The house is situated in the grounds of St. Augustine's College and is very large. So much for three people at large. Equal if one comes in you are in a kind of living room (you please pay attention to the small side tables to each chair. The are here in every house). Here one receives his guests. And guests there is enough. In Cameroon, it is customary to pass by simple if you want to visit someone. There are many who would like to tell us three "white" Hello. In the first week in the morning seven clock rang at least once. After the second day we no longer have opened and now it will hopefully have learned all that at this time we still received no visitors.
In Cameroon there is a different rhythm. Since it was dark at half past seven, and six in the morning light again, the night ends after only four or at least six clock. Therefore, all go to bed at nine or ten. From three clock you will be greeted with already "Good evening".
We go to bed at ten clock the way, also. Through the darkness there is one at eight clock steps at least eleven.
Everyone has his own room. This is my room:
Then we have two bathrooms and three showers, one of them even has hot water! (If there is electricity or water) in the main house is still a dining room.
Yes in the main house because the dining room is located on our patio. This is handy because we can get to us, particularly the girls, sometimes without the Cameroonian dress code stop (Knee-free) and sat in the sun. But here we can dry our clothes covered. We need to wash our laundry by hand. Unfortunately, the clothes, especially trousers, extremely dirty quickly because there just are no paved roads. soft to wash the stuff an hour in a detergent one that can be used for virtually everything: for example, to clean the floor, the toilet or the windows. Then scrubbed with soap clean up everything (red mud is extremely persistent).
When everything is dry, it is ironed and that everything from socks to bed sheets, because there is an insect that lays its eggs on damp clothes. The larvae are incubated by body heat and then eat the skin. If they are large enough they come out either voluntarily or you must smear the area with Vaseline. Then she could not breathe and come out as well. It is not dangerous, but you need not: So we iron!
closes the courtyard at our kitchen. We have a gas stove. This is not very common, as: "Why do you have a gas stove, as you can but no Fufu cook on it" So we, like every Cameroonian house, a traditional cuisine: Three meters from the house is a small tin shack, is in a fireplace. Cooking is usually here with wood, which is also much cheaper than gas. The Cameroonian swear to cook in their own way: "The taste is much better than the white-man-method '."
Finally, we have two guest rooms and a space that is actually empty.
Oh, and our cat Puka, the quasi-one with the inventory. It has the previous owners, an American family, is just the second day and came to us. She is way pregnant.
addition to the house we have our garden that once was overgrown with corn and every other possible plants. As we adapt to the lifestyle of Cameroonians and not as rich Europeans want to buy everything on the market, we decided to create a garden or to learn how this is done here. Fortunately, we have
know the gardener of the bishop learned: Tata Edwin. He shows us how to gardening in Cameroon and worried us Plants. can cabbage, onions, celery, parsley and some leafy vegetables that you cook like spinach:
far, we raise planted. Tomatoes we have sown. Things really get planted until the beginning of the dry season when it is not as much rain.
Oh yes, there was a small, funny misunderstanding between us: Tata Edwin does not speak English so well, at least he tells us that he wants to buy for 6000 francs "Manjo" for us. We think: It is certainly interesting to plant cassava, well, we buy cassava.
Two days later, it also rings in the morning at seven and Tata Edwin clock is connected to a bag outside the door. He says that "Manjo" must be watered and should not dry out. The contents of the bag is then poured into the rain barrel. As soon will come for the pure cassava who needs it wet, so our conclusion.
comes the next morning, a sack and is soaked in the rain barrel. In the afternoon we will distribute the "Manjo" in the garden and gradually we realize, "Manjo" is not what we believe it, "Manjo" is goat dung. Finally, we have
for 6000 francs goat shit in the garden and no tapioca. But that is okay.
Next, Tata wants to Edwin We still build a fence. For all the free-range goats, sheep and chickens are a constant threat to our plants.
