The measure of His purpose

Ok. We've talked a bit about the history of Benin, now let's talk about the present.

Benin's current population is just under 11 million. That's about 1/3 of the population of Canada.

Like Canada, most of the population of Benin live along the southern border, which, in this case, is the coast of the Atlantic. Not surprising, considering the major role the Atlantic slave trade played in the country's development. Most of the country's cities and infrastructure lie in the south, while the northern highland/mountain regions are much more rural and undeveloped. In the very far north, spilling into Burkina Faso and Niger, are two large wildlife reserves. These are home to many of the endangered animals I mentioned a few weeks ago, and although they are considered a dangerous region for foreigners to visit, they do provide some of the country's tourism.

Although it is one of the most politically stable countries in the region, Benin still ranks extremely low on the UN's Human Development Index, which takes into account education, gender equality, quality of life, and life expectancy. Economically the country is growing, life expectancy and education have increased dramatically over the last 35 years, but it is still very, very far behind the rest of the world, ranking 166th out of 188 countries. The gender gap in education remains quite wide, with boys on average attending school twice as long as girls.

37% of the population of Benin still lives in severe poverty.

In future posts, I'll be delving deeper into some of these numbers. Mainly, the state of healthcare, access to education, and gender disparity in Benin. To give you some background, check out this video about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It will help you understand the progress that has been made over the past few years, how that progress is measured, and what we must do to further that progress.

"To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, 

for these are the measure of His purpose."

-Florence Nightingale

 

Progress Updates:

Good news! I don't have Tuberculosis! My test came back clear. *phew*

Also, because of some communication delays, I ended up getting set up with a much better deal for my flights - $500 less than my original plan! Hooray for awesome Anabaptist travel agents!

Finally, my donation page is now up and running! If you feel inclined to help support me financially during my time serving with Mercy Ships, you can now do so HERE. If you feel inclined to support me through encouragement, prayer, songs, or...um...interpretive dance... I'll appreciate that too.

Till next week!
-D

The Amazons of Africa

Alright. So, you're probably thinking from the title, "You know the Amazon is in SOUTH AMERICA...right? Like, a completely separate continent...right?"

Yes, yes, I know this.

But there is a cool little bit of Beninese history that involves that long-running European tradition of naming things after completely unrelated things from different continents. *cough* Columbus *cough*

Back in the days when much of present-day Benin was the Kingdom of Dahomey (1600-1900), the King decided he wanted a band of elephant hunters. As you can imagine, it is no small feat to take down an elephant (at least, without a modern rifle), so these warriors must have been pretty tough. The kicker? The group consisted entirely of women.

This group went through a few revisions before becoming an elite militia unit, known as N'Nonmiton ("our mothers") to the men of the Dahomey army. These women were lethal warriors; most were recruited as children, trained to be ruthless, and were known to behead their fallen enemies. At one time, there were as many of 6,000 N'Nonmiton warriors; about 1/3 of the total Dahomey military force. They were revered and feared, and often considered more effective than their male counterparts.

Their motto was, "If soldiers go to war they should conquer or die." I'm getting a bit of a Klingon vibe. The Europeans at the time got a Amazon warrior princess vibe, however, and the women became known to the rest of the world as the "Dahomey Amazons."

Note the decapitated heads adorning the walls. Lovely.

Eventually, after several wars with France, the Dahomey fell and the N'Nonmiton with them. It is believed the last of their number died in 1979. Below is one of the most recent pictures of the retired warriors from 1908.

In Other News...

I got jabbed today (twice!) to get my vaccinations up to date...and to make sure I don't have Tuberculosis. So far, so good. :)

My finances are more or less in order, I'm just waiting on final approval from Mercy Ships to be able to go ahead and purchase my plane tickets. Once that's done, I can finalize most of my paperwork and get it submitted and out of the way!

'Til next week,
-D

Lions & Cheetahs & Boars, OH MY!

Well, I've already missed a week of posting. Shootski.

So, I'll try to make up for it this week with AWESOME AFRICAN ANIMALS!!

Madagascar has an incredibly unique and diverse collection of animals that don't exist anywhere else in the world (except for in zoos). It was really amazing to see these animals (let's be honest, mainly the lemurs) in the wild.

Benin, however, as part of mainland Africa, is home to many incredible African animals, including one of the largest remaining reserves of the endangered West African lion.

The West African lions are facing extinction from retaliatory killings of farmers over lost livestock, and also from the poaching of their food sources. Conservationists are hopeful that the population can be preserved, but they are in a precarious state. 

The northern parks also contain a small population of the critically endangered Northwest African Cheetah, whose picture on wikipedia is the kind you might not want to look at late at night...

*Shudders* Uh...can you say spooky? It's like a screenshot from an episode of ghost whisperers. I suppose this just speaks to the rarity of the animal, when this is the best the internet could find. Only ~250 of this sub-species of cheetah are believed to be living.

Well. This just keeps getting more depressing. Let's look at some of the other animals in Benin (which...may or may not also be endangered) to lighten the mood?

Elephants!

Aardvarks!

Hippos!

Warthogs!

Luau!!!

Whoa. Sorry. Got a little carried away there.

That'll have to be all for now.

'Till next time,

-D