While most of you know I have been living in a small village in Benin since August 2023. What does that mean? Is my village full of wild animals and thatched houses or is it modern with solar panels everywhere and running water? Keep in mind this is MY village and Benin is very diverse.
Well it's a mix of a lot of things.
In my village in the Oueme valley we have three types of houses.
Above is a photo of the basic thatched mud houses. The walls are made with sticks then covered in a thick clay mud then the roof is old grass layered thickly I a way that doesn't leak water inside but filters out heat. The floors are just dirt and kitchens are usually also outside under a roof. A family might have multiple buildings of thatched type. Usually there is no bathroom.
Houses like mine are made from sand and cement mixed into a textured wall and floor. The building is sturdy but heat is trapped inside. These houses have tin roofs often green or blue colored. There are also the lower quality roofs that are just silver and rust easily. Most of these houses also have a ceiling between the roof and room because mice and lizards run along the beams and make your house dirty. My house has thin wooden ceiling that protects me from the critters but I can hear them running around above me. There is rarely a cement house that is alone. Like my house they are built in compounds with 2-5 houses all sharing the same walls and roof. Basic houses have one living room and one bedroom with a toilet sometimes attached or shared for everyone like an outhouse. Toilets are almost always pit latrines. Kitchens are outside if it is fire or charcoal or in living rooms if they use gas.
There are also some very crazy cement houses that have multiple stories, spiral staircases, balconies and pillars. For those like the king in my village and other rich people they decorate the cement with tiles in every order making patters and interesting broken collages.
In my village no one that I've ever seen, has running water.
There are three options, river, well, or pump. The river water is free and it is extremely close. Many people do laundry, dishes, and there is an area for men and women to bathe. The weme river is the center to a lot of life in my village as a source of fish, a place people go every morning to wash, and when the river floods it makes the fields rich with nutrients to farm.
Lots of compounds are centered around a well. It will usually have a pully or a few ropes. Since my area expériences a lot of rain wells usually don't go dry. All the houses gutters lead into the well to keep it filled. Pump water is now becoming much more prevalent it is what I have, this could be a spigot or plastic tank that you open with a lever and fill your buckets. It's powered by electricity or solar to fill the tank and give us water. If the electricity is out tho you are out of luck.
Electricity in the village.
My village is right on the main highway and has power from Benin's power company SBEE. My house is equipped but it often goes out when there is a storm, power tension issues or if Nigeria has some attacks on the power plant. This is probably the worst part of adapting to Benin is having my phone or computer be dying and no power and no lights to cook with and no fan to cool down.
Most cement houses have power! One lightbulb outside and one in each room. Makes the lighting quite uneven but it is fine. I only have 2 outlets as well making extension cords my best friend. Electricity is sold by the kilowatt. Each kilowatt I pay 250 cfa about $.50. but when I use 2 kilowatts a day it does come out to about $30-40 a month which is steep for me on my $200 paycheck. Most Beninese people use much much less than I do. Average houses can use 8-16 kilowatts in a month but I have a fridge.
Many houses use solar panels including thatched houses! A small panel for $10 can charge your phone and laptop. But you need to spend $200+ for keeping up an American lifestyle of two fans, laptops, fridge, and lights. Buying and setting up the battery also costs a pretty penny. Most people in my village have small panels for one or two lights and charging phones.
Family life in one house.
One house usually holds the parents and the kids usually 3-6 kids. most of the time father's have multiple houses one for each wife and then one where he can be alone if possible. The wife and kids sleep on one mat or bed. Until the kids are about 14-16 they sleep next to their mom. When they are older they go into the living room or possibly other family house with more space and sleep in a kids room. Inside houses are not ment to be hangout areas. The living room is for guests and nighttime sleeping. Outside is where people choose to hang out, under mango trees, in palm branch structures, or on a mat on the ground. This is so people can come and visit you and talk and it is cooler outside than in a house with no fan or ac.
Breakfast is usually at 10:30, lunch 1-3 and dinner 8-10 because people work on the farm until it's dark and it takes a long time to cook with fire.
Phones and communication.
Most adults have phones, this us how banking works now through an app similar to Venmo bank account. There are stands throughout the village where you can withdraw money from you phone. Most women have keypad phones which also work for withdrawal and calls. No one ever texts because it uses a lot of credit. Phone plans are expensive and people usually want me to call them because then it's me who fronts the bill. Some men have androids, some Chinese cheap brand that works perfectly fine except the camera is crap. More men have WhatsApp profiles, TikTok, and consume news media. Women are strongly lacking in this area, it's very difficult for me to have discussions about news and events with women who are not connected. There are some days people don't pay for internet and won't reply to messages for 2-3 days so it's always best to just call!
Women know everything in the village. Women usually are doing home tasks or selling in the markets in my village, it's not like this everywhere please remember(women aged 40+ are much less likely to have an education, so it's changing).
Each day the women go and sell they are gathering information from everyone, each trip to the river they see and talk to everyone on the way usually making a 1 hour trip into 2-3 to sit and talk. If I ever need to know anything in my village I ask a woman and she will have an answer or get one for me.
I've noticed people rarely spend time alone, if someone sits alone outside someone will come to join them. You don't see one kid you see a group, you don't see just a mother but a baby on her back, you don't see one man enjoying some alcohol in the shade but all his friends. When I rest alone in my house people ask me if I'm lonely or sad.
Life in the village is slow, usually with things slowed down due to people working in the field dawn to dusk, but village life is tightly knit. A community that always helps each other with no questions asked and spends time together at every moment.
French phrases of the week
Fatigue - tired
Ensemble - together
Portable - phone
Courant - electricity
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