It has been fun doing this, by this i mean living in Cameroon for six months and experiencing the culture. I have learned so much about Africa, life and humanity that i'm amazed that my old brain has been able to store it all.
I remember being five years old and watching live aid with my sister, Yolanda. It was 1985 and there was a famine in Ethiopia. Between all the music it would cut to shots of malnourished children and people sitting around too tired to wipe the flies away from their eyes. I remember realising for the first time that there were people in the world who had nothing, and they were dying. It was hard for me to get my head around it but i'll cite this time as the moment i realised about Africa and the problems it was facing.
I marched through the streets of Edinburgh with a million other people in support of The Make Poverty History campaign to write off third world debt and increase spending on aid. That was an amazing day and i could feel sparks of something in the air that i couldn't put my finger on. Hope.
I was at the Live 8 gig at Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh the day before the G8 summit. Nelson Mandela spoke to 90,000 people in a live video link and urged the leaders to embrace change and listen to the voice of the majority. It really was an incredible time and it made me feel proud to be part of the human race that day. We were all united for a common goal and i'd never experienced that before.
Then the bastards bombed London the very next day. Many people were killed and the spotlight shifted to that tragic event. I remember being extremely worried about my pal Phil, who lived in London at the time, he was okay but i felt so f!@#ing angry about the world and the people in it. I felt hopeless and sad for humanity when just the previous day i'd felt the most exhilerated i'd felt about things ever. That night i went on the internet and started searching for an NGO in Africa to volunteer with, now here i am.
I have always wanted to come here and in the future i would like to work for an international aid agency. My time here has opened my eyes and clarified all the preconceptions i held. Of course, it's a big continent and i have only experienced a tiny fraction of it, but now i know how i can help and i now know that i've got it in me to do it. I see practical steps to move forward.
If you've been reading this blog i want to say to you now, you should do it yourself. People say that not everyone can, but more people need to. Please give yourself to this wonderful continenet, your presence and your skills can help in all manner of ways. Please consider it. It'll be frustraing sometimes and you'll feel like you are banging your head against a wall. Time moves at its own pace here, but things are changing and you could (Should?) be part of it.
Meredith and i once discussed if we should write a final post when we get back home, we agreed that we shouldn't do that as this was intended only for my time here. Please check back though as i am going to overload this thing with pictures to all these stories i have told you.
So this is my final post, i don't know what i'm going to do with all the spare time that i'll have when not waiting for the internet to crawl up to speed, maybe i'll write a book, ha ha.
This has been an African blog and this has been an African adventure.
And this is Yer Man in Cameroon
Jason Wringe, signing off.
Mine's a pint mate.
Bye di Bye Bye
xxxxx
Sunday 6 July 2008
Saturday 5 July 2008
Friends like these
Meeting new people is always fun and interesting, and i've met so many people from all over the world in the past six months.
Cameroonians (obviously) Dutch, Danish, Canadian, French, German, Nigerian, Vietnamese, Austrian, Estonian and people from all over the U.S.A. Really it's been a lot of fun and i've felt like a citizen of the world as i've experienced many different cultures and opinions.
I'm going to miss Ines a lot when i leave but i'm confident things are beginning to go her way as she has a new job and a more positive outlook on life. I'm sure she will be fine and i'm positive i'll see her again soon armed with more french phrases.
I'm going to miss Christel and Raul who built their orphanage here. I hope it all works out for them cause what they're planning to do is inspiring.
I'll miss Victor, a Nigerian in Cameroon, himself an ex-UAC volunteer who stayed in the country to open an internet cafe. He's a young guy but already has a fascinating life tale to tell. I'm confident his business will be a success.
I'll miss all the wee kids, who are just so fun and cool and sweet. I'll miss my friend Frederique who has fascilitated my beer consumption for the past six months.
I'll miss Cameroon in general. There is a lot going on here politically and i'll keep a keen eye on what transpires with this Biya character. I hope the new Jamadianle school gets completed by 2011, this is when i'd like to come back.
But i have been missing some of the people who have been reading this blog. My feelings are quite bittersweet at the moment. Ho Hum.
