Some more information - I gotta hope the G-G/honours folks has something in their goodie bag for this guy down the road - shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions,
Section 29, of the
Copyright Act.
Canadians lucky to escape African violence
Surrounded by rioters in Cameroon, women arrived at airport in back of army truck
Jim Farrell, Canwest News Service, 7 Mar 08
Article link
EDMONTON - Taryn Barry is feeling guilty four days after she escaped the violence in Cameroon for the safety of her parents Riverbend home.
"I am so lucky I got to leave," she said. "The Africans I had been working with had said to me, 'So, you will leave -- we will stay here and possibly die."
Barry and Lindsay Luke of Victoria, B.C., were at the end of a five-month internship sponsored by Camosun College when violence in the west-African country spun out of control 10 days ago.
With financing from the Canadian International Development agency, Luke worked on a forestry project.
Barry, 24, is a graduate of the University of Alberta; she had obtained CIDA financing to explore alternative income schemes for farmers and villagers.
Ten days ago, protests over rising fuel prices and a disintegrating economy escalated into riots. In some towns and cities, government soldiers opened fire on rioters. When that began to happen in the small city of Limbey, where Barry and Luke were based, they decided to leave their government building and take refuge in their residential compound.
"In a town northwest of us, the government building had been burned," Barry said.
Getting back to their housing compound presented risks. Taxis were on strike, and rioters had set fires in the streets to disrupt traffic. The two women decided to walk. As they made their way past the carnage, angry young men shouted threats at them in pidgin English.
"There was tear gas," said Barry. "Cars were on fire. The protesters were taking anything they could grab off the side of the road to block the streets, and there were no other foreigners out.
"It definitely wasn't safe to walk."
After making it safely to the compound they were out-of-contact with anyone who could help them, including the Canadian High Commission in Cameroon.
Alarmed by the security situation, Luke's mother back in Canada did some research to find other Canadians in Cameroon.
One of those people was Canadian air force Capt. Ed Smith, who had made a number of trips to Cameroon over the past 15 years to help build orphanages.
Luke's mother passed the list onto Camosun College. The college's employment internship program contacted the Canadian government to ask for help. The word was passed to Smith that two young Canadian women were in need of evacuation.
As it turned out, Smith had valuable contacts within the Cameroon military.
On Friday morning, the two women were in the yard of their housing compound when a large Cameroon military vehicle loaded with soldiers rolled up. Wearing a grey T-shirt and cargo pants, sweat glistening on his shaved head, Smith stepped out of the truck.
He approached the two women with a smile on his face. "Hey -- Lindsay and Taryn," were his first words. The two women were instantly impressed.
"He was really friendly, but he was also one of those leaders, the kind who takes charge," Barry said. "He took our hands, we grabbed our stuff and we drove out."
Smith took the women to a hotel in the city of Buea that was guarded by the Cameroon army. Then he left to visit three orphanages that needed work. On Tuesday, the two women climbed into the back of another Cameroon army truck for the ride to Douala to catch a flight out of the country.
"Douala was one of the worst places for violence," Barry said. "There were five other Canadian women in that truck."
Barry's sudden departure from Cameroon has left her with an empty feeling. The situation has settled down, and she thinks she should be back there, helping out again.
"I feel really guilty for leaving so abruptly," she said.
Barry will remain in Edmonton for now. She hopes to pursue a master's degree in the coming year in gender and peace studies. Once that is completed, she would like to return to Africa to organize sports programs. She thinks she already has much of the grounding for that task.
"I played hockey for five years for the University of Alberta," she explains.
jfarrell@thejournal.canwest.com
