Wedding bells

From Cameroon - We...

Yesterday Joe and I were invited to the wedding of Helms and Antonia. Helms is a member of SUFA, Joe's football club. We went with Didimus and Sylvester (who are also members of SUFA), the wedding was due to start at 1, I think this is to make sure everybody is there when it actually starts at 2:30. I even had time to go home and change my dress as it got wet in the back of Sylvester's car. The wedding was held in the University chapel, which sounds quaint and small but was actually pretty big. It was a Catholic service and a very large event. There must have been 100's present. There were about 6 bridesmaids, millions of lady's in waiting and two choirs. The service lasted about 2 1/2 hours, could not follow it too well due to problems with the sound system. A church wedding is not legal in Cameroon they would have previously been to the courts to get married and had a traditional wedding with the family.

After the service as with any wedding the photos were taken then we went off to the reception. This was held outside at the Mount Cameroon FC centre. There were 100's of people there. Once the bride and groom arrived and took their seats (well out of our view) the evening began. There is a chairman who gives some opening remarks then almost everybody makes a speech, this was pretty hard to follow without being able to see what was going on. Then it was time for the food, the SUFA guys decided there were way too many people and not enough food or beer so we left.

African weddings are usually pretty big, it is common for people to just turn up who are not invited as they know the couple, or heard there was a wedding on and hope for free food. There must have been over 400 people at the reception it was far to crowded I felt and was happy to leave. I think this wedding my have been bigger than usual as Helm's father is a chief so the whole village would have been invited, he has also travelled around so made many friends. However it is not unusual to have a few 100!.

Christmas on the beach

We were not convinced Christmas would be much fun this year, but it turned out to be a rather nice day. We saw Marceline and Naomi in the morning and gave them our presents, Naomi was of course more interested in the wrapping paper! Marceline had a Santa hat which looked so cute on Naomi. After heading to the office to make calls to our family we started planning our trip to the beach. We had mentioned our plans to Didimus and Sylvester the night before so they said they would come with us. This worried us that it may mean we do not leave until late in to the afternoon. After a bit of persuading we decided to leave there and then. We visited Sylvester's family on the way. His father-in-law who is a carpenter gave us each a wooden keyring which was lovely. We then continued on to the hotel and beach. It was packed, but we expected it to be. Had to wait a while for our room so had some lunch. Unfortunately they only had buffet lunch which cost a little more than we would have liked to spend. The tide was out so there was some beach, with people playing football, we sat on the wall and chatted with Didimus and Sylvester 'till it was time for them to leave. Then we went for a swim in the sea, it was actually pretty warm. Buffet dinner in the evening also. No turkey - gutted but some nice chicken, pork and fish. The best bit was the chocolate log for desert.

Boxing day was great, we spent the whole day on the beach it was really sunny (Christmas day was a little cloudy). We topped up our tans went swimming in the cool spring water from the mountain and in the sea (which felt like having a bath in comparison to the spring water!). We had a very relaxing couple of days, hope you all enjoyed your Christmases.

The post says it all

MERRY CHRISTMAS

WITH LOVE FROM JOE AND HEV IN CAMEROON

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY

THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG AND KEEPING UP WITH OUR EXPERIENCES

Do they know it's Christmas time at all

In a desperate measure to make myself feel Christmassy I have been playing Band Aid 20, Do they know it's Christmas time. You see in this part of Africa they do know it is Christmas however it appears Christmas has lost even more meaning than it has in the UK. Genesis and Marceline have decided to not celebrate Christmas due to the pagan origins and think it is not how God intended it to be, we should celebrate the birth of Christ everyday. So yesterday this was the morning sermon at church leaving me feeling very depressed about Christmas. We then went off the Figaro for a couple of Christmas beers and I decided to go to any evening service elsewhere to get some of that Christmas feeling. I went to the Full Gospel Mission for what they said would be a short service, it lasted 3 hours I dread to think what a long service is. the service is mostly in French and English, apart from the drama which was in pidgin so I had a little difficulty following it. The pastor also said he was not going to preach then preached for over an hour. I was exhausted by the end but feeling very joyful about Christmas.

Bach eve

Last night I went to me first stag night, or bach eve as they call them here. A guy from Joe's football club is getting married next week so had his final night of freedom last night. Hen nights, or spinster eve's are not that common. Women are invited to a bach eve however it should only be single women so I was a special case.

The party was being held in the mountain club, a private members club built by the British. We did not know where this was so met at Figaro's (our regular). Joe arranged to met Willy at 7pm, we arrived about 7:30 and were told he had gone, we hung out for a while with some other guys from the football club that were planning on heading up to the bach night later. Willy came back about 10:00 and at 10:30 we went up to the bach night, the party was in full swing but there was no bachelor present.

We danced a little, well tried to dance. Not quite got the African hip wiggle yet. At about 2:30 the bachelor arrived. He was paraded through the crowd, had champagne poured all over him and was then subject to interrogation from random girls asking questions. By this time we decided it was time to be heading home, the party will go on 'till dawn. So it was a great night and I look forward to the wedding next week.

Book review: A Prayer for Owen Meany

This book was fantastic, I really wonder to myself what on earth have I been reading for the last 27 years. There is so much great literature I have missed out on. I am not one for making new year resolutions but maybe I will make a return to England resolution to read more good books and watch less rubbish TV when I go home.

Anyway back to Owen Meany, set mostly in the 50's and 60's in a small town. Telling the tale of Johnny Wheelwright (the narrator) and his best friend Owen Meany. Owen Meany has shall we say 'special powers' and the book gives you that 'everything happens for a reason' feeling. I will not tell you what this pair got up to. The book is funny, sad and very bizarre at times. However it is very enjoyable and fun to read. Owen Meany is a funny little boy who firmly believes he is on earth for a reason. The book makes some great observations about family life and although it may not keep you guessing it is a very enjoyable read.

I have the power

Genesis and I are currently collecting all the documents we need to open the health unit. Most of these documents Genesis has to organise, I am in charge of the certification to prove I have some sort of medical qualification. Well I brought copies of my nursing certificates with me so it would be no problem. Of course I have to get them stamped and certified to prove they are originals. Hmmm this may be tricky as the originals are in Suffolk. Well I thought I would go and see the friendly DO (divisional officer) too see if I could get him to sign them.

As I sat in the office waiting for my turn he turned a few people down who did not have their original documents with them. My turn came I presented the documents explaining what they were. He ummmed and arrred about it, telling me "I should have the originals, where I the originals". "In England" I explained, "well how did you get copies" he asked, "I did them before I came". However he decided as it was me and he knows me he would sign them!! So that's one more thing ticked off in the crazy amount of paperwork we need to open a health unit.

Christmas is coming.......really?

I can not believe it is Christmas day on Monday. I do not feel in the slightest bit Christmassy. As I have grown up, each year has felt less like Christmas. However this year it could be August for all I know. Usually I get excited by the twinkling lights, especially when the room is all dark apart from the lights on the Christmas tree. Or there is the odd song that gives me a warm gooey feeling inside, for example, 'I'm driving home for Christmas'. The Christmas carols always give me a nice Christmassy feeling too.

This year I have none of that, no Christmas songs playing anywhere, no little sparkly lights, no decorations and only the odd carol. Christmas is only one day here in Cameroon, it is not a whole month or more like at home. There has been no long run-up since November not even anything this week. It has been great to miss out on all the hype, the over-the-top houses that use a years supply of electricity in a few weeks and the irritating songs in every shop, none of that I miss. What I will miss is all the great stuff that comes with Christmas day. They turkey and all the trimmings, the sharing of presents, fitting in seeing all the family in a couple of days (stressful but enjoyable to see so many people in such little time).

