by Alyssa Gault
Home for Alyssa is Africa, where her father also grew up as an MK. Alyssa has seen a lot in her 15 years, including emergency evacuations from two war-torn African countries. But through it all, she’s learned to adapt with a smile. Her family now serves in Cameroon, where she wrote this prayer letter for her parents (excerpted).
Hey ya’ll!! It’s me Alyssa! So about my life here in Cameroon. Well, we are in Africa, right? And the majority of the people here are black, right? So when you are “white” and walking down the street, you practically have every single person staring at you, which is totally normal out here. Another “normal” thing is if you are a woman/teen/or even a young girl, on your average day in Africa you would get catcalls from every man in sight! No joke! So usually the white girls out here have to get a guy to walk with them if they want to go anywhere!
Another thing about Cameroon is that they don’t have “real” stores, malls, or really any “nice” clothes stores where there would be a changing room, actual quality clothes. One experience that I have had with shopping in the market of Cameroon was when my parents took me shopping for jeans! I think I tried on about 25 pairs of jeans and only found two that worked! Not to mention having to try them on in a dark room and having my mom stand in front of the door so that no one would come in!
But despite all these kinds of things out here, and trust me, there are a lot! Like such things as when the electricity gets turned off at least every week (by the way, it is off right now), or the water gets cut, or when you can’t buy certain foods like grapes because one single grape cost 50 cfa (20 cents)! But despite all the bad and corrupt things about Cameroon, I absolutely love it here!! It has just as many or more good things as it does bad!
So now about the good things! Well, there is the school that me and my bro go to! It provides a great education; they have sports, community services, and the people here are so amazing!! It is a great experience because there are kids from all over the world at this school.
Also there is like a mission compound, I guess you could call it, where they have set up housing for their missionaries. And inside that compound, there is a soccer field! So every Friday after school we split the whole school into four different teams (those who want to play, of course) and then go down to the field and play soccer just for fun!!
So, a daily routine would look like this: Get up at 6:30 and go to school, having to be there by 7:30, be in school until 3:10, have sports practice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday until 5:30, and then go home, eat supper, do homework, and then finally go to bed!!!!! That is what it is like from Monday to Friday, but then on Saturday I get to sleep in and then just do whatever!! And then Sunday we go to a Cameroonian church that my dad is helping to start! That is when school is in, but whenever we have a break, we sleep in A LOT, watch TV, and just do whatever!!
So that is pretty much my life in Cameroon! It has been a hard adjustment coming from America and Ivory Coast to Cameroon, but I am making it through! Well, I hope all is well in America! Love you all and miss ya tons!
Sincerely, your MK to Cameroon,
Alyssa
(Photos above: Left, Alyssa at center with two soccer friends; Right: Steve and Beth Gault with their children, Ben, Alyssa, and Brandon with their new generator.)