Money Dropping

There is a quarterly magazine published by The National Peace Corps Association, called WorldView. The National Peace Corps Association is a separate entity from the Peace Corps. The association is an NGO that works to bring current and returned Peace Corps Volunteers from all around the world to the same stage, to discuss global issues, and to build a network (kind of like an alumni association). As Peace Corps Volunteers we receive a copy of the WorldView Magazine in our mailbox every few months.. I believe for others it is part of NPCA membership (or maybe you just have to subscribe).

I would like to talk about an article that was in the Summer 2013 issue. The article was titled “Come to Africa for Business, Not Handouts” (Buckler and Jackson) and I think that it addresses some very real and very important issues. Issues that I see everyday here in Benin, but that I also believe very few Americans understand.

Before I start I would like to say that what I am about to write is  MY opinion based on my experience here in Benin. – I do make some blanket statements – but they are meant to be pertaining to my experience.

They put it more eloquently than I could ever hope to – but basically the article was written to point out the problems with newer American “Africa-Focused” business models such as TOMs and Goods for Good. The problem being the drop mentality. You buy from us and we are going to drop a bunch of free goods somewhere for the suffering children of Africa. The problem, according to Buckler and Jackson... and to Peace Corps Volunteers everywhere... is that this not only inhibits growth of business in the countries that are receiving “free gifts” (no one is going to buy something if they think that a westerner is going to come by and give it to them for free later) – it also perpetuates the idea that Africa is incapable of helping itself (therefore reducing the desire to invest in Africa). I am not going to talk about these exact same issues verbatim.. but the article is what inspired this weekends discussion, and if anyone gets their hands on a copy they should read it.

As Peace Corps Volunteers this is a topic constantly on our minds. Peace Corps is “not a financial institution” we are not here to give handouts, and we work towards projects that are sustainable and will continue to be sustainable after we leave. For example, instead of buying a food producer fancy western style ovens (that will be useless once they break anyway) we teach them how to make cost-efficient and energy efficient mud stoves, which cost nothing to build and can be built over and over again. We then watch as the people who have learned  go out on their own into the community and teach others how to build these same stoves. Teaching a new skill is sustainable. Giving handouts is not.

As current Peace Corps volunteers in Benin, there are two topics (I think) that come up the most.. pertaining to the “give away mentality” of most of the worlds volunteer force. Firstly, especially in the south, I have (and others have as well) run into issues where not only do the people we are trying to work with expect free handouts, they are almost unwilling to do work that would assume free handouts won't come in the future. Occasionally, people will not want to work with you once they realize you actually want to do work. Many  want the easy way of getting things done, and the easy way has become western handouts. Not only has the Western world become convinced of Africa’s need for assistance (and don't get me wrong there is some assistance – especially medical –  is in fact very important)– Africa in some ways has also become complacent to the idea. Not only do people expect free hand outs – they feel entitled. This is a problem. It perpetuates a laziness so to speak – a lack of desire to work towards a goal for yourself – to start at the bottom and build something on your own is such an American mentality. It is hard as an American, wishing that kind of happiness on to others, to see that not everyone wants to do it on their own. Some people really are happy just sitting around and letting someone else do it for them. Some people just don't think they can. If Africa is every going to reach sustainable development. It is that mentality that needs to be addressed first.

I am a volunteer. Requested by my host organization to come and work with them in my community. I cost them nothing. I work for free. – This hasn't stopped people in my own office from telling me that I should be paying them because they are letting me work there. I did not choose my location – they asked Peace Corps for me.  Still, because  I am a westerner even many educated host county nationals believe I was sent here to give them gifts. I know that some of this is cultural.. but it is disheartening to say the least. From my experience, there is a serious case of the gim-mes going on. Are HCNs requesting western volunteers only because they think that means free gifts and financial gain?

The second issue comes from Peace Corps itself. It is an issue that a lot of Peace Corps volunteers face, is one that effects us in reporting, and one that will also effect us when we get home (assuming anyone actually bothers to read our description of service reports) – it is the idea that TO BE A SUCCESSFUL VOLUNTEER – you have to be spending aid money. Although, as I said before, Peace Corps is not a financial institution we do receive grant money from outside sources.. and there is a big push to spend that money. Peace Corps is great about the idea that the community HAS TO be involved. They need to provide a certain percentage of the monetary value of the project themselves  (this can be obtained by the community through land donations, equipment donations, monetary donations and also from the actual labor costs) – this is what sets us apart form other volunteer programs. – We want the community to take ownership of the projects. Don't get me wrong – a lot of these projects are great – often they are for school buildings, latrine projects, irrigation systems – I plan on doing a latrine project myself, I am not against using grant money. What I am against is the idea that to be a “good volunteer” you should be using grant money. What about the projects that cost nothing – in my opinion these projects will be the most sustainable in the end. A volunteer's service should not be judged by the amount of money they were able to hand out. It should be judged by the success of a volunteer in addressing the issues that the volunteers community has brought to the table (no matter how aligned they really are with the project framework). If DC thinks this small village needs an Art Club (for example) in their school, that is all well and good, but the volunteer shouldn't be left feeling like a failure because the community perhaps really just does not want one and so the volunteer but their energy into a school funded garden club instead. On the other hand building a beautiful library that the community will never use shouldn't lead to accolades just because grant money was spent.

