While in the lobby waiting for the airport shuttle, a man asked me about my NC State t-shirt that I had been wearing the day before. He was of Cameroon descent originally and now lived in Raleigh. (Can you say, “Small world?!”) He works at the RBC bank there; however, his wife and son live in Charlotte. He’s commuting back and forth on the weekends to be with his family. His wife told me that they haven’t put their house on the market since it’s not a good housing market, otherwise they’d move elsewhere or to Raleigh.
The group of us from the hotel leaving for Cameroon pretty much stuck together at the airport. One woman in our group was attending Howard University in DC and was going home to visit her family. She was talking to a man outside our group who seemed to be flirting with her and exchanged numbers. I wasn’t paying any attention and didn’t care to meet him-I just wanted to get to Douala.
We were served lunch not long after taking off; however, there’s no need to mention it. Blah! On the plane, I realized I was the only white female on the plane. There’s nothing like being stared at from your seat in the front row when you’re walking all the way to the back of the plane to the bathroom-lol. When I returned to my seat, I was getting settled in for a nap when the flight attendant came up to me and said, “A gentleman wants to buy you perfume.” I looked at her and said, “What gentleman? Tell whoever he is that I say thank you, but no thank you, as I am allergic to perfume.” The flight attendant laughed and then the guy who was talking to my friend prior to us taking off came up and introduced himself. I then was able to tell him thanks, but no thanks…
When we got off the plane, the heat and humidity hit right away and my sweatshirt came off. The airport was open air, so the walkways were all concrete with openings for air flow (no windows) in the concrete walls. In the passport/visa check in line, I felt like I was in Target at home; 2 lines for the 100 people waiting. After finally checking in with the not-so-friendly lady, I head off in the hopes that my baggage has arrived from NC. As soon as I stepped in the baggage area, which was so tiny and crowded, I immediately saw my bag on the belt. What a relief!
I head outside in the hopes of finding Akobe, pronounced A-ko-bay, my hostess and contact from The Humanity Exchange. As soon as I walk outside, before I know what’s happening, some dude just grabs my luggage and proceeds to walk fast down the sidewalk. In the meantime, on my other side, I have a lady flinging a hotel card in my face asking if I need a hotel. Once I realize what’s going on, I grab my luggage handle and yell, “Non!” and stop in my tracks. Thankfully, that’s when Akobe approached me and the guy with her grabbed my bag. Whew! Whisked away by the right people! BUT, as soon as we reach the car, I’m approached and asked for money by a man. Once again, I am assumed to be rich…
At Akobe’s house, I was shown around the apartment and met her 8 month old baby, David, and sister-in-law, Georgette. David is absolutely adorable! I could just eat him up with those chubby cheeks and when he sucks his thumb. The bathroom is very small and there is no shower stall. The toilet is broken, so we have to dump water down the toilet to flush. The kitchen is tiny. There is a small fridge, much smaller than a regular fridge and not much bigger than a mini fridge. The stove is about ¾ the size of a normal stove. I can imagine it would get quite hot in that tiny kitchen when cooking. Akobe insisted that I eat and rest after she showed me the apartment.
Georgette served me fried fish and pineapple, and afterward, I took a cold shower (no hot water) and took a nap. Georgette and I are sharing a room together, which I don’t mind, I’m just grateful we have a fan in the room! Much to my surprise, my bed sheets are red and white checked-how appropriate! (In case you’re wondering, Akobe did not know that these are my school colors.)
My nap was later interrupted by a volunteer, Vanessa, from the orphanage where I will be interning. Vanessa was very friendly and went to undergrad at Maryland. She will be attending grad school soon at George Mason, concentrating on peace and development conflict and resolution. She leaves for the states Saturday, so I’ll be sad that I won’t get to know her better or hang out with her more.
Akobe woke me up when she got home after 8, and we sat and talked a long while. She told me about her 2 daughters, who are 9 and 19; both are attending school somewhere in the Ivory Coast. She is a Christian woman and proceeded to tell me that after having 2 daughters, she wanted a boy. Her sonogram revealed that she was having another girl, and she said that she prayed hard and asked the Lord to bless her with a baby boy. She said her husband missed the birth of their son, so she called him and told him that they had had a boy. He thought that she was joking-lol. I told her that the power of prayer is an awesome thing and proceeded to tell her about my friend, Brandon, and his recovery from a brain injury. Brandon is now in rehabilitation and doing extremely well in his progress since his accident on Dec. 9. I also shared with Akobe why I am here and what changes I made in my life this past fall after my best friend, Tommy, died. I told her that I hoped that my experience here will help with my healing and grieving, and that I want to make new, good memories while in Africa. Tommy would have loved the fact that I am here and most likely would’ve wished he could come with me.
Akobe told me about how they do not pay taxes, and we discussed how there are so many people out in the world who do not appreciate what they have in their lives. I definitely agree with her that people (especially Americans) have no idea what opportunities they have been blessed with, as well as how lucky we are to have education provided to us. Those who are poor and have children, often cannot afford to send their children to school here in Africa.
Jeromie, Akobe’s husband, invited us to dinner when we were talking. We had fresh bread, something like a stew beef soup served cold, and a tomato, corn, and chick pea salad with vinaigrette on it. It was a delicious meal. While we were eating, we watched an obvious American show on SWAT teams, spoken in French. Basically the men on the show were showing how badly the weapons can damage a by showing the damage done to dummies they used-crazy! It was actually rather interesting, and I felt as if I were watching Spike TV-lol.
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