Last night we had a cooking lessons with two friends Eddie and Presline. We could choose what we cooked so we chose pepper soup (pronounced pepe). Pepe is chili so this stuff is hot.
First stop was the market to buy the ingredients, asking Cameroonians for recipes is very difficult as they say 'add spices' and we would have not idea which ones. So yesterday we were smelling everything trying to work it out. Most are pretty common I will easily be able to buy them at home, others may require hunting.
So ingredients required are:
Some Beef (or chicken, or fish)
1 Onion
Lots of Salt
1 Maggi cube (stock cube)
3 sprigs of dried Thyme
Some other unidentified green dried spice
2 large Bay leaves
Some White pepper
Some Bush pepper (like black pepper but not quite)
Plenty Njansang (African spice so idea what this would be at home)
Some Ginger
3 cloves of Garlic
Chillies (amount depending on your taste)
Plenty Peanut oil
Fresh Basil
The method is to boil the meat with onion, salt and maggi in plenty water until cooked. Then add thyme and bay leaves.
Meanwhile grind the white and bush pepper, njansang, ginger, garlic and chili. Add ground spices to pan of meat and stock.
Add a good dollop of peanut oil and a handful of fresh basil.
Leave to simmer for 10 minute.
Serve with ripe or unripe plantain or rice.
Yum yum, unfortunately with one unidentified herb you may find this a little difficult to make! But if you find the njansang give it a go. It would be a great winter warmer.
This weekend we climbed Mount Cameroon. I am now asking myself why I did it? Was it for fun? As an endurance test? Because I can? Or because I live on the foot of it and see it regularly. Well to be honest I do not know why I did it and I spent most of the time thinking it was certainly not for fun!
We set of on Saturday Morning, we cheated and got a taxi to the end of the road near a prison called upper farms. It was about 9:30 by the time we left carrying all our provisions for the next 2 days. Our group was us two, Didimus and his brother in law Sanni. I was not too worried about the first bit of the journey as I had been before with Mum and Dad. Although for some reason I was finding it really hard work and had to keep stopping for a breather. We reached Hut 1 in about 2 hours had a rest and collected water from the spring, the only place to get drinking water on the route. So from this point Didimus was carrying 4.5 litres as well as a bunch of food on his back. Sanni took my bag so I had nothing - I do not think I would have made it with a bag too.
About half an hour from Hut 1 we reached the Savannah, when I went with Mum and Dad it was beautiful but they had burnt all the grass for the mountain race so was not as green this time. We trotted up to Hut 1b (a new intermediate hut), however most of this journey was done in the rain and a bit of hail. From here the going got really tough. the next part was really rocky, if you fell you would injure yourself. Twice we came across people who had fallen one had a few bad cuts the other a sprained knee being helped down by the first aid team who I gave some of my drug collection too. It was really steep and hard work, at many times I was on my hands and knees. We passed the magic tree (or magic stick in pidgin), not sure what it so magic about it, I have heard differing reasons.
It was a busy weekend on the mountain - most people climb the week after the race. As we passed people they would say 'ashia' - pidgin for I understand how you feel and 'courage' - which helped me going. Others said 'it is really difficult' - I did not need to be told that!
We then reached Hut 2, this is where we would stay the night. It took 5 hours to get to here so we had some time to rest. We visited an old lava cave which runs under the mountain for over a mile, we did not go down it though. We then made a camp fire and baked potatoes in the burning lava ash (or something like that, we kept being told the ground was on fire as it is old lava). And had them with spicy Chicken that Didimus had cooked. The next million hours were spent trying to sleep on a very uncomfortable wooden bed with a bunch of smelly men and women snoring. Needles to say I got little sleep especially as the rest of the people in our room got up at 2 am to start walking - crazy people it is still dark. We got up about 6:30 as it started getting lighter had some breakfast and set off.
It was hard going, I hurt from the day before, felt bloated after breakfast and we were climbing, climbing, climbing. So many times I almost gave up I had to keep stopping for a rest. My poor heart was doing overtime - I am sure next time I get my pacemaker checked my technician will wonder what on earth I was doing (then again I was wondering that at this moment too). Sanni (been to the summit 6 times) kept telling us Hut 3 was just over the next hill, I think he told us this 4 times. Each time we got over the brow of a hill another would appear. Your goal is constantly being made further and further away. The weather was really clear so we got a great view of Buea and further.
