Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Labor Day

May 1st was the Cameroonian Labor Day and yours truly was invited by NOWEFOR to march, along with the other volunteers Austin and Carl, in the Bamenda parade. Only with typical Pidgin/Special English creative license, they call it a 'march pass'. Carl was in Yaounde, but Austin and I were there. And we were there at 8:30 when we were told to arrive. You'd think we'd have figured it out by now. People didn't even show up at NOWEFOR's office until about 9:30. Finally we were all shuffled into the back of a farm-to-market truck and made our way to Commercial Avenue (the main drag in downtown Bamenda). Countless groups, NGOs, churches, and the like were amassing in the street. I didn't see one person who looked like they were coordinating the thing so I guess I should be thankful that it only took another 2 hours standing in the sun before we started to march. Apparently we were waiting on the governor and other officials to arrive, which is a pretty typical display of power here. Remind everyone that they are on your time. It wasn't so bad though. My friend Kelly's group was right behind ours and a VSO that Austin knew hung out as well and we all vented together. Still, all that waiting for about 5 minutes of marching and a flyby of all the officials sitting under their cool canopy. I also got to meet Dave, a Canadian VSO who's working with NOWEFOR now. He and his wife are here together, I'd say they are in their early 60s, and Dave seems like he will be a really good contact to have. Especially since I've been wanted to improve the relationship between us and NOWEFOR (i.e. have one).

That's the most interesting thing that's happened this week. I've been getting busier and busier which is good. Seems like some projects might actually start taking shape soon, provided it starts raining...

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