Benin

Benin:

If you ever want to see real Africa, I mean Africa with its poverty and political corruption, but do not want to risk being caught in the cross fires of a civil war or be witness to human rights violations, Benin would be the place to do it. You would still be at risk for getting mugged, or being taken advantage of, but by West African Standards, it is relatively safe. Benin, formerly the Republic of Dahomey, is a poor country where over a third of the people live below poverty, but there are a lot of good things here too.

It was hard for me to find current event news for this country, mostly because there is not much that is news worthy about them. They are a stable country, with no civil war, and are fairly friendly with their neighbors. They take a lot of care receiving refugees from their neighbors, and work hard with to meet all that is required of them in order to receive foreign aid. One story from a few years ago is about a refugee who went through Benin before coming to the U.S. can be found on NPR: Refugee Camp Survivor

Despite the relative peace they are now witnessing they do have a dark past, which is shared with us. For four centuries they were a key component in the slave trade that haunts the past of the Western world. Dahomey Royalty and soldiers would often sell their captures to slave traders, instead of putting them to death as ritual dictated.  The Dahomey Kingdom, and the neighboring kingdoms grew rich of the trades. It was so prevalent that their coast had once been called the Slave Coast (Burnett).

Today there connection to the Western World is a bit more positive. Musical Artist that come from Benin often mix western music (like soul, funk, and gospel) with traditional African beats; notable examples of these artists would be Angelique Kidjo, and El Rego.

Food:

The food for Benin is light on meat, heavy on plant fats. One of their staples is yams. For this dish I was going to use a recipe I have already posted on Turnip Greens, in my New Year's post. I was going to leave out the cottage cheese or paneer that I called for.

Work Cited:

“Benin”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin. Retrieved: January 10, 2014

Burnett, John. “Slavery's Bitter Legacy in W. Africa”. Published: 12 April 2004. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=1833314&m=1833315. Retrieved: January 10, 2014.

“Kingdom of Dahomey”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Dahomey . Retrieved: January 10, 2014.

Gorenstein, Dan. “From Refugee in Benin To N.H. State House.” National Public Radio. Published: 09 January 2009. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=99162516&m=99162494Retrieved: January 10, 2014.

“Benin”. Lonely Planet. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/benin. Retrieved: January 10, 2014

NPR. http://www.npr.org/search/index.php?searchinput=benin. Retrieved: January 10, 2014