Cameroonians (obviously) Dutch, Danish, Canadian, French, German, Nigerian, Vietnamese, Austrian, Estonian and people from all over the U.S.A. Really it's been a lot of fun and i've felt like a citizen of the world as i've experienced many different cultures and opinions.
I'm going to miss Ines a lot when i leave but i'm confident things are beginning to go her way as she has a new job and a more positive outlook on life. I'm sure she will be fine and i'm positive i'll see her again soon armed with more french phrases.
I'm going to miss Christel and Raul who built their orphanage here. I hope it all works out for them cause what they're planning to do is inspiring.
I'll miss Victor, a Nigerian in Cameroon, himself an ex-UAC volunteer who stayed in the country to open an internet cafe. He's a young guy but already has a fascinating life tale to tell. I'm confident his business will be a success.
I'll miss all the wee kids, who are just so fun and cool and sweet. I'll miss my friend Frederique who has fascilitated my beer consumption for the past six months.
I'll miss Cameroon in general. There is a lot going on here politically and i'll keep a keen eye on what transpires with this Biya character. I hope the new Jamadianle school gets completed by 2011, this is when i'd like to come back.
But i have been missing some of the people who have been reading this blog. My feelings are quite bittersweet at the moment. Ho Hum.
Friday 4 July 2008
Born on the fourth of July
The Americans, who are based in Mamfe, came back to Buea on Tuesday. They stayed for a night then left for Yaounde to go to the American embassy for a fourth of July shindig. They've probably been living it up poolside eating beautiful food and rubbing shoulders with all kinds of bigwigs singing 'God bless America' and slapping each other on the back in a patriotic frenzy.
They come back tomorrow so they will be able to attend the first of my leaving do's with my friends at Abidjan (Where else could i have it but there?) That should be fun and wicked to boot. Then on Sunday it is my second leaving do at the Orock house. Such is the tradition when volunteers leave, there will be food and lots of speeches (What can i say?). Tonight we are going out for a boogie to some live Makossa music. Splendid.
This last week i have been realising all the things that i'm going to do for the last time. The last time i'll buy a six pack of tangui mineral water, the last time i travel up the mountain to go to the bank and most pleasing of all, the last time i scrub my laundry by hand before i return to the land of washing machines. With all these parties coming up, i have no idea when my last Cameroonian beer will be though ha ha.
In other news...I was walking home the other day when i witnessed a taxi crash into a parked car. I looked over and i seen the driver moving but i thought he was just pulling the steering wheel round to reverse out of the smash. Then everybody started panicking as he was actually convulsing. I ran over and dragged him from the car and he was vomiting and this dude in an act of desperation starts giving him chest compressions. I was shouting at him to stop as the guy was still breathing and clearly had a pulse, but the guy wouldn't stop pumping on his chest!! I eventually had to drag him off and shout at the top of my voice "HE'S STILL ALIVE MAN!!!!" It was the closest i'll ever get to being a doctor. I thought he might be having an epileptic fit or he was in aniphilactic shock or something but a friend of his said he doesn't have epilepsy neither is he allergic to anything. Having made my diagnosis, we got the guy in a taxi to the hospital and i told the driver to tell my doctor colleagues that he has been poisoned. I've heard from another taxi driver that he is ok, so all's well that ends well.
Bit of excitement that i had to indulge there.
They come back tomorrow so they will be able to attend the first of my leaving do's with my friends at Abidjan (Where else could i have it but there?) That should be fun and wicked to boot. Then on Sunday it is my second leaving do at the Orock house. Such is the tradition when volunteers leave, there will be food and lots of speeches (What can i say?). Tonight we are going out for a boogie to some live Makossa music. Splendid.
This last week i have been realising all the things that i'm going to do for the last time. The last time i'll buy a six pack of tangui mineral water, the last time i travel up the mountain to go to the bank and most pleasing of all, the last time i scrub my laundry by hand before i return to the land of washing machines. With all these parties coming up, i have no idea when my last Cameroonian beer will be though ha ha.
