NO PREREQS

It’s not often you hear a song that just completely clicks with you. I recently had this experience with Loco-Motive from Nas’ new album, Life is Good, and so I wanted to share some thoughts on why I think this is a track good enough to write a 1000 something words about - and how it teaches an unexpected but valuable life lesson.

So here’s a breakdown of what makes this track so special...

When I was younger I used to be a big fan of the WWF. Yes, I loved baby pandas and still do, but the other WWF(E), was where the real entertainment was. The storylines, the personalities, and the struggle they all went through to try to stay on top. To me, the blogosphere is kinda like the world of the WWE. Bloggers come and go, each with their own goals, trying to catch the attention of the readers out there. Everyone’s got an opinion, everyone tries to stand out, and everyone wants to win over the readers (or for wrestlers, the fans). 

So where does this analogy put No Prereqs? Well, let’s just say I see myself as one of those new wrestlers (a scrawny one?), trying to develop a fanbase, only to leave the ring for a 3 month hiatus. First, life took over. Shortly after my last post, I backpacked through France and Italy for two and a half weeks. Then, within hours of stepping on Canadian soil for the first time in almost 4 months, I got swept up with family and friends. I got back to school, and didn’t have the motivation to get back into this. I tried a couple times, but it was like firing blanks – getting started is the tough part, especially when you’re not even sure what to write about. But now I’ve made my return, firm with a goal in mind, knowing that I’ve gotta re-develop the whole readership thing.

 I started this blog as a leadership blog focused on high school students, but most of my recent posts have been about my travels in Benin. I decided that it would be a good idea to use this post to bridge the two ideas now that my bank account has told me it’s not interested in traveling again for a while, and since I’d like to move my content back in the direction of how this relates to you, the readers. I also wanna throw in some cost effective ways for those of you who are interested in travel to do some of it without cracking open your piggy banks (mine is still intact and thank god, breaking it would be a shame). 

A completely relevant question to this conversation has to be – why even travel to begin with? What is so beneficial about spending money on plane tickets, having to eat out all the time, and maybe getting lost, just to “go see places”. I did not come from a family where we took frequent vacations when I was growing up. Before this year I had been to a total of 3 countries: Canada, US, and India (trips to which I can’t even remember because I was so young). So to be honest, the benefits of travel have never really been apparent to me, until this year.

For me, travelling this summer was a big deal primarily because I left everyone familiar and almost everything familiar to my life behind. Being isolated from the usual environment forced me to adapt to the changes around me by changing my behaviour. I gained respect for the little things, by doing what some consider mundane tasks like arranging my mosquito net everyday and hand washing my clothes. Doing things like this humbled myself. I grew because I was put in situations where I was in danger: arriving at the airport at 3 am without someone to pick me up. Haggling, conversing, interacting with the people from whom you buy things. It gave me perspective on my society back home. Even when I was in Europe, it was not the sites I visited that made me grow so much as the interactions with people, the situations I found myself in. Travelling is about living experiences moreso than seeing sights, and that’s what helped me grow.  

So, travelling is about experiences that help you grow. But up till now, all I’ve been doing is talking about my own experiences. Maybe you want to travel for yourself but you’re not sure what is right for you and you don’t know if you want to spend a lot of money. First you have to decide what you want to do. There are many different types of travel: weekend trips or even day trips to somewhere close by can have just as much of an impact on you as can a trip to Benin. Vacations to a resort can also help you grow just by giving you time away to relax.

But, this is a personal blog and I’m definitely going to push my bias – I think the best trip is one you do without family or friends. A trip where you aren’t just visiting something – but going to accomplish something, because that poses a true challenge to yourself to grow. I guess the government has the same mentality, because there are huge ways to cut travel costs for trips where you set challenges like learning a new language or doing community development work. As a result, a trip like that can cost little or next to nothing, so finances don’t tie you down.

Here are some examples of things I wish I knew about earlier :

Katimavik

Ages: 17-21

Duration: 6 months

Student status: Not necessary
Location: Canada-wide
Cost: about $225

Having just been recently introduced to this program, I have to say that I don’t know the ins and outs of it. However, I can say from what I know that it is extremely affordable in comparison to other programs similar to it, since it is funded directly by the government. The application process takes into account diversity and full representation of the reality of Canada’s youth. The program that one of my friends did is the 6 month program with 3 month in an Anglophone community and 3 months in a Francophone community (you get to learn French!). Travelling across Canada doing community projects in a group of people you don’t know for 6 months is just the type of crazy shit that might just be the best experience of your life. There is also some valuable stuff on the website that discusses taking a gap year – you might even get course credit. Oh, and the program fee for this program is about $225 for 6 months. That’s $1.25 a day.

Ages: Grade 11+
Duration: 5 weeks

Student Status: Yes, at least 1 semester during school year
Location: Francophone community
Cost: $200 + travel

My Explore is a good option for those who aren’t comfortable with taking a gap year but still want to learn French in Quebec. It is a little more expensive than the Katimavik program but most of the costs are still subsidized by a $2000 dollar bursary. Based on what school you go to, you may even be eligible to get course credit for this program.   

