Finished some Formations...

Last week I helped a nearby volunteer with a malnutrition formation at her CEG (middle/high school). It went OK but not overwhelmingly so...it was the friday before a vacation week and no teachers were there and vaccinations were being given out by UNICEF. After that I helped another volunteer at the National Park W do a mural painting of park animals with elementary kids from his enviromental club. The kids did a great job and I'm going to get a picture up of their work as soon as I track Weihow down. Now I'm in the prcess of bringing the malnution formation to my town and fighting of a mystery jungle rash. It started monday evening with what seemed like a couple bug bites on my right side...by the next morning they were large splotches! All day yesturday the rash spread down my side and up onto my inner bicep and itched despite me putting anti-itch cream and taking benydril and this morning it was even worse. So I called the doctors and was sent to a local hospital for an eval. They decided it is not an infection because I have not fever or pain or fluid with the splotches...a plus. I got a script for Zyrtec and am currently on that. More splotches have appeared on my right shoulder and left chest since the eval...if things keep up at this rate I'll be covered by early friday :) I sent the docs a couple pictures showing the progression of the rash so they know what I am talking about. If i start to develope a fever or anything I'll call the docs again but until then I'll just have to wait it out and see if the meds do their job. Jan and Feb seemed (and continue) to drag on forever! The heat is coming now...the harmattan is over.

Enviro-mental Education

Currently I am helping another northern EA volunteer with a mural project for the National Park W, as well as some enviro education with his local school environmental club. Later in the week I will also be helping a health volunteer hold some malnutrition formations. These formations would take secondary school students (high/middle school) and show them the importance of balanced nutrition and how they can easily eat better with the food available au village. I hope to have the same type of malnutrition formations in my village in March. The importance of getting the right amount or balance of vitamins and minerals is not really well known up here (I don't think) and if it is no one is following it! I hope everyone had a good Feb 14th and a spectacular day after. I did my laundry and went to bed early on my birthday...I think these are the first signs of being too old. Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! One Beninese birthday down, one to go...

Recent Work

I had spent the last two nights at Parakou University participating in discussions with students about American and Beninese culture. It was great to be able to hear the different opinions of young Beninese people who had somehow gotten out of the village way of life. Being 'au village' for almost all of my service, it was easy to forget that there is a small number of people in Benin who encourage their children to go to school or who want some life better for themselves and their country. The first night we talked a bit about the Millennium Challenge 8th goal (build a global partnership for development) and what type of activities the Beninese government was doing to attain this goal. The second night we talked about Valentines Day and the different ways Americans celebrate it compared to the Beninese.

Feb is for birthdays...

There are alot of birthdays coming up here people. Starting with Kelli, then yours truly, then Sterling/Jimmay on the same day, then i think it is my father's...lets just say Feb is a very popular month in my experience. But now I'll be celebrating my 25th (that is a quarter of a century) over here in Benin. One of my TEFL friends baked me a couple cakes and I am still tying to get that bottle of liquor owed to me from a RCH volunteer...it's been an uphill battle. I am now in an lull period between work. There is a mural painting plans in a nearby village with another EA PCV. The murals will be of wild animals and we will be talking with (and painting with) school children about the different animals. Later, during the first week of March, I will be assissting a RCH PCV in my own village as she holds a formation on the subject of nutrition at my CEG (Middle/High School). My bike tour was published in the PC Benin Newsletter (email me if you want a copy) so that was good. Too bad for my fellow organizers they only credited me with the story because it was me who emailed the editor...not my fault guys, I swear. I also put up some new photos, so enjoy

So if there is a Super Bowl....

