Preparations are in full swing here in Benin. We made an appointment at the Mairie du 12e arrondissement where the Chef de Circonscription, Mr. Brice Chanhoun, will perform the ceremony on Saturday, June 6th, at 1600 hours. His secretaries’ eyes got bigger when they saw that it would be a white-lady wedding. I have to say I’m getting really tired of people thinking I’m rich. Every time anyone gives me the price for anything I have to wonder whether it’s the actual price or whether they’ve doubled it because of the colour of my skin. Should I be flattered or insulted? Regardless of what I “should” be, I’m annoyed.
I met a lady at the Novotel pool on Monday. My new friend and colleague, Bernadette, took me for a “bachelorette” day. We went to the spa, to the market to buy shoes, and then the following day was spent lounging by the Novotel pool, drinking fruity drinks and getting a nice tan.
So this lady in the pool comes up to us and asks where we’re from. “Canada,” we answered. “Well duh,” she said, “Where in Canada?”
Toronto.
“Really? Me too!”
What brings you to Benin?
“Oh I just got married on Saturday!”
I’m getting married on Saturday!
(Congratulations are exchanged. She points to her husband who is lounging by the pool, filling out papers.)
“We tried getting him a travel visa, and they rejected him, so in February, he called me in Toronto to ask me if I would marry him, and I agreed. My friends and family wondered whether I was crazy and whether I could really trust this guy… but I brought my son with me on this trip, and when he met my husband he said, ‘Mom, he’s everything you said he would be.’ We’re going to do another wedding in Canada with everyone.”
I laughed. My story to a T, with a few subtle differences – this lady could be my mom, she met her Beninese man in London, England, and they’ve been ‘seeing each other’ for the last 2 and a half years. The fact that this fairly well-travelled and well-off man’s travel visa was denied put me at ease. It’s not just Mathieu, it’s everyone who has a hard time.
The fact that she was a week ahead of me in this whole process has been helpful. I’ve stayed in contact with them to be able to find out more about the immigration process, which is also quite annoying. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork…
I want to get all the forms filled out and sent as soon as humanly possible. The faster we send them, the sooner we’ll get a response, the sooner Mathieu can come to Canada. This time the paperwork will be ridiculously complete. They want details? They’ll get an encyclopedia of them. They want to know how our relationship has evolved since we met? I am able, thanks to my journaling, emails, pictures, and record of txt messages sent, I can basically give them a play by play.
I’m a woman on a mission.
First things first however, we need a marriage certificate. Outfits are pressed and pretty, cake has been ordered, food is being prepared, we’re good for music, Maman’s house has a fresh coat of paint, my work colleagues are all pumped and have their speeches prepared (people LOVE to make speeches here – they LOVE it)… OH! And fear not: the photographer has been hired and there will also be a DVD made. As much physical evidence as possible that Mathieu and I are married and that this is for real.
Getting nice emails from friends and family has been delightful – keep them coming, more proof! More proof!! Sigh… oh Immigration Canada…
Tonight, Bernadette and I are hanging out and Mathieu is spending the night at his Maman’s house. This will be the first night we’ve spent apart since… February 17. When we were counting days and figuring stuff out, I realized that we will be getting married only 4 months after meeting one another.
I can hear you all saying, “Maria, are you just realizing this now?”
I really feel like I’ve been with Mathieu for years. It feels like I’ve been in Benin for years. Have I really only been here less than 5 months?
Bernadette and I submitted a proposal and a report to have our “Consultancy period extended”. Makes me sound so important. The request was accepted and with a bigger budget, so the next month should be better on my bank account. I can’t wait to get back to work to have an actual income, but at the same time, I wish Mathieu was coming with me.
First we have to send our immigration package to Mississauga, who will take a look at it and if they believe us and if everything is properly filled out, they’ll send it to the Canadian Embassy in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Those lovely people will have another look at it, and if they believe us or if they don’t, they’ll either call Mathieu in for an interview, or just send a letter of rejection or acceptance.
Thoughts and prayers are welcome. Wish you were here… The next time you see me, I’ll be a MRS.
WEIRD!!!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Not Sure What to Say
I haven't written in a while, and I'm sorry about that. Since the end of April, a girl named Bernadette from Toronto has joined me at work and she's been a bit of a saving grace. Someone to keep me in check and someone to bounce ideas off of. Working with her has been great.
Life has revolved around getting work done and hanging out with Mathieu. Nothing much exciting... oh, except maybe the fact that we're getting married next week.
Yup, I've lost my mind. Africa does that to you, it seems. Mathieu makes me smile and think and I don't ever want to let him go; and since the government won't let him visit, then I guess I'll just have to make them let him immigrate.
I told everyone at work today and they were very excited and happy! One of our witnesses, the Director where we work (and a very wise lady) spoke of Mathieu representing Benin and me representing Canada in our relationship - we have to keep up the good names of our country.
Anyway, Mathieu just called to say the tailor is ready to meet with us with the changes he made to my suit. I'm getting married in a white suit -- I always have been a bit of a tom boy.
To all those friends and family who are discovering that I am getting married through my blog and are a bit confused or sad or frustrated or weirded out or something, feel free to write me.
