TWO SURPRISES FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC

TWO SURPRISES FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic is not one that is heard about often here in Cameroon. Yet, recently, two things happened that reminded me of the country.

When I entered a shop in Muyuka and asked for a packet of razor blades, I realized the blades were labeled, “Made in Czech Republic”. That was the very first time I was seeing a Czech product in a Cameroonian shop.

Some months back, I was at Three Corners Bambili when I ran into two European-looking young ladies. I heard them speak a language that sounded like Russian to me. When I went closer, I realized it was not German. I then asked them where they came from.

“We`re from the Czech Republic.” They said.

“And what brought you to Cameroon?”

“We are peace corps volunteers”.

That was another point because I did not know we had such volunteers from a country with which Cameroon had  so little in common. Of course, I knew about the age-old American Peace Corps Volunteers who were initiated by the Late President J.F. Kennedy of America in the early 1960s and who to this day, still come and honour their engagement to Cameroon.

The Czech Republic, together with the Republic of Slovakia used to be one country called Czechoslovakia until 1993 when they split to form their separate Republics. The capital of the Czech Republic is Prague, while that of Slovakia is Bratislava. They are both members of the European Union.

The Czech Republic is very highly rated at the international level. In fact, Wikipedia paints the picture thus: “In 2006, the Czech Republic became the first former member of the Comecon to achieve the status of a developed country according to the World Bank. In addition, the country has the highest level of human development in Central and Eastern Europe, ranking among the top 30 nations in the world. The Czech Republic ranks as the ninth-most peaceful country in Europe, while achieving the best performance in democratic governance and infant mortality in the region. It is a pluralist parliamentary representative democracy with membership in the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.”

In fact, if we in Cameroon are serious, we can take this relationship to a level that will greatly benefit us.