The third country in my Africa from A-Z series is Benin. My friend Ryan was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin before joining us in Mali for a third year. When I think of Benin I think of Nadine, our sweeter than sweet Peace Corps nurse turned embassy nurse who has Beninese roots, voodoo (Benin is, after all, touted as the birthplace of voodoo!) and that the country is a must-see for adventure traveling. If you are looking to visit Benin, here are some helpful travel hints. Unfortunately, I have not yet had the chance to visit but surfing the web for information on the country is a close second (or third to first-person experiences!).
One of Ryan's PCV friends from Benin traveled around West Africa on a motorcycle (after completing his service) with a friend of his from village to photograph people from the nomadic Fulani tribe scattered throughout the region. Their website, found here, is a must visit - the photos will take your breath away. Here is a link to their facebook page.
The man who made the video above was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin in the 90s and then revisited with his wife and children in 2007. What a dream come true for a lot of volunteers!
UNICEF Benin put together this video about a standardized grading tool developed to encourage parent participation, even in the face of their own illiteracy, in their child's academic life. I wonder how it really works??
Awful story of a Peace Corps Volunteer, Kate Puzey, murdered in Benin. A truly tragic story - she and her family remain in my thoughts and I hope posts like this will keep Kate, Benin and the safety and security of everyone at home and abroad in the forefront of their thoughts.
African button earrings!
This necklace is awesome.
Looking for the movie theater in Cotonou? Here it is! Living National Treasures (I love anything with the word treasures in it!)
Looted treasures.
Benin highlights.
From BBC:
President: Thomas Boni Yay
Population: 9.1million (UN, 2011)
1975 - November - Dahomey is renamed the People's Republic of Benin.
Capital: Porto-Novo
Major languages: French (official) Fon, Ge, Bariba, Yoruba, Dendi
Main exports: Cotton, palm oil
** My friend Kafui who I met at the 2010 Global Shea conference in Mali just let me know that the 2012 Global Shea conference will be held in Benin in April as well as the Cashew conference which will take place in September. Thanks Kafui!
I'd love to hear from you - have you ever visited Benin? Am I missing any must-see or must-dos in the country? Next week I'll learn more about Botswana - has anyone ever been? Anything I must learn??
As I walk into Shogun the heavy smell
of fried rice and soy sauce washes over me while waitresses glide by
in swishing kimonos. The smells and sounds bring back a wave of
memories. Birthdays, awards, proms – I have celebrated many
occasions here with my family and friends over steaming plates of
sautéed vegetables and steak and shrimp dinners. Along with the
delicious food another constant is Pang – one of Shogun's
Teppanyakichefs who
prepares flaming Japanese meals on an iron griddle before amazed
patrons. My first boyfriend, childhood friends, an awkward
ring-dance date and of course family – he has met them all and seen
us grow up behind steam clouds and plates piled-high with zucchini
and soy beans.
Pang prepares vegetables and scallops - yum!
But at Shogun my memories go beyond food. For as long as I can remember there has been a tall glass
case just beyond the entrance of the restaurant and on the way to the
bathroom that is filled with inexpensive trinkets and shiny earrings
laid on embroidered pouches. As children, my sister Lindsay and I
would excuse ourselves to the bathroom during dinner just to look at
the treasures behind the sliding glass door and talk about which ones
we wished we had. My Dad had no qualms about sending us to the
corner in public for misbehaving and sometimes, after yet another
time-out and sometimes just because, Pang would slip away from our
table after preparing the meal and take a pair of earrings or
chopsticks from the case by the restrooms for Lindsay and me. Gifts or not, time-outs or not, we
always looked forward to eating out at Shogun and seeing Pang.
While waiting for our table to clear
and during our meals we would catch up with Pang. From middle school
to high school and finally college and beyond, Pang followed all of
our studies and paths in life and always had an anecdote to share
with us relating to our lives. For me it became art history when I
majored in it at Mary Washington, along with French. On a college
break a few years back, my family reconvened at Shogun as usual to
catch up and celebrate another semester behind us. After the meal,
Pang asked us to wait and came back a few minutes later with an
extra-large, framed print of Renoir's Dance at the Moulin de la
Galette. There used to be a Big Lots next to Shogun and there is
still a CHKD thrift shop where Pang said he would drop in before work
and scoop up deals like this print. Always a sucker for a deal and
beautiful frames and prints I oohed and aahed over it along with the
rest of the family. And then he gave it to me, just like that.
Last year we spent Dad's birthday in Vegas - this year we decided to up our MSG intake and head to Shogun! Delicious!
After being home for the past three
months, we finally made our annual family visit last week for my
Dad's birthday. I cannot remember the last time Lindsay and I looked
into the tall glass case at the end of the hallway and we no longer
get sent to the corner for speaking out of turn. As we put on our coats and
prepared to leave this last time, Pang asked me if I was still
interested in art history since it has been nearly 4 years since I
graduated. 'Of course!' I replied and then he darted to the back of
the restaurant, reappearing a few moments later with two large,
framed prints and an art history textbook. We talked about the
prints and where they came from and then he offered me the book –
some things never change!
Visiting Shogun, like spending quality
time with sweet friends and family as I have done these past three
months, feels like coming home. 'Is it hard to come back?' people
ask me when they learn I live in Bamako, Mali, a city over 4500 miles
away from Virginia Beach as the crow flies. While I know people
struggle and triumph in different ways when they return from
the Peace Corps or come home after a long time away, I am blessed
that I will soon be returning to Mali and so I know what the
(immediate!) future holds. And anyways, with dear friends, good food
and a supportive family around the world, wherever I am – home is
where you are.
