Friday (Day 5) in Benin for baseball

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 Khadafi who used it as an enclave and/or vacation getaway.   With all of the walls that encompass this complex it doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is the peacock that is perched outside of my window each morning. He also occasionally wanders into the outdoor dining area where we eat breakfast each day. Beautiful bird that’s Benin’s answer to the rooster I guess.

Onto the practice at Don Bosco. What amazes me still is the distance that these kids travel to get to baseball. You can’t say they aren’t dedicated. For the older kids (who are all aged 16-22), it’s not as big of a deal. Most of them walk……a couple of them drive their motorbikes. But for the 12 and under crew Im not sure how they get there. Of the older group Fidele, Joel and Tomas walk to practice and they tell me that it takes them about an hour and a half. Some of the younger boys come at least that distance through the busy streets of Cotonou.

The 12u boys are waiting for us when we arrive, along with a half dozen of the older boys who came to help run practice. When we get there Fernando realizes that he doesn’t have the key to the equipment room and he forgot to get his little brother Good Luck. So while Fernando goes and gets the keys and Good Luck, Gary begins the meeting with the contractor and our friend from the U.S. Kipre, who interprets the meeting while I start to run practice. Or so we thought.

It’s another day of high humidity and a scorching hot sun. As we get started with stretching and warm-ups a soccer group shows up insisting the field is theirs. Fidele serves as my interpreter and is told by the coaches of the soccer group that the principal of the school wants to talk to me. Now it’s been about 45 years since I’ve been called down to the principal’s office so I’m a little skiddish. Fidele accompanies me in case there’s a need for interpretation, and of course the principal tells us he does not speak English (so much for English being the language of the world). Apparently Fernando had been given faulty information and we would not be able to get onto the field until 5pm, but the principal assures me that it’s ours after that. I thank the principal and we head back down to the field. At least I didn’t get paddled or detention. My record remains spotless in that regard.

Fernando returns with the keys and his brother, and Gary has wrapped up the meeting with contractor #2 while we sit and wait to get access to the field. Practice goes well with Gary and I running things and Fidele and the older boys helping out and interpreting. We get our first look at the 12u kids hitting with Gary and I taking turns throwing BP. Not bad considering we hadn’t thrown BP in about 5 years. There are a few kids who swing the bat well…and a few who don’t.

Practice wraps up at about 6:15pm and Fernando ushers us to a cabana area in the schoolyard where we will meet with the Federation board to answer their questions about the future of Baseball in Benin. There are 3 board members in addition to Fernando at the meeting, plus a group of board members conferenced in by cell phone. MAM, otherwise known as Mrs Abdul’s Mom, joins us later in person. MAM was a key figure when we were in Benin in 2018. The board members questions start and we do our best to answer. Things get heated later when some of the questions from one of the board members questions our motives. Some people’s kids.

Anyway, we get through it and after swatting mosquitoes for the last 15 minutes of the meeting I am ready to go. Getting bit here carries a strong possibility of malaria and the last thing we want to do is test the viability of our malaria pills. Mercifully the meeting ends. Not sure what we accomplished other than raising our blood pressure, but we have a dinner meeting with Brian at a Chinese restaurant on the schedule next and I am anxious to leave this tribunal.

After a good unwinding with Brian and some pretty good Chinese food we call it a day. Im ready to get back to my room to watch the team formerly known as the Cleveland Indians on my MLB app take on the Mets.