Canada world youth is a large organization with lots of various opportunities for travel. Some of the programs are 2 weeks long, while others are up to 6 months. Since there is so much variability, I don’t want to put a summary type thing up, you can just check out the website and see if there’s something that interests you. Most programs have low costs but you must fundraise a lot of money (with their help), so that Canada World Youth can continue to run on its own. Fundraising might seem like a lot of work but honestly I had to fundraise for my summer as well, and it is a small sacrifice for something that can potentially be life changing.

 

These are just a few resources that I listed off the top of my head and by no means constitute a complete list. There are many programs out there that you just have to spend a little time looking for that might be the perfect fit. It is possible to find more programs that might be cheaper than these or even free, it just takes a little bit of initiative and access to the internet. Google searches like “Canadian student travel programs” or “international student travel bursaries” might get you started. Don’t forget that administrative offices at your school are also great resources because they can help you narrow down your search to things more relevant to you. They might even offer you financial support if you need it to cover the costs of a trip. Finally, the 3 programs I listed are all associated with the Government of Canada. The Canada website, government offices or even the hotline 1 800 OCANADA are good places to start your search.

Anyways, I hope this post has done something to get you excited about travel. There are tons of opportunities out there, just step up and take them! Bon voyage :)

So! I know this was supposed to be a ten day thing, 1 post per day, but each time I head to the cyber I’ve just been so occupied that I forget to put up the #10 post I wrote earlier this week. So now I’m going to release numbers 9 and 10 today since I’m getting a little short on time before my trip comes to an end.

Number 9 (help me come up with a good name in the comments), is a simple picture that tells few tales, but the ones it does tell it shares loud and clear. My initial reaction was, “cool” after I took it (a couple weeks into my stay here), but now I know it is much more than “cool”. Maybe even more than “really cool”... only time will tell.

Let’s start with the device itself. This is one of two pictures that I took during my time here that my computer found its way into (the other was a picture of the kids at the orphanage practicing typing on it). Rightfully so, you might think. Why would anyone want to photograph a plain old PC (not even a Mac) in the middle of a trip to Benin?

Well photos aren’t always about what looks good, they are about the memories they invoke. And in this case, the memories are of many dull days of typing at my computer: searching for and filling out grants, translating English to French and vice versa (no google translate unfortunately), reading books in pdf format, creating management material for the orphanage, pretending to do work for the orphanage while really doing nothing, and of course the least dull of all: writing this blog.

At least now when I look back at this picture, I can nostalgicize about those feelings of dullness... that’s not something that every picture can do for you. Think about that the next time you... um... yeah ok, there’s no point in pretending that the computer actually adds something to this picture. We all know the reason this made the top ten is...

Yes, our very own Aristotle, the youngest of my host family coming in at an impressive 2 years old. He leaps tall footstools with a single bound and runs towards first sight of his older sister’s Nintendo DS faster than a speeding bullet. Here he is pictured in action, though it is unclear what is going through his head at this moment. He is either trying to imitate his favourite safari animal, or preparing to leap off of the chair he was sitting on by striking a daredevil pose. Most probably a combination of the two. This guy has so much energy that it’s pretty much written that he’s going to grow up to be an athlete. As you can see, he’s already practicing his best “Patrick Kane’s mouthguard hanging out the side of his mouth” impression.

There’s not much else of note in this picture, but I’ll list the remaining things that caught my eye:

- those greens poking though the stone railing give you a small idea of how beautiful my host family’s veranda is on a nice breezy summer day.

- that’s my knee in the bottom left of the computer screen. Sloppy photography? Maybe. Kurtha pyjama? Definitely.

- you can see the reflection of a plant pot, albeit distorted, in the shiny glossy area below the keyboard. Why is this even remotely interesting? The pot holds a prickly variety of cactus with an extremely bitter tasting inner flesh (I was bored). That same week my host dad shows me how he spices up vodka: with cubes of the meat of this plant fermenting in the alcohol for a week or so.

And that’s picture number 9! Numbers  8 and 7 tomorrow :)

And so it begins… the beginning of the end. I thought of this new feature, “Top 10 Pictures” while keeping in mind that my time in Benin is slowly drawing to a close. For the next 10 days, I will (do my best to) post the countdown from #10 to #1 of what I believe are the top 10 pictures from my time here in Benin. By the end of this series, my time in Benin will pretty much have come to an end. 

I have taken more than 3600 photos during my time here in Benin so far. If my math is right, that’s operating at a clip of about 49 pictures per day. So although it will be quite tough, we’re gonna narrow it down to the top 10. The panel (me) will be selecting the photos based primarily on artistic sentimental value. Thus I will be choosing a group of photos that complement each other well and then ranking them.

However! If someone with a keen eye has any suggestions for how I could’ve made it a better picture, I’d really appreciate your advice in the comments! 

Anyways, let’s kick this off with #10, shall we?

