Gas Scarcity in Yaoundé: I Spent 13,000 FCFA on Gas

Hope you are doing well.

There has been a cooking gas shortage in Cameroon for the past few weeks. Well, I had my own little experience with it recently, and honestly, I didn't expect buying gas to become such an adventure. 😂

Finding Gas Wasn't Easy

I have two gas cylinders at home, but I switched to the second one the last time without getting the first one refilled. So when I needed to refill it, I thought it would be as simple as sending someone to buy it like I used to do.

It wasn't that simple.

The person I sent went to the usual places around, but there was no gas. He had to ask a commercial motorcycle rider to take him somewhere farther to find some.

Thankfully, he eventually found it, but it was 9,000 FCFA. Normally, a 12.5 kg cylinder costs around 6,500 or 7,000 FCFA, depending on what you're used to paying, so 9,000 FCFA was already a lot more than I expected. I expected the price to be higher but not as much as 9,000 FCFA.

And that wasn't even all I had to spend.

He had also spent money on transport while moving around looking for the gas, so I had to reimburse him for that. I also gave him a little extra to appreciate the effort he had made because, honestly, he could have gone to the usual places, found nothing and returned home. Instead, he kept looking until he found somewhere to buy it. In total, I spent 13,000 FCFA to get gas in Yaounde.

I was just happy he found gas.

The thing is, I had been a little worried because I didn't know how long the gas in the cylinder I am currently using would last. What if it finished before he found the other one? Imagine being in the middle of cooking and suddenly having no gas, with the other cylinder not filled. 😅

So when he finally came back with it, I was relieved.

But this whole experience got me thinking about how something as ordinary as buying cooking gas can suddenly become stressful. Usually, you know where to go, how much you're likely to pay, and roughly how long the whole thing will take. You don't expect to spend half your day looking for it or paying extra just to get what you need.

I'd already been seeing people talk about the gas shortage online, but experiencing the difficulty of finding it myself made it feel a little different.

And I kept thinking about what happens when your gas finishes and you can't find a refill. What do you do if you have food to cook and children to feed? Not everyone can keep moving from one place to another looking for gas, especially when transport and the price of gas itself are already eating into the budget.

For me, I was fortunate that the person I sent eventually found some.

Anyway, that's my little gas shortage story.

I hope things get back to normal soon because nobody should have to go through all that to buy cooking gas.