Foulani girl photos..

These were the only two photos I could find of some Fulani with coins in their hair. These are both little girls so they have small coins, and not very many. These photos were taken during the planning and implementation of the bike tour north of my village....in my region the women arrange the coins in their hair like two pig tails that thrust from above the ear, slightly different from the forehead positioning like in these photos. I also want to update everyone about my current work. I am looking into getting a grant together to build a poultry house in my town. There is no such facility within many, many kilometers so I think it would be a good thing. Also, the farmer I would be helping with this project has continually shown himself to be a good worker and more than willing to put the things he learns into action...good indicators for someone looking to receive US aid moneys.

Souvenir shopping, among other things

Everything is progressing up here in the Alibori. Everyone is complaining that the rains are not coming like they normally do..la pluie, c'a fait mal. Cotton and corn growers have planted their fields. I have been collecting some colonial period coins as souvenirs (instead of what most PCVs collect like fabric or a bongo drum). The Belgium coins are dated mid-1800's and the Austrian Taler is dated 1780 (but that can be misleading since the same dies were used for an extended period but I like to think of it as that old). Traveling herdsmen, and ethnic group called the Pheule or Foulani use these coins and other trinkets for ornamentation. I will try to put up a picture of a Foulani woman wearing the coins, but this is hard since the Pheule women are really very, very shy of cameras. I think I have a little girl wearing some in some of my old photos. The nomads put these expensive silver coins in their hair as a way of showing off wealth and to keep tabs of it. An ancient nomad, without reading/writing skills or a permanent address, can't really have use of a bank account...so they keep their wealth close to them: Women have jewelry and the men have cattle or goats. Other news: the incoming stage got in a couple days ago...so everyone is excited and busy with that. I go down in a little over a month to train the environment kids during their final two weeks. We also got a new Country Director here in Benin, she was the CD from Togo and she has worked in Benin before so everything should be ok.

Goings on

Good news and bad news: I ended up not going to Ghana, but a really cool supermarket / Big K-mart type store opened in Cotonou! It has trampolines, power tools, and granny smith apples!! Very exciting. I was busy the last couple days helping another Alibori PCV work up a budget for lining a boulevard with trees. He plans to use a PCPP to fund it. The HCN initially proposing the project was asking for over 3 million CFA (almost $7,000)...we dropped that dramatically. I am heading back to post tomorrow to help transplant the 1000 Moringa trees I seeded a little bit ago. Also I am including a scan of my new business card...yeah that's right , I'm official (some places on the card had to be edited to be placed on this website and still adhere to the security restrictions).

Happy (belated) fouth of July...

I hope everyone blew up a small part of America for me on the fourth! I celebrated by being a judge at a PC 'Beer n' Beans' competition. I have been involved in a summer english camp for the past week. The kids really enjoyed a probability session I did with them that involved picking poker chips from a bag. There are a number of other PCVs at this camp and the HCN support we have received has been really good so far. I hope everyone is doing well back home. I might be going to Ghana in the upcoming weeks.
P.S. the fourth was our 1 year anniversary in-country

Rain Storms

Here is a short clip of what the rains are like as they whip thru the Alibori. And another clip of the girls across my courtyard playing in the rain and collecting rainwater off the roof with basins to be used in the cooking/cleaning.