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DEADBEAT
SPRING-SUMMER 2003 Kerekou’s
Party Wins a Clear Majority The
coalition of Benin's President Mathieu Kerekou has won legislative elections,
securing a solid parliamentary majority for the first time since democracy was
introduced in the small west African nation in 1991, the election commission
announced.
It said provisional results from Sunday's polls showed the ruling Union
for the Benin of the Future (UBF) and its allies had won 50 of the 83 seats in
the unicameral parliament, against 33 for opposition parties.
The election commission said the main opposition Renaissance of Benin (RB)
led by former president Nicephore Soglo and the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD)
headed by Adrien Houngbedji, the mayor of Benin's capital Porto Novo, had won 15
and 12 seats respectively.
Kerekou, dubbed the "chameleon" for his flexible political
ideology, was re-elected in 2001. But
the results from Sunday's vote marked the first time he has won an absolute
majority in parliament. Kerekou
led the country's fifth military coup in 1972. But in December 1990, a new
constitution adopted by referendum officially put an end to 17 years of a
military-Marxist regime in the former French colony.
Soglo, a former World Bank official, won Benin's first multi-party polls
in 1991 and served as president until 1996, when he lost elections to Kerekou.
About 3.1 million people were registered to vote to pick the new national
assembly from 1 162 candidates from 14 parties and political alliances, but
apathy reportedly prevailed and voter turnout was low.
A total of 11 parties will
be represented in the new parliament. Reprinted
from: South African Press Association April 4, 2003 We’re
Looking for a Treasurer! After three
years of superb service to Friends of Benin, Lori Killpatrick will be resigning
effective XXXXXXXXXX. Lori
is the Treasurer/Secretary and Membership Coordinator for FoB.
She has kept our finances and membership database in top shape.
We are very sad to see her leave. She
promises to stay involved with FoB—in fact, she mailed this newsletter.
While nobody can fill her shoes, we do need someone to take over her
duties. Please consider becoming
the Treasurer/Secretary and Membership Coordinator of Friends of Benin.
For a job description, go to www.friends-of-benin.org and click on the
“by-laws” link. If you are
interested in pursuing this position, please contact a current FoB officer as
soon as possible. Message from the Oval Office by President Reublinger While
sitting in front of my computer late one night searching through the web a
realization came into my head. It’s
been just over a year since I took office as President of FOB.
That seems like such a long time ago.
When I look at the big picture I realize that not much has changed.
We are still a strong dedicated group of RPCV’s trying to not forget
the past and yet still moving forward. As
President, I have had the pleasure to work along side some of the most dedicated
people this last year. They take
the time out from their stressful daily jobs to sit down, think of a far off
land, and remember all the friends they had made in such a short two-year time.
We have never been together in the same place at the same time but we
still manage to keep our little organization alive through dedication and hard
work. I’m proud to be involved with such a group of people that I
wish that some of them didn’t have to go. Times
change and so FOB will change with them. We
are currently seeking new Officers (Treasurer and Deadbeat Designer) to take
over the fine work of the past. We
are a young group with unlimited ways of expansion.
However, FOB can’t expand without your help.
Becoming an Officer would insure that our strength continues. I’m
happy to be your President. I know
that whomever rises to the challenge to make a difference will bring new light
and ideas to the group. I look
forward to working with them in the future. Deadbeat Graphic Designer Resigns - Christopher
Robbins has been designing the “American” Deadbeat for a few years now.
With other professional obligations filling his plate, he has decided to
resign. He currently resides in
Fiji where he is working as the "Multimedia Specialist" at the
University of South Pacific Media Centre. Please
consider filling this position. Deadbeats
are published 2 –3 times per year. The
Deadbeat Editor (which should be known as Deadbeat “Gatherer of
Contributions”) works closely with the Graphic Designer to get our little
newsletter out to our membership. If
you would like to help out with the Deadbeat, let one of the officers know.
