A three hour tour...

So yes, I met President Bush yesterday. It was pretty cool, though not as cool as what you might have seen on TV. You see, we weren’t invited to the ceremony with Benin’s President Yayi Boni (that's who I really wanted to meet). We didn’t see President Bush get presented with a sash and a medal, or get to watch the children perform for him…oh, no. We were all in another room, in another part of the airport, waiting two hours while all that stuff took place elsewhere. Members of the embassy staff, Peace Corps staff and volunteers, Fulbright scholars, etc. were all invited to a “meet & greet” AFTER the formal ceremonies took place. Mind you, we didn’t know what we were missing until we saw the news later last night; we just figured he was conferring with Yayi Boni. Ca va…

Still, like I said, it was pretty cool. They had a room set up with a podium, flags, etc. (see photo) in front of a blue curtain. When GWB was done with his other activities, he came over to thank all of us – who, after all, are in Benin representing the United States – for being here, far from home, enduring hardships so that he can brag about how much the US cares about Africa. OK, that might not be exactly what he said, but he did thank us for doing what we’re doing. He talked about the US commitment to Africa, which has been greater under his watch than under any other president in recent memory (i.e., ever). Through programs like PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Reduction), PMI (President’s Malaria Initiative) and Millennium Challenge, Africa has made enormous strides over the last few years; much of it as a result of aid from the US. Obviously, they aren’t out of the woods, yet. But it’s getting better, and Benin is a prime example of that.

[BTW, as an aside, there are proposals in both houses of Congress right now to reduce the funding levels for the Millennium Challenge Corporation. I know that in the paradigm of beltway insiders, appropriations often become the battleground for partisan politics. There are, however, occasions when such infighting does a concrete disservice to our country and to the world. I believe this is just such an occasion. Reducing the funding levels for MCC would be like cutting off the Republicans’ nose to spite the face of the entire developing world. If this country needs anything right now, it needs initiatives that will restore our standing with the international community. I can tell you from my experience here that MCC is just such a program. Please, encourage your Senators and Congresspersons to support continued FULL funding for Millennium Challenge. It is by far the best thing to come out of the Bush White House and it would be a disgrace if it became the victim of partisan sniping. OK, off my soapbox.]

Back to the presidential visit. I was attired in a traditional Beninese three-piece bumba (see photo) complete with a multi-colored fez. When I say traditional, it is traditional Muslim attire in Benin. As the president reached out to shake my hand, I took his hand and said, “As salaam aleykum, Mr. President.” This is a traditional Arabic greeting that means, “Peace be with you.” This is a very popular greeting in many parts of Benin, and not wholly inappropriate I felt. I had decided to greet him that way to perhaps elicit a moment’s thought from him as he went through the motions of walking the rope line.

His reply, which caught me somewhat off-guard, was, “You must be a Peace Corps volunteer!”

Now right away I’m thinking, “How did he know that? Was it the clothes? The hat maybe? Was it somehow the fact that I spoke to him in a language that isn’t indigenous to either Benin or the United States? What?”

What I said was, “Yes, sir, I am.”

“Do ya love it here?” he asked next.

“Yeah,” I told him, “most of the time. It’s hard. But most of the time I do.”

“Well, thanks for everything yer doin’.” And then he was off to shake the next hand.

I must say he seemed very authentic, down-to-earth and approachable; very easy to talk to. I’m sure that’s why he was elected twice. After that I shook hands with and spoke to Mrs. Bush (who asked where I was from) and Condaleeza Rice (who asked what my work was with Peace Corps; we talked briefly about MCC). They ALL made a point to shake hands with and greet every single person in the room, Americans and Beninese alike. When they finished, the president stood for two group photos with us and then they were off to get back on the plane and head for Tanzania. All told I think they spent about three hours in Benin…all at the airport.

So..."Bon voyage, Mr. President." Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

Travelogue

First, my apologies for not posting for so long. The holidays, my safari trip, in-service training and a bout of intestinal parasites have all conspired to keep me away from the internet for much longer than I anticipated. I am on the mend and things are on the upswing here in Cotonou. For me, things are settling into a routine, so there is less that seems “exciting” to write about. For you, of course, that is far less apparent; so my silence can be misinterpreted as something more ominous. Rest assured that all is well here and I am OK.

