Skip to main content

Sunday drive

"Wanna go for a ride?" Dan invited me Sunday morning while I was eating breakfast with the Scotts. A few days before, he'd mentioned his intention to go somewhere and the possibility I might come along but I didn't have any details. However, not one to turn down a chance to see something new (not to mention an opportunity to skip out of a torturous "English Choir" performance once again), I grabbed my boots, umbrella, and packed my overnight bag-it's best to be prepared.

Bekondo road wasn't bad at all; and by "not bad" I mean we only almost got stuck once or twice but never had to dig. Then, in the town where the road starts to get better--the place where Mike usually installs or removes the snowchains--instead of continuing straight to Kumba, we turned right and headed for new country (for me, anyway). Here we enjoyed some good old pothole-y roads, just like I'm used to. Well, maybe not like I'm used to. At its best, it's still pitted beyond washboard. Speed is relative here: 50 km/h feels like flying; a jaw-dropping speed of reckless proportions.

We missed the sermon but caught the offering portion of the service at Joe's church (a Presbyterian pastor who is one of the translators). An hour and half later we were released, whereupon we lunched, then hit the road again, Joe and another African in tow. Stopping to pick up another member of OLDC (Oroko Literacy and Development Council) and to clean the mud off the shoes of the white people (how do Cameroonians keep their shoes so clean?!), we finally arrived at the comfortable home of Chief Esau an hour and a half late for the OLDC meeting.

Business dealt with, the chief insisted we be entertained by one of his many choirs which had been practicing during our meeting, and to eat of the feast he'd prepared for all his guests, before we hit the road. Darkness is complete by 7:00 so we were eager to get started again. (Dan hasn't been back long enough to relish the challenge of navigating the Bekondo road in the dark, though at better times he's reputed to glory in it.)

With only a brief delay of being trapped behind a city-tired pickup truck attempting to pull another loaded beer truck through a mudhole without four-wheel drive, we arrived -to the surprise of our families--back in Big Bekondo in pitch blackness, exactly 12 hours after we'd left, having accomplished the one hour meeting we set out to attend.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winnipeg Transit woes

  “We’ve increased support for municipalities year after year because we know strong communities depend on reliable, stable and predictable funding increases,” Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard said in an emailed statement to the Free Press Tuesday. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/06/23/winnipeg-transit-needs-funding-boost-additional-staff-to-follow-new-provincial-accessibility-regulations-city-report This in answer to City of Winnipeg chair of Public Works Janice Lukes plea for the province to cough up money for the needed upgrades. Listen carefully because these are words I won't often say: I gotta agree with Lukes on this one. If the province is handing down new standards, given their higher capacity for raising revenues, they ought to help the city fund meeting said standards. What Simard fails to acknowledge is that those "year after year" funding increases started at the bottom basement after Conservative cuts and likely h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carney's sound check

 The Liberals are advertising a summer survey. Let me Mr Carney know what you think! Of course, the multiple choice questions force you to give the answers Carney wants to hear, but fortunately, there's an open box for further comment at the end with a 2500 character limit.  I don't have all day to spend on this so it's a slightly in coherent rant, but I can't let this man think everything is fine while he turns this country into a totalitarian surveillance police state whose only industry is war-making.  https://action.liberal.ca/a-summer-sound-check/ Here's what I think, Mr Carney.  The things that "stand out" the most for me are the things that horrify the most. Every single thing Carney has done or championed since April 2025 is awful for ordinary Canadians (only good for Carney's investment portfolio). You can shove your AI. Yes, Canadians need protection from AI but your disgraced grifter of a "AI minister" is the last person to do that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Letter writing success

Last week, several sources linked to a letter appealing to venerable Canadian scientist and nature advocate David Suzuki to withdraw from a supposed climate prize due to its deep ties to an unbashedly colonlialist Israeli organization. The JNF's claim to fame is planting trees in Israel. Pine trees. Non-native trees. Trees that are susceptible to wildfires. Trees intentionally planted atop forcibly-emptied Palestinian villages to try to erase their memory.  The letters worked. Suzuki withdrew. I hadn't gotten around to writing before I got the news. So when a follow up letter to other participants in the prize hit my inbox, I rushed to put my own spin on the letter and sign it. Send your own here I urge you to join David Suzuki in withdrawing from the upcoming Climate Solutions Prize (CSP) festival. CSP was instigated by the racist Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada with support from the Israeli government. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet announced the launch of CSP...
Post a Comment
Read more