Cameroon was the only Francophone country we visited, all through the tour we didn't get response to our mails sent to Association MEKA who happens to be our wonderful host over there, we arrived at Yaoundé at about 8:30 p.m on the 14th of August, throughout the trip i was really scared of putting the whole group into situation we'd rather not be in, for if we get there and there was none to pick us up, that means we are done for in all ways that it could appear. But to my advantage Jean Michel and Jean Marie were already waiting for us and the introduction of the team was quickly made as usual, it was a real big relief for us all. Although the motivation was beginning to drop for us all, Zoom we drove off to the hotel that was already arranged for us, we only had to change some CFA to pay for the rooms, the day was a very long day so we all crashed to wake up the next day.
Then comes the next morning and quickly we were off to Elise Mbala's residence for a wonderful five stars breakfast that has enormous choice to select from, there we discussed what the program will look like. we had six night seven days in Yaoundé, so we had time to make interviews and performances but nature decided when it had to, our first performance was quite a wonderful one in the midst of a lot of kids and beside a local market, the second show was nullified due to the heavy downpour that didn't stop till late so it gave us a concrete reason to have a peaceful rest, most of us slept from 2pm till the next day, this also made me realize one of the constraints one need to have in mind making road shows. Cameroon, personally wasn't so interesting, we were all down in spirit, in energy and the French language didn't help so much, its not that i don't speak good French but when the brain is over charged and mind has began to transit to other venues, one will only be able to think in his mother tongue and this really affected the interviews we made.
The last show was such a brilliant co-incidence, we were in Elise’s car, scavenging for a floor to dance for it was quite a difficult thing to get a really good space for out door event like ours in Yaoundé, finally we got to an estate, we try to meet some young guys who eventually told us that they usually organize weekly street jams in the estate, then we were like "wow that's great" we met with Patrick the principal organizer, but the day it usually take place (Wednesday) was the same day we were performing at the market place, so we couldn't make two performances, so what we did was to attend the event later in the evening, showed about five minute presentation on the piece then invited them all to be around for Saturday for the real thing. it all went super well, a big up to Patrick the organizer for the love he showed us, Association Meka, Elise Mballa, Marie Germaine who never stopped ringing me and also took care of the organization of our return trip, Bell Simon, Jean Marie and a special mention for Jean Michel that never left us alone to confusion.
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