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!)