Pieces of Dreams

I was asked to repeat the Departmental Classing Test set by the Government of Nigeria [in 1959]. Southern Cameroon was administered by both Britain and Nigeria at the time. I had passed the same test in 1958, and I was recommended for promotion to Cooperative Inspector Grade One. But my colleagues petitioned to the Commissioner of Cameroon, stating that regulations were not followed. Their problem was that the examination was to be taken after an inspector had served for two years after training in Ibadan. I had served only one year. The Commissioner upheld their petition. Now that I had served for two years, I was asked to repeat the examination. I was embarrassed. It was my head of department who recommended me to take the examination because he took into consideration my services with the Department of Agriculture. I had only three weeks to prepare for it. I went round my cooperatives and cancelled all the meetings I had scheduled. My farmers in Banso (now Bui division) promised to pray for me for one week. The farmers in another village, who were nonChristians, offered to give me a talisman. I said no, I am a Christian. After doing some hasty preparations, I took the examination. In July 1959, my director wanted to see some of my cooperatives in Ndop and Banso. As we were about to travel to Banso, a mail man gave me a telegram. It was a message of congratulations from the headquarters, Buea, saying that I had passed. I was very happy, and the director was, too. When I received the details of the result, I was second in the whole Federation in Nigeria and was first in Bookkeeping and Accounting. Before my director returned to Buea, I dreamt that my late mother had taken me to England, and she showed me huge buildings. She said, “It is in this school that you will study this year. Apply for scholarship.” The following morning, I told the director that I would like to go to the cooperative college in England that year and that I was applying for scholarship…. I received the scholarship and flew to London in September 1959. From there, I went to the British Consul Hotel in Nottingham, where I spent a week for orientation. We were taught how to live in England. There, I met students from other African countries who were to attend the same school with me. Before school began, I and some friends decided to visit the college premises. Our school was not far from Nottingham, so we took a bus, and it dropped us at the gate of the school. As we opened the gate, I saw a huge building in front of me. I stood still. My friends looked back and saw me standing and gazing at the building. One of them called, “Cameroon, Cameroon, what is happening? Why are you standing there?” I told them that I had been here before. I told them about the dream I had (when I was still in Cameroon) in which my late mother had brought me to this building. When school started, we moved from Nottingham to the Loughborough Cooperative College. I enjoyed my studies and worked very hard. But from time to time, the thought of my wife and children, whom I had left behind in Manyemen, kept me worried. However, I did not allow those thoughts affect my studies…. At the end of the programme, I returned to Cameroon in a Banana Boat. We spent three weeks in the open sea. That was an interesting experience for me.