These are the waterfalls we visited. Read below for details.
MORE PICTURES AT THE BOTTOM!!!! ...my camera actually died before my trip to the Pendjari, so these photos have been provided by Bill Lascher (blascher@gmail.com)... I was a good backseat photographer though. Thanks Bill!
Hello everyone! I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write something, but things have been crazy, and not having a computer makes things really hard.
Okay, so, to catch you guys up on things: I started searching for work in November, and at the beginning of December I held my first meeting for my business club at the local high school. I’m really excited about it, and I think they are too. I’ve got about 100 kids signed up between 2 different groups, and they seem to really want to be there. I even here that there are more that want to join, but I can’t keep enlarging these groups. It might have to just be something that is reserved for the older kids. The age range of these kids is incredibly large, because if a family doesn’t have the money to pay the tuition, or if they need help in the fields then the kid doesn’t go to school. This is a huge problem, and many kids don’t even get near finishing high school… especially girls. Their education is put 2nd to the boys’. Anyway, the age range is probably from 13 to 21.
I’m really excited to be working with the kids here, because it seems like they would be an important group because they are the future of Boukoumbe. Also, they are more open to new ideas then adults, and they are like sponges too. Also, a lot of these kids are going to drop out, and/or not go to a university… so basically they are going to start taking over their parents work within the next few years. If I can give them some basic ideas on how to keep personal and business money separate, how to do a simple feasibility study, show them a little about marketing, and even maybe talk about how to go about getting credit then I think I will be helping out a lot.
Besides the business club, I also had this idea to use PC Volunteers to gather information for a tourism website for all of West Africa, and maybe even Africa. I told my boss about it and he got really excited about the idea, so he’s getting a bunch of volunteers involved and I guess I’m heading the project. Heh, it’s kind of hard to get started without a computer. Anyway, it’s definitely getting started for Benin at least, so I’ll keep you posted. The logic is that 1) there are no good websites on West Africa and tourism, and 2) The only other option is a guidebook, and those are only updated once every 5 years!! Plus, they cost $30USD, and the people who write them might spend a day, at most, in every village they write about, and 3) We have volunteers everywhere who would like to see their communities and the communities around them profit from outside money. It’s really a win/win situation in every way.
I’ve also been trying to work with the women’s groups of Boukoumbe, but first I have to track down the presidents. I’m also going to work with the local artisans groups soon, and I think that will go better, because I’m already in contact with their president. As for the tourism thing, well, I’ve been helping out this local project that I Fullbright Scholar started on. She helped this local community right outside of Boukoumbe build a tata somba (traditional local housing) that tourists could stay in, and it is really awesome! Their only problem is that nobody can easily find the information on it and nobody can easily contact them. We’re working on that stuff though… it should be getting better.
Outside of Boukoumbe, as you might have read, I’ve started working with an orphanage in Natitingou. Natitingou is the city where I had my training in, and it’s only about 50km away from Boukoumbe. I’m working with a few other volunteers to help them out, and for Christmas we did a big dinner that was amazing! Thank you to everyone who sent some money!!! It definitely helped out a ton! For 80 kids we bought sandals (none had shoes), soap (they couldn’t afford it), a pig for Christmas dinner along with rice, cooking oil, cabbage, carrots, cookies, pieces of candy, and some macaroni. Also, another volunteer’s parents sent some toys from the US, so they had a blast all day playing with dolls and balloons and etch-a-sketches. I also bought them a soccer ball, and that was a huge hit.
With the money left over we are also going to be getting them some material for clothes (most kids, at most, might only have an old t-shirt full of holes), mosquito nets, and seeds that they could cultivate for a profit (instead of the traditional, less profitable options).
Really though, kudos’ to you guys at home who sent money!! We received 260 USD thus far, and if any of you guys still want in, well, these orphans don’t have anything. We are going to continue to work with these people because they actually honestly just want what’s best for these kids.
As for their disease problem, well, my doctor friend in Boukoumbe is going to help us get the medicine and the bleach, but we are going to get a group of volunteers together to scrub down every single thing that anyone can touch with bleach so that the place is no longer contaminated. Then, my doctor friend is going to help put this medicine on them that evening. Within 12 hours they will be disease free! Yaay!!!
