Traveling around with Mr. Benjamin

We are officially moved out of Boa Bakundu village and on our way back to the US. The past week has been incredible. (Pay attention to the blog this week to find out more) We will fly to Paris this evening for a few days before returning to the US on the 31st. I'm sorry I won't be able to post pictures this week due to some problems with my camera. I'll be sure to have a big picture update on the 1st.

Monday July 20, 2009

Nothing much happened for us today. But for the immersion students, it was a very sad day. We met them at the Azi Motel before they drove to Duoala to catch their flight. Many of the girls were crying, especially when they had to say goodbye to their host families. I’m sure it will be tough for me to leave next Monday. We also went to the market to buy a few more things for our families and friends back home. A local tailor is sewing me a shirt to take back as well.

Tuesday July 21, 2009

Early in the morning, we traveled with Mr. Benjamin to the taxi park in Fiango. (A section of Kumba) We were traveling to two villages that have potential water projects for next year’s group. Due to the low number of people traveling in our direction, we waited almost two hours before we left. The trip to the village of Weme lasted over an hour on a relatively good road. The Weme project is quite large. An NGO estimated the cost at 35,000,000 CFA (~$70,000). However, many of these estimates are inflated so that when the NGO and/or village receive funding, the NGO can eat the extra money. An option for this project is to split it into phases like Boa Bakundu has done. ETHOS might be able to complete one phase like we did this summer.

Weme has a water committee and some small funds saved for the project. That’s much more than can be said for the next village we visited. The village of Bolo is along the road back to Kumba. Bolo had no water committee, no estimate, no funds, and few answers to our questions. We became so frustrated that we left after perhaps fifteen minutes of discussion. Villages must prove that they are serious before ETHOS or Mr. Benjamin would consider working with them.

One of the most interesting aspects of this journey was the road itself. At one time the government wished to make the road into a major highway. (If we continued to follow the road, we would eventually reach Nigeria) Many of the bridges we crossed were a result of that project. But between the villages of Weme and Bolo we saw a literal “bridge to nowhere.” We crossed a one lane bridge that runs parallel to a four lane structure. The bridge was perhaps 80% complete when the project was abandoned or funding disappeared. Now the bridge sits covered in all types of vines and trees. It stands a poignant symbol of Cameroon’s problems with infrastructure and corruption.