Day 6 - Abidjan Visit Proper

Today we left Bassam early in order to get a full day in Abidjan. We were dropped off in the CBD at the french culture centre where we waited for Mr Ble and His friend to pick us up. First we visited the Cathedral which is a huge and architecturally beautiful building. Ithink it was built in the 1970s/80s and is a catholic cathedral (the main religion in Cote d'Ivoire is Catholicism). Next we drove past the national stadium where the tragedy happened last Sunday. Nineteen people were crushed to death and hundreds more hurt when spectators overcrowded the stadium. the problem lay in the fact that this was a big match and the tickets had been sold out for weeks, but many people still turned up at the ground trying to get in. Corrupt policemen accepted money from people who did not have tickets and allowed them in, hence the overcrowding. The tragedy has affected people in this country in a strong way and a week of mourning was announced on Monday.

Next we drove to Cocody, a wealthy district where many of the city's officials and politicians have their residences, although there are other less afluent areas within the district. We saw many gated homes and security guards!!! we then stopped off at the exclusive Abidjan Golf Hotel, a swanky establishment right on the lagoon. We managed to sneak in and walk around the grounds to see what it was like (see pictures). We then went to Mr Ble's house to meet his wife and the 2nd cutest child I have ever seen (second to my boy, little Micah) who coincidently is 1 days younger than my son and is born on my birthday!!! It was a really nice experience for me as I have been missing my son in a massive way and to be able to play with a little boy of the same age made it so much easier! We had an amazing lunch prepared by Mr Ble's wife, Esther. This consisted of Loco (fried bananas), lots of crushed chillies (yes for me!! no no no for Mrs Ward!), eggs, a beautiful dish with snails and crab......that's right snails (taste a bit like kidney), rice, tcheke (a type of couscous), fish soup, foutou (mashed manioc and banana), an amazing array of homemade juices (tamarind juice, ginger juice).........It was, to say the least, the most extensive and delicious meal I've had in ages!!!

We then drove back into Abidjan to catch a bus back to Bassam, we missed the bus by seconds so chased after it in the car, we eventually caught it and flagged it down and got on. Not the most comfortable ride ever, but I did manage to fall asleep so it can't have been that bad!

We got off a little before Bassam in order to buy our presents and souvenirs from the "Village Artisanal" we visited earlier in the week and I managed to get in some brilliant haggling, coming out with terms like "come on! that's too much, we're brothers from across continents. Would you charge your brother that much?" and "we're friends aren't we? So let's come up with an honest number here, otherwise we both end up with nothing...." BRILLIANT!! I love haggling, I wish we could do it in Tescos....."come on, surely you can do me a better price for that tin of beans....." One guy was so impressed with my skills that he gave us the stuff at an excellent price and added a present for each of us (a necklace for Mrs Ward, a small African mask for Me and a Keyring for Mr Bekoin).

Anyway, tomorrow we are visiting an African church for mass and then a local village, then packing and then off. I'll try to put our final photos on before we leave at 7pm.

See you all soon

Day 5 - Certificate Ceremony

Today was dominated by the Trinity College London Certificate ceremony. This was basically a big ceremony to give 30 or so students their english oral exam certificates. It is a really big affair with lots of important guests. It took place in the large ampitheatre here at the hotel that we are staying in. The invited guests included the British Embassy representative for the Ivory Coast, the "prefet" of Grand Bassam (the President's representative......always flanked by soldiers!), the founder of IRMA and owner of the hotel (M. Olo), the national education minister and the head of the british chamber of commerce in Ivory Coast. the whole ceremony was really geared towards the achievements of the children and was full of protocol (rules for speaking).

The Trinity College system works on 12 levels of achievement. the children today achieved levels 1 to 4. Myself and mrs Ward had to translate a live speech from the lead professor at Trinity College. It was a little nerve wrecking, especially as we only got to see the speech 15 minutes before the ceremony started and it was in front of roughly 300 people (students, guests and parents). The whole thing ran very smoothly and I was very impressed with the professional approach to rewarding these students for their achievements. We could probably learn a few lessons about how we run our awards evening. One aspect I liked was the students coming into the theatre to the "chariots of fire" music.........unfortunately they weren't running in slow motion but it was ace anyway!!

