Youtor
Life in Ganvie
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=dcBM4CX_TGI
Ganvie is synonymous to tales of heroes who still managed to prove their strength above all odds. The courage of the people of Ganvie is worth emulating. • It is a village that speaks of survival, of people not willing to back down, intransigent and ready to fight and push back the tough challenges of life even when standing on water and no wall of defense surrounding them. • Ganvie is a lake village in Benin Republic lying in lake Nokoúe near Cotonou. The lake floor is a mixture of sediments, sand and muddy sand. • Lake Nokoúe is partially filled by water from river Queme and River Só. It occupies about 12,000 acres of land. It is 20km wide and 11km long. The lake has about 18 species of fish. • The people of Ganvie are often referred to as water men because all of their dwellings is on water. They live on water. They do business on water. They procreate on water. • The lake is their heritage. They have dominated it and their children needs less teachings on the prerequisites for surviving the lake because they must have learnt it in utero. • The village was created in 16th/17th century. Their forefathers, the Tofinus, were men who took to the lake to find solace from kidnappers called the Fon warriors who acted as middlemen to European slave traders. • The lake became a bulwark to them and protected them from being sold as slaves. And ever since then, for more than 400 hundred years the shores and boundaries of the lake has not removed its arm of protection from them and the people had not even bothered abandoning the lake because they've bonded with it. • In the local language, the name Ganvie, means we survived . The lake village has a population of more than 20,000 people. • Ganvie is referred to as the Venice of Africa. It is the Africa's largest town on stilts. It has more than 3000 buildings. • The stilts are made of bamboo sticks and wood. Roofing is majorly done with palm fronds and zinc. There is a linkage of brown roofs in Ganvie that always welcome strangers to the town. • The village is a town in its own way. It has a hostel for relaxation. Craft centre that displays arts and crafts of the people and Benin Republic. A medical facility. A police station (wonder who commits crime on water). A restaurant. A supermarket. A local bank (money can grow on water you know). A barbershop. A market. • The village also features a church and a mosque for religious worshippers. But some of the villages are traditional worshippers and practice voodoo. • • Each family has 3 boats. The father owns one and uses it for fishing. The mother owns one and uses it to see the fishes and carryout her other business. The children have one to transport them to school. • The economy of Ganvie is sustained by farming, tourism and fishing. Fishing is normally done with a fish hook and large net. • The people of Ganvie loves eating rice and fresh fish. • The town is a tale of survival. And if the people in this lake village can survive, anyone can survive tough conditions. • #villagelife #ganvie #benin #village #africa
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