And now back to our regular programming
©km
I was just writing to an old friend who found me on LinkedIn. I met Lisa on a trip to Europe in 1994 - she was a travel agent at the time, from Australia, and we kept in touch over the years. The last I heard from here she was driving dump trucks for a mining company in Aus. I can't even remember when that was. Anyway, I remembered I had this blog since I seem to have forgotten about it since then. Actually life has been so hectic since then, it's only recently I've had time to slow down anyway.
 
Backing the story up, back to April when I last wrote: Ben and I went to France for 2 weeks, we met my mom there. We had a fantastic trip altho, as per my usual I packed too much in and we were beat by the end of it. Having no real idea what Ben would have liked to see, I didn't know how much time to put in where. We didn't have a lot of flexibility partially because my mom likes to have a fixed agenda. We bought a rail pass for flexibility but she wanted to make reservations anyway! Turned out to be a good thing because it was Easter vacation for france and the one trip we didn't reserve was full so we had to buy tickets anyway.
 
While we were away, more groups got on the "shooting in the air" bandwagon, including the municipal police, the customs agents and others. Was just as glad to miss out on that. When we came back in May there was another rebellion in Bobo which was much worse. We saw the troups leave Ouaga and were concerned - we didn't know if they were going to help or to fight. Turns out they went to control the situation - it was an all out for 3 days in that city. The rebels were actually going into people's homes and stealing, as well as dragging women out into the street to rape them. The Ouaga squads surrounded the garrison and took over - anyone who fought them were killed, anyone who was missing from the garrison at the end of the day was hunted down. They say all the weapons were recovered but I'm not so sure. At the end, across the country, over 600 soldiers (no officers) were court-marshalled, some 123 put in prison and about 50 were executed. Some officers were demoted for lack of controll of their troups. The actual death toll of non-military was about 6, a couple were children hit by stray bullets.
 
It's been quiet since then but not forgotten. For Dwahli (spelling), some Indians here had a party and were setting off fireworks. Not knowing what it was, several bars shut their doors and sent everyone home. There is still a strong sense of mistrust for the military and really this is far from over. I expect we'll see some form of rebellion again soon, if not from the military. The student uprising of last Feb was also appeased as the police who were responsible for the death of that student were given 15 years in jail. Justice seems to have been served, but we'll see. We get to relive the shooting regularly as the mosque near my house apparently was recording their call to prayers on the day of the shooting so the mueszzin now blares out "Allah Akbar" (described to me as meaning God is very big) with the sound of shots being fired in the background. Fitting in some respects.
 
Benny was in Canada July and August, I decided to stay here for a variety of reasons including that I was completely exhausted. July was insane as Steve my boss was here the whole month and again stood me on my head. Although he brought me another expat, Dave, which has since made my life and my job SO much easier. I again have confidence that the technical side is being taken care of. Andrews was just way too busy. We're slowly getting there. I managed to get all our outstanding accounts to 60 days and under.
 
August Loren came home from his job in Fada, for which I am very grateful. He got sick with a liver problem and was home a lot. Then I got sick early Oct - malaria, typhoid fever and a lung infection, and was off for a week. It actually took several weeks to recover as the medication I was on gave me an allergic reaction and horrible headaches. I got more meds that made me stoned and gave me more allergic reactions. I'm really just starting to feel normal this past week. I don't remember feeling that horrible in a long time. I wanted to cut my head off! I can definitely feel for people who have chronic pain - I can't imagine wanting to live with that!
 
We are coming home at Christmas. Derek and Myriam are currently in Canada - Myriam managed to convince Derek that it was important for his children, if not for him, to know their family in Canada. And by some miracle he agreed. I equally said to Loren that I would really like him to meet my family and friends. He couldn't do the same time as Derek, so he chose Dec/Jan as the time to go. Again miracles do happen. So we're in Vancouver Dec 11 - 16, Regina Dec 16 - 21, Winnipeg Dec 22, Toronto Dec 23, Ottawa Dec 24 - Jan 6, Guelph/NF/Toronto Jan 7 to 14. Whirlwind I know. Guaranteed I'll be exhausted when we come back. My cousin is coming back with us and staying for 2 weeks as she promised Ben that she would come for his birthday. So we'll do Nazinga one weekend and we'll see what else we can fit in.
 
