October 27, 2009

Every muscle in body hates me right now and I can’t really blame them. This past Saturday Kristin and I climbed Mount Boyo in Njinikom. I really was not prepared for what was ahead of me, but at the end of the day I had Kristin’s approval and her agreement to climb Mount Cameroon with me. In other words, the real test will be Mount Cameroon and how I handle sleeping and cooking outside. I assured her that it wouldn’t be a problem for me with my history of being raised at the camp, camping in North Carolina and on Bull Point. I think she is still a little bit wary.
In my mind, I had envisioned this nice walk and an easy morning but quickly realized I was sorely mistaken. We left Kristin’s house right after 8 and started making our way to the base of the mountain. My first warning should have been that I was sweating and out of breath before we even reached the actual trail but in my haze of no caffeine it just didn’t register. After we began the “real” trail, it was pretty much straight up on slick mud, rocks and tree roots. When the trees finally gave way and we could see the plateau, hope sprang anew for me but then was crushed immediately by how much further we had to go!
We then hit the pampas grass part and it got really tricky. There were no longer any trees and the grass covered the trail that was still slick mud and rocks. We slowly made our way to the side and continued on to the part that we would have to climb up to reach the plateau. I didn’t realize we would actually have to climb to reach the top, it is probably better that Kristin didn’t share this information with me before hand. We finally made it and the view was unbelievable and well worth the effort. At the top there was a beautiful metal cross that overlooks all of Njinikom. We sat for a little while and enjoyed the cool air and the feeling of contentment in finishing what we set out to do.
Little did I know that going down was going to be ten times harder than going up. After watching Kristin climb down the rocks, I went after her and made it safely down with her coaching from under me and David and Emmanuel’s coaching from above me. On the way down I must have fallen at least 15 times by slipping on the trail (the mud and loose rocks did not make it easy) or my foot finding many of the holes that dropped off the side of the mountain. Every time I slipped and fell I would burst out laughing and occasionally let a few curse words fly. By the time we made it back into the trees my rear end was completely brown from the mud and my wrist and ankle hurt badly, but I was still in a great mood and exuberant with the overall experience. Now whenever I visit Njinikom, I can look up at Mount Boyo and yell, “I beat you!”
I now know that Mount Cameroon will not be a problem because I have been assured by Cameroonians that Mount Boyo is more difficult than Mount Cameroon. Mount Cameroon is longer but the trail is well kept and not nearly as dangerous! I can’t wait but in the mean time I think some major conditioning on my part is needed.
Hopefully one of these days I will get some pictures uploaded…

October 20, 2009

I am sitting here in my lovely Cameroonian house writing to you by candlelight (and one crappy lantern). I am lucky enough to have two other volunteers here and they are making the power outage a little more bearable. The power went out the Monday before last and has only come back on for a handful of times since. This makes keeping my computer and phone charged, pretty much impossible.
Time here seems to pass slowly with an oddly comforting southern grace that reminds me of home. I am trying to appreciate the lull while it is occurring because I know that my two years here will not be like this. I have been keeping myself busy with pidgin classes twice a week and visiting the women’s groups. I just keep reminding myself that everything is little by little or in pidgin, small small cash monkey.
This past Saturday, Nkumu Fed Fed had their 2009 Back to School Scholarship ceremony. I wasn’t sure what to expect but what occurred was fabulous and entirely inspiring. The grand stand in Bali Center was completely filled with students from the surrounding schools, representatives from the women’s groups, town officials and members of Nkumu Fed Fed. After all of the protocol and speeches form the appropriate people, during which point I was introduced (and I had to speak to them in the local language – not an easy feat), the best part occurred and was when the gifts were given to the students. The older ones received slips of paper, which were incredibly important.
Nkumu Fed Fed USA branch along with another non-profit called Place of Hope (who is based in north Caroina) had raised a little over 2 million FCFA that was dispersed by paying students tuition and giving other gifts. Cameroon’s public education system is not what American’s are used to, there is an incredible amount of fees on top of tuition and it is impossible for a lot of children to go to school. It can be really disheartening to watch. Seeing these students getting the ability to continue their education was an amazing experience for me. The smaller children were given notebooks, books, back packs and so on. Their faces were my favorite part of the whole day. Each child was grinning from ear to ear, either showing off their new back pack or proudly holding their stack of books and notebooks. I am so happy to be working with a group that wants to give back to their community and recognized the importance of educating the children who are their future leaders.
The next day I found myself (along with Kristin, who I pulled along for the ride) trying to find a taxi to Batibo (a village past mine) to meet an “eccentric old white lady”. I really had no idea what to expect but definitely found myself (as did Kristin) pleasantly surprised. The ride from Bali to Batibo was beautiful. The winding road with views of mountains and valleys miles away was, as is always, breathtaking to me. The lady we met is named Susan and she is Argentinean by birth. Susan attended nursing school in the U.S. where she met her husband, a Cameroonian. The moved back to Batibo and raised a handful of children who all now live abroad. Her husband has passed away and she is now retired and loves keeping in touch with the local Peace Corps volunteers. While we were visiting she had the local orphans over for lunch and, funny enough, to watch Madagascar 2. The children were precious and I was lucky enough to learn that Seth had held a summer camp for them last year. I hope that I can follow up with this if the volunteer replacing him does not, or in the very least assist in making sure it happens again. After getting my butt kicked in ping pong and a great lunch of vegetable rice and carrot cake as dessert we took Susan’s car further up the road to another village called Ewoh. De-Ann from my stage lives there and Susan wanted to meet her before she leaves for her vacation in South America and North America. The car ride was fun but I was pretty happy knowing I did not have to do it very often.
I visited another women’s group on Monday morning and am very happy to feel that there may be a few women who really want to take my business classes (as long as I have Bridget there to translate). It was a great feeling and really makes me look forward to beginning teaching. Next I headed over to meet a lady at the hospital. I was introduced around and then we trooped off to Bamenda to meet Dr. Okwen. I will be carrying on where the volunteer who I replaced left off. She was teaching the hospital staff basic management and leadership skills. I was very excited leaving this meeting and knowing that I now have another avenue of work to venture down.
Next week I am hoping to visit my friend Jane, who is a teacher at a local school, to get to know her class. She teaches elementary school and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they might be interested in starting a letter writing project with Eve’s 5th grade class at Sarah Collins in Greenville.
Other than that things are moving pretty slowly. Some days are really hard and other seems to fly by. I am trying to keep myself busy by reading and learning how to cook some local dishes. I will admit though I am really hoping that this power issue gets worked out. Reading by candlelight is nearly impossible and I don’t want to burn out my headlamp!!!
I have found that my post office box works but it can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks for something to arrive, so if anyone want to practice their antiquated skills of letter writing it is always welcome. My address is :
Catherine Hipp
Bali Post Office
B.P. 31
North West Province
Cameroon, Africa
So for now, I bid you good night or bonnuit if you prefer.

