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!