Barb and Bob's Excellent African Adventure

October was a big travel month as we headed off to Ghana and returned to Benin with Steve’s parents. The trip was originally planned around the October sitting of the Law School Admissions Test, which both of us took. We went over a few days before the test to acclimate and enjoy Accra.

Enjoy Accra you ask? Yes, because Accra might just as well be San Diego, remarkable not for what it is but where. Highways, neighborhood subdivisions, English, overpasses, functioning public transit, multinational corporations, ice cream – basically everything Cotonou isn’t. We took two days to just relax ahead of the test and keep stress to a minimum.

The test was held in the US Embassy, a massive complex of the type only the US government can build. This sitting was the only held in West Africa and only one of two on the continent. As such the room was a nice representative sample of Peace Corps volunteerism in the region, accompanied by a dozen or so Africans applying to JD or LLM programs in the US. We took the test, and then it was over.

The next day Steve’s folks arrived and after a brief mix up at the airport, we were off to the Cape Coast. Here is a sampling of photos from the Ghana portion of the trip, and we’ll pick up the narrative on the way back to Benin.

Barb and Bob on the beach of Elmina

Bob walking on the canopy walk in Kakum National Park

View of the ships in Elmina harbor

Good time all around in Ghana, but it was off to Benin for some French and a look at life in Africa in a way only a local could show. Our Ghanaian driver My Brother (yes, that was his name) dropped us at the Togo border and my folks got their first look at a West African border crossing (for two people used to Niagara Falls, this was a bit of a departure).

Bob and Barb with My Brother at the border

Much to Bob’s amusement, Jaren negotiated hard for a fair cab price -- maybe a little too hard as the guy decided to channel his shame into the gas pedal. We arrived in Cotonou from Lome close to an hour ahead of schedule, although it probably took that hour for our respective heart rates to come back to normal levels.

From here we were off to Tchaourou and a look into our everyday lives. We took the morning bus up, putting us in town by mid-afternoon. We settled in and took a brief tour of town to greet some people and do a bit of planning for the next night’s fete.

en route to Chez Schwartz in Tchaourou

That night was interesting, a first chance for Steve to see his parent so far outside of their comfort zone. Outdoor latrine, bucket baths, fetching water. Making matters worse, with the house having been shuttered for two weeks it had become extremely stuffy, and Steve slept poorly that night convinced that he was slowly roasting his parents. Mercifully, the house eventually cooled down and the folks slept fine.

Day too was a closer work of our day to day work starting at the local health clinic. Bob was a kid in a candy store, nose deep in all sorts of procedures and technologies he’d not seen used in 30 years (“he’s testing for TB with a Bunsen Burner!”). From there we went up to Tchalla to see the women’s savings and credit association and follow up on the groups activities. Not only had the ladies successfully reimbursed and redistributed their credit, but they also began to develop a financing scheme for a larger gari production operation. Anne and Clementine were happy to show off their product and how they were planning to market it, and Barb and Bob got a better sense of what we do.

Next up was the In’game Pile fete, with Eric and Valerie helping us put together a traditional Beninese meal of assaulted tubers and peanut sauce. Everyone took their turn pitching in, even the guests of honor.

The trip up north concluded with a quick tour through Parakou to show off the town including the pork and peron palace Akuna Matata, along with a visit to the local Tchuk stand.

Drinking Tchuk with fellow volunteers Tim (bearded guy) and Ben

From there we took a meandering taxi ride back down to Cotonou that included stops in Dassa and Abomey.

Finally, launching from Hotel du Lac we took a daytrip up to the Ganvie stilt village.

Bob bought a throne.

And with that, the month of travel was over and we were back to Tchaourou to keep fighting the good fight.

For more pictures of Barb and Bob's Excellent African Adventure click HERE

Flesh Eating Bacteria

THIS POST IS GROSS. IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH JUST SKIP IT.

Officially it was a staph infection, although others have speculated that, based on the pictures, it was necrotizing fasciitis. Regardless, as Jaren and everyone else is quick to remind him, STEVE BROUGHT THIS ON HIMSELF.

It started simply, just a mosquito bite on the calf. But then he picked the scab. And picked it again. Hey why not a third time. Eventually, a white ring formed around the wound, and only at the site of puss did he bother to care for it properly with disinfectant and bandages. Just a mosquito bite, right?

Wrong. As it so happens a month earlier a similar chain of events led to a few local infections on Steve's heels and we're cared for in a similarly slapdash matter. But with all this bacteria running around below his knees, something had to give with the latest bite.

So about 3 days after the sign of infection in the mosquito bite on the calf, another weird white bump appeared about 1/2 inch above the offending bite. Thinking nothing of it Steve let it be. But then it grew and grew some more and some two days later it started to ooze a little, so Steve covered it thinking nothing of it. But it grew and grew and oozed and oozed, and then the area around it started to turn red and hot and it hurt. Being the super responsible individual that he is, Steve put a clean gauze and neosporin on it, wrapped it in an ace bandage and went to bed.

Well, Friday morning rolls around and the throbbing in his leg got to be such that there would be no more sleeping. Not wanting to wake Jaren, he stepped outside into the back area and unwrapped the bandage and lo and behold a maroon welt the size of a golf ball with a little white head like zit staring back at him. But wait, there's more. After 5 seconds the little white head erupted -- seriously erupted -- and what can only be described as a maynoaise/ketchup looking combination was POURING out of his leg under its own pressure. And pouring is not an exaggeration, as Jaren was made aware of the situation while in bed she heard the first burst splat on the ground and Steve mutter "oh sh*t" in a seriously worried tone she'd never heard out of him before. When all was said and done roughly half a liquid cup had exited forcefully and with no additional pressure.

