Gabin Takoudjou, Cameroon
English 191
I interviewed Gabin Takoudjou on Friday, November 9 2012. I asked him after class one day if he would be willing to do an interview about his home country of Cameroon and he said could do it.
Prior to the interview I tested my recorder to make sure it still worked and I adjusted my list of questions to fit the time schedule of Gabin.
I am always surprised when I here about peoples families because here in America nobody cares about it. I just think it is really awesome to see that people value things other than money and themselves.
I think this was my best interview because it was the easiest to setup and it was very relaxed and I felt that it went very well.
Country Report:
Cameroon is located on the central western coast of Africa and has a land mass about the size the of California. Cameroon was occupied by the French for a number of years and has had an influence of the culture of the country. Something that surprised me during research was that it is estimated that 70% of the Cameroon population identifies with the Christianity as their religion, considering that the population is roughly 20 million. Cameroon has struggled with war and corrupt government over the years but despite these things they have strong economy compared to their neighbors in the region and they have a presence internationally through things like exportation and competing in the Olympics.
Cameroon. 11 Nov. 2012. 10 Nov. 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cameroon>.
Interviewer: What is the value family in your country?
Gabin: Sorry can you repeat the question?
Interviewer: What is the value family in your country?
Gabin: Family is a pretty important thing in my country, family is not just mom dad daughter its like cousins aunts we value all those people we always make sure we uh pretty much meet every week or every two weeks or something, we make sure we call each other all the time so family is a really big thing in my country.
Interviewer: What is the structure of the family like?
Gabin: Like I said its not just mom dad cousins and aunts came into play.
Interviewer: So like the father of the house hold doesnt make all the decisions?
Gabin: The father of the household, I wont say he makes all the decisions, I would say he makes most of the decisions but not all of them.
Interviewer: How does your home country culture differ from US culture?
Gabin: I would the us culture is more individual here, you guys are more individual here than back home, we do everything together, for instance when we have an occasion maybe a reception or family reunions, we talk about issues of whatever is happening in you life, we can help morally, financially, we always make sure we know what is going on in each others life.
Interviewer: How was the transition coming here? Going from having your family around supporting you to being by yourself?
Gabin: Oh yeah that transition was not easy, first of all I’m kind of home sick thank god I’m going back this christmas. It wasnt that easy you know cause Im used to having my parent around me all the time, trying to always watch over me, they are not aware of what I do here they call me every two weeks to check on me but over all I would say its not that easy to be away from my family cause I miss them too.
Interviewer: What are some highlights in your country, maybe stuff related to holidays and food.
Gabin: Food is different, I had some american taste food back home but probably you guys dont like African food all that much but we definitely do love our food, our food is more natural, it comes from the ground. I cant get used to the food here because its all chemically, I definitely like our food more.
Interviewer: What kind of holidays do you have?
Gabin: the Holiday back home we have besides Christmas we do have what we call national holiday which is on the 20th of May thats like a really important holiday back home, all the rest is pretty much the same as here except like Veterans day but we dont have to many holidays like you guys have here.
Interviewer: Yeah seems like we have one every month. What is the education system like in your country?
Gabin: Education back home is pretty tough compared to here, its totally different like teachers are allowed whoop asses on kids, Im not joking teacher totally has power over the kid they are like the mom of the kid, when your son goes to school its hes going to another parent, if you miss class or come late you get severely punished. College here is much better than us but part of that is because of the economy, but even if you get a masters you can still end up working at like a restaurant.
Interviewer: How did the strictness of high school affect your attitude towards school?
Gabin: Obviously I was a teenager at that time and so Im going to hate school, but know being in America at State it has a big impact on me, it really changes the way I think about school I take it seriously and I was really prepared to work hard.
Interviewer: What are the top three social past times, so like sports and games
Gabin: Soccer, Basketball, and...I cant really think of a third one but definitely soccer and basketball, people love soccer in my country, sports are very important in my country.
Interviewer: Is basketball popular?
Gabin: It is but not as much as soccer. People watch soccer all the time but you’ll never find people watching basketball.
Interviewer: Do you have basket ball teams?
Gabin: well when I was in highschool I was in a club and we go around and play other clubs, usually kids dont play basketball until they are a little older.
Interviewer: Do people hunt or fish in Cameroon?
Gabin: People dont do any of that in the capital, like in a town or anything but like in the villages you see people fish alot and hunt sometimes.
Interviewer: Do they fish in lakes and rivers?
Gabin: Yeah in lakes and rivers.
Interviewer: what is the hunting like?
Gabin: to be honest I cant really tell you what the hunting is like cause I never experienced it but what my parents told me people just hunt to survive, only in the villages people hunt, people in the city dont care about that.
Interviewer: Do people hunt for recreation?
Gabin: No, just people in the villages hunt for food, because its cheaper than buying it at the store. They dont hunt as a hobby or anything.
Interviewer: What are the different religions in your country?
Gabin: There is Christianity and Islam, yeah I would say they are the two biggest ones.
Interviewer: What is best guess as to which one is larger?
Gabin: Christianity, I would say its about 70% of the people are Christian and 30% are muslim.
Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit about the economy and the government and how they relate to each other?
Gabin: The government in my country, well im not a big fan of them and I will never like them cause there is too much corruption. You see people working in the government having millions in their account, the that is said to used for the country they will just steal the money, thats why its pretty hard to develop are country, not just my country but a lot in Africa, we need serious people in the government to get our economy going. There is too much corruption in my country for a strong economy.
Interviewer: okay well thats all my questions thank you for time.
Gabin: Yeah no problem man.
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