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I Travelled 12 Hours Overnight, By Sea, In A Leaky Boat – From Cameroon To Nigeria – Without Money!

He decides to travel to Cameroon

It all started in June 1999 after completing a 3-month intensive French language learning program at a language school in Benin City. I realized that although I was quite comfortable reading and writing French, I was not at the level I wanted to be in speaking. For example, I still struggled to answer simple questions easily, or to stop some “ems and hmms” and carry on a conversation for short periods of time without interrupting!

So I told my teacher that I wanted to travel to any French-speaking country and spend part of my annual leave there to improve my fluency. After some discussion, he decided that although Ivory Coast would be a better place to go, he would (considering the cost) send me to stay with his family in Cameroon (Yes, my tutor is Cameroonian). Thus, following his instructions in the letter he sent them through me, his brother and sisters would help me get numerous opportunities to practice speaking French.

I traveled to Cameroon by road (via 2 border towns: Ikom in Nigeria and Ekok in Cameroon) for two reasons. First, it was the only way my N12, 500.00 (about US$125 left over from my annual leave allowance) would be adequate for the trip (I was told at the time that the airfare was N30, 000.00 – US$300). ). Second, it gave me the opportunity to mingle with French-speaking people as soon as I crossed the border.

Being able to listen to the locals speaking French to themselves; The fact that the gendarmes asked me for my passport and visa in French (I didn’t often meet someone who could speak English!) helped me consolidate my learning faster. Using the money I earned from traveling, I bought many novels and magazines published in French, including those of authors who are well known to us here, such as James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christie, etc. I was able to get the ones written by I studied regularly while there and returned to Nigeria for continued use in my studies.

Trying to get back to Nigeria – Drama Begins!

But back to my traumatic homecoming experience. Let me give you an idea of ​​what it’s like. That July morning in Douala, I asked my friend for the money he had promised to pay me back, and he said he wanted a salary advance from his boss. He went to work telling me I had to call him by 9.00am so he could direct me to drop by his office and pick up the money on my way. I called him a few minutes after 9.00 am. To my dismay, he said he couldn’t take the money and started apologizing profusely and begging me to go on the trip without him!

I was stunned beyond words. Pulling myself together, I told him (in as dignified a tone as I could!) how disappointed I was that he had put me through such a difficult situation knowing that it was my first visit to the country (I took it more than sorry). I hung up the phone in disgust and did some quick and very serious thinking.

One thing was very clear in my mind. I had to return to the Guinness Brewery in Benin (in Edo State, Nigeria) to continue the afternoon shift by 2pm the next day at the latest. I spent the rest of the vacation waiting for my friend to find my money. It was around 10:00 in the morning. I cycled downtown and made inquiries about alternative ways to travel Nigeria cheaply.

I remembered from meeting some Nigerian traders living in the city that they mentioned a small port where traders from Nigeria often entered Douala to sell goods and agricultural products. Finally, someone gave me directions on how to get transportation to a place called “Idinao” port. The journey was not smooth for me as I had to face repeated questioning by gendarmes at various checkpoints. As I didn’t have a few CFAs left when passengers were asked to pay this or that, I tended to get little more than a little harassment from the officers.

Saved by “Guardian Angel”.

Near the end of the trip, at the last checkpoint, I was rescued by a particularly aggressive gendarme who, after seeing my passport, asked if I wanted to leave the country through the port of Idinao. A gentleman who had quietly observed me going through my troubles since the beginning of his journey, and who was fairly well known as a trader in Douala, spoke on my behalf, saying that I was his younger brother (he was a Nigerian). had come to visit him and he was taking me back to Nigeria! I was more than grateful and told him so. But at the same time, I was surprised that this person made such a gesture to a stranger. But, as I would later discover, he hadn’t started yet!

After landing at the port, he told me his name was “Sugar” (his nickname and that’s what he wrote in my diary). His accent revealed that he was from the Igbo tribe (I am Yoruba). He asked me where I was going and I told him Benin City. He then explained that the boats from Idinao would take twelve hours to reach Oron, after which I would have to travel another few hours to reach Aba and then Benin. He then took me to a personal friend of the owner of one of the large but old boats. The boat owner – known as “Delta” (another nickname) – allowed me to board with the few CFAs I had left as payment after Sugarr’s request – and also after I offered him my Olympus Stylus camera to complete the payment!

Please help! I? Traveling in a leaky, rickety old boat for 12 hours in heavy rain?

