Journées Culturelles

Towards the end of the school year, Beninese schools hold a multi-day cultural festival. Most of the time kids just sit around, listen to music, and bring food from home to eat. On the first day they did two skits, both of which (for some unknown reason) were about unwanted pregnancies.

In the first, a girl becomes pregnant and a teacher is accused of being the father. The teacher denies it, but later admits it when the principal pretends like he thinks it’s acceptable. They send him off to the police, and the crowd went wild.

In the second skit, a rich man pursues a young poor girl, woos her with the gift of a car, and then tries to convince her parents that she should go away with him. They eventually consent after he gives them four dollars as a present. The next day the girl discovers that she’s pregnant, and the man tells her he doesn’t want to raise a baby and that he’s going to leave her. She faints, and the skit ends.

In both skits the same student played the part of the impregnated girl, who agreed to start a girl’s club with me over the summer. I’m really going to miss not being able to work with the club over the next year, since the kids that have voiced interest all seem highly motivated. But my successor will have a pretty easy way to get projects started right when they get here, which is always a nice thing to inherit.

I uploaded pictures of the fest, among others. My camera broke the last day when I accidentally dropped it so I haven’t taken any pictures since. Hopefully it should be fixed soon.