Doumbee my African friend
26 August 2019 | Hao
always 29 C
When i was flying to Canada, I met a very nice man at the Hao airport . He talked a lot about his project to feed all these islands with hydroponic fruits and vegetables. He already planted just about everything in his small garden .Even potatoes and carrots. As a base for his roots he uses the soft fibre tissues from the coconut outer shell, rather then the plastic sponges i have seen. When his stuff was ready he sold it all in 5 minutes .Veggies and fruits are expensive here and very few people try gardening. The soil is very poor , mostly sand and crushed coral. Fruit trees don't grow well because their roots touch the salty water under most atolls. I listen to him as he was explaining to me how difficult it is to do business in French Polynesia if you are NOT a French Polynesian. Since his parents are French and from Cameroun he does have a hard time getting anything done here. Even though his wive is Polynesian he cannot get any land to do a big commercial garden. As we talked about the local government and how they prefer to help only Polynesian's we started to get into the subject of corruption . Then Dumbee really got going ...He told me about all the majors from these islands and how they fill their pockets and how their whole clan gets rich while they are in office. It was interesting to talk to a man with a sharp mind. Very critical (as i am :-) he showed me how things can only go downhill if they continue like a third world country. For ever hanging on Frances money. Doumbee told me about the big trucks the police drive on this island where you could easily walk or take a bicycle. The huge fire trucks they have, the ambulance the giant hospital without a doctor and the sad fact that there is not a single business on this island. Either you work for the government as a administrator , cop, nurse or teacher. Or you work copra, cutting open and drying coconuts. Its another money loosing operation. You get 3700 Francs (37US$) for a 25 kg bag of sun dried coconut flesh. But this is heavily subsidized. You can live from copra. But the French pay you a premium price far higher then the normal world market price. The idea is that people stay on these islands and do something. Otherwise they would ALL move to Tahiti. And Tahiti is full already with educated people that cannot find jobs in the islands. Even if they had jobs , its not to everybody's liking to stay here in these remote islands. After i came back from Canada i sat on the harbor wall and watched the big event when the ship comes in. You sit and talk, while looking what new fishing boat your neighbor gets of the ship. Funny that we talked to a nice women that has a young cousin that we both know. Everybody is related somehow!! "Oui c'est mon cousin" you hear often. And it happened to be Doumbees wive and we all laughed, that we know so many people in just 2 months. Its so easy to start a conversation and make friends. They are not stuck on their smartfone just yet...but soon? So after a few minutes Doumbee came as well and he was happy to see me and finally meet Daniela. He has such a big smile and so many things to say. He quickly disappeared and brought back fruit juices for us ...what a kind man. What a pleasant way to sit and talk and look at the big ship unloading all the goods. After a while i went back on Yelo ,only 20 meters away from the action. I had to digest the things i heard. I talked to the Major of Hao as well and the cop and the local Pot smokers, that make fun of the cops. I let the talks parade in front of my mind and fall a sleep and i see Doumbee ..happy that i met him. Because today he is no longer with us. He died of heart failure in Papeete. They flew him there with these "emergency medical planes" when he wasn't feeling well. And now his body is in a fridge in Papeete and only comes back to be buried here in a few weeks...when the next ship comes in. The whole village talks about it and i am sad, i didn't get to know him much better. He had so much to say...a French-African in Polynesia. I am sad now, but happy i met him.