In this interview, you’ll hear from Jeremy James, a Peace Corps Health volunteer in Benin. Jeremy shares what daily life looks like, the work being done, and how service has shaped their personal and professional growth. You’ll learn about housing, cultural differences, project work, language learning, and what it’s like to live and work in a new country. This interview offers a real look into Peace Corps service and what future volunteers can expect.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Social Identity
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. What do you do as a Peace Corps Health volunteer in Benin?
My host organization is the local health center, which serves our arrondissement of about 15,000 people, although the village itself has roughly 3,000 people. The walk from my house to the health center only takes 5 minutes. My main activity at the health center is helping with the vaccination program, which takes place once a week. This requires me to go to the center a couple of days per week; however, most of my work actually takes place in the community. This entails organizing health education sessions with my counterparts, our target population being the caretakers of young children and youth. Thus, I spend my time working between the health center, the local middle school, and throughout the village, depending on the day.
2. Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps and serve in Benin?
Having majored in global public health and French for my bachelor’s, the Peace Corps had been on my radar for a while, as I was interested in public health work abroad, especially in a francophone country. When I was perusing the various Peace Corps opportunities, the Rural Community Health (RCH) program in Benin immediately stood out to me as it corresponded with both facets of my education. I was a bit hesitant to apply initially, as I only had two weeks between my graduation from college and my departure to Benin. Those two weeks were quite hectic; however, the transition went better than I expected.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. What is your housing like in Benin?
Our first 3 months in-country were spent training. During this time, I stayed with a host family and ate meals with them every night. There, I had my own room, latrine, and shower space in a large compound. My host father had three wives living with him in the compound, meaning there were a lot of people around, especially children. Luckily, I get along quite well with children in general, and in Benin, many volunteers find that interacting with children is one of the best ways to start integrating into their communities.
Once I moved to site, however, I was living on my own, as is standard in PC Benin. I am still in a concession, though, so I have very regular contact with my neighbors. The “typical” Peace Corps Benin house consists of a 3-room building connected by a hallway, with a front room, a bedroom, and a back area that is normally used for a kitchen and bathroom if space permits. I am lucky enough to have a toilet, which has to be flushed manually with a bucket. Some volunteers have a latrine separate from their house, usually on the side or behind the building. My house is equipped with electricity, and there is a cell tower in my village, meaning I have practically perfect service at site.
Each volunteer has a resource family identified for them before they arrive at their site, with whom they eat dinner during their first visit to site, which happens about halfway through PST. After this, volunteers are free to cook and eat at home, but I decided to continue eating with my resource family every night, which has greatly helped my integration into the community. The most common foods I eat with them are la pâte (a starchy staple food usually made with corn flour and water; however, there are other variations), pounded yams, rice and beans, and spaghetti. Typical protein sources are fish, beef, chicken, goat, a local cheese called wagashi, and cheese made from soybeans that closely resembles tofu.
4. What moments or interactions stand out during your service?
Peace Corps Benin has a program called YPiT (Young Professionals in Training), which involves a group of volunteers each bringing four middle school students to the economic capital city of Cotonou. These students then stay with a host family, specifically a model mother or father. This model parent is a professional in Cotonou. Doctors, journalists, and even Peace Corps staff volunteers host a child for around a week and bring them to work one day to provide an example of a potential career path. The students also get a tour of one of the premier universities in the country to inspire them to continue their education.
I had the chance to participate in YPiT last year and accompany four students from my village; it was one of my favorite moments from my service. I knew all four of the students fairly well since I work at the middle school, but I was particularly close with one of the students. He comes to my house almost daily, and people in the village joke about him being my little brother or even my son. I help him with English tutoring, but he and his friends also come by to watch soccer games or movies as well. Thus, it was very fulfilling to be able to bring him to such a training. He is very motivated, and the trip gave him a lot of perspective. When he returned from the training, we had an earnest conversation about life in the village and things he wanted to see change. It was probably the proudest moment of service.
Another amazing moment was when my mom came to visit me. She was in Benin for over a week, and we did a mix of tourist visits in addition to her staying in my village for about 3 days. My community was overjoyed by her presence. There was so much food delivered to my house that we were unable to eat it all! Even a year later, people still ask me how she is doing, and I think it meant a lot to people that she came to visit me. It also meant a lot to her, as she was able to put names to faces I had been talking about for months, and she was able to see how the community takes care of me.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about living or working in Benin?
