Chocolate, Child labor and Côte d'Ivoire

A while back - ok a long while back - Märy asked me about the child labor question. I have been wanting to answer that a long time now, but I just never got to it.
There has been a lot going on about ethical chocolate and fair trade involving child labor and this specifically in Côte d'Ivoire. (Côte d'Ivoire produces almost half of the world's cocoa)

So here goes:

Yes, Côte d'Ivoire's chocolate plantations probably 'employ' children sometimes. Most African agronomy does in fact.
If you look at this from a Western perspective this might sound shocking, but,

• African children are much more autonomous than Western children and is is not unthinkable that they decide they want to earn some money by picking some cocoa for which they are paid by the kilo. They might do this for their family, or to have some money of their own. This does not necessarily mean they are being forced to work by their family. 
• Mothers sometimes have to work, when the father is MIA, or unemployed, or dead or... and - given that there is no daycare or secundary caregiver, or just because the kids want to tag along - she can bring her kids along for work. It can so occur that the kids help their mother by picking up the cocoa buds that fell on the ground. Again, this doesn't mean they are forced to do so.

Maybe at some plantations here in Côte d'Ivoire kids are being forced to work, I cannot account for every single child in Côte d'Ivoire, but, much of this child slavery discourse is just about the Western world imposing its world view on Africa - again. Probably much of it is also about economic benefit and selling newspapers and getting funds for 'developing' nations.

Westerners cringe at the words 'child labor', but it does not mean the same here as it means over there. Moreover, in Belgium, young children babysit for money, or they do chores at home or for neighbors and relatives. Farm children tend to help their parents out a lot too. Is that child labor? Why would this here be any different? 

Between church and school

There are more churches in this country than schools. Can you imagine that?
Any village even if it only consists of a dozen houses, has their own. If they are a bit larger, they'll also have a mosque and a few christian options. Those churches rise more promptly than mushrooms here.
While people are living in houses mainly built out of bamboo sticks and dirt, the mosques and churches are concrete and brick and windows and paint.
I'm not against religion, to everyone his conviction, but wouldn't these funds be better spent somewhere else?

When I just arrived I met the wife of a Baptist missionary preacher. Their family, and her sister's family lived in San Pedro. The two families combined supported 14 or 15 kids, all with the money of the mission. When I asked her what the mission was doing, I was expecting her to tell me they built schools, wells, hospitals, the lot... Instead, she told me they build churches. I asked her what happened if the church was finished (again expecting her to say they did alfabetising projects, read to children, did information sessions), instead she said: "Well, we just buil one somewhere else".
She also told me she was a nurse and when I asked if she worked here, she simply said it was too dirty here.

About ants and snakes

The little one is scared of ants... Yes, ants! And yes, I am talking about that same little one that once ate wasps and crickets. Whenever she sees an ant she runs away backwards and shouts "femie, femie, mie!, mie!" Which is   'fourmi' and 'mier' both meaning 'ant', respectively in French and Dutch. She's very apt in making things clear as possible, bilingually speaking. Than she also says they are dangerous. Now I have to admit that they are over a centimeter and when they bite, it hurts, and you have trouble getting them off.
She's, luckily, also scared of snakes. And we see a lot of them here! I personally have seen about five or so. But smallish one and the gardener have seen many many more. Just yesterday there was a viper eating a rog inches away from my door.
Cameroon is supposed to be the snake country of the world, yet I had only seen three snakes over there in the two years we lived there. And we did much more unattentive garden walking over there. In our defense, I have to add we had an enormous garden and only acces to a lawn mower once a week - if we were lucky. Here our garden is significantly smaller and we have bought our own lawnmower (that's so grown-up, don't you think?).
But the snakes here in Ivory Coast don't limit themselves to the garden, they crawl into small spaces at the factory, they are on the streets and dirtroads... It's like Cameroonian snakes were more afraid than the ones over here.

News from the trenches

By trenches I mean sandy beaches with coconut palms, of course.

So I'm in bed sick with not-malaria. I hope this not-malaria will pass soon, but at least it gives me a stolen moment to blog a little.

It's supposed to be the dry season over here, but it's been raining at least two days a week now... People are really puzzled. Ever since we moved to Africa, it seems as though the seasons are playing tricks on people. With the no-rain year at Ferme Suisse and the six months neverending-rainy season at Mbongo, I think we'll have had it all... It has quite harsh repercussions for crops, this unpredictable weather.

