How old are these people?

4/10/2014 12:38:20 AM

wtf, what kind of party is that where you don't eat until midnight?

4/10/2014 12:40:27 AM

It's a totally different world, and it sounds hilarious.

4/10/2014 12:50:10 AM

Quote :

"I wanna hear more about these PC Fuck Fest parties."

Any time there's a party with no admin present, PCVs fuck, at least some publicly. The problem is I never get to see it. At the swearing in party, for example, a couple of girls started blowing their chosen guys in a highly visible spot, but I had to hear about it because by then I had blacked out and been escorted to bed. (Blacking out is not my usual MO but this particular night was hitting me with a double whammy of "really hot girl that I've been wanting to fuck since we arrived tells me she's gay" and "enormous hag of a woman who I despise just told me she loves me," and plus it was my last night before moving to village so...yeah.)

Then we had a party a few months later in Parakou, designed to raise money for gender development programs (and also be a fucking blowout). At this party, there was a swimming pool. The head of the gender development committee started fucking a girl in the swimming pool. The swimming pool is vile -- it's green and you can't see to the shallow bottom. But there they are, fucking in it, and I'm told that other people joined in later. I was asleep at this point because the four gorgeous women with whom I was sharing a room had gone to sleep and, well, hope springs eternal.

As a side note, the head of the gender development committee was a disgusting slut of a man who uses women primarily to keep score, then talks shit about them behind their backs. (The irony, I hope, isn't lost on him) And the whole "me sharing a room with a bunch of women" thing happened at every PC event until I got into a relationship. Rooms get shared to save money. There aren't a lot of men. All of my best friends here are women. My standard joke (which I've probably used in this thread) is that by the time I leave Benin, not only will I have a menstrual cycle, it will be in synch with everyone else's.

I'm sure there have been other public incidents at smaller events. The closest I ever got was when a PCV I'd never met before that night grabbed me at a bar and told me to stick my tongue down her throat. Which I did. Then we went back to the office and attempted to have what turned out to been public sex, but I could not perform. I'd love to blame alcohol but mostly I was just panicked and confused. "Women throwing themselves at Ian" is not a thing that happens. Maybe I would've gotten into it eventually but the girl's best friend walked in on us and laughed hysterically. That killed it for me. (For purposes of my pride I will point out that my dick has never failed me since)

That same friend, in spite of no doubt having heard about the difficulty and in spite of having seen my penis, later pulled me aside at a party and asked me repeatedly to fuck her, but this girl was the female equivalent of the gender guy so probably I was just the last man in Benin to cross off her list. At any rate, I declined.

Is that adequate PC sex talk for now?
---

Quote :

"How old are these people?"

Youngest is probably 30. Oldest is in their mid 50s.

Quote :

"what kind of party is that where you don't eat until midnight?"

Many factors were blamed for this and everybody got very defensive about it. In the end people saved face by blaming the children, who were wasting their time going to school instead of helping cook.

4/10/2014 3:53:54 AM

Does anyone ever exercise there? If I was hungry or did manual labor for a living I probably wouldn't want to. Are they health conscious at all?

4/10/2014 4:00:01 PM

This has a shitload of pics in it, so grumpy you might not want to look. It's all about what driving is like in West Africa.

http://www.imgur.com/a/vTkvB

4/10/2014 4:06:06 PM

Quote :

"Does anyone ever exercise there?"

I've seen one guy lifting makeshift weights and heard about people running for exercise but as a general rule, no, and very few people need to. Daily life here -- even just carrying water home -- builds muscles and eliminates whatever fat the diet might provide. The average 18 year old Beninese girl could beat the everloving shit out of the average American, and plenty of the above-average ones, too. They're very strong and essentially immune to pain. Remember these are people who cook by reaching into the fire, grabbing embers, and moving them with their bare hands to maximize heat effectiveness.

As far as food goes they are not health conscious, at least not in a way backed up by science or that we would understand. Foods with essentially no nutritional value at all (including moonshine) are said to cure malaria, for example, and so people consider the consumption to be health conscious even as they get malaria over and over again.

Quote :

"This has a shitload of pics in it, so grumpy you might not want to look."

Having blocked the images I'm reading the comments. In Benin at least people can't ride on the outside of a vehicle -- I don't think I've ever seen that. But 8 people on one motorcycle? That I have seen. Also 1 person plus 12 adult goats.