Second, I want to say an ENORMOUS “Thank You!” to everyone for the packages, cards, letters, emails and all the other demonstrations of love and support you sent my way over the holidays. I got some before I began my travels and some didn’t arrive until I returned, but all were received very gratefully. It was difficult to hold onto the spirit of the holidays in the African heat, but it helped to have a copy of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” to bring it all back. (Thank you, Julie!)

So let me begin with a bit of a travelogue. I left Cotonou on the 22nd of December for my first real trip into Benin. First stop was the village of Tchaourou (CHA-roo) where my new good friends Steve and Jaren are posted. It also happens to be the hometown of the President of Benin, Dr. Thomas Boni Yayi. As a result, Tchaourou is a really nice town. It has facilities that you would expect in a much larger city, including excellent drainage and garbage collection. Steve and Jaren live right on the outskirts, a stone’s throw from the president’s compound. (They actually met him on their first day in town. He was doing a walkabout and saw two white people walking toward him and stopped to greet them.) I spent two very relaxed days there sitting under the mango tree, drinking cold beer and eating grilled meat. Steve had the metal fabrication shop across the road make him an oil drum-sized grill and we christened it very well.

From there I went north to Parakou (PAIR-a-koo), which is the 2nd largest city in Benin. PC has a workstation there and that’s where I spent Christmas. There were a few other volunteers there but not nearly as many as I expected, so it was pretty chill. We made curry and stir-fry and had movie night on the workstation DVD player. The next day I left for Natitingou to meet up with the safari crew. There ended up being eight of us and unfortunately the guide had wrecked his 4x4 a few days earlier. He managed to find a vehicle, but only half the seats were on the outside, so some people had a not-so-clear view. It was still pretty awesome.

Parc Pendjari was not what I expected. I assumed it would be much more developed and commercial than it turned out to be. With the exception of the hotel where we stayed, which itself was fairly basic, the only other structures inside the park were a couple of viewing platforms that had been erected near some watering areas. Those and the roads were the only signs of human presence in the park. For the most part, the wildlife ignored us and went about their normal routines. We saw pretty much everything EXCEPT cats. No lions, no cheetahs but just about everything else: elephants, hippos, buffalos, more antelope (and the like) than you could count, crocodiles, baboons and other primates, a python (sorry, no pics), a tortoise and a ton of amazing birds. Pendjari contains areas of all the different climates and topographies of Benin. There are savannah-like plains, there are more dry desert-like areas, there are areas of tropical vegetation along the northern border (up against the Niger River), so you get both an abundance and a variety of wildlife. It was fascinating to move through all of these areas over the course of a single day. A selection of the best pictures is available at the link below.

http://washington.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2225413&l=1eb76&id=10713384

The highlight of the trip was probably the buffalo stampede. Early on the morning of the second day we headed out toward the river hoping to see buffalos and/or the lions that sometimes feed on them. As we followed the road around a curve in the river there was a herd of at least a hundred buffalo just off the road to our right. We stopped the truck as a few of them looked around and saw us. They weren’t very happy about it. After a few seconds they were all looking our direction and some were moving toward us. Then they started charging toward us and all the others followed. When they were about 20 yards away our guide blew the horn on the truck and they swung away from us and stampeded across the road in front of us, coming to rest again in a field about 50 yards away. I actually have about a minute worth of video from my digital camera of them turning away and running across the road. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to transfer it off of the memory card yet, but I’m working on it.

The other really adventurous part was trying to put eight people into one hotel room. And when I say room what I mean is a large rondavel – a round hut with a conical peaked roof containing one large bed and a sink. Needless to say, several of us got to test out our sleeping pads and air mattresses. But, hey, it was all part of the bonding experience that is Peace Corps.

I spent New Year’s back in Cotonou with a few other volunteers – very low key – and shortly thereafter started feeling ill whenever I ate. This is not all that uncommon around here so I did nothing at first. Cycles of relative wellness and illness lasting a couple of days each became routine as we got into the middle of January. Our in-service training (IST) was scheduled to start on the 21st in Parakou and I had made big plans for a birthday bash in Tchaourou (which is on the way from Cotonou to Parakou) for Saturday the 19th. About 15 PCVs from all over Benin – mostly my stage-mates, but some other folks, too – descended on Tchaourou for grilled meat, wood-fired pizza and much beer. A fine time was had by all. That was also the last day before I got really sick.

