Report of the Voyage to Cotonou
Introduction:
When I was invited to travel to Benin I did not believe it was true, as I had always desired to visit the land of my ancestors. In addition, the invitation requested that I participate in a workshop on Natural Medicine and its applications here in Brazil. Upon learning this, my happiness increased because I am a participant in this medicinal system and have prepared many herbal remedies for the members of our religious community.
Our religion is called Jêje Mahi and it originates in Benin – particularly in the city of Mahi, which I believe no longer exists in present-day Benin. Because of this connection I hoped that during the visit, in addition to participating in the conference, I would also be able to obtain some information about the origins of our religious tradition.
General Evaluation of the Experience:
This experience contributed greatly to mutual cultural enrichment and to the clarification of certain doubts which are still common regarding the spiritual and religious content of our community.
We visited various communities in Benin and in Togo – I haven’t yet been able to place them all in exact order in my head. The program was an intensive one and with so many things to see and to admire I did not have time to take notes. However, fortunately, Top Tours and PROMETRA very efficiently recorded the entire experience on videotape. I have not been able to watch all of the tapes as of yet – there are eight hours of videorecording.
The workshops and conference sessions were very interesting, although we from Brazil did not have time to share in detail our experiences in the area of natural medicine. On the other hand, we learned a great deal from the narratives of our companions from other places, even outside of the officially programmed meeting times.
I discovered, on our tourist excursions, a different Africa from that which I thought I had known. The hospitality, the smiles of the people and their manner of living contributed to my new perspectives of local behavior and lifeways. I found in Benin many similarities and many differences from our way of life in Brazil, which, of course, is natural. The translation assistance, by the guides and by Rachel, were important resources in the discoveries we made and the clarification of our doubts.
In this visit to Benin, I learned the importance of spirituality for the survival of human beings in the world. I learned that one cannot judge a person by physical appearance, by the clothes he wears. He is what he is and will continue being himself.
In our walks through the streets of Benin, I was especially moved by the situation of some needy people. There the heat is intense and offers no comfort to many. Even so, people confront the sun, without protection, and they continue to survive. For me, it was a challenge to be in the open air outside of the hotel.
The most disturbing part of the voyage for me was actually the time it took to travel to Cotonou from Brazil. The route that the airline took [Salvador-São Paulo-Paris-Lagos-Cotonou] was very complicated and I would prefer not to return to Benin via Paris. Next time, I would take a different route. I would fly directly from the city of Recife [in northeastern Brazil] to Cotonou. I even raised this proposition during the conference with the hope that it would be appreciated and effected by the appropriate authorities.
Everaldo Conceição Duarte
Salvador, Bahia