Using clumps of grass as a replacement for orange cones during a breakdown is also normal.

The guy brags about seeing two pigs on a moto. I've seen a fully grown cow.

He also mentions pep boys...I need to take a picture of the insanely creepy effort Beninese people make at drawing the michelin man.

Taxi full of oranges/bananas/pineapples? And I mean full, to the roof, everywhere behind the driver -- yeah, i've seen that.

Coffin in a taxi? What a pussy. Coffins here are balanced on the backs of motorcycles.

4/10/2014 4:38:49 PM

Sounds about how I assumed it would be , but I don't really like making assumptions if I don't have to. Do the children still carry your water for you or did that get old for them?

I hope you share your pictures with us when you get adequate internet. <3

Have they told you when you will be packing up and rolling out? It'll be nice to not have to live in the village and interesting to see how you compare the two.

4/10/2014 7:35:22 PM

I quickly set up a system to avoid having kids get my water. Now I have two big plastic jugs so that I can carry water the normal way, with my arms. Everyone thinks it is funny, A) Because the jugs are super heavy and I'm not fit, and B) anything not carried on the head is hysterical

They haven't told me when the move happens. I don't actually know for sure if the move WILL happen. May 8-12 there is a conference on wrapping up the 2nd year, mostly geared towards people who will be going home. Probably even then I won't know anything for sure except the date on which I would go home if extension doesn't work out.

4/10/2014 7:59:08 PM

how the fuck do they carry a billion pounds on their head?

4/10/2014 8:03:44 PM

What's this about Lucy?

4/10/2014 10:18:30 PM

Lucy's a family pet back home.

Quote :

"how the fuck do they carry a billion pounds on their head?"

Practice from age four or five. It's not just the weight but the sheer size of the things they carry on their head -- women frequently have an entire cosmetics department balanced on a huge tray up there, which they somehow manage to get down and back up and then balance with one or no hands.

4/11/2014 4:04:31 AM

I have what may be an incensitive question, but do you ever have and HIV scare or anything? Lat time I looked, the average number in Africa was something like 1/5 are HIV positive.

4/11/2014 6:16:39 AM

^He doesn't fuck the locals, if that's what you're asking. I also doubt he let's them bleed on him either.

Are you going to be able to take your dog with you when you move to the city or home? Or are you at least going to try?

4/11/2014 8:01:31 AM

^^ it's a stupid question, and you might wanna check your data again.

4/11/2014 10:27:52 AM

Quote :

"but do you ever have and HIV scare or anything? Lat time I looked, the average number in Africa was something like 1/5 are HIV positive."

I've never had a scare. One girl stepped on a discarded hypodermic needle and needed to get post exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Another was raped. To my knowledge those are the only two scares in country and they've both tested clean after the six month window.

There are countries in Africa where the rate is that high and possibly higher; those countries are mostly in southern Africa. UNICEF puts Benin's rate at 1.1%; a study suggested that in Cotonou itself the rate was more like 2.8%. About 80,000 of the 10,000,000 people in Benin have HIV.

Quote :

"Are you going to be able to take your dog with you when you move to the city or home? Or are you at least going to try?"

Gonna try. It can be difficult depending on the time of year and the airline, I hear. The only two that serve the airport in a way that will eventually get me to America are Air France and Air Brussels.

4/12/2014 5:48:02 AM

I had never been hit in the face until last night. A fellow PCV -- a gay Russian immigrant -- got drunk and most likely high on something at a party to celebrate our friend's upcoming marriage. I was tasked with getting him home. He tried to crash our motorcycle taxi, knocked me off the back of a motorcycle, and hit me in the face three or four times. The process of dragging and cajoling him the quarter of a mile back to our workstation took the better part of three hours. But leave no man behind, I guess.

4/13/2014 5:45:14 AM

WTF. You're a better person than me. If someone hit me in the face multiple times, I would have told them to fuck off. How rude. I hope he apologizes and buys you a beer or something.

4/13/2014 9:08:43 AM

sell him into slavery, that'll learn him

4/13/2014 9:09:58 AM

^^LOL

"Sorry I'm a violent drunk. First round's on me tonight!"

4/13/2014 10:25:21 AM

Fuck a beer, getting him home cost me about 2,000 CFA. The free drinks that I missed as an opportunity cost were about 2,000 on top. In a sane world I should be able to charge at least 1,000 for every blow to the head and face.

