Weekly Update 31 March

Greetings

 

This week has been great so far. We are on the first of our 2 week spring break from school. Our plans to go to EG were red x'd so we found alternative travel plans. Vance and Kathy Ficek from WPB Florida came to RFIS new this year. Kathy teaches English and Bible and Vance is the maintenance supervisor. They have done many short term mission projects through the years and did about 9 years in the Philippines in the 80's. They were itching to go somewhere so we all decided to head west and revisit the small resort town of Kribi. We are staying in the same hotel on the beach as we did last October and it is as relaxing as ever.

So I find myself sitting here writing away with the cool ocean breeze in my face and the sound of waves crashing into the shore. There are about a dozen or so guys in dug-out canoes fishing with nets. I don't know how they can keep from going in the drink with the waves and the wind throwing them around. They usually go out for a couple of hours at a time but I haven't seen any come back with much of a catch. The second oil tanker of the day is filling up from the big offshore platform. The government of Chad pays Cameroon to run their oil through a pipeline all the way across the country and it goes under the beach and all the way about a kilometer out and tankers just pull up and fill up. I have heard that they bring in a lot of $ but it all goes to a small group of guys.

There is a lagoon next to our bunkhouse that fills up from a fresh water stream. The water is clean enough that people who live around here come down the hill and fill up their pans and buckets to take back. During the day, a group of young boys splash around and make sand castles. Either the local schools are not in session or these boys simply don't go. Cameroon Public Education is not free. Families have to buy the uniforms, backpacks, books and other essentials on top of paying tuition. Many just can't afford it so their kids work instead. They sell fruit or firewood or just beg on the corners. Many of the girls never finish school because they are too busy getting married and having babies. Our neighbor in the city from the NW gets harassed by her friends in the village because she isn't married and pregnant by 17.

One thing this place is not short of is street vendors. Guys selling all kinds of junk work their way up and down the beach selling everything from shell necklaces to "original" tribal masks to ivory pieces. Every one of them wants to "give you a small price". One just came with a bunch of ebony wood statues. Their prices are about 4x what the stuff is worth and this time of year they will sell for just about anything.

It looks like the lagoon boys are back. They are pulling the fishing nets out so they can play. They have a little soccer ball with them and are setting up something that looks like water polo. They are very active and pretty organized for 10 years old.

Vance and I went down to the river yesterday. We were looking to get a boat ride up the river to see the sights. Our pale skin immediately aroused the attention of everyone at the dock. We picked out the least obnoxious one of the guys and in my best French asked what it would cost to go. He wanted 10k each. ($20). We said no way and started to walk away of course waiting for his counter offer. He said he could do 7k each and a case of beer. We told him 5k each and we got to pick the boat. (The buoyancy of most of them was highly questionable) He said 5 each and beer. We did our walk away trick again and 2 seconds later he agreed to 5 each and the boat. The ride started well until the pain of sitting on a 2x6 3 inches above the bottom with no backrest started in 2 minutes into the ride. It was borderline unbearable but the scenery and quiet of the rainforest took my mind off it. We coasted along through giant palms and other vine covered trees. We could see many different kinds of birds and all sorts of little monkeys jumping around. They never got out in the open for a picture though. Just about the time my spine was getting ready to go on strike, our guide steered us over to shore and we got out. He said we were going on a "small march" into the forest. After a quarter mile or so we came upon a little settlement. It was a pygmy village. These people still live in the jungle and live off the land. We were introduced to the chief who was about 4'6" and very serious. There were about 6 or 8 people hanging around and a few kids. We didn't want to take pictures so as not to offend but the guide said it was ok for a "small price". I started taking pictures of everything and even got one of Vance with the chief. We apparently were interrupting lunch so we slipped the chief a 1k and split. The guide walked us around in the rainforest a while looking at monkeys and giant bugs I never imagined existed. We headed back to the boat and he took us down river back to the van. I wish we could have had more time at the village but these folks spoke a tribal language even the guide struggled with so I don't know what we would have really done. It was really cool, though.

Betsy is waiting for me in the water. The waves are big enough now to get out the boogyboard. I just hope the jellyfish are gone. There is a group of missionaries from Chad here too and 3 kids got stung yesterday. I got away unscathed but Betsy got a real bad one on her ankle. She was sidelined most of the afternoon. We have been a little water-resistant so far today but the waterpolo game got moved to the ocean a while ago and the kids are still going so it is probably ok. I guess we'll find out.

I am planning to go with a group of guys to climb Mt. Cameroon next week. 2 days of hiking in the jungle to get to the top of Western Africa's highest peak. Hooahhh.

Take care, and God Bless

Brian & Betsy