Benin: Cotton At All Costs | Deadliest Journeys
00:00 In northern Benin, each year from October to January, DRAMANE and ZACHARI, drivers of rattling trucks survive only to the rhythm of the cotton harvest.
03:06 Like them, hundreds of drivers are trying to profit from this white gold which represents nearly 40% of BENIN's exports to rich countries.
But in this very poor country, the cultivation of cotton dramatically impoverishes the soils of the countryside ... Because the immaculate flower requires astronomical quantities of water to grow ... water which in Benin is sorely lacking.
12:50 In the fields, everyone participates in the cotton harvest
16:50 But in some fields, the workers go on strike because of the lack of water
20:20 Due to the long journeys to the swamp, the women find it difficult to find time to prepare food
22:45 When they are late, drivers can hardly take breaks.
27:50 Accidents threaten passengers, goods, but also other travelers.
30:11 The poorest are forced to work in the quarries.
32:20 In Benin, the practice of the voodoo religion is very common.
35:33 Launched at full speed, the pilots are very dangerous for pedestrians and two-wheelers.
40:30 Arrived late at the factory, drivers still have to wait for their shipments to be accepted by the factory
42:35 Due to accidents, breakdowns and traffic jams, drivers often arrive late, reducing their wages
46:42 In this painful context, Zachari and Dramane fight to survive. Even if the meager wages force the drivers to live off small businesses, they are not the most to be pitied, unlike those they meet on the road: the farmers and their children who work only to survive, the women who break stones under the scorching sun or the dockers who are paid twenty cents to carry a 200 kilo bale of cotton.
Oh Africa 😥 we're blessed with numerous resources but we're still suffering
People suffer because of corruption
@@felisaque3208 plus many contries who cant let that happen
Who am I to tell you how to improve your life & your beautiful country. But there's one thing I'd like to warn you about--> do not make any deals whatsoever with China. They will just rip you off, they may offer you a cheap loan But they want critical areas like ports as a guarantee of the loan. Then, one day they demand that the loan must be repaid on a fast schedule, if you cannot pay, you will lose the port and other critical areas. This has happened in some countries in Africa and Asia. The bad news is that many politicians in the African countries have accepted the taking of a bribe from the Chinese, thus driving their country and the people into the Chinese debt trap. People of Benin, do NOT walk into that trap! If you manage to get rid of the corruption, at least partly, you have the potential to do a lot of things to improve your life and your country. All the best to all people of Benin 💜💕💜
Thanks too corruption
@@kevinpatriarch6719blaming others for your own failure...black peoples..😅😅😅
Driving in countries such as Benin highlighted the importance of having a functional horn in your vehicle. I truly enjoy these documentaries.
This truly makes me appreciate my life. ❤️
@Alpha Team He has a good job, so I assume he attracts more women.
me too
@Derrick Langford Don't take advantage of people like that. Not good for anyone.
Be happy with what you have and for what you are.
Me too
True admiration for such honest, hard working, ingenious people. I am humbled.
I always see only positive comments about these documentaries, and I agree! These are perfect lenght too. It's awesome we can watch these free. Hopefully documentary makers takes notes and makes more of these.
I really do enjoy watching these documentaries. It shows how hard life can be and in some situations, not even very much different from 2000 years ago. The perspective from a truck drivers' view is also very interesting and incredible to see what kind of trucks they're (still) using and all the hassle around it. Keep up the good work!
"The spirit says, the wife must keep her mouth shut".😂😂 It must be the spirit of Al Bundy that said that.😆😆
He paid a few extra bucks for that
In the United states truck drivers get mad for having to wait a few hours to get loaded. I cant imagine having to wait a whole week to get loaded.
Please. I load trucks and if it’s not ready with a little bow on top and a secret admirer note attached, we are going to see a full scale meltdown. Then that guy tells the others and you get bs from 10 other people about it 😂. Or they just leave the load and go home. Couldn’t possibly wait for an hour 😮😢😂
Awesome journey. Glad to watch your video
Great to see this documentary..
Driver….”we’re Africans, we’re always safe” 3 seconds later, the Camera zooms in on the metal band that’s flapping in the breeze instead of securing the giant fuel tank😳 The metal band damn near hit that pedestrian walking on the side of the road bruh!
I really do feel for zachary and the cotton workers.
I love the guitar strum at the end of this one.
It's like going back in time wow
After seeing these old ragged trucks, I'll NEVER again complain about having to drive our companies spare truck when mine breaks down!
