Re - building, heal, stablise, unification ... ???

I heard a comment earlier on Al Jazeera talking about the Tamil war in Sri Lanka which went along the lines of 'without reunification there's no healing process, without a healing process, there's no economy for the country'

The same could be said of Cote d'Ivoire, the divide between north & south; pro-Gbagbo & pro-Ouattara. So much healing has to be done; again!

A poster for the elections that I wanted to photograph whilst there but with the political situation it would have been 'difficult' said: "I'm 8 years old, I want to grow up with peace" It's true so many children were born during the last crisis & don't really know the country at peace.

So what can be done?

A lot, I feel!

In February I was contacted by the journalist James North to assist him in the country. He did an amazing job showing the cocoa situation in Cote d'Ivoire. The multinationals of Callebaut, ADM & Cargill are happily buying up supplies but giving very little back to the farmer on the ground


http://www.thenation.com/article/159707/roots-cote-divoire-crisis

Remembering a taxi journey to Aboisso in January, two cocoa farmers were beside me in my taxi lamenting over the cost of a chocolate bar in Cote d'Ivoire & how much cocoa they need to sell to be able to buy one! Many can't afford to purchase the end product of their raw material.

Along with my own worries of how to get enough funds for C.R.E.E.R's construction, hearing that now more than ever, there are children in desperate need. These large cocoa organisations along with the Mayfair, London hedge fund company Aramjaro are more than able to fund projects in areas of Cote d'Ivoire that are in need.

Easter starts tomorrow, I for one won't be eating any chocolate unless I know where it's come from ... I would love to be able to eat Ivoirian chocolate one day knowing the source of it & the labour used; whilst knowing that C.R.E.E.R is sheltering the cocoa-farm destined trafficked kids and giving them vocational skills for an independant adult life.

2011 - Year of Peace?

All as normal here, although there have been some changes which are a little worrying.

New Years Eve was a normal day till I got a call late in the afternoon, my second death threat but I wasn’t too worried.  The caller was convinced that I was in my Czech friend Tomas’ house in Abidjan like last year.  I’m still trying to work out who has given my number to someone and doesnt know I’m not in Abidjan.  My close friends in CI know exactly where I am, but quite a few people I know I’ve told I’m in Aboisso, the nearest large town.  I’m fine for the moment, but keeping my ear to the ground, there are informants all over including here, kidnappings & deaths that aren’t yet reported.  Friends here have been great but warned me to continue to keep a low profile.  It makes it difficult, I’m’grounded’ and incredibly bored still waiting for the Mayor to give me the green light for the project.

New Year’s started at the Mayor’s house, a big reception, meal & a bit of dancing then his daughter who has become a good friend gave a ‘post-election’ speech.  His chauffeur drove me down to my host’s nightclub the other side of town.  We all had a good night, I now have a reputation for falling asleep there … I fell asleep at 4am, at 5am I was woken to be taken home. 

To my horror, a friend had gone home in his Toyota estate that I drive around, there was no transport except the back of someone else’s motorbike with my host driving it.  I’m paranoid about accidents now, my insurance is completely invalid due to the state of the country … everyone has left, even the Nigerian’s have gone, the Burkinabe’s are evacuating their Embassy this weekend.  I sat on the back of the bike for the 5km, yelling occasionally to go slowly before I arrived home.  It’s now a big joke that I won’t go near a motorbike!!!

I waited patiently for a meeting with the Mayor, then he left early on Monday for Abidjan as the Education Minister suddenly decided that school started on Monday rather than on Thursday.  I was devastated  it meant staying on, I had so many other things that needed doing.  I got a call from friends on the coast demanding to know when I was going to see them. 

Tuesday morning I got a 7 seater (takes 8 passagers) taxi to Aboisso where Attito (my cerebral palsy ‘brother’) managed to find me having gone to see his parents but had no idea I was heading away. I then got 3 other taxis down to beach.  Friends who have 2 hôtels there gave me a room for free, no clients around, even New Years they finished before midnight.  Everyone is fed up with the lack of economic activity, it’s so sad to see friends really suffering due to the chaos that’s going on with the Presidency.

