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Twenty-three students from Odisee College on a two-week immersion trip to Benin!

Odisee has partnered for several years with the University of Dassa for laboratory technology and the University of Parakou for nursing.

Students and accompanying teachers from Odisee and the two universities exchanged techniques and experiences for two weeks. Both nursing students from Aalst, Sint-Niklaas, and Brussels and biomedical laboratory technology students from the Ghent campus participated.

Together with some Hubi & Vinciane Foundation staff members, they organized several workshops in two elementary schools on February 8. Topics included hygiene and healthy eating. They also took time to play and color with the children. And they did not arrive empty-handed! The children were delighted with the gifts they brought them.

On February 10, 2023, they traveled with Eric Dossou Gbété, a Hubi & Vinciane Foundation nutritionist, to the village of Kassouala, near the Nigerian border. With three Beninese nurses, they tested 150 young children for malnutrition and malaria. Children with malaria were treated on site. Children with severe malnutrition were referred to one of the partner hospitals for further -treatment. They also treated about 50 children and adults with infected wounds.

On February 15, they were invited to the Hubi & Vinciane Foundation headquarters in Parakaou, where they participated in an information session on natural family planning. They then presented no less than three checks to Marcienne Houenou, the Foundation’s director in Benin. Two supporters, Florence and Léon, had collected a significant amount of money at their wedding, and two other supporters, Nancy and Helena, had collected a very nice amount in their village. Finally, all the students organized various activities and collections that raised another impressive amount. In addition, they also brought a lot of computer and medical equipment, including computers, a video projector, scales, masks, blood pressure monitors, etc.

Marcienne Houenou was very happy with this generosity. The money will be entirely dedicated to the equipment of the hospitals and medical centers with which the Foundation works.

A big thank you to the teachers and students of Odisee College!

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On a journey of immersion with Hubi & Vinciane

From November 28 to December 6, we traveled to Benin with about 20 enthusiasts. There we visited the beautiful projects of the Foundation. We also met the local staff and celebrated locally because the Foundation has existed for exactly 40 years. I, Machteld Libert, was one of the enthusiasts. Herewith is my photo reportage.

Can I briefly write three experiences that have stayed with me most from the immersion trip with Hubi &V inciane in Benin? That’s the question from the editors of this newsletter.

Gladly, of course.

So do I start with my first confrontation with Black Africa? Benin, with its red dirt roads with masses of mopeds on them. Permanently honking their horns. Men, women, sometimes three on one moped and half a household on top. And then also a stacked fruit basket on a passenger’s head, who, oh yes, also carries a child on the back.

Or that first night without electricity and water? No, that is an afterthought.
If I really have to choose, I think of the hospital in Papané, where everything began 40 years ago. Where Hubi (Hubert) was the physician-director of the hospital. It is striking, the memorial stone with the photos of Hubi and Vinciane at the entrance to the hospital. But soon, a few meters away, a newborn baby is scrubbed and polished smooth.

Then to the school in Tchaourou, where Vinciane taught science and math 40 years ago. I hope the children of that time were as happy with her presence as they were with our passage. We are more than welcome in their beige uniforms and the blue-worn Unicef backpacks on their backs. They feel, touch, grab hands, dance, laugh… But they also learn. Today the phrase “Je ne peux pas courir après une moto” is rammed into them. It must be, with all these mopeds here, crisscrossing each other.

Or should I talk about the next day with Moussa, the Foundation’s agricultural expert from Benin? He visits the villages and teaches the inhabitants new crops that they sow together in a ‘jardin communautaire’, and how to maintain and harvest, including the correct ecological fertilization and irrigation. This way, they learn to eat healthier, besides the usual pates (porridge), which is filling but not nourishing. And then banana cultivation, how simple can it be, planting banana trees next to the showers and toilets, where it is moist.  
 
But there is also the village far away in the brousse on a barely passable dirt road. Three-year-old Zouerath has been saved from malnutrition thanks to the shelter at H&V’s hospital. The girl in a beautifully festive pink dress doesn’t know what hit her, all that attention, that cuddling. Thanks to Constant, Hubi & Vinciane’s social worker, who regularly visits all those villages, he gets information from a few women about where things go wrong. Sometimes he can adjust on the spot, and sometimes, a child must be hospitalized.

In Boko, another Hubi & Vinciane hospital, malnourished children can strengthen for four weeks, and their mothers are given information on healthy nutrition. There, we see a mother of a 3-month-old baby who wants to leave the hospital after a week and a half. The baby’s blood levels are still far from okay, but the mother wants to go home with her baby. After all, six other children are waiting for her at home.

Indeed, birth control must urgently become a topic here, but how can you teach it here in a country where religion is still so decisive.

