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Anne-‐Marie’s Peace Corps Service in Benin: Month 5
Marriage Proposals “L’eau est glace; il faut boire”* are the exact words she said to me. Yes, she, a female neighbor of mine who was petitioning her husband for me to marry. I couldn’t believe her eagerness to pawn off her husband on me—don’t most of these women feel repulsed about bringing another woman into the home? What benefit does another woman and more children have for their household? I have become accustomed to men proposing, but a woman? In retrospect, I was shocked. I could really only interpret this act in three ways: 1) that I’m an okay white person and she really likes that I know how to make cake; 2) she hates her husband and wants him out of her house; or 3) she genuinely wants another woman around. If the first were true, I’m flattered. But only in the way a white person in Africa would be (not really flattered, because they think everything I have and do is amazing). If the second were true, I’m not surprised at all. I am surprised that she would be actively looking for another female, however. She would most definitely be a smart woman, in my opinion, in this case. If the third were true, this would be the most surprising of all to me. So I have to ask myself, what is the benefit of another woman? When a man has multiple wives in Benin, he is viewed as a patron—a man with a lot of money and, to some extent, power. Most of the time though it usually just means that money is doled out to more people, and there is subsequently less of it to go around. Less money requires a woman to find work to pay for her children to go to school. More work can often mean a harder life, and potentially an unpleasant life. However, if there is another woman it is possible for these tasks to be shared and perhaps she, too, will be seen has having a lot of money if there are more women in the household. Or perhaps it’s a combination of the first and the third, because most people are quite adamant about having you rest au Benin. *The water is cold; it is necessary that you drink.
Scoreboard Sick Days: 1 out of 150 Marriage Proposals: 5
Reading List Read “The Sweet Life in Paris” by David Lebovitz “The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg “Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness” by George Saunders “The Four Fold Way: Walking the Path of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer, and Visionary” by Angeles Arrien Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie “Love Poems” by Pablo Neruda “Price of Fame: The Honorable Clare Boothe Luce” by Sylvia Jukes Morgan “Shadows of the Sun: Travels to Landscapes of Spirit and Desire” by Wade Davis “Tiny Beautiful Things” by Cheryl Strayed “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson “Bossypants” by Tina Fey “How to Grow More Vegetables” by John Jeavons “Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation“ by Michael Pollen “Night of the Gun” by David Carr Reading “Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-‐Culture Foods” by Sandor Katz “Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food” by Dan Barber “The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade That Transformed Wall Street” by Jonathan Knee -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ Favorite Passage this Month: “By the time I headed home to the land of obscenely stocked supermarket shelves, I had come to the conclusion that no matter what I said or did, my presence in Africa served only to glamorize the
capitalist world order, adding to the seductive allure that if you abandon you traditional culture, educate
your kids in colonial languages at missionary schools, and grow cacao beans for export, maybe
someday you’ll accumulate the kind of excess wealth to travel to the other side of the globe, just for fun
and stimulation.” -‐ Sandor Katz
Anne-‐Marie Mitchell, PCV wwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn www http://amzn.com/w/199IPEL6YOWRR Corps de la Paix Americainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnn foodfarmafrica.wordpress.com 01 B.P. 971 Cotonou, Benin Afrique de l’Ouest (West Africa)
In-‐Betweens Being in the Peace Corps is the equivalent to being in a strange grey area of life and human existence (in terms of development). I see this in three different areas: being in village/a developing country, a volunteer’s personal life, and the Peace Corps itself. In regards to the first, volunteers are placed in countries that aren’t completely without modern-‐ities (electricity, technology, vehicles) but yet we are without adequate services to maintain these modern-‐ities. Further, it seems as though with these technologies, people could have the access to better resources or knowledge. There seems to be some missing links that many people attribute to a lack of money when it may be actually rooted in a lack of education/abstract thinking or sufficient childhood nutrition for sufficient brain development, or perhaps a combination of all of the above. For the volunteer, some come into their service wanting a “true” Peace Corps experience—no computers, no electricity, no running water—while others maintain that these are an absolutely necessity (myself included—I think I would be a very unhappy camper without electricity). Moreover, many volunteers are in between school and “real world” jobs with hopes of somehow, in this ramshackle village with beaucoup de temp on our hands, figuring out or somehow stumbling upon our true calling. With these in mind, the governing entity of our experience itself, the Peace Corps, equally struggles to service these in-‐betweens. They transmit “important” letters via email (nevermind that the internet service in village is horrible) or via text with the cell phone you are issued upon arrival. Reports from a volunteer’s teachings/capacity building trainings need to be submitted via an online platform. And for our stage in particular, we were gifted tablets that really only work well with continuous access to WiFi. It’s a strange time indeed for all volunteers trying to maintain connectivity yet also be removed from the Western world as well as see development while also maintaining what makes these communities unique. Story Time
People always have stories to share. They talk of their family friend who got tapeworm in Africa, an acquaintance that visited the continent and left with an incurable parasite. I knew someone who came back with lice, another who came back with TB. Before coming to Benin, this painted a terrifying picture of Africa for me. Yes, there are certainly some volunteers who knowingly (or unknowingly) take the chance of getting a parasite or nasty intestinal bacteria, but for me, my stories have tended toward rather mundane occurrences. Like as of late, when I fell in an uncovered manhole. I shall dismiss the first assumption and say that I was not even close to inebriated. I was grateful to hear afterward that I was not the only one to have done this, as the grosse bruising remaining from the fall offers more than enough embarrassment of my inattentiveness. But rather than question what in the hell I was thinking walking without looking one step in front of me, I think we should ask the more pressing question here: why are people stealing manhole covers in Cotonou?
A funeral outside my concession—a car arrived with the body, everyone sang and danced, the driver needed to be paid before releasing the body, and then the body was placed in a glass enclosed, air conditioned case before being buried.
Anne-‐Marie Mitchell, PCV wwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn www http://amzn.com/w/199IPEL6YOWRR Corps de la Paix Americainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnn foodfarmafrica.wordpress.com 01 B.P. 971 Cotonou, Benin Afrique de l’Ouest (West Africa)
Night markets, kept illuminated by kerosene lamp torches.
I finally made it to AfricaRice!