Danotkpa Market

I went back to Danotkpa market to take some photos and show some other people the market.

This time though I did get hit by a man pulling a cart of goods. The roads are narrow and he came from behind me with cart and hit my right side of my body. He didn't even notice that he hit me and he kept going. I was fine but it was annoying.

I did see a lot more of the market this time. I saw where they were selling more live animals. I even saw puppies and kittens which i was surprised by.

it is tricky here with cameras. you have to try to be the least obvious as possible. they typically don't like cameras here.

Dryers

Maaike, Kate and I decided that we would have a good time playing in the hospital dryers at midnight! It was a good laugh!

Presidential Dinner

The president of Benin invited Mercy Ships to have dinner at their offices. They canceled on MS 3 times and finally on the 4th time it happened! This is Africa.

Everyone was all excited. Everyone got dressed up in their African outfits or nice clothes. People were taking pictures, it felt like prom.

We were told to be ready by 530pm. The government had to transport almost 400 people from the ship to the offices. They brought vans not buses. I didn't get there until almost 7pm and I wasn't the last person there. We passed through the gates to offices and you could see these military tanks, men in uniform and regular civilians. I wouldn't be surprised if the tanks that were in the grounds were the only ones that Benin had. There were about 4.

We unload from the van and we had to be checked my the military men.

We arrive is this waiting room which is large. At first you think it is nice but then you start to look. They had plastic chairs but not enough for everyone. At one point they brought out more plastic chairs but the chairs had the plastic wrapping on them and they didn't even bother to take the plastic off.

After about an hour of standing there, they served drinks. However they ran out of drinks. There wasn't even enough cokes for people for half the group.

There were huge wholes in the ceiling. The details were lacking as it commonly does in my experience here.

Around 830pm we get moved to another room where we are going to eat dinner. We have to go through a metal detector but it beeps for everyone so who knows if it actually worked. So we walk into this large room and it is decorated in orange and white. There were pillars that were partially wrapped in white plastic and had a orange bow on top.

The table had wrinkled white table clothes. The napkins were plastic, the plates were plastic and didn't match. All the tables had different candle center pieces. Some of our dinner ware was dirty.

Once we all got in the room, there wasn't enough seating. After about 20 minutes they came u with another table and placed some dinnerware there.

We sat there for another 30 minutes waiting for things to start. The president finally comes out and makes a speech about how much Mercy Ships has done for Benin and how grateful they are. We stand for this 30 minute speech.

Then we go stand in line for dinner. It was buffet style. By the time I got up there, they were out of meat and some of the other sides. The food was typical African food and it wasn't bad what I was served.

During dinner they had traditional Benin entertainment in the form of song and dancing. It was great to see. There was this one point though where these dancers came out dressed in the voodoo saucer outfits and it freaked me out. There is power behind those outfits. I felt very uneasy about it. Besides that the dancers were great. I saw two of the dancers giving necklaces from one dancer who was done to another.

Side note - I wore flip flops to the dinner.

The dinner and the experience was an experience that I would normally never get. It was just amazing to see even at the Presidential level how much of Africa is still there. It makes me think how far off Africa is from the Western world. The simple things of drinks, places settings, food, etc. The fact that we ate 3 hours the time we were suppose to. Don't get me wrong, they did the best that they knew how to and that is commendable. It was just eye opening.

Betetekoukou

The Sunday after Dassa we went to Betetekoukou. We traveled to this village because we wanted to see hippos. The road there could barely be called a road. It was a dirt road with huge wholes everywhere.

The interesting part was that we got to see a lot of villages along the way. This was rural Africa. No running water or electricity. All there homes were made out of mud and their roofs were grass.

When we got to the village we got a local guide to take us on a "boat". Our boat was a carved out old tree and our guide was paddling. We were out on the water for about 2 hours but didn't see a hippo. In some way I was glad that we didn't because if we did and the hippo came close, then it wouldn't be a good situation. Hippos kill more humans than do crocodiles.

After there we needed to head back to Cotonou. Our driver had got directions from another local and for a good 2 hours i thought we were lost and that we were not making it back. The dirt road was going on for days and there are no signs. I was sitting in the front seat and I could tell the driver was not 100% sure of where he was going. The moment that we ended on paved road I was so relieved. We made it back in one piece.

Dassa

A group of us went to Dassa-Zhomey on the weekend of November 7-8th. It was Kate, Jenna, Kimberely and I who went.

We left early on Saturday morning. It was a 4 hour drive from Cotonou. However getting out of Cotonou took an hour. Traffic everywhere! Only the big main roads are paved and the rest of dirt roads that have big pot-holes in them.

We made it out of Cotonou and once we were a little ways out, the traffic started to clear up. every now and then we would drive through a town and usually a market was going on. There were women lined up at the side of road selling anything and everything. We would come along strips of people selling the same thing, like charcoal or tapioca, and I was wondering how they make money if so many people are selling the same thing within a foot of you.

