"Leaving" Maga

I am currently back in Ireland having completed my contract in Maga at the end of May but I have agreed to return in October since VSO has not yet found a replacement for me. Four years of the plan to build the capacities of the council remain and the need for a volunteer is very real. While I have found my work in Maga rewarding and feel that it has made a difference, I think that at this stage it would be good to bring in somebody with fresh ideas and energy. However the council is currently going through a critical phase due to the roll-out of decentralisation in Cameroon so it is vital to have a volunteer there in the coming months. Also if a replacement is found it would be useful to have a face-to-face hand-over. Further, although there has been good progress on some of the projects which I helped to initiate, my presence would be beneficial on this front. The opportunities for adding value both to the council and to the people in Maga are enormous.

We had a great party in Maga before leaving in May attended by about 250 people. I doubled up with Josiane, a Canadian education volunteer who was leaving Guirvidig at the same time. Aicha prepared the food, including some sheep, a goat, some hens and a duck given to me by friends and colleagues. As usual dancing went on until dawn, ably led by the mayor. We also had a party in Maroua for volunteers and Cameroonian friends. The mayor came to that party too accompanied by a different wife from the one whom he brought to the party in Maga (the latter had a baby with her, which is not unusual). Unlike a lot of polygamous men who attend such functions alone on the grounds that they cannot favour one wife over another, the mayor has brought each of his four wives to one of my functions.

We then travelled to West Cameroon to visit Aicha’s family in Foumban and I returned to Ireland in mid-June. For the early weeks I did little more than watch the football World Cup on television. Cameroon’s early exit was not a surprise since although they had good players they were not well prepared. However my allegiance switched to Ghana, the only African team to make it to the knock-out stage, until their unfair exit (reminiscent of Ireland’s unfair exit at the qualifier stage, which was greeted with huge indignation in Cameroon where “la main de Thiery Henry” has since become part of everyday language). Aicha joined me a few weeks later after the usual delay with her visa. She has settled very well, her English is improving all the time and she is making a promising start to golf. The highlight of our visit to Ireland was a trip to Sligo with Ruth, an English volunteer who worked in schools in Maga when I first went there and who has now bravely gone to Afghanistan. We visited various megalithic sites and went to some traditional music sessions. At one of these we were prevailed on to try some set dancing. Aicha took to this like a duck to water and was a big hit with the locals.

Having gone through a collapse of interest and motivation on returning to Ireland, as also happened last year, I am now beginning to think forward to my return to Maga. After struggling through the rainy season in my first year in Maga I decided to skip it in future years. The tragic events in Pouss (see my previous post) give a vivid illustration of how hard and perilous life is there. Latest information gives more than 5,000 made homeless by the storms in addition to the dead and injured and the crop damage. One of the villages where cholera has broken out is in a remote part of the county and the rains cut access to health centres for its sick people and access to markets for its farmers: one of the projects that I have helped to initiate is the building of a “road” through that village which would give such access throughout most of the rainy season. This year’s rainy season is by all accounts exceptionally bad and has caused widespread access problems and power cuts even in Maga, Pouss and Guirvidig, the three biggest villages. 2010 has been a year of extremes, with an exceptionally bad harmattan (wind with dust from the Sahara), exceptionally hot weather from February to May and now exceptionally severe rains and storms. One piece of good news amid the gloom is that state assistance for work on drawing up the council’s development plan, which will give a sound context for development of roads, schools, health centres, provision of wells and piped water, electrification and other infrastructure has come through after years of delay. This is something that I hope to contribute to when I return.

Sad News from Maga

In July, while back in Ireland, I got very sad news from Maga. Pouss, the biggest village in the county, was hit by a violent storm. I spoke subsequently to the mayor who said that 15 people were killed, 10 were still critical, 75 were seriously injured, a few thousand were rendered homeless and the millet crop was devastated. The Red Cross has been helping those affected and the Government of Cameroon has provided relief funds. The rainy season has been very bad this year and cholera has broken out in some of the remoter villages of the county. Access to these villages is extremely difficult in the rainy season, which compounds their problems. With widespread flooding there is a serious risk that the cholera will spread.

I have visited Pouss, which is 12 kilometers from Maga, on several (and happier) occasions, the most recent being in May. Doubla, the national volunteer with whom I work, invited a number of us to his family home, which is north of Pouss. Doubla comes from a family of 22 children, many of whom were present. His home is in what looks like an ideal setting on the banks of the Logone river, which separates Cameroon from Chad, but he told us that in the rainy season it regularly gets cut off from Pouss by floods. After eating a traditional meal we took a trip on the Logone in a pirogue. The Muslims among us visited the "mosque" on the river bank to pray.

Afterwards with Misha, a VSO volunteer who works in Maga's schools, and Mamat, a colleague in the Maga council and a good friend, we called to the sultan's palace in Pouss. I wanted to bid him farewell but he was away. Mamat, who is related to him, brought us into the living quarters to meet the sultan's four wives. I was surprised and gratified since normally the wives are only evidenced by the food which they cook for the sultan and his guests.