We eventually reached Hut 3, by now it was getting cold so we could not rest for long but finally we could see the actually summit. So we kept going, I was feeling really weak at this point and it was not longer fun in any sense of the word. It only took one hour from Hut 3 to the summit, Didimus had to almost drag me up to the top but I made it!! I am so proud of myself, shear stubbornness and determination got me there.
We did not spend long at the summit it was as cold as England is now (I guess I have kind of forgotten what winter feels like but my hands were freezing). Then we started to come down, I instantly felt much better. The descent was hard on the knees and we had to be really careful not to fall. The grass was slippy, the sand slippy and the rocks rolled under our feet. The mountain was basically made of grass, sand and rocks so each footing has to be secure. I feel on to my bum 4 times after slipping. The descent took much longer that I had hoped. Joe suffered with bothersome knees and I had 7 blisters by this point. My legs felt they would give way at any moment. The rocky steep bit from Hut 2 to 1b was even worse going down, stones kept rolling under our feet and the rocks were really sharp, if you fell here you would become a cropper. Again I was on hands a knees.
By the time we got to Hut 1 it was 6pm, it was now becoming a race against the light. We walked as quickly as we could manage through the forest but at 7pm it became dark, being so close to the equator there is not much of a dusk it is more of a light switch. So the last hour was done by torch light with some assistance from the moon, it was hard going but eventually we made it.
So I have been to the summit of Mount Cameroon and stood at 4090 M (that's 13 418 feet). The whole time my thought were 'why am I doing this' and 'they run this'. Before I went to the summit I was amazed people run to the top and back in 4 or 5 hours, now I really cannot believe it is possible! It took us 17 1/2 hours any faster and I would have broken something. It really is unbelievable.
So I did it, I am very proud I did it and will never do it again.
I asked him if he liked to read he said the only reading he does is for study and not for enjoyment. Cameroonians do not appear to read for enjoyment, people are still discovering the wonders of the TV and have not yet come out the other side where you begin to realize it rots the brain. So this young man told me that reading is for the idle, like women they have nothing to do so can spend time reading. I am sure you can imagine my reply having done a million loads of washing in the last week and swept and moped the floor, oh and gone to work everyday and had a cold. Women are heroes!! Then a little later the same day I was enjoying reading my book (The Shadow of the Wind) and came along this line 'reading is for people who have a lot of time and nothing to do. like Women.' This is of course the view of an inspector who I think will not turn out be a nice character, but to be told it twice in one day is not nice. So I am a women and I work hard and at the end of the day when all is done if there is time I like to read a book - is that so bad?
Sunday was not a usual day here in Buea, the whole town was out to spectate the biggest event of the year - The Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. It is a grueling race to the summit and back, about 16 miles. The race has been going every year since 1973, the organiser's have changed a few times so this was the 12th Race of Hope. There are a few different categories. The relay and major race goes to the summit and back.the juniors (the youngest of which was 11) end at hut 1 and the veterans (walkers) go to upper farms, which is a prison just above the town. The winner takes 3 million CFA, 2nd takes 2 million and the 3rd, 3 million (a million CFA is a little under £1000).
We got up at 6:30 to watch the ascent, many of the participants already looked shattered and they had along way to go.
Then after some breakfast and a trip back home to shower we based ourselves at Figaro to watch the descent. The first people we saw pass were a relay team. Then came the first man, completing the race in 4 hours 32. We were able to watch the runners start their descent on the TV then go out to watch them pass. Due to the delay we also say many of them arrive in the stadium also on the TV. There was great encouragement in the bar for Jospeh Shey Kongnyuy who came fourth crawling over the finish line on his buttocks after his legs gave way with 75m to go. Pictures can been seen on The Post news site. He was given 500 000 CFA for pure endurance and good for him I say what determination he had. We gave him a great cheer as we saw him cross the line.
The winner of the women's race came in soon after. In sixth place came the Queen of the Mountain, Sarah Liengu Etonge who has run the race 12 times and won 7.
She says she does it by wearing jelly shoes, it is amazing to look at the foor wear most people are racing in!. She has 7 children, two of which also participated.
There were few whites competing we saw a few on the way up and only 2 come down. The first white to cross the line came 92nd. More pictures on the Post News site.