Our gardener has stepped into a spell and ever since he has these weird lesions on his legs. He hasn't been able to come to work. I just hope he'll be ok. Eventhough they all adhere to some religion or other, they're all still animists to the core.

Stability... for now

The country has stabilized again, for now, since a new government has been established a week ago. At the time all is quiet again, there have been no more marches. People just go on with their daily activities.

I go around San Pedro a lot lately, and am getting to know quite a lot of people. Most of the shops here are owned by women who's husbands are working in the larger companies. Some of them have been here quite a while.

I met a woman today (I had actually met her before, but we only really talked today) who has lived in San Pedro for 12 years now. She owns a little gift and furniture shop. She kept the store open even through the "evenements", and only closed three days!

I went into her shop to buy a doll for DD. I might have to tell you the story behind this: she got a doll for her christmas from her mamie, but it disappeared from the luggage, and I didn't bother to bring my old baby dolls from Belgium. Now she really liked baby dolls,and when we went to Abidjan, that was the first thing she ran to in the toy store. So we decided to buy her one, but cheapskates as we are, we got the cheapest. You can imagine after mothering that baby doll for about an hour, it's arm came off.

Now, three weeks later, that poor doll has no limbs left (some of the dismemberment is to blame on the dog too). So I decided it might be time to get her a better doll.

Meanwhile, little cutie is asking about her mamie and dede a lot, and runs into the back room whenever it is open, to fetch the photoalbum. It really breaks my heart.

Marches end in violence

Whereas the country was really in an uplifting movement, people are now frustrated and in disagreement with what's going on. There was another discours by the prime minister this week, stating that there was a government had yet to be created and people should remain calm.
No more needed to be said to get people on the streets. Before, all were hopeful and the future looked bright... now, nobody knows what is going to happen and elections seem lightyears away.
We left Abidjan yesterday, to find yet another march in San Pedro. In Gagnoua this week a march had a bloody end, with several deaths after police used live ammo to disperse the demonstrators. You really start feeling the tention all around.

It's sad really, people were so hopeful, and ready to take the step towards a bright future. And more sick of the violence and the status quo.
It must have been a great country once. David met a French woman who had lived here before the war. She said she wept when she saw Cote d'Ivoire after all that time. She told him it was such a safe, modern, nice and beautiful country. You could decide to drive off to an animal park in the middle of the night, safety was not an issue. We are now far far away from that.

As far a sthe plantation is concerned, we're still very much spared from all this. The strike has ended peacefully and all is going back to usual.

Trouble in paradise

I haven't been on here for a while, because it's been really busy. I see there's some new followers on there, please leave a comment... It's nice to get some feedback. It's kind of freaky to know so many people read my blog and not to know why or what they are thinking. I can assure you that when someone I vaguely know mentions he or she has been following my blog for an extended period of time, without my knowledge... It's a bit weird. So please just take a minute to leave a comment, tell me what you are thinking.

It has been hectic lately. Hubby had some security consultants over to draw up safety and evacuation plans. Ironically, during their stay (last friday) Gbagbo, Côte d'Ivoire's president had a discours on national television in which he dissolved the government and the electoral commission. He demanded a new government was assigned by monday, but we're now wednesday and there's still no change.

This of course means that the elections, which were planned for march (and had already been postponed previous to this, several times) will not take place. This combined with the recurrent failing of the power network is creating a rather tense atmosphere, but so far the situation remains stable.

Meanwhile at the plantation, we are experiencing a strike. So the women and children have been evacuated to San Pedro, as a preventative safety measure which actually means they're at the pool having a company paid holiday hehe). Hubby and I moved on to Abidjan from there. he's still occupied with the safety consultants.

We are in Abidjan until Saturday and hope that by then the situation on the plantation will be resolved.

I think I might take advantage of the premium internet here in Abidjan to get some pics up.

Greets

L

Trip to Abidjan aftermath

The trip to Abidjan was a bit shorter than we expected. We had been wanting to take the Sophia plane back in the afternoon, but they changed the schedule again and we ended up flying in the morning. So that kind of wrecked our entire shopping. Anyhow, we're already flying back there on Sunday.
We did get to visit V*, which was wonderful after all this time. She's now living in Aboisso. We also did some quick shopping on the road to Bassam, this is a two kilometer long strip of road, with back to back artisanat shops. And prices are quite ok. We're really discovering Abidjan, and it makes me want to visit more of Ivory Coast.

