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January 23, 2005

Out and about in Cotonou

I had a bit of a walk round town yesterday with a friend from the ship. It was great just to wander through the vegetable market, followed by the cheerful and hopeful shouts of women vendors offering a tempting array of fresh fruit and veg. The pineapples, bananas, and mangos here make those in Britain seem almost tasteless by comparison. I also came across another Fulani from Burkina, as well as a couple of Djerma guys from Niger, and a Tuareg from Mali, so there was a fair bit of Sahelian greeting during our short walk.

I have been doing a bit of translation of documents and letters into French for the outreach department. Living off the ship now, I get to the port every day on the back of a "zemidjan." These are motor-scooters that function as cheap public transport. Easily identifiable by the drivers' yellow jackets, they chug-chug their way through the local traffic to deliver their passengers across town for 20p. It looks dangerous, but actually, I have seen far fewer accidents than on an average week in Ouagadougou. It probably helps that trucks are only allowed in town between certain hours, avoiding the busiest times. Ken Livingstone, take note...

On my way back to bed last night, my zemidjan driver was waxing lyrical over Benin's latest success in the African Youth Championship. Having managed a 3-3 draw with Mali yesterday, they are through to the semi-finals - and this after the murder of their goalkeeper in an attack recently.

Posted by Keith at January 23, 2005 07:49 AM