We subsequently went to my happy place, a rastafarian-owned bar in the beach town of Grand Popo. A place where you can have a room, breakfast, and dinner for $18 and where you wake up to the sight of the staff cleaning up while smoking fat joints. It's illegal in Benin; presumably they've bribed somebody in the area to leave them be.

Oh, and my camera died after it fell six inches onto the table. So further pictures may take a while.

[Edited on April 16, 2014 at 3:34 AM. Reason : ]

4/16/2014 3:33:28 AM

Sex, drugs,

4/16/2014 3:41:09 AM

AND ROCK & ROLL

4/16/2014 7:28:48 AM

i wonder how the egg hunt is going to go on Beninternet

4/16/2014 7:38:50 AM

The egg hunt did not happen chez moi. The handful of times I got online during the appointed period did not produce anything.

I've begun selecting the beneficiaries of my upcoming rabbit raising project. Each of five participating individuals (and one participating organization) will receive a training in how to profitably raise rabbits, and a starter kit to help them do so under my supervision.

The group in question is...uh...interesting. It includes the unluckiest person I've yet to meet in Benin, who has three strikes against her good fortune:

1) She's a woman
2) She's an orphan
3) She's a dwarf

I guess it could be worse if she were also albino (relatively common here), but this is about as bad as it gets.

Then there's a guy with withered, useless legs and a scar around his neck that looks like his head was cut off and sewn back on, a kid who is struggling to pay his way through high school after his mom ran off and his dad went into late-stage alcoholism, and a couple of people who are just poor, miserable bastards.

Lord give me the strength to not think of horribly inappropriate jokes during this process.

4/19/2014 4:28:56 PM

Show them game of thrones, they'll never look at dwarves the same again.

4/20/2014 1:22:39 PM

Since Beninese humor revolves entirely around a man in a ridiculous costume embarrassing a man who is trying to get laid, they won't appreciate any of Tyrion's jokes.

It's Easter, of course, which means a two week holiday in Benin. Say what you will about this country, I have to approve of how readily they embrace each others' holidays. The Muslims are partying up a storm. The Christians will help share the goat meat during Eid-something (here they just call it Tabasky). Everyone watches the Voodoo shit on Voodoo day.

In other news, the third year stuff is dragging out -- believe me, I know. But I'll add that I had two very productive meetings this past week, one with my potential future boss (who is so excited she's already drawing the money to pay for my housing) and one with the new lady at the PC bureau who will almost certainly decide my fate. The second was very positive, though she couldn't help asking, "Can you look professional enough for this kind of job?"

4/20/2014 3:35:00 PM

Quote :

"It's Easter, of course, which means a two week holiday in Benin. Say what you will about this country, I have to approve of how readily they embrace each others' holidays. The Muslims are partying up a storm. The Christians will help share the goat meat during Eid-something (here they just call it Tabasky). Everyone watches the Voodoo shit on Voodoo day. "

It more or less was this way in America too, pre 9/11. Muslims were more of a quaint curiosity than an entire peoples that wants to eliminate fireworks, cookouts, and Christmas.

4/21/2014 12:08:16 AM

No, I'm not saying they just get along, I'm saying they get into each other's celebrations. Even today most Americans couldn't tell you when Ramadan is, and I didn't even know about this goat carving holiday until I arrived here. But in Benin, the Christians and Voodoo people are accommodating (the murder fetish won't come out during Ramadan, for instance) and even participatory (Hell yeah we'll chip in on that goat!)

4/21/2014 6:26:17 AM

Peace Corps Benin just got a new second-in-command, an older lady who has worked with PC for years. She showed up and was promptly shown a copy of the humor magazine I humor newsletter I edit. She had...concerns, apparently. So today she called me. The word "appalling" was used twice, "Offensive" more than a dozen times, and "indefensible" showed up once or twice.

The longstanding agreement (preceding my tenure) between the magazine and administration is that a copy is shown to the Country Director for approval, and nobody else sees it but PCVs. Apparently now this new lady (who I'm referring to as "Dolores Umbridge") is now in the loop and is way more vocal in her displeasure. Unfortunately this is also the lady who will probably decide my fate regarding a third year.

The call was unpleasant but it could have gone worse. In the end her position wasn't "You have to stop the newsletter" (because she has enough sense to know it will just go underground), it was "Stop showing it to anybody in administration so we have plausible deniability if it gets out."