Christmas day itself is a bank holiday (boxing day is not). It is not a big family day, people do not travel to be with their families like we do. Women and children will get a new dress (which is often their only present), if they do not get a new dress they throw a big strop and this can lead to divorce (I am told). People go to church in the morning, however as I understand it Genesis and Marceline have decided to not celebrate Christmas due to its pagan origins and that the meaning of Christmas is not lost. I think this is over-reacting a little as you can always refocus yourself on the Christian origins. In the afternoon the day would be like any other Sunday, many people would see it as a chance to catch up on sleep (not that different to England, big meal, few glasses of wine and a nap!). Children would visit the local houses and be given various treats. The result of this is that households prepare far too much food then have nothing left to eat the rest of the week.

In the evening is when the parties begin and the adults enjoy Christmas. Young people go out to the pubs and clubs, drink far too much and stay out all night.

All in all it sounds pretty different to an English Christmas, we are planning on getting away and spending Christmas on the beach. Maybe I can tell you more about Cameroon Christmas after the event.

Celebrating first teeth - Cameroon style

Over the last couple of weeks Naomi's first couple of teeth have come through. To celebrate this fact Marceline decided to cook a nice meal. So off she went to the market to buy some fresh ingredients. I wondered through the kitchen a little later to do some washing. There was a live chicken on the floor. Not even in a basket this time. At first I thought it had wondered in from outside (as they often do this). However it was sitting very still and I soon realised that's because it's legs were tied together. This chicken is the fresh ingredients for out special lunch.

*Vegetarians and chicken lovers may not want to read the following paragraph*
A hour or so later it was time to kill the chicken, so we watched Marceline to see how it is done. Dig a little hole in the soil for the blood to go, get a sharp knife unfortunately (for the chicken) none of our knives are really that sharp. Next she grabbed it by the feet and wings managed to hold them between her legs as she then grabbed the head and slit the throat. Took a few cuts due to the not-so-sharp knife but she got there in the end. The head came completely off and the chicken was still flapping its wings around. Of course I have heard the saying 'running around like a headless chicken' but I did not realise they actually can run around. Poor little chicken. So the headless chicken then got immersed in hot water, so that the blood comes out and the wings are easier to remove.

A few hours later we all sat and enjoyed our fresh chicken. Sheila was very happy as she got the feet to eat.

Oh I forgot....

I forgot to say in my last entry, Joe has finished working on the new HINT website. So it is now live at www.hintonline.org. So go and visit, take a look around and check out the donate button!!! At the moment you can only donate via paypal which is a pain but we are working to improve this.

Oh and by the way we still do not have water, may be off for a month - so much for a couple of days! It feels like we are camping, going outside to get water each morning. Everyday becoming more grateful for those solar showers!

Almost half way....

......Now that is a scary thought. Today we have been here five months. We will not be here for a whole year as we arrived in the middle of July and have to be back at work at the start of July. So at about new year we will be half way through. A lot of the last month has been taken up with me parents visiting, which was a welcome break for us. Joe finished teaching his first web design course a few days before they arrived, so he was ready to relax. The last few days of the course had caused particular stress due to lack of power and being closed down by taxation. resulting in the students only having a couple of days to complete the final project instead of the planned one week. Nevertheless the students did well and managed to get some stuff done. Power has been a real problem in the last few weeks. We are now protected from short power cuts as we have ups back-up. However recently the electricity board has been putting the power out for the whole day. Joe is due to start a new course on Monday.

We are taking over the buildings for the health unit (as it will now be called due to Cameroon bureaucracy) at the end of the month. Currently Genesis and I are going over all the paperwork we must collect and of course get stamped by the DO. Hopefully it should be a smooth easy process but I am sure somewhere along the line someone will make trouble. I will be training my first group of HIV trainers in January once we have the building. It has been a great frustration to me it has taken five months to get this far. I hope that by my six month update I will have completed it. I often feel we are getting nothing done and what is the point. However it is a slow gradual process and I am sure I will look back after my (almost) year and see the good things.

We are set to set up the school book pool. We will use storage space at the buildings for the health unit. We have been to visit the schools we will be targeting and have teachers elected to help us with the project. The only thing we need now is money to buy all the books. We have applied for funding from the British High Commission so fingers crossed. We are very excited about this project as it will really help the local children, education is so important. Once the initial books are bought it can continue for years.

We get very frustrated with people attitudes. People expect everyone to do everything at an instant yet they do not get stuff done themselves. Resulting in nothing getting done by anyone apart from moaning at each other for not doing it - sounds like the NHS I remember! There are still many cultural differences that we find difficult to adjust too. People can be very rude to each other and I think they do not view it in the same way we do. We are coming from a different perceptive and would not tolerate that behaviour in the UK. Here most people just put up with being shouted at without fighting their corner - does not matter who's right its all down to who is older or in a position of power. If you do fight back it may lose you your job.

So five months gone, we are still learning, still working and still enjoying life in Cameroon. We have good days and bad days but doesn't everyone. I cannot believe it is Christmas, I am sitting in a skirt and sandals and see no decorations, no lights and there is not irritating music in the background. It is great to avoid all the hype but I do miss it.

How to survive without water

Yesterday a man from the Cameroon water company called SNEC (which sounded very like 'snake' when when the guy was announcing his presence from outside the house) came to take our water meter away. The reason for this is that the previous tenant finally got round to telling the water board he had moved (it only took five months). So we have to register with SNEC that we currently live in the property and until then we cannot have any water. This will only take a day or two Genesis told us, if you believe that you will believe anything. So we figured that we will be using the public tap for a few days. Its not far from our house. Luckily we had filled up our solar showers that morning so we can at least try to prevent ourselves from becoming too smelly.

be the same one they took away yesterday. We just have to we get It is usual for the children to fetch the water from the public tap, so off Gabriel went with a collection of bottles to get some water for us all. Meanwhile Genesis sorts out the paperwork required to get a meter. It will not just be any ond meter, it will in fact be the same meter that was there before. All we had to do was prove that we live in the house. To do this we fill in some form, which the landlord also signs to say we are his tenants. Our landlord lives 8 hours away in the North West, so it may take some time. Instead we asked Didimus to sign it as he acts as caretaker. We then have to get this form signed by the Divisional Officer (DO) to prove it is true and correct. Everything in Cameroon needs to be signed by the DO. I am sure he could be doing more imortant things with his time other than signing everybody's forms. I have been to see the DO a few times now and he knows who I am. I got both sets of parents letters of invitation and copies of my parents passports signed. He was very upset to learn my parents-in-law were visiting as he was hoping I was single! Anyway we went up to visit him today. We did not actually have all the paper work required, as we needed the tenancy agreement to prove we are the tenants and the name of our landlord. But as the form was signed by Didimus and not out landlord this would cause trouble. So Genesis decided as the DO knows who I am and 'I have the power' of a white woman we would give it a go. And indeed he signed the form even though he did not have all the paperwork required. Just because I was there - Genesis thinks so.

Genesis then took the form to SNEC but as there was no power for most of the day they could not process it (even Cameroon has become too dependant on computers). So maybe tomorrow......

Fear not however, we do have water at home and its free. So we are in no rush. There is a valve (or whatever it is called) on the supply pipe before where the meter would go. So with the correct tool (which we have) we can turn the supply on and use all the water we want.

Where is home?

After catching up on all the events of the last couple of weeks I feel I have nothing to blog about this week. We are back to our daily routine. Joe had planned to teach this week but due to lack of advertising (not our fault) had no students. So it is postponed to next week. Genesis has been sick with quite severe Malaria, spent a couple of days in hospital and we are now encouraging him to rest. So that has meant he has not been about to help us with stuff. So its been pretty quite since the parents left.

