First Term Updates – Cote d’Ivoire/Senegal

It is said that no news is good news. In our case, that saying is true. We’ve passed a little more than 24 hours without hearing (or feeling) explosions or gunfire. The action is now in Abidjan where many of our missionary friends are behind locked doors and keeping a very low profile. The embassies are encouraging ‘white faces’ to stay at home.

Today, ICA is a different kind of place. School will resume tomorrow so that the kids have something to do (the dorm parents’ suggestion – not the kids). But we are no longer segregated with the French on their side of the campus and us on our side, only to come together for special occasions. Because we are housing evacuees from Bouake, both military and civilian, almost all of the campus dorms and housing are being used. Food is being pooled in the dining hall where all of us eat together. Tonight we enjoyed pizza made with pepperoni brought out by friends of ours 8 weeks ago.

This day of calm has given all of us time to think and reflect on what we want to take with us when we finally find a way to leave – depending on whether we go by aircraft or are able to drive out. Neither option is open to us at this point. All of us are also pondering over what is next. Some will return to the states for reassignment, some will start furlough early, and a few have already arranged to fly directly to other locations in West Africa. We are among those starting an early furlough because, like many, this is our 2nd evacuation in as many years. We are ready for the relative peace of America.

Thank you so very much for all your prayers and e-mails of encouragement. Those e-mails filled with promises of prayer support are so important that I’ve been excused from kitchen duty just to keep the e-mails flowing by our satellite uplink! Thanks, guys!

Please pray for our friends, both African and non-African, who are in places in Cote d’Ivoire not as peaceful as ICA tonight. All of those in the north are without electricity and water. Those in the south are afraid to venture out. Also pray for a safe way out of the country.

Some of you have been following the news from the Ivory Coast this week, both from our e-mails and now, today especially, from the network news. Once again, we want to assure you that we are safe, and unlike reported on RFI (a french news station here in Africa), our campus was never bombed.

But Bouake, and the rest of the north, has been. Altogether in the last 3 days, there have been probably as many as 50 bombs dropped here in Bouake alone. We were told a few days ago that we were safe since the last thing the government forces would want to do was hit the French. Well, today they made that mistake.

It’s 8:30 pm now. We’ve just come from the dining hall where we all ate together again so we could discuss what’s going on. As our director said tonight, we have no idea why we’re here at this place at this time, but there are people here on our campus to whom we can minister. We are told that ICA may be the only safe place in all of Cote d’Ivoire, and as such, it is serving as the evacuation point for all foreign nationals in Bouake and points north. The phones and electricity have been cut in the north and there is no water, but here at ICA, we have our own generator with plenty of fuel provided by the French, and recently we completed our well which is now providing our water. French soldiers from the camp down the road are moving on campus since there is so much damage to their camp from the bomb that dropped there this afternoon. Tomorrow’s service will be open to all, with most of the service in French. Tonight, while I keep the e-mail going, some are making beds or heating up the food from French-provided ration packs. Cathy, our nurse, has treated injuries, some to two men who were seated on either side of the American who was killed. I want to say that we are all exhausted, but then I think of others around us who are facing so much more than exhaustion. 

We watched it happen. We saw the plane bank, make a turn and drop the bomb. If hitting the French was an accident, it may have cost the government the war. The French immediately destroyed their airforce, which upset the Ivorians in the south so much they started attacking the French down there. In Abidjan tonight, there is no law; no one is in charge. There is widespread looting and attacking of non-Ivorians. France is trying to secure the airport and enough land around it to be able to fly in planes to evacuate some 10,000 foreign nationals. At this point, they are afraid of being shot out of the sky. Essentially, the rebels have become the good guys. We’re not sure when (or if) we’re leaving; right now we aren’t in the ‘hot spot’ anymore. Our friends and co-workers in Abidjan are.

When their airforce was destroyed, the tankers and soldiers headed here to Boauke turned around and are headed back to where they came from. But the French are on the way, too and will probably meet somewhere in between. We are told that Cote d’Ivoire is at war in every sense of the word…

I remember being thankful that our son Dave wasn’t involved in Iraq. Little did I know that we would be the ones in the war zone.

“Supper is over now, including ice cream for dessert. We ended up opening the gym, after planning to put first more troops and then more evacuees there for the night, as well as opening the commissary. 

“All 25 evacuees we have received so far are housed in Bethany Dorm. They are currently having some refreshments at the commissary, helping the guys run out their stock of items for sale, and they will be having supper in the dining hall at 9:15.

“The situation here remains calm with everyone’s thoughts and prayers focused on Abidjan and other cities in the south. The news is not good at all so we depend on God to do His will.

“At this point no one is talking about details for an evacuation so I have no idea what direction we would go or how far. The French are concentrating on evacuating the city of Abidjan which is a hard concept to even consider. The realities of the bridges and distances to travel to the airport make it difficult to even know where to begin. We have a good knowledge of the military situation in the whole country but not much information on people we know who are trapped there.

“The staff and students are handling this very well in all respects. We will be discussing tomorrow how we can best prepare for the future. Church service will be at 10:30 AM in the Chapel with an emphasis on prayer and God’s goodness to us all.”