Holiday season. Wow, I have been busy. I made it through the holidays. Yes.
I hope everyone had a lovely time and thank you for keeping me in your thoughts.
For the faithful that remain with my blog, this should be the last long absence as I will be getting my laptop in a few weeks which will be so nice in saving me a lot of time at the internet café.
I am just about ready to start teaching basic business skills to my women’s group and some local artisans, as well as planning some other stuff so I will let you know how that goes in the next post. We are having some nicer weather lately as Harmattan is in full swing - this is that we are (even down here), feeling the winds off the Sahara; everything is dusty and dry. The nights are cool and the sun is a lot less intense. I will enjoy it while I can. The Beninese think I’m crazy for saying this – they are freezing!
Here’s what I’ve been up to in a nutshell:
Two days before Christmas I attended my first funeral in country for Pierre’s nephew. It was less traditional and more sad since it was a child. I was a bit uncomfortable at first but then people loosened up and began dancing and celebrating his life.
Christmas morning began with me dropping my camera on my concrete floor - totally destroyed. Had a small meltdown, pulled myself together, and went with my friends to their grandparent’s village nearby. Miscommunication and being late because we couldn’t get a taxi meant we missed the church service that morning. But I ended up having a nice day – wasn’t very Christmas-y and was hot – but I was with great people all day long – eating, dancing, and talking to lots of different folks– the family was Muslim and their cousins from Nigeria were Catholic. Religion in Benin is 30 percent Muslim, 20 percent Christian, 50 percent Animism - traditional beliefs/voodoo. Everyone celebrates each others festivals by eating; drinking; and dancing together. It is a lot of fun and Benin sets a good example of how not only different religions can exist peacefully together, but also how to actually enjoy and participate in their neighbors different religious gatherings in a festive atmosphere. Everyone is so happy here, I love it.
Kids come around during the holidays just like Halloween in the US without the costumes and ask for money or candy. But usually they earn it; they have to dance and I even had some caroling Christmas Eve. Luckily, I was well equipped with candy suckers thanks to some thoughtful friends!
New Years weekend - my friend Andrea stayed in Avrankou with me Friday night and Saturday we left for the town of Ketou. This day was also Tabaski, an important Islamic holiday including the sacrificing of sheep. Most Muslim households had bought a sheep so you can imagine what we saw along the road all Saturday morning! Ketou is about two hours north of us – a dusty town with strong traditions and a poignant past. The car ride there was interesting – sheep tied up together with chickens 10 feet high on top of the car, and occasionally them slipping down the sides and back of the car which, after 5 months here, didn’t really faze us.
We stayed with another volunteer, bringing cheese and fetching his water for him in exchange for a tour of the town! He is a great tour guide – he bargained a good price at a museum and then explained the history of the town. I hope I get all this right - a good while back the Dahomey empire basically crushed Ketou and the Kings were in hiding. There are lots of little historic places to visit: we saw the “magical door” of the palace where the kings passed and where human sacrifices took place. We also saw a sacred tree which, if dies, the community believes Ketou will disappear from the face of the earth. So it is well guarded by everyone. Next we were off to see the sacred fetish pile. This small mountain is 100 percent garbage. When Dahomey attacked Ketou the people buried their most precious fetish under garbage to protect it, and over the years they continued to add to it, creating a small sacred mountain of trash where now children and crazy visitors like us climb to the top for the view and simply for the sake of being on top of a voodoo fetish with a story like this! Needless to say, after that we needed to soak our feet in antiseptic for a decent amount of time.
We hung out with some other local volunteers and made lentil burgers and fries. I think between the 5 of us we ate about 20 burgers! That night we were kept awake by the goat tied up outside the window that wouldn’t stop crying. We just laughed about it the next day although my friend is sleep deprived because of it and hoping they kill it soon. :-)
We traveled back to Avrankou Sunday evening and had, of course, another interesting ride with probably 150 chickens and 12 people in a big station wagon. Most of the chickens were tied up in three’s on top, but a few remained on peoples laps and we were trying our hardest not to laugh. It was just so comical, the whole thing - not to mention the goats running around and people screaming BONNE FETE to their friends out the window! That night we were so tired and I was feeling a flu coming on, so we just went to bed New Years Eve at 10 pm. Monday I was invited to a party with my boss but didn’t feel up to it.
I am coming off a week-long conference for first-year volunteers held in Ouidah, which is a nice beach town devoted to voodoo and has a dark history with the slave trade. Wednesday was another national holiday – VOODOO – oooooo ahhhhh. There were thousands of people on the beach dancing, drinking, and eating; of course lots of tourists observing. The King of Ouidah also showed up in grand form. Later that day we visited the historical museum as Ouidah was a major slaving port for West Africa. We saw the tree they made the slaves walk around three times to erase all memory of their motherland to begin their new life. Then we went to the sacred python temple which is now very touristy but still interesting and yes I held one as they are nice.
That’s all for me. Have a super day. Au revoir, Sara
I've never seen so many mopeds(zemijans)! Zemi-jan is Fon for "take me quick." They are designed to carry up to 2 people, yet in Benin they frequently carry families of five, with their shoping. Sometimes you see a goat or two, or a live wild pig tied up on the back. The way the pack it up is really quite impressive.
