Last day in Yacoli, then Abidjan, and direction Assinie on Thursday the 5th.
I am being given a very a nice tour in scenery of the Cote D’Ivoire. I have seen the urban city, the forest and now the Ocean. Assinie is a small village by the Ocean. We are going there for the medical part of the organization. We're joining and collaborating with a wonderful group called the Jedas (young association of Assinie) for a sanitary campaign. These young doctors open clinics to help medicate, vaccinate and inform people about asthma, HIV and other. Yolande and I will not be nurses, giving shots or trying to pretend to be Doctors but informing people in the city about this opportunity to get tested and vaccinated. We are as I can best describe it “the main attraction”, two white girls distributing flyers! Even though Yolande isn’t white, we have been told that we were both white.
My last few days at Yacoli were educational. On Saturday, I visited a plantation of Hevea trees, which is one of the main agriculture production other then cacao and rice. The tree sap is the main component of Latex. We visited the factory where they transformed the harden tree sap into raw latex with the purpose to build Michelin tires. I tell you, the smells were very pungent! Sunday we visited the Nawa water falls of Soubre (big town 20 mins from Yacoli.) Spectacular! The energy of the falls was breathtaking. We walked through the forest to get to them, which made the anticipation more exciting. There was also great progress with Yolande’s budgeting and financing meetings with the young men of the village. Thanks to her determination, we were able to discuss their money management despite our rough start.
The end of my journey of teaching was a one of a kind experience. The schedule was not bad either. No school Wednesdays and the hours, 8am to 11:30, lunch till 2:30 and we ended at 5pm. I know! Would I do it again? Yes, if the conditions were different. I was disappointed at myself that I couldn’t enjoy the children as much as I wanted too and give them the full attention they needed. The fact that they were 30 with a short attention span, who hit each other every minute, was at the end very challenging and frustrating to maintain calm. It wasn’t easy. What the school needs is a concrete wall to separate the younger children and the older one. Two classes of 18 children at the most, so that the teacher can give them what they need, where they can learn correctly and where the violence (hitting) can be controlled. It isn’t fair to them nor is to the teachers who tend to loose patience with the chaos.
However, they are my little Angels when they sing!
Here’s a sing a long:
“ Les Dolphins HEH! Les Dolphins HEH! Secom coma Whoa! Secom coma Whoa!”
-- CASSANDRE
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Wishing you all the best to finish this trip Cassandre. Thanks for all your comments. I guess we see you in LA some time next year?.. :)
Sure I miss it: my best friends are there and Paris is bit too stuffy and old for me... Not such a better place for kids actually, most of the kids imitating America anyway -10 years behind though, so it ge's boring since I know what is to come. Having a hard time with all the defenses everyone is constantly having about everything. I think I was away too long -almost 20 years- but also it feels weird to deal with cars all the time more here (while not having to drive!) than in LA... Very confusing. The feeling of this whole (beautiful) city thing hanging on to a culture that is mostly falling apart is very draining for me. I had a much better time just going through it for a few days or weeks... School system is very difficult, very tense ambiance right now... and not a lot of fun allowed for the kids... close minded very often... Maybe I was just away too long and maybe there is a reason I left in the first place. But we are all still spoiled just being able to discuss such differences, when actually there are such major ones with a place like where you are right one.
Good luck with the return. Michèle in Paris
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