Imminently present in the Cameroonian society, Migration is often referred to as ‘bushfalling.’ ‘Bushfalling’ is the act of going out to the ‘wilderness’ (bush) to hunt down meat (money) and bring back home the trophies. According to the Cameroonians, ‘To fall bush’ implies trying against all odds to leave the country to go (i.e. fall) and earn money to send back to the family in Cameroon. ‘Bush’ is the term used to describe ‘white man country’ – largely understood as the ‘West’. A person who has successfully traveled or migrated is called a ‘bushfaller.’
Cameroonians are often supported and encouraged by their families when they want to migrate to have a better future. Migrated population, when deported back to the country often are looked at in disbelief or are not taken seriously even whilst giving valuable information. They are considered as someone who failed to “fall – bush”. But for the Republic of Cameroon, they are seen as assets who are experienced enough to help the Cameroonian economy and growth, in a huge way.
The Cameroonian government often give them support to build themselves up in Cameroon itself, so that, they help educate their next generation about the field they excel in. As for the Cameroonian Diaspora, situated in different host countries – help send revenue and also visit their country to help them with their hands on experience. Their unique ideas built up inside them through experience gained when living abroad play a major role at supporting their innovative ideas. Thus, Diasporas are to be considered as partners in development rather than just being instruments of expertise and foreign exchange.
Before the 1990s, people that had managed to travel out of the country were referred to as ‘been to’. To become a ‘been to’ was associated with educational achievements, while bushfalling is associated with adventure and self-enrichment. The emergence of bushfalling as a new term represents a shift in understanding of cultures of success.
Ever since the late 1990s when the terminology of bushfalling first emerged, ‘bush’ became the notion of success. When a person with no education goes to bush and then comes back, his ‘level’ and status will be higher than that of a person who has spent the last ten years studying and learning in Cameroon.
With the mass unemployment in the country, the perceived worth of education has been deteriorating and connections have become more crucial to get an access to both social status and bush. What distinguished the Cameroonian skeptics (about bushfalling) was more of the degree they connected with the people and institutions in bush; rather than financial revenues, social position, and the level of education; itself. It is connections rather than education that make bushfalling at all cost less desirable, and travel and migration projects through other channels more attainable.
People in Cameroon often work for free and get exploited in the name of bush falling. There are people who scam the willing bush fallers and trap them in a cocoon of unknowingness. Sometimes when abroad Cameroonians are also forced to paper wed to get a residence permit, just so that they could become a bushfaller. While the Cameroonian women are forcing themselves to give their consent for courtship, sexuality and marriage for a social and geographical mobility, the men in Cameroon can no longer expect to marry and establish a family since they have no capital or credit to offer as a bridewealth.
There are also encouragements from family and the government but there sure are some downfalls of bushfalling as well. Even then the Bush fallers want to achieve their goal of going aboard, to mostly earn money and valuable experience so that their value increases and they not only become an asset to their homeland but also be a breadwinner for their families. With a patriot mindset and their love for their families, Cameroonians, “bush-fall” to become the Diasporas to their homeland.
