the last few days were sooo full of events that i don't know where to start...
marie "cha cha" (charlotte). french, former gecolien. now on project in togo and on holidays in benin. wonderful:) went to the farm with us and together we fished and went to the marketplace in zinvie. and there - everything you need
hairdresser (i decided to have braids made on sat) - sweet lady braiding my hair quickly, teaching me fon language, stopping from time to time to feed her little baby who was most of the time asleep on the back of her big brother, haidresser's husband offering to marry me, discussions about politics and gri-gri (amulets). if only i liked the braids...:)
in the evening - birhday party of our friend's little brother. lots of people seated on the chairs and sofas in the courtyard, next to a well, first waiting (till midnight, even though invitation was for 22), then lots of food served for every guest, loud loud music and dancing (and for me a good nap on the back of meryas's car:)). nath, meryas and meike were mugged by a couple young "bandits". apparently it happens from time to time so nobody paied much attention to that.
sunday - clients knocking since early morning. working a bit and then off to the beach fidjrose in cotonou. huge waves i played only a little with them. only patrick went deeper. still it was a show to all the passers-by. in benin hardly anyone who doesn't live on a river or lake can swim, so at the beach nobody enters the water. some people are also afraid of mairmades who kidnap men to take them to their kingdom on the bottom of the sea.
monday - bartek arrived!! polish (at last!!!!) photographer taking pictures in benin and togo who promised to shoot something for pho from our project... too much to write for the moment...to be continued...
30 August 2006
COMMENTS WORK AGAIN!!!
due to my messing with the parameters, comments were off for a while but they work again! you are more than welcome to post and post and post :)
27 August 2006
finally
abomey ? the traditional capital of the kingdom of dahomey with a palace of two parallel kings, both blood-loving and building their palaces with clay mixed with palm oil and human blood. even now people from the north dislike those from abomey because a couple hundred years ago people from abomey hunted them to offer their lives to the kings.
csft ? centre de sechage des fruits tropicaux ? the only fair trade thing i could find in benin. they produce dried pineapples and mangos and pineapple juice. very well organized and in cooperation with oxfam in belgium, artisans du monde in france and claro in switzerland. fantastic!
and one more incident, short but meaningful? we were visiting a church where there are paintings on the fence (kind of philadelphian murals) explaining the history of missionaries in benin, when we heard someone shouting that there was an owl under the tree and we had to kill it quickly. and there it was, apparently blessed or ill, cause it barely moved. in spite of our protests and cries, the guy started to throw stones at the poor owl and kill it (i suppose, cause i left after the first strike). it was edmonde who explained me afterwards that it was a witch and if we had not killed it, it would have kill us or at least cursed first. in benin there are two kinds of magic: "magique" or "gri-gri"(???) ? a positive kind of spells, healing and fortunetelling performed by the fa and "sorcellerie" ? dark magic and curses cast by evil witches because of jealousy or simple wickedness. sorcelleurs turn themselves often into birds (most often into owls) or snakes. there are numerous films (produced mostly in nigeria) that show "the reality" of magic. the thing that is often present is the taboo ? almost every family has some kind of a food taboo, meaning that the members of this family can?t eat certain plant of animal. if they do, they can die or have some serious trouble. edmonde?s family is forbidden to eat or even touch a certain species of bird. if they do it, they?ll catch a leprous. hmmm? it?s all really fascinating? and what was an ill owl doing in the plain daylight in a church?s courtyard??
sooo. that?s about what i wrote the last time?
and in the meantime? one of the three cinemas in cotonou ? turned into a church of some modern sect (there are lots and lots of them in benin). a very thin and sad lion in the minizoo. the whole minizoo rather depressing ? cages far too small, food rations far too scarce. and another trip with a friend meaning we had to visit about a million of his friends, professors and cousins.
today it was the dissertation of one of our friends here. he waited for that over 2 years... at the very last moment the university?s authorities wanted to cancel all the dissertations of foreign students (he?s from the ivory coast). fortunatelly, with 3 hours of delay, the jury arrived and he did it! gerard, congrats!!!:)
csft ? centre de sechage des fruits tropicaux ? the only fair trade thing i could find in benin. they produce dried pineapples and mangos and pineapple juice. very well organized and in cooperation with oxfam in belgium, artisans du monde in france and claro in switzerland. fantastic!
and one more incident, short but meaningful? we were visiting a church where there are paintings on the fence (kind of philadelphian murals) explaining the history of missionaries in benin, when we heard someone shouting that there was an owl under the tree and we had to kill it quickly. and there it was, apparently blessed or ill, cause it barely moved. in spite of our protests and cries, the guy started to throw stones at the poor owl and kill it (i suppose, cause i left after the first strike). it was edmonde who explained me afterwards that it was a witch and if we had not killed it, it would have kill us or at least cursed first. in benin there are two kinds of magic: "magique" or "gri-gri"(???) ? a positive kind of spells, healing and fortunetelling performed by the fa and "sorcellerie" ? dark magic and curses cast by evil witches because of jealousy or simple wickedness. sorcelleurs turn themselves often into birds (most often into owls) or snakes. there are numerous films (produced mostly in nigeria) that show "the reality" of magic. the thing that is often present is the taboo ? almost every family has some kind of a food taboo, meaning that the members of this family can?t eat certain plant of animal. if they do, they can die or have some serious trouble. edmonde?s family is forbidden to eat or even touch a certain species of bird. if they do it, they?ll catch a leprous. hmmm? it?s all really fascinating? and what was an ill owl doing in the plain daylight in a church?s courtyard??
sooo. that?s about what i wrote the last time?
and in the meantime? one of the three cinemas in cotonou ? turned into a church of some modern sect (there are lots and lots of them in benin). a very thin and sad lion in the minizoo. the whole minizoo rather depressing ? cages far too small, food rations far too scarce. and another trip with a friend meaning we had to visit about a million of his friends, professors and cousins.
today it was the dissertation of one of our friends here. he waited for that over 2 years... at the very last moment the university?s authorities wanted to cancel all the dissertations of foreign students (he?s from the ivory coast). fortunatelly, with 3 hours of delay, the jury arrived and he did it! gerard, congrats!!!:)
24 August 2006
shit
i've written such a nice post about our trip to abomey but it got lost somwhere in space (due to our brilliant internet connection...). i'm too frustrated to re-write it, sorry.
now back in ab-cal, meike's been suffering for over 10hours as she's having fake braids (totally a la mode here:)) made. it takes ages and ages of pain. keep your fingers crossed for her patience!
now back in ab-cal, meike's been suffering for over 10hours as she's having fake braids (totally a la mode here:)) made. it takes ages and ages of pain. keep your fingers crossed for her patience!
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