I do own a house, its just on the outskits of Oxford and has three Polish girls living in it. So I can not really call that my home. We have the house that we live in here. However I feel no ownership to that house. We just live there. We are not I got thinking one day about where I now call home. I own a home, its on the outskirtsin charge of the household - that's Genesis and Marceline. We have our own room which this weekend we finally got looking pretty smart. We had a lot of clearing away to do from all the treats we got from Mum and Dad. So we bought some nice wicker shelves and finally got stuff a little more sorted. We still have one suitcase full of stuff as we do not have storage for it. However we keep the food stuffs in that case to stop the mice sneaking in to our room and having a nibble.

We often talk about 'when we go home......'. It is hard not too. It's not that we really miss home as we don't (well speaking for myself here - I don't). Its just nice to talk about all the things we want to do and the people we will see when we get back.

I still often refer to Suffolk home even though I moved to Oxford nine years ago. I think Suffolk stopped being home once I was married and owned a house. However I would still say I was going home for the weekend.

I try to refer to our house here at 'home' but it does not seem right. A year is a long time. When I was a student I always referred to my rented house on a year long let as my 'home'. However this year long house does not feel quite like 'home'. We always say we will return to 'the house'. However that is also the term house here rather than home that everybody else uses. It must be an African thing.

So I count myself to be very lucky, I have three homes. Suffolk, Oxford and Cameroon.I know I will always be welcome at any of them (well the Polish girls may not appreciate it right now!). Am I lucky or just a lost wondering soul?

Beware of killer fridge magnets

Last week a friend of ours sent me this article on the BBC. I have always had it drummed in to me to keep clear of magnets as they can interfere with my pacemaker. However I never really realised that these new shiny silver magnets often found in bags and jewelry are stronger than the old dull gray magnets. They are of course cheaper to make so are becoming more popular. I do not feel I am in much danger as I am pretty sensible and do not go around trying to stick fridge magnets to my chest. the danger really comes if there is prolonged contact with the magnet.

The man from Del Monte - He is bad

One of the projects we want to get running at HINT is a school book pool. Primary education is 'free' to all. I say 'free' as last week two children came to out house last week to see Marceline as they had been sent home from school because they were unable to pay some charge the school so got sent home until they could pay it. The charge is for general maintenance of the school or equipment which the government does not pay for. Anyway I digress. Each school child needs 5-10 text books (depending which year they are in). As you can imagine most parents cannot afford to buy these books so Joe had the idea of setting up a library type system. We have been visiting a few of the local headteachers to tell them about our project and get the book lists.

So the other week, with Mum and Dad in tow we went to a school down the road. The head was telling us of a few other problems the school faces. The school is situated opposite a Del Monte banana plantation. The day before our visit Del Monte had been spraying the banana trees with insecticide. They evacuated all their staff from the site and moved the workers out of their compounds while they did it. However they neglected to inform the school of what they were doing. Resulting in the children being covered in insecticide as they were playing outside. The head told us how many of the staff and pupils were off sick that day with coughs as a result of the spraying.

I want to go to the ball

Being is a far away country is great. We are missing all the Christmas hype, busy shopping centres and cold weather. However along with this we miss all the Christmas parties and festivities. I know, I know you cannnot have it both ways. Tonight is the surgical Christmas ball. My two best mates from work are organising the ball so I have been hearing all about it. The ball is being held in one of the Oxford colleges and will be a fantastic occasion I am sure. It is the first time we have had a ball since I worked there and I am gutted to be missing it.

All I need is a fairy godmother to turn a paw paw in to a plane, and my African print material in to a beautiful gown. Then I could fly over for the ball and return tomorrow. It is at times like this I really miss my friends and home. Oh well maybe next year.

I predict a riot, part 2

The students at the University of Buea are not happy. Recently there was an exam for entrance to the medical school. A list of 127 names were published of the candidates that passed. A few days later a different list was published from the ministers of education in Yaounde with 153 names on it. My understanding is that the added 26 names were of francophone's, who did not take the entrance exam and are related to various ministers in Yaounde. So as you can understand this upset the students of the University. They do not was to be associated with the corruption that goes on in this country. They want the university to be run probably and each student should deserve their place on merit, not who they are related to.

As a result of the newly published list the students went on strike. Now when i say strike I mean a rampage. We were away in Kribi and thankfully missed it all. The main rioting was on Wednesday night last week and we returned on Thursday. The area of Buea near the university was like a ghost town. All the shops were shut, there were burnt out cars on the roads, smashed sign boards and a tank in the entrance to the University.

Joe was supposed to play football that afternoon but all meetings of groups were banned in case you were students plotting. There was a large police presence and a very eerie feeling about the town. Before we came to Cameroon we read the advice of the foreign office and the only danger it mentioned about Buea was the rioting students as a year or so ago there was a similar episode (not sure what that one was about).

At least two students were shot and killed (by police) during the rioting, some people are saying maybe it was 3, 4 or 5. I have dug out a few news stories from a Cameroon news paper. The initial report, photos of the riot (I have spared you the photos of the dead, which are on this news site) and a follow up story. There are rumors they may start up again as the SU president is being held by police with no charges. We are away from the main area of trouble and will keep a low profile for a couple of days. No need to worry about us its the poor medical students trying to sit exams you need to worry about.

Solar Shower

Mum and Dad brought a whole host of stuff with them for us. For which we are eternally grateful and sorry they were short on space for clothing. We had many treats including chocolate, crisps and feta cheese - mmmmmmm. They also brought out a whole bunch of Christmas presents for us from various friends and family. Most of these we have hidden away and will save till the day, so we can try to feel like it is actually Christmas. However we had orders from my brother and his wife to open a couple of theirs to get good use of them. The first present was a small travel pillow which makes sleeping so much more comfy than the foam stuffed lumpy pillow we had previously. The second present was an ingenious bit of thinking on Rich or Clare's part - a solar shower.

Its a bit black bag with a nozzle on the end. You leave it out in the sun to heat then at the end of the day enjoy a hot shower. Well my first attempt was not successful. I left it out all day but worried it would get too hot so placed it where I knew it would go in to the shade. Turns out Buea was not very sunny that day so it gained little heat. i thought I would not waste the water and shower with it any way. Turns out 20L of water is quite heavy and I struggled to hang it up and neglected to use the string supplied. This resulted in dropping the shower a couple of times and it falling past other nails in the wall tearing holes in it - oops. So after some super glue and sleek (really sticky nursing tape) I fixed it.

Yesterday I had my second attempt. According to the instructions after 3 hours at 21 degrees the water gets pretty hot. So I put the bag out to warm at lunch time. However we must remember what we learn from frozen oven chips that it always takes twice as long to cook as the packet says.

The water was warm but not HOT. Next time I will leave it out all day. But the puncture repair worked and I did not fill it as much so my feeble arms could hang the bag. Its a great invention just takes a little practice to gets its full potential but I did enjoy my warm shower last night. So Thank you Rich and Clare we are very grateful.

Karma, Karma, Karma Chameleon

As it was our first day back at work of a couple of weeks off. We thought we had better take it easy. So had a 2 hour break this morning. Well actually we had some electrical fault in the office and had to turn the power off while it was fixed. Not too sure what was going on but something was getting really hot and melting. As there was no power we went off to sort a few things out.

At home Marceline was outside clearing the wall ready to paint it. As she was chopping down the plants she saw a Chameleon so called us over. It was amazing to see, just the same colour as the leaves even with white spots as the leaves were splatted with white paint. It was so tempting to try to move it on the ground to see it change colour but we decided that was a little cruel. So we just watched it move though the undergrowth curling it tail and took loads of photos.

All good things...