A shame that such hard working people can't get better equipment or infrastructure.
Hard working? Most of the day they are seating in the shadow. I made many km by foot in n. Benin. Hand water pump is in every village, it was a big project for the country.
Then you go do it
@@DarkoErmencshut the eff up! Maybe you're speaking about byour family members! Many Africans are busy building their lives
Politics!! Neo colonialism
These are intensely lazy and stupid people.
*That* ...........was unbelievable .....some people sure draw the short straw . Having easy acces to enough fresh water makes all the difference.💧💧
THANK YOU, I AM VERY INTRESTING YOUR DECUMENTRY GO HEAD AND MORE
Im pretty sure they appreciate their lives too..You only know what you know.
We are waiting new episodes 😊 ❤️
Hasta hoy me entero de este país Bendiciones
Thanks!
Best documentaries.i love
Suasana yang luar biasa🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩
You think you have a hard life, but then watch this.....Now this is a hard life.
I like this Documentary & this channel is very good and the best informer ❤❤Best presentetion 👌👌
Zachary has really suffered with his old truck😂. It's like a punishment
Only good thing going well for him is his good wife!
@@hellenchoga9922 and the feast he will have when his dog is ready to be cooked
@TheTrapperjaw . She is . She made him smile after his horrible trip.
He ought to visit the king🥲
Wow, these guys are keeping that truck in good order. Wish you all the luck in the world...
este canal se merece todos los likes posibles es demasiado bueno y corre mucho riesgo
it's the best show of all time. Es lo mejor
Keep it coming
Go to free documentary if you woant more of this . This guys just repoust what they make .
I waste so much Water,you don’t realize it till utilities turn it off cause of none payment,we use water for EVERYTHING thanks for sharing..very interesting story..all the way to Florida ❤😊
I feel so bad for that driver. I prey God really blesses him and his family and all the others in similar work situations. Stay strong my friends 💪👍🙏
That's why Africa is called Africa 🌍
@@iam_konoo2989 i don't understand what you are saying?
@@Time364 l mean corruption is killing African
That driver with three wives is ridiculous
Thats the way.
I agree, he should have at least 7, one for each day of the week!
@@BillyXcreations 😂😂😂
Why
❤
I am liberian west African that love benin and it's people ❤️❤️❤️. Ehhhh west Africa 😭😭😭😭
I am missing this documentaries
Wao buotifull ❤
I am from Africa and this kind of documentary gives me anxiety. Alhamdullillah Allah helped me and my family.
so good
That's my land.. 🇧🇯🇧🇯🇧🇯
Hard times make hard people! Cheers brother.
God bless your people but what is the government doing?
Love ur land
@@ipaparaymond3622 the goverment is pick pocketing all of Africans
Yoruba in Benin republic
These people of different cultures are so tuff we in the Western world not last a week off we had to trade places.propps to these hard working suffering people may god bring them some relief and good will some day soon🙏
Cotton in still Kang Much respect to all those people working hard
Cotton was never king. If it were, Pakistan would be rich.
Nice 👍
31:52 That really touched me...so sad.
Cute and sad
Ohh geez This breaks my heart. ❤️ for Africa
Awesome.. Love from India ❤️❤️
Awesome? I find it heart wrenching.
@@aceji by awesome i meant awesome documentary and narrative not the hardships.
@@wanderingsoul696 Ok I agree with you pal. It is awful that people suffer like this in 2021. Thanks, take care.
another definition of awesome is daunting@@aceji
Wonderful adventure in Benin.
Toni comiti is a legend 🙏🙏🙏
38:47 wow! My favorite soccer world cup! So nostalgic
33:27 "Bewitched by a spirit that has made him be unfaithful" Yeah...right
Exactly. There was SO much sexism in this, and nobody - literally - in the comments is talking about it. Maybe their country would be less of a mess if it wasn't rooted in the sexism.
Ten stary Berliet jeszcze się porusza a ja ostatni raz ten model widziałem 25 lat temu na zlocie pojazdów zabytkowych. U mnie w kraju takie jeździły na początku lat 70 tych.
The documentary reminds not sleep as far life endures and to add on , it makes me appreciate my life and Almighty God
But are the buffalo and lions native to west africa 🌍 🤔
The water looks dirty but they don’t have choices, that’s the only water available and hope they don’t get sick.
Well I am only like 10 minutes in, but how intersting so far! And what a handsome truck driver, plus he seems like a nice guy. But most facsinating in the French! I have never heard the type spoken in Benin. What an interesting accent, so round and bouncy. Less nasal that the type I am used to. It's very pretty.
