Recent Photos

Our house! It's on the second of three stories. Our front door opens onto a porch which look out over the tin roofs and trees of the neighborhood. There is also an AMAZING breeze.

Behind the little chair is a bathroom (why do we need a bathroom on the porch? I haven't found out yet). To the right, through the first set of doors, is the livingroom. The second door leads to a hallway which is open to theo utside on both ends and lends itself to a very breezy home, which we love!

The double doors from the porch to the livingroom.

The livingroom, which we haven't figured out how to use yet except for laying on matresses and watching movies on the ceiling (see below).

The hallway from the porch. On the right are Sarah's bedroom, a guest bedroom, then my bedroom. Each has a ceiling fan and own bathroom with toilet and shower!! On the right are doors to the livingroom and kitchen. The floors are difficult to keep clean but are so pretty we don't care.

Guest bedroom/storage space.

Kitchen with sink!! Real coffee happens here every morning!!!

Our glorious kitchen, where we cook delicious meals centered around tomatoes and bread.

The view from the window above the sink.

Sarah's room.

My room: the whole family is here and I wake up to their smiling faces every day!

My bathroom. I'm actually smiling as I type this. Remember what my latrine looked like? Look at this place! There's a sink and a shower and a toilet and I actually feel clean when I bathe here!

My bedroom. The red design I made by taping pieces of cut-out paper to the wall. Under that is a shelf unit that I keep covered in a pagne. I made the picture collage on the wall with photos of family and friends from home. I love my little room. Still working on the bed situation- getting a double mattress from a friend and then buying a bigger frame.

Mantisfriend. He just landed on the porch one night while we were watching a movie, hung around for 1/2 hour then ook off. I wish he'd taken the ants with him...

Rich brought his projector over and we dragged matresses into the livingroom and watched "Up" on the ceiling. What a great movie! I felt that some of the themes were inappropriate for a young audience, however. They probably shouldn't have spent so much time foreshadowing the wife's death at the beginning. Incredibly sad. I'm still going through the grieving proces.

And... exhale.

At the ambassador's house for PSL 23's Swear-In ceremony!

Buying tissue at the marche. (I went with the one on the left. Her right. Our left).

You must pick only one! Choose wisely!

Independence Day: August 1, 2010. Benin's 50th Anniversary. Everyone and their mother was fete-ing!

A nighttime parade outside the restaurant we went to. No one threw candy but they sure did make a lot of noise...

Painting a mural in Tchaada. This one was about how to make your own oral-rehydration solution for treating severe diarrhea. We painted it on a paillote at the high school in Louie's village. Wish I had pics of the finished product: we did ones for malaria and AIDS prevention too!

At a Yoruba wedding in Sakete, about two hours north of Cotonou, pictured here with the bride. It was a lovely fete. I now have a keychain with her and her husband's faces on it.

October 2010

Well hello again. Been awhile...
I'm now living in cotonou. Sarah and I finally got a home, thus ending my month of living in the bureau. We moved into our second story apartment in the quartier of "Gbegamey." It's a Muslim neighborhood so I've gotten used to waking up to the sounds of praying coming from the mosque and prayer canters. There are cafeterias everywhere, people are friendly, and it's within walking distance from the PC bureau. It's also within walking distance of CARE International, where I now work every day fom 8-noon.
I lovme CARE so far. I officially started last week and work in conction with Paulin Davodoun, an MPH/MD they hired to consult for a new maternal and child health program. It looks like I'll be serving in a research-assistant capacity as we write a new 15-year plan for CARE's health program. Right now I'm assessing the current maternal and child health situations in Benin, compiling statistics to write the basis/justification for the project. In the next couple of weeks I'll start mapping all the projects currently being carried out in Benin by other major and international NGOs, UNICEF, World Bank, etc. and exploring opportunities for partnership. This will also allow us to target areas where there is currently a lack of intervention. Dr. Paulin really seems to have it together and I'm pretty sure he could easily carry this project on his own, but I'm trying to make myself useful and assist him as it is a major undertaking. The most exciting part for me will be writing and carrying out an "enquette," or large scale survey in village to further assess the current child and maternal health situation. This will help to identify both barriers to adequate care and possibilities for improvement. Also, it will get me back into the village scene, which I miss a lot.
So there's a brief update. I spend early afternoons working out (joined a gym!!) and late afternoons at the bureau assisting Geraldine with sorting mail, organizing things, informing the general services assistant, Madelon, of needed repairs and supplies, ordering things, etc. It's just a hodgepodge of random responsibilities that I try to do as they arise... and now that I'm thinking of it, the monthly report is due Monday...
Thigns have quieted down a lot since PSL 21, the stage from the year before us, have returned home to America and the new PSL , 23, are now spending their first couple of weeks at their posts. I've had time to get settled in our house and it's amazing. Sarah and I cook sometimes and other times we go out to eat. Having running water and toilets (!!) is amazing. Life is so much easier in terms of maintenance, but much busier time-wise. I like the anonymity of living in a city, but then, all transactions and greetings are less personal. I miss the community of village. I love belonging to a gym. I miss the lush greenery of the foliage in village. I love the view from the roof on the 4th floor of our building. I miss our little marche every night in village. I love being able to go to a supermarket to buy cheese and wine (though I can't afford to do this very often). I miss my old neighbors and the sense of community in Djigbe. I love meeting people from all over the world in Cotonou. There are pluses and minuses to living in any sized community, and I was very happy in village, but I'm also very happy now (due in no small part to the fact that we make real coffee every morning and eat oatmeal with apples and walnuts on our front porch), Life is good.