mon amie

sirarou, benin

i can't remember what i first thought of katie. she was a couple months older than my own sister (and similarly named) and she was one of eight volunteers whose health and overall well-being i was responsible for over a two month period in nkubu, kenya. i think i was just so nervous about the whole trip that i didn't have time to form impressions. what i do remember is that like the rest of my group, her hard-work ethic, sense of humor, and ability to immerse herself in the local community impressed me greatly as the . but, at times, i seem to forget that we even met in kenya.

i moved to new york, dreamy-eyed and still wet behind the ears, two weeks after returning from east africa. as she was starting her sophomore year at columbia, it was only natural that we get together to see if the milkshakes at tom's restaurant (the cafe where so many scenes of seinfeld occurred) were as good as she had claimed when we were cooking over the fire in nkubu. they were pretty good. but what developed was more than a 'we were in kenya together' friendship. perhaps because my own sister was back in colorado, it just felt nice to be able to buy someone lunch every now and then. and she introduced me to numerous museums, burger joints, pool halls, and free events in nyc in repayment. over time, that girl in kenya became my friend, no longer needing a geographical preposition.

and so it passed that she joined the peace corps after graduating last spring. and so it passed that i promised her that i would visit her during her two years in benin. and so here i am. there is a lot of catching up to do, and we've made great progress while spending time with some other peace corps volunteers in various stations around northern benin. while i may not have the inside information on all the shop talk and acronyms that are dropped (and believe me, they can out-acronym an irs agent), it has been great to see corners of this beautiful country i would otherwise be unable to see.

and so the agenda for the next few days has us passing the hours in her small village of sirarou. there has already been an exciting trip to the pump to retrieve water, there will be dinner with her local mama, there will be a couple pick-up soccer games with little kids, and there will be a whole lot of lookin', listenin', and learnin' about what life is like in this place i'd challenge you to find on anything published by rand mcnally.