COTONOU, DAHOMEY

The “Men of Goodwill” Assembly at Cotonou, the largest city of Dahomey, was scheduled for December 8-11, running concurrently with one at Lomé, in Togo, the country just to the west. It developed, however, that the convention in Togo lasted for only one day. Cholera had cropped up in parts of Africa. And though 85 percent of the conventioners had been inoculated and the rest were ready to submit to inoculation, authorities insisted on closing the convention immediately after its opening day. As a consequence, most of the travelers converged on Cotonou.

Dahomey’s population consists of about sixty groups of people, with some fifty languages or dialects being spoken. Just four languages, though, were needed to serve those attending the convention: French (the official language), Gun, Yoruba and Ewe. This required the erection of four platforms so that each language group could hear all the program in its own tongue. The 1,835 Witnesses in Dahomey were happy to see 3,793 persons come to hear the public talk, “Saving the Human Race​—in the Kingdom Way.”

At this assembly sixty-six persons were baptized in symbol of their dedication to the true God, Jehovah. Many of these had formerly practiced fetishism, but now having abandoned magical fetishes they are standing firm for Bible truth.

[Picture on page 155]

A Witness assists in the construction of facilities for the assembly in Dahomey