We woke up to the sounds of children singing and the smell of cooking fires burning in the surrounding village. I had to remind myself where I was momentarily although it all seemed so familiar at the same time.
We arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon on Friday night after a very long and noisy flight from Belgium. From the window of the plane we could see the Sahara desert. You would never make it on your own here without meeting or travelling with a veteran expat. The airport was a maze of official things you had to do and thankfully we were met by a couple of Covenant missionaries who brought vans for all of our stuff. We spent 3 nights in Yaounde at the SIL guest house which had all the comforts of home, including warm showers. On Saturday Aleta and I went shopping downtown. There are many things you can only get inYaounde, so it was some quick thinking of what I might need or want for many months as trips to Yaounde are few and far between. I don't expect, or want, to be there until October when we go to Kenya with NMSI. After a crazy day of shopping and straining to understand African french we had a lovely dinner with some local missionaries and watched a movie that Roy had brought with him. Yaounde missionaries are quite set up, tv's, vcr's etc. Darren and Roy played soccer in the afternoon with local missionaries and their kids.
Sunday we all slept late and headed back downtown for lunch. That afternoon we joined some SIL people for a game of Ultimate frisbee. We are definitely out of shape as we ran panting down the field. Our game was cut short by a wonderful rain storm that came barreling our way. We got soaking wet as we ran back to our guest house.
We left early Monday morning at 5:20 for Gamboula, CAR; our new home. I was able to sleep for good chunks of the ride amazingly enough. The road was pretty decent, like the logging roads around Cowichan Bay, all washboard with a few potholes. The way to drive is just to gun it, we travelled around 60km over the dirt roads. It is hard on the vehicles but better on the travellers. Every once in a while you come to check points in the road for various things, usually to check vehicle papers or collect bribes. Many times we just drove through, other times we had to pay road taxes (500 cfa) and at others they let us pass when we gave them French tracts. Check points are very boring places so they are greatful for reading materials. Check our blog at http:// thebosses.blogspot.com for more details on Yaounde and the drive!
We arrived in Gamboula around 4:00pm after visiting multiple check points. Fortunately they all know Roy and Aleta so it wasn't difficult. Relationships here are key! You would not believe where we are staying. We have an enormous house all to our selves. It is split level with seperate entrances to both. The bottome floor is the kitchen, a big one, a dining room and a large locked storage room. We have an electric stove and fridge which is a very big luxury we thank God for. Upstairs is our bedroom, a second room which is our office, the bathroom with hot water in the shower if we choose, and a huge living room. Every room has doors that open up onto our wrap around porch. If it were easy for visitors to come I am sure you would all want to come and visit us. It is a pleasent 26 celsius today with a slight breeze blowing. Although we are in the middle of the dry season it feels moderatley humid. Rain isn't supposed to come until March.
We had our first visitor this morning who we spoke with in broken French. He was willing to come right in and teach us Sango on the spot. I think we shall try out our new words with him. We will have a houseman starting to work for us soon and he will do our laundry, bake bread (all the cooks here were taught how to make delicous pastries by the Swedes who used to live here), sweep and cook some lunches. We don't have any food as yet but will be going across the border this Saturday to shop in a little place called Kenzou. It looks kind of like a hodge podge of dingy huts, surrounded by dirty streets and garbage everywhere, but that is where the main shopping is done!
I think what i am most surprised by is how unlike Zimbabwe it is here, how noisy the surrounding country side is, how friendly the people are and how expensive the food is. I would say that food is on par with Canada. I haven't found anything to be inexpensive and some things are expensive. Like they say in culture shock school--don't fight the system, just accept it.
There are 3 other missionary famillies here in Gamboula besides the Danforths and they are all taking one day this week to feed us. What a welcome! I could write so much more but rather than keep going I will post other thoughts weekly on our blog and save this long e-mail for once a month.
Love the Bosses
