Adventures with Julia

March 21, 2018

We are off to Cameroon tomorrow and I wanted you to have this background before we leave TChad.  I realize the last post was very long and this one is not short either.   Do take your time reading it and enjoy the process, without having to get hot and sticky.

A rare photo of both of us AND an Elle.  Had to share this image.

Now, About Cameroon

This country is considerably better off than Chad. Primarily the country has been governed better with focus on improved infrastructure, reduction of debt and economics.

First the basics. The Republic of Cameroon is in South Central Africa with access to the Atlantic coast on the Bight (bend in a coast forming a bay) of Biafra on the southwest. Country borders include: Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. It is about 12% larger than California with a population in 2016 of approximately 23,440,000, compared with California’s 2016 population of 39,250,000.

It is referred to as “Africa in miniature” for its geological and cultural diversity. The natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests and savannas. The highest peak is Mount Cameroon at 13,500 feet. There are hot and steaming plains and rainforest near the ocean to temperate grassy plateaus at 3,500 feet and very hot and dry desert in the north. There are more than 250 languages spoken in the country, providing cultural diversity and making it one of the most linguistically diverse in the world. Cameroon is also known for its native styles of music, particularly Makossa and Bikutsi and for its successful national football team.

Its early known people include the Baka (Pygmies) who were the longest continuous inhabitants. They were hunter gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Bantu migrants are believed to have originated here about 2000 years ago. The Sao civilization arose in the north around Lake Chad about 500AD and gave way to the Karen Empire as in Chad. Portuguese explorers arrived in the 15th century and named the coastal river Rio dos Camaroes (Shrimp River), which became Cameroon in English.

Cameroon, like Chad, became a German colony in 1884. Like in Chad the German government was pretty laid back, but unlike Chad, the German government granted concessions to commercial companies to regulate local administrations. Sadly, the concessions used forced labor to make a profit on their banana, rubber, palm oil, and cocoa plantations. The good thing is that they initiated projects to improve the colony’s infrastructure.

After WWI, the territory was divided between France and England. Eventually, the French part of the territory became independent in 1960 as the Republic of Cameroon under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. The English part eventually became part of Nigeria. France integrated the economy of Cameroon with that of France and improved the infrastructure with capital investments and skilled labor, modifying the system of forced labor. Then the new Nigerian migrants flocked back to southern Cameroon, which ended forced labor all together.

Under Ahidjo, the country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and set up his capital in Yaounde. He pursued an economic policy of planned liberalism, prioritizing cash crops and Petroleum development. The government used oil to create a national cash reserve, pay farmers and finance major development projects. Unfortunately many projects failed because Ahidjo appointed unqualified allies to direct them. After 22 years in power, he stepped down in 1982. His successor was Paul Biya, who began his administration with a move toward a more democratic government, but a failed coup d’etat convinced him to follow a similar leadership style as his predecessor.

An economic crisis affected Cameroon from the mid-80s to the late 90s as a result of international economic conditions, drought, falling petroleum prices and years of corruption, mismanagement and cronyism. Cameroon turned to foreign aid, cut government spending and privatized industries.
In 2008, the country experienced its worst violence in 15 years when a transport union strike in Douala escalated into violent protests in 31 municipal areas. I

In 2014, in the wake of the Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapping, Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Idriss Deby of Chad announced they were waging war on Boko Haram and deployed troops to the Nigerian border. In July 2017, Amnesty International alleged that Cameroonian security forces tortured and killed dozens of suspected members of the islamist extremest group. On February 19, 2018, another abduction of 110 school girls occurred in Nigeria. Boko Haram claims that all western education is sinful. “Boko” means education and “Haram” means forbidden.

Since 2016, Cameroon has suffered from protests from the English speaking regions of the country – the Northwest and the Southwest – because of the imposition of French in the anglophone regions, where people perceive they are being marginalized. The military was deployed against the protestors. Some people were killed, hundreds jailed and thousands fled the country. In 2017, Biya shut down the internet in English speaking regions for 94 days, at the cost of hampering 5 million people. Although both English and French are official languages, French is by far the most understood.

On the other hand, many refugees have been hosted by Cameroon. In 2007, 49,300 came from the Central African Republic, having been driven west by war. 41,600 came from Chad and 2,900 from Nigeria. In early 2014, 90,000 more, fleeing the violence in the Central African Republic, arrived in Cameroon, according to the UN. Many of these refugees were women and children who were suffering from starvation by the time they reached the Cameroon border after weeks and months of being on the road and foraging for food.

Today, Cameroon is viewed as filled with corruption at all levels of government. Human rights groups accuse police and military forces of mistreating and torturing criminal suspects, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and political activist. Prisons are overcrowded.

Biya and his party, the only legal one, have maintained control in elections, which rivals contend are unfair. Freedom House ranks Cameroon as “not free” in terms of political rights and civil liberties. The last parliamentary elections were held in September, 2013. To me this is another leader that started out wanting to help the people, then became power hungry and corrupt and stayed around far too long. Our government was wise when it limited our leaders to 2 terms. Thankfully, we the people have held them to that rule.

