Welcome to my blog! My name’s Benjamin and I recently graduated with B.S. degrees in Finance and Accounting and a B.A. degree in French Language and Literature. Now, my original intention was to sell out to a big investment bank, work 16 hour days, 80 hour weeks, and make enough to pay down my school loans faster than you can say “Mergers & Acquisitions”. But, unfortunately for the student loan agencies and (hopefully) fortunately for my soul, I have decided to join the Peace Corps instead. In other words, I am taking my skills to the streets, instead of to the Street.
I will be a Community Business Advisor Volunteer and will be working with small communities and individuals to develop their economies and general financial stability. I hope to work specifically with micro-lending operations and improving individuals’ financial literacy. My home for 27 months will be Benin, a French-speaking West African country. I am extremely excited because this is a rare opportunity to help others while capitalizing on all areas of my education.
Other than what I have mentioned above, I am a returned Rotary exchange student or Rotex (Cahors, France, 2009-2010), a travel addict, and a bit of a workaholic.
The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences and thoughts before, during, and who knows, maybe after my Peace Corps term. As the tagline suggest, I will discuss everything from miscellaneous mishaps to socio-cultural commentary on borrowers behaviors. I might even try my hand at some French poetry about African economics and some oil painting, no guarantees but consider yourself duly warned.
So, I would like to thank you for checking out my blog and I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to leave me comments or questions (I love questions especially ones that I don’t know the answers to). Otherwise, enjoy!
Also, please enjoy the lovely disclaimers below:
“The content of this website is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Benin Government.”
Disclaimer: This is not a scholarly blog. I am not citing any sources, rather any information has come from my personal studies and any graphs or data used or referenced is easily accessible via Google Search.
Ben in Benin 
Hi Ben – Happy New Year! Still enjoying your blog and I want to let you know that we visited the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art on the last day of 2016. We grabbed a tour of the museum highlights and the guide’s theme for his tour was Power that day. The first highlight: Nigeria, The Kingdom of Benin, including brass sculptures of the Edo Peoples, 16th-17th c. Warrior Chief and court officials, and a lengthy description of Benin altars as the seat of power. Since you are There, a few centuries later, I do wonder how you’d characterize the same topic today! Huge contrasts certainly…
If you’re at all interested, I could post the 10 or so photos we took of that exhibit on Facebook or Instagram. Just let me know!
Hugs and love to you from plain old Windsor, CT!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would love to see them, if you could post them on Facebook! The history is very interesting here especially regarding the different ethnic groups.
LikeLike
we will give you every thing you need. North canaan
LikeLike