moment I go to school and we go to Douroum my friend Suzanne who is a consultant for schools in petty (say it is a suburb of Maroua) offered me the privilege of attending the school committee. The morning begins with a visit classes. The director who is also teaching lack of teacher holds a class of a hundred students, classroom equipped with desks, walls and a cement roof watertight. The other three classes are arranged with stems of millet and this for the walls and the roof, there are no desks, the children sit on benches improvised but they are very attentive. It costs 2000 FCFA (5.) Per year to send a child to school, but here it is not within reach of every budget especially as there are men who have 4 women and 20 or 30 children. The school is not compulsory and not recovered by all.
The School Committee meets in the school yard. Benches down below a tree for protection from the sun. The motivating and dynamic Suzanne has prepared materials to help them better understand, manage and control their budgets. The committee is very open to his proposals, it is so convincing. Some are actively involved while in others it is not easy to decipher if they are interested. The conduct of a meeting has nothing to do with what we know. First, there are plenty of distractions: the People come to the meeting whenever they want, they leave in warning, the children come to play near us, motorcycles traveling near the area of meeting and there I have not mentioned the problem of language. Many speak foufouldé then a translation is needed. Fortunately, Susan is assisted by a local volunteer who navigates perfectly between the two languages and at ease with a fish in water in his role. The meeting ended with prayer.
Douroun is a township located about 1.30 hrs by car Maroua in the heart of Mount Mandara. It's really very beautiful, mountains of rock, huts scattered everywhere, every inch of arable land is exploited, the people are very friendly and welcoming. Our rooms are built in huts with cement roof millet stalk, they are really very beautiful, very clean, almost new. I dreamed since I came to sleep in these huts. Saturday afternoon we go to the small market and they come to the millet beer. People have a little glass in the nose and we decide not to perpetuate our visit.
Sunday, we assume the 9 volunteers for a walk in the mountains. It is almost incredible, the trail leads sometimes to a foot in the door of a house. We pouvons apprécier un groupe de musiciens, danseurs et danseuses traditionnels, le travail d’une jeune personne qui fabrique un tapis pour faire sécher les récoltes, être témoin d’un groupe de sages qui font le jugement, l’épandage du tabac pour séchage et des paysages spectaculaires. La seule ombre au tableau pour Marcel et moi c’est la nourriture qui était 100% camerounaise. Nos yeux, premier organe sollicité pour apprécier la nourriture, et nos papilles capricieuses n’ont pas encore apprivoisé les plats locaux.
