Here's me, Rachelle and our friend Lou crossing the border from Benin to Niger 

This is my friend Rachelle who went with me to Niger. She's from there. She's part Lebanese, part Vietmanese and part Nigerian. Real melting pot. 

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.