I promised my hosts that I’d return for Thursday night when the Mayor was expected back.  Leaving the coast was a problem, absolutely no transport around.  I was also waiting for Paul, a Ghanaian fisherman who had promised some fresh ‘bar’ that I could take back with me.  Paul finally turned up at 1pm, I’d seen 2 vehicles since 8am and knew that I probably wouldn’t see anymore.  I walked with my pack and a plastic bag of 5kg of fish that I hoped wouldn’t go off during the trip; it was 3km back up to the canal area to find a taxi, in the heat & dust it was tortuous! 

The taxi from Samo to Aboisso I had to make it very clear that I’m not French, that led to a lady asking me to stop before Aboisso to eat at her house, I had to decline, but normally I would have followed her … she was really keen that I stopped at her village & I don’t believe there was any malice about it.  I made it back to Aboisso & went straight to maquis whose owner has become a good friend.  Chatted to her for a bit with a few drinks before heading back up to base, a bad move, I’d not eaten all day; I was offered another drink here before heading to the house where I crashed out immédiately !!!!!!!

The Mayor is now back, I was promised a meeting at 8am this morning,  yet again he cancelled at the last minute … I think due to stress that I found myself sleepwalking last night trying to get out of my bedroom … convinced that there was a light the other side of the door; it woke my hosts up - finally I came to & managed to open the door.  I’ve never knowingly sleptwalked before and it’s really shocked me.

Amnesty Int’l are in constant touch with me, I’ve had quite a few mails and am awaiting a call, the atrocities that are going on here are terrible.  A friend was talking to me last night about it all and that it’s getting worse not better.  I was offered an armed escort to Abidjan at the weekend by a few friendly gendarmes in a private car. I’m desperate to see Marcelline, the girl that was found on the beach 2yrs ago, a trafficking victim.  She’s in a centre in Koumassi the airport side of Abidjan's lagoon.  The other girls have left & she’s there alone, I can’t make contact with her by phone, I can’t get her out as she dosent have any papers so was looking for a safe way to get there.  I was offered the escort but it didn’t work out in the end as I wasn't keen going to Abidjan in an armed vehicle - gendarmes with kalashikovs.  I’m still keen to get into Abidjan to see her & am looking for an alternative way.  Most of the gendarmes & the military aren’t happy with the situation 63% voted for Ouattara but it’s the generals that are holding the keys to removing Gbagbo.

I don't care who voted for what, I just want the violence to stop ...

Civil War approaching?

It’s hard to believe that I’m in a country that’s almost at a civil war stage, everything here is so normal.  Music plays 24/7, people are happy & still very welcoming but the discussion around me is always about politics.  It seems that many people in CI will accept Ouattara as President for the good of the economy & to have the country working again.  It's hard seeing so many people affected by this conflict.  However the hard core ‘patriots’ have other ideas and will keep going till the end to ensure Gbagbo is in power, they’re predominantly in Abidjan & the south of CI.  I try to work most days on the computer looking for work, chasing contracts and go to bed to then wake in horror when an avocado falls on the tin roof fearing the worst!

We are now 4 adults & 6 kids under one roof in two rooms ... my hosts refuse to let me move, I have their room with the only air-con in the house, I’m completely spoilt! A few days ago a friend of theirs arrived with her baby boy on her back.  She’d come from Port Bouet, the district of Abidjan next to the port and airport.  She’d seen mercenaries killing people, two young men in particular that she saw dead in the street.  She has calmed down a lot since arriving when she was very tense but constantly calls her husband in the morning to ensure he’s still alive.  It seems that there are a lot of refugees that have headed this way to be with friends & family.

