Benin on Jeopardy!

"Benin There" was a category on Jeopardy! last night. Do you know the answers?

$800

Majestic elephants & this scavenger, Canis Aureus, share W National Park, named for the shape of bends of the Niger River

$1000

If a tree grows in Benin, it might be the karite, which produces the skin restorer called “shea” this

$600

Vodun, still the faith of many in Benin, came from the area to the Western hemisphere, where we call it this

$400

On a December morning, your sinuses may be irritated by a harmattan, this, but it only lasts until March

They ran out of time for the $200 question.

If you want to watch the episode yourself, here is the YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrI3kfFMLsk

Sonsoro Girls' Camp

Last June, I wrote about a girls' camp hosted in Kandi by the region's Peace Corps volunteers. I was very pleased with the camp, yet disappointed to only be able to send three girls, so this year I decided to host a girls' camp in village. This three-day village camp was held at the beginning of this week, and 29 girls attended.

In many regards, the camp followed the same format as the Kandi camp. We taught the girls about health (malaria, hygiene & sanitation, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, puberty, and more), we brought in guest speakers to inspire the girls to continue their education and pursue dynamic careers, and we threw in a few fun activities (friendship bracelets, frisbee, etc.).

However, I changed one major thing about the camp: I designed it so that it would be easier to replicate by my community even without a Peace Corps volunteer. This meant one major difference from the Kandi camp: no external funding. While the Kandi camp was funded with a $2000 grant, I intentionally had no grant and instead sought community donations. We saved money by holding the camp in village (meaning no money needed for lodging, transport, or food), and we received donations of t-shirts for each girl, free snacks for the last day, free use of a sound system and generator for a post-camp party, and more.

Another innovation is that I turned my star camper from the Kandi camp into my assistant. We met weekly to plan this camp and she helped me develop the schedule and decide which guest speakers to invite. During the actual camp, she taught and led songs and games, conducted a lesson on malaria, and provided organizational support.

Overall, the camp was a roaring success. Some members of the community are already discussing how to run such a camp every year (without the help of foreigners, Peace Corps or otherwise). Now that's the kind of sustainable development we are supposed to be promoting as Peace Corps volunteers!

Here are some photos from the camp:

The girls are making friendship bracelets.

The girls just finished making a mud stove. This design saves trees by using less wood (as fuel) than the regular model.

Our guest speaker is singing with the girls.

The girls are performing a skit about mosquito nets during our closing ceremony.

Another improvement I made to the camp model was to invite the girls' parents to the closing ceremony. The parents are seated on the left while the girls sing on the right.

Living without Electricity - Part I

For those who wonder how we get by in Sonsoro without electricity, today I am offering you a small glimpse. Below are two photos of our vaccine refrigerator at the health center. The cooling is powered by kerosene, hence no electricity required.

A similar system applies to the refrigerators in the town's buvettes, the local drinking establishments that offer beer and soft drinks. Instead of kerosene, they attach a gas tank to their refrigerator, the same gas tank that would be used to power a gas stove.

My colleague is getting ready to add more kerosene.

Look closely on the left and you can see the flame.

Red Flower Sauce: Part II

This is the second half of last week's post. This week, cooking the red flower sauce itself.

First, pound the dry flowers into a powder.

Those once brilliant red flowers end up in a powder like this.

Puree the sauce ingredients (peppercorns, garlic, etc) on this grinding stone.

One by one, add the ingredients to the sauce: first oil, then tomato paste, then the pureed "sauce ingredients"...

...and finally the red flower powder itself. We did not use much (1/8 cup at most). The powder thickens the sauce, so too much would make the sauce too thick. The rest of the powder was saved for another day.

When the sauce is done, eat it with a ball of akassa. Bon appetite!

Red Flower Sauce: Part I

A few weeks ago, I collected flowers with a village friend for a sauce we later made together. Since I have a number of photos for this process, today I will just post the flower part and save the cooking of the sauce for a future post.

This is the tree that produced the flowers for our sauce. We collected the flowers that fell on the ground.

A close-up of a flower

Many flowers for our sauce

We separated the bottom part of the flower from the petals. Only the bottoms are used for the sauce.

We set the flower bottoms aside for a few days to dry.

Several weeks later, the flowers were all gone from the tree. Good thing we collected them in time!