Now for Enjoyment

Let me try to smash two weeks of immense enjoyment into words on this machine...

We told all those in the village that we would stay for the weekend and we did. We could not have known how much fun we would have had. The first few days were standard work days. Work, Football, Chop, SLeep. Then by Thursday we experienced the Barombi NIght Life. One family was having a family meeting and there were visitors from the Barombi Kang, a small suburb of Kumba, and another part of the Barombi clan. There are 11-13 villages of the Barombi people in all, I cant remember the actual number, but they vary across the South West Province. The people came, discussed, ate, and we somehow stubled on the party in time for the drinks and dancing. It was very fun and we ended the night a bit late. Over the weeks I am learning a lot about the history of the Barombi Mbo people and I will throw that down later.

The next day the girls came to the village and we celebrated one girl in our group Hayley (called Helen by all here, myself included) birthday. We made her a card and got some popcorn, whiskey, and wine from town earlier in the week. Then we moved "down" to Pa Phillips (chairman of the traditional council) house for a party. SOme visitors came becuase his son, Emmanual, had recently had a baby(christain name, Smith) and they were celebrating. Palm wine was flowing that night and there was much dancing.

Saturday was by far some of the most fun we had in the village. We took out the old motor boat(now without an engine) and went swimming in the lake. It was the first time I had gone (because of warnings from the professor) and I thought it was past time. Many of the Area Boys joined us and it was a great time. The weather couldnt have been better, not a cloud in the sky. Next time we are taking 10 litres of white stuff and the small radio I bought and [plan to make an afternoon out of it.

The next week we just worked hard. All day, everyday. The work becomes enjoyable when you can easily see the progress being made and when you work outside of the drinking spot. We started work far past the farms and inside the jungle, and now most of the work is right inside the village. Its not uncommon to be invited for whitestuff at any time of the day, and its a reason to have a break from the tedious task of digging. I find myself writing so much about white stuff, but I think its imperative to understand how much of the village culture comes from sitting around a 5 litre vat of palm wine and discussing. There are two types of white stuff: matango and matutu. Matango comes from the palm tree and is sweet. In order to tap the wine, they must cut down the tree and one tree can "leak" whitestuff for up to two weeks. Matutu comes from the raffia palm and is not as sweet, but twice as strong. They can tap the tree while it still stands. Matango usually comes in the morning and can be finished as early as noon. Matutu usually comes to "Idle Park", the town drinking spot, by 4pm and people are usually waiting to give their command for the evening Shacking. Wilfred promised to take me to the place where they harvest the refreshment when work is finished.

When there were two of us whites in the village for the weekend, we accepted many invitations to chop something. We ate fish from the lake, snails (called nyamanguro in pidgin, and a personal favorite), cocky corn and cocky beans. Cocky referns to the way its prepared: grated and spiced, then wrapped in plantain leaves and boiled for hours until it has a consistency similar to bread. Its fantastic. The snails are found in the farms when it rains heavily. We also ate shrimp from the lake that were massive and tasted far better than any Red Lobster.

Its hard to get people to work now because its time they enter their farms for clearing and spraying of the cocoa trees. They must clear all weeds and then spray the trees with insectside before the rains become too heavy. Cocoa is like gold and provides many people with their livelihood. Most of the "big men" in town have 4-5 farms and one guy said he produces up to 70 tons of cocoa in one season. He also has a house in Kumba could be considered a baller. He simply remains in the village because he is a farmer and thats where his farms are. So its interesting to see how not all things are as they seem, with respect to the fact that you cant judge a book by its cover.

Im at a lack of other thoughts and I need to get back to the house and eat something Im famished. My goal count is up to 7, far past the other white Mark who led me for a few football matches. As far as the Area Boys, not much new except that were still making noise and enjoying life. It will be a sad day when I have to leave this place.