This afternoon we finalised our official school business/visit by discussing where to go next with this amazing partnership that we have developed. We all have lots of ideas on how we could go forward with it, but more on that when we get back to school, right now it's time for holidays!! All the children at IRMA have returned home for the Easter holidays and the teachers here are winding down just like the teachers are at Pleckgate!

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday and we will see you when we return

Please comment if you are still reading the blog so I know whether or not to write one tomorrow, thanks

Mr P

Day 4 - Goodbyes to the children and Abidjan visit

Today we spent the morning saying goodbye to the students of IRMA as tomorrow they break up and the day is dominated by a ceremony giving 30 or so students their Trinity College London English exam certificates. After this ceremony there is a big lunch for all staff so that we can say goodbye to them followed by a review of our trip and finalisation of possible projects in the pipeline. It was  a lovely atmosphere this morning as we have got to know some of the children quite well, there were even some mock tears from the 6th form boys!

After this we went to visit Abidjan in order to change some money into local currency and for Mr Ble to show us around a bit. there are fewer pics today as I didn't feel 100% safe about walking around with an expensive camera.......I'm sure Mr Briggs would be disappointed (read: furious) if I got mugged and we lost the school camera!! Abidjan is like most big cities in the world it extremely busy and full of people. There seem to be a lot of people pointing out possible parking spaces and helping you to get in them in the hope that you will tip them for their trouble, there are also many street sellers waiting at traffic lights to sell you everything from tissues to shoe shine to Large laminated Ivory Coast maps (I was tempted with that one!)

I will try my best to label the photos so you know what you are looking at. Hopefully will have more photos of this ceremony tomorrow, I think they have requested us to hand out the certificates.............Why oh why don't I pay attention to Mr Hamilton's smooth presentation skills on awards assemblies?? (it's not because they are a bit boring that's for sure..........or is it?). I think I may have to gratefully decline being that I am the official trip photographer and let Mrs Ward do the honors........something I'm sure she will be delighted with.

Speak to you again tomorrow

PS: Answers to Questions:

1. Lunch break is the hottest part of the day so generally children relax in the shade or go for a swim in the pool, I think it is mostly used every day although it is a bit cold as it's unheated and massive
2. The children do play football in the morning and afternoon, they also play basketball. Some of the older kids play rugby in Abidjan. They obviously all support Chelsea being that Didier Drogba is from the Ivory Coast and I have (unfortunately) seen a few Man U tops around (they get everywhere don't they!!)
3. There is NO McDonalds in the entire country thankfully, that;s probably why all the children are active and play lots of sport. There is one fast food place in Abidjan and it is called CFC (Castle Fried Chicken)
4. They have no musical instruments at school (is that you there Mr Hargreaves??) and no music lesson at all. It is something that is generally taught as a hobby as it won't necessarily help to get a good job. State schools do have some limited music education though.
5. Generally the children that are not boarders (live in the school) live in Bassam and go home for lunch as well, but they do have the option to pay to eat at the school. I only attended one lunch but it was delicious, it consisted of some chicken in a spicy gravy with peas and rice, followed by fresh Pineapple. It was really delicious and the children get lots of it too. (No Mr Hamilton I didn't eat everyones share.......)
6. They do have school trips but not in the same way that we do. They are generally local trips to teach children about the tribal culture or history of the area (i.e. the visit to the king). They don't do trips like Alton Towers or anything like that.
7. Children do pretty much the same things as you would do in the holidays, relax with mates, play games do homework.............maybe not, eh! It's amazing how a different culture in a different continent generelly has the same kids as us. You wouldn't believe the similarities in attitudes and things of that nature (loads of chatting and despondent shrugging!)

