Last Few Days in Cameroon

Hello Everyone,

Friday, May 1, wow it's May already? We didn't leave until 10 in the morning. We went to Pastor Adolf's house for brunch. Around 11, we took two taxis to a place where we got on a bus to Edéa. The area is known for aluminium processing. From Douala, it took us about one hour to get to Edéa. When we got there, we walked for 40 minutes until we got to the church. It was a very humid day! We were all dripping sweat. It was disgusting, but we kept our bandannas at hand. I think it was our sweatiest day yet, even though it was no where near the hottest day. It was only in the 80s. We ate lunch at a house near the church. It was a good meal of rice, spaghetti, couscous made of manioc, and a delicious sauce. Around 3, we went back to the church where we did almost all of our songs for the 40 people gathered there. Pastor Adolf kept asking us to do do more songs. He also led confession, absolution, and Communion. The liturgy was the same even though it was in French; I followed along pretty well--and even picked up on some of the French. After the program/service, we stayed and talked with the people from the congregation for awhile. Then we took motos to the bus station and then went back to Douala. Because of traffic, it took us an extra hour to get back to Douala.

Saturday, Sonja decided not to go with us because she wasn't feeling well. We all agreed that was a good decision. Without Sonja with us, I was the treasurer for the day. It really helped me appreciate what Sonja does for us. I was constantly paying for transportation things and I kept record everything. When the day started, I had no idea how much money I would be spending; I was quite disappointed by the end of the day. We all took a taxi to Limbé. Limbé used to be called Victoria, after Queen Victoria of England. The city is known for it's oil and fishing industries. We went to a house where there is a church inside. We hung out there for awhile and watched National Geographic in English. Then, the people there took us to a zoo! We saw gorillas, monkeys, baboons, mackerels, crocodiles, a tortoise, snakes, and deer. Most were endangered and were being protected from hunters. The fences between us and the animals was very thin, but they were electric. The area was very green and beautiful!! The flowers were gorgeous! Next, we drove to the beach. Limbé is a port city. In the past, it was a place where they traded slaves with the Portuguese. From the beach, we could see Mount Cameroon, which is 13,255 feet (4,040 meters) high; it is a volcano. It was awesome how it was blending in with the clouds. I was very happy to have this opportunity to see it because I had been hoping to, but didn't think it would happen. It was a nice surprise! After going to the beach, we went back to the church house. We ate an amazing meal there and then did four songs for the people gathered there. Luke and Adrienne talked for awhile. Then, Pastor Adolf began a worship service. It was a long service of songs from the choir, liturgy, Scripture, and Communion. We did a few more songs and headed back to Douala around 5.

At 6, we got stop at a checkpoint. Scattered throughout Cameroon there are numerous checkpoints where police officers check for identification. Mostly, they are worried about foreigners. We handed over our passports and didn't get them back for an hour and a half. The police in Cameroon are extremely corrupt. They pocket the money that they can get out of people on the roads. The have sticks with nails on them to pop people's tires if needed. Because we knew that within four hours we would be illegal, we were anticipating that we might have difficulties. Also, Lindsay accidentally left her passport at the procure--but that ended up not being a problem. Mostly, they just wanted our money. Legally speaking, we could have been arrested. However, instead, we gave them money. Pastor Adolf, Prosper, and Luke argued with them for an hour and a half. They didn't like that Pastor Adolf and Prosper were helping us because they didn't have any problems. They helped lower the price for us. They admitted that we didn't have the large amount of money that they wanted. Eventually, a total of about $200 was given to them. We left and drove back to Douala. Paul had gone back to the procure to get Lindsay's passport, which we didn't end up needing, but we paid for his transportation anyways. The driver asked us to give him $4 so that we could go through the next checkpoint without stopping; we did! We arrived safely back in Douala with hardly any money. It was a very rough day for all of us. I was having an especially hard time because I was the treasurer for the day and we had withdrawn money shortly before we had gotten stopped. If we hadn't withdrawn money, I think we might have come back out without our possessions (guitar, camera, watches, etc.) or we could have gone to prison. While we were waiting for things to be settled, we saw the police handcuff someone. There was a ton of yelling and the police were very intimidating. We were all very relieved to get out of their safely. We finally got back to the procure around 9. We explained everything to Sonja, ate dinner, and then went to bed. Because of this happening, we felt very ready to leave Cameroon--especially the corruptness of the country. In the midst of that struggle, we were very thankful that we had Pastor Adolf, Paul, Prosper, and our driver to help us. We needed them there. We reassured them that we did not think badly of Cameroonians, only the corrupt systems. Hopefully, the corrupt systems are not what will remain in our minds about Cameroon.