We also visit a shell of what should become the incubation center early next year. Where young Beniners will receive support to build their own business.
There were more than three impressions. Sorry about that. And then I haven’t mentioned the caravan going through Papane, celebrating 40 years of the Foundation, the party on Friday night where children from the neighborhood also came to dance along, the sudden rain that washed away part of the roadside markets, the big gap between rich and poor in Cotonou, where 200 meters from a better restaurant you see people surviving on garbage dumps.

Conclusion. 

What incredible work is being done here by the Hubi & Vinciane Foundation? But how much work is left to do here?

Not the old school development aid of yesteryear, but development cooperation: passing on knowledge to the Beniners who will hopefully be able to do it themselves in x years. I believe in it. But before that happens, much input and care will be needed.

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Twinning between the Sint-Pietersschool in Mechelen and the Bonsi school in N’Dali

How to bring two different worlds together? And how do you make sure that this other world doesn’t remain a distant sight? Well, by putting these two worlds in contact with each other and letting them communicate from person to person. This is the objective of the twinning project: to have schools from “here” (Belgium) and schools from “there” (Benin) work together. The extent and depth of this cooperation depends on the schools themselves.

Dirk Letens, principal of the Sint-Pietersschool in Mechelen, was the first to think of a twinning between his school and an elementary school in Benin, West Africa. Thanks to the support of the Hubi&Vinciane Foundation, a good agreement was quickly found. The Sint-Pietersschool mainly wanted to work on healthy food and vegetable cultivation. The staff of our Foundation went to look for a school in Benin that works intensively on this subject. And after some research, the Bonsi school in N’Dali came out on top. The director, Marius, was immediately very enthusiastic.

A first meeting of the two directors followed fairly quickly, in September 2021, via What’s app. They developed a cooperation plan and submitted their project to Scholenbanden. Grants from Scholenbanden are of course welcome to realize their many projects.

Homemade cards and small gifts went from Mechelen to Benin and back again. This was possible because people from the Hubi&Vinciane Foundation regularly went to Benin and were happy to act as letter carriers for the schools. The Sint-Pietersschool also sent materials to work in the garden and seeds of various plants. Photos and videos were also recorded and exchanged. The pupils of the Sint-Pietersschool presented themselves in French to their Beninese classmates in entertaining short films. The Beninese students also made beautiful short films which were then passed on to the Sint-Pietersschool via the Hubi&Vinciane foundation.

The highlight of this first year of cooperation was undoubtedly the visit of Dirk Letens and two teachers, Annelies Vander Aa and Liesbeth Van Looken, to the Bonsi school at the end of May. Marius, the director on site, did not expect it to happen so quickly. It was a special and exciting experience for everyone. In the film below, the principals and teachers share their first impressions.

Both schools are committed to working together for a long time. The exchange is just beginning. Many agreements have been made. And in the next step, in 2022-2023, the principal and colleagues of the Bonsi school will visit their colleagues in Mechelen. To be continued.

Primary, secondary or higher education institutions that wish to twin with a school in Benin or that are interested in other projects of our Foundation can always contact our Foundation at chris@hubi-vinciane.be.

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Gilles de Kerchove and Herman Van Rompuy participated in the immersion trip to Benin

From 7 to 17 March, Gilles de Kerchove, the new president of our Foundation, and Herman Van Rompuy, president of the Advisory Council of our Foundation, visited Benin. Together with Pascale Van Assche, Managing Director, Marc Croonen, Administrator, Marcienne Houenou, Local Director of our Foundation, and the Honorary Consul of Benin in Belgium, Dr. Benoit Akando, they visited our different programmes and projects. They also met with various representatives of Benin’s local, regional and national government and NGO partners. Their support is crucial for the success of our projects.

Here is a short photo report of their visit.

The delegation was received in the audience by Dr. Hounkpatin, Minister of Health, and his Chief of Cabinet, by Mrs. Tognifodé, Minister of Social Affairs and Microfinance, by the Secretary-General and his team of the Ministry of Agriculture, and by Mrs. Mariam Chabi Talata, Vice-President of Benin and her Chief of Cabinet. It was a unique opportunity to meet and take stock of the Foundation’s projects in the different fields.

A visit to the Saint-Martin hospital in Papané – the hospital where Hubi worked as a doctor-director – could not be missing from the schedule. Director Emile Kouthon expressed his sympathy to Pascale with great emotion after her father’s death, “their grandfather Piet”, who had meant a lot to the hospital in Papané. The next stage of the programme was a visit to the king of Tchaourou. Later in the day, the group went to the primary school of Sounon-Boro, where the Foundation’s agronomists, together with the teachers and pupils, created a vegetable garden.