A farmer might want an irrigation system because it is expensive and having it is a status symbol – but will he actually use it? Will he pay for the up keep when it breaks? No. Not if he thinks that someone is going to come along and pay for a new one for him again in a few years.

We are on the ground helping the communities and serving as ambassadors. We see everyday what the past policies of free hand-outs has done to the countries where we work. We see many very capable and wonderful people who with the right motivation could be (and should be) great. Africa is worth investing in and as volunteers here in Benin we hope to teach them that, while we are here to help, it is only to give a push and get the ball rolling. They don't “need” us.. but I think they need to believe that almost as much as we do.

So what is the solution? I don't really know... the problem hasn't changed yet since the authors of the WorldView article were serving. I think it is going to take a long time to change. For starters though, I think we should stop looking at Africa as a charity and start looking at it as a place with potential.

Z

Come to Africa for Business, Not Handouts was written by Micheal Buckler (Malawi 06-08) and Beau Jackson (Cape Verde 03-05) for the Summer 2013 issue of WorldView Magazine. 

Boy In Benin Part 3

Erik left to go back to the States on Friday.. I have been insanely lonely since then. It will be good to get back to work tomorrow and back to normal. 

Anyway he agreed to write a post wrapping up his thoughts on his visit here in Benin.

***

For 24 hours I have been back in the United States. I am clean, comfortable and well-fed. Now that I've gotten those first steps out of the way, I have had a chance to look back and review the past few weeks spent in Benin. I greatly enjoyed my visit, spending time with Zoe, and seeing another part of the world.

I could tell you about all the cool things we did, but I decided that instead of recapping the events of my journey, it would be more meaningful to share a few of my personal reflections. In all my travels, Benin has proven to be one of the most thought-provoking places I have ever been. Their way of life - their culture, their world-view - is in many ways drastically different than our own. Ultimately, as human beings, we all have the same basic wants and needs: food, shelter, and a good life for our family. However, there is great variety in the means by which we achieve these basic goals. I am grateful to have been able to visit Benin and for the opportunity to reflect on their way of life.

In general, I found the people of Benin to be very warm and friendly, welcoming us to their home, excited to share their beautiful country with us. During my time in Zoe's village, I found the community quite charming. Everyone says, "hello, how are you? Welcome." People spend most of the day sitting outside enjoying each others company. Even in the market, women will sit side by side selling the same thing as friends, not competitors. Although they have very little relative to Americans, what these people lack in possessions and technology they make up for with a connectedness that does not exist in most "American villages." It's like a giant family - everyone is looking out for each other. I would often walk alone through the village just to feel like a part of it.

I enjoyed the village life a lot, and it was cool walking amongst goats, sheep, cows and chickens everywhere we went, but the main thing I disliked about the village was EVERYONE'S incessant need to point out that I am white. Almost everyone we passed would call out to us "Yovo Yovo!" At first I kind of liked it. It was like being a celebrity; but by the end of the trip I became frustrated and really just wanted to pull some people out of their ignorance and explain that we are the same and what they're doing is rude. I tried to remind myself that I am to them what a purple person would be to me. I chalked their heckling up to curiosity more than anything else.

The food was also very different, but I liked most of what I tried. The religions were very different as well, Voodoo in particular, and it was sometimes difficult to take certain beliefs seriously (specifically those regarding sorcery), but I suppose fervently believing in something completely irrational is part of all religions, ours included. Benin would be a great place to conduct an ethnography, particularly one linguistic in nature. There are so many interesting languages spoken, and it would be neat to look further into how the local dialects reflect the peoples' perspective and outlook. Even though I could understand next-to-nothing, I enjoyed listening nonetheless.

