Greetings My Friends.

I am back in the US of A.  As you know, I was in the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) for two and a half weeks doing a RYS/Service For Peace project.  I thought I'd send you guys a quick email and debrief you on my experience...

To give you a run down on the political situation in Cote d'Ivoire: Since September 2002 there has been some civil unrest between the Government and the Rebels (aka New Forces) - many cities and villages were attacked (starting with Bouake -on the border of the north/south of the country).  The north is controlled by the Rebels and the south by the government (unofficially).  The United Nations (my new BFF), are stationed throughout the country to maintain peaceful relations and aid in national reconstruction.  We had several private conferences with the UN about various pressing issues in Cote d'Ivoire and internationally.  We were invited to the headquarters in Bouake on Sept 21st to attend a ceremony and meet with officials for the International Day of Peace.  They were impressed with our work efforts and our innovative approaches to peace and reconciliation. A few of the UN officials have already emailed me... may be I can recruit them to be on my Board of Directors for USPP (United Service Projects for Peace), to be established December 2007.  Can I get a Boo-Ya? Boo-ya.

This was my first trip to Africa, and my 40th country visited in my 27 years of life. 
The journey began at JFK airport on September 6th, where I met up with Ana Margarita Cobiella-Olson (my Guru Advisor, ha ha ha).  From there we flew to Casablanca, Morocco - had an awesome 9 hour lay over - went back to the airport and continued on our connecting flight to Abidjan. 

We spent our first night in Abidjan and waited for the other participants to arrive (coming from neighboring countries - Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso...).  The following day we compiled into a small "bus", you know, the type that is the size of a mini-van... probably has not been serviced in 9 years... and seats 15 - but we manage to fit 21 with baggage.  The temperature was at a comfortable 103 degrees for the duration of the 7 hour drive to BUSH COUNTRY.  Not to mention military check points every 30 minutes (like come on, there is one road here... what do you think happened since the last check point?  good grief.).

Before leaving for Attakro (aka, The Bush), we heard unconfirmed rumors about having no electricity, no running water, no toilets/showers, and no source of contact with the rest of the world (telephone/Internet/postal service).... upon arriving - all rumors were confirmed to be true. 

Other questions quickly came to mind -
Would there be food?
Where oh where were would we sleep?
Would we be able to defend ourselves against the swarms of abnormally gi-normous insects (and friends)?
And most importantly, what were the symptoms of Malaria again?

That night, in the dark (so I couldn't differentiate between a tree, a goat, and a person), they took us to the house that we would all be staying in for the duration of the project... 21 people, one house. 
The village was about 3 km from the "main road" (I use the term "main" loosely). It was composed of one small dirt road, a few little cute chickens (yet I never saw any eggs, hmmm?), a few little cute goats, a few little cute mud huts, a few little cute villagers, and a bunch of rockstar kids (aka, The Chillins).  They speak a tribal language, Baolee, in the village and only learn French in school.... many of the kids only spoke Baolee.  They had fun making me repeat after them.... I'm sure they were making me say things like "I pick my nose" or "I have a big butt"... anything for a good laugh.  ha ha ha....

Despite the fact that they fed us a hot dog bun - just the bun - for lunch in the 103 degree bus... I hadn't changed my clothes in 72 hours, and we found ourselves sitting in the dark with no dinner at 11:00 pm at night.... I was optimistic!  Ok, so we were a little discombobulated, a little hungry, a little jet lagged, had no means of communication, and we couldn't see - I can understand how some people may be a little worried.... but if there is one thing that I learned is that you must TRUST the PROCESS!  And so we did.

The first night in Attakro was one of the most hysterical nights ever.  Ana and I laughed so hard (through the tears) that even now just thinking of it makes me laugh.  It was our first and last night sleeping indoors.  It all started when I woke up with "swamp ass".  Actually, the "swamp ass" had spread, and turned into "swamp body".  For those of you not familiar with this condition, just think of the characteristics of a swamp... and now apply that to your ass.  Ana was coughing and drowning in her own flem due to the toxic fumes that were trapped in the room from the bug spray used to defend ourselves against the bird-like mosquitoes.  It wasn't pretty.  I think she had a touch of Malaria.