The delegation also visited the laboratory of Professor Ibrahim Toko of the University of Parakou. He leads a research project on aquaponics to which we have contributed funding. Dr. Mama Sisi, the Departmental Director of Health of Borgou, received the Foundation for a discussion on joint projects. Afterwards, the delegation went to the commune of N’dali and visited, together with the mayor, the new community garden project financed by the Foundation and technically supported by its agronomists.

The next stop was the primary school in Boko, where the Foundation installed a well in collaboration with Rotary. In the evening, the delegation was invited to the Archbishop’s house in Parakou, a tradition that continues with each visit. On Saturday, a visit to the training farm in Sokounon was planned. This centre has been a partner of the Foundation since 2015. An irrigation demonstration site with a water tower has been installed, the various breeding programmes have been optimised, dairy goats have been introduced, an office and a shop have been built, and recently the accommodation for the many trainees has been completely renovated.

The trip continued to Kassouala, a village on the border with Nigeria, where several projects are underway: a water well for the school, the sanitary napkin project for young girls, the renovation of the health centre, the construction of a community vegetable garden and workshops on healthy eating.

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Odisee College on an immersion trip to Benin

Since 2014, the Foundation has collaborated with Odisee and facilitated internships for nursing and midwifery students, and nutrition students, in the regional hospitals Hôpital St Martin and Hôpital St Jean de Dieu, local partners of the Foundation.

From 12 to 26 February 2022, 24 students from Odisee College went on an immersion trip to Benin. Nursing students from the Aalst, Sint-Niklaas, and Brussels campuses and biomedical laboratory technology students from the Ghent campus participated.

For several years, Odisee has been cooperating with the University of Dassa for laboratory technology and with the University of Parakou for nursing. The immersion trips organised by Odisee are part of this long tradition of cooperation. Students and teachers from Belgium and Benin have a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience and get to know each other’s living and working environments.

At the nursing school in Parakou, Beninese students prepared a presentation on diabetes and communication for their Belgian colleagues. The Odisee students organized workshops where they collaborated with their Beninese colleagues and exchanged bandaging techniques.

At the nursing school in Parakou, Beninese students prepared a presentation on diabetes and communication for their Belgian colleagues. The Odisee students organized workshops where they collaborated with their Beninese colleagues and exchanged bandaging techniques.

Students also complete a full day of work experience during the immersion trip: nursing students in a hospital, medical centre, or doctor’s surgery and biomedical laboratory technology students in a laboratory.

The students are also sent into the field. They visited several villages to screen young children for malnutrition and malaria. After a briefing on identifying malnutrition and malaria, the students set to work. Many children were malnourished. As many as 85% of the children tested were infected with malaria. The children received the necessary care and medication on the spot and – if necessary – were referred to a medical centre or hospital.

Finally, all students participated in a full-day Red Cross blood drive. They took blood samples themselves and recorded the donors’ weight, blood pressure, and temperature.

In addition to study-oriented activities, there was also time for relaxation and tourism.

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Twenty-four students from the Odisee College on a two-week immersion trip to Benin!

From 12 to 26 February, 24 students of the Odisee College went on an immersion trip to Benin. Nursing students from the Aalst, Sint-Niklaas, and Brussels campuses and biomedical laboratory technology students from the Ghent campus participated.

For several years, Odisee has collaborated with the University of Dassa for laboratory technology and with the University of Parakou for nursing. Students and their teachers from Odisee and the two universities exchange techniques and experiences for a fortnight. They go out in mixed groups to discover “life as it is in Benin”. They also participate in our Foundation’s project on malnutrition and screening, take blood samples with the Red Cross in some rural villages and give lessons on health in several primary schools.

Odisee did not go to Benin empty-handed. A big pancake sale brought in almost 5000 euros. They gave this money to the hospitals in Benin, which will use it to buy new medical equipment. Students and teachers also brought new equipment, such as microscopes, blood pressure monitors, and surgical scissors.

A detailed report will follow.

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Ismael Bako on his first mission as ambassador of our Foundation in Benin

Ismael Bako, professional basketball player from Benin and ambassador for our Foundation was in Benin from 2 to 7 July 2021. He was introduced to the various projects and activities of the Foundation in agriculture, education and health. And… it may be said that he was very impressed. He started his visit in the Saint-Martin hospital in Papané. Here follows the report of the highlights of his trip with some pictures.

(at the bottom of the page you will find a larger version of the photos)

Ismael Bako, his older brother Malick and Pascale Van Assche arrived in Papané in the municipality of Tchaourou shortly before midday. The director of the Saint-Martin hospital in Papané, Emile Kouton, and a delegation of the Foundation’s local team were waiting for them. Together, they visited various departments: the maternity ward, the emergency department, paediatrics, radiology, not forgetting the accommodation for the guarde-malades that was recently built by the Foundation. Ismael also went to see the hospital garden where a banana plantation has been set up. Dr Emile Kouton concluded the visit to the hospital by taking Ismael to see the new monument erected in memory of Doctor Hubert (Hubi) and his fiancée Vinciane.

