The Thieles Travel to Ndu, Cameroon

Dale’s Perspective (with Erin's editing) Sorry so long... there is a lot to take in. We'll try to get some pictures up soon.

Days 1 & 2 (Friday & Saturday): Air Travel

Our day started at 3:30am after a brief fidgety sleep. It was difficult to relax and fall into a deep sleep when we were on the eve of moving to Africa for six months. Questions kept running through my mind: What if we oversleep? What if we miss a flight? What if we forget something? What am I doing moving my family across the world? Even with these things swirling through my head, I was able to doze off and on for 3 hours.

Our first flight out of San Francisco departed at 9:45am. We wanted to leave Roseville early enough to miss San Francisco Bay Bridge traffic, get our luggage checked in (13 checked cases), and move our small force of a family (6 carry-on bags and backpacks on most of us; can you picture us going through security?) to the boarding gate without the stress of rushing. Jon Peterson drove us in a church van and Troy Wilson (experienced oversea missionary traveler) came along to help us move our luggage through check out. We made it over the Bay Bridge with spare time to stop at Krispy Kreme Donuts (one of the boys’ favorites).

God was kind to us during the whole air travel process. There were no problems checking our luggage. We made it (slowly) through security just fine. We never felt rushed trying to make it to one of our gates. The boys were super helpers carrying their backpacks and pulling wheeled suitcases through the airports and onto airplanes. The boys also were super on the airplanes, being content with the activities they had in their backpacks, being excited to eat a meal on a plane, and even sleeping well crossing the Atlantic. Many were praying for Jonathan specifically because he developed an ear infection right before we left. The change of air pressure never bothered him. We are just so thankful to God for such a smooth travel across the world.

We landed in Douala, Cameroon on Saturday at about 5:15pm (Cameroon currently is 8 hours ahead of California). It was about 89 degrees and very humid. This just made moving through the airport a sweaty adventure. We made it through immigration just fine, having all of our paperwork in order. We were slow at moving through the airport, so by the time we made it to baggage claim a gentleman named Roger met us and had already pulled 9 of our cases off of the belt (I guess using Rubbermaid Action Packers scream “missionary”). Eventually all of our luggage came out (we had been prepped to expect one or more of our pieces not to make it) and Roger walked us smoothly through customs (“Yes, all of these items are our personal belongings. No, we are not here to sell anything.”).

When we actually stepped out of the airport, things became overwhelming. Several men approached our carts full of luggage ready to carry away our things. We were not sure who to let touch our bags. Apparently, Roger and our driver, Dieudonne, prearranged with these men to help carry our things down the stairs to the parking garage. Well, we didn’t know what all was arranged and both Erin and I were cornered by different men demanding to be paid for helping. This scared the boys, thinking the men would hurt us or steal our belongings. Dieudonne and Roger, however, had the whole situation under control and took care of us. All of our bags and all of the family were stuffed into the van and taken to a European Baptist guesthouse for the night.

Even though we were exhausted from the air travel, this first night in Cameroon was not very restful. It was uncomfortable with the heat and humidity, and the boys just were not at ease in the new setting.

Day 3 (Sunday): Road Travel to Bamenda

At the guesthouse we had breakfast (homemade bread and omelets) and packed up in the van again for the drive to Bamenda. Bamenda is the capital city of the North West region of Cameroon and has a population of about 400,000 people. The road is all paved between Douala and Bamenda, so we were able to enjoy the scenery along the roadside. We saw shops, churches, villages, mango trees, banana trees, papaya trees, a volcano in the distance, motorcycles with 3 or 4 people on them(and sometimes also carrying another motorcycle!), and tons and tons of people walking. It seems like the Cameroonian people all come to “hang out” along the main drag. Anywhere we saw a church there were people crowded along the road leading to the church. Most people walk and have no other form of transportation.

We arrived at the Cameroonian Baptist Convention guesthouse in Bamenda in the mid-afternoon. We were greeted by George Ngwang, the gentlemen who was working on this end to obtain our residency paperwork so we could get our visas. George warmly greeted us and set us up with our room accommodations for the night. He also introduced us to some missionaries from America who proved to be Godsend encouragements as we began our stay here. Elsie, a teacher for missionary kids who has been in Cameroon for 15 years, invited us to her home for dinner. We greatly appreciated her “orientation” to Cameroon and helpful hints to ease our transition into our new life. We felt ready to take the plunge into the village of Ndu.

This second night of sleep was much more restful. It helped significantly to have the hospitality of Americans to ease us into a foreign land.

Day 4 (Monday): Road Travel (there was a road, right?) to Ndu

During the weeks leading up to our travel, many different people warned us of the “adventurous” or “treacherous” road up to Ndu. No words, actually, could have prepared us for what we endured on Monday.

The day started with Erin and I attending to some business items, which needed to be addressed in Bamenda (setting up our money account, purchasing SIM cards for our cell phones, shopping for food not available in Ndu, etc). We were finally all packed up and ready to go just after lunch. After stopping to purchase some frozen fish and fresh pineapples on the road out of Bamenda, we started the trek up into the mountains.

Side note about Bamenda: This city is located in a beautiful valley among some majestic mountains. From the guesthouse we stayed in, we could see several waterfalls flowing out of the mountains. It truly reminded us of Yosemite Valley, where you are surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. Just incredible! And on the road out of Bamenda, we drove by a couple more waterfalls. We loved it.

Ndu is a small village (Population? Not sure. No one has ever done an official count. We have heard 10,000 and we have heard up to 40,000), nestled in the mountains of northwest Cameroon that border Nigeria. It is only about 140 km from Bamenda, but there are paved roads for only about a third of the way. The six month rainy season is just coming to an end, and the rains this year have left the road in its worst condition (ruts, trenches, canyons, can I say canyons? Yes, canyons. It’s only the work of God that our van never got stuck). All of the long-term missionaries and even the Cameroonians have said that the road is the worst it has ever been. It was a five-hour bumpy drive to make it to Ndu.

At 6:30pm, and in darkness, we arrived at the Yong’s home on the campus of CBTS. [Philemon and Linda Yong’s home will be our residence while we stay here in Ndu. The Yongs are on home assignment for the year. It will be by God’s grace that I will be able to fill in some of the gap felt by CBTS with the absence of Dr. Yong.] At the door of the van, Rev. Mbongko, the president of CBTS, warmly greeted us with hugs. Along with Rev. Mbongko were the academic dean, Rev. Nseimboh, our house help (our cook, laundress, and dish washer), and several other members of the CBTS community. We immediately felt welcomed and loved, which proved to be such a great encouragement after that long drive.

Everyone helped unload our luggage and dinner was already prepared on the table. Our house help stayed late to clean up and assist us in getting set up in our new home. The electricity went off and on several times during the evening and eventually stayed off. Linda Yong prepped us well for this experience and we had our headlamps and candles ready to guide us to bed. Exhausted and overwhelmed by our new environment, we made it to bed, looking forward to daylight to explore our new surroundings.