Day 3 - Colonial visit and lunch with students

So Day 3 has arrived, nearly half way through our visit. lessons were suspended this morning as the school was rehearsing for the certificate presentation taking place on Friday. Student that have completed an English diploma offered by Trinity College London are receiving their awards, they get to wear a cap and gown and it seems to be a real highlight of the year for these students who work hard to achieve. As a result we visited the Village "artisanal" which turned out to be lots of little workshops creating really beautiful souvenirs, amazing furniture, and tacky rubbish (I never thought I would have to travel this far to see a wooden statuette of David Nugent the Portsmouth player but nevertheless it was on sale!). This reminded me of the city/town Africa I remember, where people are dragging you into their shops desperate for you to buy something........I'll be returning on Sunday to fulfil promises of several purchases (no Pompey football statues unfortunately!). It also allowed me to see the outstanding talent that is Mrs Ward's bongo playing.....truly breathtaking!! (see photos, video will premiere on a big screen when I return). After this visit we returned to IRMA to have lunch with the pupils, myself with the boys in their dining hall and Mrs Ward with the girls (see pictures - Day 3). This was a really good experience and gave me a chance to talk to some students outside of class time. It seems to me that they actually love learning and put great emphasis on their knowledge as a way of getting a better life in the future. The boys I spoke to also take no part in smoking, they explained that as Boarders the weekends are spent playing sport and taking part in competitions and if they smoke this would severely affect their chances of winning matches............are you reading this kids??? It is really refreshing to hear children talk like this, free of distractions like shopping and games consoles.

Anyway, in the afternoon we, and some students, had our special visit with the tribal king of Grand Bassam, which was a slight disappointment as he didn't turn up! There is so much protocol (rules like bowing and curtseying constantly......I bow, Mrs Ward curtseys....in case you wondered) when meeting this King that he couldn't actually make it. We did however get to ask our questions to his close personal advisor who was a retired and celebrated film maker in Ivory Coast (very famous apparently), he was a fantastic oritor and held the room with his answers (he's the guy with the white hair in the middle of the group pictures. The photos prior to this are of his royal palace. Not sure the queen would let people dry their jeans on the Windsor castle walls, but hey, each to their own!! The structure of this royalty is quite interesting, he has no real political power but does deal with all moral issues and disputes in the town and the people respect and almost revere his word if we are to believe what his advisor says. the succession of Kings is dependent on who the mother is rather than father (rationale being that you are sure that a child is from the mother whereas you can never be sure if the father IS the father......)

Following this we toured the Old Colonial area of Grand Bassam. This area has many old decrepit building (see photos). The government put all these old colonial structures up for sale with a law attached to them that any renovations had to resemble the original style of the buildings. Obviously this is generally an expensive process so a lot of these buildings are left as ruins rather than torn down. We also crossed the Pont de la Victoire which is a famous bridge in Bassam. this bridge was crossed by the Women who revolted against the french colonists to release their husbands from prison. prior to this the bridge (across the lagoon) served as a checkpoint/border control between the white french colonist area and the black african areas. After this revolt the french left the town, helped along by the outbreak of yellow fever. There is also a statue of these women on the main square of Bassam and IRMA took the name of one of these influential women as the name for their school (Anne Marie Raggi)

It's pretty late now so I'd better be off to sleep as tomorrow we are going to teach a few lessons and then visit the museum of costumes.

PS: for 8SC:

They start primary school at age 3,

They begin lessons at 7am and finish at 6pm with a 3 hour lunch break during the hot part of the day (they also get a half day on Wednesdays)

They have the same holidays as us although they get 8-9 weeks in the summer

They have very little in terms of equipment, students have to buy everything themselves (exercise books, pencils....everything)

PPS: for DW: it's considered rude to refuse the local tipple, and who am I to insult our generous hosts!!!!

Day 2 - Observing and Teaching

Today we spent all day getting to know different classes, answering questions about Pleckgate and Blackburn and learning more about the school and the education system in the Ivory Coast. We spent the morning in English and Geography lessons and learned a massive amount about how teachers in this country cope with very few facilities. The students in this school are set according to ability just like at Pleckgate although the ability range goes across year groups as there are only 15-25 students in each year. They are kept in roughly similar age groups but you can get a class of 20 students ranging from 11 years old to 14 years old, but they will all be at a similar level. They test all the children at the end of the year and determine sets over the summer break. If any students fail by a large margin they will have to redo the year, this motivate students to work hard in order to not be left behind, Nobody wants to stay behind with the younger students while their friends move up a year!!

the ICT facilities are very limited here at IRMA, although compared to state schools their facilities are very advanced. They have three seperate ICT rooms with a total of 30 computers, all quite old. They use these facilities very well allowing students to gain a base computer knowledge which will help them to develop their skills in working life. The quality of teaching and learning here is extremely good with the absence of distractions such as games on computers, DVDs and mobile phones. It seems that the students have a thirst for learning as they understand it is their gateway to a decent job.

