Alihonou has proven that good health care is not necessarily expensive, but it does require the full and active participation of the community. Hard work and determination have made this native of Benin an exemplary figure in the field of development research. As his 60th birthday approaches, Professor Alihonou wears a ready smile that may give, at times, a misleading impression of unconcern. In fact, he worries about the situation of the rural poor. These people lack the bare minimum necessary for existence, and cheap talk is not their style.
Rural people suffer from cruel shortages of everything.
To make their situation more tolerable, however, they are exhorted to rise above their depression. With this aim, they are showered on every occasion with speeches that fail to teach them how to take concrete action. Words, nothing but empty words, designed always to raise their morale, never to provide them with concrete help. It's not fine words that the peasants need, but concrete actions to solve their problems or prepare the way for future action. The comfortable lifestyle, which most African elites enjoy, weaves a soft cocoon around their souls that they are loath to leave.