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Archive for the ‘Beninese culture’ CategoryMany t-shirts from elsewhere in the world make it to West Africa, where they are sold at local markets. You may remember this occasion, where I saw a lady wearing a Newnham Middle School sweater at the market. Clothes like this are sent over from charity shops in huge bags, which market traders buy and then sell on the individual items. Once I bought a Marks and Spencer suit for 9,000 cfa (= £9-). I was delighted to see the old price label, still inside, which read: British Heart Foundation £10-. Wow – I saved a pound, even after its long journey here!!! There are also plenty of imported second-hand t-shirts, which come from the same sources. Here are a few we’ve seen during our time in Togo and Benin: an Asda t-shirt (a British supermarket), the rather confrontational Mind your own business t-shirt (of course, he had no idea what it meant), a Britney Spears t-shirt (before she shaved her hair off) and a Michael Owen top:
These are just a few of the many t-shirts which raise a smile on the average yovo face when we see them! To top it all, I was walking down a local street the other day, and saw a guy selling this t-shirt for a pound:
I couldn’t resist it – for nostalgic reasons – but somehow don’t think I’ll wear it back home! Thanks for reading! The three-wheeler taxi, also known as the auto-rickshaw or tuk-tuk is a fairly common sight around Cotonou, particularly from Dantokpa Market eastwards…
There are no bus services in Cotonou, so apart from driving one’s own vehicle (which is do-able if somewhat hair-raising) there are only THREE other viable options for getting around town: OPTION ONE: The taxi
Safe, reasonably comfortable but hot, stuffy and sometimes slow. .
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Still fairly cheap (I pay 2,000cfa for an hour = £2), well ventilated, reasonably comfortable and loads of FUN! Why doesn’t everyone use them?!? These Indian babies can seat three moderately-sized adults and are much safer than a zemidjan. You can always find them near the market, but if you’re elsewhere in town and need one, then call my mate Etienne on: 97 16 16 86 and say ‘Robert’ (French pronunciation of) gave you his number. (NB I’m taking a risk here, because if all 250 daily visitors call him, he could be rather inundated!!) Even if he’s not available, he’ll always send a mate instead. Oh, and I always buy him a can of Sprite if he takes me somewhere to eat! The best thing about these three-wheelers is that they can easily weave through busy traffic like…erm…this:
. If you’d like to try one of these FAB vehicles yourself, then go to BRIGHTON, where they’ve started using the very same 3-wheelers to ease congestion!! No, seriously – have a look here and here. Happy travels!
I hope not! But then, you can’t really say such a thing here in Benin, as voodoo is a national religion, with the same status as Christianity or Islam. It has, in fact, very little to do with sticking pins in dolls, but resembles African animistic religion in many ways, with a smattering of witchcraft thrown in too. I could post plenty of semi-disturbing pictures of sacrificial rituals with blood everywhere, but it might put you off your breakfast! In the photo below (taken before a ceremony started), the thing in the bottom left corner is the fetish and the cow to the right is enjoying the last moments of his life before….yes, you guessed it.
What do you think about voodoo? For the Brits reading this, there’s a programme on channel Four this Friday about Benin and Voodoo, which I’d encourage you to watch. Details here. (Video plus+: 918742) Much of the research I am currently carrying out in southern Benin is linked to music of voodoo origin and how this is being ‘reclaimed’ for church use. Is this a good thing? Is there such a thing as an ‘evil’ rhythm or is it all in the words? What about the risk of syncretism? Some churches are finding these genres a useful tool in evangelism and in the demystification of the whole voodoo thing. Others will not touch it with a barge pole. What do you think? There’s a PhD in there somewhere! Here’s Ruth with her school bag, which we bought in Cotonou:
Pink is her favourite colour, so this bag was an obvious choice. Take a closer look though and you may notice someone you might not expect to find on a school bag:
Yes, at the top (above the Olympian bear) is the Beninese president, Yayi Boni (or Boni Yayi, to be more correct). Yes, a president on a school bag – that’s a new concept, eh? I cannot imagine kids back in the UK going to school with Tony Blair or Gordon Brown on their school bags, and I don’t suppose the US have ‘Bush bags’ either. Still, when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Yayi Boni has brought in numerous changes since he came to power two years ago, including educational reform. This includes education at elementary level being free. Here’s an article about Yayi Boni and here’s his blog. Also, don’t forget to click on the RHS of this blog under ‘Benin’s economic growth’ for a fab article.
Other news… * Lois has just had a ‘girls weekend away’ at Casa del Papa, near Ouidah. By the way, how well do you know Benin? Have you taken my Benin Quiz yet? It’s only 10 questions, but is fun to do. Click here to test your Benin knowledge.