I have renewed my contract with Steve/HGS. It's a 2 year contract, but we'll see. Things are going well and I have a series of projects to accomplish to get us into steady state. We'll see where things go from there. Yes for those of you that are better in math than I am, that makes 4 years, not a 1-year sabbatical. Given the political situation in Canada and the US, I see no point in returning to the government. And although I have all these new found skills as an office manager, these are Africa quality skills and are only so transferable to the Western world where running by the seat of your pants is generally frowned upon. I mean if I just put it on my resume it would look really good. Within 2 years took an exisiting business of about $250k US per year with 2 remotely managed employees to $1.5M per year with 17 locally-managed employees; developed and implemented all procedures including accounting, importations, stock and inventory, training/evaluation/performance. Well, almost anyway, that's the next project is to get all of that written down. That and our first audit. I've learned a lot and done a lot, I mean when I compare beginning to end, it just doesn't feel like I'm anymore knowledgeable! And I still feel like I'm going by the seat of my pants!
 
I think that is the real next thing to learn - how to stay on when things go into steady state. I've always been a projects person, I stay for the project and then hand it over. So it will be interesting to see when I get to steady state, if I will stay or if I will get itchy feet and want to move on to the next thing to learn. Then again I was thinking perhaps it might be useful to get some of the education that normally goes with the position I hold, like an MBA or some thing. We'll see - I just bought MBA for Dummies as an ebook. we'll see if that helps LOL.
1 comments | | edit post
Scare of my life
©km

Sunday April 17, 2011

Thursday at noon, I got a call from Ben's teacher to pick him up. They had gone swimming so weren't at the school but that the school had been attacked again by striking students and it wasn't safe for them to return. Thursday was the day of the funeral of one of the six students who were killed in the original demonstrations back in Feb. The police/military had suppressed that one fairly violently, 6 students were killed and many more injured. This girl was 16 I think, though most of them were university students. How demonstrating at other schools, and injuring young children helps their cause, I'm not sure. Pauline said a girl in her daughter's class, age 6, was hit in the head with a rock and is in critical condition in hospital. Where kids today in Canada are learning lock down procedures, so kids in Burkina schools are learning to get under their desks and cover their heads should the school be attacked by strikers. Given this is something that happens every year in December, it's an important skill to learn.

The rest of the day was normal. We packed to leave for Fada the next day and Ben went off to bed at 9:30, since he had no school the following 2 days – he left his bag at school with no way to recover it til Monday so he had no homework either. The power had been out, so he asked to sleep on the porch, but he got up when the power came back because he was getting bitten by black ants (I am glad he did!). I started to work out around 10:30. I heard gunfire in the distance, wasn't sure what it was for. Assumed it was police dealing with striking students after the day's events. Then just as I was nearly finished, I heard a gunshot fired into my house. I dropped to the floor in the hall away from windows. The sound was in my bedroom, I heard it strike the window louver, the ceiling, the wall, and drop to the floor. I crawled around the house, shutting off lights and fans, closing window louvers and shutting Ben's door. There was no more sound for about 20 minutes… and then it started - all different kinds of weapons being fired into the air. I chanced a look outside and watched the red fireworks blazing in the sky. Needless to say I didn't sleep much, and certainly not in my room which faces the front of the house. They would come and go until 6:30 in the morning sometimes it would be quiet for 20 minutes only to start again right in front of the house.

The next day, I slept instead of going to work. Some people couldn't make it because roads were blocked and military were stealing cars I was told. Later I would find out how extensive the damage was in town (see article below). I told Ben he was not to go out, his friends could come in the court and play but he was not to leave the yard. Ben asked to go buy bissap (a juice) just 100 yards from the house, I agreed but said he must come back directly. 30 min later he's still not home so Eliza and I went looking for him. He had stopped at a friend's house and was playing. I was furious, and for better or worse, I gave him the lowdown of what's going on and why I need him to listen to me – I've never seen his eyes so big. He chose to watch tv the rest of the morning which was fine by me. I slept from 9am til 1pm. When I woke up and went outside to see my neighbours, I saw a fire truck at the end of the street. I went to Mahdou's house – he's a retired military, used to be a driver for the President (although he doesn't actually have a license, go figure).  Turns out, at noon, soldiers came again on our street, shooting into the air, terrorizing the people there, clearing a space so they could burn down the house at the end of the street. The last 3 houses (mine is the 5th house) on my side are all lived in by colonels in the military. Fortunately no one was home in any of those houses. It took the fire department 4 hours to put the fire out. Given it's a concrete block house, that was some fire.  