On Saturday night we said our goodbyes to Mum and Dad. It was sad to see them go we have had a great time together and I think they really enjoyed it too. We have visited many places, seen many sights and generally had a great time. We had a few worrying moments, many a near miss in cars, we got the closest to having to pay a bribe we have ever been when we got stopped at a routine road block by the police who were insisting we showed our vaccination certificates for yellow fever. After a lot of arguing and out car driver taking our side the police man gave in and let us carry on. We saw some great examples of Cameroon organisation (or lack of it) along with most things happening at African time, buses leaving 2 1/2 hours late etc.

We are very grateful to Mum and Dad for coming to visit us, for all the goodies they brought with them and fro all the struggles they over came. So thank you very much, we really appreciate it and hope you both enjoyed your trip. Cameroon may not be the first place you would think of coming on holiday and it would be pretty difficult if you did not know anyone there. However it is a beautiful country with so much to offer, even if they do all drive like nut cases.

Mum summed up life in Cameroon well, they are poor but appear very happy. People do not have much but make do with what they have.

I hope that blogging will now return to its usual service after the short interlude you have experienced. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Up and up we go

From Cameroon - Mo...

Today me and Mum and Dad went up Mount Cameroon. Joe did not come as he has a stinky cold and did not want to exacerbate it. We had an early start so you can start climbing before it gets too hot. Although by 8.00 I was really hot and felt the sweatiest I had ever been (nice!). We went very perpared, 1.5 litres of water each, plenty of food, sturdy shoes etc. Our guide turns up in his flip flops and no water or food. I have no idea how he managed to climb like that. I was very glad to have my water, food and boots. I suppose he does it everyday so its just a stroll in the park for him.

It was hard work, always climbing, climbing, climbing. There was a practice race in preparation for the Mount Cameroon race in February. Which was great as we got lots of little breaks while letting them pass. The terrain was pretty rough in places and we had to be careful especially coming down, it was really slippy in places.

We reached hut one in about 3 hours. The route up the mountain has three huts for resting and sleeping in. Built by the Germans in the 70's. For a one day trek it is common to go as far as hut one. We felt like we could go a little further once we arrived so asked the guide to take us up to the Savannah. This is where the rain forest ends and the grass begins. It gets colder and there is little animal life. We trekked for another 1/2 hour and reached the Savannah.

We were so glad we asked to go a little further as it beautiful, a complete change in foliage and fantastic views. It was pretty misty so we could not see much higher. This was the point that we turned round and headed back. The descent only took 2 hours, our guide was worried it was about to start raining, although it did not. I was amazed none of us turned our ankles on the way down it was tough going. I received a leki pole from Joe's Mum and Dad for my birthday. I tell you it was worth its weight in gold. We more than that as it does not weigh very much. Mum and Dad had to hire wooden poles for the day but I was so glad to have my Leki pole and from now on will never be with out it. I cannot decide weather it helped more for the assent or descent. Having something extra to hold on to and push up on was great.

Joe and I plan to go to the summit at some point, this will involve camping in one of the huts. It was great to get a taster and I look forward to going further.

Book Review: To kill a Mockingbird

To kill a mockingbird is the first book I have read that I purchased from Books and Things our fantastic local bookshop. I have never read it before, I guess most read it at school but we did not study it. I really enjoyed reading it and found it really absorbing. Set in America however many years ago so much of what they talk about reminds me of here. The simple way of life, the farming and the description of the black church. Of course there is not the problem of racism here that is described in the book but the day to day life is similar.

Narrated by a young girl explaining her family life and her relationship with her older brother as they grew up. She talks about all the things going on around her and gives a great insight to her thoughts.

They have arrived!!

Well on Monday evening Mum and Dad arrived. I thought I was not going to make it to the airport on time as a lorry was on its side on the only bridge in to Douala. However, after walking about 2 miles to get though the traffic to meet our car we made it - just in time.

We spent Tuesday in Buea, seeing what few unexciting sights there are. We visited a school which they enjoyed. Yesterday we went to chutes d'Ekom. These are some amazing water falls. A little further away than I anticipated and down a terrible track road. They were amazing once we got there though. The scenery and the falls were all amazing. And I think worth the travel.

First impressions are from Mum that it is hot and poor and from Dad that they drive too fast. He thought 4 times yesterday his life was going to end and that was a good driver. Otherwise we are all having a great time.

The ups and downs of life

The last couple of days have been very up and down. It all started on Friday morning. Firstly Joe and I had planned to go to the local primary school to speak to the head teacher. She was out so we went up to the office. When we arrived there was 'no light'. So Genesis and I went up to visit the Provisional Delegate for Health to tell him of our plans to open a health post. He said health posts no longer exist as they had many problems with them. We would have to open a integrated health centre. Is there a difference - not as far as I can tell. So we have found out about the forms we have to fill in, how they have to be signed and stamped by about 6 different people, then we will have the approval to open - lets just hope I am still here by the time it is all done! Cameroon bureaucracy is just like that of the Vogons. We then planned to see the local lady in charge of AIDS, we have been trying to see this lady for 2 weeks now. She was out again.

We found out the power cut had been planned and announced so shut up shop for the day. Joe was supposed to be teaching his final lesson but rearranged for tomorrow. We went back to the school and had a nice chat with the head teacher. We are hoping to open a text book library as each school child needs about 10 books for school and the parents cannot afford to buy them. We were telling her about this and getting book lists.

We then went to see the tailor to get another suit made for Joe. On the way back down the hill we noticed that there was writing over the doors of HINT. It had been closed by the taxation office as we had not paid the tax on our profit. We are however a not for profit organisation so Genesis thought we did not have to pay tax. So the doors are sealed closed - with some string. We are not allowed to enter the building for anything until it is sorted out. Genesis tried all afternoon to get it sorted but of course in that Vogon way he had to get a million forms stamped in a million different offices, so it will not be sorted out until Monday. Joe's class was postponed again until Monday. My parents were arriving on Saturday so he did not really want to be teaching while they were here - but needs must.

We then arranged to met Auntie Becky in the bar for a drink and to arrange world AIDS day. We arranged to met at 6 as we have plans for the evening. So we got there at just gone 6 and waited till 7:30. No sign of Becky so we left and got ready to go out. We had been invited to a Bach night as in bachelor night. I was very excited as it will be my first stag do. The invite said 6pm till 6am. So we arrived about 8:30, we were greeted by a member of staff from the hotel were it was being held. She informed us it would not start till 10pm. Four hours late - that's Africa time. So we went to Figaro's and had a couple of drinks with Didimus and Sylvester. We thought we would go there later, however we ended up coming home. Very unsuccessful evening - did not do anything we had planned too.

So got up on Saturday morning, very excited as my parents were arriving. I have really been looking forward to seeing them and all the treats they are bringing us. I received a text not long after we got up saying they had missed their flight do to some problems with shuttle buses at the airport. Gutted. They have rearranged their flight to Monday. So I will be going down to the airport on Monday afternoon and Joe can finally teach the last class of his course. Their trip will a little shorter, I need to rearrange some of the stuff we planned to do.

And now the office is open again, on Saturday as a friend of Genesis came to visit and it turns out the people that closed us down are over-eager students of his from University of Buea. He made a call, Joe cut the string and the doors are open. So although Cameroonians are Vogons, its all about which Vogon you know.

Four Months!!

Well we have been here four months now. Its just amazing how the time has flown by. That's one third of our time gone. Life is trundling along well, we are in a pretty fixed routine. We have made a few friends, especially Joe's football lot, which has given us a bit more of a social life. We have had a few invites to various parties and occasions. Life is fun.

I feel this month we have really been making some progress. Joe has almost completed his 3 week web design course. Many people are eager to learn advanced computer skills as it will help them find employment. The course has been pretty successfully, though stressful at times I think with the students occasionally being totally clueless. There has been a great demand for it and he will be repeating the course in a few weeks time.

