E-Mail from July 25, 2001:
It's been such a busy week!!! I'm a little sick, which adds to it all. We're studying Small Business this week, and I'm the teacher. Six hours of class has created more than that in preparation. But, I'm good at it, and I love it, so I will suffer through! :)
My site is a city called Taabo. You say it just like it looks... Taaahbo. It's the only volunteer site we've visited (see Le Voyage de Diable in last week's posting), so I am the only volunteer who actually has seen her site! :)
It's a beautiful city, with a huge man-made lake and a power plant which feeds much of Cote d'Ivoire. The city was built by the French as housing for the people who designed and built the power plant. My house is cute... one bedroom with a SHOWER, RUNNING WATER, and a REFRIGERATOR!!! How lucky am I????? :)
There is much work to be done... I'll be the third volunteer there, and the last (three's the limit) so I have to make sure they're self-sufficient when I leave. That will be a great challenge for me. Also, the last volunteer had a tough relationship with the mayor's office, so I'm supposed to heal that up. Everyone says I will be great there, and I'm inclined to agree... lots of work to do, but all good, positive challenges. And it's SUCH a beautiful city... I can't wait for you to come visit and see it. There's a swimming pool!!! The lake is gorgeous too!!!
You might be able to find Taabo on a map, or at least the lake it's on. Find the political capital of CDI, Yamoussoukro, and the economic capital, Abidjan. Taabo is directly between the two, about 2/3 of the way north along the route to Yamoussoukro. I'm about an hour from Yamoussoukro, and about two hours from Abidjan. Again, lucky, because almost everything is available in Abidjan, including Diet Coke!!
Only bad part of the assignment is that I'm not close to other volunteers or friends I've made during training. I'm hoping they will come visit often since I'm so close to Abidjan, and besides, I have a pool!!
Love to all. Many letters were mailed on Monday... be patient!!
Kate