{"id":1939,"date":"2022-02-02T10:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T09:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/2022\/02\/02\/why-benin\/"},"modified":"2024-07-10T10:46:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T08:46:23","slug":"why-benin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/2022\/02\/02\/why-benin\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Benin?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The fact that we chose Benin is a coincidence. We sometimes hear ourselves say this. But it was no coincidence. The choice stands and falls with Justine Tchilalou Payarou, our first student, whom Marie and I trained as a seamstress in our Munich studio.<\/p>\n

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WE HAVE LEARNT FROM JUSTINE: CLOTHING
CAN BE SO MUCH MORE THAN A PIECE OF FABRIC.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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When we accompanied Justine to her home country after her apprenticeship, we immediately realised that Benin is a special country. The people are reaching out and at the same time are firmly rooted in their homeland. In their view, tradition and modernity are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary. On the contrary, Beninese people realise that they can only start a new future from a stable foundation of values: Who are we, what characterises us, what distinguishes us, what do we want, what do we need to preserve in order not to lose ourselves? In this respect, it is not surprising that Benin is now considered the cradle of voodoo and that more and more young people are embracing it.<\/p>\n

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Trainers, pupils and residents of Bersingou. <\/em><\/p>\n

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For a long time, Benin did not play a major role on the world map. Only a few investors were interested in this country, which is poor in raw materials and weak in exports. From my point of view, this was an advantage: the country was able to develop on its own, at its own pace, in peace and quiet. No one was pulling, no one was pointing the way.<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Benin6\u00a9AttilaHenning.webp” title_text=”Benin6\u00a9AttilaHenning” _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

The flight from Munich to Cotonou takes around nine hours via Paris. Then it’s another eight hours northwards by bus. <\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.25.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Admittedly, the journey to Bersingou in the north of the country is a bit gruelling. And yet we are full of anticipation every time we land in Cotonou. Before we get on the bus, we quickly buy pineapples and papayas from the street vendor, which are not so plentiful in the north depending on the season – but mangoes and fresh cheese made from cow’s milk. The hustle and bustle decreases with every kilometre. Churches disappear, mosques appear. And you get into more and more conversation with your fellow travellers. Certainly: the nature, the animals – impressive, no question. And yet for us, it is the people who inspire us every time anew and make us hold on to our vision.<\/p>\n

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The fact that we chose Benin is a coincidence. We sometimes hear ourselves say this. But it was no coincidence. The choice stands and falls with Justine Tchilalou Payarou, our first student, whom Marie and I trained as a seamstress in our Munich studio.WE HAVE LEARNT FROM JUSTINE: CLOTHING CAN BE SO MUCH MORE THAN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1492,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benin-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1941,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions\/1941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprojectjustine.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}