional capital and run a regional office that also acts as a transit house that has electricity, running water, and internet, so volunteers without those can come and work, stay and get clean. It sucks cause I didn't get the job but it seems that it actually opened up a better opportunity for me.

This leads me to the third and final thing, I AM MOVING TO THE BEACH!!! Since my work and my relationship with my counterpart has been going South since nearly the beginning of my service, I asked for a post change. I don't feel like wasting a year of sitting around in a city that is unwelcoming and a workplace that I cannot get anything done. So, I will be leaving my position (as some have called it) “The King of Cashews” and will tackle the problem of tourism in the resort town of Grand Popo, not to be confused with the Grand Poop or Poopoo as some other have called it. My first task of many will be to create a Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Board to streamline the image that Grand Popo wants to portray to foreigners that know nothing about the city. Among other things, I will be helping to get accredidation for a hoteliers school that already exists, increase awareness of other Beninese about the beauty of the beach and hopefully instill the necessity of cleaning the beach. I will be taking over from another volunteer that has lived there for a year and has hit a lot of dead ends along the way. I am going to take it in a new direction and do a lot of self-driven work, so I can ensure that it is done properly and gets done. My move date that I am striving for as of now is July 1, so as to never have to come back to Savalou again as a volunteer here, making things very awkward.
So as to the next time you will most likely here from me, I will be writing to you from the beach or my front door that has a view of the beach!!!

See some of you very soon in the United States on my three week return and the rest I will see you soon enough when I am done here in another 17 months! I can't believe it has already nearly been a year. Anyway, good night all!