I’ve mentioned to a few folks back home about the weather’s – specifically, the rain’s – effect on daily life here in Benin, but I think it bears repetition and amplification.
First, let’s set the stage. Outside of the major thoroughfares of the major cities, Benin has, effectively, one paved road that winds its way up to Burkina Faso and Niger from Cotonou. In other words, the places where most people live and work – even within the major cities – are served by dirt roads.
The soil in Benin is of poor quality, as the entire country was once rainforest. (By the way, the decimation of the rainforest started before the last century but certainly was completed during it.) The terre-rouge roads, all sandy, unmaintained, undrained, and free of vegetation, are prime spots for erosion.
Of course, if the sandy roads were in, say, Mauritania (which gets nearly no rain), they wouldn’t be a problem. And, if the rain were lighter and more frequent, perhaps like Seattle’s mist, it mightn’t be an issue. But, the rains in Benin put even an Arizona “monsoon” to shame.
In the South, we get about 50 inches of rain a year, spread out over only 6 months. (The other months are dry as a bone.) That’s an average of over 8 inches a day. Take those 8 inches and pack them into downpours lasting anywhere from half an hour to all day long, and now you have some serious water.
That serious water has two main results: puddles and mud. The water pools up in the ruts, which are further eroded by traffic during the wet and packed down by traffic when the dirt is dry. The puddles can stretch for yards in all directions. Thanks to human and animal feces, the rapid disintegration of organic matter in a hot climate, and trash, the puddles become cesspools which, as they dry, become muddy cesspools.
Couple the wet pounding from the sky with the slippery nastiness of the roads and you have an environment that’s not conducive to transport of most kinds. Add to that milieu the fact that almost no-one has a car or truck and many people don’t even have a motorcycle, and you have a pretty good excuse not to leave the house.
Last but not least is the fact that a lot of people are farmers. “Agon,” after all, means “pineapple” in Fon. So, when it rains, it’s time to work in the fields: commerce gives way to cultivation.
Bonjour Benin! 