Benin Bucket List (in no particular order)

In my pre-trip research, I've been taking in huge amounts of information about things like health and dietary recommendations, to the best ways to get around in Cotonou, places to shop for supplies, how I should dress, etc. As with with prettymuch any place on earth, this research has uncovered some reasons to be wary... but for the most part, the more I learned, the more I feel excited to arrive and actually BE THERE. :D So I've decided to create a bucket list of sorts, with some things that I'm looking forward to experiencing when I finally get to Benin. I would expect it to grow exponentially in the next month. :)

1. Dantokpa market
It's probably not the only market in Cotonou, but I've heard it's the biggest, and an incredible place to visit! Since this will probably be an easy item to check off the list, I'll make it a little more interesting: At the Dantokpa market, I want to find a stall that sells instruments, and learn to play something I've never heard of. Should be fun :)
Here's an article I found describing a walk through the market--it compares it to an outdoor, third-world Walmart

2. The beach
Pretty straightforward and easy, so to make it more exciting, my goal will be to bring a picnic lunch and enjoy it there.

3. Get a zemidjan tour
The main form of wheeled transportation in Cotonou is the zemidjan, or a motorcycle-taxi. Apparently there's about 72,000 of these guys circulating around the city, and they will take you prettymuch anywhere in the city for around 250 CFA (which is about 50 cents US). On one travel blog that I read, the person said they paid their driver about twice that and asked him to give them a tour of Cotonou. apparently the driver was excited to show off his home city, and gave them a really nice tour. What a great way to see a city! So voila--here it is on my bucket list.
(don't worry mom and dad, I'm buying a helmet when I get there.)
Other fun links:
If you want to read more about zemidjans and what it's like to ride one
A funny series of YouTube vids that I found -- the characters are Beninese zemidjan drivers, and it consists of them chatting while they're taking a break from work. In the first one, one tells his friend that while he visited Paris, he started dating Sarkozy's daughter, and now they are in a serious relationship. Sarkozy is the president of France. The zemidjan driver is pretty proud of himself until he learns that Sarkozy doesn't have any daughters, which makes it funnier ^_^
In one of the later exchanges, one guy tells his friend about a really attractive woman that he picked up and brought to the pharmacy. It turns out that this woman was his friend's mother, and he is duly humiliated.

4. Get a tailor-made dress
In Cotonou you can go to a tailor, pick out a fabric, and purchase a tailor-made dress for the equivalent of about $15. This will be an amazing souvenir to keep with me when I come home, and help me to pack light when I move over there ;)

5. Visit Ganvie
Village on stilts anyone? And it's just a little ways north of Cotonou. Way cool!

6. Safari!
I mean, it could happen! I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Benin is apparently home to lions, cheetahs, leopards, red river hogs, spotted hyenas, honey badgers (I know a few friends of mine who will laugh out loud when they read that...), all manner of mongoose (mongeese?), elephants, hippopotamus, buffalo, gazelle, and baboons, just to name a few. You probably don't see all of these on a safari, but I still thought it was cool!

19 days!

Oh wow, so much has happened in the past two weeks since my last post. Working at a summer camp tends to keep you on your toes in all the best ways :)

First, I'm a little delayed in sharing this news (apologies), but as of last week, my trip is...
FULLY FUNDED!!
Thank you to everyone that generously offered their financial support, and to everyone that prayed for God to provide the necessary funds to make this possible. I am overwhelmed with gratitude!

This is pretty close to my reaction when I got this news. Enjoy:

So yeah! Receiving all my funding was a huge milestone, and now all that's left to do is:

1. Pray
2. Finish packing (Anyone have an extra mosquito net lying around? Shoot me an email!)
3. Pray some more
4. I'd like to bring a "thank you" gift to Carole, the Director of Wycliffe Benin who has been helping me prepare for this trip since the beginning of the summer. Any good gift ideas?
5. PRAY.

In case any of my readers find this interesting, here are a couple fun (used as a relative term in this case...) pages that I've come across in my research about Cotonou:

• A very interesting page that gives details on the climate and weather in Cotonou
• Benin, Yovo Style--This is a illustrated journal (written in French, sorry anglophones) written by a girl who traveled to Benin. Talks about the things she packed and some of the things she did, and I'm a fan of her cheeky style :) (If you were wondering, "yovo" is a word people in Benin use to describe white people. From what I've heard, it's kind of like the word "gringo" in South and Central America, and it's not necessarily derogatory)

Ebola Outbreak

I'm planning to give an update on how trip preparation is going, but first I wanted to give some information about the ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, for anyone who is interested. I'm sure most of my readers have heard about it, whether or not they've deliberately sought out information on the subject. In this post I'm going to share some links to articles that I've found useful.

First off, the outbreak has it's own Wikipedia article. I found its descriptions of how various countries have been affected and are taking measures to contain the spread of Ebola to be helpful.

The outbreak started back in March, 2014, but I hadn't really caught wind of it until the past few weeks. I was a little late on the news uptake because I was so often busy with my work at camp. At this time there have been more than 1,700 cases and over 900 deaths caused by the outbreak.

Here is an interactive timeline of how the virus has progressed, with a map of countries that have been affected.

Other articles covering the outbreak
New York Times
CNN
New Republic
New York Magazine
USA Today

For anyone that is wondering how all of this has affected the area where I will be in Benin, as far as I know, there have not been any confirmed Ebola cases in Benin since the start of the outbreak. In Nigeria, Benin's neighbor to the east, there have been around 10 confirmed cases and, sadly, 2 deaths. From what I've read, it sounds like the Nigerian government's ability to identify the cases as Ebola early on has helped them to respond effectively and treat affected individuals. It also sounds like travel between African countries is being greatly restricted and regulated.

I would like to ask anyone reading this to spend some time in the weeks and months ahead praying for the people of West Africa

• For God to comfort those who are sick and those who have suffered the loss of loved ones
• For God's protection and healing to be known in affected areas
• For doctors who are called to provide care for the sick