While We Were There

Just got back from a work trip to Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Tuesday, all safe and sound.

• A cholera outbreak has been reported in Cote d'Ivoire's main city, Abidjan, with 40 cases confirmed, including four deaths, since the beginning of July.

• Trainee police officers shot dead as many as three university students in Ivory Coast on Thursday in a row that began after one of the trainees jumped the queue at a bus stop, student witnesses said.Serges Koffi, leader of Ivorian student union Fesci, told Reuters some students had assaulted the trainee officer after he refused to wait in line for a bus on Monday and that his police colleagues had later attacked the campus to avenge the assault."The police took the first two (dead) away so we couldn't identify them. It was the third one we identified. He is at Cocody morgue. He was a second year student in chemistry," Koffi told Reuters by telephone.

• Toxic waste dumped near Ivory Coast has killed at least three, made thousands sick and led to the resignation of many government officials. BBC pictures here.

• Ivory Coast's elections, postponed last year until this October, are being delayed once again. BBC article here.

I'm back to Freetown, Sierra Leone on Sunday for another week. I'm tired of traveling!

It felt good to come home to Ghana...like I was coming home. Part of that may have been my appreciation at being able to speak English after Francophone Africa and the comfort of knowing my way around town. And my aqua-blue walls. Even the friendly banter with the immigration official (he took my picture with his special little camera, but I'm sure it wasn't necessary) and taxi driver pleased me. It seemed like I was away a lot longer than 9 days. Heather, however, is in 'I hate Ghana' mode---I always used to come home to Olivier and Jane in similar states of discontent. Guess it helps to be away so often that it's a blessing to be back for awhile and then be able to slip away again before it wears on you.

There are rolling blackouts in Accra now because the water level at Lake Volta Dam is low and there's not enough electricity, so something like every 4th day there are power outages from 6am-6pm or 6pm-6am. I don't see how it's going to improve anytime soon though, since rainy season is supposed to be over.

I woke up to my first yesterday morning! Once I was home from work, I waited till 6pm, wondering if the power really would come back on. As my clock moved from 6:10 to :11, it came back on! Not bad timing at all. But within the hour, it was out again. I got my headlamp working and lit some candles. With nothing much to do, I went to bed before 8pm. The power was back on an hour later, but I was out like a light. ; )