And back again to Europe

On Saturday 10 October we flew back to Europe. As we were taking two different planes we had to divide our luggage. Nico wanted to take his djembé, so I decided to take a larger and heavier proportion of the other stuff. With no scale in the hotel, the first possibility for weighing our three pieces of luggage was in the airport: Nico’s rucksack – 20kg, the djembé – 14kg, my rucksack 25kg. But Nico was only allowed 30kg, as he flew with PointAfrique. Well, I was allowed more taking Air France, but I was also supposed to cross Paris on the bus after landing all alone. Well, we didn’t have much of a choice, so I ended up with my heavy rucksack and the djembé…

The flight went well and was as comfortable as on the way to Africa. In Paris CDG I got off and went to the luggage belt. My rucksack appeared rather quickly. The djembé though didn’t. I waited and waited. Then looked at the computer and saw that the entire luggage was through… but still no sign of the djembé. I went to two airport guys just in front of the entrance and explained my situation. They asked if it was an oversize object. I said it was about the size of my backpack, though more special looking... They smiled and pointed to a place just in front of the phones not far from the exit … and yes, there in the middle of nowhere on a path where all travellers will eventually pass, there it stood all alone: the djembé. Relieved and happy I loaded it on the trolley and went to the exit…

It wasn’t long before I was stopped. Initially thinking: ‘What here as well annoying street sellers?’, I quickly realized that this gentlemen was from customs. He asked about my special piece of luggage and where I was going: Bretagne (that answer broke the ice). He then scanned all pieces of luggage, discovering also the little djembé in the big one… then I was allowed to go, but not before answering a last question: “how do you pronounce your first name?” Very friendly those custom guys…

AVECSTOGO

By the way, for anyone interested in knowing more about the association AVECSTogo, here is a link to their web site: http://avecstogo.wifeo.com/
You can also contact me directly, if you want to have more detailed information on how it went: awerner75 [a] gmail [dot] com

Remains the question, what has happened to the projects that I went to Africa for?

Well, that was on the one hand the orphanage and on the other hand the psychological aid in the prison. In the orphanage I did indeed work for three months, which was a nice but also strenuous experience. My French improved and I also learned a lot working there. Whether my contribution had really made a difference, I don’t actually think so. The teacher had asked me for advise and feedback, though when I returned four months later not much had changed (similar I had also observed with respect to the feedback that other volunteers had given).

The psychological help in the prison was simply not (yet) possible, as I had finally found out a few weeks after arriving in Sokodé. Apparently the project was already in planning and negotiations with the prison and local procurer had already taken place, but no service could yet be offered to the prisoners due to lack of funding (to buy the materials, as I was told). Much wasn’t needed, as apart from the psychological aid, only an alphabetisation course was going to be offered to begin with. Thus after some contemplation, I decided to kick start the project by offering the necessary funding; after all the prison project was the main reason for why I had come to this place. It then took still more than a month before the first service was ready to be offered: the alphabetisation course. I thought that’s better than nothing and helped on the first three alphabetisation sessions. I quickly realized though that my French was simply not evolved sufficiently for this task (esp. pronunciation, spelling, grammar)… Then it was time to leave Sokodé for the little break that was meant to be in the middle of my voluntary placements… I checked a few more times with AVECS whether the psychological help could yet be offered, but simply didn’t receive an answer on that question. With the alphabetisation not being a suitable alternative and another round of full-time orphanage also not being that attractive (after all I am not that great when it comes to animating large groups of kids), I decided to stay with Nico and help him on his projects instead.

Help for Africa

The German ambassador in Cotonou once told me that most aid is more like a drop of water on a hot stone: one comes, helps, leaves and somehow nothing has really improved. The individual volunteer, who dedicates himself to helping side-by-side with locals in the health or social sector or shares the strain on the fields, will only in limited ways bring about improvement, if at all (with perhaps the exception of alphabetisation and other educational programs, though even they are often better carried out by locals, as they can teach in the local language and a culturally adapted manner). Also some of the bigger projects that were realized with Western help – roads, banana plantation, laboratories, etc. – eventually disintegrated, once they were no longer sufficiently maintained after the departure of their Western founders…

