Benin is one of the poorest countries in the world, but it also has been hailed as the poster child for democracy. Between Nigeria and Togo, this western African country is about the size of Pennsylvania but has about the same number of people as Indiana -- 7.46 million. Benin has 60 ethnic groups and is the birthplace of voodoo.

The six Y-Press members who make up the Benin team are excited to tell a story about an African democracy whose future will depend upon people like them. Almost half of Benin's population is younger than 15, and none of the U.S. media heavyweights, including The New York Times and Newsweek, has written anything about it.

Though unfamiliar to Americans and home to a painful past, the West African nation of Benin quickly is becoming the center of hope in the region.

Womens quest for equality gains strength, too, but slowly.

COTONOU, Benin -- Amavi guesses she's 13. She doesn't know her last name or her native village. And she has survived canings, hard labor and a desperate yearning to see her mother.

The experienced fingers of 20 women crochet strands of plastic into one-of-a-kind gifts in a shop in Porto-Novo, Benin's capital.

As the first African country to transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, Benin has been hailed as a "beacon of democracy" by the British Broadcasting Corp. and has attracted admirers worldwide. The Beninese have former President Mathieu Kerekou to thank for that.

Only half of all Beninese kids attend school, according to the Beninese government. The government is working to change that by making elementary education free for all citizens, beginning this year. The change will involve an estimated 1 million children (based on population estimates) and will be a step toward increasing the country's literacy rate, which now hovers near 41 percent, among the world's worst, according to the Benin Education Fund.