Word: yaounde
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...encounters over the next seven days, Benedict will certainly appreciate a break from the goings-on in Rome. Africa, where the faith is fervent and the Pope always popular, is a chance for Benedict to put some space between himself and the troubles back at headquarters. He landed in Yaoundé, Cameroon, late Tuesday to an adoring crowd of young and old alike, waving Vatican flags and pictures of the white-haired German, who turns 82 next month. Indeed, Africa is where the Roman Catholic Church is expanding most rapidly in the world, typically with a more devout approach...
...that, Gwat, 29, considers himself a lucky man. With no high school education, he spent several years driving a cab for a taxi company in Yaoundé, earning about four dollars a day - and used that income to put his four younger brothers through high school. Then, a few months ago he borrowed $1,000, quit his job, and bought himself a cab of his own: One of the thousands of battered yellow Toyotas which make up the main transportation infrastructure of Yaoundé, a city of more than 1 million people. It cost Gwat another $50 to customize...
...riots were a fitting reaction. He believes that along with the rise in prices, the quality of fuel at many gas pumps has plummeted. "Our fuel is not fine," he says. "They have started to mix in kerosene. It damages the engines." The managers of two Texaco stations in Yaoundé refute Gwat's claim. Not even the finest fuel would have spared Gwat's taxi the ravages of years of chugging along rutted dirt roads and up and down Yaoundé's muddy hills in the tropical humidity and pounding rainstorms. It requires several runs for the vehicle...
...Cameroon's topography and weather cannot change, although better road conditions could improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles. And, so far, the kinds of ideas floated by U.S. and European politicians - gas-tax breaks or increasing use of biofuels - have not yet been broached in Cameroon. Instead, politicians in Yaoundé have tried to ease the burden by cutting taxes and import duties on basic foods. And they have promised to review fuel prices and to build more refineries to boost fuel supplies. Although Cameroon has rich offshore oil deposits of its own, it has only one refinery...
...foreign aid. Until then, Gwat is hoping gas prices do not rise much further. "I spend a lot of my earnings on fuel," he says. "I earn well, but still it is only 150,000 francs [about $353] a month." And given what he pays to fill up in Yaoundé, he'd gladly settle for the new U.S. average price...