Greener from a Distance

Charles Nfon

Description

Albert’s life dream is to immigrate to the USA, to seek greener pastures. After several failed attempts, he finally gets a visa. Then he arrives the USA hoping for a bright and easy future. Before long he hears stories of desperation, struggles and a few successes. Desperation is portrayed by Mola aka Mboma who adopts a dead man’s identity in order to stay in the USA and by Bruno who marries a US-born woman as his ticket to the USA, knowing fully well that she was leading a double life. Struggles are seen in Paul and Matt who have to work more than two times harder to barely survive in the USA. However, Samson, the surgeon is an example of a success story. Albert has to decide whether to stay in the USA, concoct a story for asylum and chase the dream that has proven elusive for many, or go back to his reality in Cameroon. Though the pasture may actually be greener on the other side for some, it takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication to keep it that way. Realising that the life in the Diaspora is not a bed of roses as portrayed by some Cameroonians, he decides to return to his modest job in Cameroon. Although this book could be considered a cautionary tale about immigration, it is also about the corruption that has overtaken Cameroon and its people.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 20 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789956790067
• Langue: English

Extrait

Greener from a Distance Stories from the Diaspora

Charles Nfon
Publisher :
Langaa RPCIG Langaa Research Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon Langaagrp gmail.com www.langaa-rpcig.net
Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective orders africanbookscollective.com www.africanbookcollective.com
ISBN: 9956-790-65-6
Charles Nfon 2013
DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1: American visa
2: America here I come
3: At the airport
4: Identity Relay
5: Marriages of convenience
6: Paul, the powerful
7: Matt, the cheat
8: What about a success story?
9: To stay or not to stay
Notes to the Reader
Introduction
In transhumance, man and livestock move from the dry pasture in the mountains to the greener grass in the valleys. The reward, the green patches of grass along the banks of rivers and lakes, can often be seen from a distance. So man and animals proceed knowing with some certainty what lies ahead.
Similarly, people move from developing countries to the developed world in search of better lives seeking greener pastures. However, the greener pasture in that far away country is often a matter of perception. It is a dream, which, in most cases ends up being just that a dream. Still many around the world yearn to be part of that dream especially the American dream and Albert Ndifon was no exception.
1
American visa
A lbert Ndifon had always wanted to immigrate to the USA but was repeatedly refused a visa. After University, he got a high school teaching job but kept looking for an opportunity to move to the USA. Then he got invited to attend a short course on the role of educators in the promotion of gender equality in Africa.
He booked an appointment for a visa interview at the US embassy in Yaounde. He had become very familiar with the painful process of obtaining a US visa from a third world country. So when he got to the US embassy, he knew how to proceed. He presented his appointment notice and identification to the guard at the embassy gate, who looked at them and asked him to go wait by the narrow gate. He could have let Albert in immediately but he had to display the significance of being a guard at the US embassy.
The guard, a tall middle age man of Cameroonian nationality, had an air of superiority about him. He felt like a mini god holding the keys to paradise and displayed a total lack of respect for local visa seekers. When an American or any white person showed up, he flipped from master to servant, rushing to open the gate and seeking notice by waving frantically.
Ten minutes later, he let Albert in. Despite having a 10 AM appointment, Albert had to wait in line. It was a first come first serve affair. Just like with the doctors, an appointment guaranteed that you would be seen on a given day, not necessarily at a given time.
The line was long, given the presence of many other American dream chasers. Standing in line was not an issue because everyone ended up having his chance with a visa officer that same day. Other embassies were worse when it came to the visa procedure.
Albert s friend had spent a night outside the British High Commission, hoping to make it inside for a visa audience. He was one of many that night and some had paid professional linesmen to hold spots for them overnight. Many usually braved the rain, heat, humidity, mosquitoes, sexual predators and other dangers just to reserve a place on the queue. Then the gate opened and they let people in one by one. When the cut off for the day was attained, the rest were sent home, whether they had spent the night at the gate or not. After all that trouble, most were usually denied visas.
There were lots of entertaining stories from these American dream chasers which made waiting in line kind of fun. People took the liberty of revealing how their invitation letters, other documents and bank statements were obtained. Interestingly, the most vocal ones usually had fake documents; the kind of documents produced and doctored in Bonamousadi by local experts for a handsome fee.
Possible questions and prepared answers were discussed. Others disclosed their intentions of not returning to Cameroon after attending the short conference or seminar they were invited to. There were also those invited for a relative s graduation or marriage ceremony with the ultimate plan being to remain in the US after the occasion. All these people made no secret of their plans, which was foolish. Knowing the Americans, spies could easily have been planted in the line to weed out the fake applicants.
The loudest dream chaser of the day was a young man called Nick. He had nicknamed himself man-for-doky , as a testament to his ability to manufacture fake documents. Nick was the kind of guy who enjoyed the spot light. He proudly displayed his fake invitation letter, fake bank statement, a fabricated letter of support from a prominent minister and a fake marriage certificate. He compared his documents with anyone who cared to do so, daring them to spot anything that would betray his fakes. He even carried counterfeit money on him and claimed he would spend it in the embassy. Reaction to Nick was mixed, ranging from disgust to indifference to admiration.
Interestingly, those with genuine documents and clean motives were usually the very modest and quiet ones in the crowd. A family of four stood a short distance behind Nick. Vincent, Rose and their two children had not shown any interest in Nick or his antics. He hated being ignored, so he moved over to talk to them. It was easy to tell he was Anglophone because he struggled with the French language. He was the type who would try to impress people by speaking French, only to succeed in torturing those who understood the language!
Bonjour monsieur. C est ton deux enfants ? C est ton famille ? Nick started, in bad French.
Oui, c est ma famille Vincent replied.