T hursday
Wilfred was not going to work again . WU still refuse to pay his transfer . We sit in the house and wait for news . Around 7 pm . I got a call from school . They evaluated the first semester teachers and selected me as the best one ! Around 10 pm I got a second call from the school asking me to come and take my cash tomorrow . Thank God !. Happy to know we can finally deposit our documents and get married in the next two weeks . Happy to know we will be able to buy food and pay for the rent .
F riday
Around the time I was planning to leave for school I looked at the street and it seemed strange , not as usual . Taxis taking unusual directions , people all around looking at the streets from their houses . I got myself and Samantha dressed and we left . No taxis would stop and I was confused , not understanding what was happening . Then I decided to go to see Samantha ’ s godmother who lives not far from us . She told me that there were shootings around 8am . Two cars were shot and some people and the road to Cocody ( the school is there ) is closed . I called Wilfred to say that I would not able to leave . It means no money at least till Monday again . What to do ? I was forced to go back to the house . Around midday I heard some shooting myself , I was scared , trying to call Will who was on his way back home but the connection was gone . Finally he was back saying he had negotiated a taxi so that we can go to get my money . The road looked calm . We reached the school safely . I took my money . Jeeee !!!! Got back to the taxi to go home . On the way we saw at least 4 UN tanks . As we entered our living area we were stopped twice by the groups of young men . They made barriers on the road . One asked me to leave the car while opening my doors . I kept on sitting . They were checking other cars for guns or people hiding .
Just at the moment we reached the house the situation became critical . We heard shooting closer and further , all around . The street became empty in the next half hour . About 10 injured people were brought to the clinic in our house but the clinic refused to accept them . They didn ’ t want problems . Wilfred was watching through the window . Some policemen with huge guns saw him and asked him not to watch . I was hiding trying not to show up through the window as I was cooking in the kitchen ( still with coal ).
After some time we all fell asleep . We woke up around 5 pm . Wilfred was telling me that there were two dead bodies next to the clinic which seemed to be the brothers of the new neighbour we have . He was so curious that he went out to see but the bodies were gone . On the way he bought some fruit . Just after he came back shootings started again . We saw some police cars passing our place .
This was the first fight like this in the area where we live but I heard that it is like this almost every day in Abobo , the other living area . People are leaving their houses massively from there and Abobo is now called Baghdad of Ivory Coast . As I am writing it is Friday evening 7.45p . m . We just hope things won ’ t get worse during the night .
For sure there were many people killed during this day here . And it ’ s becoming scary when you see and hear everything with your own eyes . www . oilcityghana . com 17