Relatives across the lands…?

So I was recently in Cameroon and departed from Douala Airport. Going through security check just before the boarding area, I beep while going through the scanner. The security officer asks me walk back and remove everything, which I had. I walk through and beep. Again. Normally at this point a lady officer would pat me down and give an all clear if I beep again. Not this security officer. He looks me over to see what could possibly be beeping and asks me to remove my silver chain that I have never been asked to remove at any security check lol. I remove it and go through. I beep. Again. The officer is clearly puzzled and asks the lady to pat me down. She does, in a away that leaves me feeling violated!

When she is sure there are no dangerous objects on me, she takes my passport and walks away while flipping through the pages very keenly. And I am wondering why she is so interested in my passport. I am exiting, and I am thinking that, that kind of passport scrutiny is not necessary at this point. She looks at me and looks at the passport cover then on to the bio data page. She comes closer to me and says something that I do not understand, and I let her know as much. She looks at the passport cover and back to the bio data page and asks if I am Kenyan. My split second thought is to say “Dah! What do you think?” But I know that will backfire on me under the current circumstances and I politely say yes. She points to my surname and says that the name belongs to her village somewhere in Cameroon, I don’t ask where exactly. It’s been a long search and I think to myself that the less I say, the better it will be for me.

She goes on to say that because of my surname, she thought I was from her village, which is why she spoke to me in her language to see if I would respond. She is also wondering why I have a Kenyan passport. She looks at me in a manner that clearly suggests that she is testing me and is looking for clues in my reaction. I tell her I am equally surprised that my name is from her village, clearly we live in a global village. She relaxes, smiles and gives my passport back. She even helps me gather my belonging as she lets in the next passenger through the scanner.

I pick my bags and move on wondering if she’s my people or I am her people 😆. Did my people migrate westwards or did her people migrate eastwards? She pronounced my surname right, a lot of people have a hard time pronouncing my surname so she was clearly familiar with the name. Very interesting…🤔.