Cameroonians Abroad: Causing Joy or Pain back home?

The invention of the aeroplane by the Wright brothers (Orville and Wilbur Wright) on December 17, 1903; the steamship by Marquis Claude in 1783; and the steamboat by Robert Fulton in 1807 marked a significant change in world history, as it attracted a rapid interconnectivity of the different facets of the world.

Before these inventions, the term regularly and commonly used to define the interconnection of people was migration, which is the movement of persons from one urban or rural area to another. 

After these inventions, a new term was born called emigration, which is the movement of people from one country to another. It is good to say that these inventions have birthed a discrepancy in reception to the white man (Europeans, Americans and Asians) and the Black (Africans) race of the world. 

In order to provide you with an in-depth knowledge of this scenario, we will expose to you some fine realities that aim at explaining the manner of reception and effects that accrue to both the White man and Africans. 

Reception of Emigration to the White Man

The invention of aeroplanes, steamships and boats was considered a relief to the white man, who always feels bored sitting in the same spot. It also acted as a solution to the white man's huge appetite for exploration and discovery. 

Due to these factors, the whites do not hesitate to utilise planes to travel from one country to another on different continents to savour the beauty of nature, cultural diversity, and differences in human behaviours. The effects of these explorations are worth mentioning below. 

Effects of Emigration on the White Man

After visiting so many countries and studying different cultures, human potentials, and natural resources, the white man decided to implement the policy of exploitation, which is exploiting vital resources and manpower for the growth of the country. 

This accounts for the beauty of the White man's country, as well as the stability and buoyancy of her economy.

With this foundation laid, the direct consequence could be nothing short of an environment conducive for manufacturing wealth, joy and happiness. And the glory is given to, among others, their explorers or bush fallers who come to continents like Africa, extract and export to their country.

After whetting your appetite with this colourful reality, I am certain that the question that should spring to your mind is, Is this the same method used by our Cameroonian bush fallers ? I will attempt a response by inviting you to the reception and consequences of emigration for Cameroonians. 

The Reception by Cameroonians

The reception of emigration opportunities to Africans in general and Cameroonians in particular is a total opposite of the white man's conception.

Here, emigration is regarded as an adventure for greener pastures because they consider it a risky journey to leave home for countries where they have little or no knowledge. 

Unlike the whites who travel to explore and return back after some weeks, months and a few years, many Cameroonians travel with the intention of never coming back or at least staying there for years before coming back. 

This fact of abandoning their families back home with no connection at the time makes it a risky journey, as they won't know what will happen to their families back home. 

It is again called adventure for greener pastures because the majority of Cameroonians travel abroad for better job opportunities that can better their lives and that of their families back home.

It is relevant to mention that things started changing around the year 2015 when Android phones, which transformed the world into an Android generation, were introduced. 

This Android generation has increased family intercontinental bonds, as people can now easily relate with family and friends through social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. Video calls are now cheap to the extent that many families and friends prefer a conversation through this medium. 

While continental interconnection has crescendoed, overpopulation of the world, or at least congestion by Africans in Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East, has caused a drastic reduction of jobs. 

The effects of the shortage of jobs in the aforementioned continents have made many Cameroonians stranded abroad, and many are ashamed of coming back home with nothing to show forth, especially when they now strangely consider Cameroon a death trap. 

With this in mind, they resort to various activities whose effects on the Cameroonians back home have pushed many to ask the following questions: 

Are the Cameroonian Diaspora Feeding Home or Feeding from Home? Are Cameroonians abroad scammers or helpers? Are Cameroonian bush fallers a blessing or a curse to poor Cameroonians back home? Are Cameroonian diasporas causing joy or pain back home? An attempt to answer these questions will invite us to a twin appraisal of the activities of the Cameroonian Diaspora to their home country. 

And to better appraise them, we will categorise them into two types of bush fallers: the Givers and the Takers. The Givers Category of Bush fallers These categories of diaspora travel with the purpose of helping themselves, their families and Cameroon at large. 

They struggle to get any type of jobs, even odd jobs like cleaning, mortuary attendants, washing of plates in restaurants, working on construction sites as labourers, etc. While doing these jobs, they spend little, send some back home and save the rest. 

After consistent hard work and savings, they come back home and construct giant structures for habitation and business purposes. This doesn't help their families only but also helps recruit non-family members in the area where the investment is made. 

