“Big Mankon across from the Cathedral”
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 26/Jul/2010 11:34, 34 days ago
This is what I tell a moto or taxi to get to my house or apartment rather. I moved officially on Sunday although it has been quite a process to actually get there. If you think moving in Canada is stressful, try doing it in Cameroon. Here are some of the difficulties that I came across while moving as a VSO volunteer from Maroua to Bamenda and then from the Baptist mission to my new house.The hallway in my new apartment (pictures of friends and family on wall)1. Finding a house: In Canada this may be time-consuming but there are resources such as classified, craigslist, MLS and realtors to help you find your dream apartment or house. In Cameroon, these do not exist. My colleagues and tennis friends literally had to walk up and down dirt roads ask people if they knew of any apartments that were available for rent.Kitchen (the very small fridge will be challenging)2. Transferring bank accounts: In Canada you would go into your branch and let them know you were moving and ask you for your new address. If they needed to change your account numbers they would inform you and issue you new documents and cards if necessary. In Cameroon, you would go to the bank and inform them you were moving. They would tell you that you didn’t need to do anything that everything just stays the same. When you get to the new city you would notice they are now charging you additional fees, after inquiring about them you would be told that it was because you didn’t transfer your account to the new city. You would then ask to transfer your account, and they would ask you to draw a map to your house and to write a letter to the director of the bank asking to do this. They would tell you that is all you need to do and they will contact you when it is done. One day three weeks later you will try to use your bank card and it doesn’twork, you will speak with the accounts manager and find out your account no longer exists, after some digging they will find your new account number however you need to apply for a new card which will take minimum 3 weeks. Turns out the first person you spoke to at the bank was new and really had no idea how to do a transfer.Kitchen (Bigblue bucket is full of water in case of shortage)3. Setting up utilities: In Canada you contact the water and electricity company and submit your information, usually online...and on the date you select, presto! you have water and electricity. In Cameroon, you need to buy a private water meter and a private electricity meter so your neighbours do not try to scam you to pay their bills. To do this you need to go in person to the water and electricity companies (2 separate places), with your landlord and with forms that hopefully the previous tenant filled out. You then need to go to the police station to get a form stamped and signed indicating that your are not a criminal. Of course after you have done all this, the water and electricity company will inform you that they won’t be able to hook up your connections for quite some time...ie. a month or more. All along the way you need to give small “cadeaux” (bribes) to get your paperwork through. In the end your landlord will hook you up to her water and electricity supply temporarily and you just hope that she doesn’t try to get you to pay her portion too.4. Getting internet: I had“high speed” in Maroua and when I tried to move my account and system from Maroua to Bamenda I found out that they had made a clerical error in setting up my account and had registered me for a different quality of internet service than I had asked for and purchased. Of course it would be more expensive and so I was told I could either pay the $1000 to cover what they usually charge for the faster service or I can’t move it... Remember, this is their mistake and there was no way for me to tell if I was getting faster service because it is much slower than I am used to anyways. The manager in Maroua knew it was MTN’s mistake but told me that it is easier for me to pay then for him to work to get them to fix their mistake. Anyways, long story short, I didn’t pay so I didn’t get to move my system. In Bamenda I have an internet stick which is pretty slow but it gets the job done.I got it from another volunteer who was leaving. I had to take over her contract which involved going to the MTN office and drawing a map to my house and giving them a copy of my id card. Hopefully the contract will move into my name without a problem...but that is a little optimistic.5. Getting my bags shipped: My household items were sent from Maroua to Yaounde. They didn’t send them to Bamenda because at the time I didn’t know where I was staying. Last week VSO was supposed to drive my bags to the mission and help me drop them off at my new house so I could start unpacking. VSO brought my bags....or at least some of them...some were forgotten in Yaounde and soI had to get them to ship them by bus. When they were supposed to arrive on the bus, I went to pick them up and was told to go to the “Store” to get them. I was told my bags hadn’t arrived. This happened 5 times over the next 2 days despite a lot of questions to the bus people on my part, asking if there was somewhere else they may have been put as VSO kept telling me that they had been sent and had arrived. Anyways after two days of thinking my bags were lost or stolen, VSO has someone from the bus company in Yaounde call me. They tell me to go to get my bags at the store, I go there, they still aren’t there, then I am told to go to Mail Services, I ask the store where this is and they point to across the parking lot. Low and behold my bags are there. I ask the store why they didn’t tell me that I should check mail services, and they reply “please, that is not our job”. Mybags had been waiting for me at mail services since the first day I went to find them.My living room6. Signing the lease: When I saw the apartment I knew that I loved it and it was in VSO's price range in terms of rent. Of course, the people who owned it had some questions for me the most important being what religion am I. This is always a big issue here. Christian yes, catholic no. But after about 30 minutes about how I could become catholic followed by splashing holy water on my face to bless me, they gave me the ok because "at least I was christian and not muslim and I was white so shouldn't cause trouble"... they seriously said that to me. Thank god for Sunday school and memorizing the lords prayer because they asked me to lead it after we signed the lease.Another living room viewAnyways, after a long time and many moves I am finally in my new house. My new place is close to where I play tennis and to where I work. I can walk to tennis in about 5 minutes and work in about 20 minutes. I pass the market on my way home which is ideal for picking up food for dinner.  My apartment is in a large house and I am in a two bedroom apartment on the top level.  There are only two of us on the top floor which is nice and we have a metal gate at the top of the stairs for added security.  Enjoy these pictures.My bedroom - the mosquito net was difficult to put upSecond Bedroom which will mainly be used to dry my laundry unless I have visitorsBathroom (very cold shower)