Notes from Douala

By Canute Tangwa

Douala-Mbeng also has a number of historical monuments. For obvious reasons, I do not mean German or French monuments. I mean authentic visible and invisible Cameroonian historical monuments.

Though Douala-Mbeng saw the Portuguese, English, Germans and French, it witnessed over and above all the real fight for our independence! I do not know how many Cameroonians or Doualans, especially, bother to ask the right questions. Really, if you ask the right questions, as they say, you will get the right answers: questions about who we are, where we come from and where we are heading to.

I would not be surprised, if a chap in Mbeng or elsewhere, recites extempore, the names of Manchester United's first eleven! Not bad for a country of footballers. Ask the same fellow who just parroted the names of MANU stars the significance of Carrefour Anatole that he shouts everyday; you would see the whites of his eyes.

Carrefour Anatole

Mbeng is not very famous for its Carrefours like Ongola (Yaounde). However, there is one Carrefour that is extremely popular - Carrefour Anatole. Strangers (I am not very comfortable with this word) to Mbeng must know Carrefour Anatole.

Out of 20 people hailing a taxi anywhere in town, 12 of them shout Carrefour Anatole. It is obvious, some know-alls would say, because Carrefour Anatole is a walking distance to Marché Central formerly Marché Lagos/Congo for those who know.

Bitter-Sweet History

Yes, talk about Carrefour Anatole and those who can rewind the clock of our bitter-sweet history in Mbeng will wince. Most grey-haired and bald Mbengers remember vividly the famous burning of Marché Congo during the UPC days. Verily, Anatole, a Bami, was one of the foremost photographers of his day. 

He had another love that startled the Ahidjo neo-colonialist regime: he was a UPCist to the core. While he took memorable shots of ordinary and extraordinary Mbengers in the roaring and bloody 60s, he was the treasurer of the UPC in Douala-Mbeng! He kept diligently the party's purse and books.

We were piously told sometime ago that people like Anatole collected and kept money for maquisards (terrorists) like Um Nyobe, Ernest Ouandie, Felix Moumie and the UPC treasurer Abel Kingue! This story dropped from the lips of an authentic eyewitness at a Gogoro Centre in CC Bassa, Douala.  That is Douala-Mbeng where history is written in the name of a road junction; where a photographer unwittingly inscribes his name in the Cameroonian Hall of Fame.

But as I am writing this piece, Cameroonians are supposed to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the exemplar of the one Kamerun idea and national consciousness, Ruben Um Nyobe. Unlike Anatole, there is no street or junction named after the great Um Nyobe in Douala-Mbeng or anywhere. Since "history is a dance of luck and intent" a crossroad could have been named after Anatole for reasons other than political. And that is the case with Anatole.

Who Cares?

Indeed, schools have re-opened. It is no news. What is news is how parents and probably Gobna were unprepared for the rentrée scolaire as it is called in Mbeng. Not every child of school going age in Mbeng knew that schools reopened about a month or so ago! Who cares?

In Akwa, Nyalla, Bepanda, New Bell, Nkololoun, Village, Makepe, Ndogbong, Ndokoti, Bonaberi, around popular junctions in Bonanjo, Bonapriso, Deido, Bonamoussadi and so on, children of school going age still roam the streets, day and night, poor, dirty and hungry. These are the hangers on of our educational system. They beg for money, hawk and do odd jobs.

The Exemplar

Some egg heads are wont to say that if you are looking for a saint, do not go to the Vatican! Go to Calcutta; then I remember Mother Teresa. Go to Onitsha in Awala country; then I think of Father Tansi. Go to Nkololoun or Bassa neighbourhood in Douala-Mbeng; then I recall the upright policeman amongst the stinking lot.

Ahem! He is one of the few Cameroonian Bobbies (of course he behaves like a typical English policeman) in Mbeng. As early as 6 am he takes his place at Terminus. He is a friend to everybody.

He does not collect 500 frs as his colleagues do. Where his colleagues use jackboot force and threats, he chides mildly but firmly. He does not reproach to inflict pain. My policeman at Terminus (Saint Michel) is an example of doing ordinary things extraordinarily! That is Douala-Mbeng where good examples come from unexpected quarters!

Comments

[Camera Flash Migos Bando]

If some one wants to be updated with most recent technologies therefore he must bbe visit this site and be up to date everyday.

[diet to lower cholesterol In Adults]

I was curious if you ever thought of changing the structure of yur website? Its very weol written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?