Uh oh, I'm falling behind a little... will do my best to keep the updates coming, but there's been a hell of a lot going on!! So, right to it then...
On Saturday I was woken by the serene chirping of my mobile, signaling to me the end of sleep at the glorious hour of 5 (and a half...). If you know me at all you are probably having a schadenfreude-fuelled chuckle at the thought of Fifi awake before 9am, and what that would mean for my coherence, both then and later in the day, when the lack of sleep really began to catch up. Which it did, but that bit comes later... The reason for my being quite harshly denied my requisite 8-10 was so that we might get a jump start on the road to the day’s activity: The opening ceremony (yep another one) of the ASK Program in Dabou, a town just outside of Abidjan. Now, I arrived on campus at 6:45am, the time I was requested to arrive, but got dropped off a bit of a way away from where I was supposed to meet people, so had to hot-foot it to the office. I arrived by five to 7, bright red and covered in sweat. Of course, we then didn’t leave until at least 8am, but I did have the benefit of hanging out in the air-conditioned AIESEC office... eventually we hopped in a taxi and made our way to the bus station in Adjame, which is a suburb which is kinda half slum, half bustling market place. If you’re gonna get mugged, it’s most likely to be here, and I was told to hang onto my bag, even in the taxi, because apparently arms reach in through the window and nanoseconds later your stuff is long gone. I did try to explain to Franc and Alex that, as a ninja, there’s no way that would happen to me, because my lightening reflexes would result in the aforementioned arms getting a swift and well deserved chomp from my waiting Jaws of Death® (I’m a biter) but they seemed unconvinced. The craziest thing to happen on the taxi ride there though wasn’t me munging on the locals, but the locals literally climbing on the back of the taxi and hitching a ride for ten meters or so before hopping off again – and the taxi driver not batting an eyelid. (You have to go ridiculously slowly through the market at Adjame, because of traffic and indeed people wandering along the road)...
We arrived at the station and hopped on arguably the most uncomfortable bus I’ve ever come across (this week at least). My legs were too long to fit in without bashing the seat in front of me, and the bus was packed to the teeth, so there was no sitting side-saddle. We got there eventually but it was pretty hairy. The ceremony went from about 11am to 3pm, with much sitting and waiting for it to begin, sitting and not comprehending what was going on during it, and sitting and waiting to leave again after the ceremony. It was very, very hot. And as a refreshment, I was offered ginger juice, which I assumed was cordial, and took an enormous gulp, burning the living daylights out of my poor esophagus. Fail. I’m sure the content of the ceremony would have been fantastic, but for the fact that it was all in French and still a bit much for me. There was, however, two rather entertaining dance competitions between the kids which took place early on in the day, some pictures of which are in amongst the shots of the day – I may try to put up a video as well...
After the ceremony we discovered, much to our dismay that there would be a bit of a wait for the next bus. I assumed this meant 20 mins. 2 and a half hours later was in fact when we eventually boarded the bus to go... but in the meantime we wandered around Dabou, taking loads of photos, including down by the lagoon, which was fun.
The bus-trip back was a bit crazy, the AIESECers started singing and clapping early on in the trip and didn’t stop for quite a while... the other passengers were not amused. When we finally got back, it was well past dark, but the fun was not over yet. Franc decided that it was my shout at a little outdoor pub place on campus which we visited when I first arrived and at which, upon receipt of a beer from Franc, I had vowed to one day return the favour. So I agreed to buy him and the guys a round. Now when he bought that first round, when I first arrived, it was me, Yadan, and him. This time, however, it was me, Yadan, him, and about 5 others, all of whom had beer and food... which was apparently part of my offer... still, the whole thing cost me about $10 so I can’t really complain, and it was nice to sit and relax for a while, in spite of my exhaustion. The next day I was far too knackered to go to the beach with the other interns, which I do kind of regret, but there was just no way I was getting out of bed at 8am...
The next couple of days saw a return of the sickness, though I still have no idea what it was I did to bring this on. By Tuesday evening I was more than fed up with being housebound, and finally starting to feel better, so I went out with Coumba and her mates, which was a lot of fun – and it turned into a big night out at a nightclub – not wise considering I had work the following morning...