4/22/2014 3:21:12 PM

Also, here are a list of things people are currently in the PC Benin med unit for:

1) Girl was electrocuted
2) Girl got bitten by her cat which subsequently turned out to be rabid
3) Girl with bronchitis
4) Girl with an unknown parasite moving up her arm towards either her brain or her heart
5) Boy with giardia (booooring)
6) Boy who just had to get all of his wisdom teeth removed in Africa

4/22/2014 3:26:48 PM

the parasite one sounds fun

4/22/2014 3:28:46 PM

They'll identify it soon. That same girl had an incident where a drunk, naked neighbor broke into her house as she slept and threw himself on top of her. She has not had an easy time.

Frankly the rabies one scares me the most. Milwaukee protocol my ass, that thing is a death sentence.

4/22/2014 3:33:04 PM

Today is World Malaria Day. Oh boy. I got invited to come with another couple of volunteers to Benin's premier world malaria day event, an affair so important that the Minister of Health herself was going to show up. It was sponsored in part by you, the taxpayer (since USAID and the President's Malaria Initiative paid for the overwhelming majority of the event), and you should not be surprised to hear that it was an egregious waste of your money and my time.

Educational booths were set up, each either offering a new anti-malarial product or teaching a new technique. Which is lovely, except that it was closed to the general public. Even I had trouble getting in, wearing my Peace Corps malaria getup and being, well, white. Everyone there was some sort of functionary, there for the day because they were probably getting a per diem to attend -- if not, they were there to have a brief fleeting contact with someone higher up the chain, like the mayor or the minister.

Four large tents and an enormous sound system were set up. One tent was solely for bigwigs, and so to this field in the middle of nowhere a bunch of upholstered easy chairs had been brought in at great expense. there were also some couches. It looked like the furniture market in High Point out there, all so that Her Excellency's ass would not have to touch mere plastic. Other asses afforded this special treatment included the King of Sakete (who is king of perhaps 15,000 people), the Mayor of Sakete (who wields approximately the same political authority as the mayor of Siler City), and various other lackeys. I'll note that the heads of USAID and the CDC in Benin were not accorded fancy chairs.

The event lasted approximately 8 hours, and this is seriously the breakdown of how those hours were spent:

3 hours setting up
2.5 hours thanking everybody for coming and introducing everybody present. Each new speaker has to introduce everybody, it would be rude not to. Also the president was praised a lot, even though he wasn't there and everybody in this region hates him
.5 hours in which actual information was presented to the people
1 hour in which the Minister had her picture taken in front of each booth
1 hour of cleaning up before I finally got the hell out of there

At no point did the educational booths educate anybody. After the Minister left things were opened to the public, but the only public that showed up were beggars and people selling snacks. We took down our booth (specializing in how to repair and maintain mosquito nets) without anybody coming up to ask us anything.

The half hour in which information was imparted was dominated by a comedy duo that was inexplicably dressed as army officers (it had nothing to do with the skit) and who were more inexplicably still wearing blackface. I'm going to repeat that in bold: The black actors were wearing blackface. One of them carried a wooden cutout of a guitar, and at the end he made guitar noises with his mouth while the other guy sang a song about malaria to the tune of "When the Saints Come Marching In."

The point of the skit, if you were wondering, was to convince Beninese people that malaria is not caused by exposure to sunlight or peanut or palm oil. Everybody in this country is out in the sun most of the day and eats peanut and/or palm oil on a daily basis, but they think that both cause malaria.

So yeah, that was my day today.

4/25/2014 12:03:56 PM

Quote :

"The point of the skit, if you were wondering, was to convince Beninese people that malaria is not caused by exposure to sunlight or peanut or palm oil. Everybody in this country is out in the sun most of the day and eats peanut and/or palm oil on a daily basis, but they think that both cause malaria. So yeah, that was my day today. "

haha

sorry to be so creepy, but what was that thing about using restraint on Facebook...

also, what is so upsetting about your newsletter? I can't see what could be that bad...

4/25/2014 12:12:04 PM

There is a guy named Chris Starace who was a PCV here about twenty years ago, and he has a book called "To Benin and Back." It is an awful, terrible book...just badly written drivel that he self-published somehow. Every year, when a private facebook group gets formed for the new incoming class of PCVs, he somehow gets in and starts plugging this trash, being annoying, offering people "signed special editions." I got tired of him flogging the thing in the latest facebook group and I wrote that the book wasn't good, that his solicitation was unwanted, and that if anybody did feel the need to subject themselves to his writing they could find copies for free in the PC library.

