The sound of a rooster crowing fills my ears. I open my eyes and slowly stretch, taking a deep breath which fills my lungs with thick, stuffy air. I roll over and my clock says 6:30am. It feels like all my limbs have swollen- like I have been sitting in a pot of boiling water over night. The distant sound of horns honking and motorbikes purring are momentarily drowned out by squealing pigs. No, not squealing pigs – pigs crying out in distress! I’ve never seen any pigs behind our apartment building, but they sure are loud. The noise eventually dies down to the normal oink and snort – the occasional child’s cry and mothers voice; I think I will try to fall back asleep for another hour.
Ouch! Ugh, my legs are so itchy from the gazillion bug bites that plague them! I try my best to put it from my mind, only to find my arms and hands starting to itch from the heat rash I have. Okay, think of something else….think of…water! Yes, water. Oh, I hope we have running water today! The city shut off the water for a few days so we have been taking bucket showers [which makes washing your hair very difficult] using water from the storage basin we have in our home. Bucket showers remind me of my time in Kenya J Hmmm, running water would feel so nice on my itchy legs right now! Ah, itchy….my bites are driving me crazy! Okay, I need to keep distracting my mind…
Hey, the ceiling fan is off! Huh – the hydro must have gone out during the night. It’s been doing that quite a bit lately; it randomly turns off and on. Oh yeah, interesting fact - Benin gets their hydro from Nigeria – they don’t produce any of it themselves. Olivier told us this yesterday.
Speaking of Olivier, yesterday he and Fidel came over to our place to talk about DRIME! When I was here last May with DRIME, we asked Olivier and Fidel to be the leaders of the team we trained. It was great to chat with them and hear about how things have been going with the team from the leader’s perspective. During the meeting they mentioned that the beach was only 10 minutes away…..
So off we went in search of the beach! We started walking, and kept walking, and kept walking some more…..on one side of us cars and motorbikes whizzed by, and on the other little kiosks and stores filled with everything from gasoline to fruit and steel bars to electronics. Finally, one hour later, we reached the beach! What a beautiful sight it was - bold red sand against light-teal water! It took another 10 minutes to make our way across the burning hot sand [no exaggeration….it felt like you were walking on burning coals!] and finally sink our feet into the soothing ocean water. Ahhh, what a wonderful feeling that was.
We arrived home 1.5 hours after leaving the beach, with some bread, fruit, parched throats, blisters and sunburns. What an adventure that was! It did teach me a few things though: 1) The phrase ‘not far’ in Benin does not equal the phrase ‘not far’ in Canada. 2) Never go anywhere without a water bottle. 3) Sunscreen actually works [I forgot to put it on my neck, and that is where I burnt!]. 4) The song that children [and sometimes adults] sing to us when we walk by is their way of welcoming and acknowledging us. Here is the song: “Yovo, Yovo! Bonsoir! Comment ca va? Ca va bien! Merci!” Translated, this means: “White person, white person! Good afternoon! How are you? I am fine. Thank you!”
Oh yes, life as a yovo in Benin J Hey - I’m not too itchy anymore – that’s a relief! Maybe I should get up now; I’m obviously not going to fall back asleep. I grab my Nokia cell phone from the bedside table to check the time. [That one is for you Alvarez family! I have a Nokia cell phone! Every time I use it/see it, I think of you wonderful people! Love you guys!] It’s 7am. Maybe I’ll go play the guitar for a bit – yes I think I will. [Thanks for letting us take your guitar Beth, and your case Fred! Brent [and case] had a safe airplane ride and is being used a lot! You guys are the best!!!]
The rooster is still crowing and the sound of motorbikes and horns are more defined as the city is in full swing now. I pull my sticky self from bed and head into the washroom. I turn on the tap and….YES! There is running water! Cold shower, here I come!
This is Olivier, our fearless leader!
We finally reached the beach! Victory!!!!
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