Is this the beginning of the end?

I haven't been able to post for a few weeks, it's been a terrible time that might have calmed down now, but time will tell ...

The violence that has occurred in Cote d'Ivoire over the last month has been horrific; a few 'memorable' nights of shelling in Abidjan when many lives were lost.

As far as I know my friends are fine.  I had one contact me via social networking asking for assistance, a female member of the family had been shot & needed surgery.  The same friend lost two cousins, RIP to them & all the others ...

The orphanage I used to support, EMSF in Bassam were out of touch with their directors.  Luckily I got to hear of their plight, again through #civsocial on twitter, they received food from the Mayor of Bassam amongst others having not eaten for a few days.  For a NGO to leave children stranded in these circumstances is beyond belief.  Their President in France hasn't really given a straight explanation as to why this occured or why their staff haven't been paid for 18months and therefore didn't have the funds to assist.

For the moment, peace almost reigns in Cote d'Ivoire following the capture of Laurent Gbagbo & his wife Simone.  Today via journalist friends I heard of shooting of Abobo, Cocody and in Yopougon which seems to be the worst hit.  This should quieten down over the next few days, hopefully arms will be confiscated & the UN might do their job.

My worry now is the whereabouts of Ble Goude, the leader of the 'Jeune Patriots', a henchman for Gbagbo who has had UN sanction imposed against him since 2006 & unable to leave the country.  The rumour is that he has got to Ghana.  Good luck Ghana, I wouldn't like him in my country!


Focussing now on C.R.E.E.R, getting the centre built by the end of the year, the NGO is now on Twitter CREER_RCI for anyone who wants to join us online.  The need to get it up & built for the children that are now roaming the streets of Abidjan amongst other cities is URGENT!!!  I've been getting stories of more & more children who are in danger.  Many of their 'patrons' will have fled the violence leaving the trafficked kids behind, left to fend for themselves.

Anyone who can assist with funding would be very much appreciated; we've been fundraising but it's more urgent now than ever!!!

Genocide In The Forgotten Paradise

Many people wouldn't know where Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is on a map of Africa; it's a little paradise that has turned into a war zone.  A place full of hospitable people, sandy beaches, great food with mercenaries, kalashikovs & some dangerous politicians determined to wipe out half the population.

Last night was terrible.  The constant fighting in Abidjan I was hearing about on Twitter and friends telling me of their plans or their situation.  I don't care who is in power, the violence needs to be stopped by a responsible force before the whole region is inflicted by the Double Presidential Virus.

In the space of 2-3hours I was at my wits end trying to find a way to assist friends, friends of friends, orphanages & towns in the south east of the country ... I'm still fighting what looks to be a losing battle.  The aid is going west, to Liberia & the displaced refugees there.  They need it, I don't doubt that.

The world has forgotten Cote d'Ivoire.  It's just 'another conflict', the BBC & AlJazeera are trying to do their best with reports but CNN etc don't seem to care despite Anderson Cooper initially offering media support.  Libya is more important due to oil, Japan has had a terrible time of it & the states in the Middle East are all trying to mount their own revolutions - strangely it's also all oil related ... What does Cote d'Ivoire have to do to get centre stage in the media?  The fact that chocolate prices will rise which was the only selfish theme keeping the country in the news has been forgotten.

So genocide doesn't count?  It will be another Rwanda that when all these other world news items fade out, the world will pick up on & then feel sorry.  It'll be too late, just like Rwanda!  The UN are there, but behave like camera touting tourists, there to protect the population but in fact just counting the bodies that lie dead in the streets of Abidjan.

What can you do?  Anyone reading this with ideas, please put them forward in the 'comments' below ... I am ready to return with a NGO if I can find one who will let me assist in the situation but need help particularly in assisting the SE of the country.

Shelter - refugee camps for internally displaced in this area, a town mayor has told me of 420+ refugees in his town, more to count & more arriving daily.  They don't have room for these families, they need temporary shelter and will need medicines etc if these numbers continue to grow as the risk of disease will be high.  Childrens orphanages; children who need food & will probably need to move out to the countryside from the densely populated areas if this continues

Does anyone care?  Or will everyone wake up when the genocide has taken place???

Yako mes amis ...

Aid ... comes in all shapes & forms ... or does it?

Africa needs assistance ...

There's various ideologies; from the UN's various departments such as http://www.unv.org/en/how-to-volunteer/volunteer-onsite.html down to the small NGO's such as the one in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire www.emsf.org; another in Cameroon www.fundacionkapsiki.org
or this one in Ghana http://www.fundacjafreespirit.pl/eng/index0_eng.html . Added to all these and many others, there's a village I know in Guinea Bissau, a gorgeous spot right on the beach. They didn't have access to the outside world for 10months due to an Oxfam truck with 10tons of rice that fell into a river & broke the bridge & their lifeline as a consquence; that village needs assistance in many forms!

However, having spent the last two weeks ranting about a certain airlines' lack of assistance in getting my much needed humanitarian goods to Abidjan with me in a few weeks, I've decided to rant on-line especially having seen a piece from the guys on www.africansurfer.com.

There's too much money out there not being channelled correctly!!!

Why is it that Royal Air Babouche (amongst others) are refusing to take these much needed supplies? They've admitted to me that they USED TO allow humanitarian goods to travel with passengers. I've been told to cough up 15euros per kilo ... I pointed out I do not have the resources of a bank (& most banks lately seem to have been bailed out by their governments anyway - I'm sure Sarko won't do that for my excess luggage bill).

Why is it that there are thousands of 'organisations' out there that GAP year kiddies parents can PAY to send them to a foreign land to 'voluneteer'. Do they help out??? I somehow doubt it ...

Why then is money flowing to send un-needed adolescents to 'do good' in countries that could get the money in other forms; send your kids there to see what's happening but FOR GOD SAKES don't pay these unscrupulous 'organisations' to put them to work ... send your money elsewhere to a smaller NGO that needs the money you were thinking of paying Mr Fat Cat.

Just look at this 'google' list http://www.google.fr/search?q=volunteer+africa&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a all I did was tap in 'volunteer africa' and thousands of pay-to-volunteer organisations were listed!

It's full of 'volunteer' opportunities - 900 euros screamed out at me from one site to 'secure your place' - EXCLUDING flights ... There's even a 'lo-cost' volunteering option - Ryanair's Mr O'Leary will be in on the act soon ... lo-cost flights, no frills with lo-cost volunteering - I ask you!!! What is the world coming to?!!!

So if anyone wants to send me some cash to pay RAM to fly my 'excessive' supplies to www.emsf.org - I'd gladly accept it!!!