Saturday, June 1, 2013

Getting Power: A Saga


Last August, UGKAP received a grant which paid for new shea transformation equipment.  This documents the process of getting our shea complex machines wired to the electricity so we can actually use them.

-68.000 (approx. $136) paid on August 30 to increase the capacity of the counter
The hallway where you spend hours stalking the director's office,
trying to find an opportunity to get inside 
-in November they finally came to rewire the counter, and now said that this would not work—that we need an entirely new counter to reach the necessary capacity.

-in November we paid 435.000 (around $870) for the larger counter, the 4 new wires, etc.  They promised to come do the work at the latest in February, and showed us the dimensions of the panel and panel cover that we need to have made, which we did right away.

-At the beginning of March (the work is still not done), they informed us that we overpaid and needed to come get our change—234.396 ($368) was all we had needed to pay--what was this extra $500 for?!  At the same time, we paid for a new panel b/c ours was the wrong size.

-Mid-March they came to install the new wires.  They then informed us that the cover we bought for the counter box was too small (even though we bought the exact one they told us to) and told us what size to make the new one.  They left the wires and never returned to do the work. We were also told to call an electrician to come and disconnect the counter that is already in place and move it so that it can be used for the office space and the complex counter can be separate.  This work was all finished in less than a week.

Attempting to meet with the head of branching.
Check out the awesome wiring job he has done for his own lights...
-Since finishing the work that they told us to do, someone from UGKAP went to the SBEE once or twice every week (at least 9 times), each time being told to bring in new photocopies of the same receipts and that the work will be done in the next 2 days.  The head of the branching department refused to even speak to us when we showed up without our photocopies, even though all he needed to see from them was the address of our office, which we told him in words exactly as it is written on the papers.  This was his indirect way of asking for bribes, which we refused to offer.

-Finally, only after I pulled the foreigner card and showed up with our accountant in mid-April, we got someone to say they would come and do the work.  They do not show up at the time they said they would so I proceeded to call every 30 minutes until they finally come, at COB.

-While doing the work we are informed that they are taking the first counter back with them and the whole office will have to run off of the same counter on a pre-pay system, even though we had earlier signed and agreed to having 2 separated counters: one for the machine complex and one for the office.  They install the new counter but tell us that we have to call an electrician to actually connect the wires.  I start losing my temper with the dude so he finally agrees to just do it.  However, when the work is finished the power for the neighborhood has been cut so we can’t test to see if everything works.

-The next day: naturally, the power still doesn’t work.  We have to call the electrician anyway and get him to fix whatever they did wrong.  One week later, we finally have functioning electricity in the office and for the machines again.  It took almost 8 months, over $550, 10 sets of photocopies of the same receipts, and at least 25 visits to the office to finalize what initially seemed like a simple task.  And this, my friends, one of many reasons why change takes so unbearably long.



Main entrance to the office

Thursday, April 18, 2013

CAMP GLOW PARAKOU, 2013


What is it?

Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is a week long camp for exceptional girls, selected by Peace Corps Volunteers, to come together and learn how to be leaders among their peers and receive education about important health and social issues affecting their communities.  Camp GLOW is a Peace Corps initiative that started in Romania in 1995 with the purpose of promoting female empowerment.  The program came to Benin in 2004 and has been widely successful; current volunteers are encouraging and educating promising young females all across the country.

What do we do?

Throughout the week, girls will live on a university campus and attend sessions that target vital public health concerns, emphasize the value of education, focus on developing life skills, and encourage creativity and critical thinking.  Topics include: finding safe drinking water, sexual health, study skills, career planning, leadership, entrepreneurship, creative writing, and domestic violence.  At the end of the week, girls will collaborate with their volunteer to discuss the ways they can bring what they have learned at camp back to their villages.

Why do we do it?