On Sunday we were visiting in the village of Tata Edwin. It is Kitwum and is an hour from our house.
It is Sunday and of course we are invited to fair. This is only at seven clock (like most church services on Sundays). Therefore, we are picked up by five clock joy radiating from a Tata Edwin to be on time in the village.
foot it to start. It is pitch dark, only the stars shine upon us (it is not exceptionally cloudy). The initially wide road becomes a trail, through the corn fields and small Grove leads. So we walk in the morning and we meet a surprising number of people for the time.
Shortly after six, we arrive at the house of Tata Edwin. There we are greeted by his family and for us there is tea, which actually tastes like liquid honey, because it is sweetened so strong. The house is, like most houses here, built of dried mud bricks with a corrugated iron roof. The living room can be close to how rich a family is. Normally, this presents all that is considered a status symbol, for example, always runs the TV, if you're invited. In the living room of Tata Edwin, the tiny window of a illuminated, there is a table, two benches and a chair made of bamboo, the wood-effective here. Here, then, Tata Edwin lives with his wife and seven children.
He tells us about his work. He works six days a week seven hours as a gardener to the Bishop. For this he gets 20 000 francs (31 €) per month. In the morning he runs back an hour after Kumbo and again at noon. Afternoon, he works on his own farm. He is working for all his children to raise tuition, because he himself was able to attend school only two years and had thereafter to work in the fields. His wife speaks no English and I suspect that she has never attended school.
The show starts at seven clock. The initially rather empty church fills up during the worship service to the last seat. It's amazing how Africans can sing. Everything by heart, and above all more consistent. A chorus of women and men in the first 10
banks acting as lead singer. Right at the front is a woman who both conducted the choir and the congregation. It seems as if everyone composes his own voice and be so loud built in, so the whole Church with over 500 people sounds like a huge choir. To the rhythm of drums and xylophones are dancing. The whole community swings from right to left, again from a different leg. Here you just have to take part, because of insufficient space is pushed in that direction. The pace is very leisurely.
The language in worship is in and around Kumbo
Musical Instruments Lamnso spoken language. The Gospel and the prayers are held in English and the conversion takes place the priest in Latin. Thus, we can at least understand something.
meet after Mass, the parishioners in a larger hall in societies. There are, for example, which for women, for men and for youth. Here are exchanged off, talking about problems, upcoming events, and of course Palm wine drunk.
We were invited to the society of the choir, because Tata is a member of Edwin there. We have previously been instructed to bring our own cups and then there are plenty of palm wine for each of the ten-liter cans. To address a question: No, there is no comparison to wine grapes (Rheingau Riesling tastes much better, of course). Palm wine tastes sour sweet, yeasty, just like fermenting palm sap.
palm wine to be very healthy. Especially for children and nursing mothers it is recommended (probably because of the color similarity with milk). There are men, so we can tell us who never drink water, but only palm wine. It is so simple: Imagine the morning a canister under the palm tree in the garden and in the evening you have the finished palm wine.
But there is something else to drink: crowd. This is corn beer. The ingredients are, I believe, corn flour and water, which is fermented together.
The taste is reminiscent of barn or corn silage. Palm wine tastes better.
Everyone has to eat even a cooked corn. We are welcomed and make us naturally too. There is clapping and everyone is delighted that we are there. All people want to shake your hand and are delighted when we respond to Lamnso.
We then visit the Primaryschool and the Health Center of Kitwum. It tells Tata Edwin determines us a hundred times that the water line of Kitwum by the German government was financed and what an honor it is that we now Kitwun are (as if we had installed the water line in person.)
The Health Center is the first non-religious but nevertheless well-equipped facilities, which we visited. A nurse
us around and explained everything to us. We are surprised, however, that no patients are in their beds. Finally, it is
in the house of Tata Edwin eat potatoes, which his wife prepared hat.Es begins, as most of the afternoon to rain, and we do shortly on the way home.
Regards
Maximilian