Thanks! Welcome New Members Tuve Floden, Norman Hall, Kathleen Connolly, Katy Klymus, Kristofer Bowmaster Gwen Paillette, Heather Campbell, Kolthida Beng, Megan Newell, Meisha Robinson, Christian Wheelock and Elizabeth
Young Friends
of Benin Financial Report January – December 2002 Initial
Balance: $ 2,389.86 (01/01/02) Income
+$1,090.70 (Membership
Dues, NPCA/FoB Fete, T-shirts, Misc.) Expenses:
-$1,216.10 (Newsletter Printing and Postage Costs, FoB Fete
Reimbursements, Website Fees, NPCA dues) Balance:
$2,264.46 (12/31/02) Announcing… J The Birth of Elliot
Graham Stern. Born to Erin Granan
and Paul Stern (RPCV 90-93) on February 4, 2003.
He was 8 pounds 13 ounces and 21.5 inches. Rumor is he is smarter than average. A NEW SPOUSE?
A NEW HOUSE? A NEW FAMILY MEMBER?
A NEW JOB? Send your
announcements to the editor of this glorious newsletter, she’ll print them in
the next edition. Send news to: Searching for Puzzle Pieces By
Brian Reublinger Ouch! These thorns really hurt:
On April 10th I was trying to cross a muddy stream.
It’s not like I haven’t tried to cross one before.
In-fact that day I had crossed more than I wanted ever to remember.
To get to this point, out in the middle of nowhere, I had been cut and
scraped with thorns and vines on every exposed area of skin on my face, neck,
and wrists. With a little luck I
find a way around down stream to a narrow section and jump across.
On the other side, after a few steps, I notice something white among all
the black decomposing leaf litter and stagnant water.
When I pick it up I discover that it’s a piece of tile.
Alright!
Why is this so important that I’m happy that I found something so
insignificant in the middle of nowhere? Because
to a very few people this is just one piece of an even bigger puzzle.
This little piece of tile floated down from the sky some forty miles up.
It was a piece of an even bigger puzzle called STS-107.
Also known as the Space Shuttle Columbia. After putting the piece in a zip lock bag I rejoined the 19
other searchers whom I was with.
For three weeks in April a group of twenty people, including myself, were
called to duty with thousands of other searchers to walk the last flight path of
the space shuttle in eastern Texas. We,
the twenty from the Wallowa/Whitman National Forest, flew down on from Oregon on
April 8th. After a long flight and
a long briefing the next day we started gridding the woods of Texas.
Gridding is a method of search where a person stands beside another in a
line ten feet apart. The line looks
down at the ground while slowly moving. It’s
a method used when police departments search an area for evidence. We were doing exactly that same thing. But instead of looking for a body, we were looking for space
shuttle debris.
We found a lot of things on our trip.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what we actually found, because this
was an investigation in progress. NASA
wanted to treat this like a crime scene. I
understand why. They wanted to find
out why this happened. They also
wanted to make sure that a tragedy like this wouldn’t happen again.
One thing I did find that I could tell you about was the day I was
walking through a pasture with a small creek.
A friend of mine on my right said, “I see a snake.”
So he poked at it with his walking stick, which pissed it off.
However, it didn’t attack him, I soon identified it as a water moccasin
that slithered as fast as it could to attack me. I tried to run backwards but it was too fast.
Right before it leaped up to sink its teeth into me I screamed like a
little girl and sprinted off in another direction.
Narrowly missing me. I’m
sorry to report that act of me, FOB President, screaming like a little girl, but
it seemed like a go idea at that time. However,
the rest of my crew kept reminding me of that funny mistake too.
Oh well.
It was quite an adventure. One
I will never forget. NASA was happy
we were there to help them out. After
14 days of soar legs, countless cuts everywhere on my body from the biggest
thorns I’d ever seen, contracting poison ivy on my legs, face, and arms, and
getting to know some great people we were on our way home. This was a once in a lifetime event (or at least I hope).
With my help no matter how short of time or how little or lot that our
crew found, I hope they find out what went wrong because the journey into space
to explore beyond our limits is what drives everyone to go beyond our
imagination. Angelique
Kidjo’s Newest Album—Released March 2003 From Sony Records: Angilique
Kidjo is more than just one of the world's best-loved African singers--she is a
musical ambassador for her country, Benin, and indeed, for the entire African
continent. Kidjo has crossed musical boundaries by blending the tribal and pop
rhythms of her native West African heritage with a variety of styles, including
funk, salsa, and jazz. On Black
Ivory Soul, Kidjo explores the musical and cultural kinship between
Africa and Brazil, specifically her homeland and the province of Bahia. The
album's 12 songs feature a stellar, multinational group of musicians from
Brazil, Africa, and the USA. For
text to an AFROPOP interview with Angelique
visit : http://allafrica.com/stories/200305140344.html Support Your Local Farmer by
Jessica Duke (with thanks to Sauvie Island Organics) If
you purchased tomatoes at your village market when you were a volunteer in
Benin, chances are they were locally grown and in some small way, your purchase
directly supported the person selling the tomatoes.
