Who wants to be shot today?
It’s been a while and some of you were wondering in which hole we’re gnawing our bread. Well, it is still Cote d’Ivoire – not the safest of places but then again there might not be many safe places left these days. So it is in Ivory Coast that Kamiel spends long days doing logistics to help supply peacekeeping troops, six thousand and more to come, to try and keep the peace here, especially during the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile I watch Remi (9 months and five teeth) in her own snaky-Mogli-crawl wriggle after Niko (three years and superb dancing queen), while working on a quirky pregnancy book. The setting is Europe, because in Africa there is not that much fun involved in pregnancies, just listen to Isaka’s story.
He and his new wife are expecting a child. I say new because the former one had a mental problem and died before their first child turned one.
Isaka’s new wife is six months pregnant and has not been near a nurse or ultrasound, but that does not seem too unusual here in Ivory Coast where everything, including healthcare, has gone down the drain, especially since the start of the war three years ago.
Everything seemed to be going well till the day his wife was walking on the street and got trapped in a crowd on the run for a ‘district-clean-up-team’. These axe-wielding men clear the pavements of all illegal traders, varying from women sitting behind wooden make-shift tables to sell oranges (two for 20 cents) to men standing at traffic lights trying to sell carpets (40 $) and stolen watches (4$). Not that they rejoice standing in the heat and dust all day, but when you can’t find a ‘legal’ job, nor a social security system, you have to do something to earn bread for your dozen kids to gnaw on.
As the clean-up people are known to destroy everything in their wake, people tend to panic at the sight of them and run for cover. This does not only mean that baskets with oranges go flying through the air, but also that people fall over each other or get hit by a passing car.
Isaka’s wife did not get run over, no she simple fell into a pothole. The subsequent injuries to her pregnant belly made her start to bleed, so days later when she finally told Isaka and asked him for money to go to the hospital, that’s when he came to see us.
That was two weeks ago. Meanwhile his wife seemed to be doing better after she’d gotten a few injections in the local hospital and taken pills as prescribed. Was it that, or were it the flushings with hot peppers and traditional herbs that she had undergone as well, as advised by her neighbour. Isaka wouldn’t know; but his wife was feeling a lot better, Dieu merci!
The next time we heard from Isaka was when his younger brother had told him that the mother of his late wife had requested that his four year old daughter would come live with her. She was getting older and had difficulty sleeping at night, always thinking about her dead daughter, and having the child near her would surely do her good.
Isaka was unhappy because he knew that his former mother-in-law was very poor and could not provide his daughter with good food. Besides that, his new wife was very fond of the girl and taking very good care of her, bathing her every evening and washing her clothes.
After much thought, Isaka gathered his courage and went to talk to his ex- mother-in-law, explaining her that he could not give her his daughter. The mother, Dieu merci!, seemed to accept this and even wished him good luck with the new baby.
Did she really wish him good luck or did she put a spell on him? Isaka wouldn’t know, but soon after the encounter, his new wife’s grandmother died and when she and some family took a bus to go to the burial five hours from here, they got stopped by bandits.
The bandits did not only take all there was in jewellery, watches, telephones, cash, identity cards and new looking clothes and shoes. They said that they also had to kill at least one of the passengers, as was their custom.
Isaka’s wife and family cried and pleaded with the bandits and asked them a million times forgiveness before God, le grand Dieu, that He blesses you all!
The bandits said that if the passenger themselves could not agree which one of them should die, then they were going to hurt every single one of them.
So all the passengers were beaten up severely, and that’s when we heard again from Isaka. He said his wife was stuck five hours down the road from here, and that she had started to bleed severely again, and this time he did not know how to get any money to her so that she could go to the nearest hospital.
While he was talking, it turned out that his wife’s father was staying in a village not far from there.
“So why doesn’t she ask him for help?” I asked.
Isaka looked alarmed and explained that according to their customs (they belong to the Moree tribe of Burkina Faso), a pregnant daughter can only face her father after certain rituals have been performed. As this had not happened, he was convinced that an encounter would worsen her situation – not only would it worsen the baby’s situation but it would endanger his wife as well.
There was no convincing him otherwise. He just shook his head and smiled unhappily. When I asked what he was going to do instead, he paused for a while and then said he would keep thinking for a solution and that, God willing, he’d find one, tomorrow.
