Country Info
- Porto-Novo
- Capital
- CFA Franc BCEAO (XOF)
- Currency
- 6,590,782
- Population
- BJ
- Country Code
Benin Slideshow
Benin
Travel Blogs from Benin
More bike repairs...
This morning on my way to class, I got a flat tire! Sucky. My tire had been acting/feeling a bit odd lately when I had been riding it, but I never got around to looking at it to see what the problem was. This morning though, it was totally flat. ...
Another great start to my day...
Instead of a flat tire today, my water bottle wasn't closed tightly in my bike bag...it was in the same bag as all of my folders, books, and camera. Luckily my camera didn't get wet, but my papers were SOAKED. When I put the water bottle in my bag, I ...
A Trip to the Collines
... . Presentations were given on the different projects people are working on in each of the four sectors here in Benin (i.e. Health, Environment, English Teachers, and Small Business Development). These sessions are particularly helpful to get ideas for new ...
The mornings are freezing!
After my run this morning, I was really hot and sweaty. I wanted to bathe, but the water would have been freezing against my body-it was already cold enough outside (73º is cold here!) as it is. So, I boiled some water and then mixed that in with the ...
Mom's Cookies!
Instead of going for a run this morning, Meredith and I went for a walk. We explored random paths on the outskirts of town to see where they went. Most of them just lead to farm fields, nothing too fun. Once I got home, I made breakfast and did my ...
Finally - PROOF!
Check out the picture, I finally found proof of the bull in the boot story! My apologies for not putting anything up lately. I have had a lot to say, but almost no internet access whatsoever, and certainly not enough to get anything up here. So I'm ...
An Uphill kind of Day
The road between Tamépgré and the Natitingou Workstation was a HUGE uphill climb. It too about 2 ...
Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World)
Camp GLOW officially starts today. We waited for the girls to arrive and the camp opened with ceremony and ...
Getting "lost"
... around 3pm. I was meeting up with other Stagiaires at a Volunteer's house. We had dinner at a new, and "really nice" (for Benin standards) bar. After that, we went to a different bar....Well, tried to get there anyway...My zemi driver didn't know ...
Day 4- Biaccou
Day 4 we visited Biaccou. There is even phone service in this village. You have to stand in just the right spot, in the middle of the ...
Painting pains
Received a phone call from Ryan at MIDNIGHT. Turns out that is the only time you can get through the phone lines-wonderful TeleCel service. (The time of day doesn't really matter though; I can always find time to take a nap later. It's always great to ...
Odds N Ends
Léon, my "father" in Houègbo, stopped by-the landlord told him that I need to get an electricity counter. This kinda makes me mad. It's his property, why should I have to get that. Meredith's landlord got her's and paid for it and all. I swear, my ...
Christmas at the BEACH!
Actually it is Dec. 23. The ocean here is very strong and dangerous for ...
Swear-In Tissue!
Today @ Stage was pretty normal: Language, Cross-Culture, lunch, and TDA processing & simulation. When we came back from lunch break, the "tissue committee" had put the tissue (fabric) they picked out for Swear-In on everyone's chairs. It's looks ...
Breakfast @ Dinner
Language class, and then a Health session-the electricity was cut though, so we had a delay from watching the AIDS and Rape videos. The Dr. made us stick around though just in case the electricity came back on. Eventually it did come back, so we ...
Happy Birthday Meredith!
For breakfast, I met Meredith and two other Volunteers at a bakery/café called Gerb d'Or. I took a zemi there. It was my first time traveling by zemi solo...without other Volunteers with me. My driver didn't exactly know where the bakery was though, ...
A slough-off day
No more language classes-yea! (Actually, I'm not sure that I'm happy or not...there's still so much to learn; I'm definitely not fluent.) There was a waste of time Cross-Culture text and Technical test this morning. After that the Environment and ...
so this is what 111 degrees in the shade is like
Hi everyone We're down in the big city of Cotonou for a few days taking care of some work issues and doing some shopping. It's the first time we've been down here since swear in ceremony, and it's a little different after living in such a remote ...
Christmas Eve with the Family
... Simple things can make a wonderful Christmas gift. This Christmas night we are happy to be together as a family and to be able to spend this special night with Jen's Benin family. We wish all of our family and friends back home a very Merry ...
Mail is fun!
I received 2 packages from my family today!! She had made photo CD's of Tanya and Marquel's wedding and my going away party. I also received pot holders (very handy), sticky notes, folders, key chains, maps of the US and World, non-parishable food, a ...
Le Petit Miguelito
We went to a concert of many "popular" artists....at least they are very popular within Benin. Le Petit Miguelito debuted his first CD. It seems he is very popular here and extremely famous (like the Beatles). I had the "luck" to talk to him before the ...
Saturated in Sub-Saharan Africa
Alright, ladies and gents. I recognise it has been more than a while since I was diligent enough to put something up here. Although, it's not all about a lack of diligence; the longer I live here the more normal and less reportable things seem. Also, I ...
Rain, rain go away...
Started packing my things this morning before going to meet everyone at Pascal's omelet stand at 11:30 for brunch. After eating, Pascal took Charles and I silverware shopping. We were looking for the stainless steal plates/bowls/cups that seem to be so ...
Two weeks and first experiences
... 're a really long way from anywhere you'd get fish and refrigerator-trucks are not the kind of technology that's made it to Benin yet - we have enough trouble keeping the lights on and the phones connected), the next meat dish was described in French and ...
Noticing changes
... been my marker in time that says 'the end is nigh', so I am reminded that I'm only 7 and a half weeks out from leaving Benin. Lots to do in that time, though, with Area Council and (hopefully) the final approval for the revised Area Handbook I've been ...
Things we've been up to
Hello everyone!! We're in town on the way yo Parakou for a meeting. I hope everyones doing well. We just spent the last hour reading emails, its great to hear from so many of you! People have asked in emails about our work, so we'll try to ...
Just another day.
Had training in HIV/AIDS this morning. PC would like Volunteers to teach their communities about the sickness. After lunch we had our Accounting TDA session. It's such a broad topic that I feel we didn't do a good job teaching it in the 2 hours we ...
Pictures from africa
Hey everybody, Here is a link to our second set of pictures. There's a lot and we aren't finished updating all the titles and captions but we'd thought we'd get this out to you all as soon as we could. Enjoy!!! A travel update will come soon. ...