Archives for the Month of December 2008 on Marie Lathers's Cameroon Journal
Isabelle with new baby, Mikebella
our house--icing on the cake
Funerals and mourning
Well, we went to an actual funeral and it was amazing. I believe it was the funeral of one of Pere Martin’s wives’ fathers, the father of his wife Helene, but I could be wrong. In any event, it was eight years after his death. There was a lot of eating and drinking; dancing; pistols set off all the time; very smokey and dusty! There were six groups of dancers, I think that each one represented one of the deceased’s children. At the end, there was a dance by a secret society, wearing masks, and handing out the urns of wine. All very loud and very busy. I took film of it and hope to get some of that on here. In the meantime, at least two more deaths in the village and more mourning . . . December is a good time for people to have the funeral since it is dry season and people can travel the roads more easily.
But I also heard that December is a very dangerous month for driving, for several reasons. Speaking of the dangers of driving, we were trying to make our way back from Mbouda (town 10 km away) the other day and ended up seeing an accident and taking a hurt woman to the hospital; then we tried to come back again and saw another accident and again took people to the hospital! There are many accidents in Cameroon and this road is particularly dangerous. People drive too fast and pass even on hills. There are many motos that make their own lanes on the side and no one wears a helmet. Also, many people walk along the sides of the road to get to work or home or the market, or to school. So there is always a chance for an accident. We have a 4 X 4 which is very expensive to rent but I’m glad we did!
Linden’s father Scott will arrive in Yaounde next Tuesday and we will leave from there to go to the north of Cameroon. There we will see desert (well, Sahel), Muslim villages, and the Waza Reserve, where we will go on safari . We’ll take the train overnight from Yaounde to Ngaoundere and that in itself will be an experience. Elvis and Geraldine will be on vacation in Bamenda during our trip, and then we’ll bring Scott to the village before he has to go back. We are really looking forward to it!
Well, folks, you will be surprised to know that I am still not teaching. Or maybe not surprised. In any event, I have tried to contact everyone about this. I’m going to really have to push to be able to teach when we return! The first semester will already be half over! I’m not sure what explains this except general slowness with getting things going. But I know that other departments have started graduate courses. Alas.