Lending a hand and gaining insight

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Before setting out: in addition to clothes Bösch took grinding discs, shrinkable tubing, power meters, and various other things that are needed in the centre but can’t be found in Benin. David Bösch

Bösch spent most of his time in the vocational training centre. To the left are the office and the school building, to the right the workshop. The building was built in 2009. David Bösch

Digging a well for a training centre. Bösch’s job was to install the water pump and its controls. David Bösch

A solar panel is installed on the roof of a remote restaurant which is off the electricity grid. David Bösch

The Liweitari centre and the orphanage get a new power supply. Because the overground cable was repeatedly stolen and tapped, it was decided to lay the cable underground. This was achieved with the help of Italian volunteer workers. David Bösch

To the right the old cable, to the left the new one which goes underground. David Bösch

The old supply cable was not thrown away but wound up and re-used. David Bösch

The Roth family's home, where Bösch spent four months. It is built in an African style but equipped with more modern comforts. David Bösch

Because it was too hot in his room, Bösch slept on the roof. David Bösch

Thanks to this emergency bridge for pedestrians and motorbikes, made by the training centre, isolated villages could be reached even during the rainy season. David Bösch

Roth teaches a class of third-year mechanics. David Bösch

Bösch at a dance festival in neighbouring Togo – “exciting and fun, and I gained an insight into the local culture”. David Bösch

A morning snack in Natitingou. The locals drink “bui”, a warm corn drink. There was also bread and biscuits. Bösch stuck with water – “bui wasn’t my cup of tea”. David Bösch

Bösch learnt how to thatch a roof. “I was often asked whether I’d also thatch roofs back in Switzerland.” David Bösch

There were many lizard species all over Benin. David Bösch

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David Bösch, a 25-year-old electrician from St Gallen, worked in a vocational training centre in Benin last year from February to July. He carried out maintenance work and taught apprentices, documenting everything with his camera.

It was pure coincidence that he ended up in the West African country with a population of just under ten million. After recruit school he didn’t want to carry on with military service, so opted for civilian service. After a long search, he eventually found the Liweitari vocational training centre in the city of Natitingou, run by a Swiss aid organisation.

“The work wasn’t easy. It was hard getting hold of good-quality and suitable material – a lot of things weren’t available and you had to improvise. Plus punctuality wasn’t always high on people’s list – we’re not used to that…”

In the centre, which is led by Heinrich Roth, originally of Switzerland, mechanics and masons are trained following the dual Swiss system, which combines theory and practice.

Bösch was there along with 14 apprentices. “They lived in very modest accommodations – six to a room – and had virtually no privacy,” he said. Bösch himself lived with Roth and his wife some four kilometres from the workplace.

Bösch’s tasks included training the electricians and occasionally teaching theory. “That was hard,” he said. “Not all of them understood the decimal system, and they speak an African French which I didn’t always understand.”

He struggled at first with the temperature – not sleeping properly for three months – but it ended up being a worthwhile and enjoyable time for Bösch, who said he was accepted and appreciated and learnt “how to live with little yet still be happy”.

He is currently working as an electrical supervisor in Beira, Mozambique. (Photos: David Bösch; Text: Gaby Ochsenbein, swissinfo.ch)