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