Bumpiness all the way with this trip
If you missed this post From One Place to Another, please follow the link as that will help to put things in context :-)
We set out as early as 7am, we were going for a week. It was a rainy day and as we drove out of Bertoua, I was told that we would be driving on dirt/untarred roads for the rest of the trip. We finally took the turn that led onto the dirt road and gosh, nothing could have prepared me for that level of bumpiness. We drove through mud and deep pot holes, I gained a lot more respect for people who have jobs as drivers. The dexterity with which the car was handled, I would have come nothing close to it. I counted the hours, I tried to get my mind to wander but it just wouldn’t, every part of me was involved in the bumpy ride. My insides were turned over and over again, my body rocked back and forth violently as the road determined. We had a loo break in between and I jumped out of the car just not to feel constricted by it because I didn’t like the car very much at that point. See some photos which I managed to get when it wasn't so bumpy of the road below:
We set out as early as 7am, we were going for a week. It was a rainy day and as we drove out of Bertoua, I was told that we would be driving on dirt/untarred roads for the rest of the trip. We finally took the turn that led onto the dirt road and gosh, nothing could have prepared me for that level of bumpiness. We drove through mud and deep pot holes, I gained a lot more respect for people who have jobs as drivers. The dexterity with which the car was handled, I would have come nothing close to it. I counted the hours, I tried to get my mind to wander but it just wouldn’t, every part of me was involved in the bumpy ride. My insides were turned over and over again, my body rocked back and forth violently as the road determined. We had a loo break in between and I jumped out of the car just not to feel constricted by it because I didn’t like the car very much at that point. See some photos which I managed to get when it wasn't so bumpy of the road below:
Going through one of the potholes |
After about
four hours of this, I started to feel woozy. I wondered whether it was because
I hadn’t had anything to eat so I nibbled on carrots that I had chopped for the
trip. On a general note, I do not eat before trips, especially road trips.
Suddenly, everything seemed to rise to my mouth, then the saliva that starts to
form just before throwing up came, I managed to tell the driver to park and I
jumped out, I needed air! By this time, I was trembling. My colleague handed me
lime but my fingers were so unsteady that I couldn’t peel it, she noticed and
was so kind to peel it for me. I bit through and the sourness seemed to shock
my system back to normalcy. All this must have happened within a space of ten
minutes but those ten minutes were indeed long. We continued and I just sat
there, my body being led by the car until we got to our destination.
When we
eventually made it to our sleeping place, this was what the car looked like.
We
went to get our things from the back of the car, and lo and behold, over half of my body
cream had come out! It was so annoying. I had to clean up the two bags it stained,
and I managed to save some. I was sure I locked the lid. Well, the bumpiness
obviously over ruled and spun it around! I immediately asked for detergent and
had to wash the bags.
This was the
site that greeted me in my room! Not as bad as the last one, huh? I made myself
comfortable.
There was no water from the shower |
Ignore my things from one of the stained bags on the bed |
This is what the water looked like :-) |
Note - different legs! |
Apples, biscuits, crisp and dried raisins |
The next day, I walked through an internally displaced person’s (IDP) camp. This is not something I haven’t done before but for some reason, it was different. I think I have a whole new level of appreciation for certain things.
It was like a village, there were people
cooking, there was a thick smell of firewood, there were people making their
hair, there were goats, ducks, obviously owned by people in this camp. I saw
two stalls with guys selling different items and chatting away, there were clothes washed and
dried on straw. There were women bathing their children outside their huts/tents, men
chatting away, some looking so sad and finally children playing. The sound of
their laughter was priceless given the circumstances. Children have a way of
touching anyone deeply! Then there was the hope in people’s eyes that made my
heart stop, it was almost scary. Mothers giving me their children to hold like
they were testing to see if there was any good left in humanity, asking their
children to play with me like they wanted to see if I would play with them or
not. They treated me like I was ‘important’, but I am
just someone like them who is fortunate not to have lost everything; who might
try, but might never understand the deep sense of loss and hopelessness they
feel. People seemed to cope with the situation but there was a woman whose
sadness was written all over her. She could not even smile, we tried to respond
to her questions but how could we even imagine what she had been through? She
was beautiful, but aged by sorrow, she didn’t sit with the other women, she isolated
herself. I felt sorry for her but that would probably be all I could offer,
empathy.
A
certain woman gave me her baby, she was so comfortable with me carrying the
baby, I found myself cooing to her. I wished she were mine at that moment, but
that was wishful thinking right?! The baby will grow up to be a stunner! She is so pretty.
