The City of Everyone

Welcome to Parakou, the 2nd largest city in Benin. Home to 200,000 Beninese, this city has one of the largest universities in the country, a HUGE market with tons of fresh vegetables, miles of fabric and a meat section with every type of viande found in this country (including cats).

Parakou means "La ville de tout le monde" or "The city of everyone" in Dendi, the most-heard of the dozens of languages spoken in this city. In fact, just walking through the market I get pumelled with the nasal Nagot I spoke in my last year, the puncuated Fon spoken mostly in the South, and the much smoother Dita Mari, Bariba, and Dendi spoken in the northern regions. This can be overwhelming, even for someone who's now lived here for over a year, but it's tough not to appreciate exactly how special Parakou as a whole really is.

Take, for instance, the food that's now available. There are enormous yams throughout all of the northern regions of Benin, but only since moving here have I had a steady supply of ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, cabbage, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, green beans, carrots, and squash. The only available food last year, and this was hardly consistent, were onions, tomatoes and okra. I can thus throw together a delicious meal in a matter of minutes. Mark Sawran, a fellow Central New Yorker, and I have been taking advantage of this a few times a week.



Parakou also hosts a number of markets selling "chouk," a type of beer made from millet and drank from a callabash. We apparently have the largest chouk market in West Africa, which I guess could be extrapolated to the largest in the world. It's a great opportunity to sit with some locals who may be a little more open than in less innebriated environments. You can actually see the fermenting happening in your cup as you drink it - the center appears to be boiling. But it's actually quite decent.

Here's some volunteers in a chouk stand in Parakou on our way to watch the first U.S. game of this year's World Cup.

This is a photo of some Fulani girls selling tissue (fabric), as recorded by Christoph Herby, a fellow volunteer stationed here in Parakou.

The Fulani, or Peuhl, or Pulaar, are a nomadic tribe found all over West Africa who have a monopoly on the cow supply. They thus are the go-to people to get your hands on some milk, beef, or yogurt. There is also a meat market by Mark in a section called Guema, where you can get your hands on some select beef or goat for about 2 USD.

Honestly, this city is my favorite place in Benin. It's not the prettiest, or the biggest, nor does it supply the most amenities, but it's a great place to be able to live and work.