Together with the local team of the Foundation, Ismael then went to the primary school of Tékparou, still in the municipality of Tchaourou. The villagers welcomed them with song and dance. Ismael and Malick Bako did not let themselves be known and danced along before handing out school materials to the best pupils of each class. Ismael also solemnly opened the new well in Tékparou, which was constructed with the financial support of the Foundation and Rotary.

After Tékparou the journey went to Parakou for a visit to the seat of our Foundation, the Centre d’Innov’Action de Parakou (CIAP). Ismael was very interested in the aquaponics system that he saw there for the first time. The next day Ismael and the local team went to Boko and Gomez Kparou. There, Ismael made the first spade for the wells that will soon be constructed. The day ended with a visit to the training farm of Sokounon where Ismael, together with his brother and cousin and our reporter on the spot Chamsou-Dine, visited the banana plantation.

For Ismael the trip was also a great opportunity to attend a basketball game in the sports centre of Parakou. At the end of the game he gave the players some advice, not only about the game itself, but also about the importance of a balanced and healthy diet. Ismael also visited the site where the incubation centre of the Foundation will soon be built. And he was interviewed live on ORTB radio in Parakou about his sports career and about his role as ambassador for the Foundation.

During his stay in Benin, Ismael met in Parakou with the Prefect of Borgou, Djibril Mama Cissé. He took the opportunity to introduce himself and his role as ambassador of the Foundation. A few days later he was received in Cotonou in audience by the Minister of Sport, Oswald Oméky. The Minister organized a press conference where Ismael had the opportunity to introduce himself to the journalists and talk about his ambition to help young promising Benin basketeers to show their skills beyond the borders of Benin.

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The immersion journey –
a testimony

Intense emotion-rich and impressive.

Those words perhaps best summarize the immersion trip to Benin.

Benin is a country in full growth, with people who really want to move forward. But it drags a terrible slave past with it and fights against poverty, structural shortages, a whimsical nature, old habits, … every day.

From day one I experienced the most diverse emotions.

I was moved by the warm welcome in schools and villages, but I was shocked by the lack of school material and the overcrowded classes.

I was charmed by the inventiveness of the local population to install a hygienic system for washing hands with an empty plastic bottle, a string and a twig, for example. Or to design new things with discarded items.

I was shocked by the shortage of medicines and resources in dispensaries and hospitals, but admired the creativity with which doctors and nurses made the best of it.

I felt cheerful when I spoke to a few women who showed their vegetable garden, banana tree or goat farm with an infectious enthusiasm. And happy when I heard a schoolgirl tell how she visits malnourished children in the villages as ambassadors and accompanies such a family together with the village leader and her coach to a better diet.

I was completely upset and shocked when we followed the slave route with all those terrible stories about a not so distant past of abuse, trade and degrading conditions. How can people do something about each other?

I felt awe at the voodoo religion that is completely different from what we think about it in the West. Voodoo connects people and treats crimes and setbacks in a very superstitious but often wise, connecting way.

I was annoyed by some men who were lazing while their wives were working. And the fact that girls are expelled after a birth that goes wrong, or after a rape. In terms of women’s and children’s rights, a great deal still needs to be done here.

I felt pity for the children (mostly girls) who are selling things on the road instead of going to school.

I am white and only because of that I felt rich and spoiled. But unlike in other African countries, we were never called here to buy or give things. And unlike ours in Belgium, people laugh happily and, in their poverty or setbacks, show solidarity.

I felt honored when we were allowed to visit a local king in his royal hut. Benin is a republic with a president, but the local kings apparently still have influence.

I was pleasantly surprised by the modern art that we saw in a few museums. And the enthusiasm with which we were shown around the various works of art.

I was impressed by the lush nature: there was a lot of greenery everywhere. But that was because we visited Benin at the end of the rainy season, we were told: “Soon everything will be dry and brown.” But still …. why is there no more agriculture here?

I enjoyed dancing and singing together, both in schools and in a real dancing.

I admired the people from the Foundation (the local and Belgian team) for the determination and the enormous workforce with which they are fully committed to improving the projects every day.

This journey was an immersion in a surprising culture of a very proud people. An immersion in beautiful projects and initiatives, an immersion in warm human stories, sometimes stories of trial and error, but always testifying to a will to move forward.

Benin has a warm place in my heart forever.

Lea Van Hoeymissen

Foto’s Peter Verbruggen