In the bare premises of an Abidjan Internet cafe, 12-year-old schoolboy Mohammed plays Cupid.  Scores of young women in the West African country of Ivory Coast have taken to surfing the Web, some for hours a day, determined to find a husband.
And not just any man will do. "When you ask them what sort of guy they want, they all say the same thing: white, with a house, aged about 50 ，" he said, smiling shyly. Some of the women are illiterate. Most do not know how to use a computer or cannot type fast. To earn his pocket money, Mohammed helps the man-hunting girls write their love messages, post them on the Internet and read e-mails from potential suitors. "These Web sites are about love but when you meet these girls you feel that it's not really love they are looking for," he said. Kone Adjouma, who runs the Cyber Center where Mohammed works, says most of his customers are 18-to-20-year-old girls who see a white man as their ticket to a better life in Europe, Canada or the United States.
"Sometimes, after a while, the guy comes here for a week to meet the family. Then he would send over a plane ticket and a bit of money for the documents," Adjouma said. "I have been here for two years and I've seen nine girls leave like that."
The dating pages of Web sites can carry 30 to 40 new messages every day from Ivorian women seeking partners. Most say they want "un blanc" (a white). Some can be quite specific about other requirements too. "Pretty, young African woman seeks European man, only aged between 40 and 50, for marriage, well-off because I think that's what you need to be happy, let's not be ashamed about it," said a recent message. Not surprisingly, some matches made on the Internet turn sour very quickly. Rebecca, 22, says her friend Viviane sounded very happy when she found a man who asked her to go over to France. "He was buying her clothes. He was taking her to clubs. Everything looked fine but then, after two weeks, he told her she had to work as a prostitute," she said. Viviane managed to escape and now lives in Ghana. But even the most horrible tales seem to do little to dent the hopes of Yolande, 21, who works as a maid and hairdresser. She says she has been dreaming of marrying a foreign man since she was 15. Yolande says the French embassy has twice refused her a visa after a Frenchman she met in Ivory Coast sent her money and a ticket to join him. She said she will keep trying. "I can't read and I can't write, my mother works in the fields at the village. When I have a child, I want him to have a different life." (Agencies) | 盡管12歲的穆罕默德還是個在校就讀的孩子，但是在阿比讓網吧那幢光禿禿的樓房里，他卻每天努力扮演著愛神“丘比特”的角色。 在這里，有很多來自非洲象牙海岸的年輕女孩子，她們每天都花好幾個小時上網，只因為她們下定了決心，要通過網絡為自己找到如意郎君。 但并不是所有的男人都在她們的征婚范圍之內的。 臉上帶著害羞的微笑，穆罕默德說道："如果你問她們什么樣的男人符合她們的條件，她們的回答都一樣：白人，有房子，年齡50歲左右。" 這些女孩子中，有一部分是文盲，絕大多數根本不懂如何使用電腦。即便會，打字速度也很慢。 穆罕默德幫助這些女孩子寫求愛的信息，張貼在網上，并為她們朗讀那些符合條件的回復郵件，以此賺取一些零花錢。 他說："這些網站都是有關愛情的。但如果你和這些女孩子面對面，你會覺得她們并非在尋找真正的愛情。"  據經營這家網吧的科內說，光顧這里的大部分是18到20歲的女孩子，她們向往歐洲、加拿大或者美國的舒適生活，希望能找到一個白人給自己提供一張到達那里的機票。
他說："有時候，會有一些男人過來和女孩子的家庭見面，回去后就把機票和辦手續的錢寄過來。我已經在這里呆了兩年，親眼見到有9個女孩子用這種方式離開了這里。" 一些網站會有一些關于征婚交友的頁面，這些頁面每天都會發布30到40條的新信息，內容大多是關于象牙海岸婦女的交友啟事。大部分人都要求對方是白人，有時候，她們還會非常明確的寫出自己的其他要求。 最近發布的一條是這樣寫的："年輕美貌非洲女孩欲尋找40到50歲的歐洲男子為偶，你必須富有，因為只有財富才能使人快樂，這樣說沒什么,不用感到羞恥。" 當然，網絡姻緣也不乏失敗的例子，帶來一些澀澀的苦果。 22歲的麗貝卡說她的朋友維維亞娜通過互聯網認識了一個男人，他邀請她去法國，"他給她買衣服，帶她去俱樂部，起初一切都那么美好，但兩星期后，他讓她去賣淫。"維維亞娜幸運地從那個男人手中逃了出去，現在住在加納。 但即便是最可怕的事例也無法嚇退21歲的約蘭達。她現在的工作是女傭和美發師。她說從15歲起她就夢想著嫁給外國人。 約蘭達在象牙海岸認識了一個法國人，他給了她錢和機票。但法國使館已經兩次拒絕發給她簽證。 約蘭達說她會一直努力下去，直到通過為止："我既不識字，也不會寫。我的母親每天都在鄉下的地里干活。當我有了孩子，我一定要給他一個全新的生活。" （中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2002-10-18 01:00
