Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission

Fishermen Friends at the Beach near Gonzague

We planned a picnic at the beach today. Our time in Abidjan is nearing an end. After this week, we will only have one more week here before we return home in September. We are feeling a little panicky about leaving. I’m trying to memorize every place and every face I see, so I can take these memories with me when we go.

Today we had to do some mission work at the bank at the mall. We picked up burgers at Burger King on the way out and then we drove about 20 minutes to the beach south of Abidjan on the road to Grand Bassam. We’ve been trying to go to the beach since we got here. Today was the day!

We ate our lunch in the car on the side of the road before hiking down to where the water meets the land. You can’t see the edge of the shore from the road, it drops down a bit. We were excited to see the waves and the surf.

We first stopped by an area where we always see fishermen and their boats. I wanted to meet them and learn about their work here.

Aside from these young fishermen, the beach was empty of people. Africans don’t go sunbathing!

The beach wasn’t very clean here. This area isn’t part of the beach renovation project farther down the road where they are cleaning and landscaping the beaches with walkways and kiosks.

It’s not hard to make friends here. People seem happy when you show an interest in them. We met a young man, maybe 20 years old or so, who had his own boat. There were about a dozen young men lounging around and in the boats, resting, sleeping, relaxing. We learned they fish from 3:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. when the waters are clear and they can see the fish. They use nets. It reminded me of the fishermen in the Sea of Galilee. One of the boats had an old beat up old refrigerator box in the boat to hold the fish. There were about a dozen boats. Some had names or messages painted on them like “Dieu donne” (God gives). One was labeled “The Blood of Jesus, Amen.” Another was “God is One.”

When we asked what kind of fish they catch, our friend showed me some pictures in his phone of his catch yesterday (he airdropped them to me). He was holding a huge Yellowfin tuna that hung from his shoulders down below his knees. There were also buckets of fish they’d hauled in. Most were 10 to 12 inches long. I’d say fish is the most-eaten meat here. They love it and stew it in their sauces or dry it and add dried fish to their sauces. The fish are gutted, then usually just chopped into top half and bottom half, head, tail and all and cooked in the sauces.

This is yesterday’s catch–a beautiful Yellowfin tuna!

These young men have already put in a full morning’s work. They were resting now in the shade of their boats, waiting for the next trip out into the waves to drop their nets.

We drove down the road a ways to where the beautification project was underway. These are the new coastal walkways there.

Ahh, the beach. So calming and relaxing. The waves soothe the soul.

A New Sewing Business in our Neighborhood

This evening as we walked into our neighborhood we noticed a new little sewing shop has opened near our apartment. The small room was lit up and 10 sewing machines were in place. Several of the seamstresses were still working. I love to sew and I love to watch others sewing. These ladies welcomed us into their shop and showed me the clothing items they were working on.

It’s amazing to me that the seamstresses here, both men and women, work without patterns. They have a measuring tape and scissors. And with those tools, they create dresses and clothing of every kind. They are so skilled.

Outside the shop, working on a table, these ladies were cutting and ironing. The fabrics are beautiful.

I’m excited to have more seamstresses as neighbors and sad we won’t be here much longer to get to know them better.

Visiting the Petit Bassam Apartment

We visited Elder Ewell and Elder Hansen today in Petit Bassam. Both have been feeling a little under the weather. We wanted to check the condition of their apartment to see if anything there might be causing them to not feel well.

Our fearless missionaries!

The Elders had moved out of the bedroom when they found some mold growing in there.

John is standing in the door to the kitchen, perhaps the smallest kitchen in the mission! It’s a small triangular room with enough space for one person at a time.

Study areas:

Eating table:

The bedroom with the mold:

We’re working on getting these Elders well again. We want everyone in a safe and clean apartment.

No Umbrella, No Shade

While we were all engrossed by the men breaking into the apartment and the ladies cooking, this young man was downstairs fixing a broken umbrella. The umbrella is one of the most important possessions of a street vendor. No umbrella, no shade!

While he worked with the spokes, we had no idea what he was making or doing. They looked like a mess of broken spider legs. Then it all came together in the end.

In This Port Bouet Neighborhood

These happy children surrounded me this afternoon while we were in this Port Bouet neighborhood. I love the late afternoons here when people are out and about and the children play. This is a simple good life and I am happy to be here.

These cute girls were helping in a ladies shop, selling lotions, skin and hair care products.

These boys were doing the rooster dance!

I love laundry hanging in the warm sun. I love the work it represents and the memories it brings of my own childhood clotheslines in our backyard.

I’ve shown this photo twice already–once to show where the women worked to prepare their food up on the top floor, once to show the man below fixing the umbrella, and now so you can pay attention to the laundry hanging from the apartments. This is real life here.

My new friends:

Food Preparation and a Family Restaurant in Port Bouet

Today while the men worked on entering the neighboring apartment, I visited with these beautiful mothers who were busy preparing food for this evening. When I saw the amounts they were preparing on their small stoop outside their apartment door, I asked them how many would be eating. “Ohh, BEAUCOUP, BEAUCOUP!!” they told me (many many!). I learned that they were cooking food they would sell down on the street this evening to people passing by. They had a little street restaurant and every evening, starting at 6:00 they feed passersby.

One mama was preparing a huge pot of rice. She used some oil, bullion, onion and salt, cooking the dry rice over the fire for awhile before adding a bucket of water.

