Cameroon 2 - 26 July 2012
The old diaries of Papua New Guinea
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Sunday before Sinco's leaving we met together as a complete family,
Little Tirzah of Roeland and Ruth was the little hero of this meeting..
....Matthieu and Femke are big friends as well!
"Old" friends from Papua New Guinea - Mike and Beth - visited our country on their way to Papua New Guinea.
It was so good to meet them and spend some time, together with Jan and Annette.
GOODBYE!
Early Tuesdaymorning (04.30) we left Ermelo to go to the airport Zaventhem/Brussel in Belgium. From there Sinco would travel via Douala to Yaounde Cameroun.
Roelie stays in Holland for another 5 weeks for Gideon and Jaimie will get married September 3. Sinco will return for this event on September 2.
Finally September 6 Roelie and Sinco will leave together and start their new life in Cameroon.
After 8.5 hours Sinco arrived at Yaounde. There is 1 hour time difference with Holland.
Yaounde is a big city with over 2 million people.
Everything is noisy, colourful and yellow taxi's all over the place. A different culture.
The language in the street is French so we have to refresh and improve our French.
Sinco speaks already better French than Tok Pisin!
In a French environment the old French lessons from high school become alive again!
Our temporary house (in the middle of the picture bewteen the two trees) is a clean modest apartment.
Below: The dining area (left) and the seating area.
Furthermore, a neat little kitchen cum living room and a bedroom, study room and a bathroom
The preparations for the school year are now in full swing.
These first days are used to write the syllabi for the students. What strikes me is that everything here is very well organized.
Right my desk with a beautiful yellow "Sinco welcome" on it! They asked me to teach Science, Biology and Chemistry. Next is "Discipline" in my package (the naughty students!) and "assistant director". The content of this latter task is not yet clear to me. Possibly there is responsibility for the exams like SAT and IGCSI.
...
A nice garden in front shows God's glory and the open chapel is supported by pillars
all aimed at a cross on the ground (where this picture was taken).
Taxi exploration
As part of the orientation we had a taxi exploration of Yaounde.
We had to negotiate the price in French. You understand that I am eager to learn French!
The traffic in Yaoundé is another story ... it is different from our Dutch kind of traffic,
but the taxi drivers maneuver their cars at breakneck speed on the cm accuracy by this traffic.
I dare not meet me yet!
The use of any camera is limited in Cameroon.
I must try to find my way around. For now less images of the people than in the PNG diaries.
Left is our "taxi" group led by the PE teacher Didier on the largest road of Yaounde where the parades take place. Note the ubiquitous yellow taxis. Three-quarters or more of all this traffic consists of yellow taxis. It is the standard means of transport in this city.
Right we are at the flower market. The lady in the background smiles behind Joy on the picture.Watch the beautiful wreaths they make and sell here.
I saw here.
When I gently asked, these men agreed
reluctantly with this picture.
Due to the large number of foreigners in Cameroon (many Americans) there are pretty western supermarkets (more than Western prices)
Left, a showcase of beautiful fish and shellfish ......
Right drinks
where no French wine is forgotten!
Left and right the rolls at the bakery. Another great choice. This metropolis is a completely different order than our previous Papua New Guinea.
But here we will not do our shopping every day or week.
In our alley next to our house there are small shops to provide our basic shopping needs.
Left me with Didier for the national monument. To walk to the top we had to pay a nice entrance fee: another time! It was also getting late ....
We had to hurry with another taxi to the French club for lunch.
Here we met (right) a top-international soccer player from Cameroon.
In the picture our PE teachers with the soccer player.
The contact was very good
and he will teach some classes
at our school!
The weather is much cooler than in PNG.
It's cloudy and probably about 25 degrees Celsius.
...
Left a final lunch with the RFIS staff in the French club.
Here is also a swimming pool where you (Roelie) can do your excercises!
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Saturday I did some shopping in the big city. Bought some drinks and even real "Gouda" cheese .. Wow ... that was a surprise!
In the afternoon I was invited to watch the Olympics and then I was invited by Arjan - a Dutchman from Harmelen - for macaroni. Delicious and very cozy. Another Dutch misionary - Bep - was invited as well.
This Sunday I attended a great service in a local church. The message was about reaching out based on Luke 4: Jesus heals Peter's mother (outside the synagogue).
This is it for the moment. Tomorrow we continue with the preparation of this school year and filling in the remaining tasks. It's a miracle how God has provided for the jobs but there is much "open"!
Please pray that we may be a blessing for this mission field and in particular for the children.
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Our address in Cameroon:
Rain Forest International SchoolSIL - BP 1299
Yaounde
Cameroon - Africa
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