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Côte d'Ivoire: women pick up the pieces

05-03-2012 Photo gallery

They are wives, daughters, mothers or grandmothers. The women of Côte d'Ivoire continue to pay the price for a conflict in which they had no part. Following the post-electoral crisis that degenerated into armed conflict, countless Ivorians seeking safe refuge fled to other parts of the country or into Liberia and other countries in the region. Months later, those who return find homes destroyed, belongings stolen and wells contaminated. Many are still separated from their families. The ICRC is focusing on helping those who have returned and reducing the impact of the conflict.

  • Bapleu, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.
    • Bapleu, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. "The revenue from my crop is what allows me to feed the family and send my four children to school."
      © Nederlandse Rode Kruis / B. Houdijk

    At the sound of gunfire in the distance, Audette, a widow with four young children, had to flee like many others in her village. She left behind her village, her home and her coffee crop, her only source of income. By the time she returned, her plantation was overgrown and it was impossible for her to work the land, even with the help of her four children. The ICRC hired local workers to clear Audette's plantation as part of a "cash for work" project aimed at clearing overgrown fields while injecting cash into the local economy.

  • Diepleu, Zouan Hounien, Man, Côte d'Ivoire.
    • Diepleu, Zouan Hounien, Man, Côte d'Ivoire. "I lost my husband and my fourth child in Liberia. And I lost hope."
      © Nederlandse Rode Kruis / B. Houdijk

    Cécile is a widow, with three children. Before she was forced to flee to Liberia, she had a husband and a fourth child, aged six. Upon her return, she found her house and all her belongings destroyed. The ICRC is helping Cécile and hundreds of others like her to rebuild their homes.

  • Diboké, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.
    • Diboké, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. "I ran at the sound of gunfire. I took nothing with me but my children."
      © Nederlandse Rode Kruis / B. Houdijk

    After five months hiding in Liberia, Nathalie and her four children came home to find a pile of wreckage where their house had been. The family took shelter under the communal tent in the village, but now the ICRC is helping her rebuild her home.

  • Goleu Bloc, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.
    • Goleu Bloc, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. "We survived on raw food for weeks. Making a cooking fire would have attracted the wrong kind of attention."
      © Nederlandse Rode Kruis / B. Houdijk

    Being pregnant, Nadia was unable to make the journey to Liberia on foot, so she lived hidden away in the bush for several weeks with no health care. And it was in the bush that she gave birth to her second son, in silence for fear of discovery. Now, Nadia and her little boy are receiving medical care from the mobile health clinic that visits her village once a week.

  • Goleu Bloc, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. Health volunteers from the Ivorian Red Cross run mobile health clinics, providing the only health care for thousands of people.
    • Goleu Bloc, Blolequin Nord, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. Health volunteers from the Ivorian Red Cross run mobile health clinics, providing the only health care for thousands of people.
      © ICRC / L. Horanieh

    During the crisis, Ivorian Red Cross volunteers risked their own safety to help a civilian population in dire straits.

  • Médibli, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire. Following the first round of violence in 2002, the women of Médibli set up a cooperative to make sure there would be enough food. 23 of them worked in the fields, processed the produce and cooked it for sale at the market.

    Over the years, they had managed to buy tools and equipment to help boost their income. Then, in 2011, most villagers had to flee. When they returned, all the cooperative's assets had been stolen; their tools, equipment and stocks of food were all gone. In October 2011, these women gathered again and set up a new cooperative, this time under the name of "Toukira," which means "the war has ended."

  • Toulépleu, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.

    Eight children who became separated from their parents while fleeing to Liberia on foot are reunited with their families with the help of the ICRC.

  • Toulépleu, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.

    Eight children who became separated from their parents while fleeing to Liberia on foot are reunited with their families with the help of the ICRC.

  • Toulépleu, Guiglo, Côte d'Ivoire.

    Eight children who became separated from their parents while fleeing to Liberia on foot are reunited with their families with the help of the ICRC.

  • Ligaleu, Zouan-Hounien, Man, Côte d'Ivoire. A mother takes her daughter in her arms as they are reunited following months of separation.

    This reunification and many others are the fruit of cooperation between ICRC offices in Liberia, those in Côte d'Ivoire, and the Liberian and Ivorian Red Cross Societies.

  • Granpain, Bangolo, Man, Côte d'Ivoire.

    Flore fled with her five children after armed men stormed her home and killed her brother in cold blood right in front of her. Pregnant at the time, Flore was spared and told to leave her home immediately. Her house was subsequently torched. She is now living with a host family in Granpain and her husband is desperately looking for employment. In the meantime, she relies entirely on food aid to feed herself and her five children.

  • Granpain, Bangolo, Man, Côte d'Ivoire. A volunteer from the Ivorian Red Cross society helps a woman transport food.

    300 families are hosting hundreds of people from neighbouring villages who have fled the violence, and the food will help them feed their involuntary "guests."

  • Granpain, Bangolo, Man, Côte d'Ivoire.

    Families hosting people displaced from neighbouring villages collect food distributed by the Ivorian Red Cross society.


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