AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Kinsley Kobo finds out how citizens of that country prepared for 2010 and their expectations as well.

I feasted too like many others in my city Abidjan (Ivory Coast), but time and experience have taught me two things to uphold during this hot period: Moderation and Serenity. However, very few people can be subdued by these two elements of safety during end-of-year orgies. Music, beer and sex swell their arrogance and insistence during this time.

Preparations for 2010

A new year is a new adventure, which normally deserves some basic preparations. Fresh plans and plots are conceived to conquer lost and new grounds, but the amusements closing the expiring year rob a lot of people of the substance they need to confront the New Year with.

Francois Kouame is a 47-year-old school teacher based in Abidjan. He is married with four children. His attitude and situation echo what a lot of families encounter as they prepare for the New Year.

“I’ve always had high hopes and great plans for every New Year, but the load of social obligation and its concomitant expenses at year end nearly reduce my resources to nothing, leaving insufficient means to face the New Year with,” Kouame said.

The social obligations he refers to here are: clothing his wife and children – so not to look odd in the neighbourhood where Christmas and New Year’s Day are the only period of the year when children wear new clothes.

And then food, good food! Chicken, rice and Coke are some of the privileges of the festive season. No child or wife will forgive you if they don’t eat a piece of fried chicken like the neighbour next door.

“After spending money on all these things, I’m practically left with nothing for the New Year,” Kouame lamented. “So, you can see why the vicious circle of poverty doesn’t change. You amass, you squash and you start all over again.”

You might blame Kouame for being too lenient with fleeting exigencies. But even if not clothes and food, other demands make some people temper with the fund they may have used in the New Yew.

Bakari Kone is a 39-year-old bus driver. He has two young children and a beautiful housewife. Buying clothes and chicken for his family at Christmas is no problem. His problem is, renovating his little house every year end – in compliance with the French maintenance culture of wholly repainting each house at the end of every December. The Ivory Coast is a former French colony, which still evinces some social vestige imposed decades ago by former colonial power.

“Nobody wants to live in an ugly house. And the fact that you give your accommodation a fresh, bright paint means you’re set for the New Year. And spiritually, your home is prepared to welcome every good thing the coming year is offering. Even if I spend a lot to renovate my house, its part of the preparation for the New Year,” Kone said.

Resolution

While some people’s preparation is planning to invest in some businesses or to change their children’s schools, others believe the best preparation is righting the wrongs of the past year and adopting new and better attitudes for the New Year.

Patricia Aka, a 31-year-old beauty salon proprietor told me she would cut out distractions and face her business properly in 2010.

“In 2009, I wasn’t really concentrated. Too much television watching; too much audience for lying suitors; too much consumption of fatty foods. I will change my ways in 2010,” she said.

A taxi driver who picked me from Patricia’s place said his own resolution for 2010 would be cutting down on smoking.

“Instead of 11 sticks per day, I’m deciding to be smoking only 5. I know it’s going to be hard but I’ll try.”

Then came a funny one! I shot into a local restaurant to interview people. The proprietor of the shabby roadside food joint was a 33-year-old, light-skinned lady, who appeared to be a very beauty-conscious person. She refused to give her name but was an easy talker.

She said she was resolving to take a computer course in 2010. What? A computer course for a local food seller? Yes, she meant it, as she nodded, gnashing her teeth.

“I want to be a modern woman. I can be using a computer to calculate my sales and record information of my regular clients,” she said.

Expectations for 2010

Every New Year is pregnant with something for everybody, and everybody is expecting the most beautiful baby to be theirs. So what are Ivorians expecting in 2010?

Most people said: “Peace, peace and peace. We’re tired of wars and political crisis. Let the forthcoming elections be free and fair.”

But a political analyst and counsellor to the mayor of Adjame local government in Abidjan district, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the impending sensitive electoral period, said “In a New Year like this, everybody is happy, everybody says sweet things to people, but the fact is there is really no New Year.”

“You have a bunch of party goers, dressed in new clothes, flocking to a social function, eating and drinking, and then coming back to the same house, the same neighbourhood, the same state and the same country.

“Nothing is new! To me there is New Year everyday. New Year is the dawn of a new, specific project that gives joy, relief and accomplishment to those who had invested time, energy and knowledge in it. New Year is never collective, it’s personal,” he said.