June 25, 2010

The World Cup is here! The new trainees arrived June 4th! I completed my 1st business class! 16 girls from the North West Province were awarded scholarships from A2Empowerment! Camp Batibo was a success! As you can tell a lot of positive things have happened since I last wrote…
It does seem that all African teams have been getting their butts kicked in the World Cup, especially Cameroon. What I have enjoyed watching the most is that even when Cameroon or the US is not playing, Cameroonian’s are still glued to the television watching different matches. Having the World Cup in Africa has brought a since of pride to African’s that I believe is long overdue. It is just a pity that then African teams aren’t doing that well. Despite this, there is still a sense of togetherness and camaraderie amongst the Cameroonian’s as they watch the games. Without a doubt soccer is a global sport and a great way to integrate with your community. A good many volunteers headed down to South Africa to catch some games and I have to admit I am quite jealous. The last I heard the Peace Corps Country Director of South Africa was expecting a total of 116 volunteers from other Peace Corps countries. He/she definitely will have her hands full…
Renee and I greeted the new trainees in Yaoundé Friday, June 4th and then stayed with them until they left for the training site on Tuesday. The group has 43 trainees who, after completing training, will be posted different places around the country. There are five education and two small enterprise development volunteers being posted in the North West and it will be interesting to see how our regions dynamics change when they get here. I am also helping with training throughout the summer. I am teaching a total of nine sessions which include Marketing, Leadership, Working with Community Groups, NGO’s, Accounting and a few others. It feels very weird to be on this side of training but at the same time it is really gratifying.
My first business class is officially over and I am already planning when to begin the next. Ma Patience, Ma Theresia and Ma Bri will come to my house in July to receive their certificates, take some pictures, and take refreshments with me. It really has been a pleasure getting to know them over these past couple of months. They are all extremely hard working, bright women who only want to better their lives and took the time every week to come listen to me. I just hope they actually got something out of it.
Just last week I found out that all of our hard work paid off and the North West girls were receiving 16 scholarships from A2Empowerment, three of which will remain in Bali. We turned in 43 applications from nine different villages. It is a great project and extremely gratifying knowing that 16 girls are getting to continue their education because of the volunteers and people in the states that recognize the importance of education in developing countries.
The North West volunteers came together the week of June 14-18 to put on a summer camp for an orphanage in Batibo. The week turned out extremely successful and definitely made my heart a little warmer. Tim, Carl and Austin taught some farming and environment sessions; Gabe taught the older students basic computer skills, Stefanie taught Health and HIV/AIDS awareness; Carl taught English; and we all partook in playing sports (which mainly consisted of kickball) and arts & crafts. It was a good week but the most important thing was that the kids got to spend time with us and us with them.
During this time my Nana had her 90th birthday and all of my family gathered to celebrate with her at my parent’s house in Greer. I was lucky enough to get to speak with almost everyone for a minute or two on Skype. During a conversation with my cousin Ginny, she asked me if I thought I was taking in all of my experiences or if I thought it would affect me more when I got home. To tell the truth, I am not entirely sure. But after completing a year in a third world country, I know that I will never take for granted my family, my health and for that matter my wealth (which is very small in comparison to a lot of US citizen’s but is huge when compared with people living in poverty). I realize that I still like the finer things in life and that I will probably always want them but that I can live without them. I also know deep down that waking up every morning with a purpose is much more important than going to a job that I hate so that I can buy the next new thing. I without a doubt think that this experience will continue to affect me during the next year and throughout my life. So Ginny, I guess it’s best to say that my eyes have been opened and some has registered but I believe that there are still many more layers of my rose-tinted glasses to be removed (don’t worry this hasn’t made me a pessimist but I am definitely more of a realist).

April 16, 2010

I want to first start by saying that I am not becoming a cat lady, but as I write this post I have a tiny kitten asleep on my chest. While in Bamenda Thursday night, Thryn and I heard this really sad crying out side of the house, upon closer inspection we found a tiny kitten. She is absolutely precious and probably around 5-6weeks of age. She is white with black spots that kind of make her look like a figurine cow. For me it was love at first sight, for her it was the complete opposite. She was filthy from being outsdte for who knows how long, so I quickly dunked in a pot for a bath. It took forever to get most of the fleas off of her but she was definitely a shade lighter when she dried. I have decided to call her Lela, which is the name of the annual festival held in Bali. It also means, “night” in Swahili. The real test will be when I take her home to meet Pockets. If it does not go well I will ask around for another home for her, but I am thinking Pockets will enjoy the company (once she warms to the idea). The best part of the story is that we believe she is Linus’s (Thyrn’s cat) daughter. She has similar markings, down to the black spots under her feet, to the same mannerisms. We’re assuming the mother dropped her off on the door step as a screw you buddy, I mean who on earth would let a man get away with that these days???
This week has been crazy busy which is great but extremely exhausting. I spent all day today at a workshop on project writing with the Nkumu Fed Fed ladies. I arrived at 7 (for a meeting the lady didn’t show up for, whatdyaknow?) and didn’t get back to the transit house until close to 8 o’clock. I will post another blog once the entire weekend is completed with more details. Unfortunately I am missing a wedding in Njinikom because of the Annual General Meeting. Oh well, I hope to get to see one some day!
Pictures to come soon!