I hope we can have a big "after-party" with tons of friends and family when I get back and Mathieu is able to join us -- hopefully by September. Hopefully before the colours start to change!
Although he's had 26 years worth of summer - he's due for a little cold.
I'll be back with more updates AND PICTURES soon, I promise!! xo
Life has revolved around getting work done and hanging out with Mathieu. Nothing much exciting... oh, except maybe the fact that we're getting married next week.
Yup, I've lost my mind. Africa does that to you, it seems. Mathieu makes me smile and think and I don't ever want to let him go; and since the government won't let him visit, then I guess I'll just have to make them let him immigrate.
I told everyone at work today and they were very excited and happy! One of our witnesses, the Director where we work (and a very wise lady) spoke of Mathieu representing Benin and me representing Canada in our relationship - we have to keep up the good names of our country.
Anyway, Mathieu just called to say the tailor is ready to meet with us with the changes he made to my suit. I'm getting married in a white suit -- I always have been a bit of a tom boy.
To all those friends and family who are discovering that I am getting married through my blog and are a bit confused or sad or frustrated or weirded out or something, feel free to write me.
I hope we can have a big "after-party" with tons of friends and family when I get back and Mathieu is able to join us -- hopefully by September. Hopefully before the colours start to change!
Although he's had 26 years worth of summer - he's due for a little cold.
I'll be back with more updates AND PICTURES soon, I promise!! xo
Monday, May 18, 2009
Bribing Customs, Traffic Jams and Getting into Canada
(The internet here is still being annoying. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I can't handle wasting what little time I have in a cyber waiting and trying to send messages - it's really infuriating!!)
What a week. Mathieu and I left for Ghana last Monday to do a bit of tourism, so I could meet with some important dude who's with the company I work for, but mostly to apply for a tourist visa so that Mathieu can come home with me in June.
Yup, the girl who swore up and down that she could never fall for a man in Africa has fallen for a man in Africa. Maybe I never expected for an African man to make so much sense. Maybe my preconceived notions and prejudices towards what being 'African' means were wrongly squewed... because if anything this trip has, again, just solidified my belief that we are all the same in this world. All bastards and saints; all confused, searching and finding. All of us hoping for the day when we have a little more cash in our pockets and fewer worries in our heads. (preachy moment: I believe we are being herded to the edge of the world, where everything we own and everything we wish we owned pushes us further away from everything we are and everything we love.)
The difference, I suppose, is in the cultural norms and what is generally accepted here, like polygamy and cheating (but perhaps cheating is expected and accepted in Canada too? Take a mental survey for yourselves...).
But like everywhere else in the world, not everyone accepts what is generally accepted and not everyone follows cultural norms. There is no 'normal', there are just a huge bunch of people trying to make due.
Anyway, we went to Ghana on the bus. What a trip. The bus was supposed to leave at noon and ending up leaving at 3pm. No air con, so the windows were open, which was really fun when we were following a big truck on a dirt road. I had to get 2 visas for the ride: one to get through Togo and one to get into Ghana. My passport is all stampy - I feel so international.
The road from Benin into Togo is beautiful -- it follows the beach almost all the way from Ouidah, past Grand Popo which is near the Togo border. The big city in Togo is called Lomé. Looks and feels a lot like Benin. There is a huge market there where you can get tons of stuff that comes out of their port and into the market. Might be coming back to do some shopping... Adidas for $5? sure!
The border was easy to get through (I tried to take a picture of the Benin/Togo border sign but I was quickly told NO PICTURES NO PICTURES and I don't like to mess with big black men holding automatic riffles) and on we went after about an hour stop in Lomé to pick up a ton of other passengers making their way to Accra in Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Abidjan, the big city there. An interesting mix of accents and people... I was the only white girl on the bus. The driver and his friends started to play Bob Marley - we travelled on his birthday, May 11th.
Togo is the smallest country ever and takes about an hour to cross. Maybe less. Finally in Ghana, and what a pain in the ass. Emerging nation = even more annoying bureaucracy -- developed enough to be modern and thorough, but developing enough to still be corrupt.
Which reminds me... all the way from Benin to Ghana, we'd have to stop at these customs check-points where the cops stop vehicles. Often though, if not always, it's just a question of slipping the officer a few dollars and you're back on your way. God forbid you can't afford a few West African Francs or Ghana Cedis, cuz it can mean a huge delay in your trip, especially if you have a lot of bags packed in the car. My dreams of road tripping through West Africa in a Land Cruiser were dashed - ug. Not worth the bother. I can't imagine how much money these guys would expect if they pulled over a car full of white kids.
So we're at the Ghana border. Mathieu, who could've just as easily used his Beninese National Identity card, used his passport to accompany me through the borders. Once in Ghana, they had customs forms to fill out, which reminded me of the forms you get on the plane on the way in to Mexico or when you're coming back on the plane into Canada. The ladies scanned our passports (oooo!) asked us where we were headed (I invented an address in Ghana, although we stayed at the Bani Guesthouse/Hostel, a real place), and sent us on our way. Their English/African accent was cool and I was excited to be in an anglophone country.
