February 11 is Youth Day in Cameroon. It is a special holiday to commemorate the Youth and is a pretty big deal around the country.
Leading up to the big holiday (Feb 9th), I was invited to a remote village about 15 km from Beka Hossere. It is a fairly small poor village where my predecessor had built a school. They invited me to partake in their Youth Day festivities and give a sort of keynote speech. I had prepared what I hoped was a motivational discourse focusing importance of education for the Youth. I also brought along with me a bunch of French books, notebooks, crap tons of candy, and soccer ball.
Upon reaching there I realized I was actually sort of the guest of honor. My post mate had come with me and we were welcomed with a reception. There was a lookout posted at the front of the village with a whistle, and as soon as he saw us riding in on Biya’s (Nana’s little brother) moto, he signaled for everyone to get ready to begin. The school’s teacher welcomed us and a little girl handed me a bouquet of bright green artificial flowers. The kids were all lined up ready to start the ceremony, and the rest of the villagers were gathered around the school to watch.
As we greeted everyone and settled in, a group of drummers (playing bongo type drums with their hands) entertained everyone while the little kids gathered around and danced. They also sang in Fufulde, which I don't quite yet understand, but every now and then I’d hear my name in there. They insisted that I get up and dance, which is of course exactly what I was waiting for. I busted out all the African dance moves I had acquired over the past 6 months which they were delighted to see. The chief of the neighboring village came up and stuck a 1,000 cfa bill ($2) on my forehead, which is a sort of customary thing to do. I felt a little awkward for a second because I can’t possibly take a villagers money. 1,000 francs is a lot in that village. Luckily someone else started dancing so I stuck it on his dome and of course he had no qualms about it. I think I was getting carried away because one of the village elders told me to sit back down. They continued dancing for a while longer and did some choreographed routines the kids were working on. After, the school teacher gave a speech explaining how grateful they were to have us there on this occasion, after which I gave my speech.
The speech went pretty well. I basically did my best to motivate the children to go to school and think about how to attain their highest aspirations. I also explained how my family was from Pakistan, and how there were so many similarities in our cultures, and that they actually remind me of my extended family there. I later included a hadith by prophet Muhammad (since vast majority there were Muslim) encouraging seeking knowledge ‘even unto China’, and concluded with a statement about how the youth are our future, which was meant to be inspiring, though I’m not sure how many people were still paying attention towards the end. Someone was next to me the entire time translating my French into Fufulde. French is the official language in this region, and though they speak French in schools, government institutions, and centers of business, they predominant language is actually the local dialect of Fufulde. Since most of the villagers are illiterate/have not attended school, they only speak Fufulde.
After this I gave my random of assortment of gifts and watched the rest of the ceremony which included some humorous plays, more dances, and some singing.
After the long ceremony, we had lunch in someone’s mud brick hut, which consisted of rice, fish, bread, cous cous, potato, cassava, tea, and of course other stuff I was not familiar with. We left the village that afternoon and headed home.
One thing I noticed leading up to Youth Day was the excitement of the older youth, who were enthusiastic about their potential for attracting females at Youth Day parties. I remember speaking to a group of them on my porch one morning about their prospects. They were incredibly confident about their capabilities; it was not a question of if but how many. In the culture here the amount of wives one has indicates his wealth, status, and power. I certainly see this mentality engrained at an early age. When I was skeptical, they clued me in on a secret advantage; magic oil. I laughed only to discover they were not at all joking. They were explaining how people do magic way out en brusse and make this strong perfumed potion which females simply could not resist. Apparently upon wearing it, all you had to do was greet a woman, and it was game over, she was ‘trapped’. I thought to myself, if what they said was in fact true, I could import this product to Indianapolis area alone and retire before the age of 30
The young guys told me to come to the Youth Day festivities in Ngaoundere on Feb 11th to see for myself. I gleefully agreed and came into town with my camera. The actual Youth Day event was pretty spectacular. Every school from the area was organized and marched through the town in a parade. It was followed that night with Youth Day parties throughout the area. Unfortunately, due to enormous crowds of people and jammed cell phones, I was unable to find and witness my group of young guys from Beka Hossere dazzle the women at Youth Day.
