In 2009 there was a ceremony somewhere between Bikele and Essassa to mark the opening of major improvements to the N1, the principal road from the capital to the interior which ran through Essassa past our school. This was a road of variable quality, but particularly poor in its early stages. I believe the works included a by-pass of (some of) the villages shown in the map below.

This was a big occasion: the works were long overdue to improve a road often pitted with very dangerous potholes and where major accidents were frequent. All the pupils and staff of Berthe & Jean were given a free T-shirt and at the right moment we were all taken by bus a few km to the site. It was very colourful and noisy, with other schools and organisations also represented. The then President Omar Bongo did not attend, and it was then that rumours began to circulate about his health. As it happened, he died some weeks later.