I won’t disgust you with the details, but suffice it to say that I had an intestinal parasite that made my life both uncomfortable and difficult. It wasn’t real great for my companions, either. Luckily the PC Medical Officer was in Parakou for the first day of our training and was able to diagnose my malady and arrange for the correct medication before she left town. So now, happily, I am much better now and back to my daily routine which is not much different from that of many of you. I will say more about that in my next update, which will be MUCH sooner than this one – I promise.

Life Goes On

Last night there was another amazing thunderstorm here in Cotonou. I know I’ve already sent you one rather colorful description of the storms here, but last night took it to another level entirely. I mean, I haven’t been afraid of thunderstorms for at least 30 years; in fact, I quite enjoy them most of the time. But last night I was actually scared. I think it was because I wasn’t entirely certain if I was safe or not. Back home, even in the wildest storms, if you’re inside you know you’re pretty safe – unless lightning hits the tree next door and it falls on your house. :’-( But last night I wasn’t sure what might happen. In a word, I felt vulnerable. Every day a new experience…

So, life has been interesting the last couple of weeks. First some sad news; another volunteer has left early. This time it was the woman who had become probably my best friend thus far among the PCVs. Happily for her, she found the perfect program at a school in California and they had a January admissions cycle, so she’s headed off to school. Sadly for me, that’s one less person on the dwindling list of people I have to talk to about “stuff.” She was the one who helped me work through my initial crisis of conscience back in September. She’s very perceptive and insightful and I already miss having her to talk to.

In that vein, however, there is a group designed for PCVs to have people to talk to. It’s called the Peer Support Network (PSN). It is a group of volunteers scattered all over the country who have been trained to listen and offer support to other volunteers when they need it. With my training in Compassionate Listening I felt like I could be effective in that role, so I mentioned it to one of our Medical Officers and voila! As it turns out, there is a team coming to West Africa from DC to do PSN training. So starting Monday I’ll be in a two-day training workshop on Peer Support in Peace Corps. I’m really looking forward to it. I think with my previous training and the fact that I am older (and presumably wiser, at least in some ways) than most of these “kids” that I will be able to help folks when they’re feeling stressed or lonely. Hopefully, we can intervene and keep a few more PCVs in Benin instead of wishing them good luck on their way back to the USA.

We had some people visit from Millennium Challenge HQ in DC this past week. It was actually a very productive visit. We were able to demonstrate that there are people here who are working hard and are serious about making CAMeC a success. We did a post-mortem on the whole business plan process, which was very illuminating. Hopefully both we and they can now avoid most of the pitfalls that hindered that process the next time we need to submit documentation. We also started discussing our next steps: hiring, training and marketing. My buddy in Tcharrou, Steve Schwartz (aka “encore Steve”), has extensive experience in Marketing and PR so he came up with a 1-3 year plan intended to: publicize the existence of CAMeC and the services it provides; to develop the market by increasing the formalization of the economy; to get the country talking about the legal system in general and arbitration/mediation in particular; to change the perception of the legal system among foreign companies, investors and the international financial community; and ultimately to make Benin a leader in West Africa in the area of legal and commercial reform. Ambitious? Yes, but not impossible. In fact, if we get only half of those things accomplished Benin will be significantly ahead of most other countries in the region. I’d be happy with that.

As for me, personally, my outward life is going along just fine but I continue to struggle with my conscience. As when I was in South Africa the issue of privilege has come front and center here in Benin. I continue to insist that I am not “rich” when approached for money or “cadeaux” (gifts), but come to understand more everyday that rich is a highly relative concept. I feel like I have barely enough money to live on, and yet it is waaaaaaaaaay more than most Beninese will ever have. Although I have had to economize to be able to afford it, I am going on a “safari” later this month. And although it is to a park right here in Benin, nevertheless most Beninese will probably never have that experience. Now, I could assuage my conscience with the convenient rubric about “contributing to the local economy,” but that feels like a massive cop-out. So I’m not sure where that leaves me.

I talked about some of this stuff – albeit in broken French – with the papa in my concession the other night. He was just hanging out on the stoop in his wheelchair, so I pulled out a chair and hung out with him for a while. So we got around to talking about how I was adjusting and I told him how hard it was to always be seen as the rich white guy. He pointed out, correctly, that the vast majority of Beninese have no experience with white people who are not – in their eyes – extravagantly rich. Add that to the fact that most aid agencies, not to mention individual aid workers, are basically in the business of giving out money and then top it off with the images of America that they get from the f@ck!ng television and OF COURSE they think I have money falling out of my pockets. So one struggle is how to adjust the expectations of the people I encounter without having them think I am just rich but stingy or else lying through my teeth.

