Thought of the Day

Today's advice from our Language and Culture Coordinator: "If somebody or something wants to make you unhappy, refuse."

We are moving in with our host families tonight for the first time. I am still waiting to receive the photo of the families. Many of the other trainees have up to 10 (perhaps more) people in their family.

We were given a few Do's and Don'ts for living with our host families. If offered water, dump a little on the floor for the ancestors. Don't whistle at night because it will call snakes and that is how evil spirits communicate. Don't smell your food before you eat it because that suggests you think it may be spoiled.

There were surely be lots of opportunities for faux pas with the family, but hopefully they are patient and have a good sense of humor...

Peace Corps Boot Camp

Peace Corps Boot Camp, officially called Pre-Service Training (PST), began Wednesday, the day after our evening arrival in Benin. We were instructed to report for our first day of training at 7 am, even though our desperately jet-lagged bodies were still reeling from radically short nights of sleep (I, like many, had slept less than three hours Tuesday night due to jet lag, an alarm that sounded for 45 minutes starting at 3:30 am, five minutes of pot clanging around 4:45, and roosters and honking horns from 5:00 onwards). Our first day of training continued until after 6 pm. The schedule was packed with sessions on health, safety, IT, diversity, and more.

By far the most useful part of the first day was a girls-only session run by current Peace Corps Volunteers. The session covered practical issues such as how to pee, how to reject marriage proposals, and how to straddle a zemidjan (motorcycle) in a skirt.

Day 2 of training was scheduled to start even earlier than day 1: we had to report for duty at 6 am. My body, however, rebelled, and I didn't wake up until 7 am, despite setting an alarm and asking someone to knock on my door just in case. I even slept through the noise of the pounding rain and generator. However, fate was shining upon me because the bus was an hour late due to the monsoon rains and conditions. We were bussed from our dormitories to the Peace Corps Office, where we picked out our bicycles and learned to ride a zemidjan (as a passenger) on roads where the water was 3" deep the whole way across.

As I understand it, day 3 may be my last day of training in Cotonou, Benin's largest city. Tomorrow evening we will go home for the first time with our new host families. With the other health trainees, I will continue my training in Dangbo, a city outside Porto-Novo, Benin's capital. The non-health trainees will train in Porto-Novo itself. In any case, both Dango and Porto-Novo are close to Cotonou, and all three are on or near Benin's coastline.

Sorry for no photos, but this internet connection is far too slow for that...

The Start of My African Adventure

I fly out to Benin today to start my two years of service in the Peace Corps as a rural community health volunteer.

I know what you're thinking: Benin? Where's that? You're in the same boat as, well, nearly everyone. By writing this post I am already starting to fulfill Peace Corps' third goal: "to promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans." I'm starting by introducing you to a country you may not have even known existed!

Benin (formerly Dahomey) is located in West Africa between Togo and Nigeria.

The country is about the size of Ohio and has 10 million inhabitants.

I will be living with a host family in Porto Novo (?) as I complete my pre-service training (PST), 2.5 months of language learning, cultural orientation, bike maintenance lessons, technical skills development, and more. While Benin is a French-speaking country, there are more than 60 languages spoken. Since I passed the French interview, I have been invited to start learning Fon, a language predominant in the south, during PST. This does not necessarily mean that I will be placed in the south after PST.

PST will end on September 14, when I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer and will start my two years of service. At this point, I will move to the village where I will be posted for the following two years. I know almost nothing about my assignment, other than that I will probably be assigned to a health clinic. We have been told that our focus will be on AIDS, malaria, nutrition, and child and maternal health. There are currently 108 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Benin, and 63 of us will be flying to Benin tomorrow to join them. Besides health, the Peace Corps Volunteers in Benin will be working in English teaching, economic development, and the environment.

I have no idea how often I will update this blog since I do not know what my internet situation will be in Benin. Still, please comment often as your support and interest will be much appreciated.