Reduce, re-use, recycle ... bury, burn, give to the chickens!

Before arriving in Benin, I had already wondered what we would do with our rubbish. In 2002 I had been to visit the Kandi town council's rubbish disposal department, but it was a new development and I knew that not all towns in Benin have the same facilities. Here in Parakou we don't rely on outside assistance with our rubbish.

The three “R”s – reduce, re-use, recycle – are a good start. If we can use less and get used to using things again or in a different way, then we have less rubbish to deal with. This is something that people here seem to do far more instinctively than us! Recycling in Benin doesn't mean putting things into different coloured bags and handing it over to the authorities to process, it is all done at home, sometimes with a lot of imagination.

But what about what's left? Here on our compound, there there are four mission houses, and our rubbish is all put together. Any vegetable leftovers, which at home we'd put on the compost heap, are given to our neighbours' chickens. The rest of our rubbish is burned at the other side of the compound, and what is left after burning is buried on another part of the compound.

The one very visible rubbish problem in Benin (as I suspect is the case elsewhere in Africa) is the ubiquitous small black plastic bag, which comes wrapped around everything you buy. These are not recycled – or reused – and you see them lying at the side of the road everywhere. Coming from Europe where there has been such a push in the last few years to get rid of plastic bags, it is something you can't help noticing.

a typical day (as much as any day is typical at the moment!)

Today (Tuesday 16th June) seemed a good example of a typical day, so I thought I would describe it for you.

By 7.30 we were all awake, so got up and had breakfast at about 8. At 8.30, Esther (our home help) arrived, and got on with washing clothes and nappies. It all has to be done by hand, so her work is precious! At 8.45 I was just feeding Benjy and Marc was having his shower when Esther called that we had visitors. It was a missionary couple who had just been in Parakou for the night, dropping their teenage sons off to stay with our neighbours', and they were calling round to greet us and to pass on some things, notably some toys for Simon. Simon was extremely taken by the tractors and other farm machinery in the big box they handed over!

We had arranged to meet the SIM Benin-Togo Director, Clara, this morning, but hadn't been given an exact time. So we went to coffee-and-pancakes at the South Station (where the guesthouse and offices are) and were able to greet some of the leaders of UEEB (the Union of Evangelical Churches of Benin). We went on to spend time with Clara – helpfully Benjy slept through the entire meeting, and we sat Simon in front of a DVD which absorbed him completely.

We came home for lunch, and while we were eating it Esther came back (she cooks the midday meal for another missionary) and took Benjy on her back while she worked so that I could get some rest during siesta time.

At 2.45 Marc set off back to the South Station, where he was spending the afternoon working alongside Walter, who does a lot of maintenance work there. I spent most of the afternoon in our kitchen, cooking up chicken stock from yesterday's chicken, squeezing orange juice and preparing the evening meal. When Simon and Benjy woke up, Benjy joined me in the kitchen (since he can't get in my way yet!) and Simon played either in his bedroom in or between the living room and the kitchen.

Miriam, our Swiss neighbour, called round at one point to arrange times to go shopping together – part of my unofficial orientation! – and at 5ish her girls came round to play with my boys. They left again at 6, just after Marc got home, and we ate our evening meal. Beef curry with potatoes, carrots and green beans, with small bananas for dessert.

Then as usual it was bath- and bedtime for the boys. I transferred my cooled chicken stock into the freezer and went out onto the verandah to take down all the dry washing – almost everything except the nappies. Then I just had some time for blogging before getting ready for bed … early, as the nights are very broken at the moment! (Benjy has been waking every hour or so – things are just starting to improve a little since we stopped giving him the anti-malarial treatment.)

first illness

Not being able to stand up without feeling dizzy or sick is disabling, to say the least, and I wasn’t very happy when this hit me as I tried to cook lunch yesterday. I was sick later in the evening, and was running a slight temperature. I doubt it is anything serious, and it seems to be clearing up already.

I suspect that the heat and general tiredness (due to very broken nights) made me vulnerable to some African tummy bug. It is less worrying when it is me rather than one of the boys, anyway!

bon appétit!

A few people asked me before we left England what vegetables we’d be able to buy here in Benin, and I had to admit that I wasn’t too sure. Well, I can now answer, at least in part! There is a woman who comes selling fruit and vegetables at our door, and my neighbour Miriam told me that although she is more expensive than the market, it is worth it to save the journey. Last week I bought lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, onions, garlic, green beans, an avocado pear, potatoes, mangoes and eggs. Ok, so the last aren’t fruit or veg, but they are mostly definitely a local product! This week the same selection of vegetables was available, with oranges, bananas and apples. The same woman apparently delivers up to the missionaries living in the North, where we’re going, though charging even higher prices because of the distance. It might be worth it though, since fewer vegetables can be grown up there where it is hotter and drier.

Simon loves mango, and when we eat it he chants, “More, please! Mango, please! More, please! Mango, please!” Benjy seems very put out to still be excluded at mealtimes. I don’t dare tell him that he has another seven weeks or so to wait!

The main meats that are eaten are chicken and beef … and when I was last here I ate guinea fowl too. The beef is a lot tougher than we’re used to, and we’ve had to invest in dental floss and toothpicks! Fish is available, though this far up the country it is generally dried fish. We can also get tinned tuna, at a price!

Many Western products are available if you are willing to pay high prices. We have bought in some tinned food for now, but I am hoping that as we get used to the local produce we won’t need to use it so much. We can buy Thai rice too, in large quantities, and with Simon’s passion for rice I suspect we will continue to buy it on a regular basis!

first big challenge

I have already mentioned this in passing, but we are beginning to realise that the first big challenge for us is water. Theoretically we are well set up in this house – we have running water, and even have a filter on one of our taps. However, this compound is at one of the highest points of the town of Parakou, and as soon as there are water cuts, we are affected. When we moved in on Friday (29th May) the water had been off for three days or so. Our neighbours on the compound (Swiss-German SIM missionaries who have been extremely helpful) told us that we didn’t need to worry too much, as we have a 300 litre reserve tank under our roof. “Well, if it were just the two of you you’d be fine,” they added, “with small children you will use a lot of water…”

Three days later and we still have no water coming through. We had a bit during the night last night, but it was probably only on for a few minutes. So we are being very careful about the water we do use. We’re having “African showers” – a bucketful to lather up, another bucketful to wash it off – and then using that water to flush the loos. But of course, in this heat we have to make sure that we do drink plenty … and we certainly can’t stop washing!!

The problem is apparently not to do with lack of water, as another missionary said she’d recently been to the lake which serves as a reservoir for the town, and it is full. It is more to do with problems with the supply – faulty pipes and so on. All very frustrating, and very little we can do about it!

To move on slightly, I just thought I’d explain the compound we are living on. It contains three missionary houses, a radio studio, Parakou Christian (Primary) School, and the boarding house which also houses another missionary family (the Swiss-German family mentioned above). It is pretty big – it has a small football pitch in the middle of it, and a deer living on it (which we only saw today for the first time). There are a lot of trees around, including fruit trees which drop heavy fruits from time to time with a muffled boom.

It can be quite noisy during the day, as we have a sawmill next door … and at night as there is a very musical (!) bar open over the weekends. Plus the normal chorus of crickets and, if it has rained recently, toads. It definitely doesn’t sound like Europe!