Like most Americans, I was quite ignorant of Benin, and thus I really did not have a lot of expectations coming in. To be honest, I imagined myself out somewhere in the bush, off the grid, which is quite ironic considering I ended up at a site with perfect cell signal and electricity. That initial surprise aside, one of the evident differences between life in America and Benin is the openness people have towards one another. Greeting people is an obligation, especially in a rural setting. It is almost unthinkable to walk by someone without saying at least hello, even if you don’t know them. Conversely, I think about American life, where saying hi to somebody you don’t know could be met with confusion or even disdain.
And then there is, of course, the presence of the Vodun religion. This is one of the first things that comes up when you Google Benin, and while many people’s first thoughts go to voodoo dolls portrayed in movies, they are quite far off. I can’t possibly explain the religion in this interview, but I was fortunate enough to witness it firsthand during our training period because my host father was a Vodun practitioner and had many people come to our compound in order to solve a variety of problems. From work troubles to marital disputes, people would come even from other countries to seek his services. Vodun is definitely more present in the south, so I do not see it much anymore now that my permanent site is in the north, but it was definitely one of the most surprising and intriguing things I’ve experienced here.
6. What challenges have you faced in your Health work, and how did you respond?
I found the health system here to be quite interesting, since I studied many countries’ health care systems in college. One of the main problems faced here in the health sector is the low turnout at health facilities. This is driven by many factors, most importantly the distance from facilities, the cost of treatment, and a mistrust of medical personnel. Especially for the most rural populations, it is not realistic to make the trip to a health center, just to then pay a high price for medication.
Unfortunately, there is no real health insurance policy in place, so Beninese citizens have to pay out of pocket for their treatment, which quickly adds up. There are also language barriers in place, as a result of the linguistic diversity of Benin. This can lead to misunderstandings between the healthcare providers and their patients. On the other hand, there is also a lack of personnel at most health facilities; many health centers request more staff, but do not have the finances to pay more workers.
All of these constraints result in a certain hesitance and mistrust within the population surrounding the health center and health-related activities. It has made mobilizing community members for my events challenging, as usually in similar activities, small NGOs come in and can provide some motivation, usually in the form of a small payment. Since this practice does not align with the Peace Corps strategy, I’ve had to rely on my relationships with people to convince them to attend trainings and events. This is also why I’ve enjoyed working with the youth, as they are very excited to attend whatever I plan and participate enthusiastically.
7. What secondary projects have you worked on during your service?
I have been doing English tutoring on the side, whether that be for my younger siblings in the resource family or groups of middle school students with whom I run my health club. It has been very fun for me, and it has definitely been a part of what influenced me to consider education as a future career path.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to future Health volunteers in Benin?
Unfortunately, there will not be any new Health volunteers in Benin for the foreseeable future, so I will defer to the question about general prospective Benin PCVs.
9. How did Peace Corps training prepare you for service?
I thought that our PST (Pre-Service Training) was very effective in preparing us for our service. The staff does a great job, and they hire wonderful LCFs (Language and Culture Facilitators), who were very helpful in language training, but also in answering any questions we had about Beninese culture. The language training depends on your French level, and the better your French is, the earlier you can start learning a local language.
Outside of language training, a large part of PST is the technical side of training. This meant learning sector-specific skills and activities that we would practice at site. I appreciated that we had a lot of practice during PST. For example. we had children come in every week to simulate what a youth club session would be like, and our programming staff was there to give us feedback and suggestions.
Other trainings, such as IST (In-Service Training) or MST (Mid-Service Training), further reinforce our technical training and even introduce new topics that we can then implement at our work at site.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. What would you tell future volunteers to pack—or leave behind?
The most common answers volunteers give as essential packing items are a portable (USB) fan, a powerbank, extra phone cases/earbuds, which could be hard to find in Benin, such as Apple products, and certain rarer spices if you are into cooking. Also, if there is a hobby you are into in the States, for example, crocheting, art, or even gaming, I recommend bringing enough of the required supplies to perform said hobbies, because you will inevitably have a lot of free time.
As for what not to bring, I can personally attest to the fact that the fewer clothes you bring, the better. A great example of this is the pile of socks collecting dust in my room because I have literally not worn close-toed shoes (outside of soccer cleats) since training almost 2 years ago.
Beninese people wear local outfits made from fabric that is affordable and can be made very easily in Benin. You will have a plethora of these outfits when you leave Benin, as when ceremonies or parties happen, people have outfits made from the same fabric. I have many clothes I brought from the U.S. that are simply collecting dust.