Ben came out to play with his friends and over to see the fire. They were the unfortunate witnesses of a soldier stepping on to the hard top at the end of our street and direct his pistol at an oncoming car. The car of course screeched to a halt and the boys all ran for their lives into my courtyard, terrified. The soldier stole the car and took off.

I wanted to leave for Fada, as it seemed quieter but heard that the military were stealing vehicles on many roads, and I was advised to stay put by Loren and the Canadian consulate. All was quiet Friday night, in our neighborhood but still hot in others. All of this was apparently because some soldiers didn't get their extra lodging and food allowances in their pay on Thursday. These soldiers were actually the Special Presidential guard. They actually mutinied, storming and breaching the Presidential palace. The President escaped without harm, to his downtown office, then to his village 25km outside of town. He returned Friday morning as he had a meeting with the UN Secretary General in the afternoon.

Saturday, the merchants whose businesses were trashed and looted on Friday took to the streets. To their credit they stole absolutely nothing. They broke into and trashed the President's political party office, the National Assembly, burning public transit buses, and vehicles in the mayor's office yard. Compared to what the soldiers did the day before, this was nothing. They were eventually dispersed by municipal and national police who barricaded the other political buildings. Much of the downtown area looks like a war zone. Even the Marina Market, the grocery store I usually go to here in my neighborhood, stood blackened and quiet today as I passed it (trashed by soldiers on Friday). I was stunned when I saw it. I've been going to that place since I lived here before. I know many of the people who work there personally, and now they will not have work for many months until the chain can get the place cleaned up. The ladies who sold fruit outside, their stands trashed and scattered.

The President dissolved the government Saturday and declared curfew for Ouaga. He immediately set about replacing all the heads of the armed forces, chiefs of staff, state etc, in land, air and special forces military. The Prime Minister has stepped down (he was put in power in November 2010). None of this stopped the fighting. This is after the President just spent every day for the last 2 weeks (since the last problem) meeting with every branch of the armed forces to discuss what their issues are and getting them resolved. Ironically, the afternoon of the 14th, he had met with the final group and the issue was considered resolved.

Benny is showing signs of stress; general listlessness, not enjoying any of his activities, looking glum. We spent some time talking about how he felt; being here instead of Canada, the stress and worry of what was happening, what he missed and what he liked being here; and praying last night. He was sick with stomach pains in the night – with vomiting and diarrhea so I think that was part of it. Today, Sunday, he seemed in better spirits.  

There is a tense calm in the city. There was more violence in Po, near the Ghana border, same thing but no one knows why. Perhaps the soldiers felt left out of the last 2 months of revelry by their counterparts in different cities. Who knows.

http://www.lobservateur.bf/spip.php?article16213

If you load the Google toolbar it has a tab for Translate and will translate the whole story into English in about 30 seconds. It's not the best translation, parts won't make any sense, but the article gives a good blow by blow recount of what happened the last 3 days in town.   

Monday April 18, 2011

Went to work today, tired as I didn't sleep at all last night. There was just too much going on and I couldn't see the sense in what was happening. None of it made sense and in my exhausted state I somehow came to the conclusion that these people weren't rational, were capable of nearly anything so I was going to stay up and protect myself and my son. I have the bag I packed for Fada ready to go and if that meant driving through curfew, so be it. Why I'm still up now, at nearly midnight is beyond me.

It's supposedly over. The group that started this recent round is calling to their military brethren to stop the madness, providing a public apology for the "inconvenience" caused. Now that they got what they want, others should be sensible. I have not a doubt in my mind that they had right to be angry with the government – 10 000s of soldiers losing just $15 from their pay – when you are probably only paid maybe $200/mo anyway, the question of where all that money went? But exactly where did shooting through the night, injuring people, stealing cars, tvs, phones, computers, alcohol, etc, looting stores, raping women, taking passports of tourists and sowing complete chaos, while allowing bandits to terrorize and roam free, help your cause?

But they're on a roll. I don't see that this is going to stop if meeting with the President for him to hear all your concerns and having them met isn't going to prevent this sort of thing.

The divide has opened between military and the public, the government and the students, the merchants and the justice system. No one is happy. Everyone is tense and tired and edgy. This isn't a quick heal. There is still much gangrene to be painfully cut out before the healing can begin. What reassurance is there to the public that their security is provided for? What gets put in place to prevent money from going missing or minimizing violence at demonstrations? What retribution will there be for the crimes committed? What possible way will the government soften the blow of price increases that have/WILL result from this, especially on the poor (better than half the 14 million in the country) who will be hit hardest? Gas was 642 (about $1.40/L) on Wednesday last week. Today it was anywhere from 682 to 1500 per L. My Hyundai I10 sewing machine on wheels with a 30 L tanks costs nearly $50 to fill already. Bread went up from 125 to 150 over the weekend, more than it's gone up in the last 10 years. At least so far, staples appear to be consistent. The trust that was so tenuous before is gone now.

