Life for a typical familyWomen in Benin start their daily activities before sunrise. Most of the time, as soon as they get up, they wash, tidy the house, and prepare breakfast, before heading out for a day's work in the fields.
When they get home in the evening, typically women bring firewood, fetch water and cook the family meal.
During the main growing season, which is more than eight months in a year, the village would be empty around six in the morning: women, men and children (when not in school) go to the fields, often far away from the village, where they will have their first two meals of the day. Most of them will not return until sunset around six in the evening. Everything that the family needs is produced in the fields or at home. When there little to do in the fields, women will typically make agricultural products that they can sell at market, such as making "gari" (cassava flour), oil, dough or soap.
Men meanwhile will harvest palm trees, from which they make "sodabi" (a local drink), hunt for small game or do small jobs around the house.
During the school year, children get ready for school in the morning. They take with them either money or a breakfast which could be a porridge made of corn or of millet, depending on the region, or maize flour dough, left over from the previous day and reheated with a sauce. The youngest children stay home with the older family members.
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