Benin, West Africa
Netiva Caftori
NEIU

• Being a Fulbright scholar means I am one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who travel abroad to some 140 countries for the an academic year through the Fulbright Scholar
Program (or one of approximately 105 Americans who have been selected to teach or conduct research in 27 African countries).
• Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of
Arkansas, the program's purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the
United States and other countries.

• The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State,
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Over its 63 years of existence, thousands of
U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the U.S. They are among more than 250,000 American and foreign university students, K-12 teachers, and university faculty and professionals who have participated in one of the several Fulbright exchange programs.

• Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields.
• Among thousands of prominent Fulbright
Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel
Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prizewinning poet; and Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel
Corporation.

The Republic of Benin is a small, culturally rich nation in West Africa with an ethnically diverse population and a varied landscape stretching from the coast of the Gulf of
Guinea in the south, to the Niger River in the north.
Danhomé (in the entrails of the Snake) is at the origin of all Voodoo cults, known not only as the cradle of the traditional Voodoo but also to have played a great part in the fight against colonial establishment

• 50% of the population is not educated
(analphabets), or illiterate.
• Most “educated” ones do not finish high school.
• Many dialects. In school one learns
French.
• Some study abroad through grants.
• Grant money is hard to come by.
• Visas to leave the country are hard to get.
• The rich, usually are educated.

At the institute

• Few female students in science and math
• Well respected by peer. Mostly single.
• DESS: Nike, Marlene
• Doctorate: Laure,
Uguette
• Engineering: Pelagie
• Computer science:
Nellie
• Math instructor:
Atinuke

• Not equal partners
• Some are from polygamist families
• Many are business women on their own
• Usually they are not academicians
• Girls are there to help mothers
• Girl slaves under disguise

• Often held and carried on backs as babies and young children by mothers or siblings
• Very happy and content
• Big families. Many orphans
• Children are often raised by other family members, elsewhere
• Many mothers don’t talk to their children
• Work at a young age to learn a trade despite compulsory education

• Benin is a source, transit, and destination country for children (seven to 18) trafficked for the purposes of forced domestic and commercial labor, including child prostitution. Estimates on the numbers of trafficking victims range between a few hundred and several thousand each year.
Beninese children are trafficked to oil-rich
Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, and
Cameroon into forced labor situations, including agricultural labor, quarries, domestic service, and prostitution .

• Red earth stone or cement brick houses
• Life happens mostly in interior court yards
• No running toilets most times
• No paved roads:
Hens, goats, and pigs run free
• Cooking on a small charcoal stove
• Mostly no refrigeration, no electricity
• Zem, taxi or foot transportation

• Kerekou was the same president in the last three regimes
• Old French colony
• French are still there committed
• Some but very few women in politics
• People close to the government get the money
• Corrupted regime, but peaceful and safe country

• Everyone is invited to join if dinner time
• Women prepare all day with the help of neighbors
• Fresh fish, chicken or meat
• Staple food: manioc, corn, rice, potatoes, platens, served with sauce made of hot peppers, pimento, special red dates and tomatoes
• No desert most times
• Beer or wine (vine, palm, corn)
• Eat with hands or silverware
• Dishes washed by hand. Sometimes share dishes (guests eat first).

My own story:
• Torn ligament
• Broken crown
• Broken glasses
• Unsafe water
Life expectancy = 50
Preemie story
Malaria
Typhoid fever
Bend back to do laundry or clean
No garbage cans
Pollution
Beautiful teeth

• 80% of the people in agriculture  40% gnp
• Corn, manioc, beans, pineapples, rice
• Export cotton (80%), palm oil & peanuts
• Industry is poor: textile, cement, mines, alimentation.
• Commerce: Cotonou is between Lome and
Lagos & closest to
Mali & Burkina Faso.

• Allada,
• Abomey,
• Porto-Novo,
• Kétou,
• Tchabê,
• Nikki,
• Kouandé, and
• Djougou
• They thrived on the commerce of slavery till its abolition in
1807, then on palm oil.
• England, Denmark,
Portugal and France
• 1704-Ouidah-French
• 1752-Porto-Novo-
Portuguese

Being happy is better than being king. - Hausa

Before healing others, heal yourself. -
Nigeria

Tata
Somba

You have 3 friends in this world: courage, sense, and wisdom. -
Fon

It is better to travel alone than with a bad companion. - Senegal

Muslim tradition

• 30% are Muslims: women are head covered
• 20% are Christians
• 50% voodoo s
Most people still practice Vodun which is not just a religion but a culture and a way of life.
Old secrets though are dying with an aging population of wise men. Women are mostly left out, though they do consult the féticheur.

• Fon (35%),
• Adja,
• Yoruba,
• Goun,
• Bariba,
• Dendi,
• Somba,
• Peuhl, etc..
Languages:
• Fongbé, Gengné or
Mina, Yoruba,
Baatonu, Dendi,
Bariba, Adja-gbe,
Ayizo-gbe, Ditammari,
Tem, Peul
6.2 M Beninese:
• Cotonou: 850,000
• Porto-Novo: 200,000
• Parakou: 110,000
• Abomey: 70,000
• Natitengou: 60,000