week in Man..

Just got back from a week in Man, a city in western Côte d'Ivoire where our biggest office is and most programs are based. Will write more and add pics soon, but I had a good time. So much so that the admin ass't here in Yamoussoukro commented that I gained weight over the trip... ouch.

my weekend...

I was really excited this weekend to be offered a chance to visit Bouaké, which is the second largest city in Côte d'Ivoire and was the seat of the rebel forces during the crisis. It's about an hour or so north of Yamoussoukro and they have a huge market (my real reason for going...) On the way I noticed this: If you look closely there is a nerdy guy with glasses, that must be Bill Gates. This is actually a school for teachers and I wonder if it has any connection to the real Bill Gates, but I doubt it. Anyway these were my finds in Bouaké: (I'm going to have to leave all my clothes here so I can bring back all the fabric I'm buying...)

Then Sunday, day of rest by the pool at the Hotel President... aka avoiding writing my practicum paper...

pagne Baoulé

Baoulé is one of the largest ethnic groups in Côte d'Ivoire, mainly concentrated in the center of the country, which is where I also live. Historically, they are part of the Akan tribe that settled here from Ghana a few hundred years ago. They're a well established ethnic group, in fact many of the ruling politicians were/are Baoulé. They are also well known for their woven cloth, pagne Baoulé.

Leaving Yamoussoukro and heading north into the districts were we work, there are tons of weavers (always boys and men, I've never seen a girl do it) on the side of the road:
They sit in these loom/contraptions and weave ~5 inch wide swaths of fabric.
The swaths are then sewn together to make the pagnes. Here are the ones I've bought (so far...)
They are pretty heavy (when I was sick I used one as a blanket) but a lot of people here use them to make clothes (which I can't imagine because it seems like it be really hot).
This is my favorite because it is made from a bunch of different swaths. It's like a leftover piece but I think it's the coolest.

more pagne

This one has kinda dragon looking like things: Cool colors:

This one reminds me of fruit:

MJ

These are the minibuses that people use to travel between here, Burkina Faso, Mali and all over. I think I've mentioned before, a lot of the commercial cars and trucks are decorated with pictures and sayings. These passenger cars often have pictures of famous soccer players on them, I've seen a lot with Obama, and then today: Michael Jackson! From the looks of it, this could have been an Obama bus, redone w/ Michael Jackson...

out and about in Yamoussoukro

Much love to our US President

more field experiences...

This week I've been out the field, visiting our nearly finished health center rehabs. We've been going to the villages, doing the formalities with the chiefs and village leaders, and then touring the rehabs with ministry of health workers who check to see if the buildings meet country standards (one of which is that the building is painted blue and white to a specific height).
These are my first sur terrain missions that actually feel sur terrain, as I'm getting to meet the nurses and midwives and the beneficiaries, like these kids:
As part of the formalities, we sit in front of the village elders, give introductions and les nouvelles, thank you's all around. In the villages, most of the people don't speak French, so there's always some translation going on. For one of the traditional greetings in this area, the elders stand in front of us and repeat something in Baoulé while showing their palms to us, every time they repeat the greeting we respond by saying "yo". I have to figure out what it is they're saying, but the yo's kind of crack me up.

After our first visit we were offered palm wine. You can't really say no to any offer and it was my first opportunity to drink some so I was excited. I got a lot of laughs for taking this picture:
After our second day of visits, we were given a goat:
I'm excited to see what we'll get tomorrow!