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 and, well, with some sort of means," 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 like www.abidjan.net can carry 30 to 40 new messages every day from Ivorian women seeking partners. Most say they want "un blanc". 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.
Changing times
Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, used to lure millions of migrant workers as a relatively rich country in turbulent and poverty-stricken West Africa.
A deteriorating economy and sporadic unrest since a military coup in 1999 have changed all that. Living standards have taken a hit and many Ivorians now feel starting a new life abroad is the only way forward -- whatever it takes.
"These girls want to improve their lives and are encouraged by a few successes," said Adediha Desforges-Kokou, who runs the Wall Street cyber cafe in the residential Riviera area, where surfing the Internet costs 1,000 CFA francs (US$1.50) an hour.
"The West may not be heaven, but at least if they make it they get the chance to go and have a look," he said.
Not surprisingly, some matches made on the Internet turn sour very quickly.
Last month, officials at a Western embassy broke the news to a man in Europe that the girl he had been chatting to on the Internet for months and was planning to introduce to his family was in fact a man. He withdrew his invitation.
Rebecca, 22, says her friend Viviane sounded very happy when she found a man who asked her to go over to France -- which as the former colonial power has a special appeal for many girls.
"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.
"If someone invites me over, I'll go on holiday first and then I'll come back. I don't want to end up as somebody's slave," said Rebecca.
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," she said.
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