Sunday, we ate breakfast at Pastor Adolf's house, then walked to the church. We sang two songs with the kids there. Then, we sat through a four hour church service! Wow! That was long for us Westerners, especially since we were anxious for our flight in the evening. We sang a few songs for the service. Their numerous choirs also sang. I love the choirs at that church; they are beautiful and they got a new drum set to accompany them. It was a normal Lutheran liturgical service in French. There was a long time of announcements, two Baptisms, a Confirmation, and Communion. There were probably around 350 people there. After the service, the six of split up and went to six different host homes for lunch. I really enjoyed my time with my hosts. My host mom had been an English teacher. We watched CNN for awhile and she caught me up on the news that I had missed (since we rarely watched the news in Africa!). We ate a really delicious meal of gumbo with antelope, coucous made of corn, bananas, carrots, papiya, bread, and a Coke. I loved antelope! It was my first time trying it and it was very tender and tasted kind of like deer. My host mom was laughing at her daughters because they were eating coucous with silverware and I was eating it with my hands. She was ashamed to see that they weren't eating it with their hands, as most people in Africa do. Having been in Africa for several monthes, I knew that I should eat coucous with my hands. My host mom wanted to take a picture of us eating to show her mother in the village how unAfrican her granddaughters are. The girls joked and said that they were from South Dakota. The family also got some of the Disney Channel shows; I laughed really hard when I heard them singing a Hannah Montana song. It was fun to answer their questions about the US. They gave me a traditional African outfit.

Around 4, we went back to Pastor Adolf's house, where we met as a team, took some pictures, and then left for the airport. We check-in quickly with Paul's help. A member of the congregation, Joel, helped us get through the passport stop without any problems. We stopped for awhile to buy some last minute souvenirs from Africa. Then, we went through security and waited at the gate for a few hours. We watched an amazing sunset. We ate our last meal in Africa. About two hours before boarding began, they ordered us all out of the inclosed room where the gate was so that they could see our passports and look through our carry-ons. Sonja had gone for a walk, so I sat outside waiting for her since I had her bag. Luke, Lindsay, and Adrienne went through without any problem. Then, it was Prosper's turn. Sonja came back and joined me at the end of the line. We realized that Prosper was arguing with the people from Swiss Air and was having trouble. We learned that Swiss Air would not let him fly to two countries in Europe before going to the United States. Supposably, Cameroonians can only fly to one country in Europe before going to the United States--or they are breaking the law. So, they guided him away, back to the entrance of the airport; without any goodbyes from the team. Prosper asked me to wait for him to come back--and he really thought he would be coming back. Sonja went through security and I sat and waited. Through the glass room, I let the team know what had happened. When it got closer to boarding time, Luke came out and talked to the people from Swiss Air. He showed them Prosper's itenerary, but that didn't help. Luke told me to go to the gate, so I did. Luke went to Prosper to see if the information he had would be of any use. However, it didn't help. Prosper stayed behind and had to buy another ticket to the United States--one that only stopped in Europe once. It was very hard for us to leave without a teammate. We boarded the plane and finally left around 11.

Sadly, we were mostly glad to go. But, there is already so much that I miss about Cameroon.


Peace,

Tiffany