Kenya Give Us A Moment to Pontificate?

For the most part our contact with the outside world is limited – phone calls from family, large envelopes with month old copies of Sports Illustrated and the equally-delayed issues of Newsweek (international edition) courtesy of the Peace Corps. The only real regular source of current information comes from BBC World and Radio France International (RFI), both of which feature Africa-oriented programming and both of which have been dominated by the ongoing violence in Kenya over the last month.

So in the interest of ongoing commentary on the life of an American in Africa, we thought a blog post about our impressions about the conflict vis-a-vis our existence here in Benin would not be too out of place.

First off, for all those concerned about such things it is worth saying up front that we have been kept abreast of the situation of the Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya and that the extensive and well-practiced security measures are being employed to protect them. We’d tell you more but I’m not sure what would get us in trouble with administration – better not to press it.

Now what does this then mean for Benin, or more directly how likely is it that this kind of thing could happen here ? What has been most interesting has been the reports of specific incidents, how certain acts were carried out and in what settings. Some of the building conditions (cement housing with metal framed doors and windows), instruments of aggression (the ubiquitous machete) and fault lines (tribal/ geographic/ religious) are much easier to comprehend now. How a town can be wiped off the map in a matter of hours doesn’t seem as astonishing, or that the chaos can turn once peaceful neighbors against each other in a basic fight for survival.

Could it happen in Benin ? Maybe, but hard to see it happening at least while we’re here. Much of what fueled the violence there was a history of one group usurping all the political/ economic/ military authority. Benin is in a pretty good place in that while some groups, specifically the Fon and Nagot in the South have played a more dominant role in commercial development, the country’s largest single economic sector is the cotton industry in the Bariba North.

The same balance has been struck politically where there have been a higher quantity of career politicians and bureaucrats from the South, but the two most influential presidents in the post-communist era have been Mathieu Kerekou and Boni Yayi from the Northern Attacora and Borgou respectively. Furthermore, the military, traditionally the largest instigator of sectarian strife in Africa since the end of colonialism, is not dominated by any one group and insists on carving out as much of a national identity as possible.

As of now it is hard to see Benin going the way of Kenya, but then again Kenya had long been considered one of Africa’s bright spots (in retrospect, it seems Kenya’s economic success tended to distract from its less than ideal political situation). If we were to guess, it would be an economic destabalizer rather than a socio-religious one that could set Benin off. Unequally distributed revenues from any discovered natural resources, or possibly a political leader whose patronage gave discretionary spending power to one group that already has notable economic advantages. But neither of those things seem likely, at least not in the next few years.

So what then is the lesson learned? Its something we’ve heard a lot lately, but simply put its that culture matters and that our multi-race, religious diverse communities are the exception, not the norm.

Fun in the Mud

It’s amazing what one can do with « these two hands »… like building a mud stove?

At one session during early inservice training, Jaren along with her comrads played in the dirt to make mud stoves.

Here’s how :

To start, dig up dirt, blend in dry weeds, and add a bit of water to create a clay-like mound perfect for constrution.

Then, it was time to mash it…with your feet of course. (Think smashing of the grapes).

Voilà ! Clay ! In order to work with the heaping mound, it was necessary to create clay balls.

Then pick a spot in the concession where the stove should go and start construction by dabbing the globs of clay around a marmite (a big pot).

Remove the pot, cut away some edges, smooth the surface with water and you have yourself a mud stove !

Let stand a week and then you’ll have the perfect stove to make your favorite beninese dishes. Pate anyone ?

Fête-ing Season: Voodoo Fête

January 10th was the official holiday celebrating the unofficial national religion Voodoo. As we have already mentioned, Voodoo emerged from Benin and Ouidah is its birthplace. In addition to the many sacred voodoo monuments (See post from Jaren's trip to Ouidah ), Ouidah boasts the biggest voodoo fete in Benin. Jaren was fortunate to be in Ouidah during the fete, while Steve celebrated from Grand Popo.

