Weeks 1 & 2: Meeting our Famille d’Accueil
Bonjour tout le monde!
We left off with our arrival in the Lokossa Training Center Wednesday June 12, 2019. All three sectors, TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language), SAS (sustainable agricultural systems), and RCH (rural community health) stayed in the Training Center for the next three nights. On Saturday, June 15, 2019, we were separated into language classes within our respective sectors based on our French level coming into the program. SAS and RCH were then assigned host families (famille d’accueil) in villages outside of Lokossa and TEFL was assigned host families in Lokossa. I was put in a language class with five other women in RCH and we were all assigned host families in a village called Koudo, about 20 minutes away from the training center. We were also assigned a Language and Cultural Facilitator (LCF) named Raymond who lives (for the time being) in Koudo with us and teaches our language classes.
My host family has never had a volunteer before, which is fairly unusual but also a great opportunity for both me and the family. My host father is a retired school teacher who now works (from what I understand) in the door making industry. He speaks very good French and made me feel very welcomed in his home. My host father however has another wife and five other children in Lokossa, so he spends half his time in Koudo and half his time in Lokossa. Because of my schedule, I don’t see him as often as everyone else in my host family. My host mother, who immediately called me sa fille (her daughter) and therefore I call her maman (mom), is the person I communicate most with in the house. She is a very well educated mother of four who speaks very good French and has a good sense of humor with my charades when I can’t express myself clearly in French. My maman is a pre-school teacher but also makes and sells soap. She has been incredibly generous and kind to me during my first two weeks in her home and I’m very grateful already to have met her. My oldest host sibling is my 18 year old brother who I recently found out wants to become an electrician and is currently taking courses to learn more about it. He is always listening to music or texting on his phone, and when I am away from the house he will text me to see how my day is going and wish me safe travels back and forth from Lokossa to Koudo. Next there is my 17 year old sister who I am constantly impressed by. She leads the choir at my family’s church and has an absolutely beautiful singing voice. She is not very tall but she is extremely strong. We don’t have running water in our house so we walk about 5 minutes to go get water from the pump. I’ve gone with her on a few occasions and one time she carried what had to be at least 50 lbs of water on top of her head back to the house, and then did it three more times! I wish I had taken a picture, but honestly I haven’t been carrying my phone around with me hardly at all because I don’t want to be “that American tourist.” As a result, I don’t have very many pictures. My sister is amazing and I think we will be very close by the time my three months with my host family is done. Next is my 14 year old brother who is the lover of cards. I brought a deck of cards and Banana Grams to play with my family, and we play cards every day. I’ve learned a new game called Pique, which is very simple and very fun. My 10 year old brother also loves cards so we play that often, but he also is the jokester of the family. He is always making maman and his siblings laugh with jokes and with doing silly things. He is truly a joy to be around, I hope he doesn’t every grow out of that. Finally, there are two boys who are at our house constantly but who are not my father and mother’s children. There is another 18 year old, a friend of my 18 year old brother, who is here for the time being to take his BAC (entrance exam for college). This last weekend, he helped me with my homework and enjoyed it a little too much, telling me to scratch out things misspelled in my notes and bossing me around. I told him he was a mean teacher and it kind of became the joke of household which was funny. We joke around a lot, and I’m thankful for the ability to laugh even when I can’t be expressive as I am normally. There is also a 5 year old boy who doesn’t speak any French yet, but is one of my best friends here in Benin. He always holds my hand or tries to make me laugh which makes me feel part of the community.
I have been living with my host family for three weeks now and we have definitely had our differences but I’m learning so much and making tons of progress both in my French language and even learning a little bit of Fon (local language). We had a small 4th of July Celebration at our villages with our host families, and I included a photo below! (Sorry there aren’t more pictures, it was taking forever to upload). Until next time!
We left off with our arrival in the Lokossa Training Center Wednesday June 12, 2019. All three sectors, TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language), SAS (sustainable agricultural systems), and RCH (rural community health) stayed in the Training Center for the next three nights. On Saturday, June 15, 2019, we were separated into language classes within our respective sectors based on our French level coming into the program. SAS and RCH were then assigned host families (famille d’accueil) in villages outside of Lokossa and TEFL was assigned host families in Lokossa. I was put in a language class with five other women in RCH and we were all assigned host families in a village called Koudo, about 20 minutes away from the training center. We were also assigned a Language and Cultural Facilitator (LCF) named Raymond who lives (for the time being) in Koudo with us and teaches our language classes.
My host family has never had a volunteer before, which is fairly unusual but also a great opportunity for both me and the family. My host father is a retired school teacher who now works (from what I understand) in the door making industry. He speaks very good French and made me feel very welcomed in his home. My host father however has another wife and five other children in Lokossa, so he spends half his time in Koudo and half his time in Lokossa. Because of my schedule, I don’t see him as often as everyone else in my host family. My host mother, who immediately called me sa fille (her daughter) and therefore I call her maman (mom), is the person I communicate most with in the house. She is a very well educated mother of four who speaks very good French and has a good sense of humor with my charades when I can’t express myself clearly in French. My maman is a pre-school teacher but also makes and sells soap. She has been incredibly generous and kind to me during my first two weeks in her home and I’m very grateful already to have met her. My oldest host sibling is my 18 year old brother who I recently found out wants to become an electrician and is currently taking courses to learn more about it. He is always listening to music or texting on his phone, and when I am away from the house he will text me to see how my day is going and wish me safe travels back and forth from Lokossa to Koudo. Next there is my 17 year old sister who I am constantly impressed by. She leads the choir at my family’s church and has an absolutely beautiful singing voice. She is not very tall but she is extremely strong. We don’t have running water in our house so we walk about 5 minutes to go get water from the pump. I’ve gone with her on a few occasions and one time she carried what had to be at least 50 lbs of water on top of her head back to the house, and then did it three more times! I wish I had taken a picture, but honestly I haven’t been carrying my phone around with me hardly at all because I don’t want to be “that American tourist.” As a result, I don’t have very many pictures. My sister is amazing and I think we will be very close by the time my three months with my host family is done. Next is my 14 year old brother who is the lover of cards. I brought a deck of cards and Banana Grams to play with my family, and we play cards every day. I’ve learned a new game called Pique, which is very simple and very fun. My 10 year old brother also loves cards so we play that often, but he also is the jokester of the family. He is always making maman and his siblings laugh with jokes and with doing silly things. He is truly a joy to be around, I hope he doesn’t every grow out of that. Finally, there are two boys who are at our house constantly but who are not my father and mother’s children. There is another 18 year old, a friend of my 18 year old brother, who is here for the time being to take his BAC (entrance exam for college). This last weekend, he helped me with my homework and enjoyed it a little too much, telling me to scratch out things misspelled in my notes and bossing me around. I told him he was a mean teacher and it kind of became the joke of household which was funny. We joke around a lot, and I’m thankful for the ability to laugh even when I can’t be expressive as I am normally. There is also a 5 year old boy who doesn’t speak any French yet, but is one of my best friends here in Benin. He always holds my hand or tries to make me laugh which makes me feel part of the community.
I have been living with my host family for three weeks now and we have definitely had our differences but I’m learning so much and making tons of progress both in my French language and even learning a little bit of Fon (local language). We had a small 4th of July Celebration at our villages with our host families, and I included a photo below! (Sorry there aren’t more pictures, it was taking forever to upload). Until next time!
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