Part 16 (1/2)

Go where your best prayers take you.

-Frederick Buechner, author and minister.

55 The United Nations and the World Bank bandy about the dollar-a-day statistic when describing poverty. In Benin, for example, they report that 30 percent of the population makes less than a dollar a day, considered the absolute minimum income required to provide nutrition, clothing, and shelter.

But what if you could help a person make $2 a day? What if decisions on community development came not from the World Bank, USAID, and other foreign organizations and foundations, but in the very slums where the poor live and struggle to survive?

That's the idea behind this volunteer program, which aims to lift women out of poverty by giving them a little training and a bit of financial help to start a small business, to give them their first chance at a slice of capital pie. It doesn't take a lot of money to create huge changes, either. African women who gain access to even a hundred dollars and a little technical a.s.sistance have proven to be quite savvy when it comes to showing entrepreneurs.h.i.+p, forming a.s.sociations, starting savings accounts, and demonstrating to their children a renewed sense of dignity, pride, and hope for the future.

Even though the Benin Const.i.tution guarantees equal rights to women, the reality is that women are frequently denied basic human rights in Benin. They are often forced into marriage, not allowed to inherit property, and wracked by the effects of female genital mutilation. In addition, education, which is free for boys, often bears costs for their sisters.

VOODOO POLITICS.

Sixty-five percent of Benin's nearly seven million people practice voodoo. There's a National Day of Voodoo (January 10) and a government-sanctioned National Voodoo Bureau, both of which were established in the 1990s under President Niceph.o.r.e Soglo. When Mathieu Kerekou, the former Communist dictator who outlawed voodoo during his 18-year reign, ran for reelection in 1996, he flip-flopped on the ban, eventually going so far as to mix up an unnamed white voodoo powder to ensure his success. It apparently worked, and he served as president until 2006.

Although outsiders, who arrived in Africa wis.h.i.+ng to supplant voodoo with their own religions, often have equated voodoo with witchcraft, in Benin there's no such thing as zombies or dolls stuck with pins-often the markers of voodoo in Western popular culture. (Animal sacrifice, however, is actually a voodoo practice.) Instead, voodoo, also known as vodou, is an ancient spiritual tradition with dozens of deities. Most adherents of voodoo have one or two personal deities.

According to a 2004 report by National Public Radio's John Burnett, the religion remains a centerpiece of spiritual life for millions of West Africans. Janvier Houlonon, a tour guide in Benin and a lifelong voodoo pract.i.tioner, told him, ”Voodoo is older than the world. They say that voodoo is like the marks or the lines which are in our hands-we born with them. Voodoo are in the leaves, in the earth. Voodoo is everywhere.”

The Center for Cultural Interchange (CCI), a Chicago-based nonprofit that organizes good works across the planet, coordinates with a social action project at a community center in Porto Novo, Benin, that provides microloans to help women start small basic businesses. Members gain experience handling money and raising farm animals.

The center, which currently serves around 200 people, also offers educational workshops-including radio programs-on malaria prevention, agricultural and environmental topics, computer skills, and HIV/AIDS prevention. An on-site pharmacy provides medication for people living with HIV/AIDS.

As a volunteer with CCI, you'll help women with little money or education become the architects of their own economic progress. By honoring, elevating, and supporting them in their fight against poverty, you'll empower them to develop their potential and become a powerful force in the lives of their families and communities.

CCI also works with a women and children's center in Porto Novo, which has a nursery, an orphanage, and both primary and secondary schools. At this nongovernmental organization started in 1993, volunteers organize youth groups, educate young mothers, and work on community campaigns and outreach programs, such as malaria prevention, importance of clean water, s.e.x education, and support for those living with HIV/AIDS. Volunteers may be called on to tutor, mentor, counsel, or lead skills workshops for the women and children at the center. During the months of August and September when the students are on vacation, volunteers are needed to plan and lead daily recreational activities.

