Au Village

I'm so fortunate to have an amazing village - not the romanticized Africa from the movies - but the real hard livin' joyful energy of a small town.

I haven't wielded the SLR camera yet - but I took a few snapshots to share the feeling of my neighborhood:

The main dirt road through town - don't let the power lines fool you - they're high voltage lines that don't actually deliver any current to the village. Such is the irony of rural African development.

Cotton trucks frequent the road, fully laden with fluffy stuff to be processed in factories in Central Benin. In one week I've seen three of these big boys tipped over. One of them dumped cotton all over the center of a neighboring village. When I stopped to take a picture a guy approached me with a diamond mining proposal. I politely declined and scurried away on my bike.

Every fourth day the market gathers in the center of the village, bellow the big tree.

Herders come from miles around to gather at the cattle market - one of Goumori's primary attractions.

Peace Corps doesn't like us to post pictures of the outside of our homes online, but things are shaping up quite well inside. It's cozy - a newly built concrete structure. I'm waiting for the local carpenter to craft a table, bed and some other furnishings. In the mean time cinder blocks and 2x6s shall suffice.

and I scored some sweet patio furniture from the Fulani artisans.

Ouidah Voodun Festival Images

Each year, January 10th marks Benin's national Voodun Festival. The festival is celebrated nationwide, but the city of Oudiah is the center of the Voodun world - a "Mecca" of sorts. This year more than 100,000 Voodun celebrants and visitors (and photographers) congregated on the beach at Ouidah. Numerous spiritual ceremonies and performances punctuate the day as crowds wander and encircle the performers. In a state of spiritual euphoria, Voodun practicioners dance and perform ritual scarification. I was struck by the powerful energy that permeated the event and the strong, beautiful people.

A crowd gathers bellow the Door of No Return - a monument to the millions of slaves exported through Benin's ports during colonialisation.

Afrikaworld.net has an excellent description of Voodun history and beliefs.

I've organized these images into four categories: portraits, general scenes, dancing, and scarification.

Ouidah Voodun Festival Portraits

Ouidah Voodun Festival Scenes

crazed photographers abound

powerful fetish sculptures

the festival is one of the few Beninese events that draws European visitors

Ouidah Voodun Festival Dancing

potent herbal concoctions play a significant role in Voodun ceremonies

Zangbeto - spirits of the night (now available in daytime)

Afro-Brazilian Dance

exhausted drummer

Ouidah Voodun Festival Scarification

Possessed by spiritual forces, Voodun practicioners reportedly feel no pain in the scarification ritual. Created while in a spiritual euphoria (aided by local firewater sodabe and herbal agents), shallow cuts represent adulthood and virility.

Jonquet Night Scenes

Currently the Peace Corps Bureau resides in the Jonquet neighborhood of Cotonou, a bustling area that turns into the red light district by night. Incidentally, I find the neighborhood to be more comfortable than other parts of Cotonou because the streets are lively. There's always a crowd along the road, plenty of streetside food, music coming out of bars, and it generally feels pretty safe. I'm less at ease in the quiet parts of town where there are fewer eyes on the streets.

A few long-exposure images of the nightlife:

prostitutes appear ghostly in a 30-second exposure