Songhai Center, Porto Novo

Finally. . .  a day off! 

So we visited a place we've been wanting to see - Songhai Center. It is a site located just north of Porto Novo, Benin's capital city. It's about 35 km east and north from Cotonou. We traveled in convoy with another teacher for an interesting outing.

On our way east toward Porto Novo, we came across a goat market, located next to the highway. The day we visited Songhai was the preparation day for the Muslim holiday Tabaski (Eid al-Adha), Feast of the Sacrifice. It commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son. The market sells goats for Muslims to use in their observances. 

Part of the goat market for Tabaski.

Most people took their goat(s) home on a motorcycle. This picture of full of images! (Craig Johnston)

Others used larger transportation.

After making our way east, just a few kilometers from Nigeria, we headed north toward Porto Novo and arrived at Songhai Center.

Songhai Center, named after one of the great ancient West African kingdoms of the 14th century, was established in 1985 by Father Godfrey Nzamujo, a Dominican priest, who had prior instruction in microbiology, chemistry, and computer science. He saw a need for training West Africans to be self-sufficient. The mission of Songhai "aspires to develop alternatives to help Africans stand on their feet through agricultural entrepreneurship" (Songhai brochure).

Almost 30 years later, Songhai continues to train young West Africans in an integrated approach to agriculture, technology, manufacturing, and marketing.

We had a guided tour of the site, in French, of course!

We started out with a visual display of the basic ideas.

 We saw many aspects of the center, from agricultural activities . . .

Tomatoes

Corn

Citrus trees, including limes, oranges, and grapefruit

livestock . . .

Cane rats, known in Ghana as grass cutter. Would you eat a rodent?

?

Turkey!

Pigs!

Geese!

and fish (pisciculture) . . .

Tilapia ponds

Catfish pond

Feeding time!

Songhai attempts to produce much of it energy needs through converting animal waste to bio-gas and harnessing solar energy.

 

A solar food dryer, this one was drying herbs.

Solar panels amidst a tomato patch.

 

The crops and animals raised on site are either sold in the onsite store, or processed into other products. Raw materials not grown on site were also processed after being brought in from around the area.

This woman is stoking the fire for a fish/poultry smoker.

The fish/poultry smoker wasn't filled yet.

 

Bread/cookie oven

 

He's grinding corn.

 

Palm nuts will be pressed for the oil.

Cashew removal from the shell. (Craig Johnston)

Cashews were dried, sorted, and bottled here.

We were a bit concerned about quality control, which looked virtually not-existent, except for the building where yogurt was made.

 

Manufactured products get sold at the store onsite. They are also trucked to local cities (Porto Novo and Cotonou) to be sold at stores there. Songhai's model of entrepreneurship has been utilized in other cities in Benin, as well as in other African countries.

Another product made onsite is a water filtration system. These clay pots filter about 2 liters of water an hour. Safe, clean water is a luxury in most of the country.

 

Songhai Center also has sleeping accommodations for visitors.

After our tour, we ate at the restaurant there. Our choices were African or European cuisine.

This was our menu!

Our last stop was the store. Those are papayas in the foreground.

We took the same route home the way we came. Most of the goats had been sold, but we did see some other interesting things packed in cars to get to the markets.

This car is loaded with oranges, on top in bags and inside all the way to the front seat.

We were impressed with what Songhai represents and accomplishes for the people who work and train there. Many of the workers at Songhai are university interns - sometime as far away as Gonzaga. They even use the interns sustainably. At the end of each cycle, they select one or two of the top interns to stay and train the next batch of students. We might arrange Songhai as a future field trip for our school.

This was a near closed system for producing agriculture. It was very interesting to see in this part of the world. Our short experience with Benin has given the impression that the people are consumers rather than producers. Albeit the consumption is survival based - get enough to survive today. The idea of investing now (energy, time, finance, etc) for future gain is not part of the local mindset (Donn did some reading on this phenomenon). Songhai is a model of being producers. Almost every part of their system produced something that could be consumed or used as a resource for the next level. It is promising to note that the Songhai model is growing in this part of the world.

Easter Weekend, 2014

Not far from busy, bustling Cotonou is Bab's Dock. We were able to reserve a two night's stay in the bungalow and settle in for a relaxing weekend. After an uneventful (no police stop) drive along the Rue de Peche for about 15 km, we parked the car in the secure car park and boarded the boat for a short ride across the lagoon.

 

Traveling through the mangroves to the lagoon.

We soon settled in at our accommodations, a two-room bungalow nestled on the shore of the lagoon.  Our room consisted of a mosquito-net covered bed, a nicely finished shower room, and a composting toilet! The room was adequately furnished with a ceiling fan (no AC, though). We didn't plan to spend a lot of time in the room but rather in our idyllic surroundings. An added benefit is that all of the visitors left - the last ones took the 7pm boat out. We were the only ones on the property (besides a couple of workers) until the next morning at 11 when the first boat carrying visitors docked. Those hours were very peaceful.

