Episode Summaries
Discovering Benin, West Africa
Episode 1 - Bonne Arrivée (30 mins)
- See Chris & his wife Cara greeted by the village he lived in while he was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer
- "Sauce" being prepared
- Children singing & dancing
- The Real Congo Line
Episode 2 - Life in Allada (35 mins)
- Chris's house when he was a PCV
- How water is gathered and sold
- Voodoo alters and fetishes
- Chris and his wife visit a market - lots of footage and explanations. See clothing, food, goods, and voodoo fetishes being sold
Episode 3 - Business in Benin (30 mins)
- Tour of a pineapple drying factory and pineapple field
- A shoe repair workshop with explanations of how apprenticeship works in Benin
- Jean's sculpture workshop & his house under construction
- A seamstress's workshop and middle class home
- Arthur's cabinet and furniture workshop
Episode 4 - Voodoo (60 mins)
- King of Allada and his royal palace
- Tour of the village of Agongblame - the setting for the Gambara voodoo ceremony
- Gambara Voodoo Ceremony which consists of offerings, drumming, dancing, and dancers falling into trances
- A Fah reading - similar to a tarot card reading
- Ja Voodoo cult chicken sacrifice ceremony
Episode 5 - Tourism Beninese Style (35 mins)
- Trip through Ganvié - a village on stilts over a lagoon
- Tour of the village of Lisségazoun
- The slave road in Ouidah where slaves were marched to the beach and put on the slaves ships
- Traditional fishing boats on the beach of Ouidah
- Gran Popo - the Beninese beach paradise