In other news...I was walking home the other day when i witnessed a taxi crash into a parked car. I looked over and i seen the driver moving but i thought he was just pulling the steering wheel round to reverse out of the smash. Then everybody started panicking as he was actually convulsing. I ran over and dragged him from the car and he was vomiting and this dude in an act of desperation starts giving him chest compressions. I was shouting at him to stop as the guy was still breathing and clearly had a pulse, but the guy wouldn't stop pumping on his chest!! I eventually had to drag him off and shout at the top of my voice "HE'S STILL ALIVE MAN!!!!" It was the closest i'll ever get to being a doctor. I thought he might be having an epileptic fit or he was in aniphilactic shock or something but a friend of his said he doesn't have epilepsy neither is he allergic to anything. Having made my diagnosis, we got the guy in a taxi to the hospital and i told the driver to tell my doctor colleagues that he has been poisoned. I've heard from another taxi driver that he is ok, so all's well that ends well.
Bit of excitement that i had to indulge there.
Thursday 3 July 2008
It's a kind of magic
You just have to read a newspaper or just look at the world to see that people believe in crazy things. Superstion, folklore, beliefs and myths are universal, they vary wildly depending on where you go but they all have one thing in common, they are beliefs without evidence.
A vast majority of Cameroonians that i have met believe in witchcraft, the mammywater (that's mermaids to you and i) Curses, totems, jojo's and black magic.
Ines, her brother Gildas and her friend, Kevin and i often debate all these things. They seem to think that i have trouble believing their rather lavish tales because i haven't seen black magic with my own eyes. But the problem is half the time they haven't seen it either!! They've just heard a story of a story of a guy who sneezed as he walked past a dog who asked him to follow him to a kid down a well who then knew a fascinating tale of a guy who can fly in a matchbox. It's so vague sometimes but they are convinced, and they don't know why my logical mind isn't.
For example, the mammywater, the people of the sea who drag people under when they are in the water.
"Don't people just drown when they can't swim?" says i.
"No, it's the mammywater"
"Has anyone ever seen one?"
"Well yes, but they are all dead"
I don't care how level headed or logical you are, it's hard to argue against that.
They promised to let me meet a guy who can make things dissapear, he can take things out your pocket without you noticing (he must be quite the Derren Brown fan) and he can also make you need a pee by touching you, an odd wee collection of skills to put on yer C.V that. I've not met him yet likes but hopefully i can meet him before i go, he sounds like a laugh.
It's so fascinating and i could talk about much more stuff but i can already feel myself getting frustrated just thinking about them, so i'm not going to.
Hey where's my money gone???
Why do i need another piss? I just went five minutes ago!!
A vast majority of Cameroonians that i have met believe in witchcraft, the mammywater (that's mermaids to you and i) Curses, totems, jojo's and black magic.
Ines, her brother Gildas and her friend, Kevin and i often debate all these things. They seem to think that i have trouble believing their rather lavish tales because i haven't seen black magic with my own eyes. But the problem is half the time they haven't seen it either!! They've just heard a story of a story of a guy who sneezed as he walked past a dog who asked him to follow him to a kid down a well who then knew a fascinating tale of a guy who can fly in a matchbox. It's so vague sometimes but they are convinced, and they don't know why my logical mind isn't.
For example, the mammywater, the people of the sea who drag people under when they are in the water.
"Don't people just drown when they can't swim?" says i.
"No, it's the mammywater"
"Has anyone ever seen one?"
"Well yes, but they are all dead"
I don't care how level headed or logical you are, it's hard to argue against that.
They promised to let me meet a guy who can make things dissapear, he can take things out your pocket without you noticing (he must be quite the Derren Brown fan) and he can also make you need a pee by touching you, an odd wee collection of skills to put on yer C.V that. I've not met him yet likes but hopefully i can meet him before i go, he sounds like a laugh.
It's so fascinating and i could talk about much more stuff but i can already feel myself getting frustrated just thinking about them, so i'm not going to.
Hey where's my money gone???
Why do i need another piss? I just went five minutes ago!!
Wednesday 2 July 2008
Being a minority
For the first time in my life i am a minority, i am a white man.
My friends and i were individuals at school, but we chose to be that way, we chose not to be a walking fashion label and we chose to listen to good music. This seperated us from the crowd on our own vilition.