So, that’s all of my work related news. As for me personally, well, I’ve become really happy here. I love all the volunteers and we have a blast together. Christmas was incredibly low key, and we didn’t even cook anything. We went out to eat, and after we came back to the house and just hung out. It was a good time, but it wasn’t a Christmas like any other. The day after Christmas is when we really partied. We cranked up some music at the house and everyone just started dancing… it was one of the best times I’ve ever had.
I’m skipping a line, because what I’m going to write about next deserves the gap: So, after Christmas, on somewhat of a whim, a lot of us joined some other people who were planning a safari to the local park (picture safari). 8 people ended up going and we rented a car and a driver (named Brenard, phone #002.229.90.02.08.89, only speaks french, highly recommended!), and we headed out for an overnight stay in the park. We left at 6:30am, got to Tanguieta by 8am, and into the park by 9am. Once we were in we saw all kinds of animals!!!… all in all, we saw 4 grown lions (3 female, 1 male), 3 lion cubs, 4 hippos, I stopped counting crocodiles at 15, a herd of probably 30 water buffalo, over 20 elephants, tons of baboons, tons of antelope, tons of gazelles, and one painted deer. It was incredible!!!! We had a blast, and we all went in on a room at the hotel in the park (24,000cfa)…. 8 of us in 1 room was reminiscent of a can of sardines, but it was a really good time, and the food at the hotel was european and amazing (6,000cfa for a 3 coarse meal)!!! The 2nd day was really when we saw most of the animals because we headed out at 7am, and we were out of the park by noon.
After that we went to the nearby waterfalls, which were incredible!!! The village is called Tanougou (200cfa entry fee for the falls), and the falls are always running and always amazing… and guess what!!! They’re shista (disease) free!!! Also, the local artisans here sell some of the most beautiful African jewelry I’ve seen thus far. We were back in Natitingou by 6pm, and it was an awesome day!!!
Well, that was yesterday, so today I’m heading back to post for New Year’s. I hear that New Years is the biggest celebration of the year here, and the Beninese love to celebrate, so it should be awesome!!!
Well, that’s officially all of my news!! I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and have a wonderful New Year!! I should have another computer here soon, so I’ll start posting more soon! Well, till then, best of luck to you all!
Okay, so, to catch you guys up on things: I started searching for work in November, and at the beginning of December I held my first meeting for my business club at the local high school. I’m really excited about it, and I think they are too. I’ve got about 100 kids signed up between 2 different groups, and they seem to really want to be there. I even here that there are more that want to join, but I can’t keep enlarging these groups. It might have to just be something that is reserved for the older kids. The age range of these kids is incredibly large, because if a family doesn’t have the money to pay the tuition, or if they need help in the fields then the kid doesn’t go to school. This is a huge problem, and many kids don’t even get near finishing high school… especially girls. Their education is put 2nd to the boys’. Anyway, the age range is probably from 13 to 21.
I’m really excited to be working with the kids here, because it seems like they would be an important group because they are the future of Boukoumbe. Also, they are more open to new ideas then adults, and they are like sponges too. Also, a lot of these kids are going to drop out, and/or not go to a university… so basically they are going to start taking over their parents work within the next few years. If I can give them some basic ideas on how to keep personal and business money separate, how to do a simple feasibility study, show them a little about marketing, and even maybe talk about how to go about getting credit then I think I will be helping out a lot.
Besides the business club, I also had this idea to use PC Volunteers to gather information for a tourism website for all of West Africa, and maybe even Africa. I told my boss about it and he got really excited about the idea, so he’s getting a bunch of volunteers involved and I guess I’m heading the project. Heh, it’s kind of hard to get started without a computer. Anyway, it’s definitely getting started for Benin at least, so I’ll keep you posted. The logic is that 1) there are no good websites on West Africa and tourism, and 2) The only other option is a guidebook, and those are only updated once every 5 years!! Plus, they cost $30USD, and the people who write them might spend a day, at most, in every village they write about, and 3) We have volunteers everywhere who would like to see their communities and the communities around them profit from outside money. It’s really a win/win situation in every way.
I’ve also been trying to work with the women’s groups of Boukoumbe, but first I have to track down the presidents. I’m also going to work with the local artisans groups soon, and I think that will go better, because I’m already in contact with their president. As for the tourism thing, well, I’ve been helping out this local project that I Fullbright Scholar started on. She helped this local community right outside of Boukoumbe build a tata somba (traditional local housing) that tourists could stay in, and it is really awesome! Their only problem is that nobody can easily find the information on it and nobody can easily contact them. We’re working on that stuff though… it should be getting better.
