Melange of Updates and Observations

Life has been eventful in Bamenda lately. We just had a presidential election (see previous post) with the incumbent re-elected and the swearing-in ceremony today (30 years in power and counting). No Arab Spring here, but a lot of police in town wearing riot gear. Last Wednesday, the main opposition leader, John Fru Ndi, returned from the capital city to his hometown (here, Bamenda). When he arrived with his entourage, the police stopped him and said his car could only pass through a certain street (behind the main city road) to get back to his house. He refused to do so, publicly stating that as a citizen he should be free to walk on any street he chooses in Bamenda. The police continued to refuse him access, so Fru Ndi stepped out of his car and walked to his home (which is on the other side of town). By now, a large gathering came to the streets and accompanied him on his walk. As they were passing a certain junction, City Chemist, a man in his new car shouted, “Na who Fru Ndi dis (who is Fru Ndi)” in a mocking manner. He drove through the junction and hit a motorcycle driver. This upset the crowd and people yanked him out of the car and beat him up. They flipped his car over and burned it. If the guy did not escape, he would have been killed by mob justice. But after that incident, the crowd at Fru Ndi’s compound was peaceful upon return.

I was actually on my side of town and Peace Corps warned me not to enter the main street. The media reported that the bike guy died, but he was actually not injured. People also learned that the riot was incited by convicts recently released from prison. After the burning of the car, these convicts smashed windows at the gas stations and looted for items. People here say that the media is painting Bamenda as a radical opposition city ready to protest and fight the presidential results – when in fact, the return of Fru Ndi to his home was peaceful and everything returned to normal the next day. Americans, be grateful for your democracy and your freedoms. At least you have a right to protest and complain about your government in peace. And at least you have a right to carry a gun. Other parts of the world are not as fortunate.

In other news, my NGO fair has been fully funded on-line! A great big THANK YOU to all of your support. If you made a donation, please send me your mailing address and I’ll send you a fun postcard. Now I just have to wait for the funding to trickle in and we can begin planning…more updates soon.

Also, my fair trade work with the Bamenda Handicraft Cooperative is moving along – my good friend and RPCV Gabe Albin designed the logo. Check out the website: www.bamendahandicraft.wordpress.com. If you know of any fair trade retail stores (besides Ten Thousand Villages), please inform me and I’ll contact them to order beautiful handicrafts from the Grassfields region!

I’ve started working more with GHAPE, a Kiva-supported microfinance institution here in Bamenda. They do awesome work (www.ghape.org and www.kiva.org) and I’m helping them build capacity within the staff. I taught a Microsoft Powerpoint class with them yesterday and will teach Excel next week. Strategic planning this month.

I don’t remember if I’ve already discussed this, but I enjoy my work and I love living in Bamenda. I know that I had a romantic vision of Peace Corps and envisaged two years of living in the bush, in a mud hut, using a latrine, etc. I wanted to see if I could challenge myself to live in ascetic conditions. But for me, this is not entirely the case. While there are obviously still many rural places that lack running water and electricity, not all of Africa is poor. Bamenda is considered by some as the intellectual capital of Cameroon, with people studying abroad and the Cameroonian Diaspora contributing to their families back home. Erase those stereotypical images of lions and elephants roaming around the savannah. Last night I had conversations about the iPhone 4, Blackberry phones, and listened to Bob Dylan and the Arctic Monkeys with Cameroonians at a wine bar. I remember someone mentioned once at a seminar, “Africa missed the Industrial Revolution. Let’s not let the IT Revolution pass us by.”

All the while, the electricity went out and we had to use candles until it returned. I’ll discuss this more as I get closer to the end of my service, but I believe that infrastructure and human capital are the two crucial elements to international development (I’ve been reading Jeffrey Sachs). If Cameroon can invest in their resources and their people and crack down on corruption, it can compete in the globalized world.

That is, if they choose to do so. 

Last update: I've been eating like a madman lately and I think I've slimmed down. Either I have a tapeworm or Cameroonian food does not make me fat. Score!