This is the river that seperates the border of Benin and Niger. 

This is the view from my hotel in the country. Every morning I say and looked out over the mountain. It was good to be away from the noise and dust of Cotonou. 

At Parakou, the third largest town in Benin. I stopped and had a meeting with World Education about the research that I am doing. While in the city, I got my hair braided. 

Here's a little roadside cafe where I ate morning egg sandwich and tea with milk. 

Here is the countryside early in the morning. Beautiful! 

Most of Benin is flat, but the village where I went was in a mountain region. Heres a pic I took from the road 

Here are pics from my trip. Not sure how they are going to post - so here are the captions 

Traveling

I have been traveling which is why I have not been online.

This past few days I went north to the country of Niger. I went to the capital city of Niamey which is just south of the Sahara desert. I went by bus which left at 3am. We drove north for 10 hours on a decent highway that left us at the Niger river and the border of Niger. We went through customs and immigration and walked across the bridge into Niger (much like the ambassador bridge to canada) Our bus was waiting for us on the other side. We contined 3 or 4 more hours to Niamey.

Niamey is smaller and quieter than Cotonou. It is also MUCH hotter. It was close to 100 degrees. People were also different. There is a greater influence from the middle east and many people dress in African fabric with middle eastern design of clothes. There aren't many motos there, but people told me that with the price of gas, they are starting to import more.

I saw some camels as well. Big tall camels loaded down with stuff. It was like a movie.

Today in an hour or so I will be leaving to go visit villages of Benin. I will have many pictures and stories to tell upon my return.

still no pics

My work computer is still gone... this is Africa, sometimes things take longer than expected (actually, most of the time they do.) I didn't go to Togo, instead, I spent the weekend getting settled into my place. I went and picked out curtains, set up my little gym and cooked my first couple of meals (I love my little gas stove)

I've settled into a little schedule. I get up between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning when the sun comes shining through my window. I take a quick shower and get ready for work. I wear just about the same things that I wore to work in the states. I then go and catch a moto taxi which zooms me off to work. I like riding the motos. Its a free feeling and they don't get stuck in traffic at rush hour. I get to work. I won't start my work in education till later, for now I am working on market studies and food security for rice (ei, does the market provide enough food for people to eat?) I'm learning a lot about how business works in West Africa. I take a lunch around noon or one and then work on till 5 or 6. After work, I head down to a bar where lots of people I know hang out. I sit and chat with everyone. Sometimes I go to other restaurants or places in town. I have to say I have more of a social life here than I ever did in college :) I guess sometimes I do things a little backwards. I get home around 9 or 10 and work out on the deck before I go to bed.

So, life is pretty good. It is so ironic that I thought I would come here to do humanitarian aid and now all the need is back home in the states. I feel a little bad that I am not there to help. But I have been impressed with everyone's comradarie to get involved. Its a very beautiful part of our culture and our country that I am very proud of and tell people here.

Work

I finally got an assignment at work. It has been decided that I will work in the education department to coordinate a few programs to try to increase enrollment into primary school. Though state education is free there are a number of challenges to getting children to actually attend. Out in villages people live a agricultural lifestyle and children are assets in terms of labor to help with household work. Many parents didn't attend school, so some of them do not yet see the value of education. My work will focus around parents -- educating them and empowering them to help make village schools more successful (However I will be working at the village, county, state and national levels). I will have more details as I start doing research, but that is my job in a nutshell. I am pretty excited about it as I have long been dedicated to improving education.

All looks well for me to move into my apartment today or tomorrow. I will spend the weekend settling into my place and I will be taking a trip to Togo to visit the Port there. I have been learning so much about international trade (all the details, logistics, banking, etC) from the business guys that are working here. So, needless to say, I have found plenty to occupy my brain. I will have lots of pictures to post on Monday.

A few days without pics

The computer that I use at work to post pics is being used for a presentation so I won't be able to post pictures for a few days. This weekend I was busy getting back into the flow of things. I went swimming and hung out with Wili and the American business men at Hotel du Port.

