Ten students from Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa have been guests at the Hochschule Niederrhein for a good two months. As part of a project funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), they are developing a system to ensure decentralized, solar-powered electricity and water supplies in rural areas. In addition to the scientific work, there is also time for an accompanying program. Last week, the students visited Ivorian national soccer player Odilon Kossounou of Bundesliga leader Bayer Leverkusen.
Côte d'Ivoire is a country passionate about soccer, and the Africa Cup will be held there in January 2024. So it was hardly surprising that the students were also full of anticipation for the extraordinary meeting. After all, Odilon Kossounou is a current national player for "Les Elephants," as the Ivorian national team is known. Equipped with jerseys of their national team, the travel group set off for Leverkusen.
In the morning, they were allowed to visit the training session of the league leaders, after which Kossounou welcomed the group in the mixed zone of the BayArena. Edmond Tapsoba, a defender from the neighboring West African country of Burkina Faso, also joined the group and chatted animatedly with the students. The numerous requests for photos and autographs were fulfilled with pleasure.
The trip would already have been a complete success, but Kossounou surprised the students with a spontaneous invitation to lunch together as well as tickets for the Bundesliga home game against SC Freiburg. Thanks in part to the vociferous support of the Ivorians, Bayer Leverkusen won 2-1 last Sunday. Eventful days for the young people, who are currently some 7800 kilometers away from their homeland.
The students will be at the Hochschule Niederrhein until January 2024, during which time they will be working on the project Industry Integrated Dual Engineering Studies in a North-South Collaboration. This will be carried out at the SWK E² - Institute of Energy Technology and Energy Management at the Hochschule Niederrhein. In summer 2024, the project prototype is to be put into operation in the village of Legroskro near Duékoué in Côte d'Ivoire, supplying around 300 to 500 people.