I completed my house to house interviews I was doing when I wrote last month. When collating the data I saw that the local people have a real need for a health centre in the local area. If people are sick their only choice is to go to the local hospital, which ends up being pretty costly. So we have decided that HINT will open a health post. It will be small, to begin with anyway. We will offer free consultations and advice. Drugs will be at cost price and we will also offer basic health care, dressings etc. It will be nurse led (that's me) and I hope over the next few months to train staff so the health post can continue once we leave.

Most of this month has been spent making preparations. We have found a building and hope to open in the new year. I have been writing proposals, I feel like a business woman more than a nurse at the moment. So we will be applying for a grant to help fund the centre. We have also been able to donate some of the money we raised before we came here. I am very excited about the prospect of opening a health post as I know it will really benefit the local people and make a difference. Genesis wanted to name the health post after us - but we declined. So it will be the Bonduma Community Health Post (BCHP).

I am sure I will keep you up to date with my progress. I will also be continuing with HIV work. Many people I spoke to while doing the questionnaire were quite clued up about HIV in many respects, I have to be careful how I approach the subject so that people are interested and learn something new. I will use the health post as a central post to run HIV education from.

I wondered what happens after death

I have often wondered what happens to people's pacemakers after they die. I have been told they are given to dogs or to developing countries. You can be buried with you pacemaker but if you are being cremated it must be removed - unless you wanted to take your family with you. I often looks at the pacemaker club website. I can often give advice or support to pacing newbies. Especially those who are younger feel they are the only one. Today when I looked at the site there was a piece of research talking about pacemaker life after death.

They interviews a 100 morticians (which if we are being critical is quite a small sample) and these are the results of what they do with removed pacemakers.

44% Threw the device away as medical waste
18% Donate for human use in developing countries
10% Return them to next of kin
8% Store them in the mortuary
4% Return them to manufacturer
4% Return them to hospital where patient died
3% Donate to veterinary school for implantation into animals
24% Did not know

The research suggests you have a 'device living will' and that the pacemaker should be removed and returned to the manufacture for analysis. I do not feel I need a device living will (bit to American). So I am announcing publicly that I want my pacemaker donated to a developing country or returned to my next of kin to be added to my collection. I already have 3 of my old pacemakers,imagine how many I will have by the time I die. It could be worked in to a great piece of art!

Remembrance Sunday

We had an invitation a few weeks ago from the British High Commission to a Remembrance Sunday service. The service was being held at the war graves in the Limbe Botanical Garden. We decided to go along too meet some other English folk and to attend the service. We did not really know what to expect and it ended up being a pretty good day.

We arrived early so had a little walk around the gardens and watched as the English arrived with their drivers in their huge 4X4s. We went over to the graves collected our poppy and sat down. It felt strange being amongst so many English people doing something very English.

The service was short, led by the high commissioner. A collection of Cameroon veterans laid poppy's on the graves. We know that after the service there would be 'small chops' - food, served at Dick Scott's house. We had no idea where this was or how we would get there. So we stood about looking a bit lost. Then some guy asked us if we were coming and did we want to follow him, we answered that we do not have a car so he told us to jump in to his.

It turns out this man is Dick Scott himself, a Scottish ex-pat who has lived in Cameroon about 20 years. You can tell he is Scottish not by his accent but by the St Andrews flags he has painted on his gate.

We arrived at his house, it was amazing. On the sea, you could walk from his garden down the rocks and swim in the Atlantic Ocean. We sat in the garden under palm trees eating lovely food his Cameroon wife had prepared. We chatted to one English woman and many Cameroonians. Most people there were a lot older than us. Rich ex-pats who probably all live in amazing big houses with lots of staff. No really the type of people we are used to socialising with. So we sat and ate and had a couple of drinks. Generally we had a jolly nice time and felt very English for a few hours.

Book Review: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - 'Trilogy of four'

I have always wanted to read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. When I was younger I used to watch the TV show with my Dad and brother. I am sure I did not really get what was going on but I enjoyed it. We bought the 'Trilogy of Four' with us. It contains


Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Restaurant at the End of The Universe
Life, The Universe and Everything
So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

As you can tell by it being called a trilogy of four, the books are pretty silly. But good fun and very enjoyable. I read all 4 in a row as they were all in one book. I think this was a mistake. It was a bit too much silliness to take in one go.

I really enjoyed the first book. I know the story well from the film and the TV series. Although each is different the basic story is the same. I read it in just a few days while we were in Kribi. Restaurant at the End of the Universe was good but kept jumping about the place, loads of tangents and they did not get the restaurant till ages though the book!

I found Life, the Universe and Everything really hard going and the least enjoyable of the 4. It had too many things going on at once, I got a little lost, confused and bored at times.

So long and thanks for all the fish is viewed by many people as the worst of the books. I enjoyed it though. It has a nice girl meets boy story too it and a bit of reality comes seeping back. Although not entirely, it is still pretty silly in Douglas Adams style.

Bon House

From Cameroon - Pe...

On Saturday we were invited to a Bon House. This is a party to celebrate the birth of a new baby. The party was at Ivo's house, he is the bar owner of Figaro's which is the bar Joe's football club is linked with.

We were running a little late due to the fact we had to pick up Joe's new suit from the tailors. They told us it would be ready at 5. So like good English people we arrived a 5 on the dot. The tailor looked at his watch and laughed. They were still finishing the suit. Sewing on the buttons and making the button holes etc. They finished about 6:30 and the suit looked rather dashing.

So we were supposed to be meeting at Figaro at 6, we got there at 7. Met a few of the football guys, Ransom, Willy and loads others I cannot remember the name of. They told us we would head to the party about 8, so we went at 9. We are still getting used to Africa time. Ivo's house was behind the bar, we figured it would be just behind but oh no. We had to jump in to Ransom's car and drive up a rocky road to the middle of nowhere.

We went in to met the baby, Ivo Junior. He was so cute. We then had a few drinks and some food. It was a great evening. I spent a large proportion of the evening taking photos of cute kids and groups of kids as they all shout 'snap me, snap me' at me.

Why can people in Oxford not drive?

Just about every day I read the BBC news web site. I start with the World pages, then England, then Oxford. We have noticed a few trends in the Oxford news. One is lots of stabbings. Unsurprisingly in the Blackbird Leas area. The other trend is road traffic accidents.

Almost everyday when I load the page there is a story about a road traffic accident, an inquest in to a road traffic accident or a funeral for someone who has died in a road traffic accident.

I think the number of road deaths in Oxfordshire for the year stands at 57. That's 13 more than last year and we still have the Christmas drink driving season to get through.

This week we had a bit of a scare when we saw a story about a fatal crash killing a woman in a red polo just near Bicester. I have a friend who lives in Bicester and drives a red polo. The mind goes on over drive. The accident was at 8:10 am. She finishes nights at 8 am so it was possible she was on her way home from work.

We kept going over arguments for and against. The news had not released a name so we had no way of knowing. Just waiting to hear from her or from a friend. I decided to stop thinking about it.

Then today she sends me an instant message and we have a conversation - she is not dead. That's a real relief. Its a very strange feeling thinking one of your friends could be dead with out having any real evidence.

So we are very happy she is fine and well. However our feelings go out to the family and friends of the woman in the red polo.

Driving is dangerous here but at the moment it seems just as bad in Oxford. I just hope over Christmas they take the advice we saw one day. 'Drink Tea and Drive'

More musings

I forgot two of my favorite musings about the Cameroonians.

So here they are...

The only ambulances I have seen are actually hearses. The company they operate from is called 'final destiny'.