My apartment will be ready on thursday. I'm soooo excited. I can't wait to move in and post pics of my new life. Work is also starting to pick up a little. I have a meeting tomorrow to start figuring out what my job here is. This means that soon I will have real work to do.

So while I don't have much to say now, I will have plenty before the week ends. I love and miss everyone.

Flowers

People love to garden here and grow all kinds of interesting flowers. Here are a few that I've seen. (The photos don't do much justice to the vibrance of the colors.)

Downtown Cotonou

I went downtown yesterday to try to turn on my cell phone. It was to no avail. I will try again today.

I took this picture right outside the central mosque. There are both Christians and Muslims in Benin so there is a central Cathedral (Notre Dame) and a central Mosque.

You can see in the foreground a motorcycle. Most people travel by moped here. Most of the taxi's are mopeds (they call them zimmyjohns) and it costs between 20 - 60 cents to take one around town. People carry all kinds of unusual items on these mototaxis. I'll try to get a pic. But for example I saw one woman carrying 2 air conditioners while sitting on the zimmyjohn. Another guy was carrying a 24ft pipe. Again, I'll try to catch a pic sometime.

Back to work

This is one of the guards that greets me in the morning as I come to work. The guards are always super nice and remember everything that's going on.

Here's me in the office. My co-worker, Akilou, took my pic as I was returning to my desk.

Terry's house

After all the moving, I'm settled at a co-worker's house until they settle my apartment. His name is Terry and lives here with his wife and two small children (2, 6mo. They live across the street from the office which is convenient for me to go take naps during the day while my strength is returning.


The house is two stories with I think 4 or 5 bedrooms and 3 baths. There is a huge living room for the kids to play.



This is the guard. He is really nice. He went a got help for me when I got sick. So, we're buddies. He wanted me to take his picture. :)

Shopping

I went to the artisan fair this weekend and took some pictures of the wares. Of course there are wood carvings (which I didn't photograph) but there are many other things...


Here is a rack of homemade shoes. There is a cobbler that can make any kind of shoe out of leather. I'm excited about getting a nice pair of sandals made.


Here are some of the kinds of necklaces that are for sale. Mostly beadwork. There are a number of silver jewelry shops as well.



Finally, there are these beautiful matiks that are done. Very bright colors and beautiful designs.

Beautiful places

I took this picture one night at the hotel. It was a beautiful night. The weather here is fairly cool (for the tropics) this time of year. It stays between 70 - 80 and in the evenings with the breeze it is an incredibly romantic feeling to walk outside.



I took this picture while sitting at a restaurant by the ocean. The palm was swaying in the night wind. Life can be very beautiful here.

wha-wha malaria....

I was sick last week. For three days (Sunday to Tuesday) I stayed in the hospital to be treated for malaria. It is the time of year that most people get sick because it is just after the rainy season. Mosquitoes must have been part of our punishment for Eden. I am recovered now and am back at work. Here are some pics I took at the hospital.



This is my IV. It reminded me of WWII hospital with the big glass bottle hanging down and nurses in pink uniforms coming to tend to me.
This is my room. I had a nice terrace that was surrounded by palm trees and greenery. It cheered me up. The colors in the room were also bright which can help when you are grumpy.

More pics from Hotel du Port

Here are some more pictures from Hotel du Port. You can see the little artisan hut where I played Mancala in the evenings and the lovely pool where I swam off the day's stress. :)

Photos... finally

I finally found a way to be able to post pics. So here is a photo narrative of my trip thus far...

While in New York, I was on the phone with Chris and across from me was the most adorable little boy with a big bald head. (Chris called him lil' dome) Here is a picture of him at the airport in Paris.

Like I said, the Paris airport is huge and we took several buses to get from one gate to another. There were the coolest, funky european utility vehicles. This doesn't really do justice...

Heres the map in the plane from Paris to Benin. This shows you exactly where I am now :)

The plane flew into the night. I love watching the sunset from the plane.

I arrived at Hotel du Port. Here's the view from my room.

