www.flickr.com/photos/sarab_13 ALL MY PHOTOS!! Cool site on Benin to check out: http://benintourisme.com
THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE MINE PERSONALLY AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY POSITION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OR THE PEACE CORPS

Saturday, January 26, 2008

CHRISTMAS MORNING WITH THE RESTLESS KRISTO WHO I HAD TO WRESTLE WITH TO GET THIS NICE PHOTO


Thursday, January 24, 2008

“Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” - Margaret Atwood

Happy New Year to everyone. I hope the holidays were enjoyed by all. For me, like last year, even though I of course missed home, I enjoyed my time here over the holidays. The Saturday before Christmas I celebrated with a regional volunteer and his group of orphans where they danced and sang and Santa even appeared. Christmas Eve I danced with my friend’s children and ate a nice meal. Christmas morning a friend and I hosted a ‘children’s time’ outdoors where we provided ten kids with juice boxes, snacks, balloons and some other toys. We took photos and everyone had a nice time. Then I hung out all day with different friends in my neighborhood, eating and drinking well. New Year’s Eve was a huge outdoor dance until 5 am and visiting friends again the next day. So my holidays were simply a nice break from working and fun with friends.

My photos on the other site really show what we did for HIV/AIDS education in the schools in December. We still have a few remaining sessions until my girls club and I approach another subject. My English club is meeting regularly and we discuss interesting topics while I correct their grammatical errors. We have a good time together and they are excited about the correspondence we are starting with a French class in the US. I also have the English class that I team teach with exchanging emails with a French class in Newton, Iowa- my hometown. The class is fun and they are full of energy. Oh how I miss having that energy!

It’s always interesting to witness something that demonstrates how the children view their education. One day, a student that hasn’t yet paid his school fees was literally pushed out the door of the classroom by other students that didn’t want him in there receiving a “free education.” The director was gone that day, so just me teaching, and I wasn’t sure how to handle it at first. I know each day when the director is there he makes the student leave, as it’s not fair to the others who have paid with their parent’s hard earned money. He usually tries to hide and follow the lesson from outside, sometimes angering the director. This time, he thought he would test me, but I just let the students handle it, as long as they weren’t out of hand. So he ended up outside in the sun like the other times. Sad, but you can’t make exceptions. It is unfair to the others - school fees aren’t cheap, especially for these more rural families. It is not uncommon for kids to take two years to pass a grade or for an 18 year old to be sitting next to a 10 year old in the same class. Some years families just can’t afford it. Kids here love school and know they need to do well to better their lives.

I thank everyone who has helped with my orphanage project, which is on target. We have raised around $15,000 already in less than two months. Have some more to go, but I know we will get it. I was featured in my hometown’s newspaper which helped a lot, as well as many friends and family giving money and spreading the word for me. My parents organized a very successful fundraiser at their church with a beautiful power point presentation and dinner. They did an outstanding job explaining my project and talking about their trip over here last September. So many people are so generous. Big thanks to everyone who has helped in any way!

I guess it’s the little things here that also bring joy to my life. Having crazy conversations about how in some countries snacking on cockroaches is a pastime, or talking American politics and how people view the US potentially having a woman president. People laugh at how I burn my sensitive hands when I crush hot peppers, which I LOVE! But it’s so worth it as it brings much needed life to some of my meals here! It’s always fun when I see a group of old women coming from the market with big loads on their heads, and I greet them in local language, and they return the greeting like normal, and then I just wait….it always comes. A few seconds later it always hits them (if they don’t know me)….. “Ahhhh??? That YOVO just spoke GOUN to us! She understands our language!” And then I shout back, “No, I only speak a few words,” not wanting that they get too excited! ;-)


Clothes made in the developing world and sold to “the west” are then given back through charities and are sold again second-hand in the developing countries. Peace Corps volunteers and locals alike buy up the good stuff like crazy; there are even some volunteers planning on bringing some of it back to the US to save a few bucks for those entry-level positions requiring business casual. ;-)

There are some great photos of the English class and Christmas with local kids on my flickr site (address near the disclaimer above). And here are some videos from the classroom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDLmVTDgH4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emCf7CIWFWM

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The traditional healer cleaning the wound


An interesting article I wrote

Interview with a Beninese traditional healer (Le guérisseur)
By Sara Birkenholz
January 8, 2008


I’m talking with 43 year old traditional healer Benoît Kpodjinou Wachinou in Benin, West Africa. My good friend Tanté Julienne has been laid up on the couch for about 5 months now, with a flesh eating infection that has torn up her foot and swollen her lower leg. Because the family believes someone put a spell on her with the help of evil spirits, she is forbidden to go to a hospital for proper medical care. So that is what brings us here – to a nearby village called Djomon that consists of a cluster of huts and the traditional healer who doesn’t speak a word of French, the country’s official language. There are no drugs, no injections. Just twice a week he cleans and reapplies the traditional balm on the open wound. Mr. Wachinou is equipped with business cards that his children make for him, informational brochures on what he works with, and much traditional medicine and knowledge. In this SE corner of Benin, these traditional healers are very popular, taking more patients than regional clinics. There are numerous reasons why— they’re less expensive, more accessible and certain ancient beliefs prohibit visits to modern medical facilities.