You can buy almost anything you want from the top of someones head for example...
Groundnuts (peanuts)
Fish Pie
Meat on a stick
Snails on a stick
Pot of hot food
Shoes (well they balance one on their head and carry the rest)
Bedding
Sunglasses
Sandwiches - Deli style, they carry bread and a host of fillings and condiments
And the most impressive - A coffee Table

With a shower in the garden

I am currently preparing a plan for when my parents visit in a couple of weeks.

I have been emailing hotels to enquire about prices and facilities. Yesterday I got this great email back from a hotel in Limbe which is just down the road from us in Buea in the English speaking province.

Goodday Mrs Heather Talbot

It was a pleasure reading from you,the variouse prizes of our rooms ranges from;

23 000f cfa = a double room with a shower in the garden (with a veranda)

26 000f cfa = a double room with a bath and view on the sea

29 000f cfa = a double room with a bath in the garden(with a varenda)

29 000f cfa = a double room with a bath view on the sea.

All these prizes is included with your continental breakfast,taken as from 6 am to 10 am.

I think we will go for a room with a shower, in the garden. Being the cheapest and I am not too bothered about sea views. We will not be spending much time in the room gazing out the window, we will go and sit by the sea.

I wonder what the prizes will be?!

parlez vous français?

No!

Today I started and dropped French lessons. I do not usually give up on things that quickly. The majority of Cameroon is French speaking, just 2 of the 10 provinces are English speaking. So I thought while I was here I would brush up on my french skills. Before we came Joe's dad kindly lent me (well I sort of kept it) an instant french CD. I was getting on quite well but was terrible at keeping it up. I thought attending lessons would be stricter.

So last week I went for a placement test to see which group I was suited too. I got a shocking 11 out of 50. So I was put in the elementary class.

Today I attended. The lesson was 8-10 am. So I was up early and arrived on time - just. However the teacher was 45 mins late - why do I rush?!

The lesson started and I did not understand a word. If this is elementary I dread to think what intermediate or advanced is like. They were waffling on about verb endings and tenses. I did not even know what the words were let alone the tense.

After the lesson they decided I would be better in the lower class. That lesson is 10-12 which will interrupt with my work at HINT too much. So I decided to not bother attending. Oh well I tried. Back to the CD.

Na this God He breeze been make all thing

I have spoken before about pidgin English. It is the day to day language used by so many. However there is now a act against it. Marceline's youngest brother and sister do not know pidgin, their father decided it is better to speak English properly. So when they grew up no one in the family was allowed to speak pidgin to them. They are called modern children. I think it is great to move away from pidgin however it gives Agbol a disadvantage as he cannot understand his class mates in the play ground, once the bell rings they all revert to pidgin.

The older generation especially those with little or no education only speak pidgin. This causes me great difficulty trying to communicate with them. I am beginning to understand people when they speak in pidgin. However I do not think I could every actually speak it. When ever I am working with these people someone has to come with me to translate!

To give you a taster of pidgin here is the 1st book of John. And so you can understand it a pidgin/English dictionary.

They just keep saying how good red wine is

I do enjoy a nice glass of red wine. Now I can enjoy a glass or two of red wine and eat as much food as I like with it. This story on the BBC news website explains how a chemical in red wine counteracts the effects of a high calorie diet and increases life span. Well it does in mice, and there are some cute little pictures to prove it. Lets just hope it has the same effect in Humans.

Musings on Cameroonians

I thought I would share with you some of my observations of Cameroonian people.

They are very friendly, welcoming and helpful - although if you are not careful you have to pay for this helpfulness.

Anything can be settled with money.

Nothing costs the original price, you usually get it for half.

They hiss to get your attention, it amazes me when Genesis can stop a cab by hissing at it.

They love Eto'o (Cameroonian footballer, plays for Barcelona) When ever Joe wears is t-shirt with Eto'os name on the back we constantly have people shouting ETO'O at us.

Genesis' view of America was that 'the drivers actually stop at stop signs'.

There is no such thing as time keeping.

As mentioned before, they eat everything.

There is great respect for elders.

Most people speak 3 or 4 languages (English, Pidgin, their own dialect and some French).

The Anglophone people hate the French.

No one ever has any change - when you give them a 10 000CFA note (£10) they look at you as if their world is about to end. Thankfully there is no 20 000 note.

Half the time I cannot understand people when they are supposed to be speaking English.

No one appears to have a job - they all just do stuff.

There is only one anglophone University. This is because they fear that if there were two, the anglophones would take over the country! However many francophones are desperate to learn English as it is the language of the world.

People are desperately entering the DV lottery. This is a lottery for a US residency visa. I never knew such things existed. Are the the streets of the US really paved in gold? they just think about how much they could go and earn. They cannot comprehend the cost of living though.

They think that westerners eat lots of raw food.

Because we are white we are rich. Yes we are rich, we are millionaires in their currency. But we are earning no money and do not have the infinite supply of cash they think we have.

They have no comprehension of it being really cold. Sheila was amazed when I told here we have to heat our house.

Many people do not have water in their homes. But they piggyback electricity so they can have a telly.

They do not want water in their homes as then they will have to pay for it. They would be happy with more public taps.

It is very important to greet people when you see them for the first time in a day.

In the wet season they think it is too cold do drink cold beer. When you arrive in a bar you are asked if you want it warm or cold.

Buea Community Church

I have been meaning for some time to write about the church I attend. Every Sunday morning Joe goes of to football and I go to church. Religion is a big part of people's lives in Cameroon. Everybody goes to church. You are strange if you do not (see Joe's blog on these matters ). People talk very openly about church and God and openly ask you weather you believe or not.

We live with Genesis who is the founder of Helps International. He is also the pastor and founder of Buea Community Church. Genesis used to go to Buea Baptist Church and he did his pastoral training. Not quite sure what this involves as everybody appears to be a pastor. He then got fed up with many of the ways the church was run so decided to leave and set up his own church.

The services are held in our house. The congregation is small. Services start at 10am. Although usually at this time it is only me and the kids that live in the house present. Even the other people that live in out house are not ready on time. By about 10:30/11 most people have turned up. Usually there are about 15 people present. The service goes a little like this. From 10 until about 11:30 is singing worship and praise. Some English style worship and lots of African style. One person will lead singing simple lines which we then repeat. For example 'Jesus is my friend, my friend everyday'. There is lots of clapping and drumming. Its quite amazing how much noise 15 people can make! A few of the songs are in pidgin so it takes me a while to figure out what they are saying. If I do not get it I just hum along. Interspersed throughout the singing in times of prayer. These are a little scary. Everybody praying out loud at once. I love the way they pray for such simple things. Thank you for keeping me safe throughout the last week etc. So many prayers of thanks and hardly any requests. We could learn from this. We have a time of testimony where people can share something that has happened to them or a verse or a song.

The sermon then follows, usually lasts an hour or more.Often lots of jumping around the bible referencing lots of odd verses. I find this a little off putting but the underlying message is pretty good. Genesis often preaches but if he is away then William does. William is another pastor, he is also a business studies student at the University and is younger than me so not sure what training he has to make him a pastor. The service usually lasts 2-3 hours and there is no tea or coffee afterwards.

Last Sunday I went with Sheila to her church to get a different perspective. She goes to the Full Gospel Mission. It was as scary as it sounds. The church was packed, people standing out the back and a very full Sunday school. All visitors had to stand up, I was the only white person so a little obvious. Great service although starts at 9 and lasts over 3 hours. The sermon was over 1 1/2 hours - I completely lost track. The service is bilingual so everything was translated in to French. Worship was great, fantastic choir with great voices and no pidgin, although there was some french. The end of the service all got a little scary. Lots of wailing and stuff as they called the holy spirit in.all a bit much for me.