We got back on the bus and drove for a while. We got stopped at another check point and since by now we'd been travelling for 9 hours, I really had to pee. Everyone had to get out of the bus and there was a bathroom at this checkpoint, which cost 50F ($1.25) to use it... except when I got in it was a dirty stinky urinal-type just-pee-on-the-floor and I couldn't deal. I went back outside and told the dude, "listen, I'm gonna need my 50F back because I need a toilet to pee." He laughed and pointed behind him where there were 4 toilet stalls. God bless Ghana.
We finally arrived in Accra (pronounced Ac'crA) at 2am. The never-ending bus ride. My bum was killing me. Mathieu was really nervous about where this hostel was and where we were going, especially since he doesn't speak English or the local language, Ashanti. My friend Gord in Toronto had told me to call his friend Gavin who teaches at the University, and he had been nice enough to rent us a room in the residences for 30cedi or a little less than $30 a night.
We got there fine, except the girl at the desk didn't have a reservation for us. The administration probably had one, but obviously the office wasn't open at that hour. She found us a room with a bunk bed and we crashed. We had to be at the Canadian Embassy at 7:30am and the taxi driver had told us that traffic in Accra was ridiculous during rush hour and that we should leave at 6am if we want to be there for 7:30am.
He wasn't kidding. Accra has real roads with curbs and painted lines and overpasses and everything. Obviously though, they don't have enough. People are used to sitting in traffic for up to 2 hours a day - IN the city.
The city looks like a mix of north Montreal and Cotonou, some high rises, what we north americans would consider regular architecture and normal looking homes and apartment buildings, both ghetto and nice. Then around the corner are shanty hoods with outdoor maquis restaurants serving fish and pounded igname, and ladies selling things on their heads, men standing in traffic selling random stuff. The major difference is that there are very few motorcycles in Accra. Everyone has a car and drive very nicely, probably cuz they know they'll be stuck in traffic for HOURS no matter what they do. There aren't very many touristy things to do unless you like chillin on the beach, which I'm kind of over by now. We found a museum I'd seen on a map except it was totally empty and the windows were broken and it had scaffolding inside.
The food wasn't too expensive and neither were the taxis, although comparatively, the taxis were ridiculously expensive to what one pays in Cotonou. They don't have counters so whether you're sitting in traffic for 2 hours or not, the driver states his price and that's it. Of course, when they see a white girl get in the price goes up considerably... I hate negotiating, but it worked out alright.
We arrived at the Canadian Consulate or High Consulate or whatever you want to call it around 8am. The guards at the door made us leave all our electronics (iPod, camera, USB keys, cellphones, etc.) in a little locker at the door and made us walk through a metal detector. There were tons of forms to fill out above and beyond the forms we'd already filled out. Then we had to go make a copy of his passport down the street and come back. Then Mathieu went into another section where apparently the lady took all the paper's he'd brought and sent him on his way, telling him to come back at 2pm.
When we came back at that time, we waited around with 20 odd people until everyone got herded back around 3pm into that same room and were each handed either letters or visas. Mathieu came back with a letter telling him his temporary visa was denied for reasons X, Y, and Z, and if he wanted to resubmit a request, his situation would have had to change drastically and of course, he would have to resubmit the fee and forms.
I was really surprised. I thought it would be so much easier... we really don't let people into Canada very easily, which I suppose is a good thing, but in this case, not so good.
Apparently there was no one we could speak to, and any appeal would have to be made by email, which we did that night, in a decent cyber café we found about a KM away from the residence we were staying in.
Uber-bummed, we headed back to the residence where we rushed to pay for our room and find out if there was a room we could stay in for another few days to see if we could change the minds of the Consulate or find another solution. The admin people were very nice and the room was suddenly only 15 Cedis and the new one they gave us had a great TV too, but to Mathieu's dismay, no French channels. Happily though, the cafeteria had great and cheap food and there was a football game on TV later that night - that lifted his spirits.
On the Wednesday, I had an appointment to meet with the important dude from work, and it went really well. It wasn't an official visit, just a "I happen to be in town", but it's always good to make a good impression.
What else can I say about Ghana? Not too much. People are people, cities are cities... and cities are rarely representative of the country. Hopefully one day I'll get to see a bit more of Ghana.
Leaving Ghana was a debaucle. There was no bus leaving for Cotonou until 10pm and we wanted to leave around noon. Plus, Mathieu was insisting we take a bus or a big vehicle that could easily traverse the bad roads. Eventually we found some dude who was leaving with 3 other men to go to Nigeria in a Volvo station wagon, and could drop us off in Cotonou on the way. Four people in the back and 2 in the front for 6ish hours. Ug. The longest part of the trip is between Accra and the Ghana/Togo border. Once there, we had to fill out another one of those customs forms and then move into another room to get our passports stamped.
Except we'd never had our passports stamped on the way in. Stupidly or ignorantly, once they'd scanned our passports and given us back our customs cards we'd just left and no one controlled us on our way out to make sure we'd been stamped. Whether they forgot to tell us to go into the next office or whether I just didn't pay attention; who knows.
Happily we still had the customs cards from the way in, which had been initialed by the customs officer, and I insisted about the fact that the ladies had scanned our passports, so we were in the system.