A tiny but vibrant country tucked between Nigeria and Togo, Benin is best known for its fis.h.i.+ng villages on stilts, for its mud fortresses, and for being the birthplace of voodoo. As a former French colony, it's not unusual to see Beninois walking down the street with a baguette under one arm and a French newspaper under the other. The capital, Porto Novo, where you'll be working, was founded in the 16th century by Portuguese settlers. It has several museums, including the former palace of King Toffa (R. 18741908), known as the Musee Honme or the Palais Royale, which gives a glimpse of what royal life was like.

An intermediate level of French is required for this volunteer vacation, which includes a three-day orientation to Beninois culture and the project you will be working on. French lessons are available prior to the volunteer project for an additional fee.

You'll live with a host family, share two meals a day with them, and pay $1,550 for your one-month volunteer post.

HOW TO GET IN TOUCH.

Center for Cultural Interchange, c/o Greenheart, 712 N. Wells St., 4th fl., Chicago, IL 60657, 888-227-6231 or 312-944-2544, .

TRAVELLERS WORLDWIDE.

open your heart to aids orphans.

LIVINGSTONE, ZAMBIA.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat...We must find each other.

-Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Catholic nun and founder of Missionaries of Charity.

56 Even though the son of Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda, died of AIDS in 1987, the growing epidemic was kept under wraps for way too long. For nearly 20 years after the first case was diagnosed, the government, the Zambian press, and especially those dying of the disease, disavowed the large pink elephant sitting in the corner.

The devastating result of this hush-hush approach? One out of five adults in the country were infected with HIV by the early 1990s. An open, public effort to combat HIV/AIDS didn't happen until 2002, when Parliament finally pa.s.sed a national AIDS bill. By 2004, the government declared it a national emergency and former President Kaunda became one of the nation's most committed AIDS activists.

Today, it's estimated that 600,000 Zambian orphans are paying the price for this stealth approach to the AIDS epidemic. Travellers Worldwide (TWW), a U.K.-based volunteer organization that organizes more than 300 volunteer projects in 21 countries, sends volunteers to work with the children left behind when the disease claims their parents.

TWW's founder, Jennifer Perkes (she started the company with her husband Phil, who died in 2004), has funded scholars.h.i.+ps, books, food, and even roofs at a school for orphans in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia since 2002. On TWW's website, you'll see photographs of grateful students holding signs expressing their thanks.

Lusaka's Thandiwe Chama-who at age eight led 60 barefoot children to the school demanding their right to an education-won the 2007 International Children's Peace Prize. As a result, all children were taken into the Jack CECUP School, which is one of the local schools supported by donations from Travellers . Following her impressive speech during the Children's Peace Prize ceremony in 2007, a library was offered to the school. Chama is now 17 years old and writes a human rights blog at thandiwechama.blogspot.com.

Twenty percent of Zambian children under 17 have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS. As a result, many young people are homeless, live under bridges, or try to maintain a household by themselves. Those lucky enough to find a bed in an orphanage still struggle to secure health care, education, and even food.

Travellers sends volunteers to orphanages in Livingstone, a quaint colonial town that serves as the gateway to Zambia's many safaris and wildlife adventures, including Victoria Falls. The town was first doc.u.mented in 1855 by explorer David Livingstone (as in, Dr. Livingstone, I presume) and turned into an official town in 1905 when the railway bridge across the Zambezi was completed.

Volunteers in orphanages may rock babies, prepare food, feed children, bathe them, wash their laundry, clean the building, or organize a soccer game or an impromptu sing-a-long. In the schools, volunteers-who usually work with a teacher on staff-may be asked to teach a variety of subjects, including math, science, drama, dance, art, music, and, of course, English. In fact, since many of the children are reluctant to practice their English, engaging them in speaking English is a primary function for volunteers. Sports-minded volunteers can coach basketball, cricket, football (soccer), rugby, or volleyball.

HOW I WROTE OFF MY SUMMER VACATION.