Blogs from Benin, Africa - page 11

In Philadelphia, just before all the pink-cheeked Benin Volunteers of 2005 left for that country, a previous volunteer told us to remove the blue-tinted glasses to observe and learn about the culture we would be entering. No matter what color the tint of the shades were, the idea was that I am not to judge a culture while standing in my own. Every culture has positives and negatives, but I don’t want to compare to find which culture is “better.” With that in mind, I write this not as objectively as I should: To be a Beninese woman. I find it difficult to keep my house swept, my dishes clean, my dog and myself fed, my flowers watered, and my cockroaches dead, and I am only responsible for one human life. How does a woman keep ... read more

Listening to my cd player with my headphones to focus on work on the computer, yet still dancing and singing aloud equals two crazy people in Yovokome. I can tell that Derique is a similar roommate to Nancy in that he prefers me to use my headphones rather than the radio. I know this because he is not hiding in the bedroom. Hiding in the bedroom makes him a little embarrassed when I step out of the bath. I am not as reactive as I was while writing the previous “femi-nazi” entry, but I still have some arguments to present. Modern music videos are very similar in Mina and Kotafon to those in English or those from France, in the manner that women are shown dancing, often with camera zooms to the breasts or behind. In ... read more

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