Malaria in Cameroon... Michel's story.

I received an e-mail from Michel, one of my hosts in Cameroon, not too long ago and it stirred up a lot of emotions. I asked him if I could share it with you and he said sure. Thanks Michel. My apologies in advance to my English readers. Please use Google Translate.

Alors comme ce soir Poseidon nous a rendu la connexion, le mieux est de t'envoyer mon adresse par la haute technologie dans ce monde ou même là devant mon ordi mes pieds sont léchés par les fourmis...

Ici çà va bien, le temps n'est plus aussi agréable que lorsque tu es passé, il pleut bien plus, ahhhh ma Bretagne à Kribi ! Non je plaisante tu sais bien... qu'il ne pleut pas en Bretagne.

Dimanche dernier, vers midi, ai eu de forts maux de tête, et des sensations d'engourdissement aux membres, ai consulté lundi matin, c'était bien le palud, (rien à voir avec mes lécheuses de pied, là ce sont les as de pique !). Je t'assure que la nuit a été horrible, je crois même qu'elle a duré plusieurs jours, si si, heureusement que ma petite femme est là pour s'occuper de moi, elle n'a pas dormi non plus, elle s'est occupé de moi et a prié...

Alors les médicaments, ma femme, et Dieu, ils se sont tous mis ensemble et on vaincu le malin, si toutefois c'était lui, mais c'est sur je suis guéri... le moins marrant dans l'histoire, c'est que je n'ai jamais vu autant de moustique que ce soir dans mon salon, après ce message je lance une attaque foudroyante (c'est ce qu'ils ont écrit sur la bombe) mais rassures-toi, rien à voir avec Hiroshima, si ce n'est la toxicité, mais je n'en abuserai pas...

Bref John, pour être plus sérieux, et pour info, dimanche midi, premiers symptômes ; lundi midi, diagnostic ; mercredi midi, ça va, vendredi, guérison totale.  Comme quoi, quand on s'y prend à temps, ça se passe bien, je te dis cela car j'entend plusieurs qui me disent devoir prendre des perfusions, mais en les questionnant plus, j'arrive à savoir qu'en fait ils commencent les premiers jours par prendre quelques dolipranes ou autres, avant d'aller consulter, alors qu'à l'intérieur la maladie avance, voilà le truc...

Thankfully, Michel caught it in time and got immediate treatment. Unfortunately, most of the people who die from malaria are children under 5 years old and some of them can’t even tell you how terrible they’re feeling because they can’t talk yet.

Thanks again for sharing your story Michel and wishing you well from around the world.

24th Stop - Andasibe, Toamasina, Mahambo, Foulpointe

Paul took me into town Thursday morning on his way to work and dropped me off at a bus stop, so I could get to the main bus station. Three bus rides and nearly an hour later, exasperated by the impression I was going in circles, I hopped in a cab. Thirty more minutes, then one hour of waiting for the taxi-brousse (mini-van) to fill up and we were on the road.

We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours (more like dunch as it was nearly 4 pm) and I met two other tourists from India, Prabhakar and Lakshmi, who were sitting in the back of the mini-van. Prab works for the UN in Ethiopia but has worked around the world, including North Korea. That makes at least four people I’ve met in the past three months who have been there!

The bus dropped me off in Andasibe and I walked down the road to a local lodge where I would spend the night. On my way I ran into Jean-Claude who offered to be my guide in the national park the next day. Ok!

It turns out that Prab and Lakshmi were spending the night in the same lodge, so we had dinner together. It was nice hearing all about their travels. They left Ethiopia and had been on the road touring Africa for a few months now. Mount Kilimanjaro, gorillas in the mist in Uganda, Rwanda and more. Apparently, it costs about $1000 for a permit, per person, to see the gorillas. If you’ve ever dreamed of doing this, start saving!

Up bright and early the next morning to meet Jean-Claude at the entrance to the park, along with Prab and Lakshmi. The first thing we saw was a really hard to see chameleon, followed by tree frogs, some rubber trees, and finally some lemurs. The first lemurs were small and gray, but later on we saw some big, furry, black and white ones. We switched our cameras on to rapid fire and got carried away, using up all our memory. Mine even overheated at one point and I thought I was going to lose everything.

After the novelty wore off and it started to get hotter, we called it a day and went back to the ranger station and gift shop. I bought a few things for Louis, parted ways with my company, got my things at the lodge, and went back to the main road to hitch a ride to Toamasina.

I tried to negotiate the price with the driver of the first mini-van that stopped, but failed miserably. Oh well, I’ll take the next one. What luck! The next mini-van to stop was taking a famous Malagasy rock group called Mage 4 to Toamasina for a couple of concerts they were giving over the weekend. I hopped in, we introduced ourselves, and then started drinking rum!

Mage 4 - Maratra Ambompo

Uploaded by ramahy. - Explore more music videos.

