Trip
to Lomé
Last
week, on Friday 5 th April, the classes of form 3 and 4 went to Lome, capital
city of Togo. They went there for many sports-meetings of hand-ball, basket-ball,
volley-ball, table tennis and swimming.
Living Cotonou at 3p.m, the bus arrived at 6.30 p.m. Host-families welcomed
the students in their houses. On Saturday morning, from 8 to 12a.m, they went
to the French school to play basket-ball and table tennis. During the afternoon,
they played hand-ball and volley-ball. The next day, swimming took place at
8 o'clock in the hotel "2 Février". Immediately after the last competition,
they went back to Cotonou at 12 a.m.
At the border, they stopped to have lunch, and then returned in the bus for
Cotonou. They arrived in Cotonou at 4 p.m.
Boys won all their matches except volley-ball, and girls lost all theirs except
swimming. Finally, Lome's French scool beat Cotonou's French school.
People who where in Lome said the trip was really exciting and very nice.
Dibousse Fadel
Tchatchouang Lyne
6
years ago near my house I heard a drum and I looked out of the windows and I
saw some people who got the " revenants " out . They wore a beautiful tunic
with embroideries in gold and in their hands and they had a riding crop. The
people put a chair in the middle of the street. One of the revenant sat on the
chair and made a ceremony. When they had finished the ceremony the revenant
started doing dancing.
THE REVENANT : IS A SORT OF GHOST
The
national park of the Pendjari
In
Benin, there is a national park which is in the North. This park is called :
" The national park of the Pendjari ". In this park, there is a hotel with a
swimming pool, and the rooms are air-conditioned. There are many different ponds
which have many kinds of animals, like lions ,elephants, cheetahs, does, hyenas…
Some little mammals, like squirrels, some reptiles, like snakes, crocodiles,
etc… There are many kinds of animals and insects. It's a park where it is impossible
to be bared. When you go there, you can learn many things about animals life.
If
you want to do some sports in Cotonou, you've got a lot of possibilities :
· If you're a student in Montaigne, you can join many clubs : hand ball, volley
ball , judo, swimming, football, rugby, basket ball, gymnastics and table tennis.
· If you want to go to a private club, you've also a wide choice : nations club
(where you can play football, tennis, basket ball and ride horses), the Benin
Marina hotel (golf, football, tennis and aqua gym) and the Marina riding, and
so on …
But the big probleme in the Benin is the heat
Put
the pot in the fire with some water mix with oil and some ingredients (tomatoes,
onions, chil, piments, shrimp). When the water boils put the maize flour in
the boiling water. Stir during ten minutes at least leave fifteen minutes at
least. Serve with chicken. Enjoy your meal ! !
Djossa Odilon
The
first time I went to Bimens was in 1994. I went there with my parents and one
of my friends Riyad. Bimens park a good amusement Park in Porto-Novo. It's the
biggest Park in Porto-Novo. It's very big and beautiful and there are all types
of animals. We have meeted somebody who wants to play with us, we accepted and
we had great fun that a afternoon. There are many pupils here and there are
many things to do.
In
Montaigne school, the sports activities are very different. There is :
basketball, football, volleyball, handball, judo, rugby, gymnastics, Ping-Pong.
Boys and girls, everybody is abbles to do sports. Mostly on Wednesday afternoon,
the sports can last 1h30 or one hour. The bathrooms are available for a sportsman
after his effort. Come fast.
We
left Cotonou Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock. In the bus, we chatted with friends
during the whole trip. Once we got to the border, we waited for the teachers
while they were checking our passports. Finally we arrived at LFL ( French school
) , we got off the bus, we went in the school to have a drink and to join our
host-family. We slept early because the next day would be a long and tough day.
On Saturday, the boys won all the matches and the girls lost. At night , we
went to a friend's party. We enjoyed ourselves all night. On Sunday we left
Lomé at 11 o'clock after the swimming competition. We got back to Cotonou
at 4 o'clock. The journey was nice but it was very hot because the air condition
wasn't working. We had great fun ! ! !
All
countries in Africa have one or many French schools. In each school there is
an infirmary,a secretary and two libraries. There is too a nursery school, a
primary school and secondary school . Saturday, only the secondary school works.
