A psych visit, a marriage proposal and a true African road trip

Well what a lot of random things can happen in one weekend.

Saturday we visited a Psych institution of sorts. It was lovely to spend time with the patients but a very depressing experience. The centre if you could call it that has one staff member on weekends and about a hundred patients. The majority of patients have been checked in by relatives who pay a nominal fee to keep the people in. Some are schizophrenic or mentally retarded. Others suffer anxiety, depression or drug and alcohol addiction. I wouldn't keep a pig there!!!It is like a giant dirt court yard with cold concrete buildings without windows and electricity. Inside the beds are decayed rotting matresses...some on bed frames, others on the floor everywhere. There is no linen. 10-20 ppl inhabit a room. All the patients belongings..few though they are are piled up in the dark smelly rooms. For some they only own a shirt ...it leaves nothing to the imagination. Others only own trousers. Trucks bring food in 3 times a day and the patients line up with bowls and bottles for water. The food is liquid and the patients have no utensils. Most of the patients are heavily medicated. Some have ear lobes cut off and many broken bones poorly cast. One patient tells us his ear lobes were cut because he refused medication..it could be the truth looking at the state of the place. The patients sort out all their disputes with much yelling and physical abuse- no one stops them so that is how many of the broken bones and other injuries occur.

Today it has been raining. Some of the patients must wade through the flooded area up to thier knees to get to their rooms. There is nothing!!! for them to do but fight and sleep. No one comes to do any activities. When we arrive we walk around the compounds greeting the people and inviting them to join our activity in the community compound. We read a story to them and relate the gospel to the people telling them of God's love....a message of hope to such rejected, neglected people. We have two french translators with us- they are amazing they play the drums and sing local songs which all the patients know and get into clapping to the beat and singing. We tell a childrens story with puppets as that is mostly the level of understanding. Then as language is a barrier we paint the womens (and men as they wish)nails. Just to have someone hold their hand or hug them is foriegn. We play ball and have bubble blowers which they respond to.

The patients open the gate to let us in and out so except that they are too medicated to realise they could probably walk straight out the gate. As we wander around the compund one patient shows us her room...suddenly everyone wants to show us their room and belongings. We oblige navigating our way through flooded areas. One man is highly talented....he weaves bags and sells them in the market. Another has designed his own alphabet which he insists we take to get published. For the most part we are warmly welcomed and end up with a crowd in tow. I don't escape without a marriage proposal (sorry girls at i'm not bringing this one home :)) from a man of about 60. He's persistant. Thankfully I have another man with me who gets the point across as I move on. Most of the people are 30-40years old. There is one child about 12. Everyone treats her terrible....actually they all treat one another pretty badly. We can do nothing but look on...apparently it is acceptable in this culture....we got caught in the middle of one nasty exchange and just had to wait for it to pass. Thankfully our translator is a forceful African women who gives a great sense of safety and control to the visit.

Later in the day we take a visit to the material market. It is amazing.....so much to choose from in the most vibrant colors and patterns. Rows upon rows of color line the muddy pitted street that hums with hundreds of Zimijohns (old motorbikes). The stalls are tiny yet we squeeze in on invite to check out their goods. Out the back of one store we are bailed up again by a persistant suitor declaring undying love for one of the girls with us. He gives his education credentials and procreeds to try and get contact details. Our safety and security meeting gave us all tips on how to say no and be firm as this is a daily ritual. Blondes are a hit so thank goodness for red hair. The African women are so beautiful so it can only be our money and the hope of a better life that attracts them. The general markets today were a demeaning experience were spent 2hrs been blown kisses and been whistled at. Nearly every motor bike that passes us toots cause were white women and 'yovoo yovoo' (meaning white person) is yelled out frequently. It's cute from kids but the men are so rude. It is so nice to get back to our refuge at the ship and to be treated like women not meat by the men on board.

An African day worker on the ship invited us to church this morning. Due to the language barrier we were uncertain what to expect. It was raining but the picked us up one time (for Africans that is a half hour late). 6 of us cram in the car for a ride to who knew where. We arrived and were glad to see many Mercy Ship vechiles and staff in the car park. It's hard to say what type of church it was. The Africans are so vibrant and energetic in all singing that it is impossible to tell from the singing wheter it is penecostal or not. I suspect not from the tiny part of the sermon given in English. We had understood a translator would be there for the whole service but most of it was in French and Fon so who knows what was said. As guests we were stood up with all the Mercy Ships crew present and a song was sung in English in our honor and a prayer said. Afterwards we were brought soda's and requested to sit on the stage in fancy couches.

On leaving church our drivers took us in the wrong direction to we had come and we were a little worried but we pulled up at a diner and they brought us lunch...a ture African meal. God knows what meat it was...I pretended it was chicken though was told it was goat later...dog and cat are also popular so lets not think about that...no food poisoning yet!! We escaped without proposal but it is on the cards for one girl at least. Except for the lying factor it is very tempting to say i'm married. For the men that doesn't work. I saw a lady tell one of our married crew that men in Benin have many wives so she could marry him. Nothing like been so desparate for a better life that you need to know nothing about the prospective spouse other than that they are white.

I had thought that the shanty town at the end of the wharf was the slum area but traveling all over town I haven't seen any better accommodation except the government officals homes. Shanty towns built from scraps of metal and wood are the norm it seems. They flood terribly. Metal drums are the stove and anything that burns surround the houses as fuel for cooking. Most of our day workers live like this- yet some how they rock up clean to work- perhaps they use of staff showers before work.

Living on ship is very challenging as you eat, sleep, work and socialise with the same people and lots of them. But thats nothing!! when compared to the daily struggle of the Benise people. The enormous bridge between the materialism and wasteful selfish indulgence of the developed world is disgusting and yet we so easily justify it. ...i'm guilty! Why feminism is so focussed on closing the gap between womens and mens rights in the 1st world whilst neglecting the need to attempt to minimise the gap between the living standards of women in the developed world and the 3rd world is beyond me. The experience all in all is challenging, confronting and rewarding. Top deck at night is my refuge...a good book or mp3 and a bit of peace and quite keeps me sane. I hate to think how people who arn't 'people people' survive.

Dinner time....best be off. No piccies today ...sorry.

Love Naomi