Germain Chacran
[FRENCH]
"Je ne pouvais pas passer le BAC. Mais je passais en Terminale quand j'ai un oncle [mon grand frère aîné] qui me venait en peu en aide et qui était malade. Donc il avait mis pressure et j'étais parti vers lui et c'était moi qui devais lui garder. Donc quand on était placé pour aller se soigner, les gens commençaient l'année. Ça m'a fait tellement mal que j'ai dit, bon, maintenant-là est-ce qu'on ne va pas prendre une décision autre que d'aller encore en Terminale parce qu'il n'y a pas des moyens et c'est le seul qui peut m'aider encore et lui, ça ne va pas. Je devrais être à côté de lui à tout moment, jusqu'à il est décédé. Ça m'a marqué. J'ai dit, bon, je vais chercher à faire pour aider les autres. Donc j'ai commencé par chercher les jobs. N'importe quel job je trouve, je faisais. Il y avait la maçonnerie. J'ai aidé les menuisiers pour les charpentes. J'ai conduit la moto que les gens conduisent pour Parakou à Djougou...
J'ai vu beaucoup de personnes aujourd'hui qui ont grandi et quand je les vois, je suis content. Mon petit geste a fait qu'ils sont partis. Parce que moi, j'ai étais victime et quand je vois ça, ça me fait mal. Si moi je peux trouver de l'argent, un peu seulement, j'allais aller là où je voulais. Donc quand je vois les gens qui veulent faire, si j'ai les moyens, je les aide. Les frères Manigriens, ils me connaissent. Si on a les moyens, il faut aider."
[ENGLISH]
"I couldn't take the BAC exam. I was going into my final year when my uncle [elder brother] who used to help me a little bit [financially] fell ill. He pressured me and I left to be the one to watch over him. By the time I left to care for him, the school year began. That made me feel really bad in such a way that I said, well, isn't it best to make another decision besides redoing my final year. Because I didn't have the funds and he [my brother] was in no shape to help me. I had to be next to him at any given moment, up until his death. That marked me. I told myself, okay, I’m going to look for work in order to help others. So I began looking for jobs. No matter the job, I did it. I did masonry. I helped carpenters build frameworks. I drove the motor bikes that people take from Parakou to Djougou...
I’ve seen a lot of people today who have grown and when I see them, I’m happy. My small contribution helped them move forward. In my case, I was a victim and when I realized that, it hurt me. If I found a little money, just a little, I would have gone wherever I liked. So when I see those who want to work, and I have the means, I help them. The people of Manigri, they know me. If you have the means, you should help."
I remember an evening towards the beginning of my arrival in Manigri when Germain and I grabbed drinks at a small bar after a meeting. I awkwardly swirled my Sprite, he, his beer, as we made small talk peppered with little anecdotes of our lives. He had shared how there used to be so many trees in this village that darkness would fall much sooner and that monkeys could be seen peering from nearby trees. Now, the sun is ever present and monkeys have been pushed further and deeper into a continuously disappearing forest. Being the beginning of my service, I didn’t understand the extent of this problem of deforestation as I was still trying to gain context.
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Germain was assigned as my work counterpart, so he was supposed to be the one with whom I would be doing most of my primary sector work. He was also expected to, from Peace Corps Benin’s vision, help me integrate culturally. The many weeks and months ahead proved frustrating for me as those objectives of defining work and understanding my cultural environment did not take shape quickly and rarely featured Germain. It was not until later that I realized that as much as I was waiting for clarity of my role in-village, Germain was also waiting for cues from our host organization, a new NGO that was to work with local women’s and men’s groups. Long story short, he received few cues from this NGO that is still trying to get organized to this day. Talk about miscommunication. And we did talk about it during this interview. Truthfully, this interview put our working relationship and general rapport more at ease.
He’s a servant leader. Though he didn’t have the opportunity to finish school, he’s had experiences working with development groups, like Danish organization BØRNEfonden right in Manigri and in other parts of Benin. He understands how operations works, has built relationships, and wants to see his home succeed. He’s working to provide for his family – in which his wife tends to provide a lot more financially, he chuckled during our interview – through his own mini-projects but he’s willing to set free time aside to help me in this journey of grassroots service that I chose to embark on in Benin. We’re currently establishing our own women’s savings groups, he encourages me in my local language, and we’re hoping to introduce more trees to Manigri. Outside of work, we chat with each other in the church courtyard after Mass and laugh over local beer called tchouktchouk during hangouts with friends. I’m thankful for this guy who’s decided to share his means with this Nigerian-American girl from Florida and I’m excited for what we can continue to do for Manigri as a team.