A non-profit, Clean-the-World, takes old hotel soaps and shampoos from the United States and re-makes them to ship out to underdeveloped countries and people who are too poor to buy soap. What's your take on this? Are folks who really need it the ones getting it? It would seem to be a better use to send the soap to domestic violence shelters in the US rather than send it across the world where they already have the ability and the resources to make soap (and not to mention you can buy it for as cheap as 100CFA which is about 20 cents). I know that not all families can float that much always but can Clean the World ship re-purposed soap bars to those in need forever? Maybe I'm missing something. Some say to rethink using hotels that do not support such a cause. What do you think?
Sorry it's in Dutch or another language whose alphabet I do not know...but it's a woman talking about her work in Mali and being a soap seller after receiving a loan from CARE.
Here are some links from around the web on soap and shea butter (which can be used to make soap):
Before doing some digging on Angola, the second country in my series Africa from A-Z, the first thing that popped into my mind was a bunny of the sweater-making variety.
First thought: Angora bunny which I thought were Angola bunnies. Not so.
But then my mom corrected me and told me that these bunnies whose fur makes sweaters are angora and not angola. And so I thought of a few more. Conflict, diamonds, dictator. All of which turned out to be more on point than bunnies. However, after some probing I learned a few new things about this south African country which gained its independence from Portugal in 1975 and is surrounded by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Namibia. I think you might, too!
The wildest fact I learned about Angola was the United State's collaboration with South Africa
during their South-African Border War (aka Angolan Bush War) which raged from 1966-1989. Like most wars, it looks like it was a complicated mess. The war involved Cuba and the USSR as well as Angola and Namibia's bids for independence. South Africa, in cohort with the United States, recruited and sent black Vietnam war veterans to Angola to help fight against Cuba and the Soviet Union's encroaching influence on the country (!!!). Yeesh. Here is a fiery article from veterans against the Vietnam war talking about the United State's intervention in Angola. Makes your heart hurt thinking about all the men and women dying for the freedom of our country - and also for our foolishness as we pursue the protection of our economic interests. Because Angola is not only rich in diamonds but also in black gold - and is one of the largest exporters of oil to the United States.
Angola: Journey Through Change, is a photography book highlighting the devastating effects of internal strife and war spanning 40 years. Looks like there are some powerful images to be seen focusing on the effect of landmines that have been found and continue to be discovered in the country.
Angola, like many countries, will also host presidential elections in 2012. And Angola boasts the title of second-largest oil producing country in Africa (producing 1.9 million barrels a day) and also that of second longest-ruling leader.
Did you know that Leila Lopes, Miss Universe 2011, is from Angola? I did not! If you can't watch the video I'll give you a synopsis: She believes in extraterrestrials, that women are more capable than men (though I find her logic a bit weak..) and she would like to be a butterfly if she had to be an animal.
Angola from A-Z:
Looking to hit the town in Luanda, Angola's capital? Here's a blog with all the hot spots!
A blog by the wife of a foreign service officer currently stationed in Luanda.
A blog by an oil-worker on the rigs in Angola.
A bookmark with Angola on it!
And some buttons!
Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, fingers - so much to see, hear, smell, taste and do! I found this blog via this blog where the author posts about her favorite sight, smell, touch, sound and taste-ful things. Here are some of my most recent sensory stimulants:
Virginia recently passed me by from the windows of an Amtrak train as I returned home from Kate's bridal shower, New Year's celebrations and a visit with Cat and David and their sweet baby boy, Auggie. Best way to travel and a wonderful way to ring in 2012!
Revenues from gold rises in Mali along with its price while famine threatens the region and trouble rumbles in from the north in the form of rebel soldiers, the Algerian army (there to help Mali?) and Libyan defectors. Not the best start to 2012 in Mali - here's hoping things get better before they get worse.
Glad I brushed up on Algeria since it features so prominently in recent Malian events. I still have a lot to learn, though!
Although Algeria's constitution forbids its forces from taking part in
military action outside its own territory, the constitution, in
practice, is used more as a pretext to justify not sending its military
outside its borders. For instance, it is this aspect of the constitution
that Algeria has been continually invoking over the last couple of
years to explain why its forces have not crossed into Mali to obliterate
AQIM, even when invited to do so by its Sahelian neighbours (Niger,
Mali and Mauritania), with whom it set up a joint military command in
April 2010 for precisely this purpose.
.....
The reason why Algerian forces have hitherto desisted from going into
Mali to root out AQIM cannot therefore be because of the constitution.
The real reason is that the AQIM in the Sahara-Sahel is a predominantly
Algerian construct.source
The series of terrorist groups, or names of various terrorist groups, in the north of Mali is dizzying. Sounds like a tricky path ahead for Algerian/US relations if Algeria is backing (and/or is?) AQIM and the US is engaging in counterterrorism.... Tricky pickle much?
A goal of mine for 2012 is to learn more about the countries in Africa (and around the world!). I will do this by writing a blog post each week about a country in Africa. 54 countries. 52 weeks (two countries/weeks will be extra special!). And I will blog about them alphabetically. I still need to work out some of the kinks about how I will post but here goes for my first country!
I always wonder about Algeria since I do not hear much about it and it is right above Mali. What happens there? Does anyone visit? Doesn't sound like much after the war in 1992. From my brief perusing it seems like a key country to know more about if I want to dig deeper into what decolonization was like in Africa since it was colonized by France for over 120 years. It is also the largest country in Africa (and the Arab world and the Mediterranean, for that matter) and has a snazzy 4-mile, much anticipated, metro system. Also, Algeria cares about the bid for Western Sahara's independence. Does anyone else?
From around the web:
A zine about Algeria. An unlined journal. I would love to have this journal, too! And a light switch!