It showed restraint because I had taken down an earlier post telling people that they shouldn't buy the book, used several negative adjectives to describe it, and said that if they insisted they should buy the hard copy so that at least when they run out of toilet paper in village they will have something on hand as a backup.

As for the newsletter...it's hard to explain. If I can find my original MS office version I'll post some of the offending articles.

4/25/2014 12:27:20 PM

Alright, I found them. So the newsletter is slightly different each time, but usually at least part of it can be described as "The Onion, but for PC Benin." Both of the offending stories fell into that category. Story one:

Quote :

"Majority of Female Volunteers Now Dating Lebanese Men “Peace Corps Lebanon” membership breaks 50% in record time KARIM 24, COTONOU – For the first time since April 2013, the majority of women in Peace Corps Benin are dating Lebanese men, primarily in Cotonou. These Arab males took control of quorum of PC vaginas on February 11th, when an unnamed PCV and her expatriate partner agreed to be exclusive over a chwarma at Karim 24. The girlfriends of Lebanese men cite a number of reasons for their decision. Chief among these was the small population of PCV males in comparison to females, a number that is further thinned when one removes homosexuals and people who are simply repellent to women. One female volunteer who wished to remain anonymous said, “Look, at this point my choices were Lebanese man, Beninese man, or masturbating myself blind, and only one of those options will buy me drinks at Coco or Code Bar.” Lebanese men have now replaced “single” and “dating a guy back home” as the lead relationship statuses for PC ladies. Experts say that “Peace Corps Lebanon” enjoys majority status on an annual basis, but what makes this year's shift noteworthy is that it took place so early. “Female volunteers tend to start dating Arab or Lebanese men in Cotonou, which requires frequent and lengthy trips to the city. These are usually clandestine in nature. As a result, PCVs begin such affairs only after they become completely jaded by life at post or have checked out entirely. Normally a majority of women do not reach this point until the final months of service, beginning around COS conference,” said Akram Mohammed, owner of a Cotonou grocery store. The Peace Corps men who are still single expressed disappointment at the report. “Sure, I live in a squalid hut with no electricity, and yeah, I can get pretty ripe relying on bucket showers and palmida, and no, maybe I can't afford chwarma binges or patron drinks, but...um...I speak English pretty good,” said one male PCV who did not want his name printed. “What I'm trying to say is...I'm horny, too, and why the hell isn't 'dating Lebanese women' a thing for us here?” “It's just not fair,” said the PCV with a sigh, before walking into his hut to masturbate. "

Hopefully context can help you figure out any PC specific jargon there. Anyway, I was surprised that this article upset the lady, and even more surprised that she thought it was offensive to the men of Peace Corps. It kinda makes the women look like whores, and it makes the Lebanese seem kind of sketchy, but no. She says it is offensive to PC men because, and I quote, "It's saying that all they can do is go...whack off."

4/25/2014 12:33:42 PM

Article #2 was what really had her upset, though, and I understand why...even though I am immensely proud of this piece and PCVs from all over have said they love it.

Quote :