And then he left.
Griet, Abidjan, middle 2005
Meanwhile I watch Remi (9 months and five teeth) in her own snaky-Mogli-crawl wriggle after Niko (three years and superb dancing queen), while working on a quirky pregnancy book. The setting is Europe, because in Africa there is not that much fun involved in pregnancies, just listen to Isaka’s story.
He and his new wife are expecting a child. I say new because the former one had a mental problem and died before their first child turned one.
Isaka’s new wife is six months pregnant and has not been near a nurse or ultrasound, but that does not seem too unusual here in Ivory Coast where everything, including healthcare, has gone down the drain, especially since the start of the war three years ago.
Everything seemed to be going well till the day his wife was walking on the street and got trapped in a crowd on the run for a ‘district-clean-up-team’. These axe-wielding men clear the pavements of all illegal traders, varying from women sitting behind wooden make-shift tables to sell oranges (two for 20 cents) to men standing at traffic lights trying to sell carpets (40 $) and stolen watches (4$). Not that they rejoice standing in the heat and dust all day, but when you can’t find a ‘legal’ job, nor a social security system, you have to do something to earn bread for your dozen kids to gnaw on.
As the clean-up people are known to destroy everything in their wake, people tend to panic at the sight of them and run for cover. This does not only mean that baskets with oranges go flying through the air, but also that people fall over each other or get hit by a passing car.
Isaka’s wife did not get run over, no she simple fell into a pothole. The subsequent injuries to her pregnant belly made her start to bleed, so days later when she finally told Isaka and asked him for money to go to the hospital, that’s when he came to see us.
That was two weeks ago. Meanwhile his wife seemed to be doing better after she’d gotten a few injections in the local hospital and taken pills as prescribed. Was it that, or were it the flushings with hot peppers and traditional herbs that she had undergone as well, as advised by her neighbour. Isaka wouldn’t know; but his wife was feeling a lot better, Dieu merci!
The next time we heard from Isaka was when his younger brother had told him that the mother of his late wife had requested that his four year old daughter would come live with her. She was getting older and had difficulty sleeping at night, always thinking about her dead daughter, and having the child near her would surely do her good.
Isaka was unhappy because he knew that his former mother-in-law was very poor and could not provide his daughter with good food. Besides that, his new wife was very fond of the girl and taking very good care of her, bathing her every evening and washing her clothes.
After much thought, Isaka gathered his courage and went to talk to his ex- mother-in-law, explaining her that he could not give her his daughter. The mother, Dieu merci!, seemed to accept this and even wished him good luck with the new baby.
Did she really wish him good luck or did she put a spell on him? Isaka wouldn’t know, but soon after the encounter, his new wife’s grandmother died and when she and some family took a bus to go to the burial five hours from here, they got stopped by bandits.
The bandits did not only take all there was in jewellery, watches, telephones, cash, identity cards and new looking clothes and shoes. They said that they also had to kill at least one of the passengers, as was their custom.
Isaka’s wife and family cried and pleaded with the bandits and asked them a million times forgiveness before God, le grand Dieu, that He blesses you all!
The bandits said that if the passenger themselves could not agree which one of them should die, then they were going to hurt every single one of them.
So all the passengers were beaten up severely, and that’s when we heard again from Isaka. He said his wife was stuck five hours down the road from here, and that she had started to bleed severely again, and this time he did not know how to get any money to her so that she could go to the nearest hospital.
While he was talking, it turned out that his wife’s father was staying in a village not far from there.
“So why doesn’t she ask him for help?” I asked.
Isaka looked alarmed and explained that according to their customs (they belong to the Moree tribe of Burkina Faso), a pregnant daughter can only face her father after certain rituals have been performed. As this had not happened, he was convinced that an encounter would worsen her situation – not only would it worsen the baby’s situation but it would endanger his wife as well.
There was no convincing him otherwise. He just shook his head and smiled unhappily. When I asked what he was going to do instead, he paused for a while and then said he would keep thinking for a solution and that, God willing, he’d find one, tomorrow.
And then he left.
Griet, Abidjan, middle 2005
posted by Griet at 4:31 PM
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