Cheap Ways to Amuse Yourself in Africa

Sometimes work is really busy and at the end of the day, I am glad to be done!  In my off hours over the last few weeks I’ve had some pretty fun times, mainly due to the creative minds of those that have been here longer than I.  Without mountains to hike or the convenience of entertainment by American standards (not to mention an income), all us Mercy Shippers have had to come up with our own means of cheap fun.

A few weekends ago we had an 80’s party. Everyone got completely decked out, thanks to some fabulous finds in town and something here on board called "the boutique." The boutique is like a Good Will, where those leaving the ship can drop off unwanted items and those staying can scrounge through the goods and take anything for free. As the saying goes, one person’s trash is another’s treasure! I snagged a sweet Michael Jackson shirt, some plastic heart bracelets and a nice t-shirt tie for our 80's extravaganza. Everyone had fun as we danced the night away up on deck 8, the top level of the ship. 

This past week I had to go to the US Embassy here in Cotonou to get something notarized. My friends Christina and Sarah and I decided to bike to the Embassy across town just to see more of Cotonou and to get off the ship. We checked out some mountain bikes from deck 8, and managed to carry them down four flights of very narrow stairs to get to the dock. Unfortunately it was raining which made things interesting as we waded through shin deep puddles of rainwater mixed with who knows what else in our flip-flops.  We did make it to the Embassy in one piece, but encountered some open manholes in the middle of the sidewalk which made for an unusual experience! Everyone kept laughing and pointing at us yovo’s (the term for white people here) as they thought we were ridiculous riding around in the rain. Well worth it though as we saw more of Cotonou and had a great time.

I also went to Grand Popo this weekend. It’s a beach town about two hours out of the city. For a mere $3/ night we got to camp here and use the facilities of a nice pool and a beautiful beach (complete with an African, his machete and coconuts at our disposal!) Such a good deal.  Some of my favorites of the weekend in Grand Popo:

The speedometer in our minibus that read 0 km per hour the entire way. I’m quite certain we were driving over the speed limit even by African standards for most of the trip. Very safe. Especially when we got pulled over.

An African gas station. Imported Nigerian gas. Probably watered down quite a bit.

Just filling up.  Check out those sweet African pants!

The beautiful African scenery on the two hour ride there! This is what Africa is all about.

The fisherman along the beach.

The whole village participates in carrying the nets and bringing the fish in.

We also went out one morning with Roger, a local guide.  He showed us around Grand Popo via this canoe.  It was literally a huge hollowed out tree.  Absolutely amazing.  
 

We visited the mangroves (a malaria breeding ground) and also learned about local fishing practices (different in this small village as compared to the huge nets that were cast into the ocean in my previous pictures.) Here we met some fun friends that were hanging out in this basket in the lake ready to escape at any moment...yikes.  Glad I wasn't swimming in these waters!

Our last stop with Roger was a small voo doo village in Grand Popo called Heve.  We got off the canoe and were met by a swarm of people.  Apparently the village had been flooded and they were handing out new mats for people to sleep on. Pure chaos ensued. The people of Heve were elated to get these new thin, straw mats upon which to sleep on the hard ground.  Some good perspective of a life so different than my own.  Roger introduced us to the voo doo chief of Heve as well.   Below is Legba, a fetish. A fetish is an object meant to contain the power of a spirit - here the spirit of protection over the village. 

Most Africans here practice Catholicism in the morning and voo doo at night. In talking with Roger and our varying differences in religious beliefs, he assured me he only practices "good" voo doo. He explained to me that while many see voo doo as evil, there are also good practices associated with the religion.  Bad voo doo involves curses and witchcraft, where as good voo doo involves healing sickness similar to folk medicine. To conjure up these spirits of healing the voo doo practitioners must sacrifice things.  Roger  uses oil and coke and sometimes animals. Oil and coke are not the first things that come to mind when I think of healing sickness, but then again, this is Africa.  Never a dull moment here!

Animistic traditions shape the way people function here.  They so often live in fear and feel the need to sacrifice regularly. They live fatalistically.  We see this at Mercy Ships with so many of the babies that are born with cleft palates.  The mothers believe babies born with deformities are evil.  Some would rather let their children starve to death than get them help. Sadly, this happened with one of the cleft palate babies right before I came.

In the states the presence of spiritual warfare is often seen as taboo by so many, but being here and seeing voo doo life makes me realize how prevalent animism really is.  My hope is that the presence of Mercy Ships here in Africa does change Africa for the better.  But experiencing this makes me realize there's a long way to go.  "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

It was quite the eye opening weekend from the serenity of Grand Popo to the voo doo history of Heve...

...but at $3/night in the presence of good company and beautiful scenery, I'm sure I'll be back soon!