While we were discussing the situation, a white man with a French accent was getting his passport stamped (it wasn't a French passport) and asked me if there was a problem. I explained the situation to him and he said, "Soyez cool, expliquez bien la situation et donnez-leur un petit quelque chose et ça va aller." (Stay cool, explain the situation and give them a little something, it should go alright.)
By then the driver of our ride arrived to see what was taking us so long. We explained and when we told him we were thinking of giving them 5 cedis, he said it wasn't enough. Ten should do the trick though.
The customs officers were going back and forth from the computers and were saying that my story checked out, that they had found all the information and they were going to stamp us in (dated on the 11th) and out of the country, but we needed to step outside.
We stepped outside and I realized that this is where we could either wait forever or give them some money to make this go faster. The driver asked for the money we were going to give them, and he took Mathieu by the hand and told me to wait there. Bribery is best done among locals. Moments later we were on our way. Boy was I glad we had 10 Cedis left from the money we changed!
The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. We stopped at the Togo border and picked up some roadside fried chicken and fried igname which we ate in the car (moist towelettes are your friend). We got back to Cotonou around 6pm, exhausted and hungry and went to grab a bite to eat.
Since then I've been working like crazy. Life has gone into high gear in more ways than I have ever experienced before. It's both stressful and amazing, and it's making me think that I'll be extending my stay here a few weeks to make sure my work is well underway before I leave, and figure out another way to get Mathieu into Canada.
More on that some other time. ;)
Now I get to click "publish" and see if the internet will let me.
What a week. Mathieu and I left for Ghana last Monday to do a bit of tourism, so I could meet with some important dude who's with the company I work for, but mostly to apply for a tourist visa so that Mathieu can come home with me in June.
Yup, the girl who swore up and down that she could never fall for a man in Africa has fallen for a man in Africa. Maybe I never expected for an African man to make so much sense. Maybe my preconceived notions and prejudices towards what being 'African' means were wrongly squewed... because if anything this trip has, again, just solidified my belief that we are all the same in this world. All bastards and saints; all confused, searching and finding. All of us hoping for the day when we have a little more cash in our pockets and fewer worries in our heads. (preachy moment: I believe we are being herded to the edge of the world, where everything we own and everything we wish we owned pushes us further away from everything we are and everything we love.)
The difference, I suppose, is in the cultural norms and what is generally accepted here, like polygamy and cheating (but perhaps cheating is expected and accepted in Canada too? Take a mental survey for yourselves...).
But like everywhere else in the world, not everyone accepts what is generally accepted and not everyone follows cultural norms. There is no 'normal', there are just a huge bunch of people trying to make due.
Anyway, we went to Ghana on the bus. What a trip. The bus was supposed to leave at noon and ending up leaving at 3pm. No air con, so the windows were open, which was really fun when we were following a big truck on a dirt road. I had to get 2 visas for the ride: one to get through Togo and one to get into Ghana. My passport is all stampy - I feel so international.
The road from Benin into Togo is beautiful -- it follows the beach almost all the way from Ouidah, past Grand Popo which is near the Togo border. The big city in Togo is called Lomé. Looks and feels a lot like Benin. There is a huge market there where you can get tons of stuff that comes out of their port and into the market. Might be coming back to do some shopping... Adidas for $5? sure!
The border was easy to get through (I tried to take a picture of the Benin/Togo border sign but I was quickly told NO PICTURES NO PICTURES and I don't like to mess with big black men holding automatic riffles) and on we went after about an hour stop in Lomé to pick up a ton of other passengers making their way to Accra in Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Abidjan, the big city there. An interesting mix of accents and people... I was the only white girl on the bus. The driver and his friends started to play Bob Marley - we travelled on his birthday, May 11th.
Togo is the smallest country ever and takes about an hour to cross. Maybe less. Finally in Ghana, and what a pain in the ass. Emerging nation = even more annoying bureaucracy -- developed enough to be modern and thorough, but developing enough to still be corrupt.
Which reminds me... all the way from Benin to Ghana, we'd have to stop at these customs check-points where the cops stop vehicles. Often though, if not always, it's just a question of slipping the officer a few dollars and you're back on your way. God forbid you can't afford a few West African Francs or Ghana Cedis, cuz it can mean a huge delay in your trip, especially if you have a lot of bags packed in the car. My dreams of road tripping through West Africa in a Land Cruiser were dashed - ug. Not worth the bother. I can't imagine how much money these guys would expect if they pulled over a car full of white kids.
So we're at the Ghana border. Mathieu, who could've just as easily used his Beninese National Identity card, used his passport to accompany me through the borders. Once in Ghana, they had customs forms to fill out, which reminded me of the forms you get on the plane on the way in to Mexico or when you're coming back on the plane into Canada. The ladies scanned our passports (oooo!) asked us where we were headed (I invented an address in Ghana, although we stayed at the Bani Guesthouse/Hostel, a real place), and sent us on our way. Their English/African accent was cool and I was excited to be in an anglophone country.
