May Day

1 mai 2007 (May Day)

Today was May Day, or Labor Day here and in most parts of the world.  We went to a restaurant with the entire office and some members of the administrative and overseer councils (elected by members of the credit union at the general assembly) to celebrate.  The food was prepared by women and brought there to share.  I couldn't eat any of it (and there was plenty) so they brought me a whole fried fish with French fries.  I did have some of the non-fermented pâte "akoumé."  The others had about 5 different dishes: salad with ham in it, rice with meat in it, a akoumé with sauces, ablo with a meat sauce…  It looked delicious for someone who eats it, but it was also more food than I could possibly have eaten in one day.  We also had beer, I had a local Pils. 

Before the food, there were speeches, and the speakers all thanked me for coming on behalf of Kiva.  They are truly thankful for the partnership and say that Kiva is their best partner.  I know that Kiva also loves to work with this MFI (microfinance institution) and I see why.  Finally, the very eloquent "Dodo" recited a poem using the letters of my name on behalf of all women.  I cannot recall everything he said, but the letter stood for:  D=dignity, A=amour (love), L=lumière (light), I=image , A=ambiance.  Speaking of names, my Ewe name (the local ethnicity) is Abla, because I was born on a Tuesday.  That's how it works.  For instance, Koffi is the male name for someone born on a Monday (I'm guessing that's how Kofi Annan got his name).

Tomorrow I will probably go visit the other four branches of the Microfund and hopefully I will start visiting clients on Thursday. 

Biggest challenges so far: sleeping when the power goes out and I feel I'm in a sauna sweating all night long and trying to feel relatively clean in between bathing (I smell of bug spray, sweat and baby powder mixed with some dirt).