Blogs from South, Benin, Africa - page 9

The Iroko in the previously-placed picture is one of my favorite trees, but moving quickly up the list of favorites is Somba, which definitely has to be in the same family as the maple tree. The leaves are very similar, and the seeds are the exact same helicopter blade. A somba tree grows quickly and is a preferred wood for pirogues, that is, canoes. “Athieme” in Mina means “le bois blanc,” or the white wood, which is the somba. Sadly, not many of the trees remain that gave my home its name, but Patrice and I spent three hours bent over, picking up somba seeds to plant at As.P.E.L. Working on it, we’re working on it. I was in Lokossa the other day, running errands such as paying the water bill and mailing the answers to ... read more

I was sitting in class the other day with a few others, listening to Ghislain lecture about the benefits and how-to’s of a tree nursery. Goes without saying that I was not paying attention. (Funny how as annoyed as I get being forced to sit in class, I still think of going back to school, even of becoming a professor…) Anyway, as I was not paying attention, I caught a word from The Boss saying something about how a fence is necessary to keep the animals out, animals that I usually consider being kept in fences, such as sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs. Although gardeners in the States have problems with rabbits and deer eating young plants, usually the animals are kept in fences and the plants are free to roam as they please. But ... read more

Happy New Year! That’s “Happy New Year” in Mina too. I partied heartily for both holidays. I spent Christmas with my family in Aplahoue. I arrived Saturday evening and left around noon Monday. Darly told me I arrived late and left early. My friends in Athieme told me I was gone too long. I went to midnight mass in Aplahoue, after having watched Zelag, Darly, Maman, and another girl kill, clean, and cook three chickens, one being a “yovococlo,” that is, a white-person chicken. White-person chickens are big, fat, lay eggs everyday, and are reputed to not taste as good as regular Beninese chickens. Then again, maybe they have that reputation because they cost more. I would have helped, but there were already three cooks and a helper around the fire, so I chatted while they ... read more

Have I told you about the time a viper came to my door? That was a pretty interesting afternoon. In a non-related story, Ghislain came to my door Christmas Eve day with the head-forester-guy for the entire Mono-Couffo region, who had brought pythons in bags to be set free “en brusse” near Athieme. I closed up shop, leaving my vanilla tea to go cold, and hopped in the truck to go to the forest outside the next village over. We walked a ways in, accompanied by a couple men from the village council who told us we could set the snakes free there. Unfortunately, the news did not accurately reach the vast population; the women and children were in a riot in the street because they thought we had brought some three hundred snakes, of ... read more

So… A shot of sodabe and one and a half grand Castels later… I opened my mail. Two very good friends of mine had mailed me a book of selected essays/extracts, picked by famous authors themselves. Does this mean this was the cheapest book at Borders’ that had anything to do with my interests? Well, maybe. But I like to think that no, the book was selected for me with four loving hands (my two friends, not a four handed, orange-snotted monster) in consideration of the habit I have of writing. I wrote to myself, and then even quoted to those friends from my journal: “…they mailed me a “Writers’ Best” book, quoi. I am assuming that means that they think I am a good writer; if that is a proper assumption, I am even ... read more