Common Misunderstandings

hey everyone, i got an email from my memere and she has found the cabot cheese shaker, thank you memere i will really enjoy it when it arrives. i also recieved a bunch of other mail including 4 letters and 3 large envelopes. Thank you everyone who sent those out and thanks for the goodies, it was all much appreciated.
anyway here are some common misunderstandings that some people might have about social problems in Benin, im no expert but these are some things i have learned since living here:
1 everyone has AIDS or HIV, not true, only 2 percent of the population is infected which in comparison is pretty low.
2 everyone is starving, once again not true, big here is beautiful and there are advertisments pictures of fashion models at tailors that feature larger women with curves and all what we would consider plus size. in fact when i arrived my mama saw a pictures of me and it was winter so at the time i was wearing about 5 layers of clothes and she says to me, this is good melissa that you were fat why arent you fat now i want you to be fat¨. many people are normal size here. and curves are more welcome here than in the states. in fact after my intestinal parasite problems i dropped 10 pounds and a bunch of women who i passed on my way to school each day in porto novo poked my stomach with worried looks on their faces.
3 children are malnourished, yes and no. most children look to be just fine, poorer children tend to lack nutrional balence but that doesnt mean that they cannot achieve good balenced diets. while things like meat are expensive, soy beans and soy flour are not, and the plant moringa which can grow everywhere is packed with vitamins and minerals there are also fruit trees just growing around the area, coconuts are wild here, and there are numerous other cheap things that are available for children.
4 everyone is living in poverty, not true. this is something that is very very far from the truth. people here are from all sorts of economic backgrounds. the standard of living is slightly different though. for example here your house might be cement and pretty bare compared to our wall paper and carpet houses in the states, but this home will have a television with cable hook up DVD player and this person might also own a cool moto and also have a car, but they might not have a door to their latrine. financial choices are just different here. where an american citizen might be more inclined to buy air conditioning and painted walls and tiled floor, instead of a car, the beninese are perfectly happy in their cement houses. this person who has all these things is well off and lives comfortably. but just like in the states there are poorer people. but i wouldnt say that the poverty rate in Bassila is much higher than that in a city in the states.
5 malaria is all over the place, there is some truth to this. im on malaria drugs to keep it at bay in my system. of course it is a possibility that i could just not take the malaria drugs and never ever get malaria but that would be stupid, and honestly irresponcible. people here do get malaria, sleeping underneath a mosquito net is necessary, but malaria doesnt have to be life threatening it can be easily treated.
6 the world is your toilet, only if you are a child. but latrines are the common bathroom facility here and they are most of the time just as clean as a toilet at home if not more so because you dont actually touch them in any way.
and thats all i can think of, so there you have it some common misunderstandings about benin and bassila. enjoy. i know since arriving here in benin my concept of west africa has changed drastically for the better, and im really glad ive been able to expirence a little bit of it. i hope that through this blog i can help give other people a better picture of what africa really is rather than the social stigmas that are attached to it in the states.