Eden writes: Ganvié, Benin

On Tuesday we went to Ganvié. We had a type of cruise. We were going on a boat but it didn't look like a usual boat in Canada. This is the boat we were on:

We saw a crab in the boat. He was walking around everywhere and I was scared of it but Zoe said, "The crab's more scared of you than you are of it, right, Mom?"

He was pacing back and forth. It was so funny to just watch him. This is the crab we saw:

We went to 2 stores and the first one we saw had a restaurant connected to it.

The buildings in Ganvié were all on stilts. There were even houses on stilts!

I had no idea how they got from their house to their boat, but we still kept on going through the water.

If they wanted to buy anything, they had to go in boats. The little kids didn't really know how to walk because they were always in boats going around instead of walking.

There were 3 boats in each home. One was for the children, one was for the dad, and one was for the mom.

Kids learn how to catch fish by themselves when they're 6. I wouldn't be able to do that even though I'm six! They didn't use paddles like we do in Canada.

There were 2 churches but only one was on water. Not everything there is on water. Some is on land. There is just a little bit of land that they made themselves. There is also one mosque.

We saw lots of fish. We bought 2 shirts, one for me and one for Zoe at the second store.

And here are some pigs we saw today too. They were really cute just seeing them walking around. They were following us at one point. 

Bye for now! 

Love,

Eden

Zoe writes: Songhaï agricultural farm

UNNATURAL or WASTING. These are no-nos at Songhaï agricultural centre.
In Canada, we have a lot of dumps. In Benin, there are lots of piles of garbage on the road (I'm not saying that's not the case in Canada).

But at Songhaï, nothing is wasted or unnatural. Songhaï is a farming project in Porto Novo, the capital city of Benin. We visited it yesterday.

Songhaï was started in 1985 by a man from Nigeria who wanted to farm in a way that was environmentally friendly. This is a picture of the man's home and office, and where this whole thing started.

Leftovers and compost are used to make biogas. Even all of the plastic is recycled and made into new plastic containers.

They use the animal's manure to fertilize the plants. Some animals that are there include quails, chickens, pigs, turkeys, and snails. They grow snails to eat and they grow in the snailery. The snailery is like a big jungle and they have to keep it cool with shady plants because snails don't like hot places. The snails are inside a netted area with a roof of hay.

They make their own palm oil from palm nuts and they use the leftovers from this process to put in plastic bags in a dark room. Can you guess what grows from this?

They also have ponds with lots of fish.

Here are some of the connections that I learned about.

The sun helps the soy plants, banana plants, palm trees, and corn to grow. It's the beginning of everything. If we didn't have the sun, none of the rest would be possible.

From the banana trees, the leaves are food for snails. Then the snail's manure helps the banana trees to grow.

They produce soy oil, and the byproduct is soy cakes that the pigs eat. The pigs and some other animals help fertilize the plants with their manure. They butcher the animals to sell the meat. They put the leftovers from the slaughtering room in the maggotery, which is the place where maggots grow. Maggots are fed to the fish - they really like them.

The corn is food for the turkeys and the chickens. Those birds help with the fertilizing of the plants and producing maggots, which helps the fish.

The palm trees have palm nuts that are made into palm oil. The byproduct from this is used to grow mushrooms.

palm nuts

The place where they hatch the fish looks like Ganvier, a village that we went to today. I'll say more about that in another post.

À toute à l'heure,
Zoé

Eden writes: creatures in Benin

There are different creatures here in Benin than in Canada.

We saw a baby frog. He was so adorable! The cutest little thing.

Debora, Eugenie and I were catching grasshoppers for awhile. When I opened my hands a teeny bit, then they would hop out. If you really want to catch them, you have to kill them. There were HUGE grasshoppers.

Me and Zoe saw a lizard in the house and I caught it. But by accident, we chipped off part of its tail. It was hilarious because the tail kept moving after it chipped off. We laughed and laughed.

I showed my mom and Zoe a termite hill behind L'école Les Leaders. It was HUGE. There were probably 100,000 termites in that hill. The hill was taller than Zoe on 1 side and not on the other.

There was a moth that couldn't fly that we found by our house. So we picked it up and then it flew up to the top of the wall, but just fell down again. The next day, kids were shooting rubber bands at it and hitting it with a broom. It lost all of its wings and it was just crawling around as a little creature. Then they killed it. I was really sad and I cried.

Here is a dragonfly that I saw.

Here is a cockroach that was in our house. I even measured it!

There were thousands of lizards around La Casa Grande. Here are some pictures of them.

À demain,
Eden

Zoe writes: La Casa Grande jobs and organization

La Casa Grande is very organized.

They have a schedule posted by every kids house. Maison Shalom, Maison El Shaddai and Maison La Grace all have schedules posted by the door, a new schedule every month. We also get a schedule for the two weeks we were there. Before and after meals is also very organized. There are three groups, and they rotate around jobs.

When we were there, the groups were called Bonté (Bounty) Les élus de dieu (Representatives of God) and La lumière (The light). I volunteered in Bonté. One group would set the table and get the soap and water ready.The cook would always make the meals, but on weekends the kids would help out. Someone would ring the bell and everybody would come to eat. Someone would put the food on the table, right before we eat. 

the cook making the meal

When people came to the dining hall to eat, there would be two buckets with soap in one and water in one. There will usually be people there to help you. You go to the soapy water first, and then go to the next station and rinse your hands. 

washing hands before the meal

After the meal there is a clean up crew that brings all the dirty dishes downstairs to the kitchen. Then another group washes the dishes and then stacks them, ready for the next day.

the meal and clean up crew

putting away water after the meal

washing the dishes

me and Pascaline hanging up the dish towels to dry

The houses are also organized. One house is for big boys, one for small boys, and one for girls. They hope to build a house just for the older girls. In addition to these houses, there is also an office building (le bloc administratif) and the dining hall (L'Arche de Noé) and also Maison Ebenezer for guests and some staff. Some of the staff live in Allada and come to La Casa Grande to work. Other staff live with the children in their houses. There is one adult per house: Tanti Hélène, Tanti Chimène, and Tanti Esther.

