Cotonou

I returned to Cotonou two days ago in order to pick up a few supplies, collect two students, and to work on getting the one year visa and bank account for the one person in our group staying in Benin. Everything will happen in its own time concerning those things, so I will continue to roll with the punches.

As is often the case, the long term visa might be impossible, requiring CR to return to the capital every three months. There are definitely worse things in life. We are definitely closer to the possibility of getting her a bank account so that we can transfer money here, so that is a good ting.

Besides those things, I tracked down white board makers, bought a car battery, found a map of Benin (on accident, but I shall not complain), bought the chauffeur a mattress for the village, gathered some food supplies, and made several trips to the university. I shall not complain about productivity these two days. This afternoon should be filled with some printing, getting a pile of photocopying done, and another trip out to the university. Anyway…here are a few comments on some of the purchases of this trip to the capital.

-I found this amazing white board that is really thin and rolls up into a tube. It could easily be carried on the plane, and will be wonderful for my trainings. But, I did not bother to buy white board markers as they were readily available last year. However, someone must have gone through and bought out all of my favorite stationary stores in the capital this year—these are normally the most well stocked locations. But, perseverance pays off, and I have some in hand.

-The car battery. The education project requires electricity to charge computers on a regular basis. If you have ever worked with small generators in many developing countries, you know that they can be extremely unreliable. I wanted to shoot the one that we bought last year. So, we have a collapsible solar panel this year that we will use to charge the car battery during the day. Then, if all works out, we can charge the necessary computers by night. I’ll let you know how this does or does not work. But, God is gracious, and the chauffeur to me to a place that had batteries that you do not have to do maintenance on. When I wanted one for something else last year, a person I work with had no clue such things even existed. Yet one more point for the chauffeur!

-PG Tips. Every year I buy tea here—normally I can find Twinnings (sp?), which makes me much happier than Liptons. However, this year I stumbled across PGTips for even less—and it is good stuff! Thank you Fischers for introducing me to your favorite tea!

I think that is about it for now. We head back to village tomorrow morning, so my outdoor showers are about to begin J