Outside of Boukoumbe, as you might have read, I’ve started working with an orphanage in Natitingou. Natitingou is the city where I had my training in, and it’s only about 50km away from Boukoumbe. I’m working with a few other volunteers to help them out, and for Christmas we did a big dinner that was amazing! Thank you to everyone who sent some money!!! It definitely helped out a ton! For 80 kids we bought sandals (none had shoes), soap (they couldn’t afford it), a pig for Christmas dinner along with rice, cooking oil, cabbage, carrots, cookies, pieces of candy, and some macaroni. Also, another volunteer’s parents sent some toys from the US, so they had a blast all day playing with dolls and balloons and etch-a-sketches. I also bought them a soccer ball, and that was a huge hit.
With the money left over we are also going to be getting them some material for clothes (most kids, at most, might only have an old t-shirt full of holes), mosquito nets, and seeds that they could cultivate for a profit (instead of the traditional, less profitable options).
Really though, kudos’ to you guys at home who sent money!! We received 260 USD thus far, and if any of you guys still want in, well, these orphans don’t have anything. We are going to continue to work with these people because they actually honestly just want what’s best for these kids.
As for their disease problem, well, my doctor friend in Boukoumbe is going to help us get the medicine and the bleach, but we are going to get a group of volunteers together to scrub down every single thing that anyone can touch with bleach so that the place is no longer contaminated. Then, my doctor friend is going to help put this medicine on them that evening. Within 12 hours they will be disease free! Yaay!!!
So, that’s all of my work related news. As for me personally, well, I’ve become really happy here. I love all the volunteers and we have a blast together. Christmas was incredibly low key, and we didn’t even cook anything. We went out to eat, and after we came back to the house and just hung out. It was a good time, but it wasn’t a Christmas like any other. The day after Christmas is when we really partied. We cranked up some music at the house and everyone just started dancing… it was one of the best times I’ve ever had.
I’m skipping a line, because what I’m going to write about next deserves the gap: So, after Christmas, on somewhat of a whim, a lot of us joined some other people who were planning a safari to the local park (picture safari). 8 people ended up going and we rented a car and a driver (named Brenard, phone #002.229.90.02.08.89, only speaks french, highly recommended!), and we headed out for an overnight stay in the park. We left at 6:30am, got to Tanguieta by 8am, and into the park by 9am. Once we were in we saw all kinds of animals!!!… all in all, we saw 4 grown lions (3 female, 1 male), 3 lion cubs, 4 hippos, I stopped counting crocodiles at 15, a herd of probably 30 water buffalo, over 20 elephants, tons of baboons, tons of antelope, tons of gazelles, and one painted deer. It was incredible!!!! We had a blast, and we all went in on a room at the hotel in the park (24,000cfa)…. 8 of us in 1 room was reminiscent of a can of sardines, but it was a really good time, and the food at the hotel was european and amazing (6,000cfa for a 3 coarse meal)!!! The 2nd day was really when we saw most of the animals because we headed out at 7am, and we were out of the park by noon.
After that we went to the nearby waterfalls, which were incredible!!! The village is called Tanougou (200cfa entry fee for the falls), and the falls are always running and always amazing… and guess what!!! They’re shista (disease) free!!! Also, the local artisans here sell some of the most beautiful African jewelry I’ve seen thus far. We were back in Natitingou by 6pm, and it was an awesome day!!!
Well, that was yesterday, so today I’m heading back to post for New Year’s. I hear that New Years is the biggest celebration of the year here, and the Beninese love to celebrate, so it should be awesome!!!
Well, that’s officially all of my news!! I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and have a wonderful New Year!! I should have another computer here soon, so I’ll start posting more soon! Well, till then, best of luck to you all!
Sarah
Pictures: 1. Lionness with her 3 baby cubs (probably 20ft away). They were just strolling down the road for about 5 minutes. Mama looked pissed that we were following them. 2. It may look like just another scenic photo, but look closer - there are 2 lion heads staring at us. Out of the view of this picture there was also a male. 3. This baboon ran up to us for a staring contest. I'm not sure who won. He was litterally 5 ft away. There were tons of baboons in the park. Ya know, sometimes these guys leave their park area, and at that point they are no longer baboons... they're dinner! 4. The animal I am calling an antelope. There were tons in the park.
We are coming to see you in May! I am very excited to see you again.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mom