On the scene of the French Institute in Abidjan, Friday, February 21, Jenny Mezile does not hide her anger or her sadness. At the end of her show "My life in pink", the Franco-Haitian choreographer thanks her troop, the public, then denounces: “We were on tour in Berlin last month. We left nine and five fled. I would like to applaud those who had the courage to return, they are the real artists. Not those who lose hope in them, in their Africa, in their country. "
The disillusionment expressed by Jenny Mezile is as strong as the investment made over the past four years for her dancers. The choreographer founded her company, Les pieds dans la mare, in Adjamé-Bracody, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Abidjan, to give young disoriented young people and young offenders a chance. Originally, they may have had reasons to flee, she admits: "These are children who did not necessarily eat three meals a day, they grazed (online scams), some prostituted themselves to pay for beautiful sneakers. But in Berlin they had a formal project and contract. "
On stage, the level of these dancers in training is impressive. For an hour, they jump and undulate around dismembered foam bodies. Through their aftershocks, they want to be the spokespersons for the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti as well as the Ivorian post-electoral crisis of 2010, and claim the name of African heroes: Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba … "I wanted to make them proud of what they are. I'm sad to have missed something, we're going to have to reorganize. They remained thugs, coward Jenny Mezile, annoyed. Someone who is used to eating rotten fish will eat it all their life. "
According to her, the coup was prepared in advance: "Before leaving, they took some money. I’m waiting to hear from them, maybe they’re dead, they’re in gangs, they’re being kidnapped… But the classic escape story is the most believable. Instead of going to sea, they took the plane that I paid for. " Like Rufy and Super, two dancers from DJ Arafat who had taken advantage of a European tour in May 2019 to stay in France. Which had been very badly received. Many close to the star of the coupé-staggered, who died a few months later, had treated them as "Cowards".
Lack of resources
Disappearances have become frequent among African artists and sportspeople, although it is more difficult to take stock of the missing on the call to return from tours in the artistic world, which evolves in a less constrained framework than the federations.
Already in 1996, almost all of the female basketball team from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC), then at war, had not taken the plane after the Games in Atlanta (United States) in which she participated. Cases have multiplied in the past decade. At the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2011, the delegation from Sierra Leone left with only ten of its thirty representatives. At the London 2012 Olympics, seven Cameroonian athletes, three members of the Ivorian delegation, including two swimmers and even a coach, were lost.
At the Games of La Francophonie in Nice in 2013, 26 Africans took it easy: several Ivorian basketball players, Congolese sportsmen and even a rap singer invited for the occasion. "The African continent that produces the show by providing the athletes has no resources to improve the playing conditions, to pay the athletes, to pay the coaches", said Alain Lobognon, Ivorian Minister of Sports at the time.
Recently, these are two Ivorian athletes who have also disappeared with various fortunes. Emilie *, 22, disappeared in 2019 during a competition in Italy and it is unclear what has become of her. "She came out of her room to go to train and we never saw her again", traces Jeannot Kouamé, president of the Ivorian Athletics Federation, who accuses: “Most often, they are set-ups. The parents are in cahoots. A child does not disappear like that without knowing where to go. "
In 2016, Aminata * took a slightly different path. Sprinter over 60 meters and 100 meters, she remained in France after a competition, leaving her teammate to return to Côte d'Ivoire alone. Four years later, the athlete has successfully integrated into a French club and now competes in numerous high-level competitions. "She just made 7'37 on 60 meters, specifies the president of the Ivorian federation which follows it from a distance. This is our hope for Paris 2024. "
Avoid disappointments
Jeannot Kouamé recalls that these sportspeople are often eager to imitate international cross-country athletes in competition and hope to benefit from the same infrastructure. But not everything is so rosy. “Once there, life is expensive. Even if their level is good, many sports remain precarious, they are forced to work alongside ”, describes it.
To avoid disappointment, the official confiscates the athletes' passports during their stays abroad. But, above all, many African federations are asking for more resources to set up high-level centers on the continent and thus succeed in keeping their athletes. "On the one hand, there are parents, cousins, uncles who are putting pressure on you, on the other you have support in Europe, smugglers who make you shine the bright career, sums up Alain Gouaméné, a former Ivorian goalkeeper who has worked for Olympique Lyonnais and Toulouse Football Club, among others. To be successful, you have to play in your championship and then get spotted, that's how it happened to me. "
These cascading leaks have implications for obtaining papers. "The German embassy has just refused four visas to Ivorian artists, explains Jenny Mezile. It’s getting more and more complicated to work in Europe now. "
Several months ago, several Congolese taekwondoists stayed in Morocco after a competition. Consequences: the visas of twenty DRC athletes have just been refused by Morocco for qualification for the Olympic Games. "Now, applying for twenty visas becomes suspicious", sorrow Daniel Cheick Bamba, president of the Ivorian taekwondo federation.
* First names have been changed.
