Thursday, March 24, 2011

Women’s Day! And Random Observations

International Women’s Day

March 8 was the 100th annual International Women’s Day. As I wrote about in a previous blog, I coordinated a career panel at the high school. The five women who came represented some impressive yet attainable careers for women in Benin: a computer technician, an elementary school director, head of decentralization within the mayor’s office, a community hygiene agent, and the training coordinator for Peace Corps, a woman who has worked in 10 African countries during her Peace Corps career. The women first shared about themselves, their backgrounds, and careers. All women grew up in circumstances similar to that of the 47 high school girls (all female students in the last two years of high school), in rural communities where the education of women was often thought an unnecessary expense. Two women in particular had moving stories. The mayor’s employee was the youngest woman on the panel, at 25, and she started her career at 21. From Zè herself, she spoke of always being the hardest working individual in her high school class, of having an intelligence and work ethic that, if she were to have been born under more favorable circumstances, would have allowed her to pursue a job in the city or even France. After two years of college, which is more education than most girls from Zè even dream of, her parents were no longer able to pay her tuition. She came back to Zè and beat out an all-male applicant pool for a good job at the mayor’s office, where she encountered disdain from male employees for her status on a regular basis. She spoke of the hope that she could save enough money working at the mayor’s office to allow her to return to college, to pay her tuition, room, and board herself. She also spoke of her promise to herself to not marry young; she realized that if she were to marry it would probably be followed by children not long after, and that she would lose the chance to return to college. She was the most accessible woman to the girls, just a few years old than them and with a demeanor that was energetic and inviting.

The Peace Corps training coordinator also had a moving story. I know this woman well, have worked with her for several trainings and Peace Corps activities, and yet never knew the diversity she faced to get where she is. She grew up in a village much smaller than mine and was the first girl to graduate high school from there. Her father faced nearly constant pressure from the community to stop sending her to school and some male teachers at her school tried to fail her. Her family was unable to afford to send her to college, so she paid for it all on her own and lived minimally. She said that in those years she suffered a lot. The girls were so moved by her story that they applauded for her several times, and during the Q&A that followed directed many questions at her. The girls asked a ton of questions, so many that we almost just forgot about the rest of the program to hear the questions. The dialogue developed into how to handle harassment from male teachers, balancing the demands of family with school and work, searching for support when family will no longer pay for school, and so on. After that the girls got into small groups and talked about their individual career ambitions and what they can do to achieve them. The girls all got certificates of participation and took photos with the women, which I think they really appreciated. So, success!


Some things I have failed to mention in the past but that are noteworthy:

Greetings. I’ve touched on this before, the extent of greetings in this country. A normal conversation might be: How’d you sleep/wake up? Did your kids wake up? And your husband? How’s your health? I thought I’d share with you a few other greetings used here:

Things you can say to someone you pass on the road: Are you returning? Are you going where you’re going? Are you coming from where you came from? Did you do a little work? Welcome! (even if you are clearly still going somewhere, not arriving)

To someone sitting: Are you there? Did you do a little work? Good sitting! Did you sell a little today? (assuming that they are sitting in front of a pile of tomatoes/smoked fish/fried dough balls/etc. for sale)

To someone leaving: Will you leave and come back?

It is also appropriate to greet neighbors in the morning with “Thanks for yesterday” assuming that if they didn’t do anything specific like let you borrow their well bag, they surely sent good thoughts your way. And to say goodnight to them you’d say “May god wake you up in the morning.” But if you can learn only one greeting, “How’d you wake up?” will be the most useful. We say that here till well into the afternoon.

Poop finger. Many Beninese grow the pinky nail on their left hand very long and use it to “wipe” (not the most apt verb but anything else would be too descriptive). Toilet paper doesn’t exist everywhere, and, besides, this is how it was done before the white man came in trumpeting his two-ply butt wipe.

Teleporting abilities. Beninese claim that they can go to the market, the US, anywhere in the world, without being transported. Not all Beninese, only the “fetishers,” which more or less means to have that ability you must sell your soul to the devil. There are several methods of doing this, one being to climb into a hollow tree that acts as a portal to the destination of your choice, and another involving the use of dirt from the desired location. Just put a mound of it on the ground here, step on it, and voila!

Voodoo convents. This is an interesting concept I recently learned about. While trying to translate “role model” into French, I learned that the idea of model women (les femmes modèles) is used to describe women who have gone through these rigorous programs in which girls and young women enroll for a couple years, completely withdraw from their families and societies, and “learn how to live.” It’s unclear what they learn exactly, because it does not cover any traditional school subjects like math and science, and washing clothes and preparing food they can learn at home. I know they learn a voodoo language, and the secrets of their “fetisher” (voodoo spell man) teacher. Beninese claim women who graduate from these convents have the best manners and most respectful demeanor of all women in Benin, in addition to knowing all the voodoo secrets and thus having the power to do God knows what to anyone who crosses them. It is said that they have taken an oath of fidelity so powerful that they will die on the spot if they are unfaithful to their husbands. They wear all white gowns that are similar to a burka, no skin shown. I haven’t seen this first hand, these convents are carefully hidden and would not allow a “yovo” to visit them, unfortunately.

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