February 2020

Almost every day on this trip, my emotions go on a roller coaster ride. I find myself lying in bed every night with my mind racing. I think about what I have seen, how it made me feel, trying to understand why almost everything we do evokes so many conflicting emotions. Today, our last day touring in Côte D’Ivoire was no different.

We began the day visiting a women’s cooperative where they create shea butter right from the seeds. A completely manual process. My first response was that I was witnessing horrible working conditions as I watched women trying to work with children hanging off them or nursing. We went in one room where the volume of the machine was so loud yet no one was wearing ear protection. Even with my ears plugged, I had to leave. The work is hard, and the kids are hanging around the smoke from the fires and I am staring in disbelief. Then Alix questions me, asking if compared to what we have seen, is this really horrible? The women are employed, the labour is not overly challenging and they are able to take care of their children. If it isn’t so bad, it is reflective of what can be consider good in this country.

From Korhogo, we catch a flight back to Abidjan for our final night on this magnificent trip. Our guide, Nader, tells us he would like to take us somewhere. One last stop that he thinks will interest us. So, after picking us his car we drive into the unknown. When we arrive, he tells us not to be alarmed when people yell at us because these people would never have seen a tourist in their neighbourhood before. He continues to tell us not to worry because we will be with the boss of the neighbourhood. After parking, we met his friend, the boss, and Nader questions him on the safety of his vehicle and all of our belongings. With reassurance, we head off into what he describes as the “chaos” but what I would describe as a working garbage city. We gasp at the first sights, piles of garbage everywhere and people, mostly men and boys, working. As we keep walking, we see what looks like mini store fronts where people are breaking down the garbage for parts, melting metals, or creating something new from something old. We feel no fear. We are in good hands. It is obvious, the boss, although light hearted and handsome, is well respected and people quickly settle after he speaks to them and we are able to take pictures. It smells, we have to watch every step and are constantly in the way, but I feel lucky to being seeing this and I am having a good time. Nader asks me what I think….and I say it is fantastic to see part of the real life of Côte D’Ivoire. Alix immediately challenges that and says this isn’t real life. But it certainly is part of it. There are so many people making a living this way. I have respect, more than pity, for this lifestyle.

The boss (on the right) and his right ( on the left) hand man.

The neighbourhood.

On the way home, before saying goodbye to Nader we chat. I begin to wonder if I am sexist. I felt sorry for the women working at the cooperative this morning, yet, I didn’t feel sad here. As we do every day, we analysis the experience and Alix shares that she feels very sad that people have to work like this, in garbage, where they could be cut easily, with no protection or education on what precautions should be taken. She is right. I wonder if I have desensitized or if I think it is ok because it is men. Probably not, as I am still thinking about this, and the people who shared their lives with us and respect how hard they are willing to work for a better life for themselves and for many, families depending on their support.

This is a large part of what has made this trip so magnificent. We have constantly been shown the many realities of these West African countries. We have seen them through the eyes of two individuals who love their countries and are desperate to make a difference and influence change and we are mesmerized trying to make sense of our feelings and our realities. All this amongst incredible colours, beauty, and strength of character from the warmest people. I am changed.

The talented videographer and our host in Côte D'Ivoire, Nader Fakhry.

Click here to see his work and videos on the beauty and challenges in this region

This morning we are joined by our guide for a very full day visiting the area, the artisans and the trades that thrive here.

The weather is amazing. A welcome break from the intense humidity we experienced in Abidjan and there is blue sky. We pull up to this empty field which is quite unusual with its large rock formation. Around the open area are cashew trees. Cashews are one of the major exports of Cote D’ivore. They are lovely.

This is a very sacred area and people come here often to make wishes and to sacrifice animals when the wishes come true. They are considered Animalists and we are told there is no voodoo but the similarities are many. It is pretty but as we approach there are chicken feathers and dried blood everywhere. We walk around and we see three people sitting below a rock performing some sort of ritual. Thankfully, no animals are involved. We find this all bizarre, this intense belief in the mystical and that the sacrificing of animals can solve problems is very difficult to understand especially when you see the way people live.

Understanding this faith becomes the most difficult part of our trip especially as we walk further into this area.

We follow a trail and break out into the huge opening and we are immediately wowed by the beautiful white granite banks. Our joy quickly turns to shock and then intense sorrow as we get closer. This is a granite quarry. A quarry that has a fully manual operation. For as far as the eye can see, there are people working to break the stone, while other carry it on their head to form large piles. Although there are men working, it is the number of women that stand out initially. This is hard work under the full sun. It is 9:30 am and already 26 degrees. I no longer find the temperature so pleasant. As we get closer, we stop cold and we are quiet. Working alongside the adults are children, many no more than 7 or 8 years old, helping one another to hoist the buckets on rocks on their heads.

I have seen a lot of sadness. I have seen children working too young instead of going to school but I am more horrified than I have ever been. This is slave labour and I cannot believe that in this day and age, it could be so bad. Côte D’Ivoire is a resource rich country but it has a long way to go. We walk here silently for an hour. I try to capture it in photographs but it is impossible to show the magnitude of this. I am wondering how, in 2020, in our world, this can be happening and I am racking my brain because I want to help. I don’t know how.

The drive to our next location was very quiet and when we came upon a family of smiling kids, we were lifted, a little.

We stop by the local weavers and to the bead makers. This was neat, in minutes, they use a chicken feather and natural dyes to paint they clay beads.
We also seem to pop into local markets.

markets. Always interesting characters

This guys is one of the civilian protectors of the highway. I wonder if they are like vigilantes. Apparently they are more respected than the police.

In the evening we got to see another dance. This was one of my favourites and had the best music which was both rhythmic and loud. This was the dance of the Bolpye or the dance of the panther done by the sénoufo people. It is a dance that is a right of passage for young men to become adults. A process that takes 7 years. So much energy.

By the way, there a larger than average occurrence of albinoism here. We have seen several individuals.

We set out early on the long drive to Korhogo. It was so much better than we thought because the roads are better than any we have seen. I even managed a good nap.

We stopped briefly after 4 hours for water and again at 5 hours to watch a fire dance which was amazing and nuts! The female dancers were the village’s virgins.

The main guy, was nuts, he literally stood on the fire for several minutes and then went on the sit and roll in the fire several times. It was really quite fascinating.

Just before arriving in Korhogo we made a surprise stop at a Fulani village. We always love these opportunities but it is evident that this village has at least seen tourists before. The kids were wild and surrounding us, holding our hands and begging for photos. Still it was a lot of fun. Writing this after two days in Korhogo, we have remarked that the people are dirty. Even in Togo where there was a lot of garbage, people were not filthy and of course, in Benin, everything and everyone was clean. Perhaps it is not that hard to understand because the dust and air quality is horrendous and we are truly filthy at the end of each day. Korhogo, as it turns out, is the worst we have seen in this regard. ( Note the lipstick on a couple of kids...no explanation for this)

Once again, we are shocked at what we thought was a tourist town. I guess it is all relative because there really are no tourists. There is no infrastructure, no bathrooms, just lots of dust and smoke.