The Black Man and his Visa

Introduction

iii I Introduction When I completed high school at the age of twenty, I could not see the future I wanted. Everything was bad. I did not know the next step to take. I did not have the finances to enter university. It was also very difficult to enter any professional school here in Cameroon. The rate of unemployment was so high. In short hardly anybody was hoping for any good. Even university graduates had nothing to look for. Even when there were opportunities for work, thousands of people would flog there to compete for the rare places. The result was that the rich and those who had people in high positions in government would grab them. After a few years at home, I entered university and had to drop out again due to lack of finances. This book narrates how those difficult circumstances pushed me to travel to China hoping for a good life. As I migrated to China, I hoped to have a different life, a life better than the one I had in Cameroon. However, my expected good life cut short because my residential visa expired sooner than expected, and I had to go through difficulty after difficulty. I had thought life would become tranquil, peaceful and successful. But one thing kept me busy and constantly fearful: the visa, the visa. I finally learned that life is a struggle, as long as you are alive you cannot hide, and you cannot run away from problems. In moving to another environment, you can have a change of life, but in the new environment there are new problems. You will see in this book how I faced my own situation from the first day I entered China on 23 March 2005 until I left on 15 June 2008. I hope you will enjoy this little piece of work. Jean Tardif Lonkog iv ...