Only after she said yes did I look carefully at the boat I would be traveling on with many other people and their countless packages of products. The big boat creaked repeatedly as the waves of the Atlantic Ocean hit her sides and I could imagine the water pooling at the bottom and it leaking! I had never been at sea before and to make matters worse, a radio carried by someone nearby had announced that a few days ago many Nigerians had died on a boat bound for Oron!!

Several of the passengers next to me were excitedly talking about people they knew who were on that boat. I started to get really scared, but the thought of not being on time to do my duty (I never took my job lightly and always wanted to do what was expected of me) prevented me from changing. my idea. I took my bags and boarded the boat. The drizzle soon turned into a downpour, and I had to use a few spare coins from my pockets to buy one of those big nylon bags (with holes cut in the bottom and sides for the head) that people use as modified raincoats. and weapons to cross).

We had to wait around 16.00 to 19.00 before starting the journey. I hadn’t eaten since I woke up and I didn’t have money to buy anything to eat.

However, all I could think about was getting back to Benin City in time to take over from the brewer on duty in the morning. I was determined. As for my fear of the boat sinking in the sea, I quickly gave up any excuse not to proceed, when I saw a merchant woman of about five years of age settled in the lower part of the boat, with bags of produce beside them. , and just fall asleep! “If they’re not worried, I shouldn’t be!” I said to myself.

The Journey Back Home Begins

We traveled through the night (from 7pm to 7.30am) in heavy rain on Delta’s big old motorboat for over 12 hours. Within the first four hours of the trip, I experienced for the first time what I read about in books about sea travel: Seasickness. I felt dizzy and felt like throwing up many times. Fortunately, after a while my body adjusted to the rhythm of the boat at sea and I eventually got over it.

During the “journey” we came across about 5 different water crossings manned by the Gendarmerie, Police, Customs, Navy and Anti-Narcotics Law Enforcement respectively. Many times passengers were charged some kind of ‘water rate’ or fee and as you can imagine I always got special attention, including some heavy slapping, as I had no money. Once my friend Sugarr tried to intervene as he did in the cab, but this time he got an ugly slap on his face for his efforts.

At around 7.30 in the morning, the boat went ashore in Oron. After getting our passports stamped at the customs post, Sugarr asked me how I intended to move. Unable to think of anything better, I offered him my camera instead, whatever the cost of transportation to Benin City. He refused and instead paid my fare to Abaya, then took me to his wife’s shop and gave me money to continue my journey to Benin City. I took his address in my diary, thanked him profusely and headed for the car park he described.

I’m continuing to work on the schedule in Guinness!

A few hours later I was in Benin City. Just before 2:00pm that same day, I resumed my afternoon shift as Duty Brewer and no one I spoke to or met at work could tell (by looking at me) that I had just completed sixteen nights (16) across the Atlantic Ocean from Cameroon to Benin, Nigeria. an hour’s journey across. Even I after that he couldn’t believe it for a long time. Among other things, I wondered what Sugar looked like when I most needed help to achieve my goal.

Two years later, in 2001, I would return to Cameroon (in a company position), but despite my best efforts, I could not locate Sugarr.

To this day, I have not been able to find it. However, I will never forget the wonderful role he played in helping me achieve my goal. Napoleon Hill said in his book “Think and Grow Rich” that when your grandiose obsession takes hold of you, you will find that people and events will begin to conspire to help you eventually achieve it. I think it happened when I was concentrating on getting back to Benin at that precise time so that I could proceed as planned.

From the day I had that experience, I was convinced that Hill was right when he wrote that “whatever the human mind can imagine, it can achieve.”

But you might ask: How did learning to speak French help me in my career “The Hard Way”?

My answer is that not only has it helped me a lot in my career, but it has also opened me up to a lot of opportunities outside of the workplace – new friends, etc. For example, in April 2001 (almost 2 years later) I was selected. with three senior managers – out of the fourteen who attended the pilot course at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos – to attend a 1-week International Coaching Conversation Facilitators Course in Douala, Cameroon (note that most of the company and managers had no idea at the time. I could speak, read and write French).

read my article called Achieving Your Goals Despite Challenges – Two Short But True Stories That Tell How It Happened While I gained the admiration and respect/friendship of others I took the course with, learning how my ability to speak French helped me gain the attention of my senior colleagues (including the expatriate managing director of Guinness Cameroon).

“If you’re weak in a crisis, you’re really weak!– Anon

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