We got back on the bus and drove for a while. We got stopped at another check point and since by now we'd been travelling for 9 hours, I really had to pee. Everyone had to get out of the bus and there was a bathroom at this checkpoint, which cost 50F ($1.25) to use it... except when I got in it was a dirty stinky urinal-type just-pee-on-the-floor and I couldn't deal. I went back outside and told the dude, "listen, I'm gonna need my 50F back because I need a toilet to pee." He laughed and pointed behind him where there were 4 toilet stalls. God bless Ghana.
We finally arrived in Accra (pronounced Ac'crA) at 2am. The never-ending bus ride. My bum was killing me. Mathieu was really nervous about where this hostel was and where we were going, especially since he doesn't speak English or the local language, Ashanti. My friend Gord in Toronto had told me to call his friend Gavin who teaches at the University, and he had been nice enough to rent us a room in the residences for 30cedi or a little less than $30 a night.
We got there fine, except the girl at the desk didn't have a reservation for us. The administration probably had one, but obviously the office wasn't open at that hour. She found us a room with a bunk bed and we crashed. We had to be at the Canadian Embassy at 7:30am and the taxi driver had told us that traffic in Accra was ridiculous during rush hour and that we should leave at 6am if we want to be there for 7:30am.
He wasn't kidding. Accra has real roads with curbs and painted lines and overpasses and everything. Obviously though, they don't have enough. People are used to sitting in traffic for up to 2 hours a day - IN the city.
The city looks like a mix of north Montreal and Cotonou, some high rises, what we north americans would consider regular architecture and normal looking homes and apartment buildings, both ghetto and nice. Then around the corner are shanty hoods with outdoor maquis restaurants serving fish and pounded igname, and ladies selling things on their heads, men standing in traffic selling random stuff. The major difference is that there are very few motorcycles in Accra. Everyone has a car and drive very nicely, probably cuz they know they'll be stuck in traffic for HOURS no matter what they do. There aren't very many touristy things to do unless you like chillin on the beach, which I'm kind of over by now. We found a museum I'd seen on a map except it was totally empty and the windows were broken and it had scaffolding inside.
The food wasn't too expensive and neither were the taxis, although comparatively, the taxis were ridiculously expensive to what one pays in Cotonou. They don't have counters so whether you're sitting in traffic for 2 hours or not, the driver states his price and that's it. Of course, when they see a white girl get in the price goes up considerably... I hate negotiating, but it worked out alright.
We arrived at the Canadian Consulate or High Consulate or whatever you want to call it around 8am. The guards at the door made us leave all our electronics (iPod, camera, USB keys, cellphones, etc.) in a little locker at the door and made us walk through a metal detector. There were tons of forms to fill out above and beyond the forms we'd already filled out. Then we had to go make a copy of his passport down the street and come back. Then Mathieu went into another section where apparently the lady took all the paper's he'd brought and sent him on his way, telling him to come back at 2pm.
When we came back at that time, we waited around with 20 odd people until everyone got herded back around 3pm into that same room and were each handed either letters or visas. Mathieu came back with a letter telling him his temporary visa was denied for reasons X, Y, and Z, and if he wanted to resubmit a request, his situation would have had to change drastically and of course, he would have to resubmit the fee and forms.
I was really surprised. I thought it would be so much easier... we really don't let people into Canada very easily, which I suppose is a good thing, but in this case, not so good.
Apparently there was no one we could speak to, and any appeal would have to be made by email, which we did that night, in a decent cyber café we found about a KM away from the residence we were staying in.
Uber-bummed, we headed back to the residence where we rushed to pay for our room and find out if there was a room we could stay in for another few days to see if we could change the minds of the Consulate or find another solution. The admin people were very nice and the room was suddenly only 15 Cedis and the new one they gave us had a great TV too, but to Mathieu's dismay, no French channels. Happily though, the cafeteria had great and cheap food and there was a football game on TV later that night - that lifted his spirits.
On the Wednesday, I had an appointment to meet with the important dude from work, and it went really well. It wasn't an official visit, just a "I happen to be in town", but it's always good to make a good impression.
What else can I say about Ghana? Not too much. People are people, cities are cities... and cities are rarely representative of the country. Hopefully one day I'll get to see a bit more of Ghana.
Leaving Ghana was a debaucle. There was no bus leaving for Cotonou until 10pm and we wanted to leave around noon. Plus, Mathieu was insisting we take a bus or a big vehicle that could easily traverse the bad roads. Eventually we found some dude who was leaving with 3 other men to go to Nigeria in a Volvo station wagon, and could drop us off in Cotonou on the way. Four people in the back and 2 in the front for 6ish hours. Ug. The longest part of the trip is between Accra and the Ghana/Togo border. Once there, we had to fill out another one of those customs forms and then move into another room to get our passports stamped.
Except we'd never had our passports stamped on the way in. Stupidly or ignorantly, once they'd scanned our passports and given us back our customs cards we'd just left and no one controlled us on our way out to make sure we'd been stamped. Whether they forgot to tell us to go into the next office or whether I just didn't pay attention; who knows.
Happily we still had the customs cards from the way in, which had been initialed by the customs officer, and I insisted about the fact that the ladies had scanned our passports, so we were in the system.
