On my way out ...

My hosts nephew got a very deep cut to his foot whilst I was at the coast, aged 10, he's pretty robust but it worried me more & more.  I kept cleaning it but it was deep & needed stitching, eventually I persuaded him to talk to his aunt & uncle to get him to the hospital.  One of the barmen from the maquis came off his motorbike, yet again the medical bag came out.  My friend from Abengourou I'd not seen for 2 years turned up having heard I was there, his wife & family were still at home.  However, he introduced me to a gendarme who also approached me to ask what I could do for him & his cut leg.  My host's maquis became a little clinic for cuts & wounds!!!

Eventually I got a meeting with the Mayor and the project was agreed; I was thrilled, made up for the stress of the last few weeks, waiting & waiting.  The following day I had to leave, time was getting tight, I had a lot to do before leaving Cote d'Ivoire.  But we walked about 4km one way to see the land, which was wonderful.  Some guy who runs a small stall was stunned to see me racing in & grabbing as many plastic sachets of water I could get my hands on for the three of us that had walked there.  We were all very thirsty, hot, dusty & tired!!!

I finally left.  It was horrible leaving, the nephew had tears streaming down his face asking why I had to go .. the girls were the same.  I couldn't say goodbye to my host's wife properly, I was in full flow, crying ... we returned to the maquis to say goodbye to a few others, I selfishly couldn't face saying goodbye to everyone.  A taxi pulled up who'd kept a spare seat for me and asked if I had to go ... Really really difficult time, I didn't want to go, but one of those things, I had to ...

I went as far as Aboisso the first night.  I stayed with my friend from Abengourou who also has a girlfriend in Aboisso ... had a lovely meal together & fell to bed exhausted from the day.  I rose at 5.30am to get the early bus to Abidjan in intrepidation as to whether I was taking on too big a risk.  E was ready to meet me in Abidjan and we had a meeting for C.R.E.E.R in Marcory with a friend of Alpha Blondy's.  Getting off the bus was fine, it all seemed normal, then I started seeing vehicles with guns, a lot more than I'd seen previously; two UN gun-mounted vehicles went haring past me at some lights.  I was glad when I got to the meeting & we were in relative safety inside.  The meeting went well and E & I made our way to Koumassi Remblais, a district of Abidjan that's seen more violence than many this side of the lagoon.  I got to see Marcelline, the reason I'm setting up C.R.E.E.R, she was amazed that I'd made it to see her.  Told me about the 'bad' days when there was fighting outside the gates, tyres & wood being burnt, helicopters circling overhead.  It was wonderful to see she was alright despite all the violence she's witnessed.

We left & headed back to the road out of Abidjan, I was lucky to have E with me, as usual people looked at me strangely being white in CI & on the street, not in a vehicle like the expats.  We both felt some of it was hostile but nothing happened & we managed to get transport quickly out of town again.

I eventually got back to Aboisso after a bit of a scare on the road.  In the middle of a rubber plantation where the road goes through there was a truck on the side of the road.  The driver had seen it, we'd all seen it, just as we approached it at speed we heard a whistle & 5 men in fatigues racing out of the rubber plantation.  It was the military; by the time the driver braked we were 300m down the road.  He got out of the vehicle with his papers in hand, it was the first time I'd seen a whole taxi load of people very, very frightened .. which rubbed off on me a little wondering why they'd almost ambushed us.  The driver came back a bit puzzled as to why they'd stopped us like that, we continued in silence. 

Arriving in Aboissso where my luggage was waiting for me at my friend's maquis, I was offered a quick drink to say goodbye; little did I realise that she'd called my friends who'd driven down to say goodbye again!  I got a minibus finally to Noe & the border to get to Ghana.  Difficult journey, I was torn, didn't want to leave, wanted to help & stay in the country, so much needs doing, so much help ... yet again I had tears in my eyes as I walked through immigration ...