Saturday April 23, 2011

Things are calmer, as people wait to see what happens. The RSP apologized for the "inconvenience" they caused which is to say they started it but it wasn't them going around looting – which I understand to be true from various sources. It's understood that this situation was created out of Blaise's desire to not see the military style problems of the Arab world come to his door. He was in fact, bribing the Chief of Staff of the army to not start a coup d'etat. But the military, non-commissioned soldiers were being marginalized – they have to pay for their own uniforms and had a fee deducted from their salary every month. They were losing about 1/5 of their salaries and 65 million CFA per year coming from them was going to officers, who are living in nice houses, driving nice cars. The chief of Staff was known for his blatant showing off of his wealth to soldiers, rubbing it in their faces as it were. So what started as a legitimate issue, got out of hand quite quickly and as other non-commissioned soldiers caught fire, it was directed the wrong way. In fact many of the places they looted were actually directed at officers as well, most of them being owned or financed by the heads, like the Chief of Staff. It just got out of control and other places that were nearby were hit as well. Why they burned down the Marina Market in my neighborhood, I'm still not sure – it was the only place in my neighbourhood that was hit. I understand that actually the military broke in and it was civilians who looted and eventually burned it because of the security cameras.

None of this justifies it in my thinking and probably in the thinking of a lot of civilians, but it has brought some of the solidarity back between them. Most people understood the problem and so weren't terribly surprised when certain people's houses were burnt down (apparently the Mayor had called the military "thieves" which is why they attacked him, last round. They were caught on camera making him say that the military were not thieves, over and over).

The President has named himself as Minister of Defense which is interesting. We'll see what these changes bring about. But I think the President is caught in a place of his own making that he's going to have a hard time extricating himself from: he can either make the people happy and get rid of the corruption and graft, or he can make his cronies happy and keep things the way they are. If the people are unhappy, he will have a civil war on his hands. If he stops the graft, what will the extremely wealthy of this country do to him? One of those people, the most notorious of them, is his younger brother. The plot thickens.

Meanwhile, there is still curfew, which is being strictly enforced. So I sleep well at night knowing, I need to get it in before the next part starts, and that for the moment at least, I can.  

0 comments | | edit post
April Fools! Poisson d'avril - (April Fish jokes) - this one was stinky!
©km

This has to be the meanest April fools joke I've ever seen. Apparently the curfew WASN"T over on Friday - it just ended today in fact. But there was someone texting people and telling people it WAS over. There were apparently some 350 people arrested on Friday in Ouaga for being out after curfew. Not sure where they put them all.

1 comments | | edit post
Hesitant to say it's over but
©km
Well that was pretty short lived. The curfew is already over - ruined my night! I was out for drinks with a bunch of blokes from the mines and thought I had to run home to give my house girl time to get home before curfew. Turns out, I didn't have to rush. Anyway, there will be other nights. I don't think we'll travel to Fada just yet though, I want to wait and see how things pan out.
 
Okay, apparently there was an additional issue on the table that the military hadn't been paid for missions made to both Sudan and to Ivory Coast. Sudan would be the equivalent of not paying Canadian troops for going to Afghanistan. Ivory Coast was before it got ugly but still. So the President met with 150 representatives of the military yesterday? or this morning and they seem to have come to some understanding. The military has promised no more shooting or demonstrating (at least not over this issue) and I guess the President promised to pay them. He also promised compensation for people who had damage done to their property (the Ouaga military trashed parts of the downtown area - I figure this should come out of their pay but that may not be the most expedient path to peace). Apparently the reason why the Mayor of Ouaga was attacked is he's 3rd in line for the throne (after the President and the Prime Minister) and probably not as well armed as the first and second. The General was attacked as apparently it was his girlfriend that caused the original 5 military to be incarcerated. (I just realized that I've been translating from french - militaires  to military - what do you call them in english? soldiers I guess?).
 