Things in Abidjan aren’t good; E who will be the future centre manager, returned from here after 6 days of hard work on the computer with both of us typing up documents for the mayor & other officials here.  He got a direct bus that took 5hrs instead of a usual maximum of 3hrs but at least it was only 2,200CFA, they’d loaded up with bags of charcoal which is a VERY rare commodity now in Abidjan.  Each bag here costs 1,000CFA, 3 weeks ago I heard a bag in Abidjan cost 16,000CFA – god knows what the price is now.  They were stopped on their way into Abidjan demanding 1,000CFA per bag by customs, I’m not sure how many they had but there was a big argument and the bags were left at Adjouffou on the edge of Abidjan whilst the driver probably went off to find money to pay for it.  

E is in Abobo, one of the worst areas for the mercenary led killings, nothing moves there apparently, no taxis ... nothing, it’s become a ghost town.  People are scared to go out , doors are locked & the only means of communication is by mobile phone.  The fear of genocide is increasing on both sides, there’s a mass grave in Abidjan apparently, heavily guarded by Gbagbo military ... whether they’ll take photos & say it was the other side that was killed or their own men, who knows .. But most of the other districts in Abidjan functional perfectly normally .. the fear is not so desperate, possibly because both Abobo & Adjame were the areas where the ‘death squads’ killed many early on in the last crisis.

Prior to coming into CI, I was in touch with Amnesty International, I'm now sending them reports of what I hear locally from people, talking to them face to face & getting the facts.  I don't care who's responsible for the killings, I'm not politically minded, but to kill civilians is a crime in my book.

It’s the end of December & the mayor still hasn’t returned I realise he’s been caught up in the political situation & ‘Three Wise Men’ from Benin, Cap Verde & Sierra Leone that came to mediate with Gbagbo.  I desperately need to see him to get confirmation of the project ... I’m determined more than ever that we get this project set up & running.  There’s a crisis happening here right now & if it's not resolved it could get worse .. people are suffering and they’ll be more kids on the streets than before.  Personally I see CI going the same way as Zimbabwe; why the UN don’t do more I don’t know. 

We’ve had three consecutive days of storms, that all started around 4pm the second day was the worst, rain pelted down half the night, makes the road between here & Aboisso very difficult, in some parts the road has gone & got a lot worse since last year.  In it’s place are massive puddles with lots of mud, which wasn’t great yesterday as it came into the footwell of my 7 seater & I arrived in Aboisso with very muddy feet.  At least I managed to hold my balance in Aboisso when I almost went over in a muddy patch!   I’d headed down to Aboisso again, this time alone.  Absolutely no problems at all, except for taxi guys desperately trying to sell me a seat in the taxis that head to Noe & the border.  

I was there to meet a Canadian friend's friend who’s been helping us both with the project.  He’s from the north & found that the situation in Abidjan was too much to handle.  As far as I know he escaped Bouake during the height of the last crisis.  Anyway, I met up with him in Aboisso & introduced him my friends there who found him a hotel for the night before he was due to leave CI for 'quieter' climes.  I rang Accra & had a bed organised for him there before he heads to Lome, Togo where he has a promise of work from a friend.  I heard from him when he reached Ghana he got stuck at the border trying to get transport to Accra .. apparently he’s the only Ivorian heading that way which is good news as there are reports of around 17,000 refugees from the west already in Liberia & another 200 in Guinea.

I haven’t really done much; I went with my hosts & friends to his club the other side of town, had a bit of a problem with the town gendarmes who’d returned from a ‘mission’ and wanted to enter in uniform with their kalashnikovs .. eventually they realised that it wasn’t such a good idea and left but caused a bit of a chaos trying to get them to exit the place before everyone calmed down again.  Strange really when in ‘normal’ times they wouldn’t even consider entering armed but in the situation we’re in they feel they have the right to dance ‘armed’!!  

