Dicing With Death: Benin – Cotton at All Costs

In the far north of Benin, in the heart of an arid jungle, the Baribas people make their home. Historically warriors, they have now become farmers and gain their wealth principally from the cotton market.

For months, the cotton trucks move to the rhythm of the inhabitants of North Benin. Dramane and Zachari maintain the traffic from the North to the South of the country, on track or pavement, in spite of the danger. On board trucks that they have named “Titans,” or aboard battered vans, they sidle along uneven roads, at the risk of toppling over at any moment due to the several tons of cargo that weigh down their vehicles. Dramane has 24 hours to cross the country with his foot firmly on the gas, trying to reach the Cotonou harbor. Cotonou, rather than being a reference to cotton, signifies ‘The River of Death,” which is an apt term for the route that he is traveling…

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