The main highway had huge pot holes that would pop up in the middle of no where. also there are no lines on the "high way" and passing is always a little dangerous. needless to say there were moments when I was scared but I survived , as is Africa.

When we were close to Dassa the landscape started to change. there were hills and open land. It was beautiful. Dassa is known to have 41 hills. They may not have 41 but Africans still claim that.

On the way into the city, we stopped at the catholic basillica. It was huge. I was amazed they built anything that size in Africa, especially a church. There was a main church building but there was also an altar outside as well.

Then our next task was to find a hotel. We tried the "nice" hotel first but it was all booked up. Our next option was the hotel with no running water, which I was prepared for. However we found another hotel that had one room for the four of us. This hotel had running water! However one of us had to sleep on the floor, which Jenna volunteered for.

We set out to go climb the hills. We went back to the church and found a local guide. The reason for the guide was because some of the hills are used for voodoo sacrifice. Our guide had a to pay a man to go up the hill. It was a pretty good hike up but once we got up there and looked out upon Dassa, I couldn't believe my eyes. So amazing.

After that we went walking around the town. Dassa is so much calmer and quieter then Cotonou. It was just nice walking around and not worrying about being run over.

We came across a Fan Milk store. Fan Milk is their "ice cream" or frozen juices here. Typically guys walk around with carts or on bikes selling it. They are not too bad and you can't beat anything cold when it is hot outside.

Also along our walk we came upon women gathering water out of a well. So we went over and we asked if we could try and they let us. So we all took turns gathering the water and we really had a good time. What impressed me the most was that these women lift ups these huge buckets of water and then put them on their heads and walk with them without spilling them.

A funny incident happened. One of the women was motioning to me that she wanted my shirt, I dont know why, the one I was wearing. So I lifted my shirt up a little bit to sure her I couldn't because my stomach is so pale and she screamed! I started to laugh.

We walked to a hotel for dinner. I had chicken and french fries which is typical option on menus. There wasn't much chicken there because the animals here are small. The strange thing about this hotel was that they had ostrich in the back of the hotel. I have no clue why but they had 4 of them. They were caged up with not very good wire but there was some sort of fence there.

VVF

VVF stands for vesicovaginal fisutla and is women have a whole between the bladder and vagina, which results in this women leaking urine all the time. This is typically caused by prolonged labor, usually days, and the result is usually a still birth. On rare occasion, rape can also cause VVF.

This does ever occur in the states, and if it does it is very rare, and the reason for that is because we have health care, c-sections, diagnostic test, etc. This occurs here typically in remote villages where there is little to no health care.

Often times this women become abandoned and their husbands kick them out of the house. The women are usually from remote villages in the northern parts on Benin or surrounding countries and they have travel hundred of miles to make it to the ship Keep in mind these women are very poor and transportation here is nothing like back home. Driving 10 miles can take an hour.

To make the situation more complicated, the surgery does not always fix the problem. Some women require multiple surgeries (which has to happen over many months to years) and even then some women can't be fixed. This is due to many variables, such as the tissue that the surgeon has to work with, the number of fistulas there are , the size of them, etc. Also it can't be just any surgeon the surgeon has to be especially trained in this. So the surgeon has typically had to work in Africa and get trained.

So Mercy Ships is performed 20 surgeries over the past 2 weeks for these women. These women take many weeks to heal and their post operative care is long and involved.

I was not particularly looking forward to caring for them and I thought I wouldn't have to because I am a pediatric nurse. I was wrong. So last night was my first night to work with these women and I was a little nervous because I didn't know how to properly care for them at first. I asked a lot of questions and became comfortable. During the night, I started reading their charts for their medical and social history and my heart became heavy. We ask if these women were left by their husbands, if they had any kids, can they read or write, etc. Most of these women were left by their spouse, most cant read or write and they will probably never have children again. It just broke me inside. The fact that I even take for granted that I educated enough to be able to communicate and I have the ability to learn whatever I want to. Also that I have healthcare where this doesn't happen and it shouldn't have to happen in the year 2009.

I am really glad I ended up with this ward with these women. They have been through more pain then I will ever know. They have been outcasted and they leak urine all the time. Many for decades or more.

I could go on and on but I have to go to work. I will see what tonight brings.

Dantkopa Market

Today I went to the biggest market in West Africa, the Dantkopa Marche, with Kate. They sell everything there: goats, crabs, fish, clothes, soap, jewelry, dishes, prepared food, etc. There are people everywhere and navigating through the traffic is difficult but not as difficult as the African women balancing things on their head and walking through the crowds. We saw a women carrying a plate with a rim and the rim had clothes on hangers on it. She was a walking clothes rack. Goats were tied up together. I saw live crabs. You could live chickens. Any sort of meat you could as for. Then you can also shop for any apparel that you would want.

I wasn't able to take photos in the market because it was so crowded and I would stand out more then I already do.