First time in Africa - Ivory Coast

Mid of March, I set out to see a new continent - Africa. 

I boarded a plane to Paris where I met two Africans - Oumar from Senegal (& US) and Abdo from Egypt. Together we boarded another Air France flight to Ivory Coast in West Africa. 

Abidjan 

In the evening, we arrived in the capital Abidjan. First, we presented our eVisa pre-registration, gave fingerprints and got a photo taken before we received our visa stamp in our passports. After leaving our luggage in our rooms, we went to a street food market where I had grilled fish and banana (planté). 

On the way to the city

On Thursday, Ny showed me around the sights of Abidjan: St. Paul's Cathedral, a handicraft market, a groceries market in Treichville and a little ferry trip on the lagoon. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

Lagoon

The conference took place in a Christian meeting centre. As one of two non-Africans participating in the Regional Alumni Congress, it was a pleasure for me working with people from 8 African countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

Everybody was very engaged and we talked a lot about programmes that would facilitate a better Africa in the framework of "Inspire - Engage - Influence". I'm sure to see some of those put into action later this year.

On Saturday, I chaired the legislative session and first election of the AIESEC Alumni Africa 

After street food and fast food the previous days, we went to a really nice restaurant on Saturday evening for the gala dinner with music, a tasty buffet and a lot of dancing. 

On Sunday, I got an African braids and we finished the conference in the afternoon. 

On the way home, I spent Monday working in the IHS Markit office in Paris and caught a flight home in the evening.