Weekend in Abidjan

World's whitest Santa in downtown Abidjan

I flew from Daloa to Abidjan on Friday afternoon. Lots of people are heading out these days, and three other women from the mission were leaving on the same Air Maroc flight to Casablanca at 2 am, so we all went out for pizza with a couple of others from the Abidjan office.  

We ate in Zone 4, the quarter where I'm staying, across the lagoon from the central business district.  It's close to the airport and has a lot of european residents.  Since the war many prefer not to have to cross the bridge to get to their flights.  Just in case.  As a result it feels about as far from Daloa as imaginable.  In many ways it feels like a French city, except you're more likely to see sheep walking down the street.

A shady handicraft-stall-lined lane at CAVA

On Saturday morning I went to CAVA, the Centre Artisanal de la Ville d'Abidjan.  I have heard about it since I got here, and it was definitely worth it.  It's a fantastic place with handicrafts from all over the country and beyond.  They have an incredible variety of wooden masks and carvings, not to mention painted textiles and much, much more.  The vendors are persistent and persuasive but not too pushy, and very happy to take time to explain the different pieces and how they fit into the culture.  It was all I could do not to come away with more than I could carry.  It helped that my suitcase was already pretty full.  And that I ran out of money.  Thankfully they only take cash!

Cathédrale St Paul d'Abidjan

Today I ventured across the bridge to visit St Paul's Cathedral, which was opened by Pope John Paul II in 1980.  I had seen glimpses of it from the bus to work during the two weeks I stayed in Abidjan on arrival in June, but this was the first time I saw it up close.  It's quite modern, and looks a bit like a musical instrument or a suspension bridge.  I think it's really cool.  Unfortunately it was closed for repairs so I couldn't go inside, but there was a choir practicing in a covered area outside and that was a beautiful experience in itself.  

It turned out that a Mass had just started in one of the other buildings, so I sat in for that - my first in Africa.  I'm sorry to say the singing was not as good as the choir outside.  I think I was the only white person there, although there was a woman and perhaps her daughter who could have been Indian. The sermon was about marriage.  The priest started out by emphasizing that Marriage is between Man and Woman which didn't particularly endear him to me.  It may have been his way of drawing in the rest of the audience though, as he went on to try to convince them to get married and stick to just one partner.  Neither of those is an easy sell around here, so I felt a bit more sympathy for him.  At the end of the Mass they blessed us all and prayed that for all of us who don't have children, this would be the year.  Priorities are clear, at least.  I wondered what the one nun in attendance thought of it.

Afterward I walked around the downtown area a bit, but everything is closed on Sunday so it was pretty quiet.  Now I'm all packed up and ready for my flight which leaves at 11:10 tonight.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Stations of the cross leading up to the cathedral

Christmas party West African style

Here they really get into their religious holidays.  Just as Ramadan was a big deal, Christmas seems to be shaping up that way too.  This week we had the Sector West HQ end of year party at camp, next to the restaurant called Welfare where I eat most workdays, on a little football field.  It's a really nice spot, with lots of shade trees and a very pleasant breeze.

That's the same dance face I make!

As well as a buffet, drinks and a few speeches, we were treated to a performance by a group of traditional Bété dancers.  Bété is the main ethnic group in the area around Daloa, and they were from a village not far from here, which happens to be the hometown of one of the plumbers in my team.  We tried to get him to dance too, but he didn't have the outfit with him.

This was my first live African traditional dance experience.  They were all men, four dancing and a few more on drums.  One of the dancers is actually Burkinabé (from Burkina Faso, our neighboring country to the northeast where they had a coup d'état a few weeks back).  The Bété and Burkinabé were on opposite sides of the recent civil war, so the fact that he has integrated into the local society well enough to join a Bété dance troop is kind of a big deal.

Normally after the Christmas party I would expect to do nothing at work for the rest of the year, but we're building a new camp in a northern town called Touba, so next week I'll spend a couple of days up there supervising the septic tank connection.  Since I head out for the holidays on Friday, it may end up being one of my busier weeks.

Weekend at the beach

The beach, with handicraft vendors,
in the evening sun

Sorry I'm late with this week's post.  I went to the beach at Grand Bassam for the weekend, on a trip organized by the UN Volunteer office in celebration of International Volunteer Day.  One of the Abidjan UNV had arranged for us to go with some orphans from a private orphanage that she has been working with called EMSF (Enfance Meurtrie Sans Frontieres), and they were super-excited about it, which rubbed off on all the rest of us. 

We spent the morning doing group activities at the orphanage.  There was yoga, arts and crafts, and an HIV awareness program for the dozen or so kids who are 14 or older.  Then it was off to a hotel by the water for lunch, beach cleanup, and general mayhem.

Some of the older kids in their new HIV awareness tshirts

All three of us who had come from Daloa and several from Abidjan stayed the night at the beach hotel and had a nice, leisurely morning at the beach.  It's a cute town, once the French colonial capital, and the roads are lined with countless handicraft stalls that would have been a lot of fun to explore.  Unfortunately, though only 430 km (270 miles) from Daloa, thanks to the road condition it took us about 7 hours to get back on Sunday, and we didn't get moving early enough to see much of the town.  It's less than an hour from Abidjan, so I should be able to go back.  I don't think I'll drive from Daloa again though!

There's a dangerous undertow at the beach so no swimming,
but plenty of fun in the surf