The other mama was pounding cassava (manioc) to make foutou. First the pieces of cassava are steamed or boiled, then any dark parts were trimmed off before the pounding. She pounded small amounts at one time, until the cassava was a sticky paste.

After the cassava was pounded, she brought out a pot of already pounded plantain. These two were mixed together and pounded some more until they were uniformly mixed.

Then this foutou was formed into smooth balls, ready for someone’s meal. The first customer of the evening (I later noticed) was an older lady. She ordered 4 of these balls, covered with sauce and a piece of tripe, and she ate them all herself!

These are the beautiful children who were helping their mothers. They remembered the missionaries who used to live next door and they were looking forward to their return. They will be disappointed the missionaries won’t be moving back here.

Besides the huge pot of rice and the foutou, the ladies were cooking two large pots of sauce. One pot had meat in it–boef feet (cow), tripe and fish. The other pot had mostly pureed vegetables–eggplant, tomato, onion and peppers. Customers can choose what they’d like served over their rice or foutou. the meals cost between 4,000 and 7,000, depending on what combination they order.

Here is the fish that went into the meat pot.

The children showed me where their mothers’ restaurant was down by the street.

This is the dishwashing area.

The tables and benches were locked up with a chain and padlock until it was time to set things up.

The family restaurant waiting to open!

Before 6:00 the women started carrying down the dishes and serving ware.

Unlocking the tables and benches.

Then the hot heavy pots of food were carried down the 4 flights of stairs.

We had to leave before things got really busy down here on the street. Watching these women work and visiting with them was my favorite part of the day. They were lovely and the children were delightful. It’s easy to make friends here. I was sad to say goodbye to these women this evening. They work so hard to provide for their families. I hope everyone enjoys the food!

Here is the apartment building. The ladies were cooking on the left side at the top of the stairs behind the board.

Visiting an Abandoned Missionary Apartment in Port Bouet

Here’s what happens when an apartment was evacuated because of COVID (probably in March 2019) and then forgotten for more than a year! This apartment was in the Abidjan West Mission back then, then it was moved into our East Mission when the Grand Bassam Stake was re-organized a few months ago. Today we went to have a look.

The apartment keys were stolen last week when Fr. Oro’s car was broken into, so we had to hire a hit man (hit the lock until it broke). It took about 30 minutes to break and pry through the iron gate, and then to break down the wooden door with the deadbolt.

We finally got in! This is Fr. Oro, our Mission’s physical facilities man. He takes care of all of the apartments and what’s in them. It’s a huge job.

The beautiful view to the east from the apartment:

Once inside, we could see that the apartment was actually quite occupied all this time–by MICE!!

The kitchen has a lovely view of the ocean and the breeze from the windows was better than AC!

After the inspection we left instructions for someone to come install a new lock on the door to keep the things inside safe until we move them out. We took the fridge, stove and a few things with us today. We’ll be saying goodbye to this apartment. There were just too many holes in the roof and too much mold. The neighbors are so sad the missionaries won’t be returning here.

You can learn more about these kind neighbors in my next very interesting post!

Another Coup d’Etat in Mali Yesterday

Yesterday there was trouble in Bamako. We are still in Abidjan. We’re not sure if this will affect our return to Bamako next week or not. We hope not.

Here’s an interesting look at how often governments in Africa change:

From Church Security:

Mali’s interim vice president, Colonel Assimi Goita, confirmed on Tuesday, May 25, that he had seized power on Monday after the transitional president and prime minister failed to consult with him about the formation of a new government. Goita also led the August coup in 2020. This latest takeover occurred when two of the coup leaders were dropped from their government posts in a cabinet reshuffle. Goita has said that elections will be held next year as planned. President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouana were taken to a military base outside the capital on Monday evening following their arrests.

The coup has met with swift condemnation from the UN, EU, and regional countries. There is fear the situation could worsen instability in Mali, where Islamist groups with links to Al Qaeda and Islamic State control large areas of the north and center of the country. The militant groups stage frequent attacks on the army and civilians. (Reuters)

CSD Comment and Analysis:
Based on reports from sources in Bamako [that would be the reports we shared from Anounou an Sekou and Abram], the situation has remained peaceful with the population waiting to see what will happen. The U.S. Embassy in Bamako urged U.S. citizens to remain indoors as the situation clarifies. CSD recommends that missionaries continue to shelter in place through Tuesday and reassess the situation on Wednesday. Any significant fighting or violence is unlikely at this point.

Abidjan Temple Progress

It’s so fun to see the progress on the temple here. We are still far from completion–they’re saying maybe April next year for a completion date. Every day a little bit more progress is made. Here’s what it looks like today.

More and more of the stake center parking lot and grounds are fenced off. I have to hold my camera over these tin walls to take these pictures–I can’t see what I’m taking until afterwards!

This is the Distribution Center next to the Stake Center.

And this last shot is the view from our apartment window in the evening. We love seeing Moroni heralding the people of Cote d’Ivoire.

District Meetings in Cocody

Tuesdays are District Meeting days. Everyone in the mission meets with their district to review their week, their goals, and their experiences. These meetings are always fun and interesting. Today we attended our Cocody District with the office Elders.

We had a great discussion about PMG ch. 6 focusing on love and charity for all.

Here’s our neighbor district. They met across the hall from us.

The missionaries are really excited about the EnglishConnect program that was rolled out last zone conference. Everyone can take up to an hour a day to study English. When they come to the church, they can download the lessons and assignments in their phones.