September 30, 2009

I have been invaded by flies and I am not in the least bit joking (or enjoying it for that matter). I have killed around 15 just today with no help from Pockets. I will say that I am glad to know that she likes eating flies but I really wish she would master the art of catching them. I keep picturing Jeff Goldbloom in that fly movie, God – I really hope that I don’t become that person. At this very moment Eric is off to find “gum” to close up the space underneath my front and kitchen doors (where the nasty little intruders are coming from). I really hope it works, if not I may just go crazy from the constant buzzing!
I have visited a rural women’s group twice with Bridget (the warden of center). The second visit we asked them to fill out a few questions about their group. The questions were simple things such as when the group began, how many members there are, what are the goals of the group, etc. Basically all we got in a response is that they want to help the rural women of the area and they need money to finish their meeting space. It is all really frustrating but hopefully I learned from this experience. Next time I plan to sit there and go all lawyer on them (Jeff – hopefully I’ve learned a thing or two from you over the years). I will not accept simple answers, I plan to lead them to get the answers I want. I really want this information so that I can figure out how to help them, what skills would be beneficial for me to teach them and to begin a database of all the local women’s groups for contacts purposes.
I am meeting with Mr. Clerkson tomorrow to set up my pidgin schedule. I am really excited to get started on this. I have learned how to say hello in the local patoi and really hope he will teach me a few other needed sayings in that as well. After my meeting with him Bridget is going to teach me how to cook something. I am not sure what yet but I had to buy corn and palm oil (whad-ya-know). I will pick up some huckleberry tomorrow when I go into Bamenda. So far it is sounding pretty interesting but I am fairly certain that it will not be too healthy! I did make really good fajitas the other night. Whoever would have guessed that I would know how to make salsa, guacamole and tortillas four months ago?
Speaking of eating, I do have one interesting story to tell before I sign off. A couple of weeks ago I was eating at a restaurant with two other volunteers. After finally understanding that they only had chicken or tomatoes with rice we all ordered “poulet avec pommes frites”. About an hour later we should have known something was up when the waitress brought out plates for us. A few minutes later we were served a big platter of potatoes, greens and chicken. We all dug in and were enjoying the meal when Thyrn noticed that all the chicken parts were crappy. A neck piece and a foot made an appearance along with other parts that were less meaty. We didn’t think too much more about it but Thryn and I stopped eating the chicken and Ben kept on. I wanted another serving of potatoes and green beans so I flipped some of the chicken parts out of the way and in the process turned over the whole chicken head. I almost threw up then and there. It didn’t help when Ben picked up the foot and started shoving it in my face. Finally Ben put the head in a napkin and placed it on his plate. Needless to say, I have not ordered chicken since.
I am not sure if I will ever really get used to this country…