Clean Water
in
Cameroon
Day 18: Going to church
Today has been another eventful day. We decided last night to go to church this morning; I was interested to see how it would differ from church services in the UK. The main church in Mbontsem (as in most of Cameroon) is catholic. We were ready to head over at 7, the nominal start time. In true Cameroonian fashion, people didn't start arriving till nearly 8 (fortunately for us, we could see the church from our window, so we didn't have to wait there). I had hoped we would be able to sit at the back and observe events; I was genuinely interested to see how things happened here. Of course, I should have known better. As guests in the village, and white guests looking at the water supply no less, we were shooed up to the front next to the choir. After mass and the sermon (mostly in the local language, with bits of english now and again) we were asked up to the front to say a few words. Although everyone we'd met on the water committee spoke some english, many others in the village didn't, and I'm not sure how faithful the translation was. Anyway, it was good fun!
We're due to leave early tomorrow morning (there is a car leaving for Kumbo at 5am - apparently, transport is one thing that does go on time here, so we'd better be ready. Apparently.) Most people won't be up until 6 or so, so we said our goodbyes to the water committee and other villagers we'd come to know. Hospitable to the end, they even presented us with a cockerel as a gift. I just hope it survives the journey back to Kumbo…