Morning in Bamenda
Morning is better in Cameroon. Guys are eating their pap (sort of like thin cream of wheat), spooning it into their mouths like little babies. Dipping fresh balls of fried dough in their nescafe, chewing quietly, the pillow creases leaving their faces with each long sip of tea. In a few hours they will be yelling at me; "baby! I want to enjoy with you," "white! you need something???" Some of them will grab. And the music will get turned up and the honking will be more incessant as the temperature rises and the dust lifts into the air.
But in morning, the air is cool and feels a bit damp, and the garbage piles aren't so hot and stinking yet and I feel very hopeful and sure that it can all work out today. It usually doesn't... and I typically feel bad about it. That i lost my temper and yelled at the guy in the greased-up coveralls. That i didn't travel all the way across town to talk to that bee guy. That my motivation is gone. That i no one here seems to understand or care what they might be missing out on. That I don't know how to show them or that its hopeless anyway, so why try. That I might be the one missing something. But then there is another morning and its all just sort of lovely again.
Visit www.nowefor.com that Reese recently finished for news and information on our NGO, the Northwest Farmers' Organization. We need a truck, so if you are interested in giving a tax deductible donation to NOWEFOR, it would be very much appreciated. I have put my mother (suecorn@aol.com) in charge of America-side fund raising.
And I am starting an "I love to read!" campaign (i don't know if I can call it a campaign because its just one nursery school in Bafut). Reading for pleasure isn't really in the cards for most Cameroonians... and these kids are just about the cutest little pumpkin-faced pudding pies you ever saw and they are absolutely in love with me. So, if you want to help out Auntie Rose with some children's books (English primarily, but some in French would work) to put together a small corner library, that too would be great. Suecorn@aol.com again.
But in morning, the air is cool and feels a bit damp, and the garbage piles aren't so hot and stinking yet and I feel very hopeful and sure that it can all work out today. It usually doesn't... and I typically feel bad about it. That i lost my temper and yelled at the guy in the greased-up coveralls. That i didn't travel all the way across town to talk to that bee guy. That my motivation is gone. That i no one here seems to understand or care what they might be missing out on. That I don't know how to show them or that its hopeless anyway, so why try. That I might be the one missing something. But then there is another morning and its all just sort of lovely again.
Visit www.nowefor.com that Reese recently finished for news and information on our NGO, the Northwest Farmers' Organization. We need a truck, so if you are interested in giving a tax deductible donation to NOWEFOR, it would be very much appreciated. I have put my mother (suecorn@aol.com) in charge of America-side fund raising.
And I am starting an "I love to read!" campaign (i don't know if I can call it a campaign because its just one nursery school in Bafut). Reading for pleasure isn't really in the cards for most Cameroonians... and these kids are just about the cutest little pumpkin-faced pudding pies you ever saw and they are absolutely in love with me. So, if you want to help out Auntie Rose with some children's books (English primarily, but some in French would work) to put together a small corner library, that too would be great. Suecorn@aol.com again.
posted by K at 9:53 AM
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