Aug. 18, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - This is the fourth in a series of blog entries by senior forward Sandrine Nzeukou during her attempt to make the Cameroon National Team.
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Coming back to the place where almost all of my family lives has been nothing short of daunting. I have always understood that I have a big family but I don't think I realized that I have a HUGE family.
The first people I saw at the airport in Douala were my maternal grandmother, Mami Manga, my uncle Tonton Gerard, and my other uncle Tonton Bao. I stared at my grandmother, struck by how much she hadn't aged in the eight years since I had seen her last and how beautiful her skin is. I can only hope she passed on those genes to me.
When I arrived in Yaounde the next day I visited my paternal grandmother, Mapoli, for the first time since I had left. I immediately recognized her because she had the biggest smile on her face and was dancing with open arms waiting for a long overdue hug and kiss. I was so excited to see my grandmothers and pick out the features and traits that they have passed onto me, my cousins, and the rest of my family.
From then on I met aunt after aunt, uncle after uncle, and cousin after cousin. Every person would recount stories about me when I was small, looked at me and would say that I have the exact same face but was so surprised by how tall I was (they blamed that on the hormones in American food lol.)
They told more stories of when I was small, like when I would scream and cry hysterically every time I had to get my hair done lol. But besides the stories and the joking around all of my relatives wanted me to take away one thing from me coming back to Cameroon, and that was to always put your family first and keep a strong hold of your roots.
All of these reunions were nothing short of emotional and overwhelming. With the size of my family, they will not be subsiding anytime soon but it's something I look forward to, because I have never felt so much pure love in my life.