We have bible study on a Tuesday and prayer meetings on Fridays. Due to the small congregation these are pretty similar to Sundays really.

Chill out

We had planned to be away for most of last week in Douala at the conference. Genesis and Marceline had gone off to Douala so we thought we would not get much work done so would go exploring for a few days. We went to Kribi. Its in the south province of Cameroon. A coastal town and popular beach resort. During the dry season at the weekends its full of expats, so we went mid-week to avoid this! This is a very comprehensive account of our trip. There was a lot to say. Lots of photos on flickr and Picasa.

We travelled down on Wednesday, first the bus to Douala where we then get another bus to Kribi. We got to Douala with little trouble quite a few stops at check points along the way where the driver has to go and show his paper work. Then one stop where we all had to show our paper work. One guys ID card was out of date so we ended up leaving him behind with the police. I do not want to get in to a debate but from what I have seen in Cameroon there are many reasons we do not want ID cards in the UK. Anyway we found the bus station for Kribi after checking with the locals and a bit of walking. Next to the bus station was a Chinese restaurant. So we decided we would get some lunch then worry about getting tickets etc. We had a lovely meal, some lovely dumplings and a much bigger serving than they would give you in the UK. After enjoying that and feeling like the day was going well we wondered in to the bus station to discover that they actually have a timetable and do not just leave when buses are full. The next bus is at 4:30, the time is currently 2pm and the previous bus left at 1:30 - doh! So went went for a walk to occupy ourselves and went for a nice cold beer. Trundled back to the bus station and waited in departures. 4:30 came and went and there was no sign of a bus so I went to investigate. The bus leaves from arrivals - of course why did we not think of this. So we got on 2 people to 2 seats - a luxury. It was about a 3 hour journey to Kribi, nice roads making it a very good journey.

It was dark when we arrived and we set out looking for a hotel. We walked along the sea front thinking there would be loads. We passed on but kept going to see what else there was. Saw a nice looking building on a by the sea so wondered up. Thought it looked a little like a fort but could be the hotels style. Gates were locked but there was a buzzer for reception so pressed that. No answer but there was a guy sitting near by so we got his attention. Turns out we had arrived at the presidency - oops. The man we chatted to was the caretaker, Mr Zang. We seamed like a nice bloke and took us to the nearest hotel - the one we had passed eariler! We checked in. It was nice we were told the price was 18 000 CFA a night but they could do us a deal how about 15 000 a night - OK we agreed.

Got up the next day at it was raining grrrr. We did not let this dampen our 'we are at the seaside and will have fun' spirits. We walked though the town to a beach in the south. We were the only ones on the beach most the time - few people wondered through. We splashed about in the sea and drew a map of the world on the beach - cannot really remember why we did this now but it was fun. Jumped around on the rocks until we noticed how the locals use them as a toilet so sat on the smaller rocks near us, read and chilled out. All this was mostly in the rain with it stopping occasionally and the sky being grey. Then trundled back to the town got some lunch and hung out for a bit on the beach near our hotel. Then went back to the hotel and noticed how pink we were. Oh yes we manged to get burnt in the rain. It was grey and rainy did not think about putting sunscreen on - oops

Lovely meal in the evening in a great restaurant called 'Le Marmite De Mole'. Great name and great food - very nice and a short walk from our hotel.

During the day Mr Zang had been to the hotel to offer his services as a guide. We were a little dubious but met up with him for a chat. He was telling us about all the bad people who try to rip us of etc. and said he would come with us to Lombe falls. So we got a cab and off we went. Our cab driver was a very nice man from the North West province so spoke English. The South Province is a French speaking area. The taxi driver stays at the falls with us as it is pretty remote and there will be no way to get home if not, well an 8km walk along the beach in the burning sun.

The falls were amazing we went on a boat trip to get a better view in a dug out canoe. The taxi driver came with us as it was no extra cost but got pretty scared as does not swim! There were a bunch of men on the beach ready to pounce on tourists offering boat rides and food. So after the ride we enjoyed some delicious prawns. They showed us the live prawns then went off too cook them. They were so good fresh prawns by the sea. Am I allowed to have such fun while I am supposed to be volunteering?!

We headed back to Kribi where we had to give Mr Zang a little something for his trouble. Note to self: Next time in Kribi give Felix the taxi driver a call - good man, do not worry too much about Mr. Zang. We then headed to our local beach and went for a swim. Watched the sunset and took far too many photos. While chatting to a nice French expat who appears to dislike Cameroon men. Meal in the same restaurant. Why change when you are on to a good thing.

And when we stopped in Douala on our journey back to Buea we got Pizza. It was soooooo good. They did not have 4 cheeses so I settled for a cheese, ham, mushroom and egg calzone - it was so good.

Book review - Birds without wings

This book took me a while to read. This is for a few reasons, firstly its really fat (well fat by may standards - about 625 pages), secondly we have not been ready much recently been absorbed by series 5 of six feet under that we bought with us - only 4 episodes left I want to know what happens but do not want it to end!!. Thirdly I found parts of it hard going.

When we were in Italy with Joe's parents earlier this year his mum was reading this book. I was intrigued to read it as she kept giggling to herself as she read.

My history has never been very good so forgive me if I get this all wrong. The book is based (mostly) in a small village in Turkey. Its a happy simple village with Muslims and Christians living happily together. It follows a few families of the village and tells quaint little stories.

The narration of the book keeps changing which at first I found a little off putting but soon got used to. Each chapter heading tells you who is talking so it is easy to follow. As well as following the life of this little Turkish village it also follows the life of Mustafa Kemal. These are the parts I found hard going. I found it so unrelated to begin with. I enjoyed reading about the goings on of this little town and was not to interested in politics. However once the war starts things begin to change. The boys of the village go off to war for many years. Leaving the women and old men to fend for themselves causing poverty and hunger. There is a lot of detail on the war following the boys from the village as well as a good outline of what is happening to that area of the world. This is were Mustafa Kemal and this small village become linked. All the Christians are sent off to Greece and the Greek Muslims sent to this village. It shows the impact this has and follows a few surviving members of the village in to old age.

If you have read and enjoyed Captain Corelli's Mandolin I think you will enjoy this. I would even say it is better. You really link with the families and get a good understanding of what was happening at the time. It has many funny snippets I can see what Glenys was laughing at. It is very well written and witty with some great observations about different charters.

Road trip

From Cameroon - Tr...

Yesterday was a public holiday in Cameroon. It was the end of Ramadan. Cameroon is a Christian and Muslim country so Public holidays are given to festivals of both religions. Only really the government offices and schools close. HINT was open but our friends Didymus and Sylvester offered to take us on a trip to Limbe so we accepted. Sylvester is the only person I know in Cameroon to have a car. Didymus and Sylvester are brothers and live opposite us in a huge compound. Their Dad has 5 wives, and 22 children. Didymus and Sylvester have different mothers. They all live together, one big happy family.

So off we set. First stop Metegene to visit Sylvester's wife. It is just down the road from Buea. She works there so lives there with her family during the week and comes to the family compound in Buea at the weekends. We have driven though Metegene a few times, it is on the road out of Buea. This is the first time we have stopped there and a doubt we will again. It is a rough place, they make guns and counterfeit money there. You get robbed walking around the market - so we will not be visiting it.

After a nice refreshing drink of top pamplemousse we carried on our way. First stop Limbe zoo. Well its not really a zoo anymore more of a Monkey sanctuary. They have Chimps, Gorillas, Drills, Mandrills and many more. They also have a couple of crocodiles and a snake (don't worry mum it is a big pit so you can easily avoid it).