For the clothes that you do bring from home, I recommend lightweight materials, such as cotton or certain blends that are breathable. Additionally, there are a lot of clothing markets in Benin where you can find Western-style clothes if you ever need to buy something.
11. How has language learning been for you in Benin?
I have had a great experience learning a language in Benin, in large part thanks to my proficiency in French. Before departure, staff will stress the importance of working on your French before coming, and they have much reason to do so. French is the language used in all administrative and educational settings, and it also acts as a lingua franca for Beninese citizens, as there are more than 50 local languages present in the country. This makes French an essential language here; for example, when you move in with your host family during PST, you will be communicating with them in French. Thus, if you struggle with French, it will make PST, and an already busy and stressful period, even more overwhelming.
Fortunately, I came into Benin fluent in French, thanks to my undergraduate studies, and this made my PST experience much easier than it would have been otherwise. This also allowed me to start learning my local language during PST, so when I arrived at site I already had a good base. I was fortunate enough to have a great language tutor at site, (who is identified by the Peace Corps ahead of time), and after working with him for a year, I made it to intermediate-mid on the LPI scale, which I was quite proud of.
Obviously, not everyone will be coming in with a degree in French, nor is it necessary, but in the months leading up to your service, you should be exploring all avenues to increase your French. Whether this be apps like Duolingo, consuming French media, or even taking a class, the more you do, the better, and you will definitely thank yourself for it.
Social Identity
12. How has your personal identity shaped your service experience?
Ethnicity
Largely, my identity has positively shaped my service. Especially in rural settings, people envision an American as a white person, so I corresponded with their expectations. Most people have a positive view of America, although recent events have caused this reputation to falter. Beninese people are very welcoming, and thus are very happy to have a foreigner living amongst them. Obviously, kids are quite excited to see me, and when adults meet me for the first time, they are usually very curious about what I am doing in Benin.
Man or Woman
Being a man has made things much easier than if I were a woman. Especially in rural parts, the culture here is patriarchal, and people automatically take me more seriously than they do my female colleagues, especially in professional settings. There are many expectations for the way women should act, dress, speak, etc, that I am not subject to. Additionally, I deal with much less harassment from the opposite sex than my female colleagues. For young men such as myself, it mostly consists of people jokingly offering me their daughter or sister as a wife. These situations can be easily dealt with by using a little humor. On the other hand, Beninese men can be quite forward, which leads to female PCVs dealing with a lot more harassment.
Religion
I would describe myself as agnostic; however, I grew up Christian, and have a Christian name, thus I decided to attend church while in the village, and this has had a very positive effect on how people view me in the village. In my community, I would say there is roughly a 50/50 split between Islam and Christianity in my village, with very little tension between the two, which I find quite admirable. People don’t really care what religion you subscribe to, as long as you subscribe to one. I can confidently say that my presence at church has garnered me a lot of respect from my community. It can be a significant time commitment, but it’s well worth it. Other volunteers can navigate this reality by saying they pray at home or are part of another religion not present in Benin.
Sexual orientation
As for sexual orientation, I would describe myself as heterosexual, which is the norm in Benin; it has not played a huge role in my service. Homosexuality and other orientations are seen as taboo in Benin, especially in rural settings. PCVs who identify with any other orientation besides heterosexuality are encouraged not to disclose this information in their community, to avoid potential confusion and judgment from community members.
13. Did your identity lead to specific challenges or situations?
The most common situation I find myself in as a result of my identity is people asking me for more money and gifts, as the stereotype is that white foreigners are all well off. I have become quite adept at diffusing these situations, and I find humor is always helpful. Most of these requests are made in jest in the first place, so if you respond humorously, it ends up not being a big deal. Of course, having local language capacities makes doing so even easier.
14. What advice do you have for volunteers who share your identity?
Be conscious of how you present yourself, since many people assume white people are rich. If you flaunt money or make extravagant purchases, this will reinforce this idea. It becomes quite difficult to work with locals if they are constantly expecting money as compensation under the assumption that you have lots of money to give.
Final Thoughts
15. What final advice would you share with future volunteers?
I highly recommend Benin as a Peace Corps country; the people here are wonderful, and the staff is also amazing. Of course, you will have some bad days here, but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive, and I think this is in large part due to my ideology to not take things too seriously, and live in the present.
Are you thinking about joining the Peace Corps? If you’re curious about service and ready for something new, apply today. Like Jeremy, you can live abroad, work with communities, and grow in ways you didn’t expect. Apply to the Peace Corps and take the next step.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Benin Government.
