Waiting for Kosmos…

Souvenir stand, Takoradi. Photo by Christiane Badgley

Waiting for Kosmos. I wait endlessly and (so far) in vain for a meeting with someone I do not know. Does this sound familiar? If and when we meet, I will likely learn nothing. But then I would be able to say that Mr. X of Kosmos Energy assures me that all matters have been amicably resolved, which would make my reporting appear somehow more objective.  A meaningless statement is better than no statement, or so goes the logic.

So I wait and while waiting I encounter other people whose stories sometimes make me forget why I’m waiting. Like Jean-Jacques, the middle-aged Ivoirian man I met in Takoradi who was elated when he found out I spoke French. He had just arrived in town with a bag full of masks that he hoped to sell to tourists (of whom there aren’t many at the moment). He asked what I was doing in Takoradi and when I told him he said I should tell the world that things are not good in Ivory Coast. The journalists have all left, he said, but the violence hasn’t stopped and there’s no work. He ran a café back home but had to close shop after months without any business.

Jean-Jacques suggested that we go have a coffee, but alas this is Takoradi, not Abidjan. Drinking a Nescafe by the side of the road isn’t quite as convivial as sitting in a café, so after a few minutes of chit-chat we said good-bye and went our separate ways.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 at 3:03 pm.