Country Info
- Porto-Novo
- Capital
- CFA Franc BCEAO (XOF)
- Currency
- 6,590,782
- Population
- BJ
- Country Code
Benin Slideshow
Benin
Travel Blogs from Benin
A Day in the Life of a Project and other tales
This is a top pick! ... anyway due to the drop in prices in the market. A journalist recently wrote an article specifically about the cotton industry in Benin and published it in one of the major economist/financial magazines in the states (the name escapes me). For those who ...
Bembereke and Women's Day
This is a top pick! ... and while not so important in the U.S. where women have a lot of rights, it is a very important in places like Benin where women's importance is continually downplayed and denied. Hence, I helped organize my second women's day celebration in Bembereke and ...
Celebrating the voodun New Year
This is a top pick! ... as such, is a national holiday. I made arrangements to attend a traditional ceremony in Bohicon, near Abomey, the cultural capitol of Benin. Met by Dah, the son of the voodoo chief and a traditional healer, I was brought to a ceremony in which people, ...
Cotonou
This is a top pick! Hi Guys, You can read our update from Cotonou in our entry from Niamey, Niger entitled 'Togo and Benin to Niger'. Cheers, K & ...
A Hodge-Podge of Thoughts
This is a top pick! You wake up under the green haze of a mosquito net that has become almost an extension of your own body; in the morning, your feet press outwards, tugging the protective layer away from the mattress, explaining those mysterious bug bites on your stomach, ...
My best friend and her daughter
This is a top pick! This entry is basically a manner to preserve digital images that others have taken with digital cameras and emailed to me. The photos here are of my best friend and her daughter, Clarisse who is a little over two years old now... so I have known her for ...
Bye Bye Benin
Non convaincu par Cotonou, grosse ville surpeuplée par la pollution, j'ai fais une rencontre extraordianire d'un immigré clandestin traversant les frontières en quête d'une vie meilleur. Après lui avoir payé l'hotel, nous nous quittons ce matin à ...
notes cuturelles
Here are a few of the cultural differences from a worksheet that we received comparing and contrasting American and Beninese cultures: Benin- you can assume that sleepers are tired and can sleep though most noises, as they have been doing since they ...
African Christian Wedding
... at Bembéréké, which, if I haven't mentioned already, is one of SIM's missions and the major hospital in northern Benin, officially named by the government as an AIDS patient treatment center. Thank God for his abundant grace in using his children for ...
A day in the life of
Just so you know it's not all uproarious conversations with dashing and gregarious Béninois who propose marriage on the first meeting and hold out hope despite my anxiously-awaiting nearly betrothed (true story), I thought I'd share a couple less than ...
Bush Taxi
I was wide awake and hearing minimal percussion in my head at 5 AM. I waited for the 5:30 alarm and did what I always do when I'm leaving a place. In my head, every action became, "The last shower I take in this house. The last time I eat this kind of ...
First night at Paul VI
... runs throughout the country. It is basically a two lane dirt road. Once off the airplane, we are greeted by current volunteers from Benin. We are shuttled in Land Rovers to Jean Paul VI. It is a Catholic church/convent in the heart of Benin. At this ...
dfqd
... 3 dollars, but the Abomey city government in its infinite wisdom that travelers spin in wisdom has added a 2 dollar tourist tax. Punks. Benin, especially Abomey and Porto Novo are quite strange in the way that you often see women walking around topless - ...
African Funeral
... died than given to them their entire lives in many cases! Well, the party is planned and relatives and friends from all over Benin are called and usually 4 or 5 months later the party is had. Get this though. Here's the kicker. The deceased person is ...
Chill à Cotonou
A Cotonou, c'est vraiment une ville très calme, mais active on trouve de tout : glace, pizza, alors je me fais plaisir et je me console après ces périodes pas toujours simple. Merci à la famille Mike et JD pour le paquet vraiment super ...
Sleepless Nights
The cool breeze from the fan flutters the mosquito net in graceful wisps as the squeaking of the bats lulls me to a desire for the sleep that's recently eluded me. I roll over to face away from the small gleam of the porch light that sneaks through the ...
Golfe de Benin
Bonjour tout le monde, my french is beginning to get much better. This is surprisingly unsual but I have time and access to post another entry. I am currently in Cotonou and will leave this city on Thursday to travel to a town called Azove about ...
Entrepreneurs
... and very powerful there they have a door called the porte of no return on the beach where the slaves would pass under for their last time in benin and on the continent of africa i miss you guys hope life is treating you as well as it is me!!! ...
the group
Well, I happy to report that I've officially messed up. No, no, it wasn't anything major and I found that I was laughing at myself as it was happening, but I thought I'd share what is probably the first of many language/culture mix-ups that I ...
new goodies!
... Peace Corps policy and staying healthy. As with any new job, we were given more paperwork and information to read. The US Ambassador to Benin greeted us (even though this is his last day on the job) and let us know that we are the "true ambassadors" - ...
Baturé!
(The following entry should be read in my usual laughing, sarcastic tone and not as a serious comment on any society or the current state of race relations in any nation or internationally. It is simply a random anecdote from no particular day of my ...
The King of Benin lives here
... villages, making it difficult for the traders to came and capture them. Abomey is a couple of hours north from the coast of Benin and a place where people visit to take in the ancient civilization that was based here. The kingdom was based here. We hired ...
Causer avec les gens (Chatting with people)
Before you read this entry, take a guess at what you think the hardest thing to get used to in Africa is for an American (this one anyway). The heat? The poverty? Being the only white person? Seriously. Think about it for a second. An American ...
Off to Azove!!!
Hello all, As I type this entry it is 12:16 pm here, so i guess 6:16 am your time. My business group, the faithful 15, leave for Azove at 2:00. I wanted to post another entry to tell you guys that I will not have email in Azove. The nearest ...
birthday - benin style
... But, I have to say that I had a pretty swell birthday. To start, perhaps it's important to understand that birthdays here in Benin are of much less significance than they are in the US (to me, anyway). I might have mentioned this before that many people ...
baby benin
It's a boyyy! My pregnant mama, Roukiat, finally gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! Saturday night I was socializing with my friends at the buvette next to my house when my non-pregnant mama, Saidat, came over to borrow my friend's moto to take ...
baptême
... ...Sani Moudjahidou Oscar. Sani is his father's name and that then becomes the baby's last name (which goes first here in Benin). Moudjahidou is his given name. It is pronounced something like MOO-JIE-DOO. Also, this is strickingly similar to how ...
Not Even Squirming
"God is on his throne, and he's not even squirming." Jim, our Interim Benin-Togo Area Director, in the short time I knew him, seemed to be known for such encouraging and challenging one-liners as the one above. He's a wise man and a bit of a wise guy. ...
Last entry from Benin
... worried patients when they don't speak the same language. I've gotten to be part of forging a stronger relationship between the churches of Benin and the mission as they minister to the needs of the people. I've gotten to clash with the best of them in ...