Cameroon

Cameroon has good conditions for farming and oil is an important resource, but many Cameroonian houses are still made of mud and thatch. Many people camp out in poor areas and travel from place to place.

Music and dance play a very important role in the culture of the people of Cameroon and they have two popular traditional dances known as “makossa” and “bikutsi”. Almost every important occasion is accompanied by an appropriate song and dance. The music is more often than not transmitted orally and may be accompanied by clapping of hands or stamping of feet. In most traditional performances there will be a soloist and the rest of the community members will give back up and the accompaniments will include traditional musical instruments such as drums, talking drums, bells, horns, flutes, scrapers, rattles, whistles, and various traditional stringed instruments. Children are taught to appreciate and play these instruments from the earliest possible opportunities and this keeps the tradition moving on from one generation to the next one.

The greetings of Cameroonians will differ greatly depending on whether one is in a Francophone or Anglophone area, but generally men shake hands as a greeting in both areas. In the southern area which is basically Francophone people who are close greet by embracing each other as they brush cheeks and kiss the air while in the North which is predominantly Anglophone people have a unique handshake. They pull their hands back as they snap the other person’s middle finger using their thumbs. When you are greeting someone older than yourself you do not look at them in the eye, as a sign of respect and therefore children do not look directly at adults. You must avert eye contact as this is considered the respectful thing for any child to do.

A typical French greeting would be Bonjour (hello).

Most people shake hands, and with close friends they kiss on the cheek. Pointing to a person and crossing legs at the knees is considered rude. People pass objects with their right hand.

Visitors appear without warning and relatives often stay and are fed for long periods of time.

Pagnes (cloth wraps) are worn by women. A turban is usually made from the same fabric that covers the head. In the urban areas people wear Western-style clothing with some women wearing blouses over their pagnes.

Foods are generally bland, and starchy eaten with spicy sauces. Meat on skewers, fried and roasted fish, curries, and peppery soups are common dishes. In the north corn, millet and peanuts are staples. In the south yams, cassava and plantains are eaten. Food are usually cooked then pounded until they form a stick mass called fufu (foofoo) which is formed into balls then dipped in sauces. Ndole and bobolo are typical dishes of the southern region. Cameroonians eat out of communal bowls using three fingers from their right hand. At mealtime damp towels may be passed out.

Cameroonians typically have large families of 5 or more children; with larger families the head of the house has more than one wife. Women usually do much of the housework including tending the fields.

Soccer is the most popular sport. Basketball and handball are also popular.  Cameroonian music Mokossa is played ever where and defines the youth culture.

The journey to school is usually done on foot because there is no organized school transport, and on average the school could be about 2 or 4 kilometers away from home - but that is considered a normal distance to walk. School begins at 7:30 a.m. in the morning and will generally go until 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon before children walk back to their homes.

Just like their homes most schools are made of packed earth and the roofs are likely to be iron sheets and there are quite a large number of students since primary school is free of charge, the average ratio of teacher to students may be about 1:50. School subjects are taught in either French or English and is not uncommon to also learn Mathematics, Natural Science, Technology, History, Geography, Civics, Physical Education, Household management and Child care, Manual work, Traditional art crafts, Management of personal funds for church work (Stewardship). Generally, classes are held in classrooms, and occasionally outside for Physical Education and sporting activities, Natural Science laboratories, and Technology. The classes are taught by lecture and are the only source of information for students who are financially unable to purchase the text.

There are generally a large number of schools that offer a very good quality of education to the children of this country. Actually Cameroon seems to have one of the best educational systems in most of Africa. There used to be two educational systems, one for the east and the other for the west but they since merged to form one major and stronger educational system. Schooling starts as early as the age of three. This earliest level of school is not necessarily compulsory so a few parents send their children to attend kindergarten. Primary school education, which is mandatory, takes a total of seven years and it is basically free of charge in all public schools. Uniquely and quite different from the rest of Africa, pupils in Cameroon can sit for vocational examinations as well as technical ones quite early in life which can allow them to choose the profession they may want to follow later in their lives as they grow up. When they move on to secondary schools children may get to choose to attend one of the three arms of secondary school education. There are grammar schools, vocational institutions as well as other training institutes. Secondary school education itself is not compulsory and so quite a number of children may not get to proceed beyond the primary level of education.

After-class activities may include clubs as well as any other activities that are meant to help brighten children. A few schools have various clubs which will include theater, dance, or choir. When children are not in school and on weekends and holidays, they work at home to help their parents with domestic chores, and once in a while, they may organize themselves to do homework together. Leisure activities may include taking a walk with friends around the village paths. Children will also organize themselves and do recreational dances in the evenings which sometimes they perform at the end of activities in schools such as sorts and the like. All recreational activities are usually done communally and under the watchful eyes of teachers or parents.

The weekends are usually quite different because school is not run so children must help their parents with work at home and especially in the fields and farms. The activities may include also washing clothes and then later in the evenings some leisure activities and reviewing of school work, especially for those in higher classes. The work in the fields is usually divided according to gender as well as age. Generally, the girls will plow the fields with hoes, and the boys will be working with machetes to clear the land, doing weeding as well as helping to look for firewood for cooking the family meals.   Because many Cameroonians live in villages, the family wakes up at about 5:00 a.m. in the morning on weekends and walk to the field where they have some breakfast they carried before they begin the day’s activities. They will usually work nonstop until about 3:00 p.m. when they stop working and begin the journey back home. The journey home is usually a tedious one because everyone will go home loaded with something either on their heads or shoulder. The women and girls will carry home some farm produce on their heads, the fathers may carry home some game if he had set up any traps and they caught anything whereas the boys will carry firewood on their shoulders. Getting home at about 5:00 p.m. means it is time for people to wash up as the mother and daughters prepare the evening dinner while the man and the boys take a rest or wander about in the village as they wait for dinner to be prepared. Dinner is eaten before darkness falls, and after doing the dishes there may be a little time to catch up before people sleep at around 9:00 p.m.