While we were discussing the situation, a white man with a French accent was getting his passport stamped (it wasn't a French passport) and asked me if there was a problem. I explained the situation to him and he said, "Soyez cool, expliquez bien la situation et donnez-leur un petit quelque chose et ça va aller." (Stay cool, explain the situation and give them a little something, it should go alright.)
By then the driver of our ride arrived to see what was taking us so long. We explained and when we told him we were thinking of giving them 5 cedis, he said it wasn't enough. Ten should do the trick though.
The customs officers were going back and forth from the computers and were saying that my story checked out, that they had found all the information and they were going to stamp us in (dated on the 11th) and out of the country, but we needed to step outside.
We stepped outside and I realized that this is where we could either wait forever or give them some money to make this go faster. The driver asked for the money we were going to give them, and he took Mathieu by the hand and told me to wait there. Bribery is best done among locals. Moments later we were on our way. Boy was I glad we had 10 Cedis left from the money we changed!
The rest of the trip went off without a hitch. We stopped at the Togo border and picked up some roadside fried chicken and fried igname which we ate in the car (moist towelettes are your friend). We got back to Cotonou around 6pm, exhausted and hungry and went to grab a bite to eat.
Since then I've been working like crazy. Life has gone into high gear in more ways than I have ever experienced before. It's both stressful and amazing, and it's making me think that I'll be extending my stay here a few weeks to make sure my work is well underway before I leave, and figure out another way to get Mathieu into Canada.
More on that some other time. ;)
Now I get to click "publish" and see if the internet will let me.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Hit "Pause" and try again
Sorry about that. Got malaria myself there for a bit. Got a bad fever, couldn't/didn't feel like eating, passed out in my apartment, went to the clinic at 3am, got some blood work done, feared for my life, got some medication, stayed in bed all weekend, felt better by Monday, went into work...
A new girl has arrived from Toronto to work with me - what a lifesaver. She's a great lady and we get along really well. She's helped me put my work stuff on hyperdrive, hence the lack of blog updates.
Note to self: you work better in a team.
On Wednesday a group of us left for a work-mission to talk to some school board people leading the monitoring and evaluation. Took advantage of the situation to also hit up one of Benin's National Parks, Pendjari. SAW ELEPHANTS! HIPPOS! eep! Lots of cool animals, lots of cool things. Got back on Sunday and have been busy busy ever since.
I'm still feeling feverish and tired. Malaria pretty much sucks.
In other news, it's rainy season. Rains almost every day and makes driving around HELL. Mathieu lost control and had to fall off his motorcycle the other day because he got caught in the pouring rain. Nothing serious, nothing damaged. Craziness.
I come home in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to highways sans huge pot holes!! Looking forward to a stomach that works normally again.
But for the time being, I'm really enjoying my work and the company I'm keeping.
Going to Accra, Ghana next week. Leaving on Monday and coming back on Thursday. More on that trip later! Gotta run!
ps - the internet here is poo, if i haven't said so before. I'm having lots of trouble connecting, posting, accessing Facebook...
A new girl has arrived from Toronto to work with me - what a lifesaver. She's a great lady and we get along really well. She's helped me put my work stuff on hyperdrive, hence the lack of blog updates.
Note to self: you work better in a team.
On Wednesday a group of us left for a work-mission to talk to some school board people leading the monitoring and evaluation. Took advantage of the situation to also hit up one of Benin's National Parks, Pendjari. SAW ELEPHANTS! HIPPOS! eep! Lots of cool animals, lots of cool things. Got back on Sunday and have been busy busy ever since.
I'm still feeling feverish and tired. Malaria pretty much sucks.
In other news, it's rainy season. Rains almost every day and makes driving around HELL. Mathieu lost control and had to fall off his motorcycle the other day because he got caught in the pouring rain. Nothing serious, nothing damaged. Craziness.
I come home in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to highways sans huge pot holes!! Looking forward to a stomach that works normally again.
But for the time being, I'm really enjoying my work and the company I'm keeping.
Going to Accra, Ghana next week. Leaving on Monday and coming back on Thursday. More on that trip later! Gotta run!
ps - the internet here is poo, if i haven't said so before. I'm having lots of trouble connecting, posting, accessing Facebook...
Hit "Pause"
Sorry about that. Got malaria myself there for a bit. Got a bad fever, couldn't/didn't feel like eating, passed out in my apartment, went to the clinic at 3am, got some blood work done, feared for my life, got some medication, stayed in bed all weekend, felt better by Monday, went into work...
A new girl has arrived from Toronto to work with me - what a lifesaver. She's a great lady and we get along really well. She's helped me put my work stuff on hyperdrive, hence the lack of blog updates.
Note to self: you work better in a team.
On Wednesday a group of us left for a work-mission to talk to some school board people leading the monitoring and evaluation. Took advantage of the situation to also hit up one of Benin's National Parks, Pendjari. SAW ELEPHANTS! HIPPOS! eep! Lots of cool animals, lots of cool things. Got back on Sunday and have been busy busy ever since.
I'm still feeling feverish and tired. Malaria pretty much sucks.