As for education, the adult literacy rate in Cameroon was estimated at 71.3% in 2013. Among youth aged 15-24 the rate was 85.4 for males and 76.4 for females. Unlike Chad, where there are rural areas with no schools, most children have access to state-run schools Much higher than Chad. Cameroon has one of the highest school attendance rates in Africa. In 2013 the school enrollment was 93.5%. Unfortunately, more than half the children from 7 to 14 combine work and school. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs reported that Cameroon resorted to child labor in the production of cocoa.

Health care is generally of low quality. Life expectancy was 56 in 2012. Fertility is high with 4.8 births per woman and an average mother’s age at first birth of 19.7 years. There is only one doctor for every 5000 people, with only 4.1% of GDP spent on healthcare. Payment is low even though work load is high. Some qualified but unemployed nurses work for free so they will not loose their skills. How sad and frustrating is that? The top three deadly diseases are HIV/AIDS, Lower Respiratory Infection and Diarrheal Diseases. 46,000 children under 14 were estimated to be living with HIV in 2016. Although 58% of people living with HIV know their status, just 37% receive ARV treatment. 29,000 died of AIDS that year.

Another traditional, and horrible, Cameroonian practice I learned about is called Breast Ironing. In an attempt to keep young girls from getting raped, mothers try to make their daughters breasts look flat and undesirable by massaging them with hot spatulas, spoons and rocks to make them smaller and ugly so they will be less attractive to men. It is done at home to prepubescent girls of 8 and 9. Hard to imagine a mother doing that to her daughter. All I can think is that they must feel helpless and desperate. Female genital mutilation is also practice, but only among certain populations. It is less wide spread here than in Chad.

The per capita GDP in Cameroon was $3,100 in 2015, the latest figures Mark could find. That compares quite favorable with Chad at $2,600. In the DTCongo, the third country we will visit on this trip, the per capita GDP is only $800. Chad and Cameroon may seem luxurious by comparison. Mark checked out our per capita GDP and it was $56,100. No wonder people want to come to the USA. As for world rankings of GDP, the US is 19, Cameroon is 189, Chad is 196 and DRCongo is 226 out of a total of 229, making DRCongo the 4th poorest country in the world.

During the last decade Cameroon has grown by 4% per year. Public debt was reduced from over 60% to 10% between 2004 and 2008 and official reserves quadrupled to over 3 billion USD. Unemployment was estimated at 4.4% in 2014. Since the late 80s, Cameroon has been following programs advised by the World Bank and the IMF to reduce poverty, privates industries and increase economic growth.

Cameroons natural resources are well suited to agriculture. An estimated 70% of the population farms, with most doing subsistence farming. A few have commercial farms. The urban areas depend on the these farmers to provide them with foodstuffs. Commercial products for export from coastal areas include: bananas, cocoa, oil palms, rubber and tea. From the plateau comes coffee, sugar, and tobacco and from the north comes cotton, groundnuts and rice. Fishing employees 5000 people and provides over 100,000 tons of seafood each year. Livestock is raised throughout the country.

There are vast timber reserves covering 37% of Cameroons land mass. Foreign owned firms harvest the timber with very little regulation in spite of laws that mandate safe and sustainable logging. There are substantial mineral resources, but they are not extensively mined with the exception of petroleum, the price of which has a strong effect on the economy. Rapids and waterfalls provide the country with hydroelectric power. However, much of the country remains without reliable power.

Transportation can be difficult. There are several relatively good toll roads connecting the major cities, but all of them are one lane. It will be interesting to see how that works. Only 10% are reputed to be paved and road banditry is common, especially at roadblocks that serve as opportunities to collect bribes. Our road experiences could prove interesting for sure. There is rail service called Camrail. To avoid some of the road stresses and save time, we will be taking an overnight train from a city in central Cameroon, Ngaoundere, to the capital city, Yaounde. That could be an interesting experience too.

The major TV and radio stations are state-run and land based telephones are under government control. There is some freedom of the press, but corruption keeps it from being honest and newspapers self-censor to avoid government reprisals. Cell phone networks have increased dramatically and are largely unregulated.

One good thing about Cameroon is the high level of religious freedom and diversity. About two-thirds of the population is Christian, 20% is Islam and the rest follow a variety of traditional animist beliefs. Muslims are concentrated in the north, while Christians and animists are concentrated mainly in the south and west. Large cities have significant populations of all faiths. Muslims are divided into Sufis, Shias and non-denominational groups. Many Christians in the Northwest and Southwest are of English descent and predominantly Protestant. The French-speaking people in the southern and western regions are largely Catholic. Meanwhile, in rural areas witchcraft is widely believed in by ethnic groups that follow traditional African animist beliefs and suspected witches are often subject to mob violence.

Cameroon, from my reading, is a mix of good, bad and ugly. The people are generally better off than those in Chad. It is time to go and see what we can learn for ourselves.