La Congé or Taking Leave

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Anné  tout le monde

          First, take a listen to this great sengalese mixtape:

Here: Number One de Dakar '83

          Ok, now the mood is set. How are you? And your house? And the fete?

          Moi-meme, I am doing alright. I write to you from another dusty harmattan evening in Natitingou. The winter break is coming to a close, too short as always, but I am prepared to get back to work. But let me tell you a little about my break.

Typical Beninese Highway Travel

          School was let out on the 19th officially, but our exams were over on the 18th. I didn't catch any cheaters during the exams, but there were some students who needed to sit apart and to stop whispering. Thankfully, I was fiercely ill after the exams were done. My friend Lima, a Nigerian grad student who is doing climate change research in Dassari, ordered some porridge with sour milk and boiled balls of spicy millet from the Fulani lady. I was hanging out and he asked me if I wanted to try some. In the future, I may try the milk again, but only the fraiche, because that night that sour milk chose to violently depart my body . Little sleep was had and the following day was mostly naps. 

Beautiful Fulani Girls Selling Wagasi, a type of Cheese

          That was a weird couple days. I saw two dead bodies — one of a old mother who passed peacefully only an hour before I stopped by. She was lying on the ground, covered in a lace tissue.  Her feet stuck straight from beneath the lace and old women in waiting fanning the flies away. The other was a motorcyclist struck by a 16 wheeler. The village of Tiele covered the body with palm fronds, waiting for the family.

A village home

          My next door neighbor's, Mathieu ,door lock was broken, so he had to call the solder to come and break into the house by destroying the house around the door. I made a book case with the wood from a broken school desk and molded bricks left over from construction. I read a little bit of Murakami in the morning (The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) which spurred me work on my bike. I gave the bike a thorough cleaning, greased the chain, trued the tires, adjusted the brakes and gears. Bike maintenance work can be soothing. This prompted a lot of thought about the division of types of labor, on individual level and political, like how much labor is utilized for maintenance versus construction, reinforcement versus development? But I won't make you suffer through the uncollected thoughts of a non-economist. Following that morning, I went for a great ride, maybe a half-hour outside of the village, past the farms. I rolled into a little cove of trees. It was a part of Africa I have not spent a lot of time in. My work is with people, so I stick to cities and villages. It was nice to just stand there, resting on my bike a bit, and listening to a powerful din of birds.

Catholic Church of Dassari

          A friend of mine, Anne, came to visit for the Christmas week. She was a chef before she came to Africa, so most of the week was centered around the meals. The first night, I whipped together a classic soup and sandwich combo: curried sweet potato lentil stew and grilled goat on toast. Leftovers for breakfast with grapefruit and mango, hard-boiled eggs, and Arocafe(I keep forgetting to add this, but real coffee is relatively rare and expensive here, so instant coffee is the way to go. I have grown a taste for it, if you put in the sugar and coffee first, then pour the water on top, you can get a little crema. This aspect of Benin is very important. We drink instant coffee). Few other choice meals: goat carbonara, spicy ginger peanut noodles, beans and gari, omlettes at Chez Immaunel, camembert grilled cheese with pate de fois and olives. For breakfest, french toast with gauva confitture, avocado, and sweet potato hash. 

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          We took a little tour of Dassari, the College, Market, Church, Ferme Connec. When we visited the farm, we arrived just in time to eat an ostrich omelette. Ferme Connec is a strangely organized community farm that raises Ostriches. I have yet to uncover the full story behind it, apparently M. Connec is American or Canadian or French or Belgian. There is obviously a lot of money in the farm, tractors, digital thermometers, wifi. But they don't sell the ostrich meat or eggs. Those are reserved solely for the workers. There was a big baptism on Christmas morning, excellent Gloria singing, children asking for gifts (I bought a bagful of hard candy to pass out. With my beard and glasses, I often am called Papa Noel). 

View of Natitingou from the North

We left Dassari to spend the weekend in Natitingou. Saturday was a little trip to the Museum. There was no one else there, and our tour guide was a charming young lady. We interrupted her sewing a little shirt for her child for the New Year Fete. The museum was located in the first colonial building in Natitingou. When the French invaded in the 1890s, it was their headquarters. Concerts are in the courtyard at night under the Baobabs. Inside are old tools, clothings, hats, cod-pieces. It was not that long ago that the only piece of clothing a man needed was a little leather to guard himself.

People wear much more clothing now

Sunday took us to Cascades de Kota. We met a zemidjan at the marche. The guy's name is Antone, he knew some earlier volunteers, speaks Byali, so we stopped a drank a little tchouk with him. He offered to take us to the Cascades the next day, and that was our plan all along. According to Antone, the cascades are completely spring fed and the pool beneath is 1000km deep. We spent the afternoon watching the falls, swimming, chatting with a german couple and a family from Cotonou with a handful of beautiful children,teaching the kids how to skip rocks, . Lunch was an avocado sandwich and bananas. Though, I may have come close to catching hypothermia. The water was frigid. I got out to rest on the rocks and soak in some heat, yet for some time I could not stop shivering. What a death that would be! Hypothermia in West Africa!

The new year was brought in as normal, sparkling rosé, sparklers, sparkling dancers, campari + la beninoise, new friends and old, fireworks, drums, pork and potatoes, tarot reading, bonfires, dancing on high places.

Do I have any resolutions? Wear sunscreen more often. Focus my attention on my students. Learn to do nothing.

Photo Credit: for the village pictures http://michabde.wordpress.com/