Directing you to an additional site where I’m posting lots of photos! Flickr pages! Here is the address, go check it out TOUTE DE SUITE: www.flickr.com/photos/sarab_13

~~Coconuts and peacocks~~

I have learned how to collect palm nuts, coconuts, and papayas from high above! Not saying I DO it (I leave that for the experts), but I simply observe and then reap the benefits! Had a nice lunch of coconuts, and here is my neighbour fetching it! I also saw my first peacock at a friend’s house the same day, just walking around like it owned the place. I curiously asked if they eat them, and they said no because they are the “guardians” of the house!

OkOk…I will dive right in with what I have been doing! - I have begun assisting a computer class at my NGO with about 10 girls enrolled. I kind of oversee it and make sure they have a good handle on what we are throwing at them. This is kind of at my leisure as they have peer educators as well. My counterpart and I have been running around a lot finding our women’s groups in villages and taking notes on what they would like me to assist on and teach in the near future. They asked that I bring in a fishing expert to maximize catches and I thought of another volunteer who wants projects with fishing, so I’ll bring him over at his convenience to check out their problem. Also same thing with the artisans – we are in “negotiations” over what they want me to teach - most likely will be basic marketing and/or accounting. I have also been talking with people on an individual basis and collecting ideas for future projects. I would like to talk on family planning and do some more AIDS awareness stuff. Pierre (my counterpart) and I each started grant writing on two projects we are going to go for in the next month or so – Moringa education – teaching nutritional benefits and cultivating. The other is for an orphanage for about 50 some kids, and we have confidence in finding money somewhere. I did tell him though that I’m not going to be doing this my whole stay here - (grant writing that is). But for now it’s good to do things and well see what branches off this. I guess I can do both --- bring in a little money for good, NEEDED projects, but also TEACH – working within sustainable development. About 20 southern volunteers are working on a camp for young girls. We will each be bringing two girls from our villages. We will touch on about 10 different real life topics and it should be a lot of fun. To select the girls, I will hold an essay contest at the school. I am also looking to create cultural exchanges with a class in the US, so if you know of a class, please let me know. There is a specific PCorps program for this, matching up volunteers with US classrooms. I would work it this way or just do an informal thing. It would for sure be interesting and enlightening for both parties. I also have the grand idea of starting a library/internet café/resource center in Avrankou. If I could pull this together in my remaining time here, it would be a huge accomplishment. I’m always taking ideas on how to fundraise and get in-kind donations!

My French is coming along quite well; I feel confident enough to get up there in front of people and just wing it. There is preparation of course, but for those “put-on-the-spot” moments, I feel I can handle it.

Basketball continues to go well. Another volunteer and I would like to get a camp going this summer for kids in the area. We had our first game the other day, and it went pretty well. We lost, but not by much. It was fun watching a real game in Africa on the sand with a REFEREE and everything! I was so proud of them and how they worked together. They have a lot of heart, and the technique will come with time. I pulled in my friend Amadou, who played last year under my predecessor, to help and take a leading role in coaching with me. I really believe in the Peace Corps philosophy on capacity building. I have never believed in a kid so much. He is a wonderful leader, a strong person with good bearings, and has a desire to learn more languages (already speaks 3 fluently) and study at university here in country. I respect him very much and see loads of potential in him. All volunteers really need to have a person like this in their community to make the experience more meaningful and just plain easier. He is always willing to help out with language, project planning, or general support with nothing in it for himself. Its people like this I really appreciate.

I did have a weird experience the other day with some guy taking my photo on his cell phone as I walked by. It wasn’t discrete at all, and I stopped and made him delete it in front of me. We laughed about it, but I was serious and said I was a bit offended. I mean it was a bit weird and all. I have been here long enough to realize that the unwanted attention I encounter on a daily basis is not meant negative. But there are moments when you just want to explode. Luckily, I control it by reminding myself of this, and just smile and endure. But I have it really good. Avrankou is an amazing place; the people are very polite and accepting. They are always cheerful throughout their sometimes very difficult lives. It really does inspire me quite a bit. Also, the other day, this cute little naked kid about 2 yrs old ran out to the road to see me, who I’m sure didn’t speak any French other than what he yelled at me --- BONSOIR MON AMIE hello my friend. It made my day!

HAVE A GOOD DAY MY FRIENDS!

Au terrain

1st basketball game

We are red. And if you see all the people in the background watching the soccer match – you see which is the bigger sport in Benin and much of Africa. Therefore, we don’t have much of a crowd when that’s going on at the same time, which is kind of nice.

My former host brother In’tisor and I after the game

Check out these links relating to my experiences here:

www.songhai.org

Where I check email in Porto Novo and can buy soymilk! This place is worth reading up on - has an interesting story and is a good example of a kind of self-sustaining learning community. They attract students from all over West Africa for agriculture studies and they are pioneers in waste management and resourcefulness and small advances such as how to raise plump chickens – in cages with feed! So not the typical Beninese chicken with a hard life!

www.treesforlife.org and

www.moringanews.org

I’m going to do a good bit of work with this in Avrankou, or a LOT of it if we get some sort of funding; it’s a good idea since the info has yet to reach the village here--- this will be a great area to approach soon regardless if I get funding or not.

www.iita.org

Where my good friend Andrea works on her secondary project one day out of the week.