Our home for the weekend, we stayed in the room on the left side.

Relaxing on the deck with our fiends and colleagues, Craig and Debbie. (Craig)

We awoke Easter morning to the sounds of drums and singing. The local people in the village next to Bab's Dock was having a sunrise Easter service! We recognized the tune for "Thine is the Glory" immediately, however it was sung in the local dialect. The song lasted for 15 minutes, morphing into an Alleluia chorus with multiple intermingling songs. What a way to wake up!

Because we were the only people on site, besides the early arriving workers, we were able to get the pick of the lounging spots - the hammocks! During the day we all took turns lounging and reading in them.

Yes, I am relaxed! (Craig)

Donn's turn!

We also took advantage of enjoying the water. The lagoon is brackish, salty but not like the ocean. We soon discovered that it wasn't very deep, so we could easily walk across it to the mangroves across from the boat dock. We swam, kayaked, and took sailing lessons!

Serafin was a great teacher, considering I haven't been in a Butterfly in over 35 years! He didn't speak any English, but just carried on with instructions as if I understood him. (Craig)

Donn told Serafin he liked to go fast, so Donn got to try it solo. (Craig)

Oops! Donn did a great job of entertaining the crowd on the dock with this. (Craig)

Some local guys swimming the butterfly had a race with us!

The lagoon we're on runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean and stretches from just west of Cotonou further west to Lome', in Togo. So we could kayak to Togo, if we want to, about 60 miles away further west.

We often saw people walking across the lagoon, either going to or coming from the Beach Road. (Craig)

The locals also got from place to place via a pirogue, a dug-out canoe. Men also fished from these canoes, throwing a net into the water. (Craig)

The afternoons got busy, with many expats finding their way to Bab's Dock. Here the international volleyball game of Lebanese and Indian men had to finish quickly before a storm rolled in from the east.

One night we sat at the end of the dock, gazing up a stars and hoping to see part of a meteor shower.

Our weekend at Bab's Dock was just what we needed! It provided us with some time to unwind after a grueling stretch of preparing and teaching since Winter Break. We'll go back again sometime. And many thanks to Craig for providing some of the photos!

Bab's Dock

Wow! It's been quite awhile since I've posted. Sorry about that. Work has been very demanding, and we haven't taken time to explore very much on the weekends. Our spring break is soon, mid-April, which is not soon enough!

We did visit a place close by, on Rue des Peches, the beach road. Donn and I, along with two Hash friends, Matt and Nina, scouted out a possible course one Saturday. The course was in the villages and fields beyond Bab's Dock, an idyllic getaway on a large lagoon that parallels the Atlantic Ocean.

Bab's Dock (google it if you like, it doesn't have a website, but there are a few reviews about it, in French) is a weekend hot-spot for expats and others. It has nice amenities, including a restaurant and bar. Patrons can lounge in the shade or go for rides in the small sailboat or paddle the kayaks. It is only open on the weekends; the wait staff consists of local high school students who are the labor force.

We did our preliminary scouting for the course one Saturday, with some advice from Thierry, the manager, and Angelo, one of the locals. We walked through coconut groves loaded with weaver bird nests, another coconut grove "guarded" by a machete-wielding man and his young children, a cashew grove (all the nuts had been harvested), a salt-making site, and many small villages. What was missing this time for a Hash run, other than the groves we walked through, was shade. It was HOT! But that's the way it is, 6 degrees north of the equator.

Waiting to be picked up by the boat to take us to Bab's Dock.

This is Agama agama, rainbow lizard. He checked us out while we were waiting. They are very common here. His tail is almost as orange has his head.

The 10-minute boat trip took us through mangroves. At times, it was if we were in a tunnel, they were so overgrown.

 

 

Here's a view from the bar, looking toward the lagoon.

We walked by a crop of watermelon. Under the little awning-like area, parsley was growing.

Weaver bird nests. When we came back the next week for the actual run, one of these trees had blown over, so we got a closer look at the nests.

Houses and leftover coconuts in one of the villages we walked through.

Cattle are herded freely throughout the rural areas. Fences are rare. This is truly a free range!

On the day of the run, Donn and Matt had arranged for us to have coconut water, from freshly cut and hacked-open coconut, by the machete wielding man. His wives and children helped out!

Here's the "dock". A group of people are getting set to leave. The sailboat looks very inviting, doesn't it?

Donn caught a few winks while we waited for the boat ride back to the car park. He had run/walked the course twice on Hash day.

Sunset on the lagoon. If you look closely, in the distance to the very left, you can see two women walking across the lagoon with baskets on their heads. The lagoon is only about 4 feet deep!

We plan on going back to Bab's Dock during Spring Break. There is a bungalow to rent for the night. Word has it that mornings there are quite tranquil, with birds to watch and a calm lagoon to explore. Time to go make reservations!