You MUST watch this video – I’ll tell you about it afterwards… Recognize anyone? Did you laugh?!? Well, a local Christian musician, Mathieu Assogba, has been working with me a lot on my research here. So, when he came to filming his latest pop video he asked me to come along and play the cÉ›nkumÉ›n, a large gourd used in traditional music here. So, they sat me down in someone’s back yard, where there was a large blue sheet draped across a wall, and I played along to the CD. When I’d finished playing, he said “You speak a bit of FÉ”n, can you mouth the words to it”, so, with difficulty I did! A couple of weeks later and this is the result. Incidentally, I also put him in touch with the white dancers too, who had a whale of a time learning the moves. Check what Lauren says about the experience here and here. Oh, and apparently it’s been on local TV already – scary! That almost qualifies me for Celebrity Big Brother!!! That’s all for now. Bon weekend! I saw this sticker on the back of a car the other day and had to get a picture…
It’s true that people are in less of a hurry here than back home. When I first came to West Africa back in 1993, I would be walking down the street at my ‘normal’ pace and local folk would say ‘Where are you rushing to, white man?’ Guess I must’ve slowed down a bit too since then! They also say that it’s perfectly acceptable to wait 45 minutes for anything here, although I think this is changing, especially in the city. Mind you, I once waited 1 hour 30 mins for my lunch at a restaurant. The annoying thing was not the wait, but the fact that each time I asked the waiter he said ‘Your food will be along any minute now, sir – five minutes at the most’. This was his answer each time I asked – which was probably every five minutes! In Cotonou at the moment it pays not to be in a hurry, as in many parts the roads look something like this:
Here’s what’s going on: * On the coast road, a dual carriageway is being built between the Novotel and the Airport (as seen in the photos on this post). No wonder President Bush didn’t leave the Airport!! Shouldn’t complain though, as it is progress and will ultimately improve the circulation of traffic throughout Cotonou.
Other News: * Our ‘birthday season’ is over, Lois, Rob and Ruth having had theirs in February. Our friend Joanna was hungry and fancied getting a wee bite to eat…
So, she strolled down the road to find some take-away food. Unfortunately, the place she usually went to was closed, but there was a lady selling street meat, so she thought she’d give it a whirl. There were only a couple of pieces left on the griddle, so she decided to take them. As it was getting dark, she didn’t get too close a look. However…when she got home, she opened up the bag and here’s what she found – one ear and one snout:
Mmmm – tasty! I’m sure there’s a moral to the story somewhere, but I haven’t figured it out yet. Needless to say, her appetite was somewhat diminished at the sight of the above fare and she decided to give it a miss!
Well, in spite of all the comments, nobody quite hit the nail on the head. It’s actually that there’s a French-style phone box in the middle of the photo and nobody here actually uses them. They must’ve been installed a few years ago, but in some cases only a concrete base remains. Furthermore, I’ve never seen anyone making a phone call from them. No, in Benin if you want to make a phone call, you go somewhere like this:
That’s more like it – just the job! A wooden shack with a conventional telephone inside. The phone is connected to a device which counts your units and there’s a person in there who tots it up at the end and tells you how much. I guess Africans are much more into person-to-person interaction then putting coins in a machine! Incidentally, this box was just a few yards from the green one in the same village. Just thought you may be interested… How people (over?)load their vehicles in Togo/Benin is always an interesting subject. Here’s a truck with at least a year’s supply of bananas on top:
However, that’s not as ‘bananas’ as the following picture, which I took on my latest trip to northern Togo. There are a good couple of dozen folk sat on the top of this lorry, for cheap transport and free air-conditioning:
Eeek! Perish the thought of the vehicle having to break suddenly! Notice, by the way, the Harmattan in this picture. It was especially strong ‘Up North’ (ee by gum!), so much so that I was actually cold in bed. Waking up to 16 degrees C outside may not seem cold to you, but after the 28-30 of Cotonou, it was FREEZING! Also 10% humidity did not help matters, as my feet and lips started cracking and my eyelashes felt like they’d been super-glued together! Still, back in steamy Cotonou now, so I shouldn’t complain too much! Cheers! On Friday, Rob went to meet the King of Allada! Here’s his royal palace:
Not quite Buckingham, but not to worry! We had to wait for a couple of hours before he would grant us an audience, then we were invited into his throne room. Here’s the throne:
Each king of Allada has a symbol which characterizes them. This king’s symbol is the Lion (yes, I know they’re technically leopards or cheetah’s or something, but apparently it’s the same word as lion in Fon!) He is a real king, descended from the first King of Allada in the 1500′s. This one is the 16th King of Allada, although he does not have the same ruling powers as his ancestors (remind you of anyone closer to home?!) Here’s the man himself – you can tell he’s a king because: (i) He has a special king’s stick (left hand), (ii) He sits on a posh chair, (iii) Someone’s holding an umbrella over him, even though he’s indoors.
Although he initially told me off for having lived in Benin for over 3 years before coming to see him, we had a nice chat for about half an hour. I asked him what he thought about traditional song genre usage in church (a spot of research) and he talked about the importance of tolerance between religions and of a cohabitation pacifique between them. Something we all need to remember! |
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