I Gotta Guy

While working on the trading floor we would often say, “I gotta guy.”  This meant we had a person that would provide some type of service for you, such as a car mechanic or a florist.  It seemed whenever I needed something done I would ask around and eventually someone knew a person that could fit the bill.  Here I am many years from working on the trading floor but using the same line in Africa.  It seems there is a person for anything I need done while in Bamenda.  For instance if my cell phone stops working I know there is a “technician” that will fix it.  By technician I mean a young man sitting on the side of the road at a small wooden table with a screwdriver and pliers.  The miraculous thing is that he is able to fix phones otherwise he would be out of business, and we know someone that has used him.

We are grateful for the many people that assist us in making our life much easier.  Like in the U.S., we would be lost without our cell phones, so they were one of the first things we bought.  Cell phones are prepaid here and have to be filled quite regularly.  If one needs more minutes put on a phone he/she visits one of the countless people sitting on the side of the road at a rickety wooden table with a small sign of which cell phone company they provide minutes for.  There are two main companies and one newer, not as popular, so most people provide for the two popular companies.   On the table is usually two cell phones and nothing else unless the seller has expanded the business into selling other products such as gum, cigarettes, candy etc.  There are no neon signs, name tags of the representative, computers, receipt or anything else I am accustomed to in the U.S. The purchaser tells the seller how much money they would like to put on the phone and the phone number.  The seller picks up one of the cell phones and quickly types in the number and within seconds a message is sent saying how much money was put on the phone.  The process is simple, quick and easy with no signatures, identifications or questions about whether you would like to fill out a survey online. We were in need of refilling our minutes so we asked a local where to go.  Of course, he had a guy, so he took us to him and we refilled our minutes.  We were happy with the transaction and now we have a phone guy.  His name is Prince.  We have formed a relationship with Prince when we fill our phones or see him walking down the street with his young son.  When I went a bit longer between refills he inquired about my whereabouts.  If Maura visits him he tells her to greet me.  This is typical of how things are done here.  You find someone that treats you well and develop a relationship.

We have many other people in our life here that provide us services and products.  It has been pleasurable creating these relationships and having a person to buy from or do some type of work for us.  Remembering how and why we created these relationships is entertaining. One of our adventures was to have cloth napkins and an apron made.  In the market there is a whole row of women tailors that are eager to sew.  Maura and I casually walked down the aisle not having any intention of stopping but about half way down we were drawn to this one woman.  We told her what we wanted and she gave us her price.  We wanted to think about it and asked her name to come find her when we came back.  She told us her name is Irene.  I have never met an Irene before but my mother’s middle name is Irene.  We told Irene the significance of her name and she replied “Well, I am your mother now.”  It was quite humorous looking at this large African woman and imagining her being my mother, but I instantly had a connection to her and knew we had the woman to make the things we wanted.  Irene made us beautiful napkins and an apron.  She even made an apron for Honora because she met her. 

One day I decided I needed to get out of the house so I volunteered to go to the market.  Maura had her regular suppliers of groceries that she was happy with buying from, but I had not met any of them yet.  She gave me the list of items needed and the prices I should pay.  Together we had to go through the list to determine which vendor I would visit for each product.  This conversation resembled the “Who’s on First?” skit.  I had heard of these people before and had the layout of the market according to my visits, but translating those to Maura’s point of view was not that easy.  We used significant landmarks as the lady on the corner with the growths on her face or the sidewalk, which yes it is on the side of the street but you can’t really walk on it and I never knew it was considered a sidewalk because there are so many vendors selling things on it.  One item I was asked to buy was flour.  Maura buys flour from a particular woman that has clean products and good prices that we do not have to negotiate.  Since the woman’s name is Auntie Rosie I knew we were in good hands.  Rose is my sister’s name, Clare’s middle name and the middle name for three of my nieces.   Auntie Rosie has alleviated many headaches on where to find such products as eggs, propane and sugar so we will be loyal customers to her booth.  Next on the list was produce.  Produce is bought from the woman with the baseball hat and the scar on her face.  She stands just behind the woman with the growths on her face but on the other side of the “sidewalk.”  Maura continues to shop with her because she sells good produce and most importantly she is very kind and helpful.  She was excited to meet me and told me to greet Maura.  Now we know her name too (Belinda).

When we moved into our home everything was newly built.  All the furniture is handmade out of wood.  The furnishings in our home are much nicer than we had anticipated.  The Archbishop told us to let him know if there was anything else we needed.  We thought it would be nice to have a couple of desks and a counter in the kitchen so we made a request for these items.  To ensure we received what we wanted we were told to go to the carpenter to discuss with him our desires.  Now we have a carpenter, Michael, who built us two small tables for desks and a perfect set of selves that is our kitchen counter.  If we need anything else made of wood we know where to go.

We know we will continue to need more people to provide us whatever we are looking for and we have been given many recommendations.  Developing these relationships will be fun.  We are still having a difficult time retrieving the internet but supposedly there is “a guy” working on that for us.  We have not met him yet and have been patiently waiting for it to be installed in our house.  We just hope this “guy” will be a good recommendation and get it for us in the very near future.

Peace-

-Ryan (Maura’s guy)