Côte d’Ivoire (Tuesday, 2010 December 7)
Just overheard some fascinating discussion in the teacher’s lounge at the Lycee. People are talking about the recent political crisis in the Ivory Coast, where the election somehow failed and produced two presidents. One teacher in particular made some very cutting remarks. "They’re crazy over there, to elect two presidents. Here in Cameroon, we vote for Paul Biya ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. We don’t have any two presidents stuff. Here, a good president has to hold power for at least thirty years. It’s not like in your country, where yesterday it was George Bush, today it’s Obama, tomorrow someone else again! When are they gonna take their money?"
Also interesting is that the trip that was planned a couple weeks ago that the president was going to make to Bamenda to celebrate the 50th year anniversary of the Cameroonian Army got cancelled because the commander of the BIR (a branch of the Cameroonian armed forces which was being trained by an Israeli national under contract) died in a helicopter accident. The trip is scheduled for this week — tomorrow and Thursday — and since Bamenda is the seat of the opposition party, the Organization is a tiny bit nervous. No crises here in Cameroon yet, but I keep thinking that if the country got evacuated, that would be a really convenient way to stop being a teacher. But our security officer called me today for unrelated reasons and she sounded just chipper, so I guess that’s not a strong possibility..
That’s the current events here in Cameroon. Life goes on, I guess. I really wish I would hear more from you guys, though! For example, what’s Mike Dirolf up to? Who’s this chick Francis is flirting with on Facebook? What about those guys with steady jobs?