I really admire all these people for taking part, we have been told it will take at least 2 days to climb the mountain, I do not know how they do it in under 5 hours. Going to hut 1 was pretty difficult.
This is a book about a book and it author. It has romance and mystery and is a good read. It takes a while to get in to but I started it on a Sunday afternoon sat on the veranda and read the first 100 pages in one go so I was hooked. My only problem is that sometimes I have a 3 second memory when it comes to books and do not notice the small subtle hints, or completely forget the relevance of things and have to keep flicking back to where they were previously mentioned. However I thought it was a great story and very well translated. Having visited Barcelona a few years ago I was able to picture the setting well and think of all the Gothic streets Danial was running down.
The book is told through the eyes of Danial a teenager who comes across a book called The Shadow of the Wind, intrigued by the book and its unknown author he starts an adventure with many twists and turns wondering how will it end.
On Saturday Bill our American friend invited us to the beach for the day. He was having a gathering with his fellow volunteers and we came as British delegates. We went to small village beach 8 miles from Limbe, the beach was pretty empty apart from us and the waves were great. We played in the sea then took a small fisherman's path up to a local bar, here we met some teachers from a local school and shared a couple of drinks of palm wine. We met one other of Bill's friends who has been here a little over 18 months now. This guy can speak fluent pidgin and his local dialect. It is just amazing to hear him chatting away to the locals, I envy his ability to pick up the language not many whites are able to converse like him. He even talks like an African when speaking English and only when it was all Americans and us did I hear an American accent, he never sounded Texan though - his home state.
We then went back for more time in the sea, and reading in the sun. I am determined to have a bit of a tan by the time I return. It is often pretty cloudy here in Buea and there is not much time for basking - as they say here. A nice relaxing day it just what I needed after hard work at the health centre which will continue this week. I hope this will become a regular routine on a Saturday as it is only a few thousand francs for a relaxing day by the sea.
In the last fortnight Joe and I have had news of 2 pregnancies, one birth, one marriage and one engagement. I am very chuffed to hear about all these events. I will not name the persons involved in this public domain but you know who you are and congratulations to each and everyone of you.
I love happy news.
Yesterday and today I have been very busy working really hard cleaning the health centre. Peter our wonderful carpenter finished his work a day early and only 6000 francs over budget, you do not get workmen like that in the UK!! So I went in to clean - we still need the builders to work in the main foyer but the two main rooms are ready for painting. I have been sweeping, mopping floors, walls and ceilings, my ward back care nurse would have a fit if she saw me cleaning. As shown in the very unflattering photos it is all done with a small broom and cloth. I was doing pretty well all the walls are clean and ready for paint, then the building will look much better. *Parental Advisory, some mothers (mine) may find the following paragraphs not to their liking and I would advice you do not read any further* So there I was sweeping the hall and what comes through the door - a really big snake. It was long and I mean really long. I am not sure how many meters it was (and yes we would be measuring this thing in meters). At the point I could see it, the head was past the foyer and in another room and the tail had still not followed from the outside. I do not know what sort of snake it was or weather or not it is poisonous. All I know is that the South West is home to the Gabon viper who's venom can kill you in 5 minutes. I was pretty sure this is not a Gabon viper as they are fatter, I have seen one in Limbe wildlife park. I was not planning on taking any chances though. The tail eventually followed and I ran out of the building.
I did not know what to do, so I did what all women in distress do - I phoned my husband. 'JOE ITS A SNAKE' I holler down the phone, 'a what' he says. 'A SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE' I say getting more stressed. So up he ran with Joshua from the HINT office passing some boys on the way to collect a machete, who then all followed with various implements to hit or kill a snake with. By the time they arrived the snake had gone, I have no idea where it went I did not see it leave. They went round the whole building and decided it has left.
There is a pile of stones round the back where they suspect it may live. This kind of freaked me out and I did not get much done for the rest of the afternoon. We have been told that battery acid from old car batteries will keep the snakes away, so tomorrow we will surround the building and advise the landlord to get rid of the pile of stones.
Well here we are seven months in and not that I am counting but we come home 16 weeks today!! I am not wishing the time away but really looking forward to so many things.