Does it mean helping is pointless? No, of course not. Micro credits, for example, seem to be a good alternative. At least they encourage change that comes from within the developing country, from the people themselves, and thus hopefully lead to more long-term improvements. And indeed we have met quite a few hard-working entrepreneurs, who have not only enhanced their own lives with the help of micro credits, but also benefited the local economy and community with growing their business. Though also projects such as Plan or SOS children’s villages that recruit their staff foremost locally in order to preserve and promote local knowledge and skills, are certainly worth the support that they get. The Heifer project we visited was also impressive. The villagers were not only provided with animals, a barn and education, but also required to use some of the income from the breeding to repay the given equipment and to donate a certain number of their animals’ offspring to another family. This way the gift ‚lives on’ and thus helps also other villagers. Also here the staff is recruited locally, so that possible culturally-determined problems can be detected early and counteracted efficiently.

Upshot

Every now and then I couldn’t help but smile at Africa. It’s a place where you can see adult men proudly riding their child sized bicycle (of course, bought second hand) or a pink girly rucksack on a gentleman’s back. 25°C are already sufficiently cold to quickly put on ones winter coat or woollen jumper, and hats of all kinds are definitely a fashionable hit (including bobble hats, night caps and plush hats) ...

Away from the European luxury and stress I found it rather pleasant to live for a change in simple conditions without standing constantly under pressure. And, somehow it was not all that surprising that people in general seemed so much happier and more balanced over there.

The one thing, though, that rather annoyed me in Africa was this constant ‘give me this’ or ‘give me that’, especially when it came from colleagues or friends. Whether money or things, true to the maxim a ‘white’ person has got anyway enough wealth and should hence be able to share some of it… surely this is also part of the culture, as also among one another they don’t seem to have a problem with asking for gifts, though if you are targeted more often just because of your skin colour, then this can be pretty annoying and of course one starts wondering: “is this now really a friend or does s/he just like you for the potential gain?”. Actually I do not mind sharing what I have, but it frustrates me to see when the things I have given are thereafter wasted (money spent on useless stuff like cigarettes or toys at the orphanage being left to the mercy of bad weather and dogs) or if I see that the receiver does only rely on others, but does not take sufficient steps to improve the own situation. Luckily not everyone is like that and even when one didn’t give anything, no bad consequences like aggression etc needed to be feared, just disappointment and perhaps the stigma of being greedy or not wanting to help.

Obama

The man hasn’t been in the White House for long, but he has already left some lasting impressions. Whether roads, or restaurants, or bars, much has already been named after him. On my way from Sokodé to Lomé, just before arrival at the capital, I even saw a signpost to Obama village. I was surely rather stunned … No wonder though, if one sees, that Obama shares a poster with Bob Marley…

Bombarded

In Lomé we stayed at a hotel that had a big tree in the restaurant garden making it a very nice and shady place to sit. And we did sit there regularly. Some little users of that tree though seemed to dislike that, or perhaps they just thought it’s funny … certain is though, that every now and then, and surely not infrequently, some rather hard things fell off the tree and landed on umbrellas, tables and chairs. I couldn’t see very well who was bombarding us. I just saw shadows flying to and from the tree, but the loud bang of the fruits hitting the umbrellas above my head did make me jump on a number of occasions and the one that actually hit my back really hurt. Some detective work uncovered many cute little teeth marks on the fruits’ green flesh … and the sound gave it away: we were being bombarded by Fruit Bats!

Playful Creativity

Surely most of the people in Africa haven’t got much money to spare. So buying expensive toys or games is usually not an option. It’s though also not overly necessary. Many toys and games can in fact be created by oneself and we surely have seen some great creations in Africa.

In Lomé we saw two guys playing a game at the side of the road, which they (obviously) called ‘game with the woods’ (photo). If I remember right, one had to manage to fill a row with only the own sticks in order to win. These little sticks came in also handy at the orphanage, where one of the teachers hid each five of them in little dirt heaps and then asked the kids to find them in a little competition.

And then we were stunned to find an African version of the French game Pétanque. The rules seemed similar, just that the metal balls were replaced by balls made of tin foil or paper. So to speak, they created their balls themselves and what they created seemed perfectly sufficient for the game, as the kids clearly enjoyed themselves. This also applies to all the other self-made toys that Africa’s children tend to play with: simple creative solutions for daily fun…

…and of course sea sick!

