Sunday, April 01, 2007

Fool's Day in Cameroon -- Day 34.5

French Word of the Day: poire (pronounced like "dupe"); French word that means "sucker," "one who falls for an obvious joke," "someone who might get duped in a really bad April Fool's hoax."

Face of the Day: George W. Bush, 43rd President of the USA: President Bush often vacations in Cameroon, on the tropical beaches of Kribi, with his wife, children, and Alberto Gonzales. He also has developed a passion for fried plantains and ndole, a Cameroonian dish of bitter herbs, which he has delivered to the White House on a weekly basis.

Cameroon Fact: The city of Yaounde is under construction, busily preparing to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The city won the bid to host the games after promising to sponsor the creation of some new Olympic competitions, including "Marathon Deforestation," in which participants race to destroy what's left of the Cameroonian rainforest, and "Pipeline Relay," a race along the broad swatch of destruction left by the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline.

Mission Challenge
: U2 frontman Bono has recently become aware of a growing problem -- the lack of access that missionaries have to stadium rock concerts. "This is the most serious problem of our generation --- missionaries are unable to attend our concerts! We tour the West continuously, but rarely do we play gigs in Senegal, Central Africa Republic, or Zambia," he said in a recent press release. As a result of his concern, Bono has created a new non-profit organization called, "Rock the Missionary!" in which he hopes to raise money to bring missionaries stationed in third-world countries to attend at least one major stadium rock concert somewhere in the world, every year. To donate to the cause in the name of Wes Magruder, send a contribution through www.rockmissionary.com. Wes would be happy to see shows by U2, REM, Wilco, Bob Dylan, and Coldplay.