It has been six days since I arrived home from England. The first few days were unbearable with the heat, due to the fact that I left England below zero degrees and jumped straight to 27 degrees. However, I am slowly adjusting to the heat. It has been a great joy to be back home with my sister and her two adorable daughters. These two girls are bundle of joy to be with, although they are quite a handful. Little Lydia is always busy finding weird thing to put in her mouth, and loves the kitchen just a little too much. I enjoy the fact that she does not cry, but only does so when she wants to sleep and loves food so much. Yesterday morning she didn’t want me to go to school. This morning she wanted me to carry her, but I was late for school and as a special gift to her, I shall carry her for the rest of the day when I get home. Her cute adorable eyes can melt one’s heart, even the hardest of hearts. She is strong, smart and joyful like her sister. Anna (almost 4) goes to school every morning. She’s a little stubborn, smart for her age, talkative and is just so adorable. She loves juice and frizzy drinks a little too much. Almost everything in the house seems to be hers as she claims it. In all, these two youngsters melt my heart with their cute little faces and bright eyes. They do take after their mother with the beauty. Talking about these two girls can take all day, especially when it concerns Lydia Elisabeth always running into the kitchen to find water and put her hands inside. She loves water more than any baby I have seen. She even helps her mother to wash herself and she’s only 10months old. Will be a year in March. See what I mean….

Being back home has been relieving and encouraging to me. I have missed everything about home, especially the progress and regress of conditions in my society. There is a lot of infrastructure going on in the outskirts of the city, new businesses rising from one corner to the next. Along this progress, we have the downside where the food prices are rising as well as the taxi fare. People spend more and get less benefits. The irony in almost every country.

I had never known that Cameroon has benefits services, till my sister explained the process of CNPS (will look into that one) scheme. This has really put me in a cheerful mood, just to understand the efforts made by my poor little country with all its problems.

INTERESTING HIGHLIGHTS

POLICE in ACTION

Speaking of problems, I had my first encounter with the Police on Monday while in a car to see an elderly lady. My friend’s mom gave me a ride to the SIL working area, which was right next to their house. While in traffic, the taxi and some road owners decided to form a second line in the pedestrian walkway. My friend’s mom was positioned in the correct line, as we moved forward. On reaching a certain point on the road, we met the police, which had forced everyone in the front to form a single line and the others who had formed two lines forced their way into the single line. Now my friend’s mom maintained her position and the police on the Motorbike came close to her and said “Madame, see how you are disturbing order on the road? You have formed a second line when there’s only one line.” My friend’s mom tried to explain that the others on the right are the ones who have formed the line not her, but he keep insisting that she formed a lined to disturb the road. It was apparent to me that he wanted to create a problem and wanted her to pay, so I rolled down my window from the back and told these two men that it wasn’t her. We have been in the same line like everyone else, but the others decided to form a second line. The first time they ignored me. We stood in the middle of the road for about 2minutes discussing the fact that my friend’s mom didn’t do anything wrong.

I was getting really frustrated, because I could clearly tell that they wanted to put her in a box. So I spoke up again, but this time with much more authority. I clearly stated to them that we have been following the correct line and they others had pushed their way through on the pedestrian walkway. They should be focusing their attention on those people not us. This time they turned to me angrily and asked me if they were talking to me. Man! I wanted to step out of the car, had they continued. I maintained eye contact with them and clearly stated one more time to them that she was not in the wrong. When my friend’s mom drove off without so much as another word to them, they continued down the road, and I was still very mad at them for disregarding those in the wrong and causing trouble for those following the rules. Had the conversation gone further, I probably would have given them a good lecture on their duties as road patrol police.

Not Black but Albino

Coming back from the Hospital with my sister and her daughter, we reached the Motorbike riders, who would take us to where my sister lives. As I found a bike to climb, some men made a comment in French and my sister understood half of what they said. When I asked her later, she thought they said I had bleached my skin to be white. When my sister’s husband came home and we asked him what the French word meant, he said it meant albino. The question I had for myself was, “How many shades lighter did I become while in England for a year and 4 months? Naturally, my mother’s family has a lighter colour than my father’s side. When we are under the sun, we get tan greatly and when we are covered, our skin colour returns. I have always been a sports woman while in Africa, and I have always seem darker than my siblings. To come back and be lighter than them, surprised me. To have outsiders calling me an albino made me question the impact and damage of the Sun on my skin. This didn’t bother me as much as the person who said it. Are these people really that blind or are they so dark that they cannot tell a black skin person from an albino? That was one of the things that picked my interest in my country.

Anyways, I have taken up volunteer work at my former high school as a Volunteer Staff member. So far, I have been able to sub-in for a number of teachers who have gone on the Mt. Cameroon climb. Yesterday I supervised one class and today, I did three classes. It has been refreshing to be the teacher and not the student. It really feels good to be on the other side of the coin. Maybe I am feeling good, because this is not my daily job. Most people complain half the time about the students. So far, they have been listening and doing their work. My last class today was a Geography class for the 11/12 grade class. They started off with a map quiz and continued taking notes on a unit they had started on Wednesday.

I am really loving the idea of being home, although I am missing my friends greatly back in Bradford. Right now, I long for a balance between the cold snow and the sunny dusty weather here. Even with the fans on, the classrooms are still boiling hot. What a contrast? I am home and loving it.