And indeed the next day - which was really the same day by the time we got home - I was wrecked, but preceded along to work for the first time in a week. The ladies were so lovely to me, and that afternoon (after a snooze on a mattress they set up for me!) I went again to hang out with some of the local kids – I’ve since discovered that these kids are in fact what are called OEVs – Orphelins et Enfants Vulnérable – Orphans and Vulnerable Children, so classified because of one or more of their parents’ HIV status. It was a different school to the one from last week, and many more kids. At first I played a bit of Ludo with a couple of them, but then I got out my camera to take a few pics, and that’s when the crazy began. Everyone wanted to be directly in front of the camera, and no matter how many times I asked them to stay put while I moved backwards in order to get more than 3 of them in the picture, they were having none of it. The result of which was a considerable number of photos with a fine perspective up the kids’ schnozzes. I did manage to get a few gooduns, as well as a few I took the following day... (it was a big week for photos...)
On Thursday I hit Amepouh determined to figure out a plan of action for my time here. In the back of my mind was a vague thought about mentioning the need for a website, as I had had a great deal of difficulty finding any information on the place before I started working there. I still wasn’t 100% sure of exactly how they operated, funding-wise and function-wise. Upon my arrival, I sat myself down and waited for my supervisors to arrive (I was early, apparently!! Yeah y’all shuddup with your laughing...) and was busy taking advantage of the free wi-fi when a little boy shyly appeared by my side, playing with the spinny chair next to me and grinning broadly whenever I smiled at him. I decided to give him a push in the chair, spinning him around and around, much to his delight. By the time I left that afternoon, my computer was virtually off-limits to me; I had introduced my little 6 year old shadow (whose nickname is “A Pitchou”, which roughly translates to “little darling” or something of the sort, and whose real name seems to have escaped everyone) to my laptop, and while at first he was hesitant to go anywhere near it, a mere two hours later I was no longer allowed to touch it myself because I clearly didn’t know how to use it properly (the proper way is apparently to mash a bit at the keyboard and move the mouse around a lot, whilst muttering softly, before closing the lid down, unplugging it from the wall, and walking out of the room – only to come back in and repeat the entire process. Eventually I figured out that he was playing office.) The cutest moment was when he kissed the apple symbol on my laptop and covered it with a scarf in order to “put it to sleep”. Eventually I did have to put the computer away, at the risk of it malfunctioning due to heavy concentrations of melted tim-tam getting in amongst the keys. (I brought the Amepouh staff a packet to thank them for being so patient with me during my illness, and “A Pitchou” found the wrapper which naturally needed licking clean...) but all afternoon he would softly ask me about it again and again. His mum, I later discovered, is a member of Amepouh staying at the NGO – meaning she was HIV positive, and had nowhere else to go. She was also pregnant. Upon closer inspection of my little mate, I noticed that he was actually wearing a pair of very old, rather dirty Barbie pants that were too big for him, and a shirt that resembled a tent, on him at least. It is fairly heartbreaking to see such a sweet kid, so full of life, in such a precarious position. He continued to hang around me for the rest of the day, giving me hugs and kisses and sitting on my lap, playing with leggo. In the afternoon, we went to buy some afternoon tea together from a street stall. One of the perpetual problems I have here in Côte d’Ivoire is the currency situation. The bank gives you your money in 10 000 CFA notes, and when most places have issues with you giving them a 1000 CFA note, what hope have you of breaking a tenner? Anyway so we got to the street stall and naturally all I had was a 1000 CFA note, for sweets which cost 50 CFA each – of which I wanted 2. The women didn’t have any change, so she gave me 500 CFA and told me to come back later on that day, as she would give me the rest then. On the way back in I had to giggle, as the Amepouh staff asked him, in mock surprise, who this lady was that had bought him the sweets, he answered happily that “la blanche” (the white woman – ie me!) was his wife! Later that day, when I was chatting in earnest with one of the guys that works here (more on that in a bit), I failed to notice my little friend and another little girl go missing for about 10 minutes, only vaguely registering the sudden lack of noise. By and by they returned and deposited some sticky coins ceremoniously in front of me, and pressed half a lolly into my mouth, muttered “Merci!” and ran off to play... it would seem that my little friend had gone to collect my change from the street stall and taken a cut in commission for his trouble, helping himself to another treat...
