The local Starbucks

One hundred CFAs (about 20 cents) will get you a plastic cup filled with about 6 ounces of hot water mixed with Nescafe Instant Coffee and a sugar cube. I drink my latte next to a group of blue-uniformed motorcycle taxi drivers and a Maman who has spent the morning frying beignets. I talk about post visits with the other volunteers. We gossip about class. When I’m finished, I pass my cup back to the man behind the wooden booth. There are no grande non-fat white chocolate mochas, but caffeine is an international necessity.