We go together

As I meet the people of Belo, I am quickly learning more about these friendly village dwellers. Colorful, vibrant and bright, they always stop to say hello. Kom and English are their chosen languages but you do hear French and Pigeon too.

The traditional Kom handshake is unusual. You shake the person's hand then drop your thumb to switch to an arm wrestle type grip. Then you revert back to the handshake before sliding your fingers apart to click the person's index finger. That click gets me every time. I keep clicking my own finger instead of theirs. Still it gives them a good laugh.

The walk from our house to the main street in Belo is about 15 minutes and gives us all the sights of the Kom people. On the roadside, women sell their goods from rickety wooden stalls. Bananas, tomatoes, yams, potatoes, onions and bread are all available. Other women carry their babies on their backs by fashioning a baby carrier from a blanket that they wrap across their breasts to cocoon the baby behind them. It doesn't look the most comfortable ride for the baby but they seem to sleep well nonetheless.

Motorbike taxis run back and fore along the dirt track carrying up to 4 passengers at a time. You need to listen carefully for them because they turn their engines off when going downhill to save fuel.

Children are always around either walking to school in their blue uniforms or playing an African version of piggy in the middle where they try to HIT the person in the middle. They giggle and laugh when we speak Kom to them, especially when Phil says "Unbangna tangi tangi Kom" which translates as "White man speaking Kom". Often, you will see children eating sugar cane. They rip off layers of the plant with their teeth, suck out the sugar and spit out the remains. I don't know why but I like to think of it as Africa's answer to candy floss. The children and women are skilled at carrying things on their head. I am continually amazed at what they can carry and the amount they carry. The other day, a child passed us carrying several long tree branches tied together by vine and perfectly balanced on her head.

Activities of the men vary greatly. Those who don't work seem to spend most of their time sat outside their mud huts or drinking in bars. Alcoholism is high in Cameroon. Those who do work carve impressive chairs and beds in the carpentry stalls, build new houses or ferry people around on motorbikes and in taxis. Perhaps the biggest insight into the ethos of the Kom people is the reply we get when we thank a headmaster or a principal for their time. They simply reply "we go together".