Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Kellys Come to Cameroon

My mom, dad and Aunt Barbara came to visit me over Christmas! They met all my friends in village, saw the sights and travelled around the country a bit. Everybody was so excited to see them it was a really awesome visit.

My friend bought this pagne expressly for my father... so we got a matching ensemble made and wore it to a wedding that night.

Mom and dad drinking bilbil (millet beer) out of traditional kalabashes at Martine's house.
Bello and Daniel showing how its really done.


Hiking out to Mariam's village, the damn and the sorcerer.

Group visit to Waza National Park in our matching outfits. We saw lots of giraffes, warthogs, antelopes, ostriches, monkeys etc.


We stayed overnight in Waza, hoping to see some lions very early the next morning, which he unfortunatly didn't. But, it was pretty seeing the animals in the early morning.

We spent Christmas near Bamenda in the anglophone region with my friend Roger and his family. We went to a church and then had a big party at his house and climbed up an old volcano. It was great for my parents to actually be able to speak English themselves.


We went to visit Kumbo in the Northwest region where a big cultural festival happens every other year. All of the traditional "jujus" came out and paraded. Except, it wasn't just a parade where you would watch people walk by. If a juju came up to you, you had to bow down out of respect, and so that they wouldn't hit you with their sticks. Then you threw money at their feet. One came up to me and wouldn't stop waving his stick, even though I gave the money, and finally I realized that he wanted my beer & he chugged the whole thing!

Some jujus are more dangerous than others. For example, this one was the most dangerous of all. Those ropes attach him to handlers who can pull him in if he gets too agressive. They didn't do much to stop him from jumping onto Jake's friend's car and smashing the windshield.

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