Transcript Fulbright-Benin

My Fulbright experience
Benin, West Africa
Netiva Caftori
NEIU
Hello Benin
• 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.
Benin
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
Education
Education
• 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
My women students
• 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
The women
Wives of colleagues
• 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
Children
• 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
Children
Kids
Modern slavery in Benin
• 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 .
Family life
• 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
My villa
Politics
• 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
Meals
• 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).
Health
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
Exhibition
Zion and So What
Musiciens
Door of no Return
Door of return
Ganvier
Economy
• 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.
Benin, home to ancient
kingdoms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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-NovoPortuguese
Being happy is better than being king. - Hausa
Feticheurs
Before healing
others, heal
yourself. Nigeria
Tata
Somba
Sacred forest
You have 3
friends in this
world:
courage,
sense, and
wisdom. Fon
Vodun ceremony
Transportation
It is better to travel alone than with a bad companion. - Senegal
Muslim tradition
Religion in Benin
• 30% are Muslims: women are head
covered
• 20% are Christians
• 50% voodoos
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
Socio-cultural groups
• 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
Burkina Faso
Togo
Ghana