Malaria Dreams

So it's been awhile since I've been able to write anything even remotely detailed. Sorry. But now, due to some extenuating circumstances, I have a bit more free time with the internet. As the title suggests, I am sick with malaria. Now, this is not so uncommon among volunteers, and almost all locals contract it at some point. Rachel, the volunteer who I replaced, had it. Several volunteers in my stage had it. And now I do. It's not so bad, at least not 24/7. But when the symptoms hit, mostly at night, it's on. Sweats, shaking, strange visions, and an inability to tell the difference between actual events and those that were dreamt. I have a very vivid recollection of a volunteer giving me a recipe that involved eggs. But there was no volunteer there. Banal, yes, but you get the point.

Anyway, since sickness hasn't been consuming my life for my blogless past month, I can give you some other tidbits of information. To start, after a round of interviews, I was given the position of PCVL (PCV leader) in Parakou for the next year. What eventually led me to this decision was my lack of love for the teaching conditions in Benin. I'm a little less patient than what I think is required, although I'm told that I do a good job. There will be someone replacing me next year in Kemon, so I'll be able to visit whenever I want. I'm going to deeply miss many of the people there, but at least its not goodbye forever. The hard part will be informing them. Since I want to tell my principal first, I was planning on doing it on Monday. Fate intervened in the form of malaria and delayed the meeting, so that still is pending.

PCVLs are regional supervisors, basically. I will visit peoples' posts, address any problems/concerns, work on new site selection, and manage the workstation in Parakou. I also am required to start my own initiatives outside of the PC world. There are several volunteers who have started projects or have ideas, and there are plenty of opportunities to find work in Parakou. This will hopefully allow me to focus more on the business development aspect of the Peace Corps, but I hope to also continue teaching in the form of correspondence and English clubs at local high schools. That being said, I'm excited. Thanks to the efforts of Kyle, the present PCVL, the workstation just moved out of its rat-infested predecessor and into a newer, nicer location with a facade like that of a Swiss Chateau.

I'll try to post some pics of other things I've been doing, but I have no way to upload pictures on this desktop. :( Happy Cinco de Mayo to everyone!