On the flipside, the conversation that I mentioned earlier, with T, one of the guys (originally from Togo) who works for Amepouh was incredibly helpful, and I finally started to feel as though I was getting somewhere as far as establishing how best I could help out here. T is a staunch activist for people living with HIV/AIDS. He himself is a sufferer and works tirelessly to secure the best possible treatments, and to advocate for the rights of those with HIV – to break down stigma which is rife in the community (this is how Amepouh became necessary in the first place it would seem...) and to assist in prevention, without demonizing people living with HIV, amongst other things. He is an incredibly inspiring guy, whose English is excellent, and he was able to give me an excellent picture of the main issues facing Amepouh and other NGOs in Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa in general. It seems that there is a great deal of widespread difficulty getting the money past the middle-man. Funding provided by the US government, through the PEPFAR program (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief) often goes first to larger organizations, which, in turn, distribute funds down to the grassroots level – supposedly. It seems that often, these umbrella organizations do a bit of clever accounting and give figures back to the higher authorities that would suggest their money is making a difference, when in fact large cuts of it never get past this creative management stage. In the case of Amepouh, the money gets here, however the umbrella organization which receives and distributes the funds has it’s own agenda and objectives, and will only distribute money for use towards those goals, instead of assisting with activities that the organizations on the ground see as most necessary. For example, one of the organizations from which Amepouh receives funds places a lot of emphasis on HIV testing, and neglects to give funding towards things that Amepouh recognizes to be necessary for the treatment of those living with HIV. Good nutrition, for example, is vital for the ARV (Anti-retroviral treatment) to work at an optimal level, and is something sorely lacking at the NGO. It seems that there is cause for some kind of shadow report to the good people at PEPFAR, advising them of where the money actually goes – so I’m thinking I might do a little research into whether or not there is a reporting mechanism for the grassroots level and go from there. I’m also going to check out whether we can apply for direct funding from PEPFAR, in the same way that I was thinking AIESEC might be able to... I also mentioned that it might be an idea for the NGO to have a website, and they got incredibly excited about me building one... except of course a year and a half of media and communications does not a webwiz make... In spite of this I have spent the last week or so trying to remember how HTML works and fiddling with various google apps... but it’s nice to know that I’m being useful. A website can be a powerful advocacy tool, as well as a source of vital information. Plus I showed T the videos which Virginia gave me as well as showing him how to create a youtube account so that he could use them in his work... I’ll also be putting some of the videos up on the Amepouh website... It’s great to know that the media which can so often be a waste of time can also be used to help spread a worthwhile message and help those who badly need it...
I’d better leave off here, I’m still HEAPS behind (It’s Friday of the following week and I have a LOT to cover) but I’m sick of this entry now... :D
Love to you all and hope all is well!! xoxo
On Saturday I was woken by the serene chirping of my mobile, signaling to me the end of sleep at the glorious hour of 5 (and a half...). If you know me at all you are probably having a schadenfreude-fuelled chuckle at the thought of Fifi awake before 9am, and what that would mean for my coherence, both then and later in the day, when the lack of sleep really began to catch up. Which it did, but that bit comes later... The reason for my being quite harshly denied my requisite 8-10 was so that we might get a jump start on the road to the day’s activity: The opening ceremony (yep another one) of the ASK Program in Dabou, a town just outside of Abidjan. Now, I arrived on campus at 6:45am, the time I was requested to arrive, but got dropped off a bit of a way away from where I was supposed to meet people, so had to hot-foot it to the office. I arrived by five to 7, bright red and covered in sweat. Of course, we then didn’t leave until at least 8am, but I did have the benefit of hanging out in the air-conditioned AIESEC office... eventually we hopped in a taxi and made our way to the bus station in Adjame, which is a suburb which is kinda half slum, half bustling market place. If you’re gonna get mugged, it’s most likely to be here, and I was told to hang onto my bag, even in the taxi, because apparently arms reach in through the window and nanoseconds later your stuff is long gone. I did try to explain to Franc and Alex that, as a ninja, there’s no way that would happen to me, because my lightening reflexes would result in the aforementioned arms getting a swift and well deserved chomp from my waiting Jaws of Death® (I’m a biter) but they seemed unconvinced. The craziest thing to happen on the taxi ride there though wasn’t me munging on the locals, but the locals literally climbing on the back of the taxi and hitching a ride for ten meters or so before hopping off again – and the taxi driver not batting an eyelid. (You have to go ridiculously slowly through the market at Adjame, because of traffic and indeed people wandering along the road)...
