Fresh Air

Just finished this morning another following case study with an older gentlemen who works at the mayor's office, Pierre. He is a wonderful man, who has a home on the the outskirts of Nati. Spending a few days with Pierre was a breathe fresh air literally and not so literally. Since he lives on the edge of town, there is not much traffic and no electricity, at his house anyway, there is electricity in the quarter but he has not brought it to his house yet, too expensive. Thus clean air and void of the sound of bar music and noisy vehicles and motorcycles. He is an interesting man. Divorced with two of his sons living with him. He is a a special case. With on a elementary school diploma in the 70's he got a job at the mayors office and has worked there ever since over 30 years! He has a wonderful respect for people and lives very simply, though he says he could live better, but chooses to use the extra money to improve his land. Much labor he has put into his hillside property. The whole place is terraced by rocks that he broke and piled along the hill. It is really amazing to see. He has solved erosion in this way and has planted many trees and shrubs and even cactus where others said he couldn't. He loves to talk and throughout our time we discussed many topics from animals in Benin to the Sabbath. He is protestant but keeps Sunday, so we had some nice discussions about each others faith. Though following is sometimes tiring, this time it was actually quite restful and full of information!