You know Africa well

Bargaining is not one of my favourite things. How low should I go to get the price I want? Is it not rude to go too low? Really, I do not need to bargain, but then again, would it be rude not to? In Cameroon everyone bargains on everything. So to fit in, should not I too bargain?

Slightly uncomfortable, I suggest my price in a low voice. He whispers back, offers a new price, still more than I am willing to give. We discuss a little while, I smile and he laughs. Finally it closes in, and our suggestions differ only with a thousand francs (13 NOK). -Let's meet at the five hundred in between, I say, and he laughs, -You really know Africa well, don't you?

Maybe it was not that bad after all...

Meiganga

Thursday we set out for Meiganga, a village about four hours west of Ngaoundéré, together with Benjamin the contactperson and four Canadians. Their mission was to learn about evangelisation, as the Canadian church (together with many other Western countries) no longer seems to reach out to people in their own country.

The Cameroonian church is growing, while many of the countries that once brought the Good News to Africa now need to learn anew how to evangelize. In Meiganga we were attending a week of seminars, to hear and see how the church (EELC) empowers its evangelists.

We attended some of the seminars, visited the seminary of Meiganga, spoke with its students and visited them in their homes, and joined small groups of evangelists when they were having outreach Saturday. We went from door to door, visited those who were interested, talked about God with them and prayed together. Idunn and I also worked as interpreters, as our Canadian friends did not understand French. Amazing how much French we actually are able to understand and speak after some months here!

 

Students at the seminary of Meiganga studying in the library

 

 

The students' wives' class

 

Talking with David the theology student about evangelization

 

 

Visiting Philomene, the only female theology student at the seminary

 

The Canadians handing out gifts to the evangelists, as a sign of gratefulness for being invited to the seminar

 

 

"Filmez-moi! Filmez-moi, madame!" (If you have a camera, you have no choice:) )  

Fête de la Jeunesse

Thursday last week we celebrated Fête de la Jeunesse with our girls at Centre Socio Menager. So it was that we were dressed up in orange and yellow dresses of the latest fashion-model, and marched in front of loads of people. I even got the honorable assignment to carry the flag - something that did not pass by unseen: I was actually to be seen on national television on the evening news...

I encourage you to read more about this event and see the pictures on the Bischler family's blog

Picnic, African style

"The bus leaves at 06.30, and if you are not present by then, you are not going at all." The board of my choir, Gospel Singers, do not seem to appreciate the term "African time", but no matter how hard they seem to fight it, African time always gets its way. So by 09.15, we were actually on our way to the village Wak (we thought).

We also thought we were going in the Gospel Singers' bus,

but all of a sudden it went away full of other people, so we ended up sitting 21 persons in this shabby car with 15 seats:

 

Photo: Samuel Fomgbami

The lack of space, the hard seats or the loose door did not spoil the joyous mood. Nor finding out that we were not going to Wak after all. Someone important had decided that we were headed for a small place with possibilities to take a swim near the student village Dang (12 km from Ngaoundéré) instead. 

Photo: Samuel Fomgbami

For some, the fact that we had to walk for 45 minutes to get there seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but as we got there, the walk was already forgotten. After we had crossed the river,

 

we reached a place that resembled any Norwegian beach a random summer day (except that there were no beach): a lot of young people where enjoying a Saturday with friends, food, a bonfire, guitar playing and swimming in the COLD water. 

 

  

 

Some hours later, after having crossed the river on our way back, we spent a few moments in prayer and worship together with another choir that also was there, 

before we went happy, tired, laughing and singing back to Dang to find taxis going to Ngaoundéré.

 

In other words: a wonderful Saturday spent with wonderful people!

I want to go to Norway, because of all the chocolate

-You see, there is so much chocolate in Norway, so I woud like to go there, said one of the children as we were having the daily afternoon studies with the children at Rainbow orphanage. -And when are you going to show us your house?

Why not today, we thought, and so it was that Moussa, Miryam and Alise came with us when it was time to put aside the books, mini-blackboards and chalks for the evening. As our fridge still contains the marvellous Freia melkesjokolade, and we also had a 1-2-3 Sjokolademousse, it was the perfect occasion to arrange Chocolate and Ligretto Night.

Photo: Idunn Roaldseth

Teaching Ligretto to children, in French, is not the easiest thing to do, but we had a whole lot of fun, and everyone agreed that Norwegian chocolate is very good, and as we wondered how on Earth our stomachs could manage supper less than one hour later, we talked a bit with Lena the missionary's parrot before it was time for the three happy children to return to their home.

 

Photo: Idunn Roaldseth

What are we going to do today?

We have a schedule. We have an activity calendar hanging on our wall, where the coming events are written down. I also have a diary for the school year 2009/2010 where more or less my whole life is written down in details.

As if that could make my life in Cameroon predictable. No longer am I surprised to come to work just to be told that my boss is out travelling, or that there is no teaching this week ("everyone" knows that). Nor if my visitors bring guests I was not aware of. If, on the other hand, something actually turns out according to the plan, I almost get a bit puzzled.

You never know what the day will bring before it is over...

A different weekend

This weekend Idunn and I went on a trip with Benjamin the contact person, Mama Jeanne the extra mom and Aggée the driver. The goal for the trip was the women's center in Touboro, a village about a four hours drive from Ngaoundéré.

Centre Findinki Bebwe in Touboro resembles the Centre Socio Menager in Ngaoundéré, where we work twice a week. It is a school for girls where they learn practical skills as cooking and sewing, and also how to write on the computer. The centre in Touboro, though, is a bit newer and bigger, and focuses more on women's rights, and how they can live lives free from abuse and injustice. It was really interesting to visit, and if we find the time (not so much left now...), we hope for a whole week there in the beginning of the next month.

Saturday the five of us went to the great market of Mbai-Mbum, that is said to be the largest market in Central Africa. In spite of the lately decrease, it was still a lot to see (and we, the nasaras, were seen by many...). After having been here for four months, though, I did not find it very exotic, except from the people carrying swords, knives, bows and arrows, as if those were natural items to go shopping with. That is not something you see every day in Ngaoundéré (I did not dare to photograph them though)!

(not so exotic anymore)

Little boy selling pâte d'arrachide - peanut paste

For girls who like to travel, one of the peaks of this Saturday was to cross the border to the Central African Republic. We did not go far, only to the nearest village, but we were there! 

One thing I have learned here in Cameroon, is that guests are important (maybe especially if they are white), something we got to experience to the utmost in church in Touboro; we were placed on the podium, together with the preacher and the reverend, facing the congregation. No matter how hard we try to fit in, we are continually reminded that we are different...

Home in Ngaoundéré, we are reminded too, by being followed by nasara cries everywhere we go. They are used to us, but people shout anyway. In the small villages, though, we learned that we apparently are quite scary, as the children ran away as soon as they saw us (some even started to cry). But people in the countryside are friendly and welcoming too, as we learned when we visited Mama Jeanne's relatives on our way home. It seems like wherever you go, you are welcome if you want to stop by, and I am no longer surprised when dinner is served (even if the visit was unanounced).

This was a really refreshing weekend, full of different experiences. Different is good!