LES FILLES DE KANDI // benin, 2019-2024
In the northeast of Benin, nestled in the heart of the city of Kandi, a boarding school welcomes about sixty young girls each year. Some attend the city’s middle and high schools, while others learn sewing, weaving, and hairdressing on-site.
Fulani, Bariba, Dendi, Boo, Mokolé… These young women, from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, come from villages more or less remote and return to their families only during the holidays.
No matter their origins, past, or religion, here they are gently taught that daring to dream can shape their reality. They learn to listen to themselves and discover who they truly are.
Beyond rigorous education and support for their studies, in this boarding school, they gain through a daily life marked by a unique sisterhood essential tools to write their own destinies.
Despite efforts to promote girls’ education in Benin, such as free schooling for all, only 19 % of girls complete the secondary cycle today, studies say. This rate drops significantly in the northern part of the country, where poverty has deepened in recent years.
Key factors include the closure of borders with Niger, which has caused severe economic repercussions, and the security situation, which has significantly deteriorated in recent years in the northern regions.
This context of poverty continues to hinder the emancipation of young girls: early pregnancies, forced marriages, and child labor are just a few of the persistent challenges they face.
Founded in 1966 by nuns, this boarding school provides a protective bubble against the harsh realities that await these young women outside its walls—though, at times, those realities manage to seep through.
This rare and precious microcosm serves as a bulwark against inequality—a humble fight against fate.