Every night after that, Ana and I sleep outside. In the fresh air. Under the African stars. Yes, our flesh was at the mercy of "The Squitters", it would rain at times, and the morning dew would soak our pillows - but we decided that that was a small price to pay for breathable oxygen and minimal "swamp ass".  Ana and I have since established innovative ways to flight off "The Squitters"... we are hoping to have our own show on the Discovery Channel... you know, kind of like "Man vs Wild" except we would call ours "Women vs The Squitters" (ha ha ha). 

The Food:  We ate three things.  Rice.  Fish.  Cassava (Fo-Tu).  Once or Twice we had bread for breakfast... served with mayo.  Interesting.  To make matters funnier, I seemed to always get the fish head... just the head.  Which was scary because I try to only eat vegetarian... ha ha ha. 
On the 3rd day I discovered a grapefruit tree in "the bush"... I was so excited for the possibility to eat a piece of fruit that I ventured out - only to be attacked by giant red ants.  I felt like I was in slow motion... I looked down at the army of red ants - and I looked up at the delicious grapefruit tree... Do I turn around and give up on my mission?  Or do I persevere and continue to the tree for the sake of vitamin C consumption?  Other people were relying on me - Ana was drastically loosing weight, she needed to consume something other then rice and fish. I knew then, I could not turn around.  The "Chariots of Fire" soundtrack started playing in my mind as I made a run for the tree... I used my God given height to reach up and pick as many grapefruit as I could carry and used my God given lightening speed to sprint back with the goods. I knew the red ants were there, waiting.  But so was the grapefruit.  And no ant was gonna hold me down (ha ha ha).  Mission Accomplished.

The Work Site: The local school was about 1 km from our village.  About 60 kids attend the school from 3 villages (including Attakro).  There is only one teacher and one "Head Master" for the all the Chillins.  The current status is that there are two small huts (composed of dirt floors, palm tree branches, mud, and sticks) where classes are held.  Just next to the huts, there is a dilapidated frame for a potential school house (made of cement walls - no roof, no floor, no windows).  We uprooted the weeds/grass that were overgrown inside the cement frame, gathered sand/rocks from the nearby "bush" to fill the ground, and then hand-mixed cement and cemented the floors of the future school house.  We also macheted and cleared an area to create a field for the kids to run and play games.  In addition, we dug out 4 outhouses ("squatters") for the school... this way the kids and teacher would have somewhere to go to the bathroom.  All work was done manually. No machines.  Just a few machetes, shovels, wheelbarrows, buckets, and bear hands. Hardcore. 
It was a success.

The Chillins:  The kids made the trip worth every minute.  These kids were the happiest, most helpful, and most grateful kids that I ever met.  They live in a village with no electricity, no running water, no toilets, wear the same old clothes, have no toys, and eat the same food everyday.  Not once did they ever complain, ask for anything, or say they were bored.  Not once.  They found joy in helping us with our endeavors.... they followed us everywhere and helped any opportunity they had... without being asked.  Every morning they walked to the well and brought us water to cook and wash with... every night they brought us "Fo-Tu" (doughy food concoction made out of cassava).  They had so little, but whatever they did have, they shared.  They helped for the sake of helping, not to get something in return.  If only we all had that attitude.

The ER:  Basically, I ended up with some serious insectoid bites ("insectoid" is my own classification of abnormally large and/or powerful insects).  Some how, between the murky well water and the lack of medical attention, they got infected.  I arrived home to NJ on Sunday night, I thought I was in the clear.... on Monday night my ankle (which is where the insectoid wound is located) swelled up big time.  I thought, "WWMD" (What Would Mom Do)?  Nurie let me know WWMD.... she said, "ER. Now."  I don't mess with my Arab friends, so I went. 
I felt like I was on the TV show "House"... I had 4 doctors come and look at my disgusting ankle.  They even brought in an Infectious Disease Doctor.  No one had an answer.  Since I did not have a fever, they put me on antibiotics and discharged me.  I now have to go follow up with another Infectious Disease Specialist tomorrow to be sure all is well.  Are you grossed out? Ha ha ha... I'm sure I'm fine. My body always fights back (arggggh!).

It was a challenging and humbling 18 days.  Highly recommended.  Superb experience.

Next on the list: Guatemala (aka the "Guat"), July 2008

L.I.M.R.

Diesa