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We stocked up on food buying a big bag of rice, several stalks of plantains, oil, and more and then headed to the village. Once again, the roads were a challenge and it was dark by the time we headed out. This time, the road was very narrowing, only allowing one car in most portions.

On to the Village

Denny Nkemontoh
2006-02-25 19:49:40

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We stocked up on food buying a big bag of rice, several stalks of plantains, oil, and more and then headed to the village. Once again, the roads were a challenge and it was dark by the time we headed out. This time, the road was very narrowing, only allowing one car in most portions.

I was struck once again by Cameroonian expression of time and distance. When we ask, "How far?" or "How long?", we tend to give relatively precise answers. Like, "A couple of miles" or "Between an hour and two hours." Cameroonians might instead say "Not far" or "Soon" and that can mean almost anything! I even asked Joe who has lived in the US for 25 years, and he said, "Within walking distance." I asked him whether it was one day's walking distance or a week's and he laughed. So I was not surprised when our 30-40 minute drive to the village took two and a half hours.

To be honest, however, it may have taken half an hour the last time Joe's brother had visited the village. Roads are subject to the ravages of the rainy season. Then, the govt is supposed to send out a truck to level the road. That doesn't always happen in a timely fashion. The village of Awing to which we were heading is trying to raise the money to purchase a bull dozer so that they can level the roads themselves.

The village of Awing is fairly spread out as most homes are compounds with several homes (one for the husband and one for each of his wives) and have banana, tea, coffee, yam, and other plants surrounding the home. We were warmly greeted when we arrived and soon other relatives began arriving. The baby I had held in 1982 was now a beautiful young woman!

Dan and Paul took quite a teasing about their long hair, that they looked like girls. They took it quite good naturedly and refused to cut their hair. Some of the relatives didn't speak English and required translation. One of Joe's sisters shook her head over our inability to communicate ...