Remember? A poem dedicated to my husband

Remember? The day. The love. The happiness. The vow. The purpose. The commitment. The dreams. The future. The promises. Us. Them. Peace. Freedom. Joy. Where did it go? Is it still among us? Ancestors. Parents. DNA. Family. Atlantic Ocean. Sankofa. Communion. Kolanut. Palm wine. Eyes. Songs. Praise. Possibilities. All there. All here. Time is elastic. No boundaries except the ones in our minds. Open heart. Open hands. No boundaries. Expand again. Expand some more. Forgive. Love. Love deep. Appreciate. Appreciate some more. Blessed. 😀

71577_10151637277075558_90353995_n2017 © Yvette R. Toko. All rights reserved.

Happily ever after

I was married in 2012 in Bafang, Cameroon.  Going down memory lane and looking at one of my wedding videos, I said I would give a part 2 to the story of my wedding experience.

In the video, (see here), we arrived at my parents (husband’s parents) home.  I was still chewing on the kolanut that had been given to me by my prince and washed down slightly with a little palmwine.  The wedding blessing and love from the family all around really left me with little words because I was overwhelmed with emotion and probably a little bit of euphoria.  I appreciate so much having great in-laws and I cherish them immensely.

My husband described to me how the traditional wedding would go but nothing compares to the real life experience of actually being on the receiving end of such tradition.  We received a blessing from his father and family in attendance on the family ancestors land.  I was in awe at the beauty of the pineapple plants, trees, pond, flying insects and tranquility. It was simply breathtaking.  Here I am 163349_10151637272535558_135737092_npictured holding a branch on a coffee tree.

Going into our fifth year of marriage, we are still enjoying happily ever after.

Poetry #3

I miss…
family
friends
village
Yaounde
Douala
Foumban
Bafoussam
African oranges
fufu corn
variety of avocado
roasted plantain
koki on the grill
roasted peanuts
French bread
folere
Top soda
Kadji beer
haricots and beignets
etc…

Poetry #1

Sights around Cameroon
Roasted corn on the grill
Yellow taxis
Women with babies tied to their backs
Banana trees
Chickens a plenty
Cabbages as big as your head

Kolanuts-a path to destiny?

Who knew that kolanuts would be instrumental in helping me put aside fear and take the leap of faith towards some of my desires. As some of you know, I moved to Africa recently and have been enjoying living out a life that was only a dream. Several people have been instrumental in encouraging me to “just do it”. One person is Esther Lamnyam. She is the author of “Love under the Kolanut Tree”. I was researching kolanuts on Google and came across her book. It is a book with a spiritual foundation, and brings the physical and spiritual worlds together.

After reading the book, I connected with Esther on Facebook. I was blessed with the opportunity to meet her at a cultural event within a few months of reading the book, and she is a beautiful and warm person inside and out. We have since become good friends. She indeed heals people with her words, teaching, and services. The tools in the book helped me look at relationships differently, believe in myself, understand the art of effective communication and so much more.

Since this page is all about the love of Cameroon, I wanted to feature her because by divine connection, she just happens to have been born in Cameroon. And the tools she teaches have been a huge help to me and others that I recommended the book to. She is a true servant to humanity. I believe things don’t only happen to us, they happen for us.  I hope you check out her webpages (listed below). Happy reading and transformation! May it be well with you.

Esther teaching Cracking the Code series http://imitatenature.com/home/

To order the books and/or services go to http://www.estherlamnyam.com

Finding my true North… well kind of

Ok, so while finding my “true North” in the West province of Cameroon, I can say that I am enjoying the scenery. In the next few days hopefully we take a short excursion into some other areas nearby. Meanwhile one issue that’s got my panties in a bunch and a bee in my bonnet is the amount of time it takes for clothes to dry. OMG! I have been waiting for my clothes to dry for 5 days. The rain, humidity and cool mountain air at this time of year are screaming ” it ain’t gonna happen” lol. I have settled on handwashing one pair of panties a day and air drying them over a two to three day span. I know, TMI right but I want you to get the gist of what you will be in for should you decide to hang your hat here for a few.

While the temperature may read high 70’s low 80’s,during the evening time here it feels like a chilly midwestern Fall day. I’ve armed myself with my knitted hat that I brought along and my snuggy throw blanket in conjunction with the large heavy blanket supplied by the hotel/apartment that is my temporary summer quarter.

Our wedding celebrations

We had 2 nuptial ceremonies.  One is the traditional wedding which takes place before the legalized one in the court.  Both are important, but hold a different significance.  One is to honor traditional culture, and the other honors the legal aspect of matrimony.  Both were more than I could have imagined. My new family is awesome.  I love them all very much and am blessed to be accepted into such a wonderful family.

This video is a little dark because the festivities took place in the late evening in the village. And my brother-in-law was learning how to film in different lightening. But hopefully you can get a feel for the excitement and energy we had for our grand wedding celebration.  My husband and I are wearing white with beautiful print fabric embellishments.

 

This is our court wedding.  It’s quite long, I think we dozed off a time or two during the vows zzzzz.  It was quite hot that day, and we were still tired from celebrating the night before at the traditional ceremony. So I recommend you have your popcorn and French dictionary on standby. 🙂

Around Cameroon Part 2

These videos feature more of the beautiful places I visited in Cameroon. Part 1 was in Foumban, and this part in Bafang. I’m sure you will enjoy them. Feel free to leave a comment or question. I want to hear from you. Thank you!

I enjoy this video every time I watch it. The falls in the backdrop are breathtaking. And if you are wondering, yes  my French has improved… a little 🙂