ouidah

LET'S MEET BENIN: The country of the amazones, of the historical slave trade, of the children new slaves today, of the voodoo. A journey to meet, understand and share a culture. Also, a bit of adventure! The Africans say: “The world knows very well how people die in Africa, but knows nothing of how people live there”. With this journey, we would like to repair a historical and cultural injustice that makes the economic injustice even worse. The drums boom unrelently, dancers and young adepts staring at nothing out of fatigue, tribal kings with their courts of wives and dignitaries receiving honors from the natives. It is not a film on Africa but the Voodoo festival that takes place every year on the beach of Ouidah. Not just touristic folklore, but a real religious feast. Likewise, ... read more

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 parents and looks for a better life in the capital or in Nigeria, where a middle class exists that needs domestic work. Justine was managing a maquis - a local restaurant - along the road ... read more