Anne

Well, here we are back in Yaoundé where it all started on the first of September, 2007. We have had a few days to reflect on our amazing experience – one which most of our family was able to share in a little bit, which made us feel a bit less selfish. Wendy and Martin, the missing family members, gave us another gorgeous grandson instead and the excuse to sneak back to the UK for a couple of weeks of R and R at their home. We are back in the hotel we stayed in for our first week in Cameroon. In the meantime it has changed hands and name and is much improved – or have our expectations been lowered? Anyway there don’t seem to be mice running over the bed any more!

Things we won’t miss

• Bugs of all shapes, sizes and degrees of ferocity
• Cold showers
• Cameroonian wedding receptions – a total of 12
• Punctures (we have had over 30 in 17 months)
• Restaurants that give you half a paper napkin
• Hotels which give you one small thin hand towel between two adults, even if one of them is skinny now!
• Bugs
• Antibiotics
• Lack of privacy
• A multitude of beggars at the house or outside in the streets
• Uninvited guests and/or passengers from 5.50am onwards
• Being the only woman at meetings
• Bugs
• Ultrasound (Hamish obviously)
• Lying/corruption and the feeling that there are few people you can trust
• The challenge to get out of Zidim through stinking mud (Hamish loved it!)
• Barking dogs, braying donkeys, violin playing toads, cockerels, goats, sheep, birds, mice, rats, bats, lizards, moths and cockroaches disturbing our sleep, not to mention the hospital generator overnight for operations or provision of oxygen
• Listening to sweat dripping on to the pillows at night
• Expensive beer at Porte Mayo, £1.70 for 650mls as opposed to 65p at Zra’s bar in Zidim
• Gazelles - to be explained on our return!
• Weekends in Maroua with no power, internet or water
• Being ankle deep in litter
• BUGS!!!!!

Things we will miss

• Cameroonian culture, hospitality and dramatically beautiful scenery
• The challenge of every new day
• VSO staff and other volunteers

• Cheap gin (Hamish only, of course!)
• Peanut butter and mangoes
• Ugly but tasty seasonal fruit and veg.
• Beautiful, colourful birds
• Maroua moto rides at 10p a time; Yaoundé shared taxi rides at 25p
• Our friend Oumarou
• Off road driving (but not through stinking mud)
• Small triumphs when something actually brought results
• The little children in Boula, about 5 miles from Zidim, who cheered and waved every time we drove through.
• Varan (komodo dragon) spotting in our garden
• Weekends in our favourite hotel, Porte Mayo at £17 a night and £7.50 for a 3 course dinner
• Night skies en brousse with no light pollution
• Respect and concern for old people like us
• Cameroonians’ ability to adapt and recycle; their resourcefulness
• Godam – oops, wrong list!!!

VSO warned us well that our volunteering experience would be like a rollercoaster ride and that warning has proved accurate. There have been highs and there have certainly also been lows but fortunately neither one of us ever felt like giving up. With the moral, physical and financial help of family and friends we got through it and for that we will always be grateful. Tonight with a lump in our throats but joy in our hearts, we are leaving Cameroon. We’re coming home.

Hamish

That’s it, job done.  Back in St Andrews Sunday – can’t wait for a bacon roll.  Our last three days in Cameroon have been in Yaoundé, the capital, and should have been relaxed.  We were doing fine until we realised we might have a serious problem with excess baggage.  When we checked in at Maroua airport, we were 44Kg over the allowance and were facing a charge of 1200/Kg (around £15 a kilo).  A young lad who’s been our tourist guide on a number of trips, helped with negotiation.  Anne had already been on good terms with Mme Habiba, the head of the airline office in Maroua and they very generously waived the charge.  Checking in Yaoundé, Air France charge 150€ per Kg!  However, Air France allows 23Kg per bag and we’re allowed two bags each.  Slight panic when were told the Air Leasing (company which flies to Maroua) allowance is 30Kg per person.  Turns out that’s for First Class passengers, for us plebs it’s only 20 Kg each.  Working out the mathematics, we think we will weigh in at around 84Kg so hopefully won’t have to dump anything at the airport.

Some thoughts on the problems here and what’s needed.

Ø       Infant mortality from malaria and diarrhoeal disease is horrendous, yet these two problems can be readily addressed by providing treated mosquito nets and access to clean water.  There are supposed to be programmes in place for these, but there is little evidence of action at ground level.

Ø       The problem of illiteracy is immense and without education, progress in other areas such as health will be limited.  The work Anne has done has shown that with encouragement, the local population can do a lot, but will the momentum be continued now that she has left?  And the limited number of projects VSO can support can only scratch the surface of the issue in this large region.

Ø       Polygamy and lack of recognition of women’s rights are the cause of much of the misery here.  Changing that needs a major shift in culture and, again, that can only come through education.

Ø       Communication is a huge issue.  The dirt track roads become impassable in the rainy season.  River beds that were dry become full of fast flowing water blocking the roads.  Anyone who tries to cross is likely to be swept away and drowned.  There is no electricity except for the few elite who can afford generators, so telephone communication is difficult.  Even for those with the means to have a cell phone, the network strength is poor or absent in many parts of the bush.  And there is no friendly postman to deliver the mail.  Letters go to a postal box in Maroua and then are passed on by whoever happens to be going in the right direction.  Local mail is delivered hand to hand; for example, letters for officials in Mokolo can be given to the gendarme who attends the Zidim market every Tuesday.

Ø       The overriding issue is poverty.  The majority of people in the bush have no income; they grow what food they need and try to sell any surplus.  Illness in the family can be a disaster as they do not have the means to pay the hospital fees.  The hospital has no choice but to charge for services as it has to be self financing; there is no external funding.  The fees are kept as low as possible, recognising that most patients struggle to pay.  Again, the only way out of the poverty trap is education.

Ø       But the main barrier to development here is corruption.  Everyone knows it’s systematic but all feel powerless to do anything about it.  Recently, a French NGO caused a stir when it made a public statement about the problem, indicating that it starts at the level of the president.  He has an entourage of supporters who one suspects are also deeply involved in the process, and they have been organising rallies to denounce the accusations.  You may think the MPs expenses issue was a scandal back at home, but it pales into insignificance compared with what goes on here.  At a personal level we’ve been able to escape it but we see all around us examples of just how extensive the problem is.

Ø       Finally, alcohol is a major problem here.  But we solved that one when we found a good source of cheap gin in Maroua!

These are just some final impressions.  Our experiences here have been amazing and although we’re excited about getting back home, there are no regrets about having been here.  There are things we will miss (see Anne’s list) and we now understand why people say that once you’ve stayed in Africa, Africa stays in you.  God willing, we will be back for a visit.

One thing which has helped us through the two years has been the support we’ve received from so many people back at home – family, friends, acquaintances and complete strangers.  During our training with VSO the volunteer experience was described as an emotional roller coaster and that’s very accurate.  When we’ve hit the dips, knowing that so many folk were behind us helped us to cope.  Without this help, neither of us could have achieved things like the new classroom at Membeng, books for the schools, boreholes for two of the schools (work in progress!), support for women’s groups for dress making, mosquito nets and mattresses in the hospital, support for a village mosquito net project and the full blood count analyser for the hospital.  All we can say is, THANKS!

And a few images to close: