Landed in Douala Cameroun

Dear friends,

It has been so intense, that I forgot that today is Friday, so Avi and I had Shabbat dinner in our hotel; I had my usual, in the last couple of days, Nisouse salad, since both Niger and Cameroun are much influenced by France the Nisouse salad is a frequent in the hotel menus. Avi on the other hand, had the Miss Bamoun – this is a dish made of sautéed vegetables, mainly a spinach like veggie, with a smoked fish, which was very tasty and I will have to have it in the coming days. Bamouns are the people of Central Africa established in west Cameroun , in the region of Grassland where Bamileke and Tikar also live.  The side dish was caramelized plantain – the local banana used for cooking – delicious as well.  We’ll take a picture next time.

Cameroun is very different to Niger, much greener, and as the heat went down, so did the desperation. The heat of Niger does something to a person, you become slower and less interested in what is going around and more interested in getting your body temperature under control and those that can, getting to an A/C as quick as possible.

This is not the case here, the temperature is milder here, and there is a nice breeze, as we left the airport, there were areas of green grass going on and on. But we are here not for the view; although the stability of rain, there are still many water problems in Cameroun, in the south contaminated water and in the north lack of water, we will hear all about as we continue our tour. We will be traveling to Yaoundé the capital of Cameroun, and near there we will also visit some villages and project sights.

Before dinner we met Thierry Biheng, our new friend. We have been in contact with him for over 7 months and at long last we are meeting, this obviously is very moving  for us and for him and we had a very good meeting, discussing the issues, what we can do and how we can cooperate. We are very grateful to Thierry for his assistance in making the trip possible.

Shabbat Shalom