Maman Kendra in Benin

From Maman comes to Benin

I have now received my first visitor in Benin – my mom came to see me for Easter. She was here for over two weeks, and we had a great time. We spent a couple of days at the beach – it's not like a Florida-type beach, but it was still relaxing – and then spent over a week in my village before heading back down to the city, where I had to do a workshop type thing with Peace Corps. So she got to meet all my village family, and my Peace Corps friends and bosses. She also got to see me teach, to my students' delight, so she can attest to the craziness I deal with in the classroom. And we had matching outfits made, which is a cool thing to do here for special events, so we were a big hit at school. To my neighbors' astonishment, I put her to work while she was here. She painted my living room, made curtains, cleaned up, etc., etc.

From Maman comes to Benin

So my house is greatly improved after her visit, plus she brought me lots of great loot from America. In case you are wondering, I have found that multicolored cheddar goldfish taste exactly like America. Mom was really cool about all the minor inconveniences of living, and particularly traveling, in Benin – all except the heat. She used my fan 24/7, even on rainy nights when I was freezing. But she was great with motos, latrines, bucket showers, my cooking, crowded taxis, and long waits for everything. She even stayed calm when I lost her in the next town over from mine! I had put her on a moto to go ahead of me to a restaurant, but the Zemidjan got confused and took her to a different store, and she couldn't correct him since she doesn't speak French (although, neither did he, which was the root of the confusion). Anyway, I nearly had a stroke when I showed up at the restaurant and nobody had seen her. I got back on a moto and cruised through town, and spotted her sitting patiently on a bench on the side of the road. After that I never left her without giving her a cell phone! The only major problem we had was getting Africa sick – both of us – right at the end. It was the sickest I have been in my service so far, so I felt really bad that Mom had to experience it with me! It wasn't so bad though, because we were already in the city, so we had access to meds pretty quickly. In any case, I think she is proud to have an African illness story, but don't believe any claims she might make about dengue fever (which is in Central America, I think) or swine flu (in North America). So, despite not being able to eat for the last couple of days of her visit, I think Mom would still recommend it to anyone with a couple thousand dollars lying around, and I would certainly host anyone who manages to get themselves to Cotonou, so let me know if you're interested!

(more pics for this post will be coming as soon as I get them uploaded)