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Cocktailllll - Kacie Harms | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=271947] | 2008-05-01 21:45:01
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By Cocktailllll
April 27th 2008
April 27th 2008
Day Fifty-Three; Sunday, April 27 '08
Africa » Benin » South » Ouidah
Woke up thinking it was 10:00 when it was actually 11:00 because of the time change. Weird to think there's a time change when Benin is only 90 miles from the Ghanian border. We headed off to the Python Temple which is the voodoo place of worship. When we arrived there was a morning service taking place which was completely unexpected as we were informed the temple was more of a museum than anything else. It was really awkward walking in and I thought they would be osmewhat annoyed with us, however, they offered us chairs to sit down and observe [View Full Entry]
By Cocktailllll
April 26th 2008
April 26th 2008
Day Fifty-Two; Saturday, April 26 '08
Africa » Benin » South » Cotonou
Woke up and took a bucket shower which is really gross to do inside a bathroom. We waited aroudn our hotel for quite some time before we actually started our day to visit the stilt village in Ganvie. After our talk about visiting Nigeria subsided we got a ride to a village near the lake entrance to Ganvie. The ride on the water was crazy. We took a canoe for the four of us which was rowed by a small boy. Our sail was made out of a patched bedsheet. Our boat constantly felt like it was sinking. We actually crashed [View Full Entry]
Cocktailllll - Kacie Harms | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=271943] | 2008-05-01 21:33:40
Athieme
Before the games, the teams came to my home to change into uniform. We don't have enough girls uniforms, so we dressed in blue.
Erika - Erika Kraus | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 7 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=264399] | 2008-04-08 17:18:06
With elections approaching I find myself much more often with Beninese friends who have satellite television. Via satellite I can follow the American presidential campaign. Fortunately I don’t have to bribe them with cake to be allowed to watch; even they are interested in the campaign process. Benin is also preparing for elections, so my friends and I profit from the news by discussing political systems in Benin and in America. My friend Mathurin, who I also call Mr. Know-it-All, is a candidate for elections, and is my well-informed resource on the Beninese political system. I am not as [View Full Entry]
Erika - Erika Kraus | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=264406] | 2008-04-08 17:54:43
I attended my third All-Volunteer conference with Peace Corps in Benin. We were in the big city for two and a half days of meetings. Peace Corps houses us for these wonderful three nights in a nice hotel on the ocean. We slept and met in air-conditioning, bathed in hot water, swam in the full length swimming pool and dived from its platforms, stayed up all night talking and dancing, and drank a lot of coffee to stay awake and warm in the air-conditioning. The first day we brainstormed and criticized the functioning of the Peace Corps office and the demands [View Full Entry]
Erika - Erika Kraus | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=264416] | 2008-04-08 18:03:17
It is hard to know the words to choose to begin describing this new adventure of my life, but I guess its just easiest to start at the beginning... So my last week in Montpellier flew past, every day at school with an awesome class of people who became great friends. We had an awesome night on out final thursday, all meeting up for goodbye drinks, lots of laughs and languages around the table (sorry I forgot the cd with the photos on it, they are no longer on my camera, will post them next time). But studpidly of me I [View Full Entry]
Silv - Silvia Zuur | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 13 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=260056] | 2008-03-26 19:25:50
I’m in my ninth month here in Benin, and I have to say that there are days when I wonder what I’m doing here still. I love Benin, but it’s not easy being who I am and living here. I mean, sometimes the injustice I witness on a daily basis is too much to handle, and other times I feel I’m getting used to it. The way women are treated, the problem of child trafficking, the lack of education… and here I am, a college educated, socially liberated American woman. What can I possibly do to improve these women’s lives, to [View Full Entry]
solstice21 - Holley Elaine Roberts | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 1 Comment(s) | 1 Photo(s) | 1 Video(s) | [diary=259763] | 2008-03-25 22:02:10
FORTUNE’ (a new angel) Notes from the last journey to Benin Sometimes, during our journeys of responsible tourism one may encounter human dramas that lacerate our hearts and imprint images in our minds, that will stay for a long time. All facts and people are real. Our holiday in Benin was over. Pierre and Elodie, the two young French that we left in the north of the country, would be back in Ouidah in one day. I thought, possibly, there would be some time to show them Ganvie, the lagoon city. Therese, my Beninese wife, SORROWwas preoccupied. “Do you remember that [View Full Entry]
ouidah - flavio nadiani | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=249959] | 2008-02-25 14:55:46
The House of Joy We could not miss a visit to Justine during our journey in Benin. We knew that she was giving a shelter to some women who had been kicked out of their home by their own husbands, together with their children. In general, a wife is kicked out because she did not accept that her husband brought home a second one. Also, the income often too scarce to maintain several wives and all of their children. Harsh quarrels begin, that most often end with the elder woman being kicked out. In general, she leaves her children to her [View Full Entry]
ouidah - flavio nadiani | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=249961] | 2008-02-25 15:03:05
JOSHIANE Each time we go to Africa there is some novelty. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes sad or even dramatic. This time Maison de la Joie looks quiet. Children are growing up, their number is growing as well, from ten to twenty and others are waited. My wife and my daughter are there since one month. My arrival is welcome with a breakfast based on rice and chicken at 5 am. After a few hours sleep the noise and the kitchen smell wake me up. I meet the new children, there are stories to learn and to tell. Among them, a child of [View Full Entry]
ouidah - flavio nadiani | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe | 0 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s) | [diary=249974] | 2008-02-25 15:43:32