Day 27

This is Seque and his daughter, Kati. Seque, the Corporal Radar O’Reily of the University of Buea, took to me as soon as I arrived and has looked out for me at the University, showing me where important and useful people’s offices were located, liaising between myself and the super-busy Dr. Ndumbe, and showing me where things on campus were, like the printing office, internet center, and the staff canteen (cafeteria).

Today he invited me over to his house as a guest. He had discovered that I liked a Cameroonian dish called Pacoco and declared that I was invited to his house and that his wife would prepare the dish for me. Needless to say, I was very honored.
Seque’s house is very close to the university, about a ten-minute’s walk. From the outside, his house is impossibly small. His unit is one of many in a building that can’t be more than ten feet high and forty feet wide. The inside, however, was extremely welcoming and cozy. It was amazing how so many of us were able to fit inside of such a small room without feeling the least bit uncomfortable. Seque, his wife, his daughter, his niece, the secretary from the University, four neighbors who had come to see the American, and I dined on his wife’s Pacoco, which was delicious, even better than what I’ve had at Duke and Harvey’s.

After the meal, another neighbor joined with a large bag filled with drinks and we sat in the cozy room, discussing American, Cameroonian, and African politics while a rerun of the presidential debate ran on CNN. American politics is unavoidable when with Cameroonians in a close social event, especially with a candidate like Barack Obama. American politics, of course, leads into African politics, and then into Cameroonian politics. I can’t say that I don’t enjoy it at all. It’s nice to hear what people think of the US and of their own country, and it’s better than talking about why I’m not married or don’t have a girlfriend or which Cameroonian girl I’m going to take back with me to the US.