MY TRIP TO COTONOU
I was at Cotonou, Benin Republic on Friday, 2nd May. I was amazed at the car market they have there and was thinking in terms of the country's economy. The first point of reflection was when I had to change the naira on me to their currency; the exchange rate was 1000cfa to N288. The way they talk about millions there might deceive you if you think they are talking about a huge sum of money. Also it looks great when I noticed that they still spend coins there. The highest coin they have is 1000cfas. I thought how it would be if our N1000 naira is just a coin. I really wonder why coins don’t seem to work here. Even little children would reject the coins when you give it to them. I am writing about this trip not actually because of their monetary system or our own but I noticed some issues that did not really go down with me. It kept me thinking how we “blacks” have allowed “whites” to dominate us. We might say we already have our independence from them but are we the ones really on control.
Let me describe the normal scene at the Cotonou car market.
The market is dominated by the Lebanese. They have built in wooden houses with just the roof covering it used as their offices. They are mostly the young guys and some few old ones. They keep puffing cigars as if they run a locomotive train. They enjoy the cool of the air though the normal temperature is killing. It’s as if we blacks are the ones the sun is made for. For every car dealers, they have blacks working for them who are continuously in the sun looking for prospective buyers. When they eventually get a buyer, they allow the buyer to see his car of choice and when they reach an agreement, they lead the buyer to the office to meet the white guy. There they negotiate the cost of the car and they get the cash. When the buyer gets down, you now see other people around asking for settlement. I wonder why blacks settled for the little money you would give them as settlement.
I really wonder when blacks will be
· the owner of the major markets in our country
· initiate great investment ideas that even whites will be interested in
· refuse to get the crumbs that falls from the table of white guys and go for the larger share of the food
· become the people developing our nation and not really waiting for some assistance from anywhere.
I really keep wondering. All these can really be if we all can start to take our stand NOW. Lets start putting our mind and brain to work. We all pray for God’s blessing but the thought that comes to me this morning when thinking about the word of God is that God is going to bless the work of our hands if we obey Him. I wonder how many people God would have blessed if they have something doing.
Let’s get productive and thinking. I would tomorrow put an excerpt from a book by Myles Munroe on his encounter with some Asians and their findings about the black man. It’s a call to stand and take what is rightly ours.
Thanks for your time.
I was at Cotonou, Benin Republic on Friday, 2nd May. I was amazed at the car market they have there and was thinking in terms of the country's economy. The first point of reflection was when I had to change the naira on me to their currency; the exchange rate was 1000cfa to N288. The way they talk about millions there might deceive you if you think they are talking about a huge sum of money. Also it looks great when I noticed that they still spend coins there. The highest coin they have is 1000cfas. I thought how it would be if our N1000 naira is just a coin. I really wonder why coins don’t seem to work here. Even little children would reject the coins when you give it to them. I am writing about this trip not actually because of their monetary system or our own but I noticed some issues that did not really go down with me. It kept me thinking how we “blacks” have allowed “whites” to dominate us. We might say we already have our independence from them but are we the ones really on control.
Let me describe the normal scene at the Cotonou car market.
The market is dominated by the Lebanese. They have built in wooden houses with just the roof covering it used as their offices. They are mostly the young guys and some few old ones. They keep puffing cigars as if they run a locomotive train. They enjoy the cool of the air though the normal temperature is killing. It’s as if we blacks are the ones the sun is made for. For every car dealers, they have blacks working for them who are continuously in the sun looking for prospective buyers. When they eventually get a buyer, they allow the buyer to see his car of choice and when they reach an agreement, they lead the buyer to the office to meet the white guy. There they negotiate the cost of the car and they get the cash. When the buyer gets down, you now see other people around asking for settlement. I wonder why blacks settled for the little money you would give them as settlement.
I really wonder when blacks will be
· the owner of the major markets in our country
· initiate great investment ideas that even whites will be interested in
· refuse to get the crumbs that falls from the table of white guys and go for the larger share of the food
· become the people developing our nation and not really waiting for some assistance from anywhere.
I really keep wondering. All these can really be if we all can start to take our stand NOW. Lets start putting our mind and brain to work. We all pray for God’s blessing but the thought that comes to me this morning when thinking about the word of God is that God is going to bless the work of our hands if we obey Him. I wonder how many people God would have blessed if they have something doing.
Let’s get productive and thinking. I would tomorrow put an excerpt from a book by Myles Munroe on his encounter with some Asians and their findings about the black man. It’s a call to stand and take what is rightly ours.
Thanks for your time.
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