Most of the girls who attend Camp GLOW will have never before stepped foot on a university campus.  They will have their first experiences with touching a keyboard, picking up a paintbrush, and being told that it’s not OK for a husband to hit his wife.  The girls will be mentored by adult Beninese women who have been selected for the exceptional example they set as professional, progressive women as well as older girls (junior mentors) selected from last year’s camp as outstanding participants.  Most importantly, the girls will be surrounded by positive encouragement.  They will not be hit, they will not be constantly sent out for chores, and they will be reminded that they are special and valuable.

How can you help?

Camp GLOW is financed through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP).  The project is posted online where friends and family of participating volunteers can come together to collectively finance the demand.  Please follow this link: www.peacecorps.gov/donate and search by our project number: 13-680-015 or my last name: Hembre.  You can read project details and contribute with your credit card directly through the site.  If you have any additional questions concerning the budget or activities of the camp, please feel free to contact me (lisa.hembre@gmail.com).  If you are interested in sending supplies that we would like to use, but do not have access to in Benin, please contact me as well.

Check out some of last year's pictures:



Monday, March 25, 2013

Don't worry, I brought my own razor

Scarification has a long tradition in Benin.  There are different meanings for the marks--some show which family or tribe you belong to, some are done in times of sickness as a method of healing, and others are done during ceremonies for protection against sorcery and evil spirits. Check out a couple examples of different styles of facial scarring:




Heather and I have made friends with a traditional healer in a small village community just outside of Parakou called Korobororou. We told him we were interested in a scarification ceremony and set up the date.  It was quite the ordeal.  We brought a chicken as a gift to be sure we were in the good graces of the spirits/community and, of course, our own razors for hygiene purposes.

So we started with a ceremony.  The elders of the village prayed for our health, safety, and well being while in Benin.  They then passed some blessed water over the sacred ground area and had us take a sip (we did our best to not actually swallow much of it--there were all kinds of things floating in the bowl).  They then tossed cola nuts and let the weak pieces fall off and had us eat the strong pieces that stayed together.  The cola nuts are extremely caffeinated and taste very bitter.  They continued with a few minutes of water splashing and prayers.

Step 1: We discussed where to make the cuts.  We had our ideas in mind, but they made some adjustments.  They did not want to do anything right along the spine and preferred that we made the cuts in groups of 3, and in a triangular form.

Step 2: Make the cuts with the razor.



Step 3: Let the blood start coming out a bit to make sure the cuts are deep enough.



Step 4: Rub in the ash.  This was the most painful part.



Step 5: Let it clot.



Here we are with our ceremony team right after it was finished.

 

and a couple weeks later they are finally looking more normal!  Not sure how long they'll stick around for but it's nice knowing that I'll have a daily reminder of Benin when I'm elsewhere.




Sunday, January 27, 2013

Kidnapping a Child


So last weekend I tried out single mother-hood and brought Rosalie, one of my favorite kids from last year’s village life, up to Parakou to give her a taste of the “big city world” out there.  She’s about 4 years old and I adore her because she’s a boss.  I was expecting her to freak out being away from her family and seeing some place so different, but she took it like a champ.  First thing she did when she got to my house: strap a stuffed animal to her back and start playing with scissors. 

She started getting fussy at the end of the weekend, but when her dad came to pick her up she just talked about all the food she got to eat and how she wants to stay.  She’s pretty much the coolest kid ever and I hope that she never lets go of her ‘don’t take no nonsense from nobody’ attitude—Benin needs women like that.


picking her up from her house in Kêmon (a village of maybe 2,000 people)

trying on the dress I had made for her.  It was a little too small at first so I tried to take it off so that it wouldn’t rip before taking it to the seamstress for re-sizing.  It literally took 3 of us to hold her down and get the dress off, and then she insisted on sleeping with it.
ready to hit the town

failed attempts at kite flying (not enough wind.  Boo)    



taking a nap at the restaurant
we found a little ‘amusement park’ for kids.  Here she is knocking down all the little boys on the trampoline.

hopefully a glimpse into her future…

Friday night dinner (please note the matching outfits… and the 2 older boys that she was bossing around all night)


breakfast at my house.  She wouldn’t let me help her tie her pagne, so it ended up being more like a toga for a while.

she convinced me to carry her around on my back for a while when she started getting homesick