We both enjoyed teaching the chidren about our school, town and country. They were all amazed that the UK has 6 times the population but only a quarter of its land mass, they quite rightly worked out that their economy is dependent on agriculture that takes a massive amount of land and that a large part of the country is unhospitable tropical forest.

After school today we went out to traditional "Maquis" which is a sort of open air bar and had a drink with Monsieur Ble and Monsieur Bekoin the two english teachers. This town is so friendly and people are very welcoming, despite being the only 2 white people in Bassam (as far as I can tell) we are treated as locals which is very nice for us. Tomorrow lessons at IRMA have been suspended as they are preparing for a large certificate ceremony at the local conference centre so we are going to visit the local "village artisanal" (traditional tribal village) in the morning and are going for our Official Royal visit to the tribal King of Bassam!!!! Very exciting and I will post more photos tomorrow.

Make sure you have a look at the new photos on the left (IRMA day 2)

Speak to you all Tomorrow!

PS: feel free to comment or follow this blog so I know someone other than my wife is reading it.....

Day 1 - Meeting staff and looking at the school

Our first day in Grand Bassam was an amazing experience. The school itself is really basic but run really well with excellent dedicated staff. The school has 360 pupils in total, ranging from 3 year old pre-school to 18 year old pre-university students. Roughly half the kids are Boarders (live at school during term time) and are looked after by the teachers and house staff. They run two systems of education, the French state school and the Ivory coast system. The school has a specialism in english and ICT learning and use the facilities for the local community as well as for the students. They have concentrated on providing a base knowledge of Computer use in order to prepare students for the working world. Make sure you look at the pictures I took on the left, I think you'll all agree that we are pretty lucky to have the facilities that we do, remember this is a fee paying private school!!!

The children and staff are really welcoming and friendly and we will be spending some time in classes tomorrow so I will hopefully have more photos for you. The weather was lovely and sunny today and, of course, extremely hot! We went out for a walk this evening with two of the teachers from the school who took us to where they live and introduced us to their families. This community is really amazing. The town itself is quite big but everyone says hello to each other and smiles, we spent a good hour playing with the local kids (I amazed them with my Drogba like football skills) and being bought drinks of fermented palm liqueur that erupted a volcano of heat in your belly! The wages that teachers have to live on in this country are so meagre that I for one will never complain about pay again, and they all do their work with smiles and enthusiasm, there are some real lessons to be learned around here!

Anyway, Hope everyone is enjoying the coldness of the UK, I promise I won't show off my arm tan too much when I get back!!! Speak to you all again tomorrow

We have arrived!!!!

At last we have arrived safe and sound!! After an hours delay in Paris we arrived at Abidjan, The Capital City, at 19:30. After picking up our bags we were met by a teacher from IRMA who took us to our hotel in Bassam, about 20 minutes drive away. the landing of our plane was terrifying as there are no lights at all around the airport, so I was just looking out of the window thinking we were quite high up when suddenly the plane landed and bounced down the runway!!! The temperature was around 28 Celsius, although we were told that the daytime temps go up to 35........air conditioning on at full blast I think! at the hotel we were met by a few more teachers and we sat in the hotel lounge getting to know each other and setting out what would happen this week. tomorrow we are going to IRMA school to give a presentation on Blackburn and Pleckgate and we will also meet all the staff and management team. I'll try my best to download some photos for you all to see tomorrow. Must get some rest now to be fresh for first day in Cot d'Ivoire!! TTFN! 

Getting close now....

Sorted out all finances today, so we are all ready to go. Started packing all the stuff you need for an African country like insect repellent and Malaria tablets and am really looking forward to getting going!!

Getting Ready

Well it's Wednesday Afternoon and we are organising everything we need to get ready to leave for the Ivory Coast to visit our partner school IRMA in Grand Bassam. We have lots of exciting letters from Pleckgate students that we will hopefully be able to get some replies for!!