Benin I Love You, In Sickness And In Health

Bonsoir Tout Le Monde!

In undertaking a trip like this one always runs the risk of getting ill and unfortunately last Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I was feeling miserable with the coming and going of horrible headaches, fever, and nausea. I went to the doctor to check if I had malaria and thankfully the results read negative. The doctor told me that, ironically, the medicine I take to fight malaria (Mephaquin) has side effects like the ones I was displaying. She told me to just rest and continue taking the medicine because with prolonged use the side effects go away. I find it odd that I am experiencing side effects now because I have already been taking the medicine for over 7 weeks, but I definitely prefer having moderate side effects to being sick with malaria. I am so thankful it wasn't anything worse and that I am feeling 100% better now. The care and kindness that I received while I was sick is what made me feel better. Roukeya came and made sure I had food to eat, my professor invited me for lunch and gave me a special bottle of homemade ginger juice that he claims "will cure any sickness", and Brownie called me and accompanied me to the doctors. I definitely feel that people here genuinely care about me and I am so grateful to have people here that are here for me when I need it most. 

Brownie kindly invited me to live with her this week so that I don't have to battle another week alone. It is such a nice change of pace, I have to walk quite a bit more to get to the orphanage but I am happy to do so. I love walking around here because I always get to experience new and crazy things. I love coming home and having someone to talk to about my day and someone to answer the questions that tend to build up as I notice and experience new things.  It's also nice having proper food to eat when I get home! Brownie has two girls, Mauwena and Claudette, whom she supports and cares for. They are both very nice  and coincidentally really good cooks! lucky me!  Mauwena is 21 and Claudette is 18, however, they are both still in high school. There are people here who graduate high school up to the age of 26! It is because a lot of the time they leave school for a few years or they don't pass a certain year and have to repeat. They start school a few years later here as well. It's also common for there to be 60 to 70 children in one class. There aren't enough teachers and so concentration and focus is lacking, as I  experienced when I ineptly taught a class on my second week here.  I just wouldn't be able to imagine having to sit in a class with 70 other kids or still attend high school when I'm in my  mid twenties! Because going to school here is considered a privilege, children are so happy and appreciative to go to school. It's not like in America or Europe where people dread going to school and come up with any excuse they can think of to not go. I was like that once wishing for "rain" days in Dubai or faking sick like all of us do to get out of taking a quiz or handing in an assignment (hopefully none of my high school teachers are reading this! hhaah), but I really see how bad it is to take something as important as education for granted when without it people don't get as far in life. I am so grateful for the schools I was able to attend and the education that I have received and will continue to receive at the wonderful Barnard College. Seeing how so many here don't finish high school, let alone continue on to University, because they can't not because they don't want to, makes me unbelievably grateful that I have the chance to go to University and particularly to one as esteemed as Barnard. I, and people like me, are extremely fortunate and we should remind ourselves on days that we are feeling lazy and sick of school what a privilege it is and how grateful people who don't have this sort of education would be if they did. 

Since I have been living with Brownie, I have been accompanying her on her daily 1 hour walks that help reduce the swelling in her ankles that, along with a lot of other things, comes with old age. I have walked with her through such beautiful parts of Ouidah that I would have never seen otherwise. The nature is astounding. The tropical climate here is a haven for palm trees that hold coconuts, bananas  and pineapples, mango trees, and in general plants and flowers of a huge variety of shapes, colours, and odors. I have seen the wildest looking insects here, huge caterpillars that have yellow spikes and red spots, lizards that are striped every colour of the rainbow, and I even saw a monkey sitting on a wall eating a delicious mango that are gloriously abundant here. 

Along with the beautiful scenery, I love talking to Brownie. I love to pick her brain about all of her incredible experiences, which seem infinite. She is writing an autobiography called Anecdotes of a Life and she gave me the first draft. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing I feel to have even a snippet of her life to marvel about. I finished reading the draft in 30 minutes. It's not very long and its far from completion as she has told me numerous times, but it was really amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed reading every single story and experience. Her first draft is something I will keep forever and I am hopeful that she will finish it one day. 

I've become so comfortable at the orphanage, I know all the names of the children and I know things about each one. I feel like I belong when I am there because they really treat me like a sister. They aren't shy anymore, they high five me or run up to me and I love playing with them, running around, coloring, helping them prepare meals (which has forced me to learn a bit about African cooking.) I love to watch them interact with each other, look over their lessons, eat their meals with such enthusiasm and delight, listen to their jokes and games, ahhh its going to be a dreadful day the day I have to say goodbye. But I knew this from the moment I met them. 

I wanted to talk a little bit about the food here. Firstly, carbohydrates are a big source in peoples' diets because they keep people feeling full and they are so readily available in so many different forms. They eat pate, which is cooked maize (corn) powder, rice, white beans, bean cakes, couscous, yams, spaghetti, fried dough, plantain, and bread. They always have a delicious sauce to accompany the carbohydrate that is made of either palm oil, gumbo, peanut oil, spinach, ademe leaves, pieces of dried or smoked fish, pieces of dried or smoked chicken, pieces of cow meat (even things like cow skin, which frankly is revolting). They also eat eggs and have fresh produce like tomatoes, avocados, peanuts, onions, carrots, lettuce, mangos, bananas, coconuts, oranges, limes, apples, pineapples, ginger, garlic, and potatoes. In the beginning I was wary about eating certain things, but as my confidence grew (along with my hunger) I tried more and more things and now I'll eat anything without a worry. I find its better to taste and try instead of living in fear of getting sick. So far I have not been sick from the food (knock on wood) and I have enjoyed the food here tremendously. I miss certain things but I definitely have acquired a liking for African style food. They use a spice here called piment which they add to everything and is delicious. It is a hot pepper and  people who like spicy food, would love piment. 

Next week a new volunteer arrives and I will be living in the volunteer apartment again with her. I am going with Brownie to pick her up from Porto Novo, the capital of Benin, which I am excited about because Brownie told me it is a beautiful city. Next week is my last week here :( but I am happy that I will get to meet the volunteer and help her out just like how Matt did when I first arrived here. 

 A la semaine prochaine! ♥