After 52 hours of travel, 4 days in London, 3 days in Paris, and 2 weeks in Houston I have finally returned back to Natitingou, Benin. It has been a crazy month since taking vacation. I had so many great visits with family and friends, it was definitely worth it! I can’t believe just this time last year I was preparing for my Peace Corps service in Benin without a clue to what lied ahead! The last 343 days have taught me so much about myself and life. I am so glad that I took this crazy leap and decided to join the PC and live this life. The summer is a weird time of transition when the old volunteers are on their way out while the new volunteers make their way in and all of us in between are realizing we’ve been here a whole year and are now well adjusted and on our way to becoming seasoned veterans. I am so excited to see what is in store for next year but at the same time sad to see my postmates and other volunteers leave and move on to other endeavors.
With school out my duties and activities have slowed down a bit so I think once school starts back up and I settle in I will get my routine back (just like my mother I like routine). Tomorrow is the National Spelling Bee here in Benin. Fortunately it is here in Nati so I do not have to travel far. I’m not sure how many students will be here but I can estimate around 25 from all over Benin. The spelling bee is just like what you would think…except its in English so its challenging for the students. Middle school students competed in their local schools to get a chance to compete for the title of National Spelling Bee Champion! I will do my best to take pictures so you can see how everything went.
I also promise to blog more my next year. I think I did a good job of explaining to everyone some of my activities here so I need to keep up with updating you all. I was chosen to welcome the new stage so next Saturday July 1st I am heading to Cotonou to welcome them at the airport!! Then I will stay with them for a week. After that I will go to Dassa a town in the middle of Benin to go on my GAD date. At the end of April there was a GAD dinner and auction. The volunteer who lives in Dassa auctioned a group date where he would take us hiking, there are mountain/hills in Dassa, and we would camp out on the mountain for the night. Myself and a few other volunteers won the date so we are doing that the weekend of July 9th. It should be interesting! There are also many camps I am helping with this summer so hopefully I will stay nice and busy!
On another note…please please spread the word about my School building project. I appreciate all of your support at my Happy Hour event but unfortunately that money is not going toward this classroom building. The school in Toucountouna desperately needs another set of classrooms for their students. This project will only survive with your determination and effort. If you have a relative, friend, or colleague you think might be interested please take 5 minutes to contact them and tell them about my project. A donation of $20 will help a small African village for many years to come. I know we all have bills and lives to take care of but it would take about 4 years for the school to raise funds to build a new classroom on their own. My organization has 26 students at this school so you are indirectly helping me and my organization. Here is a goal: during your 4th of July parties talk to partygoers about me and my project and explain to them if they could find $20 to help a child’s future in school they would be giving the best gift they could to actually make a difference in an African country. Also the donation is tax-deductible! Another idea: If you had planned on giving me a birthday gift in August I would prefer you find 5 donors who can each donate $20! I’m not asking you personally to donate all of your money just FIND OTHER PEOPLE WHO CAN DONATE THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY!!! Ok I am done…for now!
Some exciting changes have been going on in Nati, the Fete for Benin Independence Day is going to be Natitingou on August 1st. They are putting street lights on the main road (yes there are no street lights) along with new additions to the sports stadium (astro turf, bleachers, track, and walls surrounding the stadium) They are also doing major construction on the roads, paving 2 new roads (yes paving a road instead of red dirt!! Very classy!) and adding on to a section of the road. The area near the mayor’s office is getting a fountain and gardens which will be very interesting!! A bunch of male students who are now on summer vacation have been hired to do heavy physical labor all time of day….on my way home tonight I saw them working with large spotlights set up just like back in Houston. I guess they only have 38 days to get as much done as possible. I will try and snap a few photos of before and after….so you can maybe understand my excitement! (it’s the little things right??)
Oh funny side story before I head to bed….I finally gave my neighbors their gifts: 5 hot wheels cars for the son, a bouncy red ball for all the kids, a black Barbie doll for the oldest daughter, 2 necklaces for the mama, and a bottle of whisky for the papa. It was like Christmas…the kids were fighting over the cars when I realized the mama had taken the Barbie doll hostage and was playing with it calling it her princess doll. I thought she was just admiring it then realized after 20 minutes she had decided it was clearly meant for her. I sat there and tried to figure out the best way to break the news that it is for her 9 year old daughter. So I slowly started talking about all the gifts and my reasoning for purchasing them then I just laid it on her that I wanted her daughter Caroline to have the Barbie doll because when I was 9 yrs old I had one just like it! Her eyes grew very big and quizzically repeated what I had said…. “Oh when you were 9 you had a doll just like this so you bought this for Caroline?” Then she called Caroline over and said without enthusiasm “Veronica bought this for YOU…..” and handed over the doll. I nodded and winked at Caroline who was grinning ear to ear with joy. I think I am going to have to periodically check who has custody of the doll….
Thanks for reading my blog, have a good night/day and much love!
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