EIS Benin

Year Five trip to Ouidah

Fenou McCracken, Year 5

The Realm of Promises: Our Awesome Trip to the Museum!

Guess what? Year five went on the coolest field trip ever to a museum in Ouidah filled with super interesting art and sculptures! We got to wander through a "Garden of Spirits" and check out rooms called "Halls of Promises." It felt like there was something amazing to look at everywhere we turned!

On May 14th, our class visited the Zinsou Foundation in Ouidah, and honestly, everything there was fascinating. It was mind-blowing to hear the stories behind all the artwork. For example, there was this one promise about feeling tipsy, and it was represented by nature because the drinks in the bottles were made from palm trees – you know, the tall, natural ones! Another promise used charcoal, and that also meant nature because you have to burn a tree to get charcoal. Our tour guide, Leon, was really good at explaining every single thing in the whole museum!

Just when year five thought the trip was ending, guess what? We all got to write down a promise and put it in one of these metal boxes hanging on a wall. It was so cool! After that, we went to the Spirit Garden.

The Spirit Garden was full of all sorts of strange and cool sculptures. Like, there was this shark with four fins and, get this, arms and legs! The story behind it was about a king who was so strong he could flip over whole ships! That's wild!

Before it was time to go, we ate our lunch under this super shady bamboo roof, and we even saw more artwork there. When it was finally time to leave, no one wanted to go! That's how amazing we thought it was. We all piled back into the mini-bus to head back to school, and even though we were tired, we couldn't stop playing games. It was the best day!

 

Anna Catherina Semaan, Year 5

An Unforgettable Field Trip
 
Did you ever imagine that a simple leaf, a bit of clay, even alcohol, charcoal, or a painting could have so many incredible stories? I definitely didn't until our class went to the Foundation Zinsou Museum! The bus ride was a blast – everyone was chattering with excitement. We couldn't wait to get there, and it turned out to be way more amazing than we ever thought. When we finally arrived, our guide, Mr. Leone, took us to the first room, which was full of bottles of alcohol. We were all scratching our heads about why they were so important. Mr. Leone explained that alcohol can make us lose track of what's happening around us, and that this is just a natural thing. Then, he led us to a dark room with dry palm tree leaves. He told us that the palm tree is full of secrets! After that, we went to a room with mirrors. Mr. Leone said that when we look in a mirror, it can remind us of promises we've made and make us think about questions we have.

But the most astonishing thing was a sculpture of stairs with a horse at the very top! The artist, Mr. Jeremy, told us he made it by feeling Joel's pulse. He said that while he felt Joel's wrist, he imagined a staircase connected to Joel's heart, which the horse represented. The room with an invisible pianist playing a song called "PROMISE" was very scary and captivating.

Later, we went to Jardin Dessai, where we saw beautiful nature and had our lunch under a cool bamboo tree. When it was time to leave, it was so hard to say goodbye, but we had to go!

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Congratulations go out to Andrea El Hajj, Bell Rhina Houinato and Fatoumata Baba Jarjusey