"Hotly anticipated grant application platform: “Fuck you.” New Online-Only Grant Form Released to Wailing, Gnashing of Teeth, Rending of Garments EVERY PEACE CORPS COUNTRY – Following a six-month delay in release during which no volunteers were able to submit grant applications, PC Washington finally debuted its highly anticipated new grant application process via a mass e-mail with the subject heading, “Fuck you.” The body of the e-mail contained only the sentence, “Fuck you, you fucking fucks,” but an attachment revealed a memo on PC letterhead from the director. “Here's your grant form, you stupid assholes,” the director wrote. “Have fun applying for grants with this system. It's easy, really – all you need is a fast, stable internet connection. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” “That should be no problem for you dumbshits out in rural Peru or Benin, right? 'Oh, just let me plug my computer's ethernet cable into this goat's asshole and doidy-doidy-doi.' You pricks are screwed.” The memo, which rapidly degenerated into a long list of insults for PCVs including a number of ethnic slurs, did not explain the origin for PC Washington's apparent hatred for volunteers. “I just don't get it,” said a PCV in the Cameroonian jungle. “What did we do to deserve this? A god damn internet connection? They're mad, I tell you! Mad!” The PCV added that all they had wanted to do was build a school for children orphaned by recent Bokor Haraam attacks, but that in light of the new system they will have no choice but to abandon the project. “Sorry, orphans. Tough shit. Unless one of you has a DSL hookup in their temporary lean-to shelter, this ain't gonna happen.” Even PCVs who can access stable internet have been flummoxed by a confusing interface, lack of directions, and the fact that the entire application process constitutes an act of malice by twisted fucks who are fueled by nothing but hatred and bile. Negative reaction is not limited to volunteers; admin members have also complained about the inane and time-wasting decision to leave only one staffer with access to grant drafts, so that it must be laboriously copied and sent independently to other interested parties for review. As soon as one volunteer overcame these hurdles to submit a long-awaited food security grant, PC Washington took note. They issued a brief statement that, “We thought we had designed a system nobody could use successfully, but clearly we failed. So we're taking the whole thing offline for a week or two so that we can make it more needlessly difficult. Also, we totally removed the encryption so hackers got all your passwords LOL.” The PCV who completed the process has not been heard from since and is presumed dead. When asked for comment, the coven of witches who are apparently now in charge of all US government applications – from the Affordable Care Act to Small Projects Grants – cackled maniacally before saying, “Fuck you, do you hear me? FUCK YOOOOOUUUUUU!” and biting the head off of a newborn puppy."

A note of explanation: as you can tell, the new platform was late and is universally reviled. Even though former volunteers were involved in its design, it is functionally useless to the vast majority of volunteers. Even though I have internet, it isn't good enough to use this platform, so I have to go to the workstation in Cotonou, where I frequently find it broken. At the time it came out, it required a version of Explorer or Chrome that was more advanced than what PC Washington allowed to be on the workstation computers. That's why this article is the way it is.

4/25/2014 12:38:43 PM

^ i think you have posted about the grant process.

But to me, the first one is definitely a lil offensive, something you'd want to keep between Facebook friends (and I agree it seems more offensive to females-- perhaps it's telling she didn't see it that way?)... but the second one is hilarious.

As someone who does programming, i would be amused to get feedback of that nature, and would then work on correcting the issues.

4/25/2014 12:54:26 PM

For all intents and purposes it is between facebook friends. The newsletter is e-mailed to current and some former volunteers. Admin gets the only hard copy. The reason is an agreement that precedes me as well as the current director. The rule was, "Submit a copy to the director every month for review," so that's what I did -- and now it's exactly what this #2 is saying I should stop doing. Which is fine by me, it was a pain anyway.

4/25/2014 2:59:16 PM

I enjoyed the 2nd article. It's not an official PCV article, so having it approved doesn't make sense anyway. I'm glad you can keep writing them.

4/25/2014 3:20:47 PM

It also entertains me that her complaint about article 1 was that it was offensive because: 1) It was written by a man, 2) It was suggested by a Middle Eastern man and a PC woman. Every group that could be offended was involved in its production.

Anyway, enough about the magazine. The malaria thing today was ridic.

4/25/2014 3:38:55 PM

Why wasn't it open to the public? Was that just to keep out the beggars and sellers? You've mentioned before that people only show up for things if you pay them, so I guess it makes sense as to why the public didn't show. I think if I was at risk for malaria I would want to learn how to protect myself and my children from it, but whatever. And did people laugh at the comedy skit? I just imagine a scene from the office with Michael Scott being really awkward.

4/25/2014 6:32:47 PM

People laughed.

The problem is that people here fall into one of these categories:

1) They don't know or don't care how malaria works; it's just a part of life. They've had it a dozen times and now it's not so bad. This problem is compounded by the fact that people think every disease -- from a cold to amoebas -- is malaria.
2) They know how malaria works and they take proper precautions. (this is the smallest group)
3) They know how malaria works but they don't take proper precautions because of poverty -- as soon as you give them a mosquito net, they sell it or use it to make a fence to protect their garden so they can have food.
4) They think they know how malaria works and are just wrong. It's caused by the sun/palm oil/some other damnfool thing, and it's cured with "traditional remedies." I understand why they're mistrustful of Western medicine. Try talking to an illiterate guy whose never left his village about invisible parasites that live in his blood and fly around on mosquitoes. It's going to sound like mumbo jumbo. Then, even if you convince him to try it your way for a while -- say, by sleeping under a mosquito net -- there's still a good chance that he gets malaria eventually. He doesn't notice that he's getting it less often, he just thinks he's proven western science wrong.

