The Value of Time

We all can question why Cameroon is not as developed as other countries if they have a lot to give, great coffee, excellent cocoa, tea, petroleum, etc., the people here are smart, they are nice and so on an so forth.  Then you start to think...maybe they don’t have opportunities, maybe they don’t get any help, maybe they don’t have the education…but after one month and a half here I kind of figured out what the problem is.

We are used to (most of us) get things done efficiently and effectively , we analyze things, we think that time is money, so we learned that if you want to live well, you have to work hard and as much as you can to get what you want.

I have been able to notice how Cameroonians (most of them, not all) don’t appreciate the value of time, they are always...always late for everything, they wait hours, days, weeks and even months to get something done...something that could have been finished in 1/3 of the time they have been waiting, they are so relaxed (which is good sometimes, but not in excess…like it happens here), that they don’t care if they wasted precious minutes and hours just doing almost nothing, instead of analyzing all they could have done during that period, all they could have gotten, all they could have gained.

A few minutes ago I was talking to Luca, one of the German volunteers here, we were discussing about this and he was telling me that one of his Cameroonian friends visited Germany long time ago and when he (Luca) asked him what was the most impressive thing he saw in Germany, and his friend told him: “People are always on time”. He could have said, the infrastructure, the cars, the clothes, good living, etc., but no, he was impressed with something even better, the value of time. Maybe he realized that all that amazing infrastructure, the cars, clothes and good living…all that can be obtained just by appreciating every minute you have.

I am not saying that having all those things is important to have a great life, I’m just pointing that people could have a better quality of life if they were conscious about what they could achieve by doing things  efficiently and effectively.

Cameroonians live happy (most of them), they live with the basics and have love and God, and I admire that, but they definitely could live better if they were taught that if you want something, you always have to give your best, analyze all situations and possible outcomes and do things as soon as possible.

I hope I can help some of them understanding those concepts and maybe …maybe…make a difference on their lifes.

Good and bad

So not all we live is good…we have bad times too...and it sucks…yes, but everything happens for a reason right?

Last year and part of 2010 were the worse years of my life and at the moment I was so upset, I was upset to the world, to life, to God, I just couldn’t understand why was I going thru all that…why my family was going thru all that…and after everything I learned that sometimes you don’t have to understand things…you just have to accept them, even if it doesn’t make any sense…you will get it later.

Good and bad…every moment is an experience, something that you could use to get strengths and keep fighting, something you could use to motivate yourself and others to get what you want or something you could just use to get sad and depressed.

I’m having a tough time, I miss my family, my friends, my home, but I know that if I’m here is because here is where I wanted to be, where God wanted me to be and it was part of my destiny, of my purpose on Earth …and I’ve decided to see the positive side of missing my people…just made me realize how much I care for them and opened my eyes to the important things of life, so I will get the strengths to keep fighting, to help as many people as I can, to get closer to God and to get the good experience so I can use it later to work with my friend Anguile (Bruno) in our project of building a new NGO to help countries in Africa and other parts of the world.

 I can say that Africa has helped me more than what I’ve helped Africa so far…I’ve met great people, I’m growing spiritually…the good and bad moments are making me stronger and I can’t thank enough to God for listening my prayers and to my people for supporting me at all time. Love you all! And as the song says and I will apply…Don’t worry be happy! :-D ...PS: the picture was taking after removing the braids out of my hair...thats why the Afro...lol

34 million tons vs 7300 pounds

A couple of weeks ago we went to Tole, a small village not too far from Buea, where most of the people living there work on the tea plantations located just right there.

A donor from Australia sent $200 to put light at the Home Solace, to get gifts of the kids for Christmas and to help a couple of families in Tole.

The families One is integrated by three adults, an elder lady and her two sons, all of them blind, but smart and very independent, they make soaps to sell and get an income to pay for their food and everything else. The other family is integrated by four members, the mom and three little kids, a girl of about 6 years, a boy of 4 years and a girl 2 years. The mom is blind and doesn’t have the support (economically or morally) of her children’s father.

We went to the village with the purpose of give the first family money so they can buy materials to make more soaps and get money from them and give food and clothes to the other family, but while I was there I saw something for the first time in my life, something that made me think on what I’m writing now...an old man was cooking a dog!!!..yessssss!!! a dog! He was cooking the dog on fire and pealing it with a machete.

And here it comes…when I asked why they eat dog, they explained me that a dog will give them enough meat to feed a lot of people and since they can’t afford to get cows, well, they have to eat dogs.

It might seem wrong, against animal rights, not healthy, etc., but the truth is that they need something to eat, they must survive and we can’t judge them for it…we can’t say anything…Why??... Because while US generates every year 34 million tons of food waste …34 million tons!!! The people in Tole have to eat a 20 pounds dog because they don’t have another option! Even if they kill a dog each day, that would be 7300 pounds a year.  Who are we to jugde?!

Now…think about it, 34 million tons vs 7300 pounds!!

We go to a restaurant and order food and if we don’t want anymore, we just leave it there and it will go to the trash, we cook at home and we have leftovers...they go to the trash, all the fast food and buffet restaurants make food that they don’t even use, no one eats it and it goes to the trash…that’s only prepared food. What happens to the expired food?...Goes to the trash as well.

Human beings can be smarter than the rest of the animals, but we haven’t found a way of feeding millions of persons who suffer of hunger and knowing that millions of tons of food waste are generated every year in the World.

So let’s do what we can to help others to eat well! There is always something we can do.