A great ride talking with famous rockstars, telling jokes (remind me to tell you the one about Santa Claus... thanks Ken!), and singing songs. Thanks again Mage 4 and definitely see you at the concert tonight!

When we arrived, Jimmy, Marjeanne’s boyfriend came to the station to pick me up. I met Marjeanne, a member of JCI at the World Congress last year in Tunisia. Marjeanne is working for a big mining project that will start extracting cobalt and nickel and provide a big boost to the country's economy. Jimmy told me all about his upcoming plans to open a VIP karaoke bar.

In case you have noticed yet, the Junior Chamber International has members around the world. In fact, the vision of the association is to be the leading global network of young active citizens. A network only works if you rely on it and render service when you can. This reinforces the links that connect us. Indeed, I hope that my travels and visits will bring us closer together, create new opportunities, and allow us to learn from one another and grow. Speaking of opportunities, my good friend Ghislain in Cameroon is looking for a partner to open a training institute in Cameroon with him.

Later that night, we all went out for dinner with other members and former members. It was nice to hear about their local projects and more about the political situation in Madagascar. I also got a chance to invite them to attend the JCI Challenge that Pays Niçois is hosting next year!

We finished dinner and then went over to the the Chinese Congregation for the Mage 4 concert with Zazah, Angelo and Tuv. It’s really nice going to a show when you know the tour manager and everyone in the band. It kind of makes you feel like a rockstar too.

We stuck around for the second band, finished our second bottle of whisky and then met up with some other friends at the Neptune, a local night club. Dancing was great but we were getting tired, so we all left and went to Anja’s karaoke bar. Anja, another JCI member opened up especially for us and we hung out at the bar, talking and laughing until the sun came up!

I headed north the next morning with Zazah to Mahambo to check out the surf scene. Mirana Olivia from Tana had tried to put me in contact with a surf school so I could learn how to surf. It turns out the owner is Valérie’s brother, Fred, who is now in New Zealand; I’ll catch up with you there Fred!

When the taxi-brousse dropped us off, we had a 5 km walk to the water. I adjusted the straps on my backpack and we must have walked 20 meters when a truck stopped by. The driver offered to drop us off somewhere. It turns out that he was the owner of the hotel we were going to and on top of it all, he was from Nice!

Not much excitement in Mahambo, so the next day we went back towards Toamasina, and stopped off in Foulpointe. Unfortunately, we would miss the Three Horses Brand beer festival starting the following week, but we would still go visit the Fort Manda which is one of few forts in the world built of coral, sand, and egg whites. When Zazah was telling me we should visit the fort made of eggs, I was initially imagining a giant fort built of eggshells!

That night, we met Priscille from Mauritius who runs a Montessori school in Tana and Eliot, an architect and former French legionnaire. They joined us for a drink which later turned into a fish and chips dinner on the beach prepared by a young local entrepreneur. The next morning, we had a breakfast of fresh clams in shallot vinegar at a beachside shack and then it was time to hit the road!

For my last night in Toamasina, I gave a similar JCI presentation to the one I gave in Tana, then we all went out to sing songs at a karaoke bar. As you can see, the Malagasy are crazily fond of their karaoke.
A big thanks to the members of Mage 4, the JCI members of Toamasina, Marjeanne, Jimmy, Angelo, Antonio, Tuv, and everyone else for making this such a memorable experience. A special thanks to Zazah for accompanying me up North. Best of luck to all of you and see you soon I hope!

Next stop: Tana!

20th Stop - Douala, Cameroon Part 5, Final

Three more days in Cameroon, then off to South Africa. I thought it was going to be all work, play, work but it turned into work, disappointment, cheering up, work.

On Thursday, we planned to go with Annie and the kids back to Semé beach so I could teach them how to swim. That’s right, I used to be a lifeguard back in the day, just like David Hasselhoff, only less well known ;-)

We got off to a late start but were eventually on the road with Serge, our driver from last time, his friend Hervé, who was driving this time since Serge’s car was getting fixed, Annie, and the kids. No sooner had we made it past the outskirts of Bonabéri when we got stopped by the military police for an ID check. Sh*t! Annie forgot her ID card. They let us continue on our way after pleading for leniency, but that didn’t help us from getting stopped again further down the road. This time they didn’t want to let Annie go.

We could have paid off the cop to let us go but I didn’t feel comfortable having to pay off corrupt officials all the way to the beach. It only breeds more corruption when you take part in it. So I went back with the kids and driver to get Annie’s ID card. By this time, it was too late to go to the beach so I dropped the kids off at home and then went back to free Annie.

