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“A Very Happy Afternoon” in Abidjan

“THIS is a very happy afternoon for the Ivory Coast,” said A. D. Schroeder, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as he opened the dedication program for the new branch building in Abidjan. The 500 guests present on February 27, 1982, had every reason to feel that way. Not only was the beautiful new building itself a cause for rejoicing but it was also a clear evidence that Jehovah has blessed their efforts in the missionary field in Ivory Coast and Upper Volta.

In 1971 the Watch Tower Society established a branch in Abidjan to supervise the preaching work in those two countries. It consisted of an office and living quarters for four in a small, third-floor apartment. The work moved ahead so rapidly that soon this small office could no longer handle the load. So, in 1978, a site in Deux Plateaux, a developing suburb eight miles from the center of town, was acquired for a new branch.

Construction began on June 1, 1980. Volunteers from the sixteen congregations in Abidjan did nearly all the work. Every Sunday four congregations would send twenty-five volunteers each, including mothers with babies on their backs, to work on the project. Eventually, this amounted to 30,000 man-hours, or the equivalent of fourteen persons working forty hours a week for a full year. Two Witnesses with construction experience moved in from France and helped on the project for one year. This, along with materials furnished either free or at cost by brothers and interested persons, made it possible to put up the building at half the cost of even the lowest estimate by private contractors.

Now for a quick tour of the building. (Refer to the drawing above.) Just inside the main entrance, we walk up two flights of stairs, past two large planters filled with tropical plants and flowers, and enter directly into the marble-floored lobby. Off to the right is a large Kingdom Hall with seating for two hundred persons. To the left are three offices and three bedrooms. Upstairs are five more bedrooms, laundry, kitchen, dining room and a library leading out to a terrace atop the Kingdom Hall. On the basement level are the shipping department, the carpenter shop and a garage.

The guests for the dedication program, many in colorful native costumes, were obviously impressed. They were filled with excitement and appreciation, not just for this fine new facility but, more so, for the praise and honor it brings to the happy God, Jehovah, who gave the increase. It was, indeed, “a very happy afternoon.”