Their rooms are very organized and clean. They spend their time when they're home from school cleaning and sweeping their rooms. Every day, they sweep the outside of the houses too. Lots of the kids helped with the younger kids and also volunteer to help with the babies. They are very independent and responsible but they also used a lot of team effort.

When the kids are on vacation, the girls make necklaces to sell and raise money for the children's home. They taught me how to make a necklace too.

I was really impressed by the responsibility of the kids there. I think that a lot of kids in Canada don't have to take that kind of responsibility.

À toute à l'heure,
Zoe

the whole family writes: some things we've learned in Benin

1. Way more than 5 people can fit in a car.

2. Cold showers are a very, very good thing.

3. Chickens and goats and cows can live in the city and don't need to be in a pen.

4. Life can go on very well here without electricity when people don't depend on it to heat or cool their homes or for making their food. It is now a surprise when we have power for a full 24 hours.

5. You don't need a big vehicle to transport a fridge. All you need is a motorcycle.

6. Traffic can go on without traffic lights.

7. You don't need toilet paper to go to the bathroom.

8. Houses can be built by the people, not by a construction company, made with things that they find around them.

9. Kids don't need to be fully dressed to be out in public.

10. You don't need a pickup truck to take a table somewhere. All you need is a motorcycle. Same with a TV.

11. Arriving home safely deserves a "thank you, God" for safety on the roads.

12. Solid stools are a good thing.

13. French is very similar to Spanish. French is very different from Spanish. (that was Derek's observation) :)

14. You don't need a huge house or a nice dish set to offer genuine hospitality.

15. People stare at you if you don't dance in church.

people dancing as they bring offering to the front of the church

we were placed on the stage in a place of honour,
where everyone could see every move we did or didn't make during the service

after church yesterday

16. Zoe and Eden can survive a 3.5 hour church service in a language that they don't fully understand (French), with translation into Fon included (most common traditional language).

17. You can carry lots of things on your head. You don't need a car to take heavy loads home. All you need is your head.

Eden writes: La Casa Grande and other things

It's Eden again. Hello!

We saw different looking houses in Benin. They were made of sticks with a kind of hay on the roof.

houses in Allada

We fit 6 people in a car to go to church yesterday and I was on my mom's lap. I was SQUISHED! There were NO seatbelts in any of the cars we've been in. There are no carseats for children either. I even forgot that I had a carseat in Canada!

In the back of the cars they sometimes have pineapples, bananas, mangoes, and oranges. They carry chairs, pillows and baskets. This car even had dead chickens on top!

This car says "God sees you."

Isn't that amazing?

These are La Casa Grande names of the children who live there.

Girls:
Jeanne
Pascaline
Eleonore
Berenice
Eugenie
Abigael
Gloria
Marina
Bless
Auriane
Debora
Crespine
Aymadine
Chimene
Vivienne

Boys:
Fiacre
Jean Leo
Jonathan
Elihu
Gildas
Espedit
Vianney
Marius
Stanislas
Armel
Ferdinand
Joseph
Aristide
Anicet
Koffi
Gedeon
Moise
Vivien

We took care of the babies on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. What I liked the least at La Casa Grande was that there were thousands of ants and one even bit me on my big toe. They were humongous ants!

P.S. I don't think we have ants that big in Canada.

me, Vivien, and Chimene

What I liked the most about being at La Casa Grande was all of the friends I made.

some of my friends

I lost my 3rd tooth in Benin! If you look at some of the pictures of me after June 4th, I'll have a really big gap in between my top teeth.

I really liked eating the fish at La Casa Grande, but when we got more into the week, I got a bit bored of it.

The children wore flip-flops in school!

I mostly played with Jean Leo but Zoe played with Pascaline a lot.

me and Jean Leo

Zoe and Pascaline

That's all for now! 

Love, Eden

La Casa Grande, part one

How do I even begin to sum up the past 2 weeks? They have been wonderful and we have been blessed immensely. I have a whole whack of photos to sort through, so I'll try to put our experiences in to bite-size pieces for you. :)

Derek was teaching a course in Cotonou, but he joined us for the last 5 days of our time at La Casa Grande.

La Casa Grande is a children's home in Allada, Benin. It's on a beautiful tract of land in the hills, with lush green trees and plants all around. We went to sleep to the sound of drumming at the neighbouring church and the chirping of crickets. We woke up to the sound of sweeping and children's voices - the children doing their chores around the property.

I'll post a few pictures to give you a glimpse of the children there. There are 33 children there right now - ages 4 months to 18 years. Some have lost both parents, and there are several who have one parent remaining. La Casa Grande is a beautiful place for them to live. The houses are bright, clean and tidy, the food is wonderful, the staff are caring. Everyone has enough.

While we were there, one of our jobs was to help care for the babies. Zoe and Eden loved this. Vivien, the boy, and Vivienne, the girl, are 4-month-old twins.

We also helped to entertain the preschool kids, the 3 characters you see in the front row of the photo above. 

And here's a photo of the whole group:

We left this afternoon with warm hearts and teary eyes. Their warm welcome and the things we learned made a truly unforgettable experience.