Page 153 - April Issue

mama me-time

The Lioness and the Polar
Bear - Two Strong Women

and Their Families.

Across borders, beyond oceans and mountains and thousands of
kilometers apart, two women of the world are the center of their family.
Two different countries, two different – very different – cultures, and yet
the same strength make them the queens of their world. One of them is
Beatrice, an African woman, mother, grandmother, widow and in charge
of a large extended family in the busy city of Cotonou in Benin.The other
one is Didda, a strong mother, living in a farm with her husband, watching

her children grow in the magical countryside of Iceland.

Ivisited Benin in February welcome her guest. I knew she wasor“tumBaualerneaautsinttvahrt,hemioorcewserareiifztmhaiyisInomaggabigcliuynargtseneetw,wrnnaoelaoinrsttunoohgpdseivwtgyisernhi.net”ahe t mother, baby & child April 2011
2009, wanting to experience was from an influential family,
something real that would but I did not expect that. Once the grandmother’s eldest and
take me away from the material we had warmly greeted each youngest sons, as well as the
concerns of my western life. other, she started guiding me driver – it sounds very common
Coming from Europe and a through towards the exit. Again, in the UAE to have a driver,
first-time visitor in Sub-Saharan as if she was walking out of a but in Benin, it is not given to
Africa, I knew I was going to be supermarket with a trolley full of many families. From that point,
in for a bit of a cultural chock. food, she brushed away the shy I was almost not allowed to
At least I was prepared to be attempt of the security guard to carry my bags, and before long,
challenged, and I had received check my bags. She would not I found myself sitting in an old
good advice from people who have a guest, a member of her
knew the area. I arrived at the family, treated like this! Other
airport, and as I was waiting for members of the family were
my bags on the conveyor belt, waiting for us in the arrival area,
I saw that the grandmother,
who had personally invited
me, was waiting and looking
for me, in an area where you
would normally find passengers
only. This is when I started I
started to realise what a woman
I was dealing with: in Cotonou,
a city counting around one
million inhabitants, she has
such a standing and presence
that she walked in the airport,
went straight for the luggage/
passenger only zone, did not
even glance at the security
guard and entered the area to

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