Africa Journal Day 22, Saturday May 14

Saturday, May 14, 2005
Day 22
Yaounde Airport, Cameroon

Our time in Cameroon is almost over as we await our Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi, Kenya, and then on to Lilongwe, Malawi. Bert, Wilma and Mary-Jean saw us off at the airport; we so enjoyed our time with them.

Although Cameroon is officially bilingual (French and English), Yaounde is primarily Francophone. This affected our interaction with Cameroonians, so most of our time here was spent with the expatriate community and family. Our most significant contribution was the Everything that Hinders seminar, followed by individual consultations with SIL staff. We had originally hoped to see some of the local medical facilities, but without direct contacts, and the trip to the coast, that didn’t work out.

Overall, urban Cameroon has improved infrastructure compared to Nigeria. The electricity was more reliable with only brief outages, water was consistent and chlorinated, and the cellular network was never unavailable due to overuse. We did see more evidence of cigarette and alcohol use, with massive billboard advertising campaigns by tobacco, brewery, and cellular companies. There appears to be more western influence here, particularly when comparing female dress with Nigeria (far more slacks here). I was unable to get a handle on the overall psychosocial health of the Cameroonian population, although there was a lot of hollering in the family next to Bert and Wilma’s. Wilma has heard them beating their kids. I suspect that traditional values of family and tribal cohesiveness become strained with urbanization and westernization. The HIV/AIDS incidence is estimated at 10%, less than many other African countries.

As in Nigeria, Cameroonians are open spiritually, and the Church is thriving and growing. A front-page story in the English Sunday newspaper from Douala highlighted a story of a woman injured in a traffic accident who was miraculously healed of her multiple fractures. I met a Cameroonian pastor at our seminar whose depth of insight and spiritual maturity was very evident. I very much appreciated the work of SIL Cameroon in Bible translation and literacy. As in most African countries, there are many local languages that have never been written. I have the highest respect for those who live in a local village, learn the language, write it, and then commence translation work and literacy. More and more the goal of SIL is to involve Cameroonians in this work.