From here it was a no brainer - call the Peace Corps doctor in Cotonou and head to Parakou for a visit with the Peace Corps's northern medical officer Dr. Mensah (who in addition to being the trauma specialist chief of surgery is also the head of the Beninese national Petanque association). Steve wrapped the leg back up with some gauze and an ace bandage as Jaren packed up and the two went out to the highway to flag down a car. 50 minutes later we were in Mensah's office where he proceeded to "irrigate the wound" (read: squeeze the hell out of it and dig around inside with some sharp scissors while all manner of hell came out) sans any local anesthesia.

Funny side story - to this point the entire proceeding with Mensah was in French and it was not known how much English he understood. While Mensah was a wonderfully professional doctor, Steve was a terribly amateurish patient and at one particularly painful moment during the irrigation Steve bellowed a terrible expletive (starts with a p, ends with an r, and has igfucke in the middle). Instantly recognizing his offense, he looked back to scan faces and see if he had gotten away with it, and was greeted with a sly, knowing grin on Mensah's face. Guess he speaks pretty good English.

The next three days were spent at the Parakou work station on a steady stream of antibiotics, fruit juice and old episodes of Dr. Who, intermixed with morning trips to Mensah's office for a change of dressing and monitoring. And eventually he got better, but let us never forget the moral of the story, that STEVE HAD NO ONE TO BLAME BUT HIMSELF.


Day 1 Photos



Day 2 Photos-Healing

Summer Reading

Welcome Back Internauts! Yes it has been a while and no we don't have a good excuse. A reason sure, but not an excuse.

See, the last two months at post have been consumed with a combination of righting a grant proposal, studying for the LSATs and waiting for local politics settling down.

So to make it up to our dear readers, below we've listed links to a few posts from other volunteers on all the stuff we would have written about if we had brought our A game:

Matt on the DVD Guy

Allison in a voodoo protection ceremony

David on the Cotonou jazz scene

John Mark on the end of Ramadan

One Card for a Better Future in Tchaourou

Appeals to help break the cycle of poverty in Africa are sadly nothing new – scenes of an malnourished child in the doorway of a scrap metal shack are all too common. However, the hungry child is not the only face of poverty in Africa, and breaking the poverty cycle involves programs to help those who don’t necessarily fit our set notions of what is a person in need.

Artisans play a major role in the Beninese economy by providing needed goods and services to their community. They are mostly small businesses that go unregistered with the government, and their growth potential is severely limited by an inability to access the types of business support services we consider common in the United States.

What is the program? Looking to break away from “business as usual”, funding from this program will help just over 100 artisans in the district of Tchaourou obtain the simple government-issued identification card (ID) needed to formalize and expand their respective businesses. Possession of an ID card opens up access to a variety of artisan support organizations and ministerial programs including equipment loan programs, export-import development opportunities, reasonably priced short and long-term credit options, and continuing technical education. Once card ownership among artisans in the district is near universal, representatives of the various support programs will be invited to participate in a trade fair- style exhibition and begin enrolling individuals in programs

Who is eligible? Focused on the district of Tchaourou, a town of 20,000 located in central Benin, the program targets informal members of the eight local trade associations listed below:
- Mechanics (Auto and Moto)
- Carpenters
- Welders and Blacksmiths
- Tailors and Seamstresses
- Electricians and Electrical Appliance Repair
- Masons- Hairdressers and Barbers
- Photographers and Videographers

What can you do to help? This program works best if it is businesses helping businesses, entrepreneurs who understand the struggles of trying to take a business to the next level. We are currently soliciting donations to meet our target $3,300 budget to cover the administrative costs of registration, and the community itself has pledged an additional $800 to cover the costs of the exhibition. To put these figures in context, based on the average small business loan given by partner programs, we estimate the formalization will allow the release of more than $20,000 in loans within the first year alone.

To make a tax-deductible donation, click here and follow the instructions.Are you in charge of corporate giving at work, or want to send something to the person who is? Use this link to get the easily emailed .pdf version of the project description and donation instructions.

Swear In

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Peace Corps in Benin (né Dahomey), and accordingly we had ourselves a nice little celebration/ exhibition to mark the occasion.

Events were spread over three days, starting with an art exhibition at the American Cultural Center. Of course, being a division of the State Department’s Public Diplomacy Section, the place was guarded as fortress and no cameras were allowed past the metal detectors (nothing, I mean nothing, says “welcome” to foreign nationals looking to learn about the United States like multiple layers of metal detectors and background checks, but I digress).

Day two’s event was an exhibition of service, showing off each of the sectors and the highlighting of a handful of key projects installed by volunteers. Here are the Small Enterprise Development and Rural Community Health boards:





Oh, and there was a standing dinner (probably the only party in the whole of the country that didn’t involve rented chairs). Want to see chaos? Host an open buffet for fresh-out-of-the-village Peace Corps volunteers.

Day three was the big one – swear in of the new volunteers. The highlight was the Steve Myers produced 10 minute video detailing the Peace Corps in Benin past and present. Hopefully I will be able to link the YouTube video soon.
Here's us instead listening to the speeches.


Here is the post-oath group photo with the Africa regional director Henry McCoy.

And there was a cake.

Odd moment though. At one point someone was giving a toast which included the phrase “to 40 great years and to 40 more,” a phrase which sent shivers down the spines of many volunteers. Evidently, we’re hoping for and expecting at least 40 more years of grinding poverty, inadequate health care and information, environmental degradation and technological ignorance that will necessitate the continued presence of the Peace Corps. Cheers?