The day of week, we begin at eight am and the afternoon we finish at six pm
but noon we have a break at twelve until three pm. In our school there are many
sports like football, handball, volleyball, basketball, ping pong… And many
activities like club internet…
The
two horse-ridding clubs in Cotonou
There
are tho horse-ridding clubs. The first club's name is the Nation's club that
is sixteen years old. The second one's named the Marina and was created 5 years
ago. Unfortunately, the two horse-ridding clubs are competitors. The two horse-ridding
clubs are very good. We let you choose between the Nation and the Marina like
we do. The Nation club is a club which offers a lot of activities whereas the
Marina is only a horse-ridding club. Come to enjoy yourself to the horse ridding.
In
Benin, there are lots of types of taxi-moto drivers, in Cotonou they wear a
yellow shirt with a number so do they in Porto-novo except that the shirt is
green. They take people and drop them off where the people want. They are too
many and their motorbikes clumsy consequently they pollute our atmosphere. But
they're very useful for the population because they're not expensive, many people
don't have a car or a motorbike and they come in front of houses so people needn't
walk too much.
This
is our school called Montaigne (it's a writer's name). The schooling starts
from nursery school and finishes with the 7th form of secondary school. There
are 4 class rooms in nursery school, 5 in primary school, 6 in secondary. The
nursery school is separated from the others.The is composed of 3 playgrounds
(1 is for the primary school and the 2 others for the secondary school), 3 covered
playgrounds, 3 fountains andan infirmary.
The primary school has got a library and about 10 class rooms but the secondary
has got a library room too and about 15 classrooms. There are a football pitch,
2 basket-ball grounds and a handball ground.
Our hours are 7.45 to 11.45 in the morning for everybody but in the afternoon
it's 3.00 to 5.00 for the nursery and the primary's schools and to 6.00 for
the others. We practise a lot of sports especially on Wednesday afternoons.
Each year we travel to Togo or to Niger for sports meetings. It's a great school,
we wait for you ! ! !
In
Cotonou, there are many hobbies. And a lot of people like to go outside at the
week-end. On Wednesday, afternoon some people go to the CCF (French Cultural
Centre).It is a big and beautiful library where we can go to know more things.Everybody
is accepted from six years old. The CCF is a park too where there are shows
and theatres with Beninese and European artists, who are very amusing. On Saturday,
many people go to shopping. There is too a fashion shop, " Wrangler "
where the young can buy beautiful and trendy clothes and shoes. Not far from
there, there are small restaurants and ice cream shops where you can refresh
you after shopping. On Sunday, you can go to the swimming pool.
Here
in Benin, we go to school earlier than in France, a part from that we learn
the same things as in France and we do the same things at break. I like my school.The
teachers are very nice and I have a lot of friends. I go riding once a week-end
and I love swimming. I am very fond of going to the beach next to fishermen'
roads. I sometimes swim when the sea isn't too rought, I play volley-ball with
my family. I love living in Benin because I can go the beach all year round,
exept when it rains. Here in Benin, it is very hot not like France in winter
when I stayed at home and was bored.
Every
village has Voodoo convent. A Voodoo convent consists of a temple and a Vodungan
(Voodoo priest). The priest trains initiate (Vodounsi) to become adepts of his
god and each priest specializes in a particular Voodoo god. A few times a year
the Voudoungan organizes a public ceremony in the streets where the Vodounsi
will come and dance in their regalia to drumming music. It is fascinating ;
however there aren't any schedules as to when these ceremonies take place. They
are almost never for tourist so e assured what you are seeing is authentic.
If you happen to see one, consider yourself lucky and stay as long as you can.
Note- that you must ask permission before taking pictures and be prepared to
pay a few thousand CFA (a few dollars) as an offering to the god for the privilege.
In the Fon language the word "Voodoo" means "Spirit". And the word "Spirit"
is a term used to describe the specialized nature and it's served in the Voodoo
tradition. Voodoo is the heritage of the ancient Africans nations that were
exile in the new world. Voodoo is more than one thing, it's medicine, justice,
police, and it's art, dance, music as well as religious ritual. The Voodoo has
no need to complete with anyone. As far as the birthright of the African, Western
religions might be conditioned into their psyche, but Voodoo is in their blood,
and has been for thousand of years. For those who are attracted to or feel that
they are drawn to the tradition, they will come on their own volition. In conclusion
we can tell you that Voodoo is very very bad.