So the month started with me running my first HIV educators' seminar, which went very well. After that we had a couple of weeks off with Joe's parents. We had a great time together and got to explore a few more places in this amazing country. That is it for visitors now so 16 weeks hard work until we go home (with the odd Saturday on the beach of course).
Since Glenys and Ted left I have been re-working a bit of the HIV course ready for the next group on the 5th March. I am also planning to do a course in the prison to the wardens. I have a meeting there tomorrow to organise it.
Joe has started writing a photoshop course which will run after his next web design course due to start on Monday.
We have had our visas issued which we are very pleased about and we have the buildings for the health centre in our possession. The final few bits of paperwork are being put together for the government application. We needed a building plan from an architect, even though we are renting buildings. We have to have a long term plan to build to show we are serious. So once that is finished we will hand the application in. Everything takes months to sort out in this country. We will open as an advice centre once the building is habitable - I am off cleaning a little later.
I often think why am I here? what is it all about? Not my life, I am pretty happy with my personal ideas's of why I am here and do not want a theological debate about it. I mean in Cameroon, many people think we are crazy to pack up shop for a year, leave our house, jobs, friends, family and live in an African country. Many admire us and wish they could do the same (what is stopping you I say). So what is it all about, a life experience for me and Joe, to change the world, to help those less privileged than ourselves.
Well I am not sure about the life experience business we did not do this for ourselves, I would have chosen a warmer beach climate is it was! Yes this is a life changing experience but that is not the reason I came. To change the world, we are helping a small portion of the world but are not going to change the big wide world. To help those less privileged than myself, that is the reason I came. It is something I have always wanted to do. I have wanted to be a nurse all my life and would say once I was a nurse I would go to Africa and help. So here I am, is that what I still think it is about, yes and no. Yes it is about helping the underprivileged, it is also about all the small things.
We have a thing going with a couple for the local kids near our compound. Every time we walk past they come running up shouting 'white man white man white man' then do a ever evolving hand shake with them. Joe playing football with Gabriel, seeing him smile and having fun (which does not happen much living here with his Aunt and Uncle and no friends). It's these things that make it all worthwhile. Do not get me wrong opening a health centre, teaching computers, setting up a school book library they are all worth it but its seeing the smiles on the kids that give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.
so here I am half way through a year in Cameroon hoping to help the poor and hopefully bringing joy to children. I love it, I love what I am doing, I love that I gave up stuff to come here, I love seeing the children smile but fear not I love my life in England too and will be coming back!
OK I know I am a little out of date with this film review - but that is what happens when you live in Africa. I really wanted to watch this film before we left to come here but we were pretty busy at the time. So my lovely husband bought it on DVD and his parents delivered it. Many thanks to you all. I watched the first pirates film while I was off sick having my pacemaker changed. I was very slow on the uptake of that film. I thought it sounded pretty naff so was not too bothered about seeing it. However I loved it, Johnny Depp (as always) was magnificent as Captain Jack Sparrow. So I was pretty desperate to watch the second film. I thought it was great, a little silly but you expect that. Johnny Depp was again brilliant. The ridiculousness of the fights was just great, and very amusing. My only complaint is the blatant way the ending is set up for the next film. It always upsets me when they leave a film hanging, did he kill the beast or did he die.............you have to wait till next time. Arrrrrrrgh its like a kids Saturday am TV show to keep you hooked. My guess is that he did kill the monster and save his boat or else how will Disney make any money from the next film?
Today we have some missionaries arriving, in my opinion the last thing Cameroon needs is missionaries. Especially round here everybody is Christian and if not it is not through lack of knowledge. Anyway we have this couple coming to stay with us from Mauritius or France, not sure get a different answer each time we ask. After Joe's parents left we took the softer thicker mattress off the spare bed as ours is now totally flat and we can feel all the slats of the bed. Mattresses are big squares of foam so flatten pretty quickly. When we learnt these people were coming and would be in the spare room we said to Marceline that we had better change them back again. she said not to worry they are only here 2 months, will not be here every night and are missionaries so it is OK for them to suffer a bit!
