Home Again — Côte d’Ivoire
June 4th - 11th, 2017
A few months before our trip to Africa we started playing around with the idea of doing an excursion into Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana’s neighbor to the west. Kate and Jamie lived in Abidjan for 6 years, and Jamie was actually born there.
We were leaning against due to visa complications and the 10–12 hour bus trip, until we received an encouraging text from Kate’s mom to take advantage of the opportunity. She was on point. Likely we would have ended up sitting around Kumasi. Grateful for that nudge!
The bus ride ended up being incredibly comfortable — AC, pit stops to pee in mass on the side of the road, and African worship music. It had it all. They even made a stop for us to get off before Abidjan in Samo, so we could catch a ride to Assinie Beach where our host, Lina, a family friend from CI days, stays on the weekend.
Her family’s beach front property is absolutely gorgeous and inviting. Each of us had a little abode with views of the water. At night we explored the pool and found (dead) crabs in it. One day at the beach we even found some other Lebanese weekenders to play a game of beach soccer with — we crushed ’em, thanks to Jamie’s footwork. Kate and I mainly tried to avoided getting hit by the ball.
The property staff have two adorable little kids who would yell at me in french and then run wild. Classic.
During the week in Abidjan we were on a mission to find old haunts and refresh ourselves on Ivorian memories. The Nakhles left CI in 2002 because of dangerous conditions surrounding yet another coup d’état.
Interestingly, Lina lives pretty close to the home of Robert Guéï, the leader of the first coup d’état in 1999 (he was murdered along with his family during the 2002 coup). Since that time, there has been plenty of unrest in the country and it seems as if it’s left a culture of distrust among the Ivorian people.
As we travelled around to different places, we felt that reality in an unpleasant way. Often we were denied entry for security reasons. Another time a new resident in their old neighborhood told us ‘I don’t know’ to several very basic questions like ‘does your house have a pool still’ as Kate tried to connect the dots on homes of old friends. Once a security guard moved to stand in front of us to block our view of the premise.
As annoying as all those interactions were, it was a stark reminder of the blessing of civil peace. So many around the world are forced to always be looking over their shoulder. It’s hard to complain.
Places we visited:
- Nuit de Saigon — the regular Vietnamese joint with Neeeeems
- Groupe Scolaire Jacques Prevert — Kate’s French Elementary School
- International Christian Academy (ICSA)— Elementary School of many friends and location of the weekend softball games and 4th of july celebrations
- CDM — Jamie’s Pre-School and home of Mufasa the turtle
- IFC — The church the Nakhle’s went to and where Kate’s Mom was baptized
- The Golf Hotel — home of the epic elephant swimming pool and the location of many games of tag between Kate, the Adamsons, and the Deckers.
- Old House (sorta) — we found the old cul-de-sac where Kate and Ellie would run around in trash bag clothes (TIA) and got a great pic in front of the newly renovated wall around their old house. Not so lucky at getting inside.
Revisiting the locations of your childhood memories is a bitter-sweet activity. You’ve heard and told endless stories about those places, created a romanticized version in your head, remember everything as much bigger because you were smaller, and the things that really made those memories so sweet — the people and time — if they aren’t there it can feel empty.
We had our moments of missed expectations and frustrations as we tried and failed to get into certain places. Yet, we had some gleaming moments where the memory sparked into life — like Jamie finding Mufasa at CDM and his face lighting up in a big grin. That turtle had an impact!
In addition we created new memories, like our exploration of Parc Banco. After convincing a very annoyed taxi driver to actually drive us a few kilometers into the park / jungle that borders Abidjan, we connected with a local guide who was born and raised on the property. He taught us all about the local activities, we saw a tree snake (tiny and kinda cute) and monkeys (at a very far distance), we were threatened by a vicious centipede and hordes of ants, and enjoyed time outside. Outside is best.
Our host, Lina, was absolutely spectacular. She took us around the city on tours, led us in some yoga sessions (with others), let us crash at her house and play with her dog and cat, Joy and Aniche, and created special moments like dinner out on the lagoon in Assinie. All the while she had a crazy hectic week.
Aside from being an optometrist, starting and running a successful lens producing business, and being a certified Yoga instructor, she spends a significant amount of time helping a non-profit called 1040i that organizes and delivers medical treatment to the bush country in North Côte d’Ivoire. We were able to attend a brunch and even met a little boy who received eye surgery and can now see again. Wow.
Being in Côte d’Ivoire was an opportunity to glimpse into Kate’s history and I’m so glad we went. Not to mention on the way home we headed straight to Kumasi, which entailed switching from the nice, comfortable, AC’d bus in Cape Coast to a Trotro for a five hour ride north. Trotros are vans in which 20+ people and their luggage squish together, people yell at each other in Twi (the local language), and Kate and Jamie leave me to sit in the back between two large African women while they sit in the front seat next to the driver.
Honestly, the trotro was an amazing experience and I loved every second. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this is a primary means of transportation for the majority of people in Africa and just how uncomfortable it was.
We’ve only been back in the US for a couple of weeks and I already feel accustomed to a level of comfort that is so unattainable in most of the world.
Is that a good thing?