Mr. Wachinou was very happy to have me there once again with my friend, this time taking photos and asking questions about his practice and life in general. With the others translating, I fired away. I made it clear that any question he was uncomfortable with would be dismissed and we would simply move on to the next. First question: how many wives and children he has. “3 wives and….and….” and after about 5 seconds of his heavy pondering, I grinned and said, “more or less”. He said 18 or 20. And there are no signs of him slowing down.

He started his job training at age 10, observing his father and doing ‘apprentice work.’ The first task he learned and practiced was male circumcision. He has no formal education whatsoever, not even primary school; therefore, he is illiterate and speaks no French. Yet he has built an empire in Djomon. The family is well-known. He does quite well financially and is able to support all his many wives and kids.

Mr. Wachinou is Catholic, and, like me, doesn’t believe in the true power of voodoo and spirits, yet respects that others do. For that, he treats certain maladies according to those beliefs. He says he does not have the power to send evil spirits, but believes my friend when she says she can’t go to the hospital because someone sent them upon her.

I was very curious as to where he gets his medicines and supplies. I received a vague answer. The traditional medicines and basic supplies mostly come from the different regional markets where they are sold. If something is rare and not sold, he himself will go out into the forest and search for a particular tree or plant to pick from. Most are natural Beninese products.

When asked how many patients he treats, he ball parked the number at around 15 visits a week. There is no real system of appointments. He is at the house three days out of five, depending on the market days, when he is then busy selling goods such as bananas and manioc that they grow on their land. Patients are aware of his schedule, and will usually just show up expecting to maybe wait a while.

When asked about the relationship between his work and local hospitals, he didn’t say much. There isn’t much of a relationship. Simply, if a villager has a serious problem or a bad accident, requiring say, surgery, then obviously they must receive proper medical care in a hospital. On the other hand, there are instances where the hospitals refer patients on to the traditional healers: if the patient doesn’t have the means to pay the hospital bills and the problem can be treated by the traditional doctor; sometimes traditional ‘bush’ medicine and practices are required that hospitals don’t/can’t use; or if the problem is non-serious and voodoo is involved, the hospitals are not available to intervene unless it is immediately life-threatening.

Among his stock of traditional medicine, he has both preventatives and remedies. Here is the wide range of problems, according to his informational sheet, that he works with:

Asthma, muscle and stomach aches, ulcers, chronic headaches, diabetes, severe flesh infections, difficult births, breastfeeding troubles, cancer, epilepsy, and sexual problems – prostate problems, impotence, and STD’s.

According to him, the most difficult cases are those like my friend has- flesh-eating infections and non-healing wounds that are dangerous if not controlled and take a long time to heal.

A few weeks ago, Benin was abuzz with news of a possible cure for the AIDS virus. Another traditional healer nearby had claimed he had evidence and the media made a big fuss. But since then, I have heard nothing, and can’t say I’m truly surprised. Mr. Wachinou said he had also heard the claim, but, like me, can’t believe it until it is recognized by the international community. In the midst of my HIV/AIDS awareness programs which I conduct in the schools, I wish more Beninese would questions things the way Mr. Benoît does.

Speaking of HIV/AIDS, he does in fact have patients that are confirmed with the disease that come to him for treatments, but he refuses to work with them as he isn’t familiar with the disease and doesn’t have the correct treatments as we do in the west. What I like about Mr. Wachinou is his sincerity. He said if he doesn’t know something as fact, he says just that. Many people here and all over the world hear myths and spread dangerous rumors, because they aren’t sure of the facts, so they would rather make something up that seems close to the truth. I have heard the following during my time here: HIV/AIDS doesn’t really exist at all– it’s a fabrication by westerners to increase condom sales; condoms from the western countries contain the AIDS virus to exterminate the African race; AIDS originated in ‘white countries’ and was brought over by them.

Finally, it was he who was curious about me. He gently asked my friends if he could ask me some questions. I said I would be delighted. He was mostly curious about AIDS and sexual relations in the US. I gave him the basic facts and the reasons we have fewer cases percentage-wise. He asked about condom usage and birth control, and my personal experience with all that. Next, he moved on to polygamy in the US. I said it is virtually non-existent and is outlawed, but gave him my views on it, how I don’t agree that it should be illegal. He, and the Beninese I speak with, are extremely interested in hearing this from me. I just said frankly that even though I personally wouldn’t accept it, it should not be outlawed completely. After we finished, he said he wishes to help with my furthering the AIDS program in the schools. What an interesting story.


Sara Birkenholz, of Newton, Iowa, is currently a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Benin, West Africa for two years. She has documented this story with the help of friends and translators Tanté and Emmanuel.

Tante and I between her sister and Mr. Wachinou