Stay Calm and Carry On
My mother was in her 80s on one of her visits to Côte d’Ivoire. We had driven out to our village for the day, just an hour or so outside Abidjan.
We stayed too long and it was getting dark by the time we got back to the outskirts of the city.
Traffic came to a standstill. Why?
Someone had put a barrier across the road. Tires burning in the street.
Make that several someones--young men, sweaty, bareback, shouting, brandishing clubs and machetes and bricks.
They surrounded our car, asked for our papers.
Really? You are asking for my papers?
I smelled trouble and could see the onramp to the freeway and gunned it. Calmly.
Fortunately, we got away before my mom really registered what was happening. And, more importantly, before the young men knew what was happening.
A seasoned friend found all the demonstrations and coup attempts in West Africa a bother and inconvenience. Her work-around was practical: stay home in the morning, when protesters are full of energy. By noon, they're hot, hungry and tired and will go home.
At which point, she went about her errands in peace.
Also, be sure to make it home before dark!
My mother was in her 80s on one of her visits to Côte d’Ivoire. We had driven out to our village for the day, just an hour or so outside Abidjan.
We stayed too long and it was getting dark by the time we got back to the outskirts of the city.
Traffic came to a standstill. Why?
Someone had put a barrier across the road. Tires burning in the street.
Make that several someones--young men, sweaty, bareback, shouting, brandishing clubs and machetes and bricks.
They surrounded our car, asked for our papers.
Really? You are asking for my papers?
I smelled trouble and could see the onramp to the freeway and gunned it. Calmly.
Fortunately, we got away before my mom really registered what was happening. And, more importantly, before the young men knew what was happening.
A seasoned friend found all the demonstrations and coup attempts in West Africa a bother and inconvenience. Her work-around was practical: stay home in the morning, when protesters are full of energy. By noon, they're hot, hungry and tired and will go home.
At which point, she went about her errands in peace.
Also, be sure to make it home before dark!
My mother was in her 80s on one of her visits to Côte d’Ivoire. We had driven out to our village for the day, just an hour or so outside Abidjan.
We stayed too long and it was getting dark by the time we got back to the outskirts of the city.
Traffic came to a standstill. Why?
Someone had put a barrier across the road. Tires burning in the street.
Make that several someones--young men, sweaty, bareback, shouting, brandishing clubs and machetes and bricks.
They surrounded our car, asked for our papers.
Really? You are asking for my papers?
I smelled trouble and could see the onramp to the freeway and gunned it. Calmly.
Fortunately, we got away before my mom really registered what was happening. And, more importantly, before the young men knew what was happening.
A seasoned friend found all the demonstrations and coup attempts in West Africa a bother and inconvenience. Her work-around was practical: stay home in the morning, when protesters are full of energy. By noon, they're hot, hungry and tired and will go home.
At which point, she went about her errands in peace.
Also, be sure to make it home before dark!
8 x 8” oil on wood panel. Framed size, 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 1”.