Rain, Lady Snakes & Accidents

I was laughing when I heard that most of Europe was under the white stuff. My neighbour sent me pictures of my car under a ton of the stuff, the guys in the office were amazed by it but I wasn't looking forward to returning to that!!! However we had had strange weather patterns in Cote d'Ivoire also, there was a fair bit more rain than there should be during this season!!!

I wasn't looking forward to returning because to be quite honest I didn't feel like I'd been on holiday. I'd not even travelled but that might be due to a) waking up thinking of the accident in Burkina daily and b) having too many friends here who demand that I spend a day or so with them!!!

As for the accident, Francis the gendarme from Bobo was in touch with me a lot. He was great the night of the accident and is now following the incident up. The three Togolais are in prison sadly we also saw the news that the Togo football team were ambushed in Cabinda, northern Angola where the coach was killed on the way to the CAN, African football Cup. Francis is head of the child protection unit for the gendarmerie in Bobo and wants me to set up something in Bobo to help the street kids there (there's only one of me I can't manage every project - but he seems to think I can!).

So, I was in Abidjan for 10days now except for a weekend back at my US/Ivorian friends in Bassam. I went to see the children at the centre and we set up a world map I had bought them with all their friends and sponsors names on it! Saturday night I went out with the same crowd and the centre manager joined us chatting about the children. Suddenly a girl started running and screaming; just behind my chair in the sand was a long thin snake!!! The guys jumped around with sticks killing it whilst others were saying not to kill it; its a lady snake and only comes out when there are a lot of ladies around - yeah right, pull the other one!!! Anyway I sat tight in my chair not too worried about it laughing at them all!!!

On the Sunday I left Bassam to return to Abidjan via Marcelline's new 'home'; she's the girl that was found on the beach 5 january 2009 after 3 years there aged 12/13 when she was found; we have a really close relationship now. She had forgotten her towel and sponge so I offered to go via Koumassi where some 'sisters' are looking after her and quite a few other girls who had been found on the street. It was very impressive, large modern buildings and the children are all schooled on site. I was also keen to go as the centre manager wanted me to talk to her about her behaviour last week when she threatened one of the sisters with a machete!!! We had a long chat about it whilst it poured with rain, she understood I wasn't happy with her behaviour and seemed to take it all on board. She escorted me to the gate with an umbrella, when I asked what she had to do for the future she said 'Pray for you Maman' which was funny but not the answer I was hoping to hear!

I came out of the 'village' where she's studying to find a woro-woro (shared taxi), it was now down to a drizzle. I found that the ladies coming out of church at the village had managed to get any available woro-woro's and I was looking up and down the road as the heavens opened again with lots of lightning! 'Suddenly a taxi came and I decided to splash out and pay the 2.70euro for the 45min ride back to my 'home from home' rather than get 2 woro-woro's for 75c! Initially the driver wasnt happy with my price so as usual I told him to go and I'd find another. The rain got harder and the taxi reversed back up the street and I was told to hop in for the price I had given!

We met several accidents in the streets of Koumassi and managed to get onto the autoroute that would take me across Abidjan. Once on the other side of the lagoon the rain got harder again and how my driver managed to see anything I dont know, we went through one large puddle after another then finally we hit a big one at speed. The driver lost control and we went sideways into a 4x4 as the engine packed up. So I found myself in lane 3 of a 4 lane autoroute in knee deep water with a vehicle that wasnt going anywhere, luckily neither the driver or I had a scratch! Suddenly I heard someone calling to me and a guy in another 4x4 was offering me a lift, typical Ivorians always hospitable, he was going in completely the opposite direction but was prepared to take me home sopping wet in his lovely clean car!!!

I'd made friends with my neighbour in the compound, the Libyan diplomat I was invited round one afternoon to meet his friend, another diplomat from the Embassy!!! Spent an interesting 30m chatting to the pair of them, neighbour in his underpants telling me how much he loves Abidjan & vodka whilst the maid was cleaning and looking for a mouse - all quite bizarre!!