Welcome to the Friends of Bonou

A small Oxford-based charity

We are a small Oxford-based charity composed entirely of volunteers and friends who work in direct partnership with the local community in Bonou, a small village in the south of the Republic of Benin in West Africa. The charity was set up in July 2003 by Laurence Lalanne, formerly an Africa correspondent with the BBC following a visit to the village; the plight of a seriously injured girl who had been to neighbouring Nigeria to find work and had been attacked there prompted Laurence and her friend Dominique Hounkonnou to start identifying with the village Elders a possible solution to the problem of girls leaving the village. Education and income generating skills was the answer and the Sonagnon Training Centre is the result. We rely entirely on private and charitable donations and on fund-raising activities to finance our projects.

If you would like more information or help raise money for The Friends of Bonou then please contact us on information@friendsofbonou.org.