This is the University of Bangui, it was located about two hundred yards from our house. I do not think that it was ever really open while we were there, at least not fully open with classes being taught. There were plenty of students around however, mostly trying to find ways to get by when the government was unable to pay their bourses (or pay any other government salaries).

I had a volunteer job at the Centre Martin Luther King (the USIA Center) two nights a week. We would watch American films (e.g. Malcolm X) and talk about current events in English. My two favorite sessions were talking about the Apollo missions (I don't think anyone in the room actually believed that they happened), and describing ice hockey. The ice hockey description was something like this: 'You know ice, that stuff that you put in your glasses to make your drink cold? We have buildings where we put that on the floor, then people put boots with sharp metal blades on and slide around the ice carrying sticks and wearing body armor.' This explanation was harder to believe than anything that I had told them about the Apollo missions.