April 12, 2010

While riding into Bamenda this morning, I was once again amazed by Cameroonian’s ingenuity. Throughout the 19 kilometer ride the man kept hitting the defrost button and for the most of the ride I was able to control myself and not ask what on earth he was doing. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer, my curiosity had bested me and I finally asked (of course stating what the button is usually used for in cars – because I thought he was a moron). I then came to learn that the man had rewired the car so that the defrost button was his starter. He thought this was genius in case anyone tried to steal his car, they would never figure it out. For my part, I think he is quite right, who in their right mind would think to hit the defrost button to start a car? He then demonstrated the button’s usefulness the last mile of the trip. I swear I will never cease to be amazed by anything in this country...
My business classes are trucking along with only three women being avid attendees. They seem devoted and I am very thankful for their devotion. A woman from my first class was in an accident where a moto driver ran into her leg, I thought that she might be crippled for life but I just recently found out that she actually ended up dying. It is sad that something that we would fix fairly easy in the states can lead to death here. I am not sure what the cause of death was but my guess would be infection. When you ask a Cameroonian, they never have a good response and they seem to normally blame it on malaria or voodoo. Life in a third world country is much more fragile and I have definitely become more aware of this fact.
Peace Corps Cameroon’s new country director is visiting the North West Province this week and we are all looking forward to meeting her. Since I am the regional representative I will have dinner with her tomorrow night. I am slightly nervous because I have no idea what to expect. My understanding is that she is very easy going and I will have no problem feeling comfortable around her. She is from North Carolina, so I guess if all else fails I can always talk about that.
I just found out this week that I will be a host for the new stage that will be arriving in June. I am extremely excited and feel very special that I was chosen from amongst such a great group of volunteers. Now I just need to use my spare time to brush up on my French. I will spend two weeks in Yaoundé in May planning and training for the new stage and then will return at the beginning of the month to greet them at the airport. I can’t believe that it was a year ago that I was where they will be. Some days it seems like yesterday and then others feel like a years!!!
I forgot to mention that I have a new roof. It is not finished yet because they actually are raising the height of the building by adding cinder blocks, but the new roof is there in all of its red splendor. I no longer have rain seeping in at odd places but for now I get to deal with a lot of noise and plenty of dirt raining down from the cracks in the ceiling - hence the picture.

Africa welcomed me back with open arms, and by this I mean that there were only a few hiccups on my trip back from France. Traveling through the Douala airport is an experience in itself, leaving was okay but a book could be written about arriving, and I hope to never use this airport again. After making it through customs (which is fairly simple as a Peace Corps Volunteer) I entered the baggage room which was crowded with Africans, expats, gendarmes and custom officers. I began standing patiently to wait for my bag to come around but it became apparent very quickly that it was not going to be that simple. What ended up happening was the biggest cluster I had ever seen in my life. Luggage was dumping onto the carousel but people were not taking bags off and space was growing extremely short. Before I knew what was happening the luggage was getting caught up and making the bags behind it shoot off the carousel. We quickly acted and start shoving the luggage along which only helped for a short time before we had to begin shoving bags along again. At one point during the fiasco a bag came shooting off the carousel at me knocking me down, somehow I managed to not take out the mother holding her infant behind me (thank God for small miracles).On top of the baggage debacle the lights kept going out and the temperature had to at least be around 95 degrees. Needless to say it was almost three hours after landing that I walked out of the airport to search for my shuttle to a hotel that didn’t want to take me in. Luckily it all worked out and I made it safely back to Bamenda the next day. I mean if this all hadn’t of happened I might of thought I had returned to a non-third world country, TIA.
Life in Cameroon came back together quickly for me. On the Friday after arriving home I attended a funeral for two people related to Nkumu Fed Fed members. The funeral was at the Catholic Church and once again I enjoyed the minister’s message in Pidgin, he has a great sense of humor and is extremely captivating. I know I have stated this before, but it has to be said again, I was amazed by the way deaths are celebrated here. At the first reception I sat with a group of NFF members and soon after arriving we were ushered down to get food and then had a crate of beer, wine and Chivas set in front of us. The day progressed nicely with the NFF women having a great time and enjoying being with each other and supporting their sisters. It was nice to be involved and I enjoyed discussing a few projects with some of the members.
A couple of days later I headed to Njinikom to celebrate Women’s Day with Kristin and her good friend Bassy. Women’s Day is an international holiday that celebrates “the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future”. In some countries it is a national holiday. The day progressed with Kristin and I sitting behind the Mayor and Divisional Officer of Njinikom and watching the parade of 70 something women’s groups march past. After the march a couple of groups had skits, participated in a three legged race, and then performed dances. It was fascinating to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The rest of the day was for eating and drinking. And we did both well.
I taught my first business class at Nkumu Fed Fed’s Multi Purpose Center last Friday. We were expecting twenty women but sadly only three showed up. I am trying not to be discouraged and to remember that at least those are three women that will gain some knowledge they didn’t have before. I am keeping my fingers crossed that more will show up this Saturday and might continue to come throughout the next eleven weeks of classes. The other daunting factor was that one of the women was illiterate and the other two had difficulty understanding my English. We had asked the women’s groups to send only literate women but somehow that message did not get across. The situation is manageable, I will just have to become more flexible and imaginative in my teaching style (maybe I can channel Mama and Eve).The course is well planned and goes over basic business principles such as types of business, marketing, budgeting, income statement, balance sheet, goals and objectives and so much more. If you have any ideas about how to teach these topics to women who do not read or write and can barely understand proper English, please send me your ideas, they would be greatly appreciated.
Another project that I have been working on is helping to expand a scholarship to the North West Province. The charity provides educational scholarships and support to girls and women so that they may increase their knowledge and empower themselves to lead healthier, more productive lives. The scholarships have been extremely successful in another province of Cameroon and we are now hoping to make it happen in my province. The communities are asked to take part financially by either matching or paying a portion of the scholarship, but the majