The Douala seamstress who’s the real action hero
Daniel Nelson
You want an action movie? Forget Superman or Wonder Woman. Watch Mambar Pierrette.
Mambar is all action. She never stops, from morning to night. Cooking breakfast and oiling her mother’s creaking knees and feet. Getting her youngest son up. Shopping. Sweeping. Sewing. Not a moment’s pause.
“Already at work?” remarks an early visitor to her tiny workplace.
“Yes. I am nothing without this job.”
“You look like you have all Cameroon’s problems on your shoulders.”
When the old Singer machine stops she lugs it to a repairer, and lugs it back.
She can run up a pair of school uniforms or a sexy dress for a friend whose boyfriend is returning from Canada to Cameroon. Her speed, skill and ability to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances means she has a stream of customers, but, with three children and a mother to support and no help from her children’s father, she’s earning just enough to survive.
Despite her resilience, there’s no room for unexpected expenses, such as illness. The surprtise blow comes in the shape of a motorbike taxi driver who takes her to a dark alley where other men seize her money and phone.
She’s now penniless, with school fees and rent to pay, materials to buy and clothes to make for demanding customers.
Then she’s hit by what seems like the final straw: heavy rain and a flooded house.
She bales out like a machine, urging her son to push out the water faster too. But dresses soon to be collected have been swirling in the dirty water.
There’s more in this story of a week in the life of a Douala entrepreneur. The taciturn, flint-hearted landlord cuts off her electricity - and her livelihood - because of temporary arrears. She has to borrow money from her son’s piggy bank, and cope with the disapproval of her mother and aunts over her willingness to get the authorities to put pressure on her invisible partner to contribute to the children’s upbringing, instead of dealing with the matter the traditional way: through the family.
It’s a tough life, but director Rosaine Mbakam highlights Mambar’s resilience, humanity, honesty, compassion and positivity, her ability to to wonder: “The things you see in Cameroon… What a country!” - a comment sparked by her brother’s new job of paying people to join a rally for the President.
It’s not all bleak. Mambar finds time to help out a dejected friend by going for a drink and dance - with her friend wearing, of course, a Mambar-made dress.
The story has no ending: the film just stops. It’s been a fascinating ride.