MY TRUE LIFE STORY

When we got to Bamenda, we lodged in a hotel that happens to be owned by a Cameroonian/Nigerian family, a family to be much remembered because of how they impacted our lives in diverse areas of life. While in that hotel, two leading clubs in Bamenda, namely PWD FC and Rangers Int’l FC, came dragging after us, but before leaving Nigeria, it was Rangers FC that we were told of, so we yielded ourselves to Rangers FC, which were camping in a village I could still remember the name of (BALI-KUMBAT).

OUR JOURNEY FROM CAMEROON TO DRC CONGO.

We (Jossy, KingPhil, and Francis) left Bamenda in the north-west province of Cameroun for Yaoundé, the capital, in a night by bus. We arrived in Yaoundé on Wednesday morning. The next day, we immediately left Yaoundé for Sanglema, then Djoum, and Mintum all the same day by road (car). It was when we got to Mintum that we discovered that we could not continue our journey by car but rather by LEG (trekking). So we have no option, and so we started a new experience by trekking, which started in Mintum. —– Lele ==65km. Due to disturbance from the Gernderm in Mintum, our money got finished, so there was just no way for us to continue the journey, so our friend and brother Francis, who happens to be a Cameroonian, went back to Yaoundé to visit his family since we were still in Cameroonian territory while we stayed in that village in the house of one Sylvian whom we just met in that car coming to Mintum. He kept us in his house for one solid month as well as feeding us bush meat such as monkey, monkey, antelope, etc. with BOBOLO, the same type of food for one solid month, and drinking water from the river in a village of not up to 50 people. What an experience! Francis left us there for Yaoundé, and after some weeks he returned, and he came back with the sum of 400,000 cfa. We immediately continued our journey a day after his return, but before continuing the journey, an idea came that if one person holds the money, it will be very risky because if anything comes up along the way, that is the end of it, so we decided to share the money like this: Francis took 200,000 cfa, Jossy 100,000 cfa, and I 100,000 cfa. I had a big photo album that you can put pictures in and use the leather on top to cover the picture, so we removed some pictures, put our money under it, and gummed it with the leather cover. LELE CAREFOUR NTAM (Cameroun) = 65km on foot. Arriving here, the Cameroonian soldiers at the border took 105,000 cfa from Francis because they searched us all and didn’t find any money on us, but Francis, after doing that, kept us there for some time and gave us food to eat (monkey meat and Tuwon Masara), not forgetting that that is the border between Cameroun and Congo Brazzaville. So we continue from CAREFOUR NTAM (Cameroun) to CAREFOUR NTAM (Congo Brazzaville), which is 15km on foot. Now we are at the border and need to register with the immigration people. Josy ——3000cfa, KingPhil paid ——3000cfa, and Francis —–2000cfa As I continue, you will notice the difference in money paid to the immigration people simply because we are West Africans while Francis is from Central Africa and we are in their region, so it’s normal. CAREFOUR NTAM CONGO BELLE VUE = 37km on foot. BELLE VUE —-SOUANKE ==30km on foot. SOUANKE: 85 km on foot. While on our way to SOCALIB, we met with REBELS in that thick forest, fully armed, and they searched us, but they couldn’t find anything apart from our sports kits, so the money remaining with Francis was the one they saw, and they took it. REGISTRATION IN SOUANKE WITH THE IMMIGRATION. Jossy: 15,000 cfa, I kingphil ——15,000cfa and Francis —-7000cfa, We also paid for what they call the Certificate of Regular Entry at Souanke, as follows: Jossy ——-3000cfa, I (King Phil) ——-3000cfa, and Francis —–2000cfa, REGISTRATION AT THE POLICE NATIONAL SOUANKE. Jossy ——-3000cfa, I (kingPhil) ——-3000cfa, and Francis ——2000cfa TRANSPORT FROM SOOUANKE IN AKORI KURA (BEDFORD) —–SOCALIB . Jossy —-10,000cfa, I (kingPhil) —-10,000cfa, and Francis —-10,000cfa REGISTRATION AT THE POLICE STATION IN SEMBE. Jossy —-2000cfa Philip —-2000cfa Francis —-2000cfa Registration at Immigration in Socalib Jossy —–2000cfa I paid (kingphil) ——2000cfa, Francis —–2000cfa. REGISTRATION WITH THE GERNDERM IN SOCALIB. Jossy: ——-3000cfa, KingPhil: —-3000cfa, and Francis: —-3000cfa. Police National in SoCalib: Jossy: 4000 CFA, KingPhil: 4000 CFA, and Francis: 4000 CFA. There were so many experiences while on this journey that one can’t just forget. In a hurry, e.g., 1. I remembered that in the forest where we met with those REBELS, it was a thick forest with all kinds of animals, and I could still remember a very big snake that passed through my legs (King Phil) without harming me (God’s protection). We left those rebels, and a heavy rain started falling for more than half a day that drenched us with our bags on our backs. 2. We passed one village that I can’t remember the name of now after trekking for 150km out of ignorance, and on arrival in another village, we discovered that our passports were supposed to have been stamped there. On our arrival in that new village, the immigration people refused to stamp us in unless we returned to that first village and were stamped before they could stamp us in, so we had no choice but to go back there, i.e., another 150 km, which makes it 300km. What an experience! 3. We left SOCALIB to OUESSO by boat, and upon arriving at Ouesso, we got to the immigration office for a visa to Brazzaville, but we discovered that our money was finished and could not be enough to do that. The immigration officer was talking about using red ink on our passports, but we pleaded with him not to do that, so he later told us that the only thing he could do for us was to repatriate us to SOKAMBO, a boarder between Cameroun and Congo Brazzaville, from YOKADOUMA, so we accepted the proposal and decided that since it was a boarder, we would do hard labor to raise money to continue our journey instead of going back totally to Cameroun. So we left OUESSO for SOCAMBO, and we arrived there. We stayed in Sokambo village for a total of 8 months, where we did the below jobs for survival: * loading and unloading containers of all types into the storehouse; * loading trailers of all types with goods. * Loading and offloading of crates of drinks of all types. * Selling gas that we get from trucks that come with timbre from both Cameroun and Congo Brazzaville to people in Ouesso village. * For the 8 months plus that we have been in SOKAMBO VILLAGE, we have been eating one type of food, which is beans, bread, and tea, from one Niger man that God used seriously to be feeding us with or without money. We have been arrested on so many occasions by the security men out of jealousy by the people in that village, just because of how God has been blessing us, but God has always been there for us. Myself and Jossy fell sick in this same village on different occasions, nearly to death, in a village where there’s neither a pharmacy nor even a dispensary, but God always shows up with His healing hand. There are so many experiences, but due to time constraints, I cannot share them all, but they are always fresh in my memory.