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!

Peanuts

One of the mainstays in our diet in CI was peanuts or "ground nuts" as they are called in Africa.  Our favorite waiter, Augustin (more about him later), brought these to us as we worked diligently in our terrace "office." On these blustery winter days, I long for the hot and humid afternoons with dodgy electricity on the roof in CI. I'd even take the smell of diesel over sub-freezing temperatures. Granted, I wouldn't necessarily want to be there now, per se, but the thought of enjoying tropical breezes makes doing any kind of work more palatable. Oh, Africa.

The Election

It's been a long time. But, as you may or may not know, Cote d'Ivoire has been in political turmoil for about a month. Why the turmoil? They succeeded in having an election. Isn't that what everyone Amy and I talked to wanted? Yes. Everyone in CI desperately wanted an election. They thought that it would be the cure-all for their political troubles. Our participants knew that they would need to do some work in order to achieve a stable society, but few could have predicted what actually happened.

In October, Cote d'Ivoire had their first round of elections. The way the electoral system works in CI, and much of Europe, is that the candidates win and if no one achieves an absolute majority, the two candidates with the most votes have a second round of elections. In CI's first round, incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and main opposition leader Alassane Ouattara received the largest proportion of the vote. After four weeks, CI was able to hold a run-off election. In the run-off, Ouattara received 54% of the vote and Gbagbo received 46% of the vote, as counted by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI). Most would say that this is a pretty substantial margin.

Unfortunately, in CI, elections have two groups separate groups that monitor them. There is one group that counts the votes (the CEI) and one group that signs off on the votes (the Constitutional Council). The Constitution in CI states that the CEI must produce the vote count within a proscribed number of days. With this vote, the CEI failed to produce the numbers by the deadline. As a result, the Constitutional Council stated that votes were invalid. By the CC's count, Gbagbo received 51% of the vote while Ouattara received 49% of the vote. Interestingly enough, the CC's head is one of Gbagbo's cronies. Leaves one to be slightly suspicious.

However, this is not the most interesting part of the whole saga. The interesting part is that neither man has stepped down and accepted the other's victory. As a result, there are essentially two governments functioning in CI. It's the equivalent of a political tee ball tie. The West, the UN, the Economic Cooperative of West African States (ECOWAS), and many others all recognize the Ouattara regime and demand that Gbagbo step down and accept his loss. However, he has not yet packed up a single Post-It note.

Violence has broken out all over the country and they have suspended foreign journalists, closed the borders, and have ceased allowing trade with the North (Ouattara's stronghold) and the South (government center). It's a scary, scary time for CI. I will try to keep up to date as much as possible.

Abidjan--Views of the University

During our interview with the scary student militant leader, we were able to take some pictures of the University of Cocody. I vow to never again complain about the accommodations in large state universities.

This is a view of some of the dorms. Notice the lovely mid-century architecture.

Above is a shot of the "downtown" of the university. On the left is the place where students print their papers and have them bound and/or laminated. In the center is a grocery "store" and the two stalls on the right sold food. Fortunately, there were no quarter goats roasting on open flames.

Finally, this is a better shot of the dorms and one of the ubiquitous orange taxis. Notice all of the towels hanging outside of the dorms. It is so unbelievably humid that the only hope you have of anything drying is hanging it out the window.

While I'm not fond of the old student militant group, they have a point. The facilities need to be a little better for the effective education of a population. Allegedly, 60,000 students attend this university. That's about the same as a major state school in the US, but in less than 1/4 the size of a state university campus. From what the militant leader said (and take this with a grain of salt), students have to show up to class an hour early to get seats. Militant leader probably had some lackies save him a seat, but that's neither here nor there (I'm captain cliche today). Regardless, university is like going to a concert. Heartening that there is so much desire to go to class, but disheartening that the facilities to support it.