by Wally Langfellow With an 11pm flight tonight this gives us plenty of time to get more done today. The rainy season is here in West Africa and it arrived in full force this morning…bookending our first and final days here. It  was coming down in buckets as we ate breakfast this morning, which seemingly puts our 11am practice with the older boys in jeopardy.  Fernando rolls in from a coaches clinic where over 20 Beninese coaches are working with the Japanese all day. Fernando thinks we might have to cancel; but there are some patches of clearing so we … Continue reading Saturday Travel Log: Our final day in Benin

It’s Friday in Benin and we still have some ground to cover. First up, Fernando picks us up from the hotel for a mid afternoon practice with his 12u team.  We also got word that another contractor will be available to meet with us at the Don Bosco field at 3pm, and Fernando has scheduled a meeting with the Baseball Federation of Benin for 6pm, so it’s going to be a busy day. Our hotel, which I haven’t mentioned previously,  is a “boutique” hotel not far from the airport. It reportedly was used by (and for) former Libyan dictator Momar … Continue reading Friday (Day 5) in Benin for baseball

I can’t believe we’ve been here 4-plus days and I haven’t made a single comment about the driving habits in Benin. They’re still terrible, to be blunt. Even with all of the new traffic signals and improved roads, people here just go where they want, when they want, without much regard for rules of the road or other vehicles. If you have the bigger vehicle, you win. The motorbike crowd weaves in and out of traffic and even goes the wrong way against traffic ….this all happens of course with the motorcyclists carrying everything from mattresses to infants on their … Continue reading Thursday in Benin–Day 4

by Wally Langfellow Tuesday was a relatively quiet day for us as we got a chance to catch our collective breath after an end to end day on Monday. A breakfast meeting with Coach Brian, who is an American that has been working with Fernando for close to two years but who is leaving Benin next month. Brian has given us great insight on the day to day workings of our project who will be missed by Fernando and our older players who he has been working with extensively. After breakfast Fernando took us on a bit of a sightseeing … Continue reading Travel Log: Days 2 and 3 in Benin

by Wally Langfellow It’s been 5 years since our last trip to the small impoverished West African nation of Benin. after our 27 hour travel venture from Minneapolis through, London, Paris and finally Benin it was late Sunday night by the time we cleared from the small, but improved airport in Cotonou. You still get off the plane onto the tarmac, that hasn’t changed and probably won’t anytime soon. Once again , our lead guy in Benin, coach Fernando, had arranged for a heroes welcome for us outside of the airport with his older players…17, 18 and 19 year olds … Continue reading Day One Travel Log: Back to Africa promoting baseball.