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)