This was my room at Hotel du Port. It was home last week. Soon I'll post pics of my new hotel room.

Moving...

This morning I moved from Hotel du Port to Hotel De Cocotiers. The new hotel is near to my office (walking distance).

I think I'm going to be in this new hotel for a while until they finish with my apartment. We'll see. It's every day at a time.

I'm learning a lot. I have been riding around learning about the city, meeting people, learning how to do things and how to get things done (which can be two seperate things.)

Work is fairly slow for a couple days. I will be busy again on Thurday.

Hotel Du Port

I've been staying for the past week at a place called Hotel du Port. (photos forthcoming) In such a place one is bound to run into interesting people. Imagine, who would come to a semi-plush hotel in Benin? What do people who come here do?

I met a group of guys that do commodity trading. They are real deal-cutters. With them, is the interesting invester -- a 73 year old jewish retired hairsytlist from New York who talks just like Woody Allen who looks like that comedian... cant think of the name...hmm big eyebrows, glasses, uses his hands, can't think of the name but he looks just like him. He runs around doing magic tricks and telling jokes and generally being witty. (Jay, my goodness, you would love this guy).

I also ran into some guys who were here helping entrepreneurs develop small businesses. I got along well with them

There was a hot-shot ghanian who was putting through a telecom deal and a young Beninois guy who is in the French military here on vacation.

I've gone out into town a few times with people from the hotel. To the beach and downtown. Last night I went out with a group of french people working in various non-profit organizations and one of the guys, I swear, looked just like Bob Seget. Halarious! Bob Seget in Africa.

Everyday is different and strange. There are a lot of things that I am trying to get used to, but its coming along.

I miss everyone.

Still no pictures

I am having a tough time dealing with the technology here. I have a great internet connection at the office, but its through a proxy server and firewall, so I can't really use any internet applications nor can I easily upload.

I hit the ground running. I mean really running. The first task I've been given is basically submit a grant for 2/3 of our annual budget and it needs to be done in the next 5 days. :) So, I've been running around trying to figure out what we do, what the requirements are for the grant etc. Luckily I don't have to write the budget. Aparently the way that a lot of these development programs work is that the US grants actual food to either sell or to distribute. So or budget comes from sales of these food goods -- imagine, trying to write a grant in terms of tonnage of wheat. Its interesting, but a lot to soak up in just a few days.

I am not yet in a house. I visited a few and soon they will prepare one for me. I am looking forward to getting settled. Currently, I am staying in a nice hotel. (photos forthcoming) Meals are super expensive there -- $8 for continental breakfast. On the plus size theres a full size pool and a gym where I blow off steam. There's also a little artisan shop and Mr. Wili, the owner, is a young intellectual who loves talking about world history and culture. We talk a couple hours a day while playing Wari or Mancala, a traditional african game. (Check out this site to learn about the game http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Mancala.htm )

Trip to Benin

It was a long trip but I made it. The keyboards in this cybercafe are French, meaning that some of the letters are in different places so please pardon the typos.

First thing to note is that the airport in Paris is HUGE!!! It took me 40 min on several buses to get from 1 gate to another and I was in the same terminal! They also had the most funky utility vehicles...

The planes were cool. They had private little TVs with games, movies, flight infor and a camera that was under the plane. Its been a while since I've flown overseas, so that was cool.

I arrived in the evening. It was already dark. CRS had a driver waiting who brought me to a beautiful hotel.

Travel Details

I will be leaving tomorrow around noon to catch a flight from Baltimore to New York. At 9, I'll take a red-eye to Paris that arrives around 10 am. At 2, I'll start the final trip from Paris to Cotonou, Benin. I will be in Benin by about 7 (which would be 2pm eastern standard time). I will likely have the abilty to post while on the road. Miss you all :)

-- again, if you have time, you can sign in to comment by clicking on comments and typing in the box, you can use the username naabfriend with the password: password. I would love to hear from you.

Old ship in the harbor a block from my hotel. 

