Oct 19, 2019 - October 8th 2019 - Korogho, Cote d'Ivoire

Yesterday we drove to Korogho in Cote d'Ivoire, our usual meal at the Maquis of bbq fish, and local beer. Today we were up early to go with our local guide to visit a quarry where the men chip away at the granite, first of all building fires under an overhang till a huge piece drops off then chipping this into smaller pieces which the women eventually carry away in baskets on their heads (2 per person, which takes two of them to lift it up onto her head) to a waiting truck. All for around $2.50 per day. We then walked up to the "sacred...

Oct 9, 2019 - October 7th 2019 - Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire

Today drove from Grand Bassam to Yamoussoukro, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire since 1983, a distance of 240km. Although it's the capital it has no major official buildings like embassies, just very wide roads and the amazing Basilica de Notre Dame de la Paix. Originally a village of around 500 people and called Ngokro, it was chosen as the then President, Felix Houphouet-Boigny was born in the area. On the way we stopped to see latex harvesters working on the side of the road. A few language difficulties and we are not sure if the latex is...

Oct 6, 2019 - October 5th 2019 - Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire

This morning we first went to the Cathedral of St Paul in Abidjan - quite a modern one designed by Italian Aldo Spiritom and built in the 1980's with magnificent stained glass windows depicting missionaries arriving in Africa, St Paul going to Rome etc. Beautiful. Leaving town and heading east, we encountered a procession on the road, many people dressed in hessian sacks and with ash plastered over their faces - apparently a religious procession but that's all we could find out. We then drove the 45km or so to Grand Bassam, the colonial...

Oct 3, 2019 - October 3rd 2019 - Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Arrived safely in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire after around 36 hours travelling. Our good friend Harber was waiting at the airport to pick us up and the first stop was the Guinea Embassy to organise our Guinea visas, which should be ready by tomorrow. Back to our very comfortable local hotel for a beer and meal and we are all off to bed early to recover from the long flights Now Friday and back to the Guinea Embassy to check the visa situation - not ready yet so will have to go back later. So we have a morning to play with so it was into the car...

May 28, 2017 - Sunday

I was asked to preach this morning in Pastor Daniel's church. African churches are the best. They brought me up to the front and gave me one of the two thrones to sit on. (Pastor Daniel had the other.) I wanted to dress the part, so I wore the shirt to my African suit. In America, it would look like I was wearing the curtains, but here I fit right in. Well, except for being Le Blanc. The worship was great. Pastor Daniel warned me they were about to start worshiping. No lie...an older lady led the way and they formed a big conga line around...

May 27, 2017 - Saturday

Today was my first day off. I suppose it will be my only day off before leaving for my next stop. I woke up early, but decided to go back to sleep instead of doing my grading for Gateway, grading for the class here, writing a sermon for tomorrow, reviewing the D.Min. prospectus for a candidate I am supervising…well, you get the idea. I probably should have been doing something besides sleeping. Nevertheless, it felt pretty good. Pastor and I went out for breakfast, ending up eating at a French place called, appropriately enough, Paul. We...

May 26, 2017 - Friday at the Embassy

Got up early today. I was supposed to meet the agent at the American Embassy to get my passport today. Woo Hoo! After being in Africa as an undocumented alien for the last week, I was ready to have some documents. The pastor asked me several times if I was ok to go by myself. Sure, I said. Who needs to be be able to speak the language of the people you are working with, right? His driver and I left for the Embassy at 7 a.m. I can't really tell you how we got there. Traffic was horrible, but I get the feeling it always is that time of day....

May 25, 2017 - Class in Africa

After getting back from the American Embassy on Tuesday, I had a couple of hours to teach in the afternoon. It was kind of a blur to me, but I loved that the students were willing to laugh with me about the misadventures rather than be frustrated that we missed so much class. One of them told me, "This is Africa." Ha. I responded, "That may be but the African agents have been nothing but gracious to me. It's the American State Department that created this problem." Sheesh. I was anxious to jump on things on Wednesday. I had asked them to...

May 23, 2017 - Getting Started and YIKES!

So, they tell me not to worry. "We're going to send someone to Interpol to work out whatever the problem is and get your passport." Hm. OK. I walk into class the first day. Everyone stands up and claps for me. Ha! They must have mistaken me for Chris Hemsworth. I always thought we had a similar look. But, seriously, how can I get the Gateway students to do that. OK, guys, I learned this in Africa. Every time I walk into class, you stop whatever you are doing, stand and applaud. I think they would go for it. I liked the class. I often wish...

May 22, 2017 - Getting to Africa

I should have just titled this one, "You Are Never Going to Believe This." Maybe I should start from the beginning. So, Ahn wanted me to teach this class in Africa. I actually love this kind of thing, so I said yes. Then, he wanted me to teach starting May 22. That is really only a problem in that I am required to go to Graduation at Gateway on May 20 and, well, Africa is kind of a long ways. I only found one flight I could take. It departed at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday. Graduation was at 10 a.m. So, as long as Dr. Iorg didn't get too...

Apr 15, 2013 - Abidjan, The Ivory Coast

So my update last week mentioned that I was about to leave Monrovia, heading towards the town of Harper on the border with The Ivory Coast ( Cote d'Ivoire), which I will now abbreviate to IC. I left on the Thursday morning from Monrovia, but rather later than I had planned at 11a.m. As a resut of this it meant that I would not reach Harper, but instead opted for a bush-taxi to the town of Ganta, which is in the north of the country, only 2k from the border with Guinea. I arrived here after an ( thankfully) uneventful journey, at around 4...

Apr 15, 2013 - Odienne to Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire

Monday 14th April, 2013 Odienne to Korhogo, Cote d’Ivoire This morning we were in Odienne in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) finally after our adventures yesterday trying to get across the border from Guinea. We were told that the roads were not bad here so we set off. Shortly after we left, we reached a police checkpoint and were told that we had to return to the town to check in, this time with the military, so we went back with a military person in the truck to accompany us and show us the way. After our leaders met with the brass at the...