The giant structures also help in beautifying the city. The effects of these welcome actions are not far from joy and happiness about the idea of Bush falling. But are these the only actions of bush fallers? Let's look at the other side of the Cameroonian diaspora. The Takers Bush Fallers These species are the ones tarnishing the image of Cameroonians abroad. 

These are people who were naturally lazy even when they were in Cameroon. So they had it in mind that there's a money-producing tree abroad, where you can just go and start plugging money. It is with this mindset that they travel abroad and get disappointed upon arrival after discovering a whole different scenario. 

They discover that there, you even have to work two times harder than in Cameroon before you can be able to survive. And since they have laziness in their DNA, they resort to other means of making money, especially as they consider coming back home abruptly as an impossibility. 

They think they will be mocked and laughed having this in mind, many resort to prostitution, which affects only them and their family name. But our bone of contention is on those who settle on scamming their brothers and sisters back home. 

The most attractive scam scheme used by these bush fallers-turned-scammers is appearing as travel agents and brandishing travel opportunities that are too good to be true to Cameroonians back home. 

They purport to be middlemen to embassies and demand documents accompanied by huge sums of money from Cameroonians. Sums which are usually 5 times above what embassies demand. 

For example, these scammers charge a lady 4 million FRS to travel to Dubai. This amount is almost 4 times above the normal fee for a visa and flight ticket.

This is just to say the least of the financial extortion. And many believe them, since they are abroad, and they decoy them with the statement that "It is the same line I followed". 

After collecting these heavy sums of money, they block the contact of their clients or desist from responding to messages and calls from them. 

These actions of theirs leave the poor Cameroonian in pain and tears, as most often than not, this money is either borrowed from meeting houses by the family or a bank, with a high interest rate attached, or a significant family property, which in most cases (lands) are being sold with the hope that once their daughter or son reaches abroad, he or she will hurriedly pluck money from European trees and send it back home to pay the loan and the interest. 

This action is becoming a routine as complaints are flooding in on a daily basis against Cameroonians abroad who nurse the courage to scam their own brothers and sisters back home. 

They claim to help in the travel process after collecting giant sums but fail to collect even a single document from the aspirant. These sham behaviours have made many victims to be blanketed with depression, pressure, and high blood from the unexpected turn of events. 

Due to this pain, some who cannot contain such shame and pressure from banks and family meetings result in taking their own lives by committing suicide. The consequence gravitates to the bereaved family or bank that had granted a loan with collateral that is 50% less than the sum granted. 

The meeting house drowns in pain as the money loaned constitutes members contributions, who definitely expect their money back with interest.This incident has caused many children not to go to school and many businesses to close because of a single act perpetrated by an individual abroad. 

On the other hand, the scammers abroad swim in riches as they buy new cars, flaunt gifts online to their fans, and throw parties, while their victims are left to suffer back in Cameroon and are at times unable to eat two square meals a day.

As a digression, Cameroonians abroad do not only cause pain through travel scams. They also do so through fake sales opportunities in supermarkets abroad. 

They will ask you for money to secure the job and block any link with you immediately after they receive the money. You will be left with no option but to cry over your loss or face the wrath of your creditors, who do not care about such online scams. Another important scam is the middleman business transaction dealers. 

This is mainly effectuated by those in Dubai and China. They purport to be middlemen who buy goods at cheaper prices and send them home for unimaginable gains. They request capital to buy from the shops and export here. Once they receive the money, they stop taking your calls. 

The above actions and more have made the majority of Cameroonians back home see some Cameroonian diasporas as people feeding from home rather than feeding home, people enriching themselves from the sweat of poor Cameroonians instead of investing in them. What could be the solution to all these polemics? 

Propose Action: To avoid these poverty addition scams, I suggest that the government should counsel right at the airport any Cameroonian leaving for greener pastures that abroad is no longer lucrative as it used to be and that they should feel free to come back home and receive assistance from the government when things do not unravel as they expect.

They should also be cautioned upon leaving the airport that those who will go out there and choose to scam Cameroonians back home will receive harsh punishment upon return. I think if the government implements these suggestions, the scamming saga will reduce drastically.

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Marks Abaiko, Secretary General Association of New Generation Authors