Our marché vegetables were usually not grown in some far off land (save
for all those onions from Niger). Now
that we are back “home” such is not the case.
If you purchase fruits and vegetables from your local supermarket,
chances are those vegetables came not from the farmer down the road but from
some other country. There is an
alternative. Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for consumers to create a relationship with
a farm and to receive a weekly basket of produce. By making a financial
commitment to a farm, consumers become "members" (or
"shareholders," or "subscribers") of the CSA. Usually, CSA
members pay a flat fee early in the farming season and will receive fresh
produce throughout the farming season. Some
CSAs also require that members work a small number of hours on the farm during
the growing season. CSA’s
actually began in Japan in the 1960’s. Housewives,
fed up with the poor quality of food that was available in the supermarkets,
decided to do something about it. They
could no longer find the quality produce that had been available before
industrial farming took over. So,
they went out to the country side and found farmers to contract with.
They wanted to encourage farmers to grow organically and they wanted to
rebuild community. The Japanese
farmers were more than happy to have an alternative to the wholesale markets and
they enjoyed providing their costumers with the same quality food that they
themselves ate on their farms. This
housewife-to-farmer agreement was called Teikei or “face to face” and
continues to this day. It is the
origin of the CSA movement in the United States which began in the mid-1980’s. Legend
has it that Mel Higgins (who was a PCV forester in the extreme North of Benin
from 1990 – 1992) had a “CSA” arrangement of his own.
He gave a local farmer money to plant and harvest a whole field of
ignames that Mel would eat when the crop came in.
His arrangement made perfect sense, he lived in a very remote post and
even the smallest market was a distance to travel.
He needed a local supply of food and he had it.
I’m not sure if Mel still likes foufou or if he runs from an offer of
igname frites, but he was able to eat even if he couldn’t get to market. Unlike
Mel, most of us have the luxury of several markets to shop.
We can go to the bargain grocery store where the emphasis is on cheap or
we can go to the upscale store where the emphasis is on taste.
Either way, we still have to spend some time picking out our produce with
no guarantee of the quality of your purchase. With CSA’s, you get a variety of fresh produce every week
throughout the season. You know
that the produce is fresh, you will know how it was produced and you will know
who you are supporting. There are
CSA’s throughout the United States. A
wonderful web resource for finding CSA’s is
www.localharvest.org
You can submit your zip code and see if there are any CSA’s in your
area. I
have been involved with a CSA for a few years now.
The seemingly large initial investment (I pay $700 for a May – December
season) has always been well worth it. During
the season, we (a family of 3) never have to buy vegetables from the store. Our very fresh vegetables are delivered to our neighborhood.
My CSA share is an easy way to stay connected with the origins of my
food, as easy as it was in my Peace Corps days. Your Story Here Yes, you too
can be a published author. Just
submit your writing to the Deadbeat. Chances
are very high you will see your story in print.
Write of recent travels, interesting jobs, frustrations, adjustments,
memories, anything. Send
submissions to Jessica Duke jessica@urbatsch.com NPCA Annual General Meeting in Beautiful Oregon Who: RPCVs,
affiliate group officers and members, former Peace Corps staff, family and
friends What: Weekend of
activities surrounding NPCA’s Annual General Meeting and President’s Forum When: August 1-3,
2003 Where: Portland,
Oregon Why: Because
it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet with friends, catch up on Peace Corps and
NPCA news, learn something new in a workshop, find a job at the career fair, and
spend time in a great city and state! Visit the
National Peace Corps Association web site for more details. www.rpcv.org But wait,
there’s more. Spend a week in
Oregon… Take
in the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. RPCV
B&B owners, Deedie and David Runkel, are offering a package deal to fellow
RPCV’s August
5-7. Contact them at innkeeper@ashlandbandb.com Join in on
an RPCV campout August 8—10 at Silver Creek Falls State Park (90 minutes from
Portland). Visit the Columbia River
Peace Corps Association web page for more info. www.crcpa.org |