What Am I Up To?

I’m sure there are quite a few of you who are curious as to the work I have been doing lately. I have been here a year and it might be assumed that I am well established in the work that I will be doing for the duration of my service. Well not exactly. At least it hasn’t been without its challenges.
My main goal/objective/work (whatever you want to name it) is to teach health topics such as the importance of proper hand washing, when and how long to breast feed, etc. with the women in the village. And usually volunteers partnered with a health centers already have an audience with women who come to baby weighings, but my health center didn’t have baby weighings when I came. We didn’t even have a baby scale until I found one last month when I went to the Ministry of Health. Before we weighed the mothers as they held the babies and subtracted their weight- not very accurate. Also women forget or don’t have the time or just don’t want to come unless I hand out cadeaux (presents). The bouille demonstration I did was during a baby weighing and that was slightly successful because women spread the word there was going to be free food (well it’s the same in any country, people always come to free food). Since then, they realized bouille was not a monthly thing and numbers have dwindled.
So to overcome this I started a project my supervisor had mentioned during one of our in-service trainings called Care Groups. What is it? Well to start I surveyed the village and I did this with Etienne (an apprentice at the health center and my very own translator). We mapped out all the houses of women with children ages 0-5 and pregnant women. This was not an easy task considering women spend most of their days in the fields, voyage frequently and are referred to by several names (Maman Raima is also Maman Amidath, la femme de le major, and Pascaline- it’s a bit confusing). With the names and maps we grouped the Mamas in 10s based on where they lived. Each group selected a Leader Mom who then meets with me and Etienne once a month to learn a health topic. Between meetings the Leader Moms make household visits to each mother in her group, sharing the information she learned. She also takes notes if there are problems or questions and gives oral reports during the next session with me.
So far Etienne and I have only met twice with the Leader Moms, once to go over their roles, responsibilities and the objectives of the project and the second to discuss proper hand washing and diarrhea. This was accompanied by a hand washing demonstration and we made an oral rehydration salt drink that is given to children with diarrhea. I have a good vibe from the Leader Moms and can’t wait to get back to see the project evolve. (Currently I am working with the new volunteers during their training. It has also been an interested experience. I noticed how far I and the other volunteers have come since when we first arrived in Benin.)
So that’s what I have been spending my time doing. It’s been a great way to get to know each member in the village and names have been becoming a little less confusing because now I know that Maman Raima is Maman Amidath, as well as Maman Worou, la femme de le major, Pascaline and Rissikatou, also someone who makes a great peanut sauce with igname pilé.

My Friend Mireille

Well it’s been a while since my last entry. I’ve made attempts several times to write but never managed to come up with something I thought worthy of its own entry. So I figured I would compile a few events focusing on my friend Mireille. I met her at the health center. She’s a midwife who received her training through an apprenticeship and gained her skills through the many deliveries that have taken place at the health center over the past few years. Watching her work is amazing. This woman of 23 years only reaches my shoulders in height and perhaps weighs 100lbs. She knows her way around the delivery room. With no other presence in the room she manages to deliver the baby, cut the cord, in some cases provoke a silent newborn to begin crying, clean, weigh, dress the newborn, deliver the afterbirth and aid the mother to recovery- not a simple task. This petite young woman is at ease and confident in the delivery room.

Mireille lived at the health center with her sister, Parfaite. Their schedule revolved around school and patients coming into the health center. Most often you would find Parfaite studying or Mireille tending to a patient; sometimes a woman in delivery would come in and if I was around I would be invited to watch. (There are rules against volunteers getting involved with any blood contact, so I’m only permitted to watch.) Mireille takes complete responsibility for her younger sister, provides meals, school supplies and whereas in other families the younger siblings would be responsible for all household chores, they split the tasks allowing Parfaite to take advantage of free time to study. I admire both of them and naturally I was pleased when my homologue selected her to join me for a seminar way back in April.

So we travelled together to Lokossa to attend a nutritional recuperation seminar. For 3 days we listened to a representative from DC explain the objectives and execution of this specific strategy (all in French mind you). During the seminar I watched Mireille, the youngest and least experienced of the counterparts, gain confidence and break out of her shell. We would spend our free time together on the hunt for some dinner or just chatting in her room (she gave me some history of the health center before I got there); this is when our relationship expanding outside of the health center realm. When we returned back to village I would spend more time with Mireille and Parfaite at the health center and I was accepted into their niche often joining them for lunch or dinners if I was around the health center, which was practically every day. We would also be accompanied by Jazz and Phillipe, two other strangers to the village who were drawn to Mireille and Parfaite by their hospitality and because they were of the same ethnicity.

Things were going great. I found a best friend in village that I would spend most of my time with and who was guiding me along some of the unknowns is village. I would be entertained by Jazz and Parfaite asking questions as they prepared to take their exam at the end of the year and if they were to pass they both would leave to complete the second cycle of high school that is not offered in our village. Parfaite and Jazz did pass their exams they we among the few who did. So I was preparing for Parfaite to leave but then I was informed Mireille would also be leaving. Tired of being waken up at all hours of the day to receive a patient and being told "no" every time she asked for a pay raise, she took it upon herself to leave in search of better pay for her long hours.

She parted when I was out of town. Luckily we had a petite fête before I left to celebrate the end of Parfaite and Jazz’s school year. My first day back was difficult, actually it was miserable. My best friend was gone, I almost felt like I was starting over again. However in reality I was more integrated into my community than I thought and quickly remembered all the other friends I have in village and who I greatly enjoy being in their presence. Mireille now works for a health center far north of the country and I’m unsure of how it’s working for her even though she calls and says all is well and I hope it is. Parfaite is staying the summ

er with her parents and plans on moving in with her brother to complete the next cycle of school. The two of them have made a lasting impression in my service so far and I can’t wait to visit them in their new locations.