The fete started out with the expected pomp and circumstance. Every offical had to give a long-winded speech in both French and Fon (a local language) that took all of an hour to get through even though the end of each speech was interupted by drummers playing who wanted to get the show started. But the drummers were quieted to give each official their time in the spotlight.




Finally, after the speeches the show started. It commenced with the dancing revenants – the supposed embodiment of returned spirits. To us, they look like swirling colored haystacks.



They were followed by men dressed in fabulous bedazzled outfits that can only be described the classic Clan hood if it was designed by Liberace, while others looked like Greek Orthodox preists taking the boat ride from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Following the display, revelers retired to their homes for personal celebration, which as no surprise to anyone here invloved sodabi and akassa.

Fête-ing Season: Bonne Annee

To send the spirit, we want to wish you all dear readers a good celebration and a good year with good prosperity and the good health and all, all, all !

Summing up NYE here, its the above statement -- in French -- no less than 1,000 times over a 24 hour period. People put on their finest and take a tour of town, calling on the houses of friends and loved ones for what is essentially an extended salutation.

We took it pretty easy, sitting in the yard and recieving visitors and prepping for a trip down south in the following days.

Fête-ing Season: Christmas

Christmas in Africa! Nothing says Christmas like 90 degrees and lizards! For a couple of folks from northern states, this feels absolutely nothing like Christmas here. So, we had to improvise a bit.

There, that's better.

To do the season of giving right, we volunteered to help Jaren's host organization with a Christmas party for local AIDS orphans. The CPS had hundreds of presents donated from the US and France, which we then dutifully wrapped with the intention to distribute.

Of course, you can't just hand the kid a present. No, it has to come from the big man himself, Papa Noel. Not content to do anything the normal way, we had to put a little Beninese flair into the suit. Voila!

No, I don't know why our tailor gave santa a neck tie, but the short pats seemed very neccessary given the cotton ball beard and towel in the shirt.

Santa came walking down the garden path,, greeted the kids, danced a little (video to come) and then gave out the gifts. Strangely, kids who had never received a wrapped present before had no idea what to do with it and were very reluctant to tear the paper.

A heartwarmingly surreal experience all around.

Fête-ing Season: Tabaski

The first in a three part series on the holidays here in Benin. First up, Tabaski -- the muslim holiday that in the rest of the world is known as 'id ( there's more too it but for now lets just say 'id). This is the event that celebrates Abraham's aborted sacrifice of Isaac (and the sheep that wasn't so lucky) as well as the end of the hadj in Mecca.

To celebrate we were invited to the home of Steve's counterpart Kasim, President of the artisans association and local mechanic. As per custom, Kasim spend the morning transforming a sheep into meat which he is then to share with family and friends, and then the afternoon entertaining said family and friends.

Today's meat was served with Amiwo, which pate pre-mixed with sauce, giving it a faint taste of bullion cube and tomatos to go with the normal pate (void of) texture.

The entertainment, on the other hand, was totally out of left field. A compilation video of Shakira's greatest hits set the background for the meal. Kasim said he had to put on American music for his American friends -- didn't have the heart to tell him that the Lebanese ethnicity and Colombian citizenship kind of shot that plan despite his best intentions.

Innousa, the treasurer of the collective also joined us for the meal (haven't yet met any of his family, not sure where they are).

We ate and talked a bit, and even got a good Benin style picture -- everyone lined up and not smiling.


L-R: Kasim, Steve, Jaren and Innousa. I promise you we all have very nice smiles, really.

After a few hours we made our way back home, bellies full of meat and digesting the conversation (African perspectives on life, death and development). And Shakira.

If you're gonna live in a cow town...

... you better have 40 pounds of steel and iron grilling power.


Not pictured: Top grill rack, delicious faux fillet and grilled squash.

Still some slight modifications to be made on the frame and holes have to be punched for the spit, but rest assured the local livestock population is a bit more weary of us now.