Frankly everything we're doing about malaria in this country is stupid. The success rates are too low. Realistically the only thing that will work is what we did in the US, which is to say "Fuck the environment" and drain all the wetlands while spraying everything else with DDT.

4/26/2014 4:15:20 AM

Some Benin related stuff on the natgeo instagram account of late.

Such as:

http://instagram.com/p/nPAZDmoVVC/
The A Pimp Named Slickback-style apparently pervasive in Benin

http://instagram.com/p/nPAZDmoVVC/
Beninese makeup from a baby-naming ceremony

I suppose your tech capabilities don't support you starting an IG account for all of us to follow. That would be kinda dope. What would you need to do that, assuming you're allowed? Like $20 bucks for and someone's less-than-brand-new smart phone of some kind?

[Edited on April 26, 2014 at 11:33 AM. Reason : Some, not a lot.]

4/26/2014 11:32:24 AM

Both of those links only take me to one picture of some guys shoes. Some guys not very representative shoes, I'll add.

I don't know anything at all about instagram. I know that as of last week I no longer have any device that takes pictures, so an account seems pointless.

4/26/2014 5:38:31 PM

Haha. My fault. Here's the link for the makeup http://instagram.com/p/nJt7-SoVQz/

I wanted to see your reaction, because the caption to the one about the shoes/pants was "They are stylin' in the west #african country of #benin. People wear local fabrics and shoes to die for! This was taken in a remote dusty village. No matter where I traveled - city or village, the whole country is beautiful. I was #onassignment there on behalf of @rippleeffectimages making a film about Solar Electric Light Fund empowering women."

And my proposal was that we, your collective audience, would crowdfund your data and someone could donate an old iphone or some other device that supports instagram and takes pics. to be fair though, i think i quite enjoy your recounts of events more than pictures.

[Edited on April 26, 2014 at 5:45 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2014 5:43:21 PM

Well, I'm not going to argue against your proposal. Obviously.

The picture you just posted was not one that is familiar to me, but I live in the south where there are very few Fulani people (and the girl with the makeup is Fulani). The lines drawn on her face, however, are similar to the scars cut into peoples' faces all over Benin.

The first picture, of the guy with the shoes, is accurate to an extent. The fabric you see on the pants is the kind of thing you'd see people wearing all over Benin (typically in an outfit with the same fabric for pants/skirts AND tops). And the shoes aren't beyond the pale, but they'd only come out for special occasions...first of all, because they are so clean and white. The dust and dirt is ever present here. Not long ago, when village life ruled throughout, if somebody fucked up their punishment would be to wash white clothes until they were white again. Also, closed-toed shoes...I have worn actual shoes for 3 hours since I've been in Benin. The very first time I went to church with my host family I wore them. After that I realized that a good pair of sandals is acceptable anywhere, and I've got Chacos.

4/26/2014 6:03:44 PM

Today we took my boss's rickety-ass truck out on a long drive on a dirt road to pick up the rabbit cages we ordered for the upcoming rabbits-for-depressing-people project. The guy who made them is also going to be one of the trainers. To be honest, when I met the guy I was kind of dubious. He seemed real concerned about the money and not very interested in providing helpful information. But now that I've seen his operation, I'm sold.

He has 180 wire cages identical to the ones he made us, suspended from the roof of a purpose built shelter with a trough under each row so he can collect the waste for fertilizer. The vast majority of those cages house several rabbits, and to my utter astonishment, they're all in great health. Fat, clean, clear eyes...when my boss asked him if one particular rabbit was dead the guy said, "No. That one is just lazy." Then he tapped the cage and it sprung up.

The water distribution system for the cages is ingenious in its simplicity. Guy even cuts up old flip flops to make stoppers at the end of the pipe.

So now I'm actually pretty pumped for this operation. We should be doing the training next weekend, then while I'm out of town for a while the recipients will install their cages and generally get set up, and on my return we hand out rabbits (one male and two breeder females per person).

Given that even a scrawny rabbit here can go for 6000-7000 CFA ($12-14, or twice the fairly generous living allowance I receive), I'm hopeful that at least some of these guys are going to get a serious leg up.

Now that I've said that, everything will go to shit. God damn, but Peace Corps has made me superstitious.

4/27/2014 4:47:30 PM

I bet some of them just straight up eat the rabbits immediately

4/27/2014 4:51:54 PM