From Bloggin' in Benin to Goin' to Togo!

As you might have noticed, the name (and URL) and address of/on my blog has changed. I am thrilled to report that I did recieve medical clearance to transfer from Benin to Togo to work for two years as a health volutneer (Community Health and AIDS Prevention or CHAP volunteer) in Togo for the next 2 (yes, two!) years. It is like doing the Peace Corps all over again in another country that is similar, yet also different, from Benin. Togo and Benin are similar in many ways. However, as you might imagine there are numerous differences as well as similarities.

Work:
I will work with two associations (called CREJE and AKARALE) of people living with HIV. This is the exact work I wanted to do and honestly, the whole reason I am staying. Since being in Benin I've noticed how a lot has been done towards diminishing the effects of HIV from a preventative education standpoint. This is absolutely necessary and vital. However, I have not seen as much activity being done as far as the care and support of those already infected and living with HIV. This got me really interested as to what was actually going on in Benin and in other Sub-Saharan African countries... so much so that I developed a passion and (and compassionate) drive to help in this specific area under the umbrella of HIV/AIDS. I was willing to stay in Benin but also willing to transfer to another country within Sub-Saharan Africa. Long process made short, I decided as far as the work that I could do, Togo was the best fit for me. Which, if you look at a map, is the country to the West that shares a border with neighboring Benin.

Post / Town:
Yes, that's right... no more village for me (although I really miss living in the bush, literally!). I will live in a town called Atakpamé that is in Central/Southern Togo and known for its many hills/mountains. It is on the paved main road that connects all the major towns and cities in Togo and therefore acts as a (beautiful) pit stop for taxi's, buses, etc. traveling North (towards Sokodé or Kara) or South (towards Lomé, the capitol) of it. It is a fairly big town (about or more than 50,000 people) that has a large market, bank, post office, restaurants, etc. It is the capital of the immediate region of Togo and also hosts several NGO office headquarters.

House:
I will have a bigger house (with three rooms) but aside from that it will be similar to how I lived in Lobogo, Benin as far as having electricity but no running water and living in a compound (although not gated compound) with a family.

Social:
There are two SIL (associated with Wycliffe) women who live in Atakpamé who work towards the translation of the Bible into the local language spoken there. They have published an Ifé/French dictionary and are currently in the process of starting to publish the New Testament (after many many years of hard work) which is very exciting! There is also a Christian volunteer I have been talking to that lives in the province surrounding Atakpamé (named Fabiola).

Visiting the U.S.:
If you extend for a 3rd year or 3rd and 4th year, the Peace Corps pays for a round trip plane ticket to your home of record for a one month vacation. PC Togo said they are flexible as to when I go home. If I have my choice, I would love to be home from late October until the end of November. This way, I won't be home for Christmas (it'd be nice but realistically, I'm not ready to deal with stress, commercialization and hype of Christmas if I want to be relaxed, be with people that are relaxed and get recharged to come back for another 2 years). I've always loved the Thanksgiving holiday more than Christmas anyways. (And I would be home for Halloween even though I could care less - but I thought I could dress up as a Beninese/Togolese woman with my hair braided, something on my head, baby on my back, in African fabric that doesn't match, flip flops, etc.). This means I would live and start work in Atakpamé for four months before coming home. Just in time to be back in Atakpamé on December 1st for World AIDS Day (which is a big deal in Atakpamé - first year maybe I could observe the festivities and activities and second year probably take a very active role in planning portions of it). I have not been outside of Benin for the last two years - so, I technically am long overdue for a vacation - anywhere .. especially to the U.S. to see friends and family. More than anything else, I just miss my family.

My feelings:
I secretly think I'm crazy for doing two more years as a PCV but on the other hand... if I love the work (like I hope I will) then I will not mind staying. I do love Africa. However, I'm definitely not staynig for Africa. I'm staying for the work. If I couldn't stay for the very specific kind of work I want to do, then I would just leave. (After much prayer, I've decided that its possible to pursue a second masters degree when I go back to the U.S. (at some point) in Social Work so that I could eventually be an HIV Case Manager (Social Worker) - which would mean taking cases of people that are HIV positive and developing a care plan with them with the end goal of discharging them to live independently with HIV. So, essentially what I will be doing in Togo will be along those same lines but at the same time, slightly different mainly because of where I am doing it but also because of my role. Either way, I'm pysched. I do feel rushed in leaving here and saying goodbye so much more quickly than I had originally expected .. but, because Togo is right next door, I feel better about doing that as opposed to going somewhere else further away, not knowing when I would be able to visit Benin next. I would like to come back to Benin the first week of September to see the new trainees swear as PCVs and celebrate PC Benin's 40th anniversary... and to see people and places I miss in Benin. I also feel like my time in Benin has been extremely difficult but at the same time extremely rich ... with so many incredible experiences, places and people I love and will miss, etc... blah, blah.. I know. I'm glad that Togo is so similar to Benin but then at the same time am ready to move on and explore all over again (I think! It is tiring to think about though! It took me so long to feel confident about the in's and out's of Benin).

The next three weeks are going to be utterly insane trying to finish up at school, say goodbyes, pack my house, do tons of paperwork, buy last minute gifts and other things, have exit interviews with PC staff, etc....

Thanks for bearing through this long post talking about me changing posts (places to live/work)!I appreciate all of your support ... you don't even know, couldn't have lasted this long without it.

To go or not to go to Togo?!??

Instead of leaving you all hanging for the next three or four weeks I'll let you in on the process that is pending right now regarding what my next future step is! I finally made the (crazy) decision that of accepting a Peace Corps position (as a health volunteer) in a town (Atakpame) in Togo for TWO more years!! Yikes... I know.