and I'm not on the continent, can the AZ Cards go? Apparently yes. It is offical...I have missed an entire Pro and college season of football. The bike tour went well. We talked to about 3000 people in 14 villages and planted over 300 Moringa trees. Over 200 women were shown how to incorperate Moringa powder into their cooking and taste the results. Everyone was very excited and worked hard to make everything run smoothly. We even ran under budget! The weather is turning here and the coton trucks are returning from the fields with their hauls. Soon the temp will rise upwards to 130 degrees...so I have that to look forward to. I was going to try and head to Mali and hike Dogun country in the coming months, but now that doesn't look like it will work out. After hecticly planning the bike tour I am now left with finding some other work to occupy my time. I have a few ideas but I have to flesh them out. I have been trying to search out someone in my village who speaks Arabic...i figure if i study arabic the state dept would hire me after the 2 yrs are over. As far as the knife question goes: I use my Kershaw 1/2 serrated. I have 2 mulititules and a swiss army knife but the Kershaw is just great. And it has taken a lot of abuse. Bad news on the watch front....my very neato citizen ecodrive was ripped from my wrist as i plunged 45 ft from the waterfall back in Dec. I really did not know how usefull the watch was to me until i lost it. (I never had a very good track record with watches). everyone is settling into their routines over here and loooking forward to welcoming the new PCVs in a few months. A PC Washington type was over here in Benin doing a sector reveiw of EA. His name was David Miller and we talked about an hour about the EA program. I think there is a meeting down south right now with mr. miller and a number of the EA PCVs. I will post pix from the bike tour and other places soon....i know i have been slacking recently due to the elusivness of the internet. Hope everyone is doing well. I recently recieved G-ma and Aunt Jills packages...but not my sisters package from Nov. Idk where it went....maybe it will still make it. Instructions for mailing me are just to the right of these blog entries! Talk to eveyone later (i think i'll make it on tomarrow before heading back to post)

A little help for potential PCVs....

I realized this was about the time I was seriously getting into my PC application process last year, and while I don't remember if I had stumbled across the blog pages yet I figure I can give any potential PC applicant some advice before they sign up officially.
TIPS:
1. If you are in any way adverse to using a hole in a hut as a bathroom or your hands as silverware...do not come to West Africa. (or do what I do and carry a spoon with you at all times)
2. If the idea of a 30 y.o. man, with an equivalent to a third grade education, telling you how stupid your idea is (even if said idea is backed up by millions practicing it's principles worldwide)...don't come to West Africa.
3. Don't bring socks or closed toed shoes...you will never you them.
4. Pack less clothes and stuff and bring more money. (despite the falling dollar)
5. BRING WIND-UP FLASHLIGHTS/RADIOS/CELLPHONE CHARGERS. (we all can't be SEDers, with their electricity and running water)
6. About 2 weeks before you go to pre-staging, send yourself a package to the 971 Cotonou address...i suggest somethings chocolaty or Cliff bars.
7. Know your daypack...it has to be big enough to carry a couple pairs of cloths but be small enough to sit on your lap in crowded conditions.
8. If being the only white (or any other color other than black) person within a 50 km radius, and being constantly reminded of that fact everyday by people with less than a third grade education...don't come to West Africa.
9. If your family is dead set against you contracting some sort of tropical disease...don't come to West Africa.
10. Finally, if you really want to do development work...look elsewhere. PC is not a development agency and most of those wanting out do so because they thought they were getting into something altogether different.

That said, if you finally do decide that PC West Africa is for you (I fail to see how, you could get a Pacific Island post for Christs sake) then PC Benin is a pretty good place to end up. More food available when compared to Niger or Mauritania, and less violence than say Ghana. The downtime can get fairly tedious, but if you want the work you can find it. At the end of the day, every volunteer is over here to make a difference and help a people and nation less developed than our own. That thought alone makes those days when groups of children and adults are laughing at you because the white guy just got off a bike wearing a helmet just bearable...just barely.

Top 5 things I brought to Benin:
1. Inflatable sleeping mat and pillow
2. Blue disaster tarp
3. pocketknife
4. Sharpies
5. wind-up falshlight/radio
notables include: hammock with mosquito netting, camel bak, kitchen knife, micro waterfilter

Safari X-mas

So I'm back from the safari and now knee deep in bike tour plans. The animals were awesome! I went with a number of TEFL volunteers and we saw hippos, elephants, crocs, lions, buffalos, antelopes of various types, monkeys and baboons, a porqupine, and carious birds (eagles/parrots/storks). It was a very successful safari. Afterwards we visited a post of a RCH (health) volunteer and we played in a large waterfall. It was huge, probably around 45 feet high, and I climbed up and jumped off. Pictures will have to wait until I get back to Cotonou. I hope everyone had a happy new year, and I'm sure everyone is enjoying bowl season on their TVs.