When waiting for the Sophia plane back to San Pedro, I went to the bathroom. Previously, the usual sort of text could be found on the bathroom door. Stating who had been there, who was in love with whom... Yet this time... All text had been replaced with hateful messages against Gbagbo and his regime. Messages enciting violence and hate. It was quite scary, really.

elections... developments...

So I'm not quite sure if I had mentioned it, but the elections that were planned for the end of last year never took place... Nobody quite knows when the elections will happen. Prognosis would be march this year... But who knows?
Yet we are noticing quite some change around here. The hotel we visit often during the weekend (La Baie des Sirenes) is being renovated and this weekend the owner had arrived with a fleet of small aircrafts. There's a new restaurant in Bereby that's quite worthwile. (Maybe I'll finally get to post some pics when I go to San Pedro tomorrow)
San Pedro is evolving too. In the last couple of months, two new supermarkets opened and another is being installed. Sophia Airlines and the Sophia hotel were sold and are being completely revamped (Sophia airlines now even has hostesses and a check in counter, unimagineable). La Canelle was sold and is being renovated. And sadly, one of our favourite restaurants, La Langouste, is now closed.

posting from home

Wondering if I will be able to upload this message, since it is the first time in weeks that I've been able to connect to my blogger account due to crappy African internet.
Holidays are coming up for me, as I am leaving for Belgium with the little one on the 16th. Hubby will be joinging us the 7th of december. Initially we planned my early departure because of the iminent elections, but lately it is becoming clear that they won't be happening. Nothing nis know officially, but unofficially they will be postponed as far as next year. That's what seems logical to us, because so far there has been no talk of candidates, nor are there campaigns.
I will be taking advantage of this extra time in Europe to get somre doctors appointments, spend some time with my family and - to my great joy - prepare Christmas and let Aini have her first Sinterklaas. I'm trying to convince my dad to play Sinterklaas for her. hehe.

All has been quiet this past weeks. Mainly because first Aini had the Flu and then me too. She recuperated much quicker then I did though! Must be the breastmilk.
Next week another expat woman will be joining her husband on the plantation. They have two kids so I'm hoping they'll get along with our daughter, which would give her an extra playmate. (Because she's wearing out our neighbour's little boy!)

The rainy season

It finally started raining a couple of weeks ago... So far so good, we still get some dry moments in between the rains, we still get to see the sun every once in a while. Maryam says the most difficult period is July, there it rains two weeks non-stop. It all seems fine to me (moreover this time we won't be here), I think after last year in Cameroon I can put up with any kind of rainy season and be happy with it.
As every year, we had been longing for the rainy season to come... You can feel it in the air, the waiting... The air gets heavy and dry and hot... The animals start getting impatient and trees and shrubs start looking sad. And once it kicks in, life takes up the pace again.
Funny how thing change so much during the rainy season. There are places you wouldn't recognise. Entire valleys become lakes. I have this hedge surrounding our garden, which was a kind of sad green not so special hedge. Now the rainy season has started, new white and pink leave have grown and it's become a very pretty sight indeed!
Then there's this big tree in my garden (I've posted some pics of it here before) it had these very pale pink blossoms, which now have become candy-cane pink.

A story about a boat

Somewhere during the eighties, a boat stranded in front of the coast at Béréby. A second boat came to the rescue, only to get stuck in return. The decision was made to stop all rescue actions and the boats have been laying on the beach ever since.

Parlez-vous Ivoirien?

Some tips on how to speak Ivorian French:
1. As was custom in Cameroon, when you want to emphasize a word, you say it twice.
Example: ‘Ce piment là; il est long long et jaune jaune?’
2. ‘Le, la, un, une’ are useless words, and we can express ourselves without these.
Example: ‘On va changer porte là.’
3. Place the word 'there' (‘là’) after every noun (see previous examples).

How to talk in Côte d'Ivoire

The French Ivorians speak is a lot harder to understand than the French they spoke in Cameroon. Who ever thought that was possible?
First of all, most people speak with a serious lisp. And then there are the funny ways of expressing themselves!
A little anecdote:
I was questioning Maryam about the beautician she found me. The girl is living in the ‘cite cadres’, so I asked if she was married to one of the ‘cadres’.Maryams answer was: ‘Elle a fait un enfant pour le fils de madame xx.’