Cameroon, Day 4-5

We’ve been continuing our glorious ritual of eating incredible roasted fish with our hands. I could do this every day.

 

Roland gave me a great explanation of why you should be careful, but not scared of criminals in Cameroon and other African countries. I had never heard of Jungle Justice, but read into it, because it’s fascinating.

At the end of the day, you can reach the same goal of comfort here. Your teeth are brushed, you’re clean, you’re full, and you have fresh clothes. To achieve those goals just takes a little more time and energy than in a developed country.

That being said, I am realizing my dependence on the Internet, because this painfully slow connection is driving me insane.

I’ve met an exceptionally bright young lawyer with a sharp understanding of the economic and political problems of his country. I now understand that it’s unofficially run by the “equipe nationale”, which is made of top politicians and elite businessmen. Now it’s becoming clearer how this enormous gap between super-rich and poor exists.

It’s not just the wealth gap - the misallocation of resources is strikingly apparent. In a city of 2 million, there is a single one-road bridge that connects one half with the other. Everyone here hates that bridge and wishes it was different. But nothing happens.

There seems to be a tiny middle class in the city, but I don’t know if it’s growing or shrinking.

 

Speaking of that gap, the Cameroonian news was reporting on Occupy protests in the U.S., and suddenly it seemed a bit silly.

The kids here are extremely happy. They’re always just running around, and usually say ‘hi’ or wave. Today, I was called “Le Blanc!” and another kid yelled out “Hee Haw!” (because apparently I’m a cowboy. I have to admit that felt cool).

We met with a very well-respected engineer in Douala, and he is just about to start breaking ground on a massive new project, which is to build a piece of the new trans-African highway. He’s in charge of getting 30 gigantic decepticon-looking land-clearing machines (which weigh 65 tons each) hundreds of miles into the rain forest, and making sure nothing fails in this massive operation. I just found that really interesting and thought it would be worth sharing.

We also had a “moment” yesterday. We pulled into an auto yard with a repair shop, and there were two Chinese guys working. They both looked up at the car and saw Tyler, our Japanese engineer, and had a look on their face that was confused, excited, angry, befuddled, and amazed all at the same time. It was a moment.

So far, one of the biggest differences in third-world Africa is the mindset on going. In the US, when we have to go, we find a place to go. Here, when you have a place to go, you go, so when you don’t have a place to go, you don’t have to go.

blog comments powered by Disqus
  1. drewdagostino posted this