I had the option between Guinea, Mali, Togo (and informally) Swaziland. All the other jobs did not sound like what I was looking to do though. The only reason I wanted to stay in teh first place was to work (as directly as possible) with people who are infected by HIV (or even might be in the last stages of AIDS). If I wouldn't be able to do this I probably would decide to just go home to the States.

The position in Togo sounded most ideal. As you might know, Togo is a neighboring country of Benin (next door to the left or West). If I go I will be working with two associations for people living with HIV and AIDS. Between them they offer a lot of services from home visits to ARVs to psychological group and counseling support to VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) and other services.

To be honest, I am rather worn out by living in Africa (and not getting out of Benin in the last two years) but I think that if I were to have a month of vacation at home (my preference would be late October to late November) that I would be ready and refreshed to come back to the continent that I love!

So... why is this process pending if I already made my decision? Everything is set to go but before I actually go I need to be medically cleared by Peace Corps Benin saying that I have no ongoing health problems. If I do have any outstanding health problems then I will not be allowed to transfer to Togo at all and would stay in Benin through September of this year.

This is possible because I do have ongoing problems with my voice. Everyone knows my voice has not always been the best. However, in the last two years my voice has been strained and aggravated from teaching (and basically screaming) for four hours, four times a week for two years! So I've been coming to Cotonou every weekend to have voice/speech therapy appointments every Friday and Monday to eventually complete 10 sessions before guaging if my voice is back to the way it was two years ago.

There are a battery of other exams that I need to do and some of them need to be sent to the U.S. before receiving results. One exam will take at least two to three weeks before results are sent back to Benin. Meanwhile, there's no way of knowing if I'd be medically cleared before the results come back.

If it turns out that I am medically cleared then I will be leaving Benin around June 23rd to my town of Atakpame. They said they can be flexible as far as what month I take to go home. My preference would be around October 29th to November 29th (to get Thanksgiving in there) but then to be back before Dec. 1st for World AIDS Day. I could technically go home and get in Thanksgiving and Christmas but I honestly don't think I'm ready for all the hype and commercialism and business of Christmas. It'd be better to go back when everyone is calm and things are chill because it'll be enough culture shock as it is to be back home for a month.

So as soon as I hear anything I will blog it here and also send out emails.
But the world does not revolve around me, I woudl love to hear how all of you are doing!

Let the Blogs Begin!

This is my first blog ever!

I guess most bloggers create a new blog when they begin a new chapter or season of their life. Well.... I'm just doing it to see what this blogging business is all all about first hand and yes, in the process, update and inform all of you about my life in Benin! Don't worry I won't update you on the last 20 months of my life in Benin all at once.

I'll give you a very brief synopsis first though:

My name is Sarah. I'm a Peace Corps volunteer in French speaking Benin (West Africa). I arrived in July 2006 and will be leaving this year sometime. I teach English (as a at least a third language) to secondary school students in a village called Lobogo, in Southern Benin.

This has indeed been THE hardest job I've ever had for many reasons. Just think about what it must be like to be the only Western teacher at your school, a female, who does not always have a classroom to teach in (but rather desks under trees) with over 60 teenage highly unmotivated and very low level (and slow) students for a two hour class session twice a week. Then on top of that imagine this educational system being totally foreign to you, the teacher, who has little or no resources or materials in which to teach effectively. Nothing but a chalkboard and chalk and your students. (In between the lines: no photocopier, no reasonable textbooks for students, reference books, visual aids, multimedia equipment for practice in listening skills - not even electricity in your school).

I had no idea that only one week after I arrived in my village (Lobogo) that I would be teaching in this totally foreign educational system. Only one week before I had moved into almost stark empty 2 room house (with latrine and area for a bucket shower) . On top of all this I was still learning the official language of Benin - French with the eventual prospect of needing to learn Sahoue, the local language in my village and immediate surrounding area. In addition, to thow into the mix, I had to cope with finding things in the outdoor market (every 5 days) and figuring out what I could cook with what I found meanwhile trying not to get ripped off too badly after bargaining for every little thing I had bought!

Talk about a dull life, huh? You're tellin' me!

I was completely and utterly overwhelmed and felt as if I had been thrown in the deep end and was drowning in just making it day to day. Also, my first year of teaching (because I was just learning the ropes at the same time as having over 200 students do what I told them to do on those same "ropes") was miserable and I enjoyed very little of it. My main problems were (and still are!) classroom management and discipline. I no longer hate teaching and its become bearable. However, that's not to say that I love it. I far from love it. But... that's also not to say that I don't enjoy it (to some extent).

The summer after I finished my first year when I finally had a chance to get a breath of air above water, I resolved to figure out how I could totally revamp my teaching strategies and approaches to be a more effective teacher the coming school year; start writing what would be my students' textbook that would serve as a resource for class and at home (that I provided free of charge for them); organized and started to facilitate a year long HIV/AIDS peer educaator team to educate Lobogo and surrounding communities on HIV/AIDS prevention; started to meet weekly with people for English Club; taught for one week in summer school at a different TEFL volunteers' post; and after the school year started, I was approached by students to start what turned out to be an American culture club.

So all this, in addition to teaching 16 hours a week, attending a 2 hour a week faculty meeting, doing lesson plans, grading 500 exams each school year and at least 500 quizzes - keeps me busy!

So where do I go from here? One of three options: 1) Go home to the States in September, 2) go home to the States for one month sometime this year but then stay a third year in Benin as a health volunteer, or 3) go home to the States for one month but then transfer to an Eastern or Southern African country as a health volunteer to do HIV/AIDS related work (hopefully with those infected by HIV).

I will know by late May what my next step will officially be!

For now though, I'm just bloggin' (and blabbin') in Benin.