Yesterday-- my post!!!

The pics are of my bedroom, the front of our house, the front courtyard/gate, and two more of my room. Also, the map of the southern half of Benin shows the location of my post. And, there's one of Lou dancing in a village near there. Yesterday, I found out where my post will be!! I will be living in Hozin, about 10 km north of Porto-Novo. This means that I will be very close to my host family, which Maman is extremely excited about (she’s already talking about me coming for Christmas) as well as many other things, like the huge Ouando market where I can buy all kinds of vegetables and even some imported things, like apples and nutella! I will be living in Djigbe, a village of roughly 2,800 people (not to be confused with all the other places in Benin called Djigbe; this one isn’t on the map but is located within the arrondissment of Hozin, approx. 10,000 people). The major languages spoken there are Nagot and Goun. My host family speaks Goun, so maybe I can get some training! I will be working with an NGO called Association Foi a la Providence (Association for Faith in Providence), or AFAP for short. AFAP currently works in 24 villages and they also have a hostel in Porto-Novo which I can use anytime I want to come work here. AFAP will be paying my rent and I will report to them for project ideas, etc. My main job duties will be health and nutrition education, HIV/AIDS education, cooking demonstrations, nutritional recuperation, hygiene and sanitation, soy and moringa activities and installation of gardens.
The NGO has its main center near where I will be living. They are very active in health education and training women in breastfeeding and nutrition. They also have extensive infrastructure, including an orphanage, a health center, a training center, and a 4x4. They have several health workers that work in surrounding villages and all of them sleep at the center. I will be most likely be assisting with and/or conducting baby weighings once a month in each village surrounding me and there are about 55 babies at each weighing. AFAP is also very involved in soybean education and production. I will be learning how to make soy cheese and teaching mothers how to make it as a nutritious protein supplement for their children! I am so excited about this and can’t wait to get started.
I have electricity and cell phone coverage in my village. My house has two bedrooms and a living room. I am replacing a volunteer who was there for a year then transferred to Cotonou to help with projects there, so I will have access to her knowledge as well. I’m sure she will be a vital resource to me during the upcoming time of transition. I have heard from people who stayed with her, “Ooh! You have such a nice house!” so I feel very lucky about my post. In terms of work, proximity to fresh produce, proximity to my good friend Lou (he’s within bike riding distance!!!) and getting to live in a village while having access to a city, t really is just exactly what I wanted. I am so excited and can’t believe I have 6 more weeks to go until I get there! If only I absorbed French as easily as the technical training…
Home life is good here. Things are going smoothly. There was a cockroach in my room the other night and we did battle… did you know that they fly? Well, the ones here do. They are loud as hell and utterly terrifying, so by “did battle,” I mean that I hid under my mosquito net while it dive-bombed at my face and hissed and buzzed angrily. Clearly, it was out for blood. I managed to find a chance to sneak over and open my bedroom door, while it was across the room rummaging noisily through my things, but when it returned it hesitated then went BEHIND the door. Lodged between the door and my wall, the entomological frenzy increased until it sounded like a war was being waged between a jackhammer and a dying hyena. I put earplugs in when I stopped trembling and eventually my heart rate slowed to a pace which allowed me to drift off (at least, until I woke up an hour later to run to the toilet for the thirteenth time that day and yes, I kept track). I awoke in the morning to find my opponent belly up, having died from exhaustion. I realized that in the states, this is something I would have felt bad about, a needless death which I could have prevented by catching it and taking it outside. Here in Africa, it was one of my first major triumphs. Falling asleep while knowingly in the company of a raging, bloodthirsty beast, while surely not the most difficult obstacle this far, but nonetheless I was able to tell myself “I WILL become accustomed to this.” It’s all about first steps right now.