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!!!!