THE THINGS THEY DON’T CARRY…

This title plays on the fact that in Africa there is almost nothing that can’t be carried on your head!  Africans even have special little hats just to protect their heads when carrying hard objects. They may wear them around, “just in case” something needs to be carried. 

Perhaps if I had trained early on to carry large items on my head I would have been able to carry that albatross of a dufflel I mention in my Yaounde post!  I was both amazed and appalled at the weight, size and variety of objects carried on one's head.  I was also shocked at the ages and size of the children performing these tasks. For these children begin at a very early age. It’s like breathing; you just do it!

There’s a song I learned as a child called “The Connecticut Peddler”, which goes something like this. “I’m a peddler, I’m a peddler, I’m a peddler from Connecticut.  I’m a peddler, I’m a peddler, so don’t you want to buy?  Many things I have in store, so listen while I name them o’re, so very many goods you’ve never seen before…all of which I will sell you…..

Wooden wares, carpets for parlors and stairs,
Matches and Spanish cigars, Articles splendid I tell you,
Here are tins, papers of needles and pins,
Tracts upon popular sins, Any of which I would sell you.

And,  here is the seed of asparagus,
Lettuce, beets, onions and peppergrass,
From the United Societies, Seeds of all kinds and varieties,
Shaving soap, excellent razor-strops, 
Razors that smoothly will shave your chops,
Swaim's panacea, and Jones's drops, Any of which I would sell you.

All of which I will sell to you….. Watching the street peddlers in Africa I often thought of this song.  Andrew and I had so many laughs at what we saw.  Our favorite hawkers were the shoe sales people, always with ONE shoe on their head, as their “window display”.  But there were also, peanuts , packets of tissue, boxes of cookies, bread, street meat, chickens (live or cooked), eggs, bottles of water and other drinks, bathmats, towels, scarves, socks and pretty much anything you could possibly want…or not…

There were items that were not so laughable as well, especially on the long, deserted roads between towns and villages. Children carrying huge loads of sticks, horns of plantains or bananas, corn or water jugs that resembled 5 gallon gasoline cans. Often they would be carrying several jugs or bags of the same items in their hands. On the beach in Limbe  Andrew and I saw men carrying loads of tree trunks, full length, staggering under the weight. 

Check out this link about the issues of water in Africa.  A short but very powerful video on the issue of having to portage clean water. http://www.charitywater.org/whywater/

It is an efficient way to transport things; however the long term affect on the necks and spines of these people is documented in the bent over, misshapen bodies of the elders, especially in the small villages. 

One of the things I noticed about the Cameroon people is that between the ages of 30ish to anywhere in their 60s, it is extremely difficult to judge the age of a person.  However once they begin aging, the downhill slide is rapid and ravaging.  Often it is the constant abuse this type of activity has on the body that creates these long term effects. I don’t plan on practicing carrying things on my head any time soon!

CRAZY Travel

To say the roads in Cameroon are terrible is laughable.  I have been telling people to imagine the worst possible road in Vermont in mud season and multiply that times a 1000 or so.  You might come near to visualizing the deplorable lack of infrastructure this country has.  To top it off Cameroon is a "bi-lingual" country.  They speak French (FrancoPhones) and English (Pidgin) (AngloPhones).  However the AngloPhones are highly marginalized, and whatever is bad in the French speaking areas are triply bad in the English speaking areas. So the roads in the Northwest are beyond horrible.  Travel is arduous at best, and the norm is expect at least 2-4 hours more than you planned for your trip, either due to not being on time (highly usual)or 50 stops along the way to pick up one more roadside passenger (when you were positive not one more human cell could fit onto the vehicle) or to navigate roads we would consider goat paths.  There are also Police checkpoints, where driver and often passengers must show their identification.  Yes, even citizens of Cameroon must come forth with ID or pay the "fine" or bribe.  If there's a problem it could delay the trip even further.  Or perhaps you might experience a flat tire. Even as Andrew described the changing of the tire akin to a NASCAR Pit crew speed, I'm not sure they are quite up to that standard.  Out of 3 weeks I probably spent at least 6 full days on the road or more.  We are talking, 6-12 hours per day.  After a bone jarring, bone crunching 4 1/2 hour trip up the mountains to Andrew's home I already dreaded the return trip and began to long for Vermont roads!  

Limbe is a beach town on the Atlantic Ocean.  Andrew has a favorite hotel he's stayed at before that is fairly far out of town, but clean, with good food and a friendly staff.  Across the street is the black sand beach.  Unfortunately it was the rainy season, as well as high tide most of the day, so not a lot of walking on the beach. We did manage one morning walk, where I found the water pleasantly warm, and collected some very cool light weight lava rocks.  The day after I arrived we went into town to see the Limbe Wildlife center. Check out their website http://www.limbewildlife.org/activities/education   
In the top picture you'll see Glen, who runs the educational programs.  This year he was in 13 schools, next year he hopes to include 20.  So many Cameroonian children have no idea of their heritage!  Glen, began volunteering as a teenager.  He volunteered for 10 years!  Eventually he went to school and came back to work at the wildlife center.  His passion for his work is pulsating and listening to him you can believe there is still hope for these animals.  
Andrew and I were so fortunate to have Glen all to ourselves since it was pouring rain and no one else wanted to be there.  He gave us so many of the stories behind the primates there, difficulties raising them, introducing them back into the wild, and the need to understand their hierarchy behavior.  We hope to keep in touch with Glen to see how they are doing.  The center has also been successful (one of the few) in getting the local bush meat hunters to grow food that they supply to the wildlife center for a profit.  A win  win situation for sure!  In other areas the bush hunters are much more resistant to change.
Dinner, grilled fish on the beach.  Sounds wonderful? No! I will say the fish was delicious!   However the beach was cluttered with people, trash, noisy bars.  Sitting at a rather dingy picnic table we were the target of many efforts to try and sell us something.  There were some very cool boat with mast flags in the harbor and smack in the middle......an oil rig.   

Doula, not the best place to hang around at night

I arrived at the Doula Airport at 11:00 PM, 3 hours late.  Andrew had been waiting outside the airport, unable to get in and with no ability to contact me.  Security!  Cameroon is a country of Gendarmes (police and military) and checkpoints.  Standing at the luggage carousel I am surrounded by a mass of people, experiencing the first of many realizations that I distinctly different from everyone around me. It is an experience I think everyone should have; talk about walking a mile in someone's shoes!  Suddenly I see him!  Two years out of sight and now he's there.  It was an exciting moment for sure!  A hotel shuttle takes us away. I am exhausted, almost 24 hours en route; the bed is calling.