We're Back!

We had a wonderful ten-day trip to Cameroon! There is so much to show and tell about our experiences there. I will have to tell you just bit by bit as I have time to blog in the next weeks and months. The sights and sounds and smells of this third-world country reminded us a lot of our trip to Nicaragua several years ago.

Here is the gated entrance to Wes and Leah's house, located in the capital city, Yaounde. The house is a large, old house built into the side of a hill. There are two gates actually. One takes you to the front door, on the second floor, and the other leads down a very steep incline around to the back of the house. The guard always hears the van coming and opens the gate for us. The rooms are large with high ceilings, great for housing a visiting mission team.

Our son Wes is a Methodist pastor who oversees and trains the native pastors there. Actually the Methodist church is not "official" in that country yet--they've been through several years of red tape, and finally the papers are on the President's desk awaiting his signature!

We did not get out into the bush or go on a safari or even see a monkey. We were there to visit our precious son and his wife and our three granddaughters and to experience their world. We had a fabulous time doing that. We visited the girls' schools, a church service in Obala, the Yaounde downtown marketplaces, the homes of some other missionaries, the home of one of the native pastors (the Nomos), Wes's office, a church under construction, a fabric store, a Chinese restaurant, among other sites.

We got to experience the crazy no-rules traffic with aggressive yellow taxi drivers (the taxis are yellow, not the drivers!) The ruts and potholes make an outing feel like a Six Flags ride! Wes and Leah are both very good at driving there--Walter and I are wide-eyed and holding our breath as taxis cut in front of us and people walk within inches of our car!

There are people everywhere. Yaounde is a city of a million people. But where we were we did not see malnourished children like those our friends recently ministered to on a medical missions trip to Nigeria. As in many underdeveloped countries, there is no middle class, only the poor and the few rich. The government is very corrupt. It is poverty deluxe, but at least most people there have enough food to eat. They have trouble scratching up enough money to buy medicine or to send their kids to school (public school is not free).

For an eye-opener, go to www.miniature-earth.com. Click on English language and then play to see see an interesting, brief clip showing the people of the world if the population were only 100. I first heard of this site from Ginger Cooper, the wonderful young lady who is currently living with Wes and Leah. She is a volunteer Methodist missionary, and a fabulous big sister to my grandgirls! I was so happy to get to meet her and know her. (I like to follow her blog as well as Wes's. There is a link to hers on Wes's blog.)