Behold the Dreamers

With the exchange rate of American dollars to Cameroonian francs so favorable, the blackmail money and the Jongas’ savings will essentially make them millionaires back home in Limbe. Jende’s mysterious back pains disappear and he dives into plans to start many businesses on his return to Cameroon. Winston advises him to be cautious and even connects Jende with employment offers, but Jende, content to be in control of his own life for once, wants only to work for himself.

When Jende complains about how sad Neni is, Winston tells him to be understanding of his wife's feelings. Besides, so many American products and aspects of American culture are popping up in Limbe that Neni should feel right at home. The one thing Winston asks is that Jende not become like the other stuck-up returnees from America who walk around with fake American accents and ways. Neni scorns all Jende’s efforts to involve her in planning for his business ventures, however. Jende moves ahead with planning for their return by having a family member secure a large home, car, and domestic staff in Limbe.

When Neni shares these developments with Fatou, Fatou expresses envy. She wishes she could go home, but they never will. Her husband wishes to stay in America, and her children are American now.

August, a cursed month among the Bakweri, comes, and Jende feels blessed that he will soon leave the poverty of Harlem and return to the comparatively pleasant surroundings of Limbe and Cameroon. He will miss small things about America, but he is glad to return home, he assures his friends.

Neni is still unhappy. She cries all the time, even in public. An unpleasant call from her father, who pleads for money to pay medical bills for his illegitimate son, angers Neni. Neni knows her children will grow up affluent in Cameroon. Nevertheless, she is saddened by all the American experiences they will miss. Timba and Liomi:

would lose the opportunity to grow up in a magnificent land of uninhibited dreamers […]lose the chance to be awed and inspired by amazing things happening, incredible inventions and accomplishments by men and women who look like them. They would be deprived of freedoms, rights and privileges that Cameroon could not give its children(361).

The Jongas attend several farewell parties, including one joyous one organized by all their African friends and one rather sad one at Judson Memorial, where Natasha holds them up as an example of how unwelcoming America is to immigrants these days. The congregants even pass the hat to gather funds to give the Jongas, a surprising turn of events. One girl tearfully shares a story about a friend’s father being deported to a country where he knows no one. The Jongas, whose situation is quite different, assure the congregants that they will be comfortable and supported on their return home.

Jende visits Clark one last time to say goodbye. Jende tells Clark he is glad to go home but a little sad to leave the city. Clark, who seems happy, tells Jende that the remaining members of the Edwards family are leaving the city to live in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Clark has a job as a credit-union lobbyist, and his parents are moving from California so they can support the family. Clark says that family is the most important thing now. Vince is opening a retreat center for executives in Mumbai. The two men share some laughs about Vince's rants.

Near the end of the visit, Jende thanks Clark for taking a chance on him and enabling him to have a better life, now that he is returning to Cameroon. Jende knows people say terrible things about Wall Street executives, but Clark's generosity to Jende shows how little they know. Clark is not quite sure what to say but ends by thanking Jende for everything, especially his loyalty and the time he took with Mighty.

Clark then asks why Jende is going back to Cameroon. Jende explains about the cost and the failure of his asylum case. Clark thinks it’s shameful that men like Jende cannot stay in the country, so he attempts to offer help from an old Stanford buddy who might be able to help. Jende tells him he is glad to go home and declines the offer of help. 

The Jongas give away all their shabby belongings. Their sublet will be taken over by a giddy white couple who also bought their bedroom set on the spot. A day and a half before their departure, Neni sits in their apartment, which “looks strange to her, as if she was in a dream about a home that had never been hers” (377). She has said all her goodbyes and is now ready to leave.

The Jongas’ departure from New York is rapid. Jende forces himself to feel nothing. He has $22,000 in cash on him, enough to start a new life in Cameroon. When the family arrives at Doula International Airport in Cameroon, nothing seems to have changed, and they take a two-hour drive with one of Jende’s brothers in order to get home to Limbe. Their shipping containers of other goods and the car will arrive later. They finally arrive at Limbe, and Jende is happy to see the old “Welcome to Limbe, The Town of Friendship” (281) sign he thought of so nostalgically during his first months in America. When Liomi wakes up, Jende tells him that they are home.