The End of Dschang and Bamenda

Time seems to be flying by. I cannot believe that I have been in Cameroon for over a month! We are really busy with school work and traveling right now so there is always something new to see and look forward to which makes the time go by quickly.
This past week we were studying Bamiléké women in Cameroon. Bamiléké is an ethnic entity (I explained their history in the previous post). The role of women in African countries is generally marginalized in comparison with the male’s role. Women are still seen as the traditional mother, maid, cook figure while men are meant to “bring home the bacon” and be catered to. I, as well as the other students, have a hard time accepting this cultural difference because those roles have changed drastically in America. When we told Patrick, one of the Cameroonian students on our program, that there are even households in America where the man stays home all day with the children while the wife goes out and works he was shocked. He said that that doesn’t, and never will happen in Cameroon.
The role of the woman has changed some though. These days there are many more girls going to school, working, and some have even said that in the future they expect their husbands to help in raising the children and in the house. We had a lecture one day where a university girl and a university boy came to discuss the role of the modern woman. Charline is in medical school, and Gabriel engineering. All they had to say was all fascinating, but I will highlight some points.
Charline said that her schooling is really important to her and she feels that Cameroon devalues what positions a woman is capable of handling. However, she still feels like her life would not be complete and she would feel that she did not do her duty as a woman if she did not get married nor have children. She said also that she would like her husband to help around the house, especially on the weekend; however, she would feel ashamed if he helped more than twice a month and only if she really was not able to complete all her “feminine duties”. Even as a very modern young woman she was attached to traditional values.
Gabriel was even more of a traditionalist. He would expect for a woman to take care of the house entirely. That is the women’s natural role, a place where a man just does not belong. When asked, he said that he will probably have mistresses on the side of his marriage (a practice that is very common in Cameroon) and his wife does not have the right to question his fidelity.
In thinking about this discussion later, it made sense to me. For the female to gain power in Cameroonian society it means that the man has to give up some of his dominion. This is a pretty drastic change, and one that, in my opinion, is taking a very long time to change. Traditional values are still so powerful in African societies though, so I doubt that we will ever see complete equality between the sexes.
After our “women” lectures we said goodbye to our home stay families in Dschang. I was sad to say goodbye to my host brothers. They have both been so warm and welcoming and since I have grown up in America with a brother it was really comforting to have boys around my age in the house. On Friday we boarded the bus and headed three hours away to Bamenda.
Bamenda is in the Northwest region of Cameroon and is an anglophone town, colonized by the British. The town is gorgeous. It is situated in a valley so when we drove down into the town we saw a beautiful view. There are waterfalls on the cliffs that surround the town and everyone was extremely friendly. We moved into our guest house which was lovely. The best part was that they had running, HOT water! I think we all took as many showers as we could in the three days that we were there, just to soak up the amenity that we have missed dearly!
Friday night we had a lecture from a leader of the SCNC (Southern Cameroonians National Council). This is a liberation party in Cameroon that is trying to succeed from La Republique of Cameroon to become a state of it’s own. The reason it is “Southern Cameroonians” rather than “Southern Cameroonian” is because there was a Northern Cameroonians territory that became a part of Nigeria in the 1960s. This party is very controversial because they believe that they should’ve become their own state in the 1960s as well and that they are being unfairly ruled by La Republique, which is true, there is a lot of tension between the Francophone and Anglophone parts of Cameroon. He was a very passionate speaker.
Saturday was such a treat. We went to John Fru Ndi’s home for a meeting with him and his children. He is the chairman of the SDF (Social Democratic Front) which is the leading opposition party in Cameroon. The CPDM (Cameroonian People’s Democratic Movement) is the leading party in Cameroon and has help political power for decades. In fact, the current president of Cameroon has been in power since 1982... which is one reason why the SDF is so frustrated because they blame the economic and social paralysis on the never changing rule from the CPDM. The whole meeting and question and answering session was such an enriching experience! It is the equivalent of meeting the head of the Democratic party or the GOP in the states, so I think we were really lucky!
Both mornings in Bamenda I went on sunrise runs with my friend Margo. They were so lovely. I think most of us would love to go back and study more in Bamenda if only it was a French speaking area. Speaking that much in English was really messing with everyone’s head!
On Sunday we boarded the bus for the 9 hour ride back to Yaoundé. I was so happy to come home and pleased to see that my family had really missed me. They completely redecorated the house. All new modern furniture, a new refrigerator and even a new toilet!
This week and next week we are visiting a lot of different NGOs and developmental organizations. I am really looking forward to learning about these organizations and possibly making some connections for future international work!