News update Friday

Well, the travel restrictions have been lifted and things are mostly normal. No school today for us or anybody for that matter. The taxis are back out in full force. On Wed, a colleague of ours had to run across town during the taxi strike and pick up some machine parts and a mechanic. He was stuck in traffic by a gas station (all of which are out of gas) and a not so smart a taxi driver decided to ignore the strike and go out to pick up some fares. Just as he was about to get through, a group (mob) surrounded the taxi. I guess the taxi driver just put up his hands, got out and walked away. The taxi didn't make it.

 

It looks like things will be ok. Things happen fast here and there is no really dependable news cast to let you know what's going on. So we get a 4 day weekend and can't go anywhere. We are getting caught up on a lot of work though.

 

B&B

News

****WE ARE OK****

 

but in case you were wondering what's going on.....

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/62b46946efaeaa614ef06ae1f0421c6e.htm

Update

Greetings all

 

Things here are getting tense. The President went on the radio last night for a nationwide address and everybody I talked to said they believe he only made things worse. The biggest grievances people have are the high gas prices and high market food prices. Apparently he only talked about political things. The guy wants to "run" again in 2011 even though he will be well into his 80's. Most people here only want to hear that they will be able to afford to feed their families and most believe he has lost touch with that.

 

School is out and this end of town is pretty calm. Other than hundreds of people walking to work and other places (no taxis) all over the roads, it is pretty quiet. We heard that the water was going to be shut off soon to the whole city so we filled everything we have in case. There are a few missionaries who have started packing but I do not think we are close to that point. Most of the trouble has been in Douala but yesterday was pretty rough downtown. I drove down a ways to the south to bring home a fellow teacher and other than Army guys with machine guns at every intersection and people walking places it was pretty normal. I haven't heard anything about today yet but most people think it will get worse before it gets better. I would be surprised if we had school tomorrow. Too many kids live on the other end of town and can't get through the roadblocks. We'll see.

 

I hear thunder for the first time since November. Maybe we will get a little rain. TWINS first preseason game today.

 

Keep praying for a positive resolution to this mess.

 

Brian & Betsy

news link

http://www.laosnews.net/story/331527

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/26/cameroon.riots/index.html?iref=newssearch

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080226/wl_africa_afp/cameroonpoliticsstrikeviolence;_ylt=AicItQH70wFFmE4jXZc0oFu96Q8F

News from Cameroon

Good Day,

 

If you have been watching the world news at all in the past year you must have heard of the violence in Chad. Virtually all of the SIL missionaries there have been evacuated to Gabon and here to Yaounde. There is no news yet that it is safe to go back but things seem to be progressing. However it seems as though these kind folks ( about 50 or so who all seem to be especially adept at volleyball) have unknowingly brought their bad vibes with them.

 

After a few months of unusual inflation on staple food goods and gas(controlled by the government), there was talk of a taxi strike. Since about 8 of 10 vehicles on the road are yellow Toyota Corolla taxis, having them off duty brings the city to a screeching halt and really screws things up. Add that to Cameroon losing to Egypt in the Cup of Nations final and the President announcing that he is changing the constitution to allow his term to extend a few extra years, the pot boiled over.

 

Yesterday in Douala the big port city about 3 hours east of here, there were mass protests of the governments recent actions and a number of people were killed. Cars burning, windows smashed and people hurt. There were a few instances in Yaounde but not enough to cancel school.

 

Today, there has been many violent protests, roads closures, police in riot gear and cars burning. Our campus is tucked away in the south end of the city about 1 km away from most of the problems but to be safe we closed school for the day and phoned parents to come and get kids early. School is off tomorrow and we are pretty much restricted from going anywhere. A few kids couldn't get to school today with the roadblocks and we know of a few SIL people who had business downtown this morning who are not back yet. Apparently they were ushered to a safe location and are waiting for a safe way home. There is a little bit I found on the Internet but not much. All I know is that it is a tense situation this country has not seem for a long time.

 

We are safe as are all the other missionary people here. I just wanted to ask you all to pray for peace and resolution. We are certainly not to a point where we are packing bags and I do not see that happening.

 

other than that, things are well. We will keep you informed.

 

Brian & Betsy

WU 3 Feb 08

Good Day All.

 

A few big things happening here. Cameroon has made it to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations. It is the big biannual soccer tournament and Cameroon was the winner of their division to qualify as one of 16 teams. The city pretty much goes dead when they are playing. There is a story going around that there was an unexplained seismic event in Cameroon in 2000. Apparently it was narrowed down to the minutes following the goal that gave Cameroon the Olympic gold medal in Sydney. So many people were making noise and going crazy that the machines thought there was an earthquake. In this tournament they lost to Egypt in the first game but put up good numbers in wins against Zambia and Sudan. They play tomorrow night against Tunisia and if their defense plays as good as it has been, they should be ok. If they win that one, they play Nigeria or Ghana on Thursday. Which leads me into the other big thing happening here.

Our Annual RFIS HS retreat starts Tuesday at the Rock Farm. If the "Indomptable Lions" win it will be tough to not let the kids watch the semifinals Thursday. There are about 80 kids in 9-12 and the retreat is a chance to do more bible study and allow the kids to open up a little more. Bets and I go down on Monday with another teacher to get things set up and rooms assigned. I am teaching an orienteering course with our school director and Betsy is running a German class. I wanted to do a Billiards class but they wouldn't spring for tables.

Yesterday was Championship Saturday. The boy's soccer played ASOY at 1pm and in the dust and heat came up short and were unable to repeat as YMAC champs. They played very well all year and they were disappointed but they handled it well. At 3pm the girl's bball put their title on the line against College VOGT. College is the fancy French word for high school. It is kind of nice to play against a team that doesn't speak English because I can call plays and such without them knowing. Vogt was up by 15 in the 2nd quarter after hitting 8 3-pointers in a row. Some of them were at least 2 steps behind the arc. It was 30-17 at the half. We changed up our defense at the half and I put my favorite former next-door neighbor from the Nwest on their big scorer. Without her scoring, their offense went cold and we pulled ahead by the end of the 3^rd quarter. We were up 5 with a minute to go and held on to win by 7. It was the first time all year we were trailing in a game. The girls never wavered and it was fun to see them really work together and come back to win. RFIS 47 - Vogt 40. We finished the season 10-0 and won the trophy for the second straight year. All but 1 of the girls are coming back for next year so they will be tough to beat again. I had a lot of fun coaching this team again. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach a group of young women who are so dedicated to each other and to the glory of God. Also fortunate to have a wife who was willing to put up with late practices and games about every Saturday afternoon since August including the boys season. I will include a team picture soon. Our camera took a dip in the ocean at Kribi so I will have to get copies from the yearbook kids.

We have had a few fantastic letters from new supporters the past few weeks and we are so grateful to all of you who have contributed to our ministry here. We are still working to meet our budget goals for this year. We are getting closer every month and pray for encouragement and guidance as we finish up our time here this year.

Other than that, things are hot and dry here. It's about 90F here now and dry as dirt. It does not seem to be as miserable as last year but still too hot for me. If you want to check out the Lions soccer info go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_African_Cup_of_Nations

 

Take Care and God Bless.

 

Brian & Betsy