Just a little distance away, I saw a boy with the biggest tummy, he might have been suffering from kwashiorkor (I'm no expert but we tend to draw this conclusion pretty fast in Nigeria when children look like that), but
that wasn’t all, there were marks… I remember seeing similar marks in the past,
a friend was cut that way with a blade on his back, little marks, his
grandmother was trying to cure him of his stubbornness at the time she did that
to him. I know of another person whose baby her sisters wanted to cure of some sickness, he was cut in that way, she wasn't around, when she returned, she was heart broken. Well, I wondered if these marks were a representation of the child
being cured of something too. He seemed happy and didn’t have a care in the
world but there I was with my very active mind, asking as many questions as my
mind could hold. A few meters away, there was a girl, with glowing brown and
beautiful skin, she was in between dark and light skinned, she had such curly, long,
but unkempt hair. She was naked, standing by a fence and playing alone with
grass. Again, I was asking so many questions, questions I would never get
answers to. There were other children smiling at me, some reaching out to touch or
shake me, I bent and greeted them but the language barrier between us left me
feeling helpless. I said the only word I knew meant something in Fulfude,
'sannu', it worked :-)
Back at the lodge, the receptionist was kind,
he agreed to heat water for us so on one day, I had a hot bucket bath, ignore
the brown water okay, having a hot bath was luxury I was super pleased to indulge
in!
The walls seemed so thin, I could hear everything from the rooms next to me. One person snored so loudly. To me, the whole place could hear him. In my helplessness and my desire to get some rest I got up at some point to knock on his door. I hoped it was the angle he was lying on that made him snore. So maybe if he was woken up and turned over, he would stop or at least not snore so loudly. Of course, that didn’t wake him! It was silly of me to do and my colleague and I keep laughing each time we remember this act of mine.
The walls seemed so thin, I could hear everything from the rooms next to me. One person snored so loudly. To me, the whole place could hear him. In my helplessness and my desire to get some rest I got up at some point to knock on his door. I hoped it was the angle he was lying on that made him snore. So maybe if he was woken up and turned over, he would stop or at least not snore so loudly. Of course, that didn’t wake him! It was silly of me to do and my colleague and I keep laughing each time we remember this act of mine.
The bed?
Let’s not go there… One thing I was super thankful for was ear plugs! The person
who came up with the idea is a genius!
My body ached, so I tried to ensure that I
would stay in form, especially as the whole trip was a celebration of
bumpiness, so I managed to do basic exercises that would help me stretch in the mornings. After the third
day of course, I could not keep up with the early starts and rounds of
travelling!
After two days, we headed to the next village, we
left at 7am again, another six hours of bumpiness! We made it through the first
three hours then I started to feel sick. I thought my body would have adapted
but it was rebelling and I had absolutely no control of anything. The saliva
started to gather but I fought it, pushing it back and willing my body to
behave. A truck was coming in front so we had to give way, right on cue, I took
the glass down as fast as I could and the saliva came pouring. I got out of the
car and moved over to a corner, this time I threw up. I was embarrassed, but the
understanding look on the faces of my colleagues was comforting. She peeled
lime for me again but this time, it seemed not to have any effect. I started
laughing at some point and she looked at me askance. I simply explained that
this had never happened before so I was unsure what to make of it all. Her
response was simply ‘you won’t forget Cameroon in a hurry’. I sat there
wishing I could go numb and just waited for the drive to be over. A lot of people have referred to me as a tough cookie, but in this case, I was far from that. I was more
fragile than anyone else on this trip. I have never had motion sickness so I
won’t call this that. I would prefer to say this nauseous feeling was as a
result of all the bumpiness.
The most I had ever had of driving through bumpiness
was about two hours or less, but six to seven hours, it was a first!
Through the bumpiness, I could not miss the
forests we drove through…nature unspoiled and the beauty
of lush green. I managed to get a few photos. We saw some monkeys. We were
told that there were elephants but we weren’t so lucky, all we saw was elephant dump
so that was proof of them being present.
We went across many bridges but this was the best of them all! |
A view from the bridge |
When we reached our destination, I reached for
my laptop bag but it was wet, one of my colleague’s too. A few other things
were wet then we noticed that one of our bottles of water got punctured. This
time, my other bag was not only wet, but stained, again (same one I washed).
Well, I had no intention of washing, so I dried it. We would be on the road
again in no time and who knows what else could pour? I took out my laptop, then
dried the bag. My laptop was untouched thanks to the plastic paper holders I
always have underneath the laptop.
More in the next post...
You should make a full documentary on these trips! I salute your courage girl...
ReplyDeleteEfua
That's something to consider. Many thanks for reading :-)
Deletethe Idoma 'Indiana Jones'..... This is one experience u wont recover from... More grace and strength
ReplyDeleteNmgbede you just killed me with this comment of yours! hahahahaha
DeleteWow. Untamed and gripping. Quite a journey. The Lord is your strength, I await the next episode.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading Emeka.
DeleteHey girl friend, sorry for my late reading. Wow, this is the kind of "job" l used to dream of as a teneger. All l had of it were imaginations but you are living it as perfectly as you can. I am so touched by this story. I can only pray you bring humanity to as many as you can and stay strong through these adventures.
ReplyDeleteThank you Vivian. I am quite pleased that I can help and the fulfillment from bringing hope to other is just indescribable.
DeleteMany at times we think of these displaced people as statistics probably because its a different reality for us. Your story shows an example of the uniqueness in each one of their plight and suffering and how we can all relate to it as human beings, it struck a cord. . This was an excellent piece Ene.. on a lighter note, the hotel pictures were epic!! in the most terrible way possible :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Hettie. hehehehehehe I have almost forgotten about those sleeping places as I call them.
DeleteI agree, they are more than numbers, they are just like us.