What were we excited when we read that there were whales near the coast of Togo. Surely enough, we straight away checked with the tourism authority where and how we could best see them. The disappointing answer was: no, that’s been long long time ago, these days there are no whales coming close enough… Then again a spark of hope, when a friend told us about whales that were seen close to the beach. For one week, we went each day for some time walking on the beach, but didn’t manage to spot anything interesting in the sea. Time was running short and somehow this method didn’t seem to be sufficiently promising. Thus we started checking for boats and luckily found someone who takes regularly tourists out to the sea (the owner of the restaurant ‚Alt München’ right near the port). We arranged a date and off we went on our little adventure.

We were a little unlucky with the weather, as this was the only day of our three-week stay in Lomé which was rainy (even though the rain only lasted for 10 Minutes). The rain front though got us right wet on our little boat. Nevertheless, proud little Nico helped enthusiastically with catching some fish, while we all looked out for the main attraction, the whales. Well, I admit I spend most of the time hanging over the railing, but well that happens… and then finally the first whale fountains on the horizon (just beneath the rain front) and not long after, these cute little animals swam next to our boat. :-).

Lokossa

When we arrived in Lokossa, a town in Benin close to the border to Togo, we arrived at a place which is surely not visited a lot by white people… but how do we know that? Well, first of all for one week the only ‘whites’ we saw were ourselves. Also there wasn’t much touristy stuff offered on markets or western food offered in restaurants (really lovely to see the real African small town life for a change). The most telling sign though were the toddlers that got scared so much by the pure sight of us that they cried, screamed and fled to saver distance or their mom. It was obviously not the impact we wanted to have on these kids, but well, what could we do. We must have looked more like scary white ghosts than friendly foreign visitors.

Anyway, we really loved that town. People were ever so friendly and – unlike in many of the tourist places – people did not constantly demand gifts or money from us. And the kids that didn’t get scared of us were happily singing this song whenever they saw us:

The diplomats, really?

On Saturday, 11th August, we went to the Centre for the Promotion of Craftworks in Cotonou and were surprised to find there openly displayed ivory products. We asked the artisan regarding the origin of this work and were stunned that he openly admitted that the ivory comes from illegally hunted elephants. We wondered who the buyers were, as ‘normal’ tourists would not be able to pass the controls in Europe and learned that it’s the diplomats that smuggle forbidden items, since they are not stopped by customs…

This reminded us of a conversation we had with the guide from Pendjari, who told us that some restaurants sell the meat of Africa’s wild animals. Not openly, but if a tourists asks in restaurants he can get lucky to be served this precious meat (usually antelope meat). Of course, also here the animals are usually slaughtered illegally, but – as the guide tried to reassure us shocked tourists – they are not animals of Benin’s national parks, they are hunted in Togo… as if that would make the situation any less worrying.

Let’s hope diplomats and tourists get smarter soon and stop supporting the illegal killing of Africa’s precious wildlife through their actions.

Africa’s Contribution

I must say (and I have witnessed that now already in many places here in Africa) many Africans not only contribute significantly to the global pollution, but somehow don’t seem to be aware and/or bothered by this (they do though at times complain about the Western world causing climate change and thus causing Africa to suffer more...). In fact, the roads here are full of second hand vehicles from Europe that certainly wouldn’t pass an MOT, similar situation with many household appliances (esp. fridge). There is a lot of rubbish laying around everywhere and at times one sees people burning their rubbish, no matter what possible toxins this releases into the air. Also plastic bags are way to easily provided with purchases (often one needs to be rather assertive to not get them)… I guess I could continue for some time.

Probably much of this is due to lack of finances – I could imagine many of the Africans would love to have a new car or fridge – or lack of infrastructure (e.g. the availability of proper rubbish disposal systems), but I guess there is also an element of missing education and encouragement to change habits...

Living in a Cloud

…of smog. And there is really enough of it in Cotonou. It’s a city that is so amazingly polluted from all its Zemi-Johns (taxi-motos) and other crazy drivers on the chaotically overcrowded roads that every opportunity to get out of the city had become a greatly valued pleasure.

So, why have we nevertheless stayed there for seven long weeks? Well, it’s because of Nico supporting a local micro finance institution. Originally he was meant to conduct just a few interviews of people having received a micro credit. Though before being able to start the interviews Nico ended up having to improve communication means and the data exchange between the micro finance institution in Benin and its partner in France and thus we stayed much longer than anticipated. The experience had been very interesting though for both Nico and I (I helped Nico with the interviews). We’ve learned a lot about micro financing, and were able to have many interesting discussions on development in Africa with various locals of different educational levels and also foreigners from various backgrounds.

