Last few weeks have been rather intense. I went on a trip to Bulgaria, received an invitation for a scholarship in Kenya and I am currently at page 13 of my MA-thesis.
But first over to a country we all know and love. Yes, you guessed correctly! Cameroon. Good, I'll admit it. Cam and I have not always been on speaking terms. In fact, when I visited it the last time, it decided to stab me in the back by giving me malaria as I wanted to leave the country. Thankfully I survived and got back to my cold and malaria free country up north.
Yet, Cameroon is a stunningly beautiful country. I admit that there are few places in the world that would offer a traveler so much diversity in one single country. Honestly, a 3 week holiday means 21 different holidays, since one sees a different side of Cameroon every day.
Some people, like my parents, believe in this country enough to make serious investments into it. They set up a business, help people get to school and strive for development of the Cameroonian tourist industry. They litterally work night and day and usually get quite good result. Usually, this leads my mother to conclude that with a bit of TTT (Talking, Tipping and Threatening) one can actually run a tourist business in Cameroon.
The latest project has been a cross-over between a camping and a nature resort in the mountains of the North West Province. Beautiful spot. High up in the mountains where it is cool enough to ease one's European climatological sensibilities. Pride and joy of the project was the pavilion, that was planned to become a multi-functional builiding.
The local population was engaged in running the camp, guarding it and guiding the tourists. Plans were there for improvement of the drinking water facilities and improving the road.
But then it happened. In the night, someone burned own the first of the boukaroums (something akin to a rondavel). The thached roof was no match for the flames and the poor boukaroum was burnt to the ground. Then the reception, equipped similarly with a thached roof was burnt down, folowed by another Boukaroum. Eventually the purpetrator was caught by the angry townpeople of the village, who were about to throw the guy into the flames of his own fire. Fortunately, our manager managed to avoid the mob burning the guy at the stake and the pyromaniac is now in jail. Unfortunately, not before half of the camp was destroyed. it will be closed and sold off. The dream died in the flames of the thached roof.
What was destroyed even more utterly than the camp, however, was my parents belief in Cameroon. They gave everything they had to the country and this was their reward. It is a sad affair, not only for my parents, but also for all those Cameroonians that want their country to progress and to reach higher levels of prosperity this can only be done, though, if the people of Cameroon manage to find a cure for one of those all to human defects: jealousy. I f they find the cure, I do ever so hope they will share it with the rest of us...
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