The Birthday

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes! My birthday was actually a terrible day. It started out ok if you don't consider the monsoon like rains. We went to use the internet and we're there for a while when everyone started running down the street. Someone told us there was a fire. We went down the street to see too. Just down the hill there was a house completely engulfed in flames and a giant cloud of black smoke rising in the sky above. There was a large crowd in the street watching. My mother turned to someone and said, "Where is the fire department?!" The woman just shook her head. It was then that I remembered something Walters had told us when were climbing the mountain. He told us the only fire department in Cameroon was where the president lives. I wish I could show you the pictures of what the houses look like here but maybe for now you should just picture something a little nicer than Slumdog Millionaire. You can image how terifying a fire is once it starts and how quickly it can spread! Most of the houses are cement but there are still many that are made of wood and sadly this house was. Luckily they were able to put it before other houses caught but the house burnt to the ground along with everything in it. Fortunately no people were injured and no one was home, but as we later found out the house was occupied by a mother and her four children, three of whom are students at our school. To our knowledge no one has come to inspect and there are no government programs to help the family.

After the fire when we finally got back to the house, the youngest girl, Honorine, told us she had to go out to the morge to support two of her classmates who had lost their parents only this past weekend. Her tone was very matter of fact and neither her nor her friends knew what they had died of. It was only more dreadful news!

However, life goes on. My mother and I went to get something to eat down the street and then picked up a cake from the bakery which we had ordered the day before. When we got back to the house everyone sang Happy Birthday and despite the events of the day the air was cheery and festive! Everyone but my mother and I enjoyed the cake as it was the weirdest taste ad consistency. It only seems appropriate that I spent the rest of the night vomiting. Before I fell asleep my mom said, "Hayley I hope that all you birthdays will forever be 100% better than this one."