The history of our work in Ivory Coast starts in 1994 when Barbara
was working as an office manager in California and found she was very bored with
her life. She thought, “There must be more to life than this!” She
spent lots of time playing golf but never breaking 100. She found her
life empty even though all her closets were full of clothes! It was on
the golf course one day that she realized that she had to seek deeper meaning for her life
even if it meant some life-changing
decisions would have to be made.
A "Call" to the Needy
One day she asked a hard question, “God, what do you want me to do with
the rest of my life?” she sensed a most surprising answer:
“Now’s the time to get involved with the needs of the desperately poor.”
Barbara had earned a B.A. degree from Marietta College, located in her
hometown of Marietta, Ohio, and a master’s degree in Spanish from the
University of Arizona, plus a California teaching certificate. Since
Barbara was fluent in Spanish, she was happy to have participated in some
trips to Mexico and had chosen to work
with a Spanish-speaking group in California. But she had never dreamed of
going to Africa! In fact, she had even said, "I'll go anywhere except Africa!" So of course
she ended up in a French-speaking country of Africa!
After a few months of preparation in Switzerland, Togo and Mali, Barbara went to Ivory Coast in early 1998,
where she began to survey the needs of the poor areas of Abidjan.
First Projects in Abidjan
Building a literacy and training center was the first
project devoted to the area's poor children. Called Noah's
Ark (pictured right), it is located in Gobelé, which is the largest
shantytown of Abidjan. Later, a carpentry workshop to train ex-street
boys was constructed. (To find out more about the current activities of
Noah’s Ark in Gobelé, open the Programs page.)
Soon after starting the project at Gobelé, an additional learning
center was started in another poor area called Biabou, which is on the
outskirts of Abidjan. The work there includes a sewing school as well
as adult literacy classes and kindergarten through the fifth grade
classes for children. (To find out more about Biabou’s activities, open
the Programs page.)