Apart from this, Nico having been ill right at the beginning of our stay there and again at the end, as well as a month-long battle with the visa authorities to fight off their ungrounded demand for a fine – or perhaps better described as a ‘bribe’ - also contributed to the extended stay...

Under the Bridge

Nico was ill … and what did I do: I left him under a bridge…
(with some rather caring guys: one was offering Nico his coat so he wouldn’t be too cold and another offered him his box as a shelter from the wind… really sweet!)

I know this sounds very cruel of me, but surely I meant it well. But let’s start from the beginning. The day after our arrival here in Cotonou Nico fell ill. He was having fever, all sorts of aches and pains and problems with his digestive system. He was so much suffering that we thought that it might be better if he goes to see a doctor. The hotel receptionist had told me that there was a clinic just around the corner. When we left the hotel Nico rushed out first and on his way asked the hotel warden for the clinic. He was pointed to a different direction as the receptionist indicated earlier and when we arrived there, it was for women and children only. Thus it was not much use for Nico. We asked for directions to another more suitable clinic. However Africans are not very good in wising the way, so we ended up wandering around in search for that clinic. Meanwhile it started raining. Just when it started to pour down really heavily, we arrived at the bridge and found a refuge underneath it. As the rain didn’t seem to get less, I decided to run back to the hotel (which was only five minutes away) to get the rain coats, while leaving Nico under the bridge in the care of those lovely gentlemen down there. On the way back to the bridge I finally found the clinic that the receptionist had earlier mentioned and really it was just around the corner from the hotel. I picked up Nico from underneath the bridge and brought him there for some checks and medical care…

I’ve gained weight again…

Nico was pretty shocked when he saw me again after three and a half months of separation. I had lost 10kg. How I did that, I have no idea; surely though it wasn’t on purpose. The good thing is, I can now – officially also from Nico authorized – eat whatever I like (inclusive lots of fatty and sweet stuff) and Nico even gives me often a little extra from his plate. And it has already helped. I’m not exactly sure how much I have gained again, but the trousers are getting tighter. Well, in Cotonou we want to start doing some sport again. After all, we don’t want that the new pounds are just stored as fat. Also, of course, I am not only eating fatty and sweet stuff. I do try to keep my diet healthy and balanced… ;-)

Africa’s wild Animals

Africa’s wild animals are after all a popular tourist attraction. Almost I thought that sheep, goats and cows are about as wild as it gets here in Africa these days (apart from the few animals I saw in the national park Fazao-Malfakassa and the hippos of Banfora), but then we went to the national park Pendjari in Benin and there they really still exist, some of the types of animals that Africa has become so well-known for. And their numbers are increasing (which is unfortunately rather untypical for Africa).

Right the first animal we encountered was an elephant; well actually a group of four elephants. Than later we saw even more elephants – all in all we saw them four times – then we saw various different types of antelopes, two types of monkeys, some sort of wild pig, hippos, lots of different types of birds, even two turtles and three buffalos (which I was particularly happy to see, as we had spent the entire evening of the first day and most of the morning of the second day searching for the lions and thus hardly any time spent on finding the buffalos).

As far as we are aware the lions were rather close by (and as we found out on departing the park one of the guards had seen a cheetah near the place where we spent the night on the evening that we were there), but we couldn’t find them. A few fresh prints of a female lion and a distant roar were all we got. A journalist and a French student, who were working on a documentary, told us that they saw lions in heat not too far from the hotel just the day earlier. However, even following the journalist and his crew we couldn’t find them again. The grass was just too high (that’s why they say it’s better to go at the end of the dry season…). Pity! – Or in Nico’s words: At least like this we have still got something new to look forward to on our next visit…

Eh you, camel!