 I’ve made few trips to Aboisso; each time I forget to go to the pharmacy there as the one here doesn’t have my malaria tablets, got 2 weeks worth left, not completely desperate yet.  My swimming idea went very wrong when I heard that there are now crocs around, so I am hoping that the Mayor will be with us tonight for New Years Eve as promised so that I can get down to the beach & swim in the ocean.  

In the meantime, I keep receiving messages on Facebook from people who are genuinely concerned by my situation but unaware of my surroundings.  I'm finding it the most stressful thing to deal with at the moment ... Positive wishes are welcomed but being told that I might need rescuing by EU troops is a bit of an overstatement ... spectators should remain just that unless they want to help with the project!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!

On the move

Waking up having heard shooting from the maquis I was in the night before, I decided that it wasnt worth hanging around.  At 8.45 I got a  call from a friend further east who asked what I was up to; I said I was heading that way later on in the day.  My friend and I went to a maquis at 11.40am, as the previous night it was all too calm in town, walking 500m we passed very few people in the street, heard no music but continued on.  By 12pm her husband called asking where we had gone, unhappy we’d not stayed in the house.  It wasn’t till later we found out 2 had been killed in town, her husband was annoyed we’d left and gone out but we didn’t realise the situation, naive maybe!

I rang another friend, a muslim, from the maquis to tell him I was back, he wanted to come over but was surrounded by military in his compound.  A little later he turned up telling us people had thrown stones at the mosque.  We discussed a few things and I decided my idea from earlier on was the best decision to make.  I asked my friend if she wanted to come with me, white and female, we were both in the same boat.  I also offered to take her step-daughter to relative safety but we were concerned if we’d be able to get through the military blockades with a child without papers.

I left, my friend following me.  Her husband wasn’t happy as we left demanding to know how we’d get transport.  We were on the side of the international road leading out of Cote d’Ivoire flagging any traffic that passed that was rare, probably 3 vehicles per minute probably 10% of the normal traffic.  After a few minutes my friend said she had to return to get a swimsuit ... 10 minutes later their maid arrived asking to return with her bag, they’d been arguments at home, she was staying.  Her husband accused her of abandoning the family & that I was a part of this abandonment.  I was also made aware that I was alone and I couldn’t return to the house.  I’d been put out on the street, I’m afraid it’s something I’ll never forgive in this situation as he knew the situation he was putting me & his wife in.

For over an hour I was flagging down vehicles with a young boy from the house who shortly went inside when he saw the military coming past towing large guns behind their wagons.  No one would stop, maybe they thought I was heading for the border, maybe they thought it was too much of a risk to take a white woman.  I really don’t know.  However I ended up calling a friend who has a taxi to come and get me as an hour and a half in the blazing sun was too much to take.  My friend had returned to my spot prior to the taxi arriving as her husband had stormed out, we discussed things and promised to keep in touch despite her problems at home.

Finally I was inside a car, we crossed the bridge without the problems of the previous day and after a kilometre or so found a taxi going further east.  I swapped taxis and continued my journey for an hour or so calling a friend in the town I was heading for who promised to meet me at my destination of Aboisso.  I got there and went straight to the maquis and got a big welcome from old acquaintances amazed I was back and told to sit & join them for a drink.  It felt good to be with more friends who were stunned by what had just happened to me, unhappy at an Ivoirian's behaviour.  Almost an hour later my friend pulled in and then I found he was with another friend I’d met 2 years previously, big welcomes, hugs & kisses all round.  I was glad to be back with people I had confidence in, I felt safe again, I knew where I stood.

They continued drinking for a while and finally we got into the car, only to move 200m to a nightclub at 5pm!!  More beer was served and I was told it had to be finished.  Around 7pm we rolled into town, stopped to order some grilled chicken to eat later and as we got into town there was a welcome party waiting for me. 

