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| Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire) with Abidjan on the coast |
During this week, a workshop was held in
Abidjan, Ivory Coast (5.3N, 4W) to address climate change and air quality. Young West African scientists and PhD students
were there to learn how to use a regional climate model and apply it to
relevant problems in their countries.
Lecturers from West Africa, Europe, Africa and the US (I and another brilliant scientist from
Texas) were invited to give lectures and to help generate ideas for the
students and promote collaboration. I
have been to Abidjan once in the 1990s but was confined to the airplane as it
refueled and picked up new passengers. Abidjan
lies on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and is approximately
4000 miles from Washington DC. Ivory
Coast was subject to the forces of Slavery because of its proximity to the
ocean and then colonized by the French.
There are 6 million people that live in the city of Abidjan,
with approximately 40% Christianity, 40% Islam and 20% traditional
religions.
Because of the large numbers of cars and people, the traffic
is horrible. It makes DC look like an
easy commute. The city is so large and
there are lagoons running through the city. But there is something else about Abidjan that seems to trouble the heart and mind.
When I was doing a Fulbright in Senegal, during 2003/2004 I heard about the Ivory Coast
because of the conflict between those in the North and the south where much of the wealth was at.
This was the first civil conflict that ended by 2006. Over time a second full-blown conflict developed 2010 when
the incumbent president Gbagbo lost the elections but
would not leave. Ultimately this lead to the ouster of the President in 2011 by
the winner of the election and his armed forces. There were reports of people being killed in
Abidjan and nearby towns during the conflict.
The first thing
that I noticed when I was riding around in Abidjan was the large number of fences at the
various houses. Upon closer inspection I saw that there were
barbed wires or electrified fences around houses. I also saw soldiers and many police in town,
as if something was about to kick off.
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| A gated house with Barbed Wires |
Then I began to look at bigger gates that seemed to
house neighborhoods. Essentially I was
looking at gated neighborhoods. People
in the US talk gated neighborhoods in an exclusive type of way, where expensive
houses and wealthy folks live. This is
different. The gated neighborhoods in
Abidjan represent a type of fear that I can only imagine. I asked a student who lived in Abidjan
during the the conflict why these neighborhood were gated. She told me that after the president had been
taken from the country by the French (UN) before being captured by opposing
army, everyone was so afraid. I was also
told that large numbers of weapons in the civil conflict had gone unaccounted
for and that many people had guns in their house. Again, this may not seem so different than
what happens in the US, but it is. In
many African countries, guns are outlawed and so it breaks a peace of mind to
know that violent crimes may be constrained.
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| A gated neighborhood in Abidjan |
I spoke to other young people and they told me that you
could not talk about the current government leaders around party members
without something bad happening to you.
So there is a fear that still creeps around the city. We are told not to be out at night. The size of the city makes me imagine what
the last days were like before the President was captured. People were running from place to place for
cover. The student also told me that she
and her family had to flee. They had
only 2 weeks of food, which eventually ran out and they had to go out into
danger to find food. I have a very
vivid imagination of this scene.
There is also stark poverty in the city. Yesterday I went to see the family of a
friend from Dakar. The level of
poverty was like a hard slap in the face.
Look I have seen poverty up close and person in the US and Africa but
sometimes the poverty in Africa just crushes your soul.
The people have nothing.. They live in small shacks and the seeing the
children makes me wonder about their fate.
Even so, there is happiness and people invite you into their homes and
that humanity is at the core of who we are.
The sad thing is that all around this neighbor are high-rise buildings
and you can see all of the traffic on the highway. The contrast between blatant poverty and
wealth are light night and day. I felt
both helpless and angry and wanted to do something but I don’t know where to
direct my anger or what to do because it seems so overwhelming.
So will there be another conflict in the Ivory Coast. The conditions are all there for something
else to kick off. However, there one
opposing force that is greater than all of the weapons that the police or army
may have. That is hope. The young scientist will help to rebuild
their country’s knowledge base. They
will serve their purpose out fixing what has been broken. The government shut the university down for
two years after the conflict ended. They
have rebuilt it through will and partnership with private industry. The campus is so beautiful and students are
hoping to return back to the university in November. With hope there must be education and their
must be discussion about the hurt that the civil war caused.
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| The Engineering Center where computer model training sessions took place |
Eventually there must be reconciliation and
the guns must be turned in, the electrified fences and barbed wires must come
down, the guards must leave the gated communities and the Sun must shine on
every single person in the Ivory Coast.
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| The hope for a brighter day: Young Ivorian Scientists |