2 other things of interest that occurred during all of this: 1) the government froze the assets of a number of mining companies here without any notification, using problems with their taxes as a pretext. Waiting to hear what that's about - that's not normal procedure. 2) the World Bank has promised 57.5 BILLION F CFA ($150M Canadian) to Burkina for the development of its mining law and membership into a Mining ethics community - putting it in the big leagues. I'm sure that mining would go away here same as Ivory Coast and Liberia if revolution breaks out here. I'm thinking the President was highly motivated  to get things sorted ensuring the safe arrival of a lot of money.
 
So anyway, that's the lowdown. I'll keep you posted as to how this actually pans out. I suspect there's more to come...
1 comments | | edit post
I have a curfew - I haven't had one since I was 17
©km
Hi,
 
I haven't written in a long time. Mostly life has gotten into a day-to-day so it's not terribly interesting to write or read about. The last month however has provided more interesting fodder for ruminating about. I would like to stress before you start to read, that at no time were we in danger. I know that immediately makes you worry, but before you get into what I'm saying, I don't want people freaking out. We were never in danger although it was a good time to be cautious.
 
The last time there was a curfew called where I lived was in 1986 when I lived in Scarborough and Paul Bernardo (aka the Scarboro rapist) was prowling my neighbourhood. Anyone under 19 had to be inside by 9PM. I'm in less danger at this point than I was back then. However when one has a child to consider, it SEEMS more dangerous.
 
Starting about a month ago, there were demonstrations over a University student who allegedly died in jail. Depending on who you ask - the government or the students - he either died of meningitis or of abuse. Schools were closed as striking students were going around the country, setting tire pyres and generally causing disruption. The kids just went back to school this past Monday. Ben was on break when that started anyway - he was in Fada with Loren so wasn't missing much. Ben's school went back earlier but they had to do recess out back and the police were a regular presence at their school to deter strikers. The school was very professional, keeping the parents notified of circumstances. One day when we were driving to Fada we went through the remains of a demonstration by students, burning tires on the road, and the national police in full riot gear with truck mounted weapons. The police were very good at cracking down on the demonstrations and I think managed to do it without killing any of the demonstrators.
 
Then last week early Wed morning, I was awoken in the middle of the night to hear gunfire - that's quite a frightening thing to hear. It wasn't immediately close to us, and I had been hearing it earlier that day when the airport was killing birds. The next day, all of downtown was closed, people fleeing the city as military were firing off their guns and ransacking stores, and shopkeepers were doing their best to protect their property. Apparently it had started the night before as young military stormed the military camp near Derek's house (Pauline, my secretary also lives near there) and took all the arms. They went around stopping taxis, dumping out the passengers and forcing the taxi drivers to drive them around the city all night as they created chaos. Again miraculously, no one was hurt. We closed our office for the day and I kept Ben and all his friends inside our courtyard - not allowing them to even play in the street near our house. The military were protesting the courtmarshal and imprisonment of 5 of their collegues who were involved in some kind of scandal. The stories were unclear as to exactly what happened but they seemed to have some right to what they were saying. It apparently had to do with a Minister's girlfriend accusing them of something. Clearly an issue between politicians and military which can't be pretty. By the next day, everything seemed to be calmed down. We went to Fada for the weekend to see Loren.
 
Sunday, I was too tired to drive home so we stayed til Monday morning. At 6AM we were having coffee with Loren, as we prepared to head back to Ouaga and saw a number of military sort of hanging about. We left quickly, and not an hour later, they had the same thing happen in Fada. We had no idea until we had reached Ouaga. We actually passed Derek heading to Fada, and he AND Clark got stuck in Koupela as the Fada military drove east and then south to Tenkodogo. Clark was heading to Togo so wandered south behind them (Tenko is on the road to Togo). Derek eventually made it in to Fada. I called Loren to see what was happening. He and Derek had gone into Fada from the jobsite. Apparently there was a baracade and the military were stopping people - if they happened to like your vehicle, they took it and left you on the side of the road. In front of Derek and Loren, they took the pickup of a white pastor, so they did a u-turn and went back to sleep at the worksite. Everything was closed in Fada anyway so they wouldn't be able to get anything to eat or drink, or to get fuel (they have a diesel tank on site). The military apparently fired a rocket at the main courthouse and went to Tenko to free one of their collegues again who had been tried and courtmarshaled but this time it was for the rape of a 14-year old girl. A delegation was sent from Ouaga and apparently things were settled and put back in order.
 
