Beninians DENIED!

I can't believe it!

My little house was for one glorious week to play host to two 20 year old women from the Benin choir that was to preform at Kathaulamiux, the bi-annual international choir that graces Powell River -reducing the time we have to dedicate to rednecked xenophobia to only 358 days of the year.

I've never been, and thought this was the perfect way to make my attendance compulsory. Not only that, our house would have the rare honour to play "Best of Canada" for visiting dignitaries. The moment I saw the Billet request tacked up on the Overwaitea bulletin board, I knew the moment of my destiny had come. When I heard we were getting women from Benin, I immediately got out the Atlas, read up about the place on the wikipaedia website, started making a Welcome banner, and even brushing up on some introductory French.

I remember being in school assembles in Japan and hearing the cautious words of the mayor (wow, bring in the big guns!), principle, and parents bestowed upon Japanese children who were being sent abroad for 2 week homestays in Nelson, BC. They were to be on their bestest ever behaivour, lest they should sully the great name and reputation for self-depricating humility that Japan has worked so hard to cultivate these post-war years. The students were always so nervous they might make an ass of their country, and I always wondered why they should worry so much.

Yet, with the arrival of the Beninians approaching, I was starting to get those hostness nerves...what if our house isn't good enough for them? What if they hate the food we make? What if they think we suck Spaghetti-Os? I think too many people have the idea that nothing they have could possibly fall beneath the standards of third-worlders, but anyone who has ever been understands that the rich are rich where ever they are, and the rich are always richer than the poor (duh), and I was operating on the assumption that if the choir had the money to come here, that they were probably higher up on the Beninian social heirarchy than we are on the Canadian one. I had already prepared our spare room, lamenting the cracks in the window and the feebleness of our spare bed, which consists of a piece of 6 inch thick marine foam laid atop two flats of wood that used to be for unloading slates of Campbells soup.

Then the worry passed and I imagined us all singing and hoolahooping out on the lawn, and created lasting memories of friendship that would bring all peoples of the world just one step closer to bliss and harmony.

And then they were denied visas! I wrote the PM, all piss and vinegar, asking why, oh why, had the Canadian government not seen fit to allow a choir into the country FOR A WEEK! to perform and make merry with the oh soo needing folks of our provincial town. I have been assured that my email has been directed to the appropriate Immigration minister.
This is the kind of arrogant bullshit that prevades thinking about third world people in general: can't let them go to a 'Have-lots' country cause they will love all our edible panties and dollarstore flash-light keychains so much, they'll never want to leave! And then they'll BURDEN the system. Excuse me, but the vast majority of immigrants don't even have social insurance, so how pray tell are they able to burden the system? Not to mention that they do most of all the work that really actually needs to be done, e.g. food production, sanitation, repairing infrastructure, manufacturing, while the lily-livered suit being paid 60'000 a year to attend weekly meetings on whether to invest in watercolours or acrylics sweats profusely and dribbles wasabi mayonnaise down his shirt fearing the hit his stocks will take a mass influx of hungry lazy poor flood the country and magically suck up all the welfare they aren't eligible for.

That and Benin is actually doing pretty well for itself, even on the world scale. They actually rate 4 places above the US on the Reporters without Boarders freedom of the press and political information rating scale. Suck it, First World; or in this case, you can suck it, but you can't tell anyone about it.

Cest la vie. We are on the list of emergency billets in case someone pulls out on the Estonias, but I really had my heart set on Benin. Oh well, at least I still have my keychains and edible panties to fill the great void.