But here my skin seperates me from the crowd and that is a new experience for me. Everybody and i mean everybody stares at me, not in a nasty way, but in a curious way. People are intrigued by the way i talk (Sometimes they're not even sure if i'm speaking english, but i just need to go to England to expreience that, ha ha) People also think i'm a millionaire because of my skin colour and a white man tax is added to everything i try to buy. These are pre-conceived notions about white people and once they get to know you everybody including me, realises that our differences are far outnumbered by our similarities.
The people of Cameroon are very, very religious, yer man Jesus is the main man round here. This has been my first experience of living in a pious society and it has been endlessly fascinating and it has provided me with many an interesting debate. God knows how many people are praying for me here.
I've made many friends and i've understood what Cameroonians have to face on a day to day basis. I've felt what it's like to be a minority and its opened my eyes to all the privelages i've had in my life. Without wanting to be too melodramatic, i will never take things for granted again and i will see life from a new perspective for the rest of my days.
My friends and i were individuals at school, but we chose to be that way, we chose not to be a walking fashion label and we chose to listen to good music. This seperated us from the crowd on our own vilition.
But here my skin seperates me from the crowd and that is a new experience for me. Everybody and i mean everybody stares at me, not in a nasty way, but in a curious way. People are intrigued by the way i talk (Sometimes they're not even sure if i'm speaking english, but i just need to go to England to expreience that, ha ha) People also think i'm a millionaire because of my skin colour and a white man tax is added to everything i try to buy. These are pre-conceived notions about white people and once they get to know you everybody including me, realises that our differences are far outnumbered by our similarities.
The people of Cameroon are very, very religious, yer man Jesus is the main man round here. This has been my first experience of living in a pious society and it has been endlessly fascinating and it has provided me with many an interesting debate. God knows how many people are praying for me here.
I've made many friends and i've understood what Cameroonians have to face on a day to day basis. I've felt what it's like to be a minority and its opened my eyes to all the privelages i've had in my life. Without wanting to be too melodramatic, i will never take things for granted again and i will see life from a new perspective for the rest of my days.
Tuesday 1 July 2008
Literature list
As i've said in a previous post, once all the work is done through the day there are three options to spend the evening, exercise, drink or read. Here are all the books i have read in past six months.
1.A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
2.Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
3.Hannibal - Thomas Harris
4.Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris
5.The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
6.Cather in the Rye - J.D Salinger
7.Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
8.A Monk Swimming - Malachy McCourt
9.To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
10.Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H Lawrence
11.Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
12.Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
13.The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
14.Shampoo Planet - Douglas Coupland
15.Atonement - Ian McEwan
16.De Niro: A biography - John Baxter
17.House of Sand and Fog - Andres Dubus 111
18.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
19.The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
20.Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela
21.Contact - Carl Sagan
22.Cosmos - Carl Sagan
23.Death Warrant - Will Pearson
24.Our Man In Havana - Graham Greene
25.The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
26.The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell:The Middle Years:1914-1944 - Bertrand Russell
27.Communal Liberalism - Paul Biya
28.Tesla:Man out of time - Margerat Cheyney
29.Paco's Story - Larry Heineman
30.The Brethren - John Grisham
31.20,000 leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
32.The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
33.Dear Theo:The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh - Irving Stone
34.Tess of The D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
35.AIDS and HIV in Perspective - Barry D. Schoub
36.All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
That works out at a book every five days, which is pretty good reading for me as i normally read two books a month.
1.A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
2.Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
3.Hannibal - Thomas Harris
4.Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris
5.The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
6.Cather in the Rye - J.D Salinger
7.Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt
8.A Monk Swimming - Malachy McCourt
9.To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
10.Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H Lawrence
11.Cry the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
12.Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
13.The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
14.Shampoo Planet - Douglas Coupland
15.Atonement - Ian McEwan
16.De Niro: A biography - John Baxter
17.House of Sand and Fog - Andres Dubus 111
18.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
19.The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
20.Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela
21.Contact - Carl Sagan
22.Cosmos - Carl Sagan
23.Death Warrant - Will Pearson
24.Our Man In Havana - Graham Greene
25.The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
26.The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell:The Middle Years:1914-1944 - Bertrand Russell
27.Communal Liberalism - Paul Biya
28.Tesla:Man out of time - Margerat Cheyney
29.Paco's Story - Larry Heineman
30.The Brethren - John Grisham
31.20,000 leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
32.The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum
33.Dear Theo:The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh - Irving Stone
34.Tess of The D'urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
35.AIDS and HIV in Perspective - Barry D. Schoub
36.All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
That works out at a book every five days, which is pretty good reading for me as i normally read two books a month.
