First impressions of Cameroon

Sunday the 4th I arrived in Yaoundé as 1 the last 4 volunteers (3 Dutch, 1 Canadian) to arrive of a group of 18 new volunteers to Cameroon. We all stay in the Capital for a week of In-Country Orientation, and sleep in a 2 star hotel, called hotel Azur. So far, the stars were fairly invisible... but for Cameroon it seems a very good place! The funniest thing is that they sweep the carpet floor with a hand broom, taking them at least 20 minutes per room! I was warned for a bad electricity system, but expected the Capital to be alright, and was wrong. The first 2 days we already had 3 power cuts, luckily lasting only something like 20 minutes. The power cut from my second morning was long and since the water supply is connected, there was no shower at the 2nd floor, even though the hotel has a noisy generator. This is probably why the power company with the name AES Sonel got the nickname Always Expect Shortages... You must admit Cameroonians have a sense of humour. The Nigerian equivalent seems to be Never Expect Electricity Always (NEEA).
The Capital is busy and chaotic, with lots of vendors on the streets, selling fresh fruit, roasted ground-nuts in bottles, cigarettes, credit for your telephone, only a box full of candies or shoes. Females selling omelette, beans, bread and coffee at the side of the road, where they have a little more space to stall a table and some benches for their customers. I have seen maybe 2 crosses with traffic lights coming from the airport. Other crossings have a police organizing the traffic during rush hour or no signs or nothing at all, making traffic a messy business.
It is warm and mostly dry, but cloudy. The rainy season in Yaoundé has almost come to an end and the mosquitoes like this season as much as we do. Cameroonians eat a lot of rice, chicken, fried fish and baked potatoes or chips and during the day beans and white bread. I count a lot of carbs and hope to get to my tiny village soon, where there is little to eat. It is filling and it is a lot!
This first week of orientation has different sessions on what VSO Cameroon’s programmes look like, security issues, medical advice and health risks, cultural practices and habits, corruption (Cameroon used to be number 1 in the world...), child abuse, advocacy, how to get by financially etc. After every session, no matter how short it is, follows an evaluation, is this the Cameroonian or the British bureaucratic system at its best? I liked the bit on cultural issues the best and very useful. Now I know for example that when I meet a fon, which is a local king, that I always politely bow a bit and then clap my hands 3 times. Furthermore, it is a sign of disrespect to the person you are with when crossing your legs and smelling the food you have been offered is considered to be impolite! Handling things over with the left hand is suppose to bring bad luck to the person you’re handling it to. And there are many more interesting cultural practices. Interested in one disgusting detail from the medical briefing? No? Skip and go to next paragraph. If yes, here it is: There is a little try-before-you-die animal, called Jiggers, seen in areas with lots of chickens and pigs, who lay eggs in the skin of your feed to multiply. There is another type, more like a fly, who get into your laundry when it is drying. When putting on your clothes they also crawl under your skin. It seems like an abses and itches! Both are not dangerous, but you need a doc to cut them out for you...
One of the volunteers is born and raised in Cameroon, but lives in Canada nowadays. His family still lives here and he asked us to come along, when he wanted to visit one of his younger brothers, who is working at the Ministry of Education. Luckily we could get in the Ministry without showing any ID and his bro took us to his uncle and his direct colleagues. Tens if not hundreds of people were waiting in the corridors of his department to get a document registered and stamped for further procedures. Some must be there all day long to get there promotion settled, meaning they won’t be teaching in class that day! And then we call the Netherlands bureaucratic. His brothers office was maybe 3 by 6 meters and contained 5 desks and chairs for as many employees!! With size 38 and moving sideways you could still walk between the desks to the other end of the room. Since it was Wednesday, meeting day in this department, every employee was wearing a traditional green cloth, females and males alike. Wednesday in the whole Ministry meant bilingual day, where everybody was stimulated to speak their second language. Francophone’s should speak in English and Anglophones would have to answer in French. Outside sacked people were demonstrating, holding signs mostly complaining that the don’t have a job presently, but the sons and cousins of dear Mister President still do. Corruption does seem to be major in this country.
More to come on my placement and new hometown Bangola soon! Well, soonisch... when I manage to get internet again in the village. Big hugs. Baukje