In other news, it's rainy season. Rains almost every day and makes driving around HELL. Mathieu lost control and had to fall off his motorcycle the other day because he got caught in the pouring rain. Nothing serious, nothing damaged. Craziness.
I come home in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to highways sans huge pot holes!! Looking forward to a stomach that works normally again.
But for the time being, I'm really enjoying my work and the company I'm keeping.
Going to Accra, Ghana next week. Leaving on Monday and coming back on Thursday. More on that trip later! Gotta run!
A new girl has arrived from Toronto to work with me - what a lifesaver. She's a great lady and we get along really well. She's helped me put my work stuff on hyperdrive, hence the lack of blog updates.
Note to self: you work better in a team.
On Wednesday a group of us left for a work-mission to talk to some school board people leading the monitoring and evaluation. Took advantage of the situation to also hit up one of Benin's National Parks, Pendjari. SAW ELEPHANTS! HIPPOS! eep! Lots of cool animals, lots of cool things. Got back on Sunday and have been busy busy ever since.
I'm still feeling feverish and tired. Malaria pretty much sucks.
In other news, it's rainy season. Rains almost every day and makes driving around HELL. Mathieu lost control and had to fall off his motorcycle the other day because he got caught in the pouring rain. Nothing serious, nothing damaged. Craziness.
I come home in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to highways sans huge pot holes!! Looking forward to a stomach that works normally again.
But for the time being, I'm really enjoying my work and the company I'm keeping.
Going to Accra, Ghana next week. Leaving on Monday and coming back on Thursday. More on that trip later! Gotta run!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Malaria
So, have I mentioned that little Tania's being a bit of a wuss lately? Extra clingy and whiney? Well, turns out it she has malaria. Pesky mosquitoes. She's had a fever which has been persisting and I was worried so I insisted that Mathieu tell his sister to bring her to a clinic. Call me North American, but malaria isn't something you self-medicate.
Let's all take a moment to thank Canada for Federal Health Care, despite its problems. We can whine about having to wait in Emergency for a long time, but at least, at the end of the day, you don't foot the bill (unless you have to get a prescription...).
By my standards, it wasn't very expensive - 7000F for the consultation and some blood tests, and some 7000F for the medication. $35 in total.
But when I got to the house after work yesterday, another little one, one of the twins (pictured at the amusement park eating popcorn) had a really high fever too. Wrap him up and ship him off to the clinic! They didn't give him the same treatment and I'm not sure if he had exactly the same thing as Tania, but they kept him at the clinic for a bit because his fever was too high. His visit and medication was a total of 7000F, a little under $20.
Tania's mouth was really pastey and full of sores. She looks thinner, poor thing. Mathieu tells me that that's how it is, when you have malaria... you can't eat and you just generally feel like crap. High fever, cough, aches and pains, and a useless mouth.
Hopefully they'll get better now. Sigh.
There are mosquitoes everywhere. It's the start of rainy season, so apparently it'll only get worse. Recently in the news, a Beninese doctor received a high award (can't seem to find a link) for developing a new and highly effective malaria medication. It's fairly cheap here, but it still affects way too many people.
Oh Africa.
Let's all take a moment to thank Canada for Federal Health Care, despite its problems. We can whine about having to wait in Emergency for a long time, but at least, at the end of the day, you don't foot the bill (unless you have to get a prescription...).
By my standards, it wasn't very expensive - 7000F for the consultation and some blood tests, and some 7000F for the medication. $35 in total.
But when I got to the house after work yesterday, another little one, one of the twins (pictured at the amusement park eating popcorn) had a really high fever too. Wrap him up and ship him off to the clinic! They didn't give him the same treatment and I'm not sure if he had exactly the same thing as Tania, but they kept him at the clinic for a bit because his fever was too high. His visit and medication was a total of 7000F, a little under $20.
Tania's mouth was really pastey and full of sores. She looks thinner, poor thing. Mathieu tells me that that's how it is, when you have malaria... you can't eat and you just generally feel like crap. High fever, cough, aches and pains, and a useless mouth.
Hopefully they'll get better now. Sigh.
There are mosquitoes everywhere. It's the start of rainy season, so apparently it'll only get worse. Recently in the news, a Beninese doctor received a high award (can't seem to find a link) for developing a new and highly effective malaria medication. It's fairly cheap here, but it still affects way too many people.
Oh Africa.
museums, merry go 'rounds and music
So I mentioned in my last post that I managed to take 16 kids to both the Zinsou Museum and to the Village de Paques (which is also known as the Village de Noel, in December), an amusement park. I won't say too much on the day and will let the pictures do the talking. The kids had a great time and want to know when the next outing is going to be. I'm not sure I would take the wee ones next time, or if I do, I'll invite the other parents along so that they can help manage the crew. The little girl twin peed all over the floor of the bathroom of the museum, and my shoes. oops.
First, they all got dressed, which I've never seen. I tried to take as many pictures of them as I could in that state. The bus/van was a half hour late, and Mathieu and I went to the house an hour early to make sure they were all ready... Tania's mom had dressed her in a fancy dress, which wasn't appropriate and she was really uncomfortable, so we got her into shorts and a tshirt and she was much better. She hasn't been feeling well lately, so the dress must've just been torture. But more on her later.
