After several weeks of hectic activity in preparing to leave the States, and with lots of help from very good friends, we managed to get away on schedule and arrived safely in Cameroon. However, this trip was the most harrowing of all our travels to date. Here is a brief recap.

All our flights up to the Zurich-Douala leg went great. Our suitcases weren't too heavy and with a couple of exceptions, we were on time. We even got a little sleep on our over sea flight. When we boarded the plane in Zurich, we found our seats in the back of the plane (cheapest seats except for the ones in the baggage compartment :) ). While we were waiting for everyone to board, a man two rows behind us started to talk sort of loud. It didn't take long to realize by his accent that he was a Cameroonian, and he was repeating over and over in French that he needed to visit the restroom (in other words). I rolled my eyes and asked the Lord why he had to be on OUR flight.

Moments later, we saw that he was handcuffed to a man on each side, whom we assumed were plain-clothed policemen. He continued to struggle with them and draw the attention of passengers on board, the majority of whom were Cameroonian. He began to tell the passengers that he was being unjustly treated and had a visa and a passport and these men had kept him in the airport jail for a month and were returning him to Cameroon. It appeared that many were buying his story as they crowded around his seat being very vocal about how he was being treated.

Danny and I were afraid that this quickly intensifying situation was going to ignite into a riot. Needless to say, we were praying in our seats. Finally, some uniformed policemen put a descending ramp up to the rear exit, and after much trouble and resistance from the prisoner, and much consternation from the spectators, loaded him into a car and left.

Our flight was delayed for an hour and a half while this developed. Some of our fellow passengers continued to be vocal about their feelings. Eventually the uproar died down, and people got in their seats and settled in for the flight. As we tried to relax, we realized that it was as easy for the Cameroonians to believe and sympathize with their countryman as it was for us to trust the Swiss police--two very different points of view.

But that's not all that happened...

When nearly to Douala, our destination, the pilot announced that we would bypass Douala and land in the capital, Yaounde because a crew member was sick. This would delay our landing in Douala by several hours. Then it all started up again as people expressed their frustration over this decision. Didn't Douala have good hospitals? Why inconvenience a planeload of people for one crew member?

In the Yaounde runway, the pilot confessed that he was the sick crew member. Indeed, he had been stricken in flight with a terrible headache that paralyzed him. Since his replacement crew was in Yaounde, we had to land there first.

When the crew instructed us to exit the plane in Yaounde to wait in the lounge and be fed there, some of the outspoken ones refused to leave. Once they finally complied, there was more heated discussion and even shouting in the lounge. As we were allowed to reboard the plane, we passed a crowd around an airline rep informing him of a lawsuit they wanted to file against the airline.

How relieved we were to land in Douala and to be met by our faithful porter who has helped us through customs for years! We arrived after midnight at the guest house where we were scheduled to stay and enjoyed a restful night’s sleep. Our flight 3 days later to Meskine, our final destination, was thankfully very dull!

Note: we do not necessarily endorse the ads that appear on this blog site and apologize if the content is questionable. We have no control over this feature.