Now it was time to settle up with our driver, Serge’s friend Hervé. Before leaving, we agreed to 25,000 CFA (about 50 USD) for him to take us there and back. However, we didn’t even go a quarter of the distance, didn’t get on the tollway, and cut our day short by at least three hours. Hervé, however, insisted on being paid the full amount. What Hervé failed to realize was that his short-term gain would come at the expense of his reputation, as well as Serge’s. Not only would we never call on Hervé again (like tomorrow, to take me to the airport), but we wouldn’t call on Serge either. Too bad for both of them. By the way, if you fly into Douala airport, make sure your taxi driver isn’t named Hervé.

That night, I gave a demo of Wordfast Pro to a group of 15 translators and Annie at the American Language Center, owned and run by Martin and Hermiane. Everyone was very enthusiastic about attending a training; unfortunately, it was taking place the next day and only one person could attend. Thanks Martin for hosting the demo!

After the demo, Annie and I met up with Ghislain and Ezekiel at the Total gas station. I’m not sure if it was because it was raining, but there were an awful lot of people in the station, hanging out, drinking beer and eating snacks; my first cocktail hour in a gas station!



We didn’t stay long, got in a taxi and went for a bite to eat. When we walked into the restaurant, we had to pick out what we wanted (fish or chicken) and negotiate a price before sitting down. The fish started at 17,000 CFA, but Ghislain somehow talked him down to 6,000! The waitress had just served us our food when Dagobert, last year’s JCI national president, joined us with a few friends. We had a delicious meal and a few more beers, just what Annie and I needed to cheer up after the fiasco earlier that day.

On Friday I trained Martin on how to use Wordfast Pro. We had a very interesting discussion about corruption in Cameroon and he told me a few stories about people asking him to inflate prices for lessons so he could pay them kickbacks. I very much appreciated Martin's refusal to buy into the corruption and his ambition to run a clean, ethical business. I had spent nearly two weeks in the country and was amazed by how generous and lively the people were. If, however, there was one thing that Cameroon could work on to be better, I think the country's leadership should definitely focus on stamping out corruption.

It was getting late, I had to run home, get my stuff together and get to the airport. Ghislain offered me a beautiful wooden statue that I unfortunately couldn’t fit in my suitcase. So I asked him to hold on to it for me until I come back! Thanks again Annie, the kids, Emile, Ezekiel, Michel, Harly, Roland, Bruno, Alem, Royene, Hervé (the soccer player!), Dagobert and Ghislain for such a wonderful time in Cameroon. A special thanks to Ghislain, Annie, Harly and Michel in particular, that’s 12 more bednets for 12 more families.

Next stop: Johannesburg, South Africa!

20th Stop - Douala, Cameroon Part 4

I figured I should try to do at least a little tourism while in Cameroon so I checked out the Lonely Planet online to see what there was to see... Number 2: Mount Cameroon. Been there, done that. Number 1: Kribi.

Kribi is the tourist hotspot of Cameroon. White sandy beaches, fiesta, fish and more. It just so happened that when I was about to clear customs upon arriving in Douala, I let someone use my pen to fill out one of the forms. We exchanged a few words, and he gave me a phone number in case I made it to Kribi. Ok, so now I had a contact in Kribi, a French man named Michel, who apparently ran a furnished apartment rental service there.

I called Michel bright and early Monday morning (a little too early, sorry about that Michel) to find out if there was any availability at the Gîtes de Kribi for the evening as I was planning on coming later in the afternoon. He told me he would have to check with the staff and politely asked me to call back in a couple of hours. So I did, around 9:30 am, and he told me that they were fully booked; however, I could crash at his place on the couch if I wanted to. Nice! I’ll be there in a few hours.

It took me more than a few hours to get there, but that wasn’t the bus’ fault. In fact, the bus left an hour ahead of schedule. I’m glad I didn’t stray too far from the station despite having a good hour and a half to kill.

I finally made it to Kribi around 4:30 pm, hopped on a motorcycle, and met up with Michel and Harly, Michel’s girlfriend, at the Gîtes. It turns out, Michel and Harly don’t own and run the Gîtes, but are staying there as semi-staff for 6 months. Michel met the owner, a man from Brittany like Michel, the last time he was in Cameroon. He then did some renovation work on the guy’s house in Brittany and as compensation, gets to stay at the Gîtes.

We had a beer and talked for a little bit, then went out for a nice walk along the beach to catch the sunset. Harly made a delicious chicken dinner and we discussed business opportunities in Cameroon. Michel came up with a great idea for a non-profit organization: collecting old motorcycle helmets from Europe (helmets are good for a limited time only) and selling them (to cover transport costs) in Cameroon. Considering the high rate of motorcycle related accidents and deaths in the country, this idea holds a lot of promise.

The next morning was overcast but the sun finally came out in the afternoon, so we went down to the beach for a swim. Then I went back to Douala as I had some work to do on Wednesday. A big thanks to Harly and Michel for hosting me and for the interesting discussions. I wish you both the best of luck and hope to see you again next time I’m in Cameroon!