Nous suivre au Cameroun

Yaoundé, November 30th, 2006

Hi to everyone !

We hope you’re all fine, well and happy!

You want to hear about the Blanchards of Yaoundé?
For a few days, the dry season has started. It’s the end of regular storms, and of muddy roads, instead we have a slim film of reddish dust everywhere! At dawn it’s beautiful to see the mist slowly evaporating on the hills… It’s also getting warmer and warmer!

Arnaud is about to finish some of his courses, and has started his inquiries on Jehovas Witnesses in Cameroon. One of them, a French missionary even suggested that Arnaud stayed at his place when he would go to Douala. But Arnaud decided not to risk to become converted! This French Missionary was very welcoming, and was a precious guide for Arnaud in Douala, last week.
We also finished the inquiry for the archdiocese. (512 questionnaires!!!!!) Arnaud has analised the results with one of his colleagues. These days Arnaud has been disappointed by the university. Some of his colleagues work only if their find extra financial resource, some don’t do what they are meant to do, and we sometimes have the feeling that all is done to prevent you from working!

Marie-Lise and Anca, 2 French friends spent 2 weeks with us in Cameroon. That was the opportunity to spend a Week End in the Western province, in the Bamileke country, in a town named Bafang. There we discovered the tradition of funerals. Funerals are a huge celebration there. When somebody dies, there is the burial soon after. Some time later, there is a huge ceremony: the funerals. So funerals are a big and happy celebration. It’s a very expensive event, thus it often takes place several years after the death of the person, and funerals are often organised for several people of the same family at once. During the dances, the heir of the family, who is going to control the family’s goods, is chosen.
So we left Yaoundé very early Saturday morning. The road is very beautiful, very green, and very hilly. The funerals started by a mass on Saturday afternoon. Many songs, a wonderful choir, full of energy and joy… There was a procession where people came offering many presents to the parish. There was even a man carrying a lively chicken in the middle of the church!
Sunday morning we went to visit a museum. It’s a wonderful place where treasures of a traditional kingdom are exhibited: masks, robes, sculptures, several objects for the rites, little wooden stools… incredible, and beautiful! The guide gave us many explanations to initiate us to a totally unknown world where secret societies have magic powers… If you’re interested, have a look at the website of the museum: www.museumcam.org, you’ll discover the beautiful handicrafts we saw.
We then saw the traditional dances of the funerals. Colours, music, huge drums give the rhythm to the dance… The clothes are wonderful: huge hats made of parrot feathers, may colours, wooden masks… The funerals are also a time to eat a lot! Women cook from dawn to dusk: about 1000 people are fed for 2 days!

So that’s for our visit to the West. I (Caroline) am still looking for a job. I’ve decided to invest all my energy into that until Christmas. I have many appointments. And the good news is that I’m about to start a new job… Of course, we’ll tell you more as soon as I have signed my contract! But before that, I’m involved in a project to start a library for children. I really like this project very much. Here, very few families have books, even rich families only seldom have anything to read at home. Children and parents read very little.

When Arnaud went to Douala, I met him there, and we went to spend the Week End together to Limbe. Limbe is a small town on the seashore, at the bottom of Mount Cameroon which is more than 4000 m high. It’s a volcanic region, where beaches are made of black sand. It’s also the zone where oil is extracted. This can account for dark stains on my feet after swimming in the sea! The mountains falling in the sea are a beautiful view. The atmosphere is wild, mysterious, very misty, because it’s one of the world’s zone where it’s the most raining. But we were lucky enough to have a nice weather. We enjoyed the sea a lot, had supper in front of the sunset near the beach… Saturday afternoon, we also went to visit a park organised for endangered species. It’s not a zoo explained our guide. A whole team of volunteers caring for endangered species of the tropical forest, endangered because of hunting, but mostly because of the destruction of the forest by logging companies. We had the feeling it was one more project thought and controlled by Westerners… Of course it’s important, but so many contradictions are at stake: on the one hand logging companies earn billions every year, on the other hand farmers have to pay a fine if they kill the gorilla which is eating their cassava crop, on top of that the taste of Cameroonians for bush meat: crocodile, viper, elephant, all kinds of monkeys….

So that’s the news for today! We have a problem so no photos this time, but be patient, we’ll give you some soon…
Within a week, we’ll go to a celebration in the Bamoun region. It’s a traditional event which occurs only every two years. One of our neighbours is from that area, and we’ll go with him to his family.

Today we went to a market selling handicraft in Yaoundé. We saw many nice objects from the Chiefdoms of the West, and souvenirs for tourists. We talked for rather a long time with one of the vendors. He tried the test of the statue of truth on Arnaud. This statue is supposed to be 400 years old… (!) The chiefs used it to solve the conflicts among their numerous wives. No problem regarding Arnaud, he never lies, you can still trust him!

So that’s all for this time!
All the best to each of you!
Arnaud & Caroline