Downtown Baltimore 

Training camp

So, I'm away at CRS training camp. There are about 25 of us fellows who have been placed around the world. Like 7 of us are in West Africa, so I'm not alone in my corner of the world.

Getting here was a mini-adventure. The plane I took left from Detroit to Cleveland. I was a little choked up as I went through security realizing that I'm leaving behind so many people that I love so much. But looking at my ticket, I said to myself "I'm only going to Cleveland." and smiled. Each day, each plane at a time and it doesn't feel so far.

When I reached my gate, I realized that I would be taking a rather small plane. I didn't realize HOW SMALL it would be. It was a 20 seat prop plane. It looked like a mini-cargo plane -- as if the seats were an after thought. I said to myself, "In a few days I'll be riding a jumbo jet over the Atlantic, but for now, I'm on this tiny prop plane on my way to Cleveland."

I arrived in Baltimore to the Brookshire Suites Hotel-- http://www.brookshiresuites.com/photo.asp?ID=125 -- My room was beautiful. Luxurious sheets, internet, nice soap and shampoos and all those little details that make life feel great. This was good because training has been a challenge. Hours and hours of policy and procedure that would make accountants scream uncle. But, what did I expect?

A few more days and I'll be off.

final thoughts before leaving

I'm sitting in front of a pile of stuff, mostly packed, thinking about the trip that lie ahead. It is sinking in that I am leaving to somewhere I've never been and I don't know anything about what I will do or where I will live when I get there. I have always been one for the spontaneous so I don't feel completely out of my element, but it is a lot all at once to take in.

I've been working long hours to wrap up life here and prepare for life there. I keep feeling like there is something more. I can't really think of what that something might be, but it looms in my mind. I'm glad that I have a week in Baltimore to allow my mind a chance to get around the details.

I've had great visits and wonderful emails with friends and family as part of my preparation. It has warmed my heart and will continue to lighten my days when I am far from home and missing everyone.

A moment to rant...

I am drowning in details as I try to prepare for my trip to Benin. Most of which actually have nothing to do with Benin -- the most annoying part.

Usually, I don't put much stock into preparation. I just do my thing and then, when its time to leave, I leave. Well, this time, I decided to prepare. My mistake.

About a month ago, I set to purchasing new technology for myself and for the university in Haiti where I am working to develop a distance learning program. I wrote out a detailed budget of all the things I needed / wanted and how much I was going to spend on them. Through intense research online I was able to buy everything that I needed and stayed well under budget. I was very proud of myself.

But after the arrival of the first box, things went spiralling to a well of chaos that even I have a hard time fathoming. I lost my cell phone. Two seperate companies that I placed orders with lost my orders. My car broke down. I got it fixed. The new parts broke. I got it fixed again. My purse got stolen at the fireworks and I had to cancel all my credit cards and replace my IDs --> setting off a fury of issues and problems at the bank which lead to even more confusion with my already messed up orders. In the midst of this, I had to run to virginia to deliver supplies and meet with a colleage about the distance learning program in Haiti. I mean, teaching from Benin to Haiti --> that's distance! On the way to Virginia, you guessed it, my car had more problems.

Any one who knows me knows that I do not live for details. And in fact, I have to say that I have tolerated this obligatory attention to details better than perhaps any other time in my short history. But ....... It is getting rediculous. My energy and attention span is burning quite short.

On the rare moments that I get to actually take in the big picture, I get very excited. I've been able to glance at a strategy paper from CRS and learned a little more about what they do and what I might be doing. I haven't really come to any conclusion about my life in Africa except for -- I'll find out when I get there.

Bachir's baby came 3 weeks early. A little girl named Hayrah. She was born July 7 at 10:30 and wieghed 6.1 pounds at 19 inches. Mom and baby are home and well. 

For the 4th of July weekend, we played beach volleyball in the backyard and sunbathed on our little beach. During one of the games the ball was hit hard and rolled quickly towards the pond. 

Seeing that there was a problem, Dad offered to dive in the pond to save the day. 

Dad gallantly rescued the lost volleyball.