Mango

I had my first mango since CI today. Totally not the same. It would help to have a cup of Nescafé au lait and baguette with butter while sitting in an open air terrace with tropical breezes instead of sitting inside looking at snow. Alas.

The Onion

This The Onion article really sums up my feelings about American media with regards to CI: http://www.theonion.com/articles/standoff-in-ivory-coast-threatens-to-boil-over-int,18813/

If your country a) is in the Western Hemisphere b) has oil or c) could have potential Al Qaeda operatives, we will care for approximately 10 days. Don't fit in those categories? Don't care.

Amusing Musings from My Students

While not West Africa specific, for the past the last few weeks I have been doing a unit on genocide for my Ethnicity and Gender class (it's a multidisciplinary social science course).  We have talked about the Armenian, Cambodian, Bosnian, Rwandan and Darfuri genocides in addition to the Holocaust. In the process, I explained the U.S. policy toward recognizing a genocide, how the U.S. intervenes in such situations and the like. On the last day of the unit, I had them take the time to come up what they think the U.S. policy toward genocide would be. They had to think about how they would define genocide (whether or not they would use the UN's standing definition), at what point the U.S. would intervene in the case of a genocide, what the response would be (military aid, humanitarian aid, political sanctions), and whether force would ever be acceptable. Here are some gems from their definitions of genocide:
*I would say a genocide is when 10 people are killed because of their ethnicity.
*I think that a genocide occurs whenever anyone is killed because of their ethnicity.
*The U.S. should only step in when 50,000 people per week are dying.
*A genocide is occurring when 85% of the population is killed.

I'm glad I'm such an effective teacher. To be fair, there were some fantastic answers that included time tables and systematic evaluations of the conflict, but the ridiculous answers are the ones that stick out. *Sigh* The future leaders of America...

Now It's Getting Pathetic

While the Ivorian situation is very tense and troubled, Laurent Gbagbo's stubborn clinging to the presidency is getting pathetic. It reminds me of a two year-old child who is falling asleep on the couch, yet demanding that he is not tired and will not go to bed. Give it up, already. Everyone in the world knows you lost. Really. No one believes your sham CC. All I hope now is that everyone can keep it together and not use violence to oust Gbagbo. Everyone knew the transition from president to president was going to be difficult, but violence would be a horrendous solution. Patience is key.

Enjoy this gem of a picture with the President of the Independent Electoral Commission (guy to my right). He is very tiny. I almost wet my pants from fear during this interview considering it was little ole me talkin' the francais to one of the most important people in the country at the time. Following the election, he was on the news a lot. Super nerve wracking. Please note that seeing this suit hanging in my closet still gives me flashbacks and makes me break out into a sweat with how hot we were the entire time we were interviewing.

Drugs

Happy New Year! Over Winter Break I have had the opportunity to read and catch up on life. One book that I recently finished was Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It was a truly fantastic read. Probably its best quality was that it made me think and reflect about how lucky we have it in the United States and how much more we can do for our fellow humans around the globe.

The reason why I am posting about Half the Sky on this blog is the amount it focused on the plight of Africans and how sorry the medical system is. Here is a picture of all the medications that I took with me to Africa, not to mention the 4 shots that I had to get from a sketchy walk-in clinic in the hood of Silver Spring:

Thankfully, I didn't have to take all of these while I was there, but it was still a lot. From left to right, Albuterol (I'm an asthmatic), prescription strength Pepcid (didn't have to take), mega-kill-all-the-bacteria-in-your-body antibiotic (didn't have to take), doxycyline (prophylaxis anti-malarial that also incidentally fights anthrax), acidophilus to replace the good bacteria that doxycyline kills that I could not get from my diet because dairy is SUPER dodgy in CI, generic Claritin, and generic Benadryl. I felt like my Granny who used to have two purses: one for her regular purse-things and one for her medications.

And, of course, I could not drink the water. Granted, I know that many of these medications are because I am a weak Westerner, but it really makes you think and wonder about how people can survive in developing countries without a modicum of health care. Reading Half the Sky gave me insights into how much the medical system has failed Africa, but also inspiration that it can be different. I am really excited to have my students learn about all of the opportunities available to help people across the globe. I just hope that it's not lost on seniors in high school!