Monday 30 June 2008
Images of Africa
So i conducted a wee experiment last night where i shut my eyes and thought about the past six months of my life in Cameroon. Here are the main memories that i scribbled down.
Stepping of a plane in Douala to the blistering heat and a chancer in ripped jeans claiming to be the passport inspector asking to see my passport.....Buying watermelon off a wee girl who had them perched on her bonce in a busy market.....Seeing Mount Cameroon for the first time after it had been shrouded in clouds for three weeks.....Flying through the jungle on a dirt road in a death mobile with eight other people.....Walking with Ines and her son to the house of a Rastafarian.....Meeting Kait for the first time and showing her how to lock the door.....saying something meaningful to a deaf person for the first time in my life.....Valerie and i getting hugged by fifty kids at the Jamadianle nursery school.....Children carrying chickens in bags.....A tarantula climbing up my bathroom wall and a flash of recognition on my behalf that yes, i do have mild arachnophobia.....Seeing a shooting star for the first time ever and making a wish.....Dancing to Makossa in Mamfe.....A red Colobus monkey silhouetted against the sky.....Sitting under an avocado tree in Buea university discussing politics.....Watching the sun set over the Atlantic ocean sipping on a beer.....Staring up at the forest canopy whilst floating on my back.....Hearing gunshots and tear gas and almost pooping my pants.....Chasing baby Clara round a table.....Going to Limbe with Meredith and Ernest and the door to the bus falling off.....Snapping Ines as she had her first ever slice of pizza.....Looking into a witch doctors eyes and wondering if he really believes what he is saying.....Teaching for the first time with thirty confused faces staring back at me.....Driving down a mountain road into Bamenda.....Being humbled by everybody at the Buea school for the deaf when i donated some books.....The kids in Bokova all cheering when we arrived for school on wheels.....Watching the coolest thunderstorm that lit up the entire sky.....
I'm sorry if some of that didn't make sense but it was nice for me to remember all those times.
Stepping of a plane in Douala to the blistering heat and a chancer in ripped jeans claiming to be the passport inspector asking to see my passport.....Buying watermelon off a wee girl who had them perched on her bonce in a busy market.....Seeing Mount Cameroon for the first time after it had been shrouded in clouds for three weeks.....Flying through the jungle on a dirt road in a death mobile with eight other people.....Walking with Ines and her son to the house of a Rastafarian.....Meeting Kait for the first time and showing her how to lock the door.....saying something meaningful to a deaf person for the first time in my life.....Valerie and i getting hugged by fifty kids at the Jamadianle nursery school.....Children carrying chickens in bags.....A tarantula climbing up my bathroom wall and a flash of recognition on my behalf that yes, i do have mild arachnophobia.....Seeing a shooting star for the first time ever and making a wish.....Dancing to Makossa in Mamfe.....A red Colobus monkey silhouetted against the sky.....Sitting under an avocado tree in Buea university discussing politics.....Watching the sun set over the Atlantic ocean sipping on a beer.....Staring up at the forest canopy whilst floating on my back.....Hearing gunshots and tear gas and almost pooping my pants.....Chasing baby Clara round a table.....Going to Limbe with Meredith and Ernest and the door to the bus falling off.....Snapping Ines as she had her first ever slice of pizza.....Looking into a witch doctors eyes and wondering if he really believes what he is saying.....Teaching for the first time with thirty confused faces staring back at me.....Driving down a mountain road into Bamenda.....Being humbled by everybody at the Buea school for the deaf when i donated some books.....The kids in Bokova all cheering when we arrived for school on wheels.....Watching the coolest thunderstorm that lit up the entire sky.....
I'm sorry if some of that didn't make sense but it was nice for me to remember all those times.
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