One interesting thing that struck me is that the Beninese are insanely comfortable being uncomfortable. They seem to love prolonged stares and awkward silences. In the "Tro" taxis (cargo vans gutted and fitted with benches to fit 30 people), you are tightly sandwiched between 5 other people, your feet almost instantly lose circulation, everyone is sweating on each other, 10 people are screaming on their phones or to each other, and I was the only person on the bus that seemed to mind at all. As a side note, I must say, those taxis have to be the world's most uncomfortable mode of transportation, but I doubt that anyone in the country is aware. 

[Note from Zoe: I made a point to ensure Erik had only the most comfortable taxi rides possible – It can get way worse than that]

In a nut-shell, Benin is a country rich with natural beauty, pleasant people, and interesting culture. I am definitely not going to take as much for granted now that I'm back, and I am truly grateful for all that I have - hot showers, food variety, air conditioning, education, healthcare, etc. Still, I find myself wondering just how good some of our amenities are for the soul. Although the more impoverished citizens of Benin will pester tourists for money and food, they still seem happy with their lot. Without the common stresses of first-world life (9-5's, car payments, schedule juggling), people can focus more on those basic wants and needs mentioned earlier. They can wake up with the sun, cook a fresh, plastic-free non-processed meal, and work on the farm or at the loom, using their hands to create their livelihood. They're not connected to the ramblings of their peers on social media, or the depressing stories in the news. They work a little, the eat a little, they relax a little, and they are content. This lifestyle may seem almost lazy to a college-educated American worker, but lazy would not be the right word for it; I think 'easy' would be a better word for it. And while (when applied to work) that word carries negative connotations in our culture, there, taking it easy on the job is viewed in a positive light - and they be the right ones after all.

We desperately seek to impose our western sentiment that "development" ought to be the chief goal of any given society, and that societies should strive for progress through hard work and innovation, but the more I see of the rest of the world, the less convinced I find myself of the merits of this philosophy. The people in Benin are happy, they're healthy, and they appreciate the time they get to spend with one another. Likewise, I appreciate the time I spent with them. Being in Benin has reinforced within me some deep realizations that can only be achieved by traveling around the world, and I would enjoy spending more time there some day if the opportunity arises. A la prochiane! - Erik

***

Oh.. I also wanted to mention. Erik seems to have made more friends here in two weeks than I have made in the past 10 months (no surprise there we all know he is the social half of this whole). All day today – while I just felt like sitting around in my pajamas.. eating chocolate.. watching Remember the Titans.. and being left alone. People kept showing up at my house asking to see Erik. Not to mention the number of people who called to make sure he made it home safe. He is pretty awesome like that.. <3

Lots of Love and Happy Mothers Day!

Z

Ghana By Taxi

A few days ago I got back to Benin after enjoying my “first real vacation” since joining the Peace Corps. It was really exciting to get out of here after over 9 months... but by the end (believe it or not) I was very happy to be back.

Along with my fellow travelers I left Benin early in the morning with plans to reach Kpalime, Togo by sunset. - - Unfortunately this is West Africa and nothing goes as planned.. so after uncountable marriage offers and one surprisingly painless border crossing we found ourselves checking in at the Peace Corps Headquarters in Lome instead. It was Easter Monday and we were told that if we stopped at the Immigration office the next morning we would be able to get our visa extended and not have to pay again on the way back. This did not happen but we got to see Lome so I guess it was ok in the end. (If you are traveling in Togo.. the visa thing is true.. but it takes about 3 days not the 10 minutes the border police tell you.. so if you are on a schedule don't waste your time with bureaucratic nonsense in Lome – just my opinion)

Togo in general is just like Benin.. only maybe a little greener. Kpalime is a small town in the South-ish close to the Ghanaian border. The reason we went to Kpalime specifically is that this town has a little treasure known as The Belgian Restaurant – with Belgian food... and Belgian beer.. and a really really friendly Belgian family. The only photo I took during my 2 days in Togo was of the meal I ate in Kpalime. They made me a vegetarian lentil burger (not on the menu) and I had the first palatable beer to come my way in over 9 months. I love you Belgium.

The bulk of our trip was spent in Ghana – where they speak English – and serve fried rice out of street carts – and soy milk is everywhere. To the deprived PCV its also important to note that they have smoothies.. shopping malls.. wrap sandwiches.. and a movie theater.

If you ever get a chance to go to Ghana.. Go.

My stay in Ghana can be divided into 3 parts:

Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary & Wli Waterfalls

Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary located in the Hohoe area of Ghana. According to our guide the sanctuary was actually started with the assistance of Peace Corps Volunteers back in the day. The tour includes some up close time with their monkeys and a 10 minute walk through their nature preserve.