My interest with oriental writing all began with Wild Swans. Which is a is a magnificent book that I urge you to read. I have also greatly enjoined Memoirs of a Geisha which I really enjoyed and will one day watch the film. Empress Orchid is the first book I have read by Anchee Min, it is her forth novel so will definitely be reading the others. I really enjoyed it. Based on the true lives of nineteenth century Chinese royalty. The story of a village girl who was chosen to become one of the Emperor's wives. It describes the lonely life she led inside the Forbidden City and the struggles to met with her husband, the Emperor. I found the second half of the book a little too heavy with Chinese politics but still very enjoyable. There is great insight to the thoughts and feelings of this young woman as she becomes a concubine and copes with a totally different life style in the Forbidden City. She is a strong character who risks her life by saying what she feels needs to be said. Very well written and enjoyable read.
There are many things they do here in Cameroon that make no sense to me, when you question them about it they say ' it is our African way', 'that's Africa' or 'its just what we do'. One example of this is overcrowding. In taxi's 2 share the front passenger seat. In Clando's which are private cars for longer journeys they have 4 on the back and 2 on the front seat. Which is illegal but the drivers just pay bribes to the police to continue or even worse the drivers are the police so they just get waved through check points. How will they ever beat corruption if one day the police man is stopping cars for being overfilled and the next driving one.
Anyway I digress in to the post about corruption. I was drawn this week to one of the first headlines I have seen on the BBC about Cameroon. It is about a boat that capsized off the coast of Cameroon near Limbe. It was sailing from Tiko to Nigeria. Tiko is a town not far from us, we have only ever been to the market and all we ever hear about it is being told it has a golf club. Anyway the boat capsized the numbers are pretty inaccurate but it is thought about 40 have died and only 20 were saved. With no emergency services here it was down to fishermen from Limbe to rescue the survivors. Many stayed in the water for 10 hours trying to keep alive. Today the BBC have published one of the survivors stories. This man says the boat was overfilled with people and cargo but when he told the driver they were overloaded before they set of the response was 'it's normal'. Will they learn from this sad experience, I hope so but truly doubt it. My guess is next week they will do the same journey with the same number of passengers and cargo.
Much of Cameroon's problem with development lies in the fact they do things they way they have all ways done them - the African way. They are happy this way and no one will be able to change that.
With lots of time for reading and not much time for blogging I read two books while Ted and Glenys were here. So two reviews in quick succession I am afraid. the perfect storm was first a book then made in to a film. I have not seen the film and not sure if I will as I think it will ruin a great book (although it does have George Clooney in it). Junger is a journalist and wanted to keep to all the facts whereas the film I understand wanted drama, thoughts and feelings. As all the crew died in the storm it is pretty hard to get true thoughts and feelings so Junger left this detail out.
So the book is about what meteorological would be called 'the perfect storm' resulting from colliding weather systems. Causing 100 foot waves and seas that any boat would have difficulty surviving. the book is based around the Andrea Gale and its crew, it is not surprise ending that the boat does not survive the storm so I am not ruining the book by telling you that. The book describes in detail fishing and weather which all comes together to an accurate account of what happened at sea that night. Not only does it follow the crew of the Andrea Gale which has never been recovered but also other boats that were out that night.
It makes a really good read and gave me a very different perspective of the sea as I was splashing about in the waves on the coast last week.
Stephen Fry is a very interesting, clever, witty, well spoken man. So it would be come as no surprise that his biography is interesting, clever, witty and well written. This book covers the first 20 years of his life. He is very honest about the struggles he had fitting in at school and problems we faced with attempted suicide and crime in his teens. It is amazing to see how low he was as points, how he could have just been a drop-out by not focusing his intelligence and how he saved himself after a close call with prison bucked his ideas up finished school and went to Cambridge.
Stephen Fry is incredibly intelligent, he writes how he found his 11+ results with approaching genius next to his name. However I get the feeling he would have given anything at that age to not be quite so intelligent and a bit better at music and sport. Fry loves to watch sport or listen to music but is unable to participate, he felt this stopped him from joining in. I think this is a common thought amongst young people, they would give anything to be better at sport or music or what ever it is all their friends are skilled at. Being intelligent can make fitting in very difficult, often it is the very intelligent that go flying off the rails as they may be bored at school or feel left out as Fry did. I am generalising of course and not saying all intelligent people get lost along the way but I do think they find it hard. I would not call myself particularly intelligent I got average results at school and University, so I cannot totally sympathise with Fry but I can understand what he went through and how he reacted to it.
So all in all it is a jolly good read and gives a great insight to the mind and childhood of Stephen Fry.
