Pardon my Tardiness

Greetings from the rainy town of Bamenda! I have been in the land of Africa now for about a week. It so far has been a draining, and exciting journey. I have been flooded with new sights, new smells, and new people. The life that I lived in the States has died and it will never be the same. The things that seem so simple, so accessible in the States is a challenge in Africa; the concept of going to a coffee shop and being on the internet is a foreign concept. Getting Netflix, driving to fast food, going to the mall to go see a movie is a concept that is has not yet been invented in this town. This is a world not for the faint of heart. The motto of this country is: Patience.

This is Africa. You go with the flow for everything. One morning you wake up to a child singing off key at the top of their lungs, One morning you may wake up to no power, one morning you may wake up to pouring down rain. Africa is deep in culture filed with different foods, clothing, music, everything is different.

The first time I planted my feet on African soil I was in chaos. Out of the group of five who I am traveling with, I was the only one who had not been to Africa. We landed in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. I walked out into the airport and the air smelled of spicy incense. I was very excited to be finally at the destination. We had been traveling for twenty something hours at that time, so honestly I did not care what country I was in, as long as I could get out and walk. There were tall Cameroonian police standing everywhere. Karen, my “African mother” informed me to not look at any military in the eye. If you do this, especially to the men soldiers you are implying that you are their equal. The police were everywhere making sure the chaos was “orderly” as we passed through all the security we finally reached where we could get our luggage. People were standing all over the place, it seemed impossible to wedge my way to the ramp of luggage. I saw my luggage in the distance..I was ready to position myself to grab the bag when I was all of a sudden surrounded by darkness…Chris, my “father” laughed.. “Welcome to Cameroon!” I stood there looking at all the people around me. They stood there as if this was usual…I stood there in shock…”the power is out…at the international airport..how does that even happen??” Eventually the power switched on and we collected our things and left.

Our first night in Africa we stayed the night in the SIL Yaoundé branch. For those who do not know what SIL is, it is a linguistics branch the helps produce reading material and language material in native tongue for people of remote languages. In Yaoundé there were SIL compounds spread out all over the place. We eventually got to our compound. We ate dinner with a nice family, and we went home and fell asleep. I was a emotional wreak at that time. I was not really sure how I was feeling..I was emotionally dead. The next few days we hung out at the compound in Yaoundé. In Yaoundé I was with: Chris, Karen, and Katelyn Jackson, and Kathleen Cross, who is also from Grass Valley. We were going to different people’s houses around the compound eating and talking. Eventually we packed up the car and began to make the long trek to Bamenda. Bamenda is seven hours away from Yaoundé..we had luggage all around us and on top of the car. To keep us all sane from the long journey we played the “white man” and “pee man” game. These games consisted of punching each other when we 1) see a white man 2) see a man peeing on the side of the road. We continued to trek higher and higher up the mountains. There was occasionally rain, and occasionally sun. Children walking on the side of the road were pointing, waving, and screaming “white man! White man!”

We got to the Jackson house right in time for “pizza and a movie night” this is a usual tradition on Friday nights in the Jackson Village. As we got out of the car we were greeted by Faadi, Lume, and Catherine. Lume and Faadi are Cameroonian girls who live with the Jackson’s. Catherine is a French lady who took care of Lume and Faadi while the Jackson’s were back in the States. It was a tearful reunion filled with hugs and joy. The Jackson house is a beautiful sight to see. The majority of Cameroonian houses are small, dirty houses sometimes without electricity. This is not the case of the Jackson house. It was filled with beautiful flowers. Inside it was wide open with beautiful decorations. We were led to the room where Kathleen and I will be sleeping temporarily until the French lady moves out to her new location.

I was really nervous the first time meeting everyone. It was kind of intimidating to come into a family that already has a special bond, and here I am trying to join in as well. But the Lord has been really holding me under his wings, because so far we have all gotten along very well. The first couple of days spent in Bamenda were dedicated to unpacking and getting everything together. Karen took us into to town to purchase some necessities, but sadly my malaria medicine got the best of me and the world was spinning around in fast circles. From what I could focus on the downtown Bamenda was not as busy as Yaoundé. It mainly consisted of broken down shacks that sell jewelry, clothing, and shoes. People are walking around everywhere as well, salesmen stack their items on their heads to show their material to customers driving and walking by. I was very much looking forward to traveling to downtown again! (when I was not sick!)

On Sunday morning we woke up with no power. After breakfast and devotions we all got ready to go hiking. It was slightly raining out so we all made sure to dress warm. All eight of us piled into the car and began driving down a rocky dirt road. Chris led us to this random mud walking path on the side of the road. It was a road full of lush vegetation. We ended up climbing tall rolling hills and scaling a waterfall. It really was a breathtakingly beautiful day. There were so many moments when I just sat in pure amazement for the fact that God creates this for our enjoyment. I took a lot of videos, which hopefully someday I can post! But it truly was an amazing day and I felt so blessed at that moment to be in the country of Africa.

Today, (Monday) was overall a good day. Kathleen and I finally woke up at an early time, and we went to the SIL offices. We met the people who runt eh Bamenda territory. I also saw the office area where I will soon be working! The rest of the day we spent in the city! Katelyn, Faadi, their friend Nellie, Kathleen, and I ventured down into the crazy city of Bamenda. We all crammed into a taxi (which costs in US Dollars only about .30 cents one way!) At the city we went to go buy fabric for a festival that we will be attending at the end of next month! I found this beautiful teal and orange fabric. I also bought some sweat shirts and a shirt..everything was only $2.50 for everything…things here are very cheap, for once in my life I am filthy rich! Downtown was a very interesting experience…when purchasing for clothes the “venders” have all of their articles of clothing set out on a tarp. You sift through it trying to find what you want. There are clothes from H&M, clothes from Target, and clothes from who knows where…Meanwhile as you are sifting through the clothes men are coming up to trying to hold your hand shouting that you are” their wife”..that you are “the size for them.” I even had one man try to kiss my arm..it was all kind of overwhelming. As you walk down the street men make kissing sounds at you to try to get your attention, and they shout American names hoping it would be one of our names so that we would look at them. Never in my life have I had so much attention, I almost felt like I was a celebrity. It was tiring. After we got all our clothes and supplies that we needed, we went to the “coffee shop” and relaxed. We enjoyed one another’s conversation. We came home just in time for dinner!

I will make a post in itself about the food, but at our house we have Cameroonian food for lunch, and American food for dinner. So we came home to a taco fiesta! (I made sure to put loads and loads of guacamole on mine J) We finished the night with devotions. It really so far has been a very interesting and amazing time. I have been already challenged, challenged to let go of my “past” and move onto my future. My future is currently in Cameroon, and I need to absorb and live in this culture. During the time of transition it is difficult to let go the comforts and American way of life. I am surrounded by a new culture and I slowly need to transition into this new world.

That is a brief update on first week in Africa! I will be keeping more up to date, I just had a difficult time getting the blog going! Thank you so much for taking time to read this lacking great detailed post!

Please be in prayer as we all are in transition in the house.

The Cameroonian girls are getting used to having a full house again, Kathleen and I are going through culture shock, and the Jackson’s are getting back into the routine again, and dealing with having to leave their oldest daughter behind to attend university in the States. Be in prayer! Thank you so much again for all the prayer and financial support!

-Blessings,

Sarah Newman