تحيه طيبه /للجميع 👋👋👍🌹والله حياتهم فعلا صعبه ومكافحين 👋
The owner is not unfortunate; the truck is his livelihood.
Zakari's 60yr old truck... What make is it? It's probably 2 million miles on the clock, even though its hardly faster than a pusher. Still works better than a Nikola Truck...
nobody's using miles in africa and the rest of the world for that matter so keep your miles in america.
Berliet.
@@kukfitta2680 Poor guy.
@@kukfitta2680 It really shows how educated you're not only America uses miles, because in Africa Liberia uses miles and in Europe the United Kingdom also uses Miles and Myanmar in Asia uses Miles.
@@AviationNut Yeah and many % of the world are these nations? like 5%. we used feet inches and other bodyparts as mesurements back in the stone age. But the rest of the world exept for these countries grew brains and changed to better mesurements like kilometer meter centimeters and so on. so keep your nasty ass feet and miles in america.
And another nice project! And now I’m mad again-I have to wait another month or so for a new video. 😢
I will never complain about this life
standing next to dangerous side of truck and says: "the truck's at risk of overturning...yes where we are standing is dangerous"
Someone should show them how to build a charcoal filter. all you really need are some kind of container, characoal, sand, gravel, etc. All stuff I'm sure can be found or bought locally. I've seen it done in the wilderness by building a clay basin, I've seen trash cans used. Lots of different ways to do it.
Well go teach them
The biggest mistake white people make is thinking Africans are capable of civilization. Even the rough concepts of civilization - the clothing, the cars and roads and even the cotton - were given to them by superior races and they’ve barely maintained them.
Big up to the ninja who balances three wives 👏🏾👏🏾💯💯
You can use ash to clean glass cups makes it sparkling clean.
Eye opening documentary. Governments and UN should do something to improve these treacherous human conditions. Better used trucks and gloves and masks for working children could be provided. In some countries they need help with improving roads. Diggers and ploughs would help them. Lift them up a notch or two is called for, surely. Give them water hand pumps as that will help so much.
Digging wells might work for some areas, but for much of Africa once a well has been dug it will only work for a year or so then breaks down because the equipment is not properly maintained or it is stolen.
Africa has enough resources it's our governments to do that. UN has been robbing us and we ain't blind to it
Old mates got a Renault truck with berliet diffs and a tri axle trailer he’s got some good gear to work with at least
Compared to Zachary truck for sure
Did you see one of wives bowing to her husband before giving him a cup of tea 😮
Nice video 👍🇮🇳👍 India
Much respect for Zakari.
I'm not so sure about that. At first, I thought he seemed nice. But, I do respect Polygamists. And, also, there is clearly sexism going on with him - the wife there at the end doesn't have her own money, and has to ask him for money if she wants to buy a dress, and if he says ''no'', that's it. It's like going back in time, to 1950. Also, did you see that little bow/curtsey thing she did when she served him the tea? That was creepy. And there was another woman serving another man a bowl of water, and she did a little bow/curtsey thing, too. Creeepy. Like, what is that about? Bowing down before the master? If men did a bow/curtsey to women, and it was a cultural thing, that would be fine. But it's just women doing it to men, and it's creepy and sexist. And there's actually a lot of sexism in this. Even the voodoo thing was obviously a sexist thing - that guy telling the wife of the cheating husband to ''shut her mouth'' was horrifying. And notice how utterly miserable the wife looked. Naturally. Maybe the country would be in less of a mess if it wasn't so utterly sexist. I feel sorrier for the women than I do for the truck-driving men.
Just goes to show how uneven wealth distribution across the world is
First viewer from Kenya 🇰🇪🇰🇪🇰🇪💪💪
But this is Benin ,not Kenia .
Country of jookoros.
How is your corrupt deputy president Ruto.
Thank you, I learned a lot about this country. We have a lot of water in Europe and we don’t value it, what a pity.
A big fan from Kudat Sabah Malaysia...
Nice Video i love this and i can learn Englisch 👍❤
good luck at it!