We arrived at the station and hopped on arguably the most uncomfortable bus I’ve ever come across (this week at least). My legs were too long to fit in without bashing the seat in front of me, and the bus was packed to the teeth, so there was no sitting side-saddle. We got there eventually but it was pretty hairy. The ceremony went from about 11am to 3pm, with much sitting and waiting for it to begin, sitting and not comprehending what was going on during it, and sitting and waiting to leave again after the ceremony. It was very, very hot. And as a refreshment, I was offered ginger juice, which I assumed was cordial, and took an enormous gulp, burning the living daylights out of my poor esophagus. Fail. I’m sure the content of the ceremony would have been fantastic, but for the fact that it was all in French and still a bit much for me. There was, however, two rather entertaining dance competitions between the kids which took place early on in the day, some pictures of which are in amongst the shots of the day – I may try to put up a video as well...
After the ceremony we discovered, much to our dismay that there would be a bit of a wait for the next bus. I assumed this meant 20 mins. 2 and a half hours later was in fact when we eventually boarded the bus to go... but in the meantime we wandered around Dabou, taking loads of photos, including down by the lagoon, which was fun.
The bus-trip back was a bit crazy, the AIESECers started singing and clapping early on in the trip and didn’t stop for quite a while... the other passengers were not amused. When we finally got back, it was well past dark, but the fun was not over yet. Franc decided that it was my shout at a little outdoor pub place on campus which we visited when I first arrived and at which, upon receipt of a beer from Franc, I had vowed to one day return the favour. So I agreed to buy him and the guys a round. Now when he bought that first round, when I first arrived, it was me, Yadan, and him. This time, however, it was me, Yadan, him, and about 5 others, all of whom had beer and food... which was apparently part of my offer... still, the whole thing cost me about $10 so I can’t really complain, and it was nice to sit and relax for a while, in spite of my exhaustion. The next day I was far too knackered to go to the beach with the other interns, which I do kind of regret, but there was just no way I was getting out of bed at 8am...
The next couple of days saw a return of the sickness, though I still have no idea what it was I did to bring this on. By Tuesday evening I was more than fed up with being housebound, and finally starting to feel better, so I went out with Coumba and her mates, which was a lot of fun – and it turned into a big night out at a nightclub – not wise considering I had work the following morning...
And indeed the next day - which was really the same day by the time we got home - I was wrecked, but preceded along to work for the first time in a week. The ladies were so lovely to me, and that afternoon (after a snooze on a mattress they set up for me!) I went again to hang out with some of the local kids – I’ve since discovered that these kids are in fact what are called OEVs – Orphelins et Enfants Vulnérable – Orphans and Vulnerable Children, so classified because of one or more of their parents’ HIV status. It was a different school to the one from last week, and many more kids. At first I played a bit of Ludo with a couple of them, but then I got out my camera to take a few pics, and that’s when the crazy began. Everyone wanted to be directly in front of the camera, and no matter how many times I asked them to stay put while I moved backwards in order to get more than 3 of them in the picture, they were having none of it. The result of which was a considerable number of photos with a fine perspective up the kids’ schnozzes. I did manage to get a few gooduns, as well as a few I took the following day... (it was a big week for photos...)
On Thursday I hit Amepouh determined to figure out a plan of action for my time here. In the back of my mind was a vague thought about mentioning the need for a website, as I had had a great deal of difficulty finding any information on the place before I started working there. I still wasn’t 100% sure of exactly how they operated, funding-wise and function-wise. Upon my arrival, I sat myself down and waited for my supervisors to arrive (I was early, apparently!! Yeah y’all shuddup with your laughing...) and was busy taking advantage of the free wi-fi when a little boy shyly appeared by my side, playing with the spinny chair next to me and grinning broadly whenever I smiled at him. I decided to give him a push in the chair, spinning him around and around, much to his delight. By the time I left that afternoon, my computer was virtually off-limits to me; I had introduced my little 6 year old shadow (whose nickname is “A Pitchou”, which roughly translates to “little darling” or something of the sort, and whose real name seems to have escaped everyone) to my laptop, and while at first he was hesitant to go anywhere near it, a mere two hours later I was no longer allowed to touch it myself because I clearly didn’t know how to use it properly (the proper way is apparently to mash a bit at the keyboard and move the mouse around a lot, whilst muttering softly, before closing the lid down, unplugging it from the wall, and walking out of the room – only to come back in and repeat the entire process. Eventually I figured out that he was playing office.) The cutest moment was when he kissed the apple symbol on my laptop and covered it with a scarf in order to “put it to sleep”. Eventually I did have to put the computer away, at the risk of it malfunctioning due to heavy concentrations of melted tim-tam getting in amongst the keys. (I brought the Amepouh staff a packet to thank them for being so patient