The Mayor, his wife, various friends and children all wanted to say hello to me.  I sat with the mayor for an hour or so whilst more & more people came up to greet me, I was near tears with the greeting I recieved from them all with the situation the country’s in, it was incredible that I had such a reception.  The Mayor invited me for lunch the following day (Sunday).    I was told that I was part of town now, that this is my home in CI ...

The difference in atmosphere between here and where I’d come from was amazing, people wandered around the streets, music was playing, it was all very normal.  I went out with my friend having said hello to his wife & children, saw my room we then reclaimed our chicken and partied the night away until the curfew at midnight when the sole gendarme of the town drove us home.

Another Christmas & New Year in West Africa

Christmas was great; started on 23rd for me with a great party at the centre with Noel celebrations. The kids were super excited as Pere Noel (in the form of Etienne, one of the guys in the Abidjan office) was coming and I had promised to spend the night at the centre with the kids. I was presented to all and sundry; sat between the Mayor of Bassam and the King of Old Bassam whilst trying to butter up the representatives of the 43eme regiment from France to bring out more stuff to the orphanage for me!!!

Decided to head down to Assouinde on 24th to see Ivorian & Burkinabe friends there. The journey started well; got a taxi to Samo from the Grand Bassam gare routiere. However as I got out and held the door open with my leg (as you do with old bangers!) and got a rusty nail in the side of my leg! Blood streaming out I sat on the side of the road with my bits of a first aid and sewing kits putting myself back together! Lots of expats and Lebanese drove past in flash cars and when I finally stood up I had an offer of a lift from two Ivorian guys - wish I hadnt turned it down - it took another hour to get the taxi filled before we were on the move!

The guys in Assouinde were disappointed Dani wasnt with me, even little Ama now known as 'Princesse' Ama asked where she was! But they were all as kind as ever, spent 4 great days at the beach, listening to an endless collection of reggae, drinking too many Flags, getting meals from strange men who were eating at the maquis and lots of attention from Ama who I met last year who's now 5 and grown!! Spent just about every night at Dani's favourite nightclub, Blue Marin!!!

I headed off rather sadly for Ayame, a town that sits on the edge of a lake which has the second largest dam in CI and produces a lot of electricity. Got a taxi in Samo from Assouinde where a lady told me I have feet like Mme Gbago (Presidents wife) - it was meant as a compliment but Im dying to find a photo of her feet!!! I had a good laugh over that one!

In Ayame I got out of the taxi + pounced on by the deputy mayor who took me to an auberge for 4000CFA and completely under his wing with a group of friends of his. Lovely spot but it was soo hot, everyone was complaining and Ayame was no exception!!! They would not let me leave before New Years Eve, even rang the Mayor in Abidjan to tell him of my arrival. The deputy Mayor's wife who became a good friend; cooked meals daily for me and refused payment - another prime example of Ivorian attitude!

On New Years Eve, he and I went to Aboisso for me to use the internet and send an email and for him to do some banking! We were driven there by a mad elderly Italian nun, Sister Ana who was 80-odd apparently, lived in CI for 35yrs and would rival any Formula 1 rally driver, overtaking on blind bends with the horn pressed hard! I said my prayers that morning for the first time in a very long time!

New Years started around lunchtime New Years Eve and finished sometime around 10pm New Years day, I did manage to get some sleep; non-stop music, food, dancing ... it was all a bit mad.

New Years Day I was invited to the Mayors house for a champagne breakfast ... had an interesting chat with him about people I know in Cote d'Ivoire!!! He took me off to meet the village elders as on 31st the village chief had died, weird being sat next to the mayor on the best chairs the elders could provide us, discussing the arrangements for the chief's burial; very sad time ... women were crying endlessly ...

I finally left Ayame in a minibus to go the 66km up to Binouan, the first 15km was tarred then it turned into piste, lots of snakes around ... then horror of horrors, a truck just like the one I got in
Guinea had just overturned in front of us .. held us up a bit whilst they arranged a winch around a tree to pull it upright again, luckily the driver wasn't hurt! Made my heart pound a little!!!