Fete de remerciement (a celebration of thanks)

The study portion of the semester ended with a fete de remerciement (a celebration of thanks) for the host families in Abidjan and the French teachers. Students sang hymns, presented skits about life in Abidjan and gave specific tributes to their families.

(at right) Students are demonstrating what it feels like to be in a line of potential passengers for a local taxi known as a woro woro

(at left) Ross and Linda are in the front of the taxi with Linda as driver and Josiah as the innocent American passenger, while Rehanna and Ross look on as experienced Ivoirian passengers.

(at right) Students singing hymns in English and French for their host families.

Inspite of a steady downpour that marked the beginning of the rainy season in Ivory Coast, the Fete was a success. There was a great deal of laughter and many statements of appreciation from both students and host families

Study ends ... service begins

On Monday, June 17 students said farewell to their families and headed off to a service assignment in the interior of the country. They are spread from the far north to the southeastern coast of the country. Here is a brief description of each student's assignment:

Andrea - Andrea is working with community health care workers in the villages that surround the city of Korhogo in the far north of Ivory Coast.

Angela - Angela is in the second largest city in the country, Bouake. She is working in a day care center with very young children.

Brooke - Brooke is working in a hospital in Soubre and is spending a lot of her time as an assistant to a midwife.

Jamie - Jamie is in the west central town of Soubre. She is working with children in a social service center.

Josiah - Josiah spends his days on a dairy farm that is about 45 kilometers north of Abidjan near the village of Azaguie. The farm is being supported by the Belgian government. Thirty cows are milked twice a day. (See related photos below).

Kendra - Kendra lives in Dabou, a city that is about 50 kilometers west of Abidjan. She is working in a day care center with very young children.

Linda - Linda is helping to organize a library at a Baptist theological center near the city of Korhogo.

Lindsay - Lindsay in a nurses assistant at the large Baptist hospital in the far northern city of Ferkessedougou.

Mike - Mike is also living in Bouake and is working at the cultural arts center. His assignment is to work with music, teaching guitar and learning about traditional Ivoirian music.

Peter - Peter lives on the edge of the small town of Tiassale. He is working on a large poultry farm. He works with over 30,000 chickens and is also involved in fish and rubber projects.

Rehanna - Rehanna is working in a community health center in the small city of Katiola in the north of Ivory Coast.

Ross - Ross is assisting a pastor in Bible translation work. He spends his days in front of a computer entering translation from French texts into Tagbana, a language found in the north of Ivory Coast. Ross lives in the small city of Katiola.

Stacie - Stacie is the closest student to Abidjan. She traveled the coastal road about 30 kilometers east to the old town of Grand Bassam. She is working in an orphanage.