Wli Waterfalls are the largest in West Africa. There are two cascades the top cascade is 85m (the tallest in West Africa) and the bottom cascade is about 60m. You can hike to the bottom and there is a great picnic area and opportunities to go swimming if you so choose. The hike to the top supposedly takes close to 4 hours and is a pretty steep hike. We chose to do the hike to the bottom and a 20 minute hike up to a view point... it was really rough.

The Coast

I am not sure what was more beautiful the Coast or the Waterfalls.. Ghana is a very beautiful country. The town “Cape Coast” has a really great vegetarian restaurant near Cape Coast Castle called Baobab House. (Like I said we spent most of our vacation eating). There are 3 castles along the coast of Ghana that were built during Portuguese colonization to be used for slave trade. The other two are in Accra and El Mina. We got a chance to see all three during our trip – the one in El Mina is the oldest building standing in West Africa.

While at the coast we stayed at a place called Stumble Inn. Like everything else in Ghana this place was BEAUTIFUL. We had dorm style sleeping right on the beach and there was a restaurant that served breakfast lunch and dinner at a reasonable price with multiple vegetarian options. You sit at a cabana overlooking the ocean where you can be served your food or really just hang out. Unfortunately :( I spent the whole time here being very sick. Quite frankly, I don't know if there is a better place I could have chosen.. They had toast. They had tea. The managers (two American volunteers) went to find me a fan. They gave me bananas with my toast that I ordered for breakfast to help me get healthy again. It was an awesome place. I would have preferred to be healthy and sitting in the sand.. but if I had to be sick at least I could hear the ocean and eat toast. There is not toast in Benin.

Accra

Osu Castle - Accra

As far as I am concerned Accra could be an American City. Maybe it has been awhile.. but I think it was wonderful. I probably spent a bit too much of my time while in Accra just eating great food and staring in awe at the aisles of their grocery stores. There are some really beautiful national monuments in Accra and some market places that are worth checking out. Really though, we went for the food.

We made a straight shot taxi trip back to Benin from Accra on the last day of our adventure and aside from a small thunderstorm the ride back was uneventful (that's a good thing). Other than the dust in my house and some new satellite dishes in my concession little changed while I was gone.

I want to say back to normal life for me..

I'm not sure if that applies.

<3 Z

Parc Pendjari: A Safari

Last weekend I traveled up to the north of Benin to a town called Tanguieta to go on a mini-safari in Parc Pendjari and to see the Tanangou waterfall with a small group of my friends!

We saw MANY animals most notably Lions, Hyenas, Hippos and an insane number of Elephants... but I won't bore you since I know you really just want pictures - - 

Love Z

Some Things Grow On Trees

Moringa.

Known to some as “The Miracle Tree”

Known to skeptics as “too good to be true” -- Time will be the judge. 

Moringa is a tree that grows easily in the tropics.. and surprisingly.. in all parts of the world where malnutrition is a real issue. AND the reason this tree is known as the miracle tree is that has the potential ability to combat and eventually rid the world of malnutrition. Native to the Himilayas.. Moringa Oleifera can now be found growing throughout most of the developing world. Trees for Life, a non-profit that works with Moringa has a map on their website (here) showing how closely the places where Moringa grows and the countries that are malnourished coincide.

The leaves, seeds, seed oil, and roots can all be eaten and all have high nutritional value. While the leaves can be eaten raw or lightly cooked, most often I see leaves sold in a powdered form here in Benin. Moringa is known to be rich in A, B, and C Vitamins, Calcium, Protein, and Potassium as well as providing other vitamins and minerals (depending on what part of the plant you are eating). 

image from treesforlife.org

Aside from just being a food source, the cultivation of Moringa can aid the economy, the trees are grow very fast, they have been noted to (however it is not yet proven) enrich the soil, and also show potential in water purification as well. They are not the greatest shade trees.. but they are great for making living fences (especially for protecting gardens from roaming goats and cows).

Most of the locals that I am currently working with are aware of, and have access to Moringa already. However, within the next few months I am looking forward to receiving training on both the cultivating of Moringa, and on how to teach the nutritional benefits more effectively (especially in a country where most leafy greens get cooked until there is no nutritional benefit at all). I am also looking forward to learning more about building living fences (I think that would be really great for a school garden where the Moringa leaves could then be used by the women who make lunch!).

***

Completely Unrelated to Moringa :

While we are on the subject of things that grow in Africa.. there is this fruit. This strange orange fruit with big black seeds. That my close-mate and I have dubbed sticky fruit. I would love to tell you what it is called. BUT quite frankly I don't know.

