Post Announcement

Last Friday, I received my post announcement! After I swear in on September 14, I will spend the next 2 years in Todé, a small rural village (~500 people) in southeast Benin, about 30 km outside of Porto-Novo (the capital city where I am currently living with my host family and training). I will be the first PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) at my post, but I am near another larger village, Azowilisse, that has hosted PCVs before. My house will have a living room, bedroom, and private latrine; I won’t have running water or electricity.

My counterpart is an NGO for whom I will serve as an environmental action advisor. My duties may include organic gardening and farm management, mud stove construction, education, and fish production (according to my Program Manager, this latter project is the reason why I was assigned this post in particular).

Last week the stagiaires had language placement interviews and I was able to test out of French, so I am now starting with a local language. My community speaks French, Weme, Fon, and Gun… These three local languages are very similar, so I am told that if I can pick up one, I should be set on basic communication with the others.

Though I won’t be traveling very far from the parts of Benin I have already seen, I am happy with my assignment. I am in a rural area but also close to the city and Cotonou work station if I need to get away. There are other volunteers not far from my post (the closest is about ~30 minutes by zemi), and many of the people I plan to visit / travel with are spread out among other parts of the country.

My immersion process seems to be going well as I am now comfortable navigating the city (as well as I can with my directionally challenged nature), speaking with locals, bargaining for goods at the market, etc. But it seems to be the Peace Corps mentality that once one feels comfortable with something, the thing to do is push the envelope. So next weekend, I will leave Porto-Novo to live at my post for 2 weeks with my counterpart. Three cheers for challenging my comfort zone! I am nervous / anxious to see how different life will be at post, but my training and adjustment so far have also given me confidence that I will find a way to integrate there as well. After the visit, I will return to training for 4 more weeks until swear-in. I’ll be sure to update about my mini-experience at post in 3 weeks!