The knock on my door is not unexpected. I am waiting for the French tutor who will be giving Nabih lessons to get him confident enough to go to school in French. Mohamed has already started an Ivorian school and seems to like it well enough.
When I open the door, however, it's not the man but a woman. A neighbor. She doesn't say anything in way of greeting or announcing herself and I am not sure how to proceed. It's an awkward moment while I try to figure out the protocol. I raise my eyebrows as I gesture her inside. It's more of a question than an invitation.
We've established a ritual of greeting guests on our small porch, and so I offer her a chair outside. Eventually I determine she is Assita, the woman we met recently on the walk to the main road. She is a screen writer and is developing a TV series. She approached Christian and I because she thought we might be good actors for a part in her show. Apparently there is a section featuring a mixed couple and we fit the image. Christian's sap heritage probably doesn't hurt. I don't think he goes to the extreme but he does care about his clothing.
As we walked to the main road, she explained her project in more detail. It was a fascinating story and she promised to stop by our house and talk again. The woman at the door did not resemble a screen writer, or any other type of writer. She wore a large African print housedress and had a weary air about her. It was too easy to imagine her fanning the flames of an outdoor cookstove. Traces of the smartly dressed woman hurrying off to work were barely visible.
I tried to merge the two images of her as we talked about character development and how major themes in her work reflected life in Africa. I had read the synopsis she'd dropped off earlier and was impressed. It was a good story.
The main character is Agape, an orphan in search of a good education. Typically, she has a brush with prostitution, which she just manages to avoid, homelessness, and is thrown out by several who agree to take her in, due to jealousy, illness or other misfortune. But the story doesn't begin with Agape.
It starts with her parents, Marc and Maria, two school kids in the throes of amour. Maria is pressured by Marc to give in to his lust, despite good advice from a friend that studies are more important. Not only is Maria's family scandalized by her pregnancy, war breaks out causing both families to flee, in different directions.
Maria finds herself without family, unaware if her mother is alive or dead. She gives birth to Agape and 8 years later dies of illness. Marc's family fares slightly better in that they are together and even search for Maria, to no avail.
Agape's story begins and the viewer follows her through a series of highs and lows. At one point, she befriends a schoolmate and is adopted by her family, a mixed couple. This seems to be the beginning of a good life, until her adopted father succumbs to sickness. The family is left without funds and Agape beings to feel she is a burden. She leaves her studies and returns to her country to search for relatives. It is here, at the age of 15 that she has a brush with prostitution and homelessness, which she successfully averts. She does get a position as a nanny, but there is jealousy over her beauty and intelligence. The woman of the house throws her out.
Finally she secures a job in a bar. She captures any moment she can to sneak away and read in hopes of keeping up with her studies. It is there she meets a man who takes an interest in her and offers to help. Typically, again, they end up in a hotel room. The conversation continues, however, and before they take things too far Agape reveals just enough of her story to give the man pause. She shows him a picture of her mother and lo, the man, Marc, recognizes his sweetheart Maria. Father and daughter reunited. Wow.
Sure would love to see this on the screen. Assita tackles everything from teenage sexual pressure to refugee family separation and access to education. She works in themes about tolerance and justice, forgiveness and peace. The proposal she left me is only the first in the series but after reading, I was eagerly waiting for the next episode. She assured me my scene would be in episode 34, presumably the mom of Agape's friend who adopts her. While I am not necessarily counting on that, it would be a treat to see this project become a success. It is set in Abidjan but could easily take place anywhere on the continent. A timeless tale with just enough of a twist to make for a jaw dropping end.
I am inspired by my neighbor and vow to continue working on my own tales from the hood. In the meantime, funding connections welcome.
