The Black Man and his Visa

2. Where did the idea to travel to China come from?

13 2 2 Where did the idea to travel to China come from? he circumstances of my life in the year 2004 did not permit me to think of going abroad. Earning just 12 000 FCFA a month and experiencing poor health, I could not think of leaving Cameroon for China. All my farming could not yield much to help me leave the country. I had in mind that with all the misery, leaving the country for greener pasture was a great idea, which I loved. But it would be a waste of thoughts, because I did not have the means. My misery was great. I had only one pair of shoes and barely any clothes, which are basic things for a human being. I was wearing certain short trousers every day. One day when I was at home, I heard my stepsister had come from Douala with clothes and was in the market selling them. I went to the market to see if I could get some of the clothes for myself. The clothes were second-hand and not expensive. I thought I might take some and pay later. Then I realized I had a dollar in my pocket. I left the house and walked to the market. I found the clothes dumped in a pile before my stepsister. They were terrible. I could not imagine how a person could buy things like that. However, I gave her $1 and picked up a pair of trousers and a shirt. When I arrived home, I saw the clothes were actually rotten. I feared diseases if I put them on, and I never wore those clothes. One day in December 2003, I returned from the farm. I had worked hard that day and was very tired. I prepared dinner, ate and went to bed. At night, I had a certain dream. T 14 In the dream was a message. The message was clear. I did not doubt what I heard. This was the message: “You have been admitted to a medical school abroad.” I knew everything was possible, but I never took this dream seriously because of all my frustration and misery. Moreover, I knew that to study medicine at university one has to have read the sciences. I instead studied the arts in high school, and I did not see myself entering a medical university, and more so abroad. By all human calculations and judgment, everything pointed to no. It was just a dream, and it was not a true dream. But I did not forget the dream. I had learnt a few herbs from my father, so as I worked in the farm, I also found time to harvest herbs. I frequently visited the forest to harvest herbs, dry them, then package and store them. I learnt about other herbs as I went around. I would treat myself with the herbs and gave them to others on demand. One day my stepbrother took some of the herbs when he was not feeling fine. He met a certain woman who was also sick and gave her part of the herbs. He told me that he heard a knock on his door at 5 o’clock in the morning and opened the door. The woman he gave the herbs to was facing him. At first he feared that maybe those herbs had caused some damage, and trouble was around. However, it was the contrary. The woman said, “Go and show me the doctor who gave you those herbs. When I took them my stomach pains that have tortured me for many years vanished automatically.” My brother told me this, but I was still not convinced I was qualified to enter a medical school. I thought that I might be an herbalist, a native or traditional doctor, but never a medical doctor trained in a college of modern medicine. 15 By this time, a relative of mine whom we should call Mr. Thomson, who had lived together with me in the same house for some time, saw me gathering herbs. He was at the university, and before he left for class, he took some of the herbs from me. He later told me that whenever he had a cold, he would infuse some of those powdered herbs in water and drink. He said when he took the herbs like tea, his cold would disappear. Mr. Thomson later travelled to China...