Some updates...

Fathers day and the longest day of the year coincide tomorrow. I am posting a couple pictures of Giraffes that a couple TEFL PCVs visited in Niger. Hopefully I will be able to see them in the future. Also, there has been some shake-ups in our home office. The training manager and Country Director have left the Bureau. These new developments come a couple months after our SED associate country director was let go. We'll see how everything settles out with some time.

After PCVL Training...

Just came back up from the south for my PCVL/PSN training. It seems like it should be an interesting, if somewhat stressful job. I also heard it might mean I'll be reclassified at my GS level...Kyle says GS-11, but I doubt that. On the way back up I encountered a large group of termites flying around for their nocturnal breeding period after the recent rains. There were thousands of LARGE termites flying around on four wings...attracted to the lights of the workstation. On the ground many big-headed sentry termites were herding the male termites (after beating off their wings) into the nest entry near the workstation door. I tried to grab one of the sentry bug's heads but he caught me with his mandibles and my finger bled fairly freely. But the flight of termites was short lived. An hour later most of the fliers had beaten off their wings and entered the subterranean nest and by morning wings littered the ground like dry, fall leaves. I have pictures that I will put up (along with the mosque photos) when i have the time. I also have to wish my father a happy fathers day coming up here. I am anxious to get back to post and see how my growers association got along without me being there.

Changing seasons

The rains are coming to the Alibori! And with the rains a return to slightly more tolerable temperatures. The rains come very quickly up here, and so far only at night. The wind can guest up to 30 mph ( a couple villagers lost their roofs) and the rain comes down hard. The standard roofing in Benin is either tin or thatched. My tin roof sounds like a snare drum and it is impossible to sleep. Because the rains are starting to come people are starting to ready their fields. Corn and peanuts are being planted. Whole families gathered around 50 kilo sack of peanuts, shelling them so that they can be planted. Rainy season is for large crops only, no gardens...tomatoes have not been seen in my village for a couple weeks, neither has lettuce or fresh hot peppers. I started a Morigna growers association to try and stay busy...the Beninese Red Cross thing so far has not materialized. We have 46 gardeners and lots of seeds to start a tree nursery. Be they end of rainy season the Moringa trees should be good for transplant. I went to the top of a very tall mosque tower with my buddy Elliot. We measured it out to 27 meters but the guys building it said it was 31. I will put a photo up by the end of the day.

Tasty Treats

Myself and some fellow PCVs were treated to a wonderful dinner last nite. The menu was as follows:

Amuse Bouche
-An array Proscuitto-wrapped tropical fruits topped with a lemon mint creme freche
-Mint Julip

Soupe
-Cauliflower Veloute, garnished with fresh rock crab and parsley ghee

Poisson
-Salt-baked Giant Red Carp dressed in Beurre Blanc served over Mediterranean Salad
- 2007 Jean Balmont Loire Valley Chardonnay

Pause
-Lemon Sorbet

Viande
-Roquefort-topped Filet Mignon in a Bordeaux Demi-glace served over Julianed Dichon and Carrots
-2006 Marquis de Valbois Bordeaux

Salade
-Seared Giant Prawn served over Green Salad dressed in a Champagne Vinaigrette
-Comte Paulin Demi-Sec

Dessert
-Decadent Chocolate Baked Alaska
-Vermouth Digestif

Cheese Board and Cappuccino to follow


The PCVs who put on this wonderful night for us are well regarded in the PC Benin community as being serious foodies...and they did a wonderful job. I still miss hot wings tho. I have a meeting monday with some Beninese Red Cross people to try and flesh out my plans for school formations.

OK, the power is back on...

So the PCVLs maintain these workstations and help other PCVs with any problems they might be having with their post or assignment. Management of the workstation involves general day to day operations (bills, schedule guards, ect).
PCVLs also act as a liaison between Volunteers and the office staff in Cotonou. This helps streamline the process of addressing volunteer concerns. Instead of 100 PCVs the office staff only need to be in contact with 4 PCVLs. This contact includes monthly reports on workstation and regional PCV activities.
The PCVL also plays a big role in new site development. They solicit appropriate sites and assess the viability of newly proposed sites.
Every year they have to choose new PCVLs. It is normally a position for an extending 3rd year volunteer, but this year no one from PSL 20 applied for the position. This year 7 of my stage, PSL 21, applied. I know everyone wanted to have the opportunity to help their fellow volunteers at this level and I have to give a big congrats to the other PCVL selectees: Kyle Harrer, Chris Tsamoydakis, and Kaili Mumme. Luckily Chris (Environmental Action), Kaili (Rural Community Health), and myself (EA) were in the same training school during stage (EA and RCH trained together last year)...so we know each other very well. I have also spent more than my far share of time with Kyle (Small Enterprise Development) due to the fact that all training happened in Porto-Novo last year. Normally, training happens throughout the country and different sectors rarely see each other.
I will probably be moving into my new post in early September. But I won't be settled until late September because I will be training the in-coming stage for the two middle weeks in Sept. The current PCVL in Kandi COSes (Close Of Service) in early October, I think. So we will have to get some training in before all this goes down.

Update 2

Many people have emailed to ask me what the PCVL actually does, so here it is. There are 4 regional PCVL positions in Benin. They are posted in logistical hot spots at 'workstations.' These workstations act as transit houses for volunteers, provide materials and technology for project support (like computers for TEFLers to do lesson plans), and they are centrally located places for PCVs to assemble at for meetings or emergencies. This is going to be the first year with 4 PCVLs...wait...I have to continue this later because the power just went out!!

Update

I was selected as one of the new PCVLs for PC Benin. I am pretty excited to take over the reigns at my new post. In the meantime, I am also going to try and see if the Beninese Red Cross is up in the Alibori. The idea is to try and get skilled health officials to teach teachers basic first aid in case of an emergency. My new phone number can be found over there on the right hand info bar. Hope everyone had a good mothers day. I spent some time in the south helping fellow volunteers with some canvassing duties (collecting money for city trash collection) and an English club. For Ryan: I think the missionaries are baptist. Also, you should send your manuscript to multiple publishers to see if anyone will send you a hand written (or at least personalized) rejection...then work on them with the re-write.