The hospitality culture of Cameroonian

I'm an Indonesian, but my cultural background, if I can say, is much influenced by Western culture from my education background. I studied in Australia and I'm exposed to American popular culture. Anyway, let's begin the article.

1. Many people in Cameroon, not all, expect money in every occasion in return for what they have done for you.

I talk about people in the street (rather than people who work in the 'private' office) and to some extent the 'public officers'. They expect money in almost every occassion for what they have done for you. An extreme example, when I was in the airport filling out a immigration form, and there was a guy offering me a pen, I took the pen and gave it back to him at the second he asked me to pay for the pen that I didn't even buy, it was just a lend for a sec and I had to pay for it! You will find many similar cases, especially when you are an expat and a bit different from the Cameroonian, when you get down from your car and the guard opens the door for you, you should have 500CFA ready to hand it over to him, when there is someone helping you to waive the 'so-called' taxi, when you exchange your bill for small money in a petrol station, etc. I think, this is part of the reality that many people still live under poverty.

2. When you ask someone to eat with you, even though, it's only a casual occassion, you have to prepare money to pay for him/ her.

Let say, you are looking for a friend to have lunch together. In your mind, ok, we will pay by ourselves because it is just a lunch and there's no special occassion, but in fact, when you ask your coworker to go with you, it can mean that you will pay for him/ her. I found it a bit unusual at first. So it's better to make the 'lunch' as something that you both agreed on, no one invites the other.

3. Men are the ones who pay.

This is like an universal rule in Cameroon, no matter how your relationship with the other person, but if you are a man, you pay. It's good to be a woman in Cameroon, but then, sometimes you will be wondering why your male coworkers never invite you to come over for lunch, because in their mind, if they ask you so, they will have to pay. So, make it clear with them that you will pay for yourself and you can go with them without making them worried that thay have to pay for you. And if you are a man, I think, you should be ready to take your wallet out while your female coworker seems that she forgets her wallet :-)

4. Drink for guests who come over your place.

It's necessary for you to serve your guests with drinks,at least, and some finger food. Nevertheless, there is an interesting point here, if you ask someone 'what she/ he wants to drink', it means that you are ready and you are obliged to provide with whatever he/ she wants regardless you have it or not. If you don't want to go out to get the drink he/ she wants, it's better to serve them with whatever you have in your fridge.

5. Love doesn't exist.

It is very hard to understand the concept of relationship in Cameroon. People see marriage as a functional institution, not as something that is based on love. A wife for men is someone who will give him children, and who will take care of the house and the children, and a husband for women is someone who will earn the money for the family. A husband does not need to love his wife and vice versa, as long as the function works well, the marriage goes well. Thus, it does not take long for a couple to announce that they are engaged. I talked to one of my coworker, last week I knew that he was single, and this week, after a long weekend, he told me that he has a fiancee and next week they were going to his family to present her, and I asked, 'Dont you need more time to think over it?', and he said, 'what for?'.

6. Whoever is not black is white.

This sounds interesting. I'm Asian, but they called me 'La Blanche'. In people's mind, there is only black and white, if he is not black, he is white, eventhough he might be an Arab. They lump people together in these two categories.

There are a lot of cultural differences, but I will talk about it later when I come back to Douala and learn more about the people. Nonetheless, despite of these differences, people are generally nice and friendly. Enjoy your cultural experience in Cameroon.

Critics, suggestions, discussions, are welcome