#10

This picture originally squeaked into the top 10 contenders list based purely on sentimental value, but now that I look back at it, there are minor subtleties to it that made it too good pass up for the list. I call it “The Silent Plead”. Let’s take a bit of a deeper look into this picture and what it tells you about my time here in Benin:

The Expression

The first thing you might notice about this picture is the expression on my face, and rightfully so. They say the eyes are the window to a person’s soul, and that could not hold truer in this context. It was taken after my first week in Benin, with the initial intention of taking a weekly picture to monitor the progress of my trip (lol). 

This is the kind of expression I would imagine a prisoner in a cell uses to silently communicate their deep heartfelt “Get me the hell out of here!!” to everyone that passes by. Fortunately, I was not in a cell in this picture. I was in my bedroom, a simple structure made of four reinforced concrete walls, with a nice window (although with bars on it) and part of a larger complex walled by reinforced concrete, with the only exit being a heavy gate that I didn’t have the keys to. “Not a cell, not a cell, not a cell” I told myself throughout that first week.

It was a tough week that had me crying for mommy by the end of it. The first couple weeks were tough like that, but I can laugh at it in hindsight knowing that now I only feel like that 5 of out 7 days a week.

The Hair

There I was, so eager, yet so foolish in my inexperience with that hair of mine. It would’ve been wise to come to Benin bald to minimize the impact of the heat, but there I was, with a full head of hair. You can see my hair matted to my forehead with sweat and the unbearable heat that came with my first couple of weeks in Ouidah: unfortunately, this was a couple minutes after I had dried myself off from a shower.

It’s not only the hair proper that tells the story here, it’s the dishevelled facial hair – normally, I do the dishevelled facial hair much better than this, but that difficult week had reduced me to producing a meagre patchy beard worthy of being placed in the same league as a Sidney Crosby playoff beard. Shameful.

The Obscure Objects in the Background

Only further complimenting this picture, we’ve got my classic sky blue mosquito net hanging in the blurry background. Those were back in the days when I still needed a clothes pin to put my mosquito net up. Still the attempt was feeble, you can see how it hangs in a loose parabola... I’d say that’s like a 5x squared even. Sad. I was young, I have learned. Soon after, my expertise with the mosquito net would quickly eclipse any other skill I would learn during my internship for the months to come.

Finally, we’ve got the bottle of sunscreen with the conveniently blurred label. The best part about this bottle is that it still sits in that exact same position that it was in on that day. I haven’t used it since coming here. The problem is that the heat here welds the sunscreen to your skin so that when you take a shower, it doesn’t come off and you have to scrape it off your body like dirt afterwards. That being said, I probably should’ve used it anyways. Sunscreen offers protection from skin cancer, and I’ve had experience this summer with neglecting to properly use things for the prevention of diseases coming back to bite me (literally).

Stay tuned for picture number 9 tomorrow!   

On our way to Lokossa, we stopped by Comè to visit a friend of my host father who works for the government. Although he was not home, his wife let us in and I felt surprisingly reminded by my visits to aunts or uncles houses: being seated, brought drinks and snacks by the daughter, chatting with the mom, and saying hi to the son who awkwardly steps through the door and tries to get away as soon as possible. Their house was magnificent: I learned that it belonged to the government and their family moved cities every couple of years based on where the government positioned the father.

After this short and pleasant detour, we continued on our way to Lokossa. It is a small city of about 50,000, 2 hours northwest or so of Ouidah. It was by far the cleanest town that I have visited in Benin, outdoing even the capital Porto Novo that has a reputation for being well kept. We went to Lokossa to visit my host dad’s niece who is studying at the U of Abomey-Calavi campus there. She offered us a tour of the campus. Although much smaller than the main campus, the campus of was very pleasant. We got a tour of the dormitories, some classrooms, the cafeteria, and study room. All in all it was interesting taking in the similarities and differences between university life in Canada and Benin. Once out of the campus we drove around a bit of Lokossa and visited the city centre. Lokossa is built on a region with rolling hills and so some of the views from the town are quite gorgeous. The name of the city means “place around the giant tree”, but since it is hundreds of years old, no one quite knows which tree. It has probably been my favourite town in Benin so far.

On our way out of Lokossa, we saw a sign for Possotomè, and my host dad decided it would be nice to visit before heading back. Possotomè is the most famous lake in Benin because of the never ending hot water geyser that is the source of Benin’s most popular brand of bottled water, also called Possotomè. The company that bottles the water has made a fountain from the same source for the local people, and it was nice to see people using the water for showers or filling drinking water nearby. The lake itself is quite small, and surrounded by thick foliage on all sides, except for a small hotel restaurant that juts out on to the lake. The restaurant structure, which rests on the water, was made entirely from wood. We rested there for a bit and took in the lake (and of course drank Possotomè water). It was serene.

So that was last weekend! All in all, it was great. Just reinforces that sometimes the best days are unplanned and spontaneously happen as long as you are ready to get up and go for it!