It's Africa Calling, Act One

October 6, 2007

Dear Friends, its Africa calling…

Greetings from Kumbo, Cameroon!

The first week has now flown by! I am living in a beautiful mountain valley guest house surrounded by rainforest, terraced plots of green and a bustling town of 90,000. The town appears small due to the mountainous divisions of ridges and rolling meadows offering a cozy refuge to the residents by tucking them away in glens of green. You will love it!

These people, this land, still has soul. There is community and communion – everyone greets each passerby on the street and taxis flood the streets with aid and fellowship. My first taxi ride started as a solo experience, but within 100 yards we had acquired seven more passengers, one of them was a goat. Shared rides and shared fares. I wonder how much the goat paid.

Today Matthew auditioned singers for our open house at the stadium. Our students in the Sacred Link Jewelry program joined in on the chorus, “We welcome you in the name of the Lord…” As if cued in by the stage manager, the audition filled with many ‘extras’ singing and dancing in the chorus … including myself and Panditji. For a few minutes, the classroom was transformed into a Broadway theater with a full-scale musical production now on stage. There is a spirit here that seduces us all into caring and sharing.

It is very easy to be here. Food is plentiful and English is the mother tongue. Kumbo’s infrastructure is intact – educationally, politically and socially. Previously, this culture was a victim of economics and exploitation by outsiders leaving many buildings, roads and projects remain unfinished. When a culture has grown dependent on grants and gifts, the concept of earning and inventing is almost absent.

Vocational training, market linkage and opportunity will quickly chase away these ghosts of the past. Rich in resources and poor in options, Kumbo is the ideal place to build a model of self sufficiency and sustainability for all of Africa. The Himalayan Institute Cameroon will change the future of this country.

I will write more soon. Let’s consider this Act One.

Love,

Blair