I didn't think we'd all fit in the bus, but it worked quite well. I guess when you don't have carseats to deal with, piling 3 little ones makes it easier to squeeze everyone in.
We drove around for a bit because a lot of these kids don't get out much beyond their school and the house. We took them to see the Stade de l'Amitié (a big stadium in Cotonou) and l'échangeur (the grand new overpass built a couple years ago). Little Boris, Diana's little brother, was able to spell "échangeur".
The Museum was more or less kid-friendly. The guy showing the kids the exhibit did it in a very "school" type way, which was very informative of him, but when you have a group ranging from ages 2 to 16, you shouldn't really be spending too much time on each item, asking questions and trying to drag the answers out of the group. The got to colour, which was nice.
From there it was off to the Village de Paques. The museum was free, the park was not. And there were 18 of us!! Still really cheap comparatively. Entry 200F ($0.50), $9 total. Then, a little something to drink, 200F each, another $9. Plus one for the driver, of course.
And a little something to eat, popcorn, 100F or $0.25 per bag, either salted or sweet.
Then everyone got to pick one ride, 500F or $1.25 for a total of $22.50. Most of the boys picked bumper cars, the girls picked the swings on the merry-go-round (so did I, and my stomach turned for hours afterwards), and the little kids were relegated to the cars-on-tracks, much to the dismay of the older ones... I let Mathieu make the executive decision of who was too young...
After that, the crew was getting restless and our time with the van was running out so we hit the road (we paid 18,000F or $45 for 5 hours with a driver - and he helped with the kids), but not before everyone scored a second or third MTN hat. MTN is a local cellphone company.
Everyone was really happy with getting a free foam visor... and we all wore them proudly for the group pic (the oldest guy is missing, dunno where he went) once we got back to the house. Of course, I didn't manage to get the group picture before half of them were out of their clothes already...
Maman was just beaming at me on our return. She was very happy that I was able to do something like this with them and thanked me.
The kids thanked me too, but I told them we had to record a message for my parents who sent me the money to take them out. I recorded them a few times, they're so funny. One time, they said, "Merci Monsieur et Madame Le Blanc!" LOL! I repeated my parents names and they said it properly the second time. Too funny. Then they started rapping in French and everyone piped in, even the girls. It's actually really good.
Goes to show, kids are kids - no matter how rich or how poor, they all have favourite artists and sing them obsessively.
First, they all got dressed, which I've never seen. I tried to take as many pictures of them as I could in that state. The bus/van was a half hour late, and Mathieu and I went to the house an hour early to make sure they were all ready... Tania's mom had dressed her in a fancy dress, which wasn't appropriate and she was really uncomfortable, so we got her into shorts and a tshirt and she was much better. She hasn't been feeling well lately, so the dress must've just been torture. But more on her later.
I didn't think we'd all fit in the bus, but it worked quite well. I guess when you don't have carseats to deal with, piling 3 little ones makes it easier to squeeze everyone in.
We drove around for a bit because a lot of these kids don't get out much beyond their school and the house. We took them to see the Stade de l'Amitié (a big stadium in Cotonou) and l'échangeur (the grand new overpass built a couple years ago). Little Boris, Diana's little brother, was able to spell "échangeur".
The Museum was more or less kid-friendly. The guy showing the kids the exhibit did it in a very "school" type way, which was very informative of him, but when you have a group ranging from ages 2 to 16, you shouldn't really be spending too much time on each item, asking questions and trying to drag the answers out of the group. The got to colour, which was nice.
From there it was off to the Village de Paques. The museum was free, the park was not. And there were 18 of us!! Still really cheap comparatively. Entry 200F ($0.50), $9 total. Then, a little something to drink, 200F each, another $9. Plus one for the driver, of course.
And a little something to eat, popcorn, 100F or $0.25 per bag, either salted or sweet.
Then everyone got to pick one ride, 500F or $1.25 for a total of $22.50. Most of the boys picked bumper cars, the girls picked the swings on the merry-go-round (so did I, and my stomach turned for hours afterwards), and the little kids were relegated to the cars-on-tracks, much to the dismay of the older ones... I let Mathieu make the executive decision of who was too young...
After that, the crew was getting restless and our time with the van was running out so we hit the road (we paid 18,000F or $45 for 5 hours with a driver - and he helped with the kids), but not before everyone scored a second or third MTN hat. MTN is a local cellphone company.
Everyone was really happy with getting a free foam visor... and we all wore them proudly for the group pic (the oldest guy is missing, dunno where he went) once we got back to the house. Of course, I didn't manage to get the group picture before half of them were out of their clothes already...
Maman was just beaming at me on our return. She was very happy that I was able to do something like this with them and thanked me.
The kids thanked me too, but I told them we had to record a message for my parents who sent me the money to take them out. I recorded them a few times, they're so funny. One time, they said, "Merci Monsieur et Madame Le Blanc!" LOL! I repeated my parents names and they said it properly the second time. Too funny. Then they started rapping in French and everyone piped in, even the girls. It's actually really good.
Goes to show, kids are kids - no matter how rich or how poor, they all have favourite artists and sing them obsessively.
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