A Meditation on Survival

by Katharine Dow

But I know, deep in my hurting soul that in this shattered world, ordinary people can come together to do extraordinary things.

It isn’t easy to live through what can feel like a total system collapse. Yes—there are days I believe we might be okay. Yes—there are days I think democracy will prevail. Yes—there are days when I believe if we fight hard enough, we can save each other.

But there are other days when I can’t face the horror of the present. There are days when I believe we’ve already lost. And on those days, I look to the past.

(photo obtained from We Are Africa Facebook group)

I look to the refugee founders of Venice, who fled successive waves of Germanic and Hun invasions, and together created one of the most unique and powerful cities that has ever existed. I look to the unbreakable determination of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, and to the people of the Salt March in India who walked 240 miles in what is for me personally one of the most inspirational acts of civil disobedience in human history.

But possibly my favorite people and place to look to, a place I dream of visiting someday, is the village of Ganvie in Benin.

It was the 17th century, and the Portuguese slave trade in Africa was thriving. The powerful Kingdom of Dahomey, highlighted in the film The Woman King, were trading partners with the Portuguese. That lucrative trade included slaves. At some point, the Fon people, from the Kingdom of Dahomey, attempted to capture the Tofinu.

But possibly my favorite people and place to look to, a place I dream of visiting someday, is the village of Ganvie in Benin.

Led by their king, the Tofinu ran from the Fon. The story is that for a day and a night, they fled over land, until they reached the shores of Lake Nokoué. There is more than one legend about what happened next, but in my favorite one, the king of the Tofinu transformed himself into a heron and dove into the waters of the lake to search for a hiding place. He returned to the shore. Finding his people desperate, afraid, and unable to enter the lake with all of their things, he turned himself into a giant crocodile and carried all of his people with him on his back to the middle of the lake. The Fon reached the shore behind them, but because of strong religious taboos they could not attack anyone as long as they remained in the lake.

So that’s what the Tofinu did, and in an epic act of trolling, they named their new watery home Ganvie, which means “we survived” in the language of their pursuers, the Fon.

Today, hundreds of years later, Ganvie is a town with approximately 30,000 residents who live in colorful homes made of bamboo and palm fronds built on stilts made of red ebony wood. As the lake is only 1-2 meters deep, residents can create small artificial islands to serve as courtyards linking two or more houses. The school is one of the few places where the artificial island underneath it is just big enough for children to be able to play soccer.

Instead of roads, residents use water channels to get around.

Aerial View of the Floating Village of Ganvie_2018. Image © Victor Espadas González (photo obtained from We Are Africa Facebook group)

A family might own multiple small canoes—one to use for fishing, one to use for buying and selling things at the market, and one to use to go to school. Children learn how to paddle their own canoes at only two or three years old, and if you explore the channels of Ganvie, you will find children of all ages singing and playing as they paddle confidently around Ganvie’s watery passageways.

...they named their new watery home Ganvie, which means “we survived”

I wish I lived in a country that wouldn’t rest until everyone felt like they belonged. I wish I lived in a country that refused to allow children to go to school hungry, or families to be crushed by medical debt. But I’m not that lucky, and it’s beginning to look like I never will be. But I know, deep in my hurting soul that in this shattered world, ordinary people can come together to do extraordinary things.

Ganvie exists. It’s real, and beautiful, and at this very moment the descendants of its brave founders are just going about their days, living their lives in one of the great wonders of this world. (Ask UNESCO if you doubt me!) The people of Ganvie survived. They will continue to survive. And somehow, someday, we will too.

If you'd like to learn more about Ganvie: https://fieldstudyoftheworld.com/ganvie-africas-largest-lake-village/