The Presidential Campaign begins in the Streets ...

Campaigning definition ... Antoine and I walking down the street talking to people. Pretty simple; pretty powerful!

As you can see from the new photos, we have taken the Presidential campaign to the streets of Yaounde in our "campaign" uniform. Apparently it has caused quite a stir as the first day we were campaigning, we were approached by two military police and another guy claiming to be a policeman and told we had to go and see his "big man".

So, in true Camerounian style, we were marched back down the middle of the street we had just 'worked', in the pouring rain by this time, as a spectacle for all to see: policeman not in uniform, Antoine and I, with two military police pulling up the rear! Quite a site in our multi colored uniforms. You might be thinking that this had to do with our 'campaigning'.

True to protocol, a letter was submitted, and signed as accepted by the appropriate Ministry informing them the day before, that we would be doing precisely what we were doing - walking - marching in the streets, talking to people about our political platform. This is NOT against the law.

When we asked the policeman what the infraction was, he informed us we were wearing the Camerounian flag and that we needed to be taken to the Police office for questioning. The first place we were marched was the Ministry of Defense, where the Military police were stationed at the end of the street we were on. We stood there for a couple of minutes and were later, 'escorted' to the Police office down the street a bit further. When we got there we were again told to wait -outside in the rain - for the 'big man' to come and question us. After we informed them that Antoine is the President of his political party, the two military police, just mysteriously disappeared.

There were about four guys standing in front of the police 'office' which is literally a 20' shipping container with a desk and a couple of chairs inside. When they asked us and the policeman what we had done, they were informed that there was some infraction and we needed to wait. After finding out that the infraction was that we were apparently "wearing the Camerounian flag" they advised us to just go...and after a couple of minutes, and the policeman's 'big man' didn't arrive, we walked away.

So, what was this all about? Well, we have come to the conclusion it was probably about money! There was no infraction, in fact we consulted an attorney and we still have not found any legal Article which prohibits anyone from wearing the Cameroun flag. Doing something to disgrace the Cameroun flag is certainly an infraction...but this was not the case.

Now the really interesting thing is - the star on our uniform is a six-sided Star of David. The star in the Cameroun flag is a five-sided star. Even if they didn't like what we were doing - we were not wearing the Cameroun flag; thus no infraction and no justification for what was done. These guys didn't even know their own flag!

Our conclusion therefore is they wanted money because I am a "white woman" and therefore am routinely targeted for extortion of money whenever and wherever possible. You name it - from buying apples and oranges, to taxi drivers in the streets. They see a "white woman" and the price of everything is considerably inflated even though I am now living here with my husband who is Camerounian! Life in Cameroun - welcome to it.

It makes me very angry when I know I am being targeted and taken advantage of in financial terms. I know first hand what racial discrimination is. May I never forget what this feels like.

Back to the campaign...

We have had an overwhelmingly positive response to our message. We have been in the streets three days now and everywhere we go we are surrounded by mostly young people (age 20 - 35) or so who are demanding that something change. These young people are not invested in the current 'system', have no families, no jobs and no hope of a better tomorrow. In fact, they have nothing to lose by making their voices heard, loud and clear.

In Douala just a couple of weeks ago, they took to the streets themselves with placards demanding that the constitution not be changed to allow the current President to run for a third consecutive term in 2011. This created quite an incident in the streets of Douala with the police being involved there because of the disruption it caused. No, we didn't have anything to do with this; I only mention it to say the people of this country - and mostly the young people of this country are demanding the government does something to improve their lives, and not 20 years from now!

Our experiences here will make a fabulous book; maybe even a feature film in time. We came here to change things, shake things up and apparently from all appearances, we are doing just that.

Yes, we are campaigning to be the next President of Cameroun and will not give up until we are successful. This blog is my statement to the world, my story of this journey. It is not just my journey, however as we have seen as evidenced. It is the story and accompanying journey of all Camerounians who have waited more than 25 years to see their lives improve on a day to day basis; and they are still waiting. We've taken up the mantle for all Camerounians!

In love and peace...we will continue.

Anita Lynne NDEMMANU