During our trip to the Sahel we also had to cross a little river. I luckily had the camel guy with me on my camel, so I knew he would get me safely through. Nico followed us closely ready to take some pictures … but oops, as soon as he had entered the water his camel started to go down on its knees, presumably wanting to take a refreshing bath. Nico still with his camera in one hand and holding on with the other hand – a camel going down on its knees can make some drastic movements – was a little confused about what to do. The guides shouted to him that he needs to ensure his feet are firmly pushing down on the neck, so that the camel remembers that he is there, and then to hit the camel on its side with the cord to get it back up. Obviously everything needed to be done quickly, as otherwise our little rucksack, which was hanging on Nico’s seat, would have drowned and with it my new computer. But with both hands already occupied, it certainly wasn’t the easiest task. After all, we also didn’t want to risk the camera falling in the water. Though surely enough our Nico can manage that... in general one should have admired Nico on his camel: one- or freehanded, very relaxed, every now and then drifting away from the path, just really cool… (While I sat there tense and didn’t dare to take off either hand from the seat).

The Sandstorm

During our camel adventure into the Burkina’s Sahel, we spent the first night sleeping under the stars. When we lied down the sky looked beautiful with all its stars shining bright... In the early morning hours though, I woke up from the wind and the sand blowing in my face. Quite a few clouds had formed. Nico – who had also woken up – and I were wondering whether rain might follow. We woke up the guides to get their expert judgement and they assured us ‘no risk of rain’ and ‘even if there would be rain we would still have plenty of time to get to the shelter’. Me and Nico tried to believe that and lied down again, but we both still watched the sky every now and then, which got darker and darker. At some point we saw a big black cloud getting closer. We had already stepwise repacked our stuff and got ready to leave. Then at the view of the cloud we thought it might be useful to wake up the guides again. This time they suggested leaving quickly and they really were up quickly. We just had enough time to pick up all items, when the sand storm started (Nico luckily found his lamp back in the sand just a second before that). It was blowing so much that we struggled to walk and see. We found the shelter – a school room – and just when we got in the rain started. All in all, I guess we were lucky to be inside, though the sand was all over us (eyes, mouth, hair, clothes…).

The pretty blue bird with the long tail

…Nico really fell in love with it when he first saw it at the side of the road on our way to Banfora. Ever since that moment he has been searching for this bird in order to take a nice picture. However this has proven to be a right challenge. We saw it all over Burkina and also again here in Benin. Some pictures have turned out better than others, but none is really amazing. At least we know now the name of this pretty bird: Long-tailed Glossy Starling (Lamprotornis caudatus).

Burkina Faso

Two and a half weeks in Burkina and we have seen and experienced quite a few things.

Down in the southwest of the country we saw our first hippos (and we went twice on that day: once in the morning when they were still rather sleepy and once in the evening when they were active and noisy). We fed some sacred fish. We went to a beautiful waterfall and visited interesting rock formations and also saw a diversity of small villages and local life. With this region, especially Bobo being rather artistic, it was an ideal place for Nico to have his first lesson in Djembé (African drum), which I believe he really enjoyed. Also one of our hotels happened to be near an SOS-children-village, so that we had the opportunity for a visit to see whether donations are well-spent (and I think they really do a good job there).

In the north we then went on a camel ride and slept under the open sky in the dunes and a small traditional village before arriving together with local sales people in Gorom-Gorom on the day of the famous market. A nightly sand storm and a painful behind were included for free in this adventure, so were as well badly stained clothes and a bus trip back to the capital in a bus without windows and chicken falling of the luggage departments above the seats.

Burkina is really a beautiful and divers country with ever so friendly and helpful people. The food is great, so I must admit we also ate quite a few meals of more European nature than African. So we did try local food such as a grain based tô with fresh cow milk in the little village during the camel trip or foutou and tô with divers sauces. Also omelette with buttered bread for breakfast was a delicious alternative to the more European style breakfast that was served in some of our hotels.

The Train Journey

Well, there aren’t many trains here in West Africa, so we certainly didn’t want to miss the opportunity for a train ride from Ouagadougou to Banfora. Saturday morning at 7:30 one of those trains was supposed to depart (nice, we thought, because if it leaves early, we will arrive at the destination before sunset) … it left 6.5h too late! We waited in a little park opposite the station for practically the entire time – rather relaxing and a first chance for Nico to interact with Africa’s kids (and they were very happy that they had our attention). The train ride itself was very slow and sitting on plastic seats it was not necessarily comfortable (although we were lucky that it was cloudy, so at least it wasn’t hot and it was the day of the football match between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, so the train wasn’t overcrowded). The experience was great; us the only westerners among many local travellers. At midnight we finally reached Bobo-Dioulasso and as Banfora was still three hours away, we decided to get off already here… we had enough for a first experience.