The other struggle is with the question of what kind of lifestyle to adopt – not an entirely separate question. I came here expecting to live au village, perhaps without running water or electricity. Now that I live in the largest city in Benin, with most of the Western conveniences I’m accustomed to, there is the temptation – the VERY strong temptation – to try to recreate as much of my former lifestyle as I can. I have air conditioning and internet at work and at the Peace Corps bureau, so I have access to news and media. I have electricity at my home, so I can get a little fridge and I’ll be able to store food. I could just create my only little enclave of pseudo-Americana and live in it for the next two years. Of course part of me screams that that is not what I came here for; that that would not be an “authentic” Peace Corps experience. But when I look at the three goals of Peace Corps, I see #2: “To promote better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served” So do I do that by trying to be “bien integrée” or by living an American lifestyle in full view of my friends and neighbors? I don’t know. But I do know that in the absence of an active direction that inertia has a way of taking over, so I need to figure it out.

Giving Thanks

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. Life may be different here and hard to handle sometimes, but it is never dull or empty. There has been a lot going on here, so I’ll try to cover it all.

First is the very good news that the folks in Washington, DC have approved our business plan, albeit grudgingly. The message was basically, “There seems to be a framework here for moving forward, but we’re still not convinced that the folks there really understand the job ahead of them.” Duh. This is all entirely new territory here. It’s a completely different paradigm of development and the people I’m working with here are having to come to grips with an elevated set of expectations that they’ve never dealt with before. That’s why it required multiple drafts and the help of an American volunteer before they got the business plan squared away. Nevertheless, we can now move forward with ourreal work; hiring, training and employing arbitrators and mediators to take some pressure off of the court system. For that opportunity, I am thankful. Stay tuned.

All of that happened while I was in the northern town of Natitingou – Nati, for short – for our Early Service Conference. Where the southern part of Benin is lush and humid and mostly green, the north is more arid and dominated by shades of brown. The area around Nati is especially beautiful, being surrounded by rough hills and river valleys. Mind you, what I call hills pass for mountains here in Benin. None of them are over a couple thousand feet high (the highest point in the country is only 600 meters). But they are very rough and angular, not like the nice rounded slopes of the Cascades and their foothills. And the pace is much more laid back than down south, especially Cotonou. It was a really nice break, for which I am also thankful. The conference itself was…well it was fine, except that because I have the least Peace Corps-like job in all of Peace Corps not much of it applied to me. All the other SED volunteers are working with artisans, or women’s groups, or microfinance institutions – all at the grassroots. Me, I’m dealing with bureaucrats – both here and in Washington – and trying to help plan out a national marketing strategy for the Arbitration Center. It’s great for my Masters program, but light years from the “typical” Peace Corps experience.

I have settled into my house a little more, which feels good and for which I am also thankful. I completely rearranged things so now guests can sleep in the spare room and the bathroom door closes. Then I moved the kitchen inside so I don’t have to traipse out back to check on my dinner. All of which is good because, of course, last week was Thanksgiving. I have spent many Thanksgivings away from family and friends over the years. None of them was like this one, however. I actually hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my home for the very first time. There were five of us, myself and four other volunteers (see photo), and we all pitched in and made dinner. It was a little difficult finding all the necessary ingredients, but we made do. We had turkey wings (the only turkey we could find that wasn’t frozen solid…or still alive), stuffing (thank you mother for Gerry’s recipe), green beans and carrots, fried potatoes with cheese (REAL cheese!) and apple crisp for dessert (see other photo). I even downloaded a football game on Wednesday so we could watch football after dinner – ‘cause that’s what you do on Thanksgiving. Though it sounds very pedestrian, it was really very special. They talk a lot about Peace Corps being a family, and it sure was this week. For that, I give much thanks!

But that was only the half of it. On Saturday, I ventured out to the town of Ketou (K2) where there was “another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat” (thank you, Arlo). There were at least 25 people and everyone brought or made something. There are two volunteers serving in Ketou and we needed both stoves to get everything done in time. This time there was a full bird (killed and plucked for the occasion), two kinds of stuffing (I made Gerry’s recipe again and it was even better the second time because I found sage – called ‘herbs de Provence’ here – while I was shopping on Saturday morning.), mashed potatoes and gravy, au gratin potatoes, green beans, green salad, macaroni salad, rolls, and four or five desserts including pumpkin pie, cherry pie, brownies and coconut cake. A good time, and a good meal, was had by all! And many thanks were given.