Then Tuesday night - I heard a rocket launched and explode, not close by, and more distant gunfire. I had to travel Wed and Ben's school was closed so again, had him stay in the court much of the day. Apparently there were more demonstrations and the military attacked both the Mayor of Ouaga's house and also a General's house.The Mayor tried defending himself and his family, and is currently in hospital. Other military around the country also held demonstrations to support those in Fada and Ouaga. The President spoke on tv Wed, without saying a lot. I'm trying to figure out why these people aren't in prison. I'm guessing the national police (gendarmes) are enforcing the curfew, not the military. The last time something like this happened was in 2007 and there was a big gunfight in town between the police and the army, the damage is still there to see. It was because one group was paid and the other not. Despite Blaise (the president)'s history as a captain, it appears he no longer has good control over the army and we're hoping that he will use this opportunity to regain that. He's one of the longest standing politicians in the world, having been president since 1992, and dictator for 5 years before that.
 
So last night - Wed, they called nation wide curfew - 9pm to 6am - until further notice. There is nothing open, no pharmacies or even the airport. Since most flights heading to Europe are at night, this complicates things. We were the chosen neighborhood to receive military attention. It was quite frightening to hear gunfire from automatic weapons as well as rockets and heavy artillery go off at close range. They were close enough I could hear them yelling and chanting, close enough to tell there were women in the group. And this went on from 9:30 PM til about 1:30 AM, then it was just intermittent and further away. After 3AM I was sound asleep so couldn't tell you if it continued. It was very stressful, and the only really saving grace for keeping the fear under control was knowing their intent was not to harm civilians. I do have to say tho, in that time, I gave some serious thought as to Plan B should things get out of hand. I had a bag packed with 2 days of clothes, our papers, meds, flashlights etc. and I spent a chunk of time thinking through places to go. This isn't an easy task as my car is basically an egg shaped sewing machine on 4 bicycle wheels and many of the roads leading out of the city are under construction, even if you wouldn't potentialy run into military on them. Bush roads in this thing are out of the question. And then of course, there's Andrews. I would have to go get him. He's a Ghanaian who hardly speaks french and I wouldn't want to leave him in the midst of all this. We have a pickup at work, or it's about 20km ( a long walk) to the farm... Anyway, that's where my thoughts were going. I think the most useful thing I did during that time was a short workout, kept my mind occupied and relieved some of the stress.
 
There is considerable solidarity with my neighbours. We have taken the opportunity to reconnect and look out for one another. Many of my neighbors are military or retired anyway - they don't seem bothered by this. Not sure if that is helpful or not.
 
Tonight is quiet... so far. I guess they decided to share the love with a different part of the city. I recorded some of the gunfire from last night and relistened to it. I can hear my cat meowing and the gunfire sounds like it's just outside the window, which it more or less was.
 
I wonder if that's something you get used to. I mean does being African and/or born in a place where a shaky political situation is the norm, does that help you develop coping mechanism that I as a soft, upper-middle class Canadian may not have? I know that you can get used to a lot of things. Like I used to get really grossed out by cockroaches and over time I just got used to them. Physical aggression, I used to want to throw up watching kids push each other around in the playground, now I like watching mixed Martial arts and the UFC from my martial arts training. I even like to fight. I think of the monologue of Chris Tucker in the movie Rush Hour, how he became a cop because he basically grew up lying on the floor so they wouldn't get caught in the cross fire of bullets from the gangs fighting. Something like that has to do something to a person. Make them hard, talk about adrenal fatigue. You would live in a constant state of drowning in cortisol. On the flip side, has living the good life for the last 20 years changed the President from a hardened military Captain who supposedly killed his best friend to become dictator, into a soft, flabby politician? If things get ugly, will he pull that military side out that hasn't been seen in 10 years?
 
The general mood here is mixed. Some are thinking it should all blow over in a week or two. Others think its an opening for another revolution. The people are tired of the corruption, of seeing big contracts go to the President's family members, of politicians getting away with literal murder without retribution, public funds being used for personal purposes. Most seem to think it's time for the President to step down, but few are agreed on how that should or will proceed, or who could or should succeed him. There is no clear alternative, which may be a good thing given the situation in Ivory Coast. We just had elections in November, I don't think I know a single person who voted and yet he was the clear winner. I don't recall seeing any propoganda for any other candidates, there was no debate on tv, and of course it's not known if taxpayers money was spent on his campaign.
 
So that's the deal. I don't really have a good head for looking at a political situation and reading it or understanding the forces at work, even whithin Canada. Just trying to deal with day-to-day and make a Plan B. It's hard with Loren and much of his family away. I'll keep you posted as to what happens next.
0 comments | | edit post