A few weeks ago my close-mate showed up one afternoon on her way home from the market. With these weird fruits that we had been seeing everywhere and decided it was time for us to try them. (I had already tried them once and found them somewhat frightening but figured I would give it a second go) Anyway this fruit basically tastes like a warhead... if there was an apricot flavored warhead. By the way.. I mean the warheads from when I was a kid.. not the tamed downed ones that you buy in the candy stores these days. THE REALLY SOUR ONES. When you are finished eating said fruit, your lips feel like you just had a bubble gum mishap (there really is no other way to describe it). We joked over the way they made our mouth feel.. and compared our facial expressions to the babies eating lemons video that was big on youtube a few years back.

Yesterday, I was visiting the host fam, and my mama gave me one of these fruits to eat. Apparently if you know how to pick out a ripe one they are actually a little bit sweet. She showed me the proper way to eat them.. but she only knew what they were called in local language not in french. I now know however that the best part of the fruit is stuck to the seed (something we had previously been discarding). After eating the fruit she made a point to tell me that the final step in properly eating this weird African fruit -- is washing your lips.. since it makes your lips feel funny. Glad to know that wasn't just an American thing.

Later my close-mate informed me that the local language name for this fruit translates to “Hurt-Baby” – so basically we were spot on with our description -- and I have decided the local villagers would probably get a kick out of watching babies eat lemons.

Love and Sticky Lips

Z

What Is Food Security?

Food Security is a global issue AND along with Malaria prevention, it is one of the primary global issues that Peace Corps in currently focusing on. The projects that I am working on and the post that I was given are meant to be closely intertwined with the Benin Food Security program. I decided to make this month Food Security Month on my blog. This will give me a chance to talk about some of the projects I am trying to start up.. and explain to you what I am doing here (if I can figure that out myself...) ha..

What is Food Security?

In general terms, Food Security is the access and availability of balanced and nutritious food sources.

In the United States food security is often a concern in low income urban areas where we have what we call “Food Deserts” or areas where low income families have little to no access to acceptable healthy food.. (sometimes no grocery stores at all) and are in that sense forced to eat unhealthy foods (most often from fast food chains) in order to survive. In West Africa food security is different.

In West Africa it becomes an issue of not just where the food is coming from and if it is nutritious but really whether there is any food at all. For the people who live in small villages, if there is no food growing.. and no food in storage.. then there is no food. Plain and Simple. Many farmers can't farm year round because there isn't water available year round (which is an issue in and of itself)... and some seasons just aren't great for farming.. which is becoming an issue as we see the seasons shift due to climate change.

Peace Corps Benin has partnered with USAID West Africa and with a group of other West African countries (many of whom have or recently had very strong Peace Corps presence) in order to better West Africa's food security. This partnership has become known as the West African Food Security Partnership.

Our environment program here in Benin has an agricultural focus, making it easy to focus our work on food security -- we work on access and availability. However, volunteers in all sectors contribute to the food security project . Health volunteers often deal directly with nutrition by teaching mothers ways to enrich the food that children are eating, and teaching about the importance of a diverse diet – they work directly with food utilization. Any volunteer who works with a school can make a school garden, or teach lessons that contain nutritional information. Business volunteers are great for marketing fortified foods and also Moringa leaves which are highly nutritious.

The projects that volunteers area currently working on in Benin include; food diversification, food preservation (drying and/or bottling), fortified foods, irrigation, animal raising, school gardens, and nutritional education.

For the people in my commune, because of my proximity to the city, access to nutritional foods is not as big of an issue as it is in other parts of the country. However, much of the food is imported, when it could easily be grown right here. Often the local Beninese (even if they can afford it which they often can't) will not know how to cook or prepare the vegetables that are not traditionally in their diets, making their potential nutritional values irrelevant. A woman isn't going to spend the money, for example, on the expensive eggplant.. that she doesn't really know what to do with in the first place. However, if she learned to grow her own eggplant, or the eggplant didn't have to travel quite as far to the market (thus lowering the price) she might be more willing to experiment and add new additions to a diet based almost entirely around corn, fish, and tomatoes.

The current focus at the office where I work is how to market new vegetables so that it is cost effective for the women I work with to grow them AND (from my end) hopefully teach the women to eat their new products as well (baby steps). I am also working hard to start a school club and school gardens that will allow me a chance to work directly with youth and help them provide a greater variety of food to their school cafeterias. 

For most of you reading this at home, the access and availability aspects of food security are far from a problem. What does apply to you – is the utilization of these resources. Make sure you are using your knowledge, eating right, and preparing your foods with your health in mind. In the end food security falls on you, as the consumer, to feed yourself properly. Don't take for granted your ability to do so.

Z