We then went west of Limbe up the coast. We passed the sight of the 1999 lava flows from Mount Cameroon. We were supposed to pay to climb up the lava and take photos. So we took this sneaky picture from the other side. The lava flowed right over the road so a new road has been built around the edge. No one was killed as a result of the eruption, the local area was evacuated.

We headed to the Seme beach hotel. It was very nice, fully of white people. I have not seen so many in months, it was actually hard not to stare! It was a lovely area. The tide was high so did not really see the beach. Black sand due to the volcano and black rocks at the edge. We went for a paddle, then a walk along the prom to where a spring water river from the mountain flows in to the sea. It was beautiful crystal clear water. We will return with Sylvester and Didymus and teach them to swim. We had to pay 1000CFA each to enter the hotel then swapped our ticket for a beer at the bar with another 200CFA to top up the price.

We then travelled back in to Limbe to the fishing beach. Sylvester wanted to buy some smoked fish. He explained to us he is a vegetarian and only eats smoked fish, not fresh or roasted only smoked. We went to the smoking area of the town. It is an immigrant community from Nigeria and has that feel. The fishing boats had not long come in and people were passing with huge baskets of fish on their heads. So he got the fish and we headed home.

Got stuck in a traffic jam on the way home. They are currently digging up the road that goes in and out of Buea (there is only one). The road is in a terrible state and they are fixing it, very slowly. So currently there is a really big hole in the road and a diversion around it. The diversion is one lane wide but takes traffic from both directions. There is no order or control it is a free for all. One the way out it was easy as there were few cars about but now it is rush hour. I think there had been a crash which made the traffic 10 times worse. So there was about 3 lanes of traffic trying to get down to one. Some Guinness lorry driver obviously thought he was bigger than us and instead of waiting for our car to pass would try and go through us. So I am sat in the back with a front of a lorry slowing coming towards me. He then stops once he hits our rear wing. Not much damage is done. The small back window is smashed so I moved to the middle of the seat to avoid bits of glass falling on me. We complain to the lorry driver who does not care. So we carry on our journey home having taken his plate number. Then we stop in the Guinness depot in Buea to complain. They say we have to report it to the police. So Didymus and Sylvester drop us of and trundle up to the police station.
The driver should be stopped by the police at a road block today. Then Guinness' insurance will pay to fix the car. A bad ending to a lovely day.

De-hairing the beast!

So I spent Sunday afternoon taking my hair out. I had planned to leave it in for the conference so as I was not going I thought why wait. It was growing out quite rapidly. My roots were over 1cm making it look a bit naff. It took about 4 hours with a long lunch break in the middle. Shelia, Marceline and Sharlotte all helped. We started by undoing each braid separately, then the hair could be reused. I soon got fed up with this so then we chopped the ends off and it was much quicker.

When we had finished a had a great crimped hair style! It took ages to wash and still does not feel clean. I even had a bucket a hot water rather than washing it with the cold shower. I brushed out loads of dead hair. I was expecting their to be loads. Natural hair loss and all that. But I am sure a person does not loose that much hair in 6 weeks. It just kept coming out and still is! I am convinced my hair feels thinner than usual (I have pretty think hair). Bit it looks OK so I am happy and has grown a bit too. Now all I need to find it a hairdresser who knows how to cut white mans hair.

Grrr

I am a little annoyed - well actually I am more than a little annoyed! The last few weeks Genesis has been organising a conference of church leaders to be held in Douala. I was asked to be in the worship team, which I was pretty excited about. I had a week of rehearsals with the rest of the team. Learning songs in french and various dialects. The dialects were easier than French!! The conference is due to start on Tuesday, we have been sorting out a hotel for us to stay in (which was harder than it sounds, double bookings etc). We had it all sorted Joe would stay in the hotel while I was at the conference then in the afternoons we would do something in Douala then find a nice restaurant to eat in.

So this week the organisation leaders arrived from Mauritius and started changing everything. So many things Genesis has organised are now completely changed. Including the worship group. They think that you only need 3 singers instead of the 6 that we had in the group, so I got dropped. Three days before I am due to go!! I was looking forward to it. I enjoy singing and the Africans are great at it. So many people at the conference would make it a great atmosphere. I could still go but I am not a church leader so would not really benefit me and it would be a waste of our money.

So I am pretty annoyed. Genesis is also pretty annoyed. He feels he has worked so hard in preparation for the conference then the team arrive and change everything.

So I will not be getting my 4 cheese pizza I have been lusting after. Will have to stick to buying laughing cow triangles from the local shop.

These Cameroonians eat everything

After football practise last night Joe went to the bar for a social drink and had some more snake to eat. This time a proper whole portion and he quite enjoyed it. When he came home I has tucking in to my supper of pancakes filled with fish (which is a little wrong but tastes OK). We got in to a conversation with Sheila about what Cameroonians eat. Turns out if it moves they eat it. For example mole, porcupine, guinea pig, cat, dog, large land snails, tortoise and turtle (poor defenceless little things) basically any animal we named people will eat it somewhere in this country. I think we got them with cockroach. There is also bush meat which is supposed to be illegal but still eaten in some parts, elephant, monkey, tiger antelope. We have not had any of the weird and wonderful meats mentioned above and I plan not to. They are not common, mostly eaten in tribes or by people who are desperate.

Sheila only eats chicken and fish and beef, which is what we are mostly eating. She did eat pork until she saw some of the village pigs eating a bunch of thieves that had been shot them dumped in a pile somewhere.

They also eat every part of the animal. We have had pigs trotters, cow skin stuff and parts of a chicken that I really do not recognise. Any bones a left dry, it puts us to shame. We avoid the fat and the gristly bits - they just eat it all.

There is a storm brewing

There are not many things I am really scared of. There are things I really don't like, spiders for example but I can be pretty brave and deal with them while Joe cowers in the corner. But then he deals with the mice and cockroaches while stand on the bed like a big girl. The one thing I am pretty scared of is storms. My fear is pretty irrational but has a background. I do not like thunder storms - I never had. This all stems from my brother - sorry Rich. He told me as a child that I was more likely to be struck with lighting because I have a pacemaker. Richard being my older brother and the more intelligent I believed him (No arguments here, I accept that my brother is more intelligent than me - I however am the more beautiful!). So I as you can imagine developed a fear of thunder storms. I am not to keen on gales either. This comes from the storms that hit England in 1987. A tree came though the roof of our house and I came with in a few inches of my life.

So that is the background to my fears. For the past couple of nights we have had some pretty impressive tropical storms. I am no a meteorologist or anything but I think that because the dry season is approaching and it is getting hotter there are some areas of high pressure and this causes the storms (well something like that). So last night not long after Joe got home from football the storm started. First just a bit of rain, to which we say 'I thought the dry season was starting'. Then the power goes out, flicks on and off for a while. Meanwhile Joe is having great fun in the shower in the dark! Then the wind starts and the rain gets heavier lashing on the tin roof and windows. At which point Joe is getting wetter from the rain coming though the open window than the shower as the water pressure is a bit naff in the evenings. The blind from the window is also flapping around in his way. Fortunately he sees the funny side of all this! So the rain is lashing, the wind is blowing, there is no electricity and we can see really bright lightning that lights up the whole sky. We can not hear any thunder so I know the centre of the storm is far from here but I still do not like it. We see a lot of lighting, maybe because we are often above the clouds being 1000m above sea level here in Buea. During the day it is not too bad, but at night it is so bright its scary.

So I cowered in the corner - away from the windows in case the palm tree fell down. I just kept thinking to myself that palm trees are pretty bendy so it should not fall. Holding the torch so Joe and get dressed. We then spend the rest of the evening by candle light and the storm passes pretty quickly. Thankfully before we went to bed 'cos I would never sleep! Lets just hope the storms do not last long, maybe my fears will be cured by the time we leave here.