Porkfest 2008

3 days, 2 pigs and a whole bunch of old fashioned meal preparation. Warning -- for those of weak constitution this post could be a little gruesome, if you skip the post our feelings won
t be hurt. And for those of a more semitic constitution, the post is SUPER traif-y.

Amongst all the things we love about Benin, one of best has to be the time and resources we are afforded to cooking from scratch. And we're not talking about basic processing ahead of the meal, we mean from the very beginning. Still oinking beginning.

In that spirit, Porkfest was planned by a group of current volunteers who had spent much of the past year waxing nostalgic about all the delicious swine-based foodstuffs they missed. The goal was to prepare a variety of different items using the same animal, partly as a demonstration to host country nationals and partly to indulge our own cravings.

Day 1 pig, seen below in transit from the butcher (slaughter and basic cleaning was done by a local retaurant in exchange for samples and savoir faire. By days end this pig had become:
Ham
Cased sausage
Ground sausage breakfast patties (or scrapple if you're from eastern Pennsylvania)
Pork rinds
Lard (then used in pie crusts)
Ribs and spareribs

Sadly, bacon didn't make the cut (no pun intended) as the pig simply wasn't fatty enough. Side dishes included salads and cornbread.





Day two menu was a whole spitfired pig, pit roasted over 10 hours to perfection.

Camp GLOW--June 22-29

June 22-29 was Camp GLOW in Parkaou. Camp GLOW is the annual girls camp hosted by Peace Corps that brings girls out of their small villages and into the big city. It empowers them to be leaders and shows them life outside the village. The week was jam-packed full of activities, field trips and seminars. In brief the PCVs taught girls about goals and motivations, malaria, HIV/AIDS, sport and exercise, computers and much more. The girls were lucky to go on a few outings around town to SONGHI Center, the self-sustaining farm; University at Parakou; and ORTB, the local boacasting studio of the national radio and TV station.

Highlights include playing dizzy-bat; seeing the girls interact with each other and making FanMilk money pouches!

Here are just a few pictures from throughout the week.

The girls paying attention to the Director of SONGHI Center

Lizzy teaching the girls aerobics

The girls playing around on the computers.

For some, it was their first time seeing and using computers.

Group photo