Now, if that sounds like a typical T-day weekend, think again. Even here in Cotonou, lots of that stuff is pretty hard to find. Real cheese, for instance, is both uncommon and expensive. And don’t even try to find pasteurized milk. Vegetables are plentiful, although somewhat unpredictable. As you might have picked up on, spices are pretty hit-and-miss, too. You can get Nescafe at just about any store, but trying to find ground coffee is damn near impossible. On Thursday we went looking for oats to make the topping for the apple crisp…nada. We ended up using crumbled up butter cookies. (Much better, by the way!) And getting back and forth is always an adventure, especially if you’re going beyond Cotonou. The road from Pobé to Ketou, which was about the last hour of the 3½ hour trip from Cotonou, is not much more than a glorified dirt road. By the time we got there we were covered in a red-brown dust. But after all, what did you expect? …C’est l’Afrique.

ET? Phone home.

Happy Halloween!

I have bad news, good news and great news from the past couple of weeks.

The bad news is that my friend and postmate Andy went home. We call it ET’d, which stands for Early Terminated. Early Termination is a purely personal choice and PC does a great job of supporting people who decide to go home. There is no “penalty”; you don’t get a black mark next to your name in the PC ledger or anything. In fact, it is possible to return to PC later to re-apply after you’ve ET’d – many people do. That being said, I’m disappointed both personally at having lost my nearest fellow PCV and professionally because I don’t really think he made a good faith effort to make it work. I won’t go into details because it wouldn’t be appropriate, and I don’t want to judge because as I said ETing is a very personal decision. But I am disappointed.

The good news – though I am perhaps a little ambivalent about it – is that I now have a house full of furniture. Why? Because when Andy left he gave me all of his. I inherited a dining table with four chairs, another coffee table, an end table and three set of shelves: HUGE ones for the living room, medium ones for the kitchen and tall skinny ones for the bathroom. I also got his stove (both his burners work while only one of mine was working), a pagne (PAHN-ya) chair – basically a canvas deck chair – and his single bed frame, but not the mattress. Now I just have to set up the spare room and other volunteers can stay with me when they come to Cotonou. Actually, a few have already done that although the spare bed is currently doubling as my couch. What I really need to do is rearrange the whole place, move my kitchen into the house and use the kitchen space out back for storage – it will make living much easier. So, I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend.

More good news: It looks like I’ve found a secondary project to work on. There is a business school here in Cotonou that is looking for someone to teach some classes on Leadership/Management and the like. One of the other PCVs is going to be teaching some tech classes and she introduced me to the woman who runs the place and it looks like I’ll start teaching in December. That should be fun and it should put me in touch with a different crowd of people; good for broadening the horizons and all.

The great news is that we finished the business plan! Why is this great news? First, it means that LOTS of aid money will now start flowing to the project. We will be able to move into our new office space (getting me out of the lobby) and start hiring and training people to actually DO arbitrations. Second, it means that we can stop operating in “crisis” mode and start working a normal routine. Now at this point I have no idea what that looks like because we’ve been working on the business plan since I got here, so this may or may not be a good thing. I have only a vague idea of what my role will be under normal operating conditions, so we’ll have to play it by ear. Ca va.

Everyday news: Sunday I’m leaving Cotonou for the first time (officially) since swear-in. The Small Enterprise volunteers are all getting together in Natitingou (just like it’s spelled) for our Early Service Conference (ESC). ESC is out first real opportunity to check in and see how things are going for our sector. We’ll get some additional info sessions on funding sources for projects, applying for them, finding secondary projects, etc. But mostly we’ll get to share our experiences with our fellow PCVs. Plus, Nati is way up in the north of Benin, which is totally different from the south. Everyone says it’s just beautiful. I’m REALLY looking forward to a change of scenery right now! I’ll be driving up with a couple of other volunteers and our APCD in a PC vehicle, so instead of cramming into a bush taxi for 14 hours we’ll be riding in a nice, comfy, air-conditioned SUV for 8 or 9. There are some good things about living in Cotonou…

Next time, more pictures!