The Rainy Season

After months of waiting, the rainy season has finally begun. I have already written about northern Benin's other two seasons - harmattan, the cool season from December to February, and chaleur, the hot season from March to May - but the rainy season that makes up the rest of the year was very slow to get started. Much to the chagrin of local farmers, plus myself, we experienced a drought for the first few months of rainy season. Now, however, the season has begun in earnest.

Over the last two weeks, we have been getting near daily rains. On some days, it can rain for ten hours at a time, and on other days, we receive downpours that last several hours (given the metal roof on my house, it is impossible to sleep when the rain is coming down). There is no point in going to the well or pump anymore as you can collect all the water you need from home. Some people, like me, have cisterns, but others just put out large bowls to catch the rainwater off the roof.

Since the rest of the year is dry as a bone, the rainy season is the only time of year for farming. Nearly everyone in my village farms, so during this season, the village is deserted. Most families have country homes that they move to in order to be closer to their fields, and they only come into village on market day (once every four days).

When it is actually raining, even the few people who stay in village during the farming season do not leave their homes. If you have scheduled a meeting, it will not be held until after the rain stops, even if that takes six hours.

While the rain on the whole is welcome, the vast quantities can complicate things, especially transportation. We only have dirt roads in village, and they are cratered with potholes, so the rains turn our roads into a series of lakes. Some of these large puddles can be 20 feet wide and 10 feet across.

I, for one, am glad to have the rains. It has vastly simplified the watering of my garden, and I can finally use as much water as I want at home without worrying about shortages, especially since the pump has no water most of the time. This bliss will be short-lived, unfortunately, since the heavy rains should stop in a few weeks and the rain will stop altogether a month or so after that. Then we will once again go through the dry season...

More on Radio Kandi

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Kandi radio station and my new radio show, but after spending an hour and a half yesterday with one of the radio announcers, I have more information to add.

The radio announcer explained to me in detail the structure of the station. They are only on-air in the morning and evenings. If you tune in to 102.9 in the afternoon or the wee hours of the night, you should just hear static.

Due to the lack of print media and televisions in the region, the radio is the primary source of information for locals. Therefore, the station provides programming and news in the four local languages of their coverage area (Bariba, Dendi, Peulh, and Mokalai), plus French. There are two radio announcers for each language, and the announcer I was speaking to does programming in Dendi. Every morning and every night, the day's news is reported in each local language for 15 minutes each, then for 30 minutes in French. The radio announcers also produce other programming and record paid advertisements in their respective local languages.

Paid programming and advertisements take a variety of forms. Non-governmental organizations can pay to buy a block of time on the radio (eg, 30 minutes), and those in partnership with the station can get discounted rates. Advertisements are recorded by a local language announcer for a $10 fee, and then the advertiser is charged based on the number of times they want the spot to air. A common source of revenue for the station is legal notices and death notices. One foreign aid group has contracted with the station to air a message every evening reminding listeners to get under their mosquito nets.

The radio's range is 30-50 miles, and the radio is the source for all the critical information for the region. Last week, for example, some villagers reported having heard on the radio that any resident of Sonsoro who wants electricity in his home should purchase a meter from the savings institution in Kandi. When the news is reported, the announcers share local news first, then news for all of Benin, then West Africa, then Africa, then the rest of the world. In general, the radio is very popular in Benin and widely listened to.

The radio station in Kandi has a staff of 15-20 people and is under the supervision of the national radio bureau. One responsibility of the national radio bureau, for example, is to approve any changes to the station's programming.

In my last post on the radio station, I wondered how the station could be successful considering that they do not operate a generator and the power is often out in Kandi. I learned yesterday that they used to run a generator when the power went out, but they had to stop when they replaced some of their equipment with more sensitive technology that might blow out if they run the generator. They are working on a solution to this problem so that they can always operate the radio during their regular hours.

As for my show itself, I now have a co-host. Another health volunteer recently transferred to Kandi, so we will now do the show together. We recorded our first joint show on malaria, and we will record the shows together whenever possible. One advantage of a co-host is that if I know I will be absent for a few weeks, I can entrust the show to my partner instead of trying to record multiple shows in advance.

I'm signing off for today. Catch you next time!

Ramadan

Thursday marked the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. Ramadan is a month of fasting and prayer. Since I live in a predominantly Muslim village (at least 80% of the population practices Islam), Ramadan was widely observed.

Muslims fast during Ramadan from sunrise to sunset, which is defined in my village as being from 5:30 am to 7:20 pm. No food or liquid (not even water) can be consumed during those hours, but you can gorge yourself to your heart's delight during the night. Muslims in Sonsoro wake up early to eat before the sun rises. Some wake up as early as 2 am to start cooking, and they eat at 4 am in order to be sure to finish before sunrise.

This year, I fasted for Ramadan in perfect accordance with the rules. I woke up at 4 or 4:30 to eat and drink before the sun rose, and I did not eat or drink again until the sun set at 7:20 pm - even on days when I spent up to 10 hours doing manual labor under the hot sun. I did, however, take advantage of one of the exceptions allowed by Islam: you are not required to fast when traveling.

Islam actually allows many exceptions to fasting. The very young (under 7), the elderly, and the sick do not fast, nor do pregnant women or breastfeeding mothers. A woman also cannot fast when she is menstruating because she is considered unclean. Another exception, as I mentioned, is that you are not required to fast when traveling. However, anyone who misses days of fasting (except children and the elderly) is expected to make up the days at a later time, even if they just make up one day at a time. Another accepted alternative to making up the days is to feed the hungry.

Ramadan is also a month of devotion through prayer. Not unlike Christians who go to church only on Christmas and Easter, Muslims who rarely bother to pray most of the year will make sure to pray the required five times per day during Ramadan. In addition to those five times per day, the faithful do extra praying during the last ten days of Ramadan. This praying, locally called "veillee", starts at midnight each night and continues until 2 or 3 am or even later.

Even though fasting and losing sleep may sound arduous, my Muslim friends are happy to observe Ramadan. They consider the sacrifice worthwhile because they believe that they can expect divine reward in return for their devotion. One friend told me that during Ramadan, God will grant you anything that you desire.

While this year's Ramadan fell from mid-July to mid-August, the same will not be true next year. The dates are based on the lunar calendar, so they advance by roughly ten days every year. Local imams determine the precise dates based on the moon cycle, so the dates may vary across the globe by a day or so based on the local imam's interpretation of the moon cycle. Even within my village, there was disagreement about which day Ramadan should officially start, so some Muslims started fasting a day sooner than others.

Now that Ramadan is over, many local Muslims will go back to skipping their daily prayers and drinking alcohol, despite Islamic teachings to the contrary. As is true for all religions, Islam has a wide spectrum of religious practices and devotion, ranging from ultraconservative to ultraliberal. Here in northern Benin, the practice of Islam tends to be quite relaxed.