The Detroit tribune., 1962-05-05
sY J. ALFRED BUTLER

Some time ago William Bell
Ford Speciality foundry employ
&C, tod us that has daughter
beverly Ann. had passed the ex
animation for foreign service
with the state department AID
ana we gladly ran the story. Inns
week Mr.. Bell was nice enough
to allow me to read one of ner
letters from Liberia and we think
that II is interesting enough 10
pass on to you:
Dcar Aivm and Dad,
"xVur ietter was waiting for
me wien 4 icturiieu IRON ADiu-
Jan, was very nappy 10 know
tiiat JOnn r. ivuiy nau received
niy iettcr ailu 10 Srt,inS reauy
" sup my lnings. guess Ny the
TIME get evei ytning t0ge,ncr,
IL VIII De time ivr lle ~ come
nome. -,
"avidjan is one of the ulvs,
bedulaiul villes 4 nave ever seen.
IL IS caIieu 'Llltie fdlis Wy
svme. rrencn Is the official Ian.
Sudse aliu there IS no EiigiiSn
Ia diisialIun TOR TOURISTS. nave
purchased a po0k on How TO
ot.aA rIcncn anu an Eiiyiisn-
fiencn uictionary. lnere were
three OF US VINO took The trip -
betty Adams, EllzaDeln Braxton
anu myselI. We lett by Ghana
Alrways and the tngnt TO ADid-
Jan took l nour ana 40 minutes.
Even entering the airport at
AbidJan was ike going into
another world. We went through
customs, registered with the
AbidJan Police Department, and
mind you, all conversation was
III rrench.
when we reached Abidjan,
we discovered that our hotel res
crvatIons had not been confirmed
by the airways company as re-
quested. We hailed taxicab and
from Sis pm. until about lO:OO
pm. we rode around Abidjan
from hotel to hotel looking Tor
a room and there were just SIM
ply none to be had. We were just
about ready to sleep on park
bench. We finally told the driver
to take us to the American En-
bassy. Once we reached the En-
bassy, the receptionist called
MIR. Todd, who really came to our
rescue and he and his family
made our stay for the remainder
of our time there most pleasant:
He took us in tow and arranged
for us to stay with some friends
of theirs, Mr.. and Mrs. Valacos,
who have a very lovely home Just
outside the city limits. When we
arrived at the valacos home we
were entertained until the wee
hours before going to bed.
"The following morning, alter
several phone calls, we iinaiiy
did get a room at the Cocody no
tel. which is a fabolous new no
fore we could leave the Valacos ;
tel. overlooking lagoon. But De-
home, Mrs. Valacos INSISTED we
stav for breakfast - and what
breakfast! Very, very French
with pastries of all kinds, cheeses,
swcetbreads, and French bread
and butter - along with coffee.
BY the way. lot OF the people
who live in the suburbs OF Apio-
ian keep baby deer for pets. MIS-
Valacos had one.
After breakfast, we thanked
Mrs. Valacos for her hospitality
and offered to. compensate her
(Which she refused) and left for
our hotel. We attracted quite
lot of attention at the hotel since
we were about the only brown
people there except for the heip'
AS soon as we we're settled we
got dressed and went back TO tne
American Embassy for luncn WIN
the Todds. Mr.. and Mrs. TODD
have been in foreign service Tor
II years and they have two dausn,
tiers, Cynthia and Coralee' IA
and o respectively who have never
lived In the United States. Inc
entire family speaks four IAN
guages fluently. They are Amerr
can Negroes. in fact, the only
Negro family stationed there.
After lunch. their Oldest dausn'
ter. Cynthia. went shopping
with us. The shops were wonder
full and they have very large
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