© 2026 Xwévi. All rights reserved.
About
It is lived, shared, and it transforms the way we see the world.
Manifesto
In my family, we are 625 people: 25 live at the crossroads of cultures in the greater Paris area, and 600 in Kakékanmé, a rural village in southern Benin.
I am a “Xwévi”, a child of the land. My name is Jérémie Houegbelossin, and I am French-Beninese.
Between Paris and Kakékanmé, I chose to weave the threads of the same heart back together.
Tourism in Benin accounts for 7% of GDP, yet 80% of the revenue is captured by major cities: centralized, unequal and disconnected.
Faced with this concentration of profit and this abandonment of roots, Xwévi says no. We propose a redistributive model: each stay is designed with and for local residents.
Here, income stays in the village. Here, pride and curiosity circulate in both directions.
You, villagers, who want to share your world with pride, without folklore or staging, and discover the diversity of the cultures travellers bring to your doorstep; and you, travellers, who want to enter unfamiliar ground and root your values in contact with generous souls.
All of you, I invite you to leave tourism behind and step into real encounter: simple, sincere and transformative. The kind in which you give as much as you receive.
A friend once told me: “Here, we have nothing, yet we have everything.” That is exactly it: at Xwévi, true wealth is not what we discover, but what we share; we laugh, cook, learn, listen… we live together.
So that human attraction never becomes an amusement park.
And to the very first question asked, if I could enlarge my family, I would choose you.
Jérémie Houegbelossin
Founder of Xwévi
Our story
The name Xwévi comes from fɔ̀ngbè, a language spoken notably in southern Benin, and is pronounced “Houévi”. It refers to the local person, the child of the land, the one who belongs here.
This word captures the philosophy of our stays: not to remain at the door of villages as a simple visitor, but to step into a place, meet the people who live there and, for the duration of a stay, share their everyday life. At Xwévi, travel is not observation from a distance: it is a relationship.
The name was born from a family anecdote. One day, while I was in the village, a visitor saw me and asked: “Who is this yovo?” — yovo being the fɔ̀ngbè word for a “foreigner”. My cousin Cédric answered with a smile: “No, no… he’s a Xwévi. He’s from the village.”
That simple moment says a lot about what we want to create with Xwévi: experiences where you are no longer just passing through, but welcomed with the trust and closeness reserved for those considered part of the village.
The story of Xwévi takes root long before the creation of the project. For several years, the village of Kakékanmé experienced a development momentum led by the Solognon association, founded by my parents. This initiative made it possible to launch local actions and support useful activities in the village.
But after the death of our parents, the association gradually stopped its activities. Without that impulse, the village entered a more difficult period. As in many rural areas, rural exodus intensified and certain development dynamics came to a halt.
Faced with that reality, one question emerged: how can we imagine a model capable of supporting the village in the long term, without relying solely on an association or outside aid? It is from that collective reflection that the idea of Xwévi was born.
With village members and relatives involved in local life, we began to reflect on a different approach: creating an activity capable of valuing the human, cultural and natural wealth of the territory while generating additional income for the people who live there.
Tourism gradually emerged as a credible path, provided it was designed differently: on a human scale, respectful of communities and truly beneficial for the territory.
Xwévi was born from that determination: imagining a sustainable, empowering model deeply rooted in the village, where residents remain the main actors of the experiences offered.
More than a tourism project, Xwévi is a way of extending a story, reviving a local momentum and opening new perspectives for Kakékanmé and, over time, for other villages.
At the origin of the project
An initiative born from the bond with Kakékanmé, created to support the village’s development: access to water, construction of the school and the first local actions.
That project laid the groundwork.
Xwévi continues that story by extending the relationship in another way, through the stay and the encounter.
Our vision
We believe another kind of tourism is possible. A human-scale tourism that creates real encounters and helps the territories that welcome us thrive.
Through Xwévi, we want to help Benin shine as a welcoming country, proud of its cultures and villages.
Our ambition is to gradually develop a network of host villages, making it possible to discover the country from within, close to the people who live there.
In this way, every stay becomes much more than a journey: an encounter, an exchange and a lasting contribution to the vitality of local territories.
Our approach
A way of meeting, sharing and understanding, guided by a few essential principles.
Our values
Everything begins with an encounter: a traveller stepping into a village with respect and curiosity, and residents welcoming them with generosity. Around a meal, a transmitted gesture or an improvised conversation, these simple moments often become the most precious part of the journey.
Our values
The women and men of the village are proud of their culture, traditions and know-how. By sharing them, they pass on part of their story. Travellers discover a living heritage and leave with a renewed perspective on what makes a territory rich.
Our values
Curiosity opens doors. The traveller seeks to understand and discover differently, while residents are also curious about those who come from elsewhere. From this shared curiosity come sincere exchanges that make every stay unique.
Travelling means discovering landscapes. But above all, it means meeting people, understanding cultures and creating ties. Xwévi offers another way to travel: more human, more conscious and more rooted.
With Xwévi, travellers are welcomed by residents themselves and take part in activities that belong to everyday life: cooking, crafts, agriculture or shared moments.
Accommodation, meals and activities are provided directly by families and local artisans. This generates income for the community and values traditional know-how. 10% of the stay price is also paid into a local collective fund, intended to support projects decided with the village.
Xwévi also works with local partners on awareness actions, particularly around plastic waste management, in order to preserve the environment and the territory’s resources.
In this way, each stay becomes both a human experience and a real contribution to the territory.
