Mom & Dad - Part III

We got off the train and went directly to the Yaounde Hilton. No passing go, no collecting $200. The Hilton is one of about three truly modern, relaxing and western hotels in the entire country (the other two being in Douala). O?ce we checked i?, there was a sigh of relief at seeing the rooms, and then a race to the bathrooms. Everyone took multiple showers, and between the cleanings and following naps, we finally rejoined a few hours later for a nice lunch, poolside. Even though we had only completed the first part of the trip, my parents made it clear that this was the type of treatment they preferred.

Sleep and eating occupied the rest of the day and the guy who was to be our driver for the rest of the trip, Kasimir (who also went with me to get my parents from the airport on their arrival), arrived around noon for the drive up to Baffoussam. We loaded all our junk (I mean suitcases) into the car, along with my friend Kelly (who wanted a ride to her post which was en route) and took off. We dropped Kelly off at her house in Bafia, and my parents got a first look at how many volunteers live- down a muddy road, often without electricity or running water and with little furniture. Dad took pictures and we continued on to the Talhotel in Baffoussam.

One of the things I have learned here, is to not plan much in advance, since everything can change very quickly. As a result, I had only made one hotel reservation (which I had to change), for the Hilton. It was a little unnerving for my parents, I think, to plan on staying in hotels that had no idea we were coming. It all worked out fine though. Once in Baffoussam, we had dinner and decided to visit nearby Foumban the next day followed by dinner at the homestay family in Bandjoun.

Foumban is a little over an hour from Baffoussam and is the home of one of the oldest kingdoms in Africa. The kingdom dates back to the 13th century and has in recent history, established a museum in the palace to chronicle its uniqueness and to show off the pieces of art and culture accumulated over time. The first order of business, of course, was shopping. There's a rather unique artists' village where they sell items from all over West Africa, but also produce a great deal of bronzework, embroidery, pottery and carved wood items. There are over thirty merchants and artisans, so we were there a LONG time. Every so often, we'd send someone back to the car with handfuls of bags of purchases. I picked up some nice bronze figurine candlesticks, a mask or two and a cool ceramic vase (which apparently broke a bit on its return). Once the money had essentially run out, we continued on to the market, had a bit to eat (well, at least Kasimir and I ate), and went on the palace museum tour. The museum is pretty impressive and has traditional items, secret society costumes, weapons, enemy skulls (often made into lovely drinking vessels) and instruments. One king even developed his own calendar and alphabet which was on display. ?0A
Dinner ?hat night with the Fotso Jean family was fantastic. We were a little late, but that allowed the rest of the family to assemble before we arrived. My homestay mother, Agatha, was jumping up and down. My mom had a big smile on her face and the kids attacked me when we entered the compound. There were over thirty people there to greet us and welcome my parents to Cameroon and to the home where I lived for three months, a year before. There was lots of food and music and after dinner, dancing and photo-taking. One of the gifts we brought the family was a basic camera and film, which I taught Papa how to use, and was very happy to have. We also brought lots of things for the many kids, including Shrek fruity snacks and school supplies. Everyone had a super time and we called Kasimir to pick us up and left before it got too late.

Although we had said our goodbyes the night before, Mom and Dad wanted to go see Papa working in the market (and it just happened to be Grand Market day), and I wanted to say 'hi' to the window/glass/mirror guy that I had helped during training. Jean-Guy wasn't in his store, so I called his phone. He responded saying he was working to install windows in the chefferie (which was on our schedule for the day), so I told him I'd call when we got there. We walked over to Papa and took 'action' photos of him cutting up the pig of the day.

We got back in the car, after trapesing through the muddy market of Bandjoun, and headed over to the Chefferie (the traditional chief's compound). There was a French family who had beaten us there that morning, so the tour guide was busy and asked us to wait around for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I called my friend, Jean-Guy. He told me he was just behind the big house and he'd be out in a minute to find me. He found us and took us on a tour of the backside deck of the new chef's house (this is the same chef I went to the installation for in March with 10,000 other people) where he was installing windows on the newly constructed house. The chef's chief of protocol happened to be there with us, and Jean-Guy asked if we'd like to meet the chef. We said that it would be a great honor and that in fact, my father (a city manager in NC) was a chef in his "village" in the US. My dad gave him his business card and a few minutes later we were brought to the front of the house where the chef came out and gave us an "audience". Since my father's french is a bit shakey, I introduced us and told him we were happy to be there. He became very curious about my father's position and I translated both ways. Then, he decided we had passed some sort of test and began speaking pretty good english. He's one of the new breed of traditional chefs who was very successful and was reluctantly?pulled out of h?s life to lead his people. He has a PhD from a French university in chemical engineering and was high up in a local, french-owned rubber production firm. He asked to be able to contact my father and that they work together to help solve some of the problems facing his people. As we were finishing, Dad asked to take a photo with him, which is a rare event. He agreed, just as long as my dad stood on the step below him! I was amazed and my parents thought it was pretty cool. After that, the tour of the museum and grounds just didn't seem all that fantastic anymore, but we did it anyway.

On the way up to Bamenda where we would be based for the next couple of days, we stopped to see my "homestay sister", Katie. She was in the training group after me, and lived with the same family in the same room. As a result, the family is convinced that the best thing that could happen is that the two of us get married. We're just friends...

Katie lives in Babadjou and as an agro-forestry volunteer, she has a nice big yard with fruit trees and a garden plot with all sorts of vegetables. She truly has a green thumb. We enjoyed the brief visit, took a couple of pictures, and were on our way.