Becca Weru. (Welcome)

24 hour electricity has arrived to Kouandé! After a month with nothing (the SBEE took our generator to repair it but never gave it back) the connection to Natitingou has been completed. This took me by surprise on May 8^th at approximately 9:10pm as my lights suddenly turned on. The other good news is that the tree nursery with the womens group went well, after the date had to me moved three times because of holidays, a death in the family (therefore visitors from other villages were visiting) and scheduling conflicts with the local gardener. The nursery consist of the 80 Moringa trees, 50 Gmelina and 50 terminalia. In about a month the Moringa should be ready to be transplanted to the field. We also opened an account at the local post office for the group to be able to save money.

I found out that I will be working training for the new Peace Corps Trainees (PCT); a week this month and then again a week next month. The new volunteers (PSL 20) will be arriving in July. It is hard to believe that I have already been here almost 10 months.

I also was voted in as the VAC representative for the Atacora Donga region. (This corresponds basically to the Natitingou workstation area) This is a system for volunteers to air their grievances and problems locally to the VAC rep and then have their issues brought up to Peace Corps Administration.