Byebye Nigeria, Hello Cameroon!

Since a week, I am in Cameroon. It was not easy to say byebye to everyone there. But, it is good to move on as well.

My departure from Nigeria was in style, I was sick at the day I had to travel down to Lagos, my flight was delayed for about 7 hours and I wasn’t allowed to take any extra luggage, but I could take it as extra hand luggage. Arriving in Cameroon was a very different experience. At the airport, everything went very smooth. Very different from my arrival in Nigeria a year ago!

Cameroon, and especially the region around here, is very beautiful. Everything is so green and hilly. It is really a pretty place. So I can really recommend people to visit me here, there will be something for everyone! Here in Kumbo, temperatures are also friendly. Coming from Nigeria, I am really freezing at night. I guess I will get used to it soon.

Roads are very bad. In my town there are two paved roads (with a lot of potholes). All the other ones are mud roads. Now that the rainy season has started, you can see there is less road every day. The red mud also becomes rather slippery when it rains, so it is a bit dangerous as well, especially by motorbike.

People are very nice. There are quite some white people in Kumbo so most people are used to it. Contrary to Nigeria, they are not very pushy. I went to the market and nobody even tried to touch me and drag me into their shops. People ask what you want to buy and if it is something they don’t sell they will advise you where to find it, instead of trying to sell you something totally different. Probably they understand you might come back to them when you need whatever they sell if they treat you nicely.

It seems like the post system here is reliable. So, I am waiting for all postcards and packages! Food I can find here is pretty basic, so everything what you can store for long is very welcome! Send me an email for my address if you need it. Also, if you need my Cameroonian phone number, please drop me an email.

I will really start working this week. So hopefully I will soon be able to tell you all more about that. So far, it looks great. Staff is very passionate about the work, the projects are running well and communities and schools are actively involved. It seems like a great place to work for me. Stay tuned for updates about that!

Thank you!

It a strange feeling; leaving Kwara, leaving my friends and work, leaving my home away from home. I am really leaving with mixed feeling. I am excited to go to Cameroon, look forward to the new job and can’t wait to learn more about my new organisation.

But, Nigeria has brought me so much. This has really been a life changing experience. In many respects, professionally I gained a lot, socially I had a great time. So, what did it bring me?

A lot of pleasure in working with Moshood, we were a great team and I will always remember it. Great results of our volunteers; principals report they are performing well and exam scores improve. A lot of flexibility, to change training schedules when we have to leave the room two hours early, to change plans for the day if we are without light again, to change times as no-one is in time, to change ideas because they don’t work out in Nigerian context, to change from a PowerPoint presentation to flipchart sheets if there is no light.

Taxi drivers stopping for me asking where my bicycle is and knowing exactly where I am going to. Random people asking about my bicycle, people at the border asking if I am that white woman with a bicycle when I travelled to Cotonou, colleagues asking about my bicycle, people staring at me while riding my bicycle, people I newly meet saying; ‘I know you, you live in Basin and you have a bicycle’.

Very nice friends, VSO volunteers, Nigerians and other expats in Abuja. Lots of nice barbecue fish with my friend John and barbecue parties with Miranda, Stefan, Stacey and Tamara. Many hugs from children in the neighbourhood. Fun when the kids of my beans ladies shout Oyibo! Esly! Oyibo! Esly! every day they see me.

A great road trip over the Christmas holidays, seeing a bit of Nigeria. The marriage of our Dutch friend with his Nigerian wife, especially the explanation of her uncle. A neighbour cutting my hair with a lot of little girls standing around me to collect the hair. Admiration for Nigerians who can repair anything with everything.

But also, many days without light, writing reports by hand, making me buy only the food I need that day as you can’t store anything fresh. My first-ever malaria, (what was not as bad as it could be). A lot of crazy rides, in almost collapsing vehicles, with crazy drivers and horrible roads. Corruption on the border, corruption in the Ministry, people giving us cars full of plantain to make us support their schools, blank receipts at filling stations, corruption everywhere. Schools with no teachers, no books, no nothing. Lots of unwanted attention from men. People trying to rob me of because I am white.

This has been an experience I will never forget. And I want to thank everyone who contributed to this, especially the ones who contributed to the positive aspects. I hope to see you in Cameroon!