PETER WESTERHOLM AND I FINALLY MET FACE TO FACE IN CANCUN

After collaborating for almost three years, thanks to the virtual world of cyberspace, in the work of revising and updating the Code of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH), Peter Westerholm, Emeritus Professor at Uppsala University, Sweden, and I finally met face to face at the 30^th International Congress on Occupational Health in Cancun, Mexico, during the last but one week of the month of March 2012.

Peter had been commissioned by the ICOH to lead the work of revising and updating its code.  Peter invited me in 2009 to participate in this work and eventually we constituted an Africa region working group for the Code review work, co-chaired by Leslie London of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and myself and including as members Reginald Matchaba-Hove (Botswana), Nhlanhla Mkhize (South Africa), Remi Nwabueze (Nigeria/UK), Aceme Nyika (Zimbabwe).

That I made it to Cancun at all, was quite miraculous, given the hurdles that surprisingly presented themselves and had to be scaled to get there. The first hurdle was having to travel to Abuja, Nigeria, for the visa to Mexico; there is no Mexico embassy in Cameroon and embassy in Nigeria happens to be the closest physically. I undertook the trip to Abuja with fear and trembling in November 2011, shortly after the Boko Haram terrorist attacks in Abuja. I nearly failed to obtain the visa, as the embassy presented me with a long list of documents required from me, many of which I did not have and could not get without returning to Cameroon. They explained to me that their visa conditions were most stringent for Cameroonians, as they had had a lot of problems with Cameroonian visa seekers in the past. They informed me that if I had a valid USA visa I could go to Mexico without any further need of a visa. Unfortunately, my USA visa had just expired a few months earlier but, if I had had this information earlier, I would have opted for renewing my USA visa in Yaounde rather than flying to Abuja for the Mexico visa.  However, they listened to my explanations and pleading and finally conceded to give me the Mexico visa on personal recognizance, though they repeatedly questioned me if I was really a professor and who had invited me to make a Keynote presentation at the congress in Mexico.  Knowing embassies and embassy people, I knew a miracle had just happened when I got back my passport with the visa duly affixed in it.

My onward flight to Mexico, via Paris, via Cancun, was booked on AIR FRANCE for 17 March, to arrive on 19 March, a day after the opening of the ICOH congress. At the Yaounde-Nsimalen International Airport I was, however, prevented from boarding the plane, on the ground that I needed a Schengen airport transit visa through CDG airport, Paris. I remarked that I had transited the same airport in the recent past without a Schengen visa. But it turned out that my destination, Mexico, was one of the few exceptions to that possibility. There was no way around getting a visa, and this is Friday night, meaning I could not even attempt applying for the visa, which usually takes two weeks, in any case. I went back home, unpacked my bag and wondered why destiny is sometimes so cruel. Before going to bed I tried to communicate Peter and the organizing committee of the congress to let them know about the unfortunate turn of events. I got the organizers on telephone and they tried to arrange an alternative routing without success, because all available alternate flights seemed to be transiting the USA for which I had no visa, but said, if I could try to get the Schengen visa in such a way as to travel latest by Wednesday, they would shift the Keynote presentation to a later time.

If you know embassies and the French embassy in Yaounde particularly, where Cameroonians line up daily in their hundreds from the earliest hours of day-break for I know not what, you would understand that I was not optimistic about the possibility of getting a visa within a day or two. But then, Monday morning, the second miracle happened. I called one of my colleagues and collaborators, a French lady married to a Cameroonian, Madam Odile Ouwe-Missi-Oukem-Boyer, Vice-Chair with me as Chair of CAMBIN, to inform her that I had not been able to travel as planned for the above reasons. She was quite distressed, as she had witnessed the meticulous preparations I had made for the trip including commitments she had accepted to assume on my behalf while I was away. Within a few minutes she rang me back and gave me the mobile phone number of someone at the French embassy to call and explain my predicament. The surprisingly pleasant result was that I was told that, if I could get a reservation on the AIR FRANCE flight of that evening, I should complete the visa form and bring along with the fee of 40,000 francs CFA (c. US$ 80.00). I ran around Yaounde like mad gazelle and, just before the mid-day break, I was standing before the stern-looking gate-keeper of the French embassy, with my file in hand, ready to pronounce the magic name of the person who had asked me on phone to bring  my visa application file.  To shorten a very long story, I flew from Yaounde on the night of Monday, 19 March 2012, and by Wednesday morning 21 March 2012, I was in Cancun.

In Mexico, they seem to respect the USA visa more than the Mexico visa itself.  On my return trip, at the check-in at Cancun, they took all my traveling documents and handed them to one of the AEROMEXICO staff, that I would only get them back on coming down from the plane in Paris; the reason being that I did not have a valid USA visa, even though the flight was not stopping anywhere in the USA! Had I been well advised from the beginning, I would have renewed my USA visa without any hassle here in Yaounde, and saved myself the trip to Abuja.

Here are a few photos from the Congrss and a gist of the Keynote presentation Download Abstract, Keynote for ICOH 2012 I made at the ICOH Congress in Cancun as also published in the comprehensive abstract published in the Scientific Programme of the Congress.

 

Comments

[Leslie]

I’ve been looking just for this article for so long!!

[Matt Ryan Jersey]

This is very useful to me. I'm glad I found this blog. Thank you for your share with us, I always learn new things from your post! It will provide great idea.

[Ute Papkalla]

Dear Professor Tangwa, I attended your presentation in Mexico. Your talk impressed me very much. I was happy to hear an African dimension being added to a professional field in which African countries are still underrepresented. I have worked on health promotion and AIDS management with companies in various African regions. I hope that comprehensive occupational health will become stronger. And I think a philosophic input like yours is needed to create more sensitivity and understanding for cultural differences and similarities.

Greetings from Germany,
Ute Papkalla

[Abraham]

Thank you, Professor for sharing your experiences with international travels. It illustrates the pain and sacrifice African academics have to bear to participate in international activities....and that on top of all other challenges of work pressure, time constraints, etc. ...But one has to work and network for the good of self and a shared globe. Please keep it up!

[JK Bannavti]

Prof,
This is called passing through the eye of a needle. You alone could have done this. Thank God for your generous spirit and sense of commitment.

[A Facebook User]

Travelling around the world comes with its challenges. Few travelers possess the narrative abilities that can lead them to document their experiences. Prof Tangwa is no doubt a very good story teller and I don't ever miss an opportunity to read him. I admire his dogged determination to share his knowledge around the world. Most times he sacrifices a lot to get this done. This trip to Mexico was no exception. Prof, I am glad that you were able to deliver your paper after all the wahala (as we say it in Nigeria). Constantine Yuka.

[Benn L. Bongang]

Godfrey,

Quite a fascinating story about your travel. I am happy you finally made it to Mexico and performed well as the keynote speaker at the conference.

Keep the flame of knowledge shinining bright!