Eu amo a África, apesar de não conhecê-la, e sinto por esse maravilhoso povo africano, tão judiado, tão abandonado por seus governantes, tão sofrido. O Mundo inteiro, as grandes Potências Mundiais, ao invés de se guerrearem e gastar fortunas imensas em armamento bélico e os políticos abandonarem as propinas e a roubalheira para se confiaram e ajudar a esse maravilhoso Continente. Do Brasil, com beijos para todos os Africanos❤❤❤🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
Most African nations have great resources but luck of brains and poor leadership make us work soo hard and get nothing in return
@grimm reaper after 100 years still blame the white people. africans you should stop betraying each other at first and be union. it is the easiest way to blame white people for everything. but don t forget after Japan hits by 2 atom bombs , they had nothing left. and they have never had the sources you have. all about right leaders and wise, educated nations. far from Africa
The game behind the game is the problem. Politics is like a chessboard game. I beleave the leaders are stuck bn their people and Western power and so called investors . What they do now is save themselves at their own peoples cost.
Western corporations suck the wealth and resources from the continent and western countries install puppet governments to continue the destabilization of countries so they can continue to destroy the entire continent from the inside out. Its an extremely complex situation.....
Point of correction dear sir/Madam ; We don't lack brains but at times we are failed by those wolves who don't want Sub Sahara Africa to develop. That's why they are at the port to cheaply buy the cotton and don't wanna know the hardship faced to put that cotton to the port.
@@ssembatyaemmanuel270verdade não era atoa que tinha um Francês examinando e reclamando da carga no porto! Finalmente os Países onde a França tem influência estão os expulsando, pois não passam de sanguessugas destruidoras!!
Note to self: If wife asks me to do the dishes, consult voodoo chief first
Cotton is really the fabric of our lives
Zakari is the fighter,If he would get good lory i think he would made wonders
영상이스릴있고 위험천만 ㅎㅎ영상 ㅎ
I love the guy with the truck: " If there are people in the middle of the road? Bad luck I don't have what to do, that's life" LMFAO😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
31:59 ... that look from her... and how the mother has to carry on and interrupts this joyful moment; She has to earn money; When I think about it, it just breaks my heart. for real what kind of place is this world? 32:00 lookin to her eyes 😭😭 a little being so innocent and simple; and yet cursed by life I don't understand myself right now, but it's making me so sad right now😞
These people have such a hard life, I wish I could send some of these people money to help them
O verdadeiro atraso nas nações Africanas é a influência Europeia, especialmente da França! Finalmente agora nações como Burquina Faso, Níger e Gabão estão quebrando definitivamente as amarras Francesas a principal causa de suas misérias!!
No hablo portugues pero si entendi tu comentario.
God bless African brothers and sisters.
I feel sorry for Zachary,go fund for him will be nice
Thank you this was fun
Really?
So how do u guys survive during filming Do u eat with them ??? Help
42:16 this is the biggest issue in African agricultural. Here is where farmers are robbed off their produces for pennies! It's painful
I do like advanture documentry films patticularly those documtations concerned to African nations as well as rest of the world
Who's leading this country?! They need to find solutions for these people so they can improve their lives and have at least clean drinking water! Entire families are working the fields and breaking stones all day and they can't even have water to drink or some decent food! Where are the leaders? Where are the corporations profiting from this misery? Where are the world's multi-billionaires? Can someone help these people have at least the basic necessities while working themselves to death so others can get rich?!
Patrice Talon....read him up
For them its their way of life. They done it like this the last hundred years. Its the mindset of the people that truly lift a country out of raw goods production and over to industralist. They never thought they had it bad before the journalist told them to complain about children working with them etc (13,30).
May Peace Will Be Forever With Them
พวกคุณคือ“นักรบชีวิต”
Who noticed that look from the second wife at 24:46?
Admin tolong dong di terjemahkan pake bahasa indonesia ,biar orang Indonesia bisa puas menonton .makasih 🙏
Making me sad☹️
Things we African men go through.....only God can help us....
Salute to the African women nd it's cotton,rice and sugar cane which distroy the water reservoirs in the whole world
Can America's democracy and freedom help them ease their difficulties? Or just like to cause conflict, division and sell weapons? America is very rich, if they really wanted to help other countries, there would no longer be difficult places like this
Put yourself in those shoes, or actually bare feet, and treck like these folks do: 💪 What folks will go through to provide
No one should have more than one wife unless they are CERTAIN that they can provide for them and their children EQUALLY. It doesn't make sense to have a shabby looking wife and kids, then a "sort of OK looking wife and kids and then the stunning, rich wife and kids. That should not be acceptable.
Where are you from?
In Africa life runs different if can't handle it go to the Americas that's the new world Africa is the old world
And beside all the challenges life still move .....Africa ❤❤❤❤