You might be interested to know what the Jan-term students did while they were here so I’ll write about a few of the highlights. The first night they were tired from the long journey so we had dinner at a nice restaurant and everyone turned in for a good night’s rest. We started early the next morning with lectures at the University of Buea, our host institution. Three lecturers from the History department talked about a range of topics from Cameroon history, politics, health care, women’s issues and education to development. We had lunch at UB’s Faculty/Staff canteen and then went for an afternoon of sightseeing. We visited the last lava flow from Mount Cameroon in Idenau and then went into Limbe to visit the Wildlife Center. By the time we finished there, the Botanical Gardens were closed but if you ever get to Limbe, you should definitely visit the gardens and the zoo. We walked along Down Beach where the students saw fishermen working on their nets and a few boats coming in for the evening. We had dinner at one of the beach-side restaurants – a lovely evening. And since there were no roasted fish, the owner invited us back the next night for the best roasted fish ever.


The next few days were spent learning about issues such as poverty, education and health and how these issues are inextricably linked. Thanks to the folks at LINK-UP Charity Foundation, the South West Provincial Delegate for Social Affairs and the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Complex in Mutengene for their assistance. The students came away with a greater understanding of the challenges confronting developing countries in general and Cameroon in particular.


Next to the Bamenda area and visits to the Government Primary School in Bambili and a day in the village of Pinyin, courtesy of my friends, the Mbuh family. Watching my students work on the farm with the primary school students was both heartwarming and humor-filled. I would guess that the highlight for them was the food – njama njama, kati-kati, fufu corn, ndole and of course the sweet, juicy pineapple. Other highlights were the children we met and the visit to a metalsmith’s workshop.




In Foumban, the visit to the Sultan’s Palace and learning about the historical richness of the Bamoun people was truly enlightening. And in Baffousam, we visited the local CRTV station and were hosted by a great group of people. There are many more things to see and learn in Cameroon, but the time was short.

By the time we reached the airport on Wednesday evening, homesickness was just setting in. the group weathered delays in Paris and Newark but they are now all safely back at home and getting acclimated to a new semester. This was the second year of what I hope will become a long love affair between McDaniel College and Cameroon.

Wow! Many apologies to all of you who have reminded me that it has been a long time since I’ve added to the blog. Life happens… I’ve been home to the US to visit family for the holidays. What a blessing to be able to share with loved ones if only for a few days. Three days after I returned to Cameroon, my January Term 2007 students arrived along with my colleague, Zephia Bryant (Director of Multicultural Services at McDaniel College) and a Western Maryland alumna and her husband, Sharron and Ci Taormina. Sharron was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon in the 1960s and this was her first visit since then. I believe that the Jan-term students learned a lot and had fun at the same time. I will upload some photos from the trip soon and provide an update on the University of Buea.