Oct 18

“So, what do you think of Benin?” I was asked today. My answer was that my first impressions regarding the culture have been confirmed. The people are both warm and cool: warm in the sense of open and friendly; cool in the sense of relaxed and tolerant. This welcoming culture manifests itself in everything: for example in commerce, there is no hassle from the vendors; and in the traffic, the driving does not appear to be aggressive. I have seen very few outward signs or displays of stress and apparently the crime rates are minimal: I have certainly felt very safe here!

The cultural focus seems to be to accentuate the positive. People appear to celebrate what they have rather than lament what they don’t. I heard a hair-raising case of one vulnerable child today: this particular 12 year-old girl gets up at 6am each day to help her mother get ready at the market; then she returns to make breakfast for the rest of the family before starting her 2 hour walk to school (which starts at 10am). School continues until 7pm but on arriving back home at 9pm she takes over from the mother at the market until about 11pm. If there’s any homework to be done it is after all that!

So to focus on the positive, the good news is that this girl has shelter, food and education; nevertheless her education is precarious.  An “agreeable” culture in Benin means that projects like EDEM’s are possible. The context is favourable for direct action to work without negative cultural forces prohibiting it. EDEM visits the parents and helps children like this girl by following their progress and intervening as necessary. For less fortunate cases, EDEM helps get the child to school by providing uniforms, school supplies and paying their school fees.

If you wish to make a personal contribution to the lives of these vulnerable children, please do so through the fundraising page:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/beninvoluntary

All donations go to Youth Action Charity International (YACI) which directly funds EDEM in Benin.

Photo: the sort of market mother might work at…