Prologue

   When I returned from two years of Peace Corps service in June of 1997
   I had two dreams or perhaps fantasies.  Each requires a bit of
   explanation.

   First, the curricula in mathematics and physics at the University of
   Buea are quite good by American standards.  The best students who
   survive the ruthlessly selective Cameroonian education system and get
   undergraduate degrees in these subjects from the University of Buea
   would be excellent candidates for admission to graduate school at
   Lehigh.  In my first dream, I would help graduates of the University
   of Buea come to graduate school at Lehigh.

   Second, despite my teaching Computer Science at Lehigh, Peace Corps
   asked me to teach mathematics at the University of Buea in Cameroon.
   When I arrived at the University of Buea I quickly realied how lucky
   I was to be teaching mathematics rather than computer science.  The
   department of mathematics had a minor in computer science.  They had
   five functioning PC's to support an approximate course enrollment of
   100 students.  I would have been quite frustrated teaching computer
   science.  My second dream involved dramatically increasing the number
   of PC's available to the students.  PC's which in the U.S. are outmoded
   if not useless after three or four years and thus of little worth can
   be had for the asking.  Why not return to Buea with 50-100 such
   machines? That would dramatically improve the infrastructure. At the
   same time, I could help bring the computer science curriculum up to
   date.

   Both dreams were just that, dreams.  I had no idea how to make them
   reality, but I was ready if the opportunity should arise.  Over time,
   my first dream became a reality beyond what I could actually dream.
   Based primarily on the initiative of students from the University of
   Buea and secondarily on my ability to facilitate the process, we now
   have a substantial chapter of the University of Buea Alumni Association
   here at Lehigh.  I hope I have the order of arrival correct, but the
   following are currently at Lehigh:  Miranda Teboh-Ewungkem (Math), Julius
   Ewungkem (MSE), Francis Ndi (Physics), Tafon Penn (Physics), Julius Esunge
   (Math), George Ngwa (Chemistry), Eric Teyim (Chemistry), and Bweh
   Esembesom (Physics).  To date Miranda earned a masters in statistics and
   a PhD in Mathematics,  Francis Ndi earned a masters in physics, and
   Julius Ewungkem earned a masters in MSE.  In addition, Beryl Teboh earned
   a masters in business at Kutztown University, and Eunice Esunge is
   enrolled at Moravian.  This fall Clement Akongnwi expects to enter the
   graduate program in mathematics.

   As I thought about the second dream, I realized the major impediment
   would be paying for the shipping of computers to Cameroon.  Two years ago
   I was faculty leader of a project to bring used computers to Kenya.  The
   driving force behind this project was Tom Schultz, who spent perhaps
   $10,000 of his own money to ship 110 used computers by air.  The Kenya
   project spurred my desire to do something similar in Cameroon, but I
   could not find the right funding mechanism.  Then this past fall Bill
   Hunter, who had been involved in the Kenya project, told me of Rotary
   Foundation funding for university faculty interested in teaching in
   developing countries that had Rotary clubs.  I quickly verified on the
   web that Cameroon qualified.  I applied for funding, and Rotary Foundation
   awarded me a grant.  Now I had the funding for shipping me and the
   computers.

   I always thought that getting second-hand computers was the easy part, and
   I was right.  Mostly by word of mouth and some modest advertising on
   Lehigh bulletin boards I ended up with exactly 50 computers.  As the
   computers started arriving, and I started packaging them, I was happy that
   I had only just met my goal of getting 50-100 computers.

   In my eyes, the most difficult part of the project involved shipping the
   computers to Cameroon.  I intended to go by container but had no idea
   what that entailed and how much it would cost.  My guess of around $2000
   for a 20 foot container was not catastrophically different from the
   actual $2700.  In discussing the details of shipping by container I learned
   that the container would be brought to Lehigh and I would have two hours
   to load, subject to a penalty of $65 for each hour beyond the two hours.
   I heard the freight forwarder casually mention the need to brace the
   load.  After talking to a number of people, it became clear to me that
   ocean voyages can destroy unsecured contents of containers.  I ended up
   spending many sleepless nights trying figure out how to secure the load,
   this without know what the inside of a container looks like.  I got the
   impression that the walls were slotted to accept two-by-fours and that the
   floors were made of wood, but I had no idea whether there were hooks that
   could be used to tie down the load.  In preparation I bought 20
   two-by-fours and about 200 of feet of rope.  The day before the container
   arrived at Lehigh, I learned of someone in Easton who had also shipped
   computers to Africa, but he palletizes his loads. Still, he assured me
   that if I packed the load "wall-to-wall," it would survive the ocean
   passage.  Thus, at the last minute, I had a strategy for packing the
   container.  A few days before I got an excellent suggestion from Bryan
   Hodgson:  before the container arrived, in the bay of Packard Lab lay
   out the load exactly as it would be packed in the container.

   On Thursday 15 May, we packed the container twice, virtually on the floor
   of Packard Lab and then actually in the container.  We loaded, tied down,
   and braced the 141 boxes of stuff in 80 minutes.  Now the container is
   somewhere at sea.  It will go to Barcelona and then be put on a second
   ship for Douala.  My nights are still sleepless as I think about the
   problems of getting through customs at Douala.