with me during my illness, and “A Pitchou” found the wrapper which naturally needed licking clean...) but all afternoon he would softly ask me about it again and again. His mum, I later discovered, is a member of Amepouh staying at the NGO – meaning she was HIV positive, and had nowhere else to go. She was also pregnant. Upon closer inspection of my little mate, I noticed that he was actually wearing a pair of very old, rather dirty Barbie pants that were too big for him, and a shirt that resembled a tent, on him at least. It is fairly heartbreaking to see such a sweet kid, so full of life, in such a precarious position. He continued to hang around me for the rest of the day, giving me hugs and kisses and sitting on my lap, playing with leggo. In the afternoon, we went to buy some afternoon tea together from a street stall. One of the perpetual problems I have here in Côte d’Ivoire is the currency situation. The bank gives you your money in 10 000 CFA notes, and when most places have issues with you giving them a 1000 CFA note, what hope have you of breaking a tenner? Anyway so we got to the street stall and naturally all I had was a 1000 CFA note, for sweets which cost 50 CFA each – of which I wanted 2. The women didn’t have any change, so she gave me 500 CFA and told me to come back later on that day, as she would give me the rest then. On the way back in I had to giggle, as the Amepouh staff asked him, in mock surprise, who this lady was that had bought him the sweets, he answered happily that “la blanche” (the white woman – ie me!) was his wife! Later that day, when I was chatting in earnest with one of the guys that works here (more on that in a bit), I failed to notice my little friend and another little girl go missing for about 10 minutes, only vaguely registering the sudden lack of noise. By and by they returned and deposited some sticky coins ceremoniously in front of me, and pressed half a lolly into my mouth, muttered “Merci!” and ran off to play... it would seem that my little friend had gone to collect my change from the street stall and taken a cut in commission for his trouble, helping himself to another treat...
On the flipside, the conversation that I mentioned earlier, with T, one of the guys (originally from Togo) who works for Amepouh was incredibly helpful, and I finally started to feel as though I was getting somewhere as far as establishing how best I could help out here. T is a staunch activist for people living with HIV/AIDS. He himself is a sufferer and works tirelessly to secure the best possible treatments, and to advocate for the rights of those with HIV – to break down stigma which is rife in the community (this is how Amepouh became necessary in the first place it would seem...) and to assist in prevention, without demonizing people living with HIV, amongst other things. He is an incredibly inspiring guy, whose English is excellent, and he was able to give me an excellent picture of the main issues facing Amepouh and other NGOs in Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa in general. It seems that there is a great deal of widespread difficulty getting the money past the middle-man. Funding provided by the US government, through the PEPFAR program (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief) often goes first to larger organizations, which, in turn, distribute funds down to the grassroots level – supposedly. It seems that often, these umbrella organizations do a bit of clever accounting and give figures back to the higher authorities that would suggest their money is making a difference, when in fact large cuts of it never get past this creative management stage. In the case of Amepouh, the money gets here, however the umbrella organization which receives and distributes the funds has it’s own agenda and objectives, and will only distribute money for use towards those goals, instead of assisting with activities that the organizations on the ground see as most necessary. For example, one of the organizations from which Amepouh receives funds places a lot of emphasis on HIV testing, and neglects to give funding towards things that Amepouh recognizes to be necessary for the treatment of those living with HIV. Good nutrition, for example, is vital for the ARV (Anti-retroviral treatment) to work at an optimal level, and is something sorely lacking at the NGO. It seems that there is cause for some kind of shadow report to the good people at PEPFAR, advising them of where the money actually goes – so I’m thinking I might do a little research into whether or not there is a reporting mechanism for the grassroots level and go from there. I’m also going to check out whether we can apply for direct funding from PEPFAR, in the same way that I was thinking AIESEC might be able to... I also mentioned that it might be an idea for the NGO to have a website, and they got incredibly excited about me building one... except of course a year and a half of media and communications does not a webwiz make... In spite of this I have spent the last week or so trying to remember how HTML works and fiddling with various google apps... but it’s nice to know that I’m being useful. A website can be a powerful advocacy tool, as well as a source of vital information. Plus I showed T the videos which Virginia gave me as well as showing him how to create a youtube account so that he could use them in his work... I’ll also be putting some of the videos up on the Amepouh website... It’s great to know that the media which can so often be a waste of time can also be used to help spread a worthwhile message and help those who badly need it...
I’d better leave off here, I’m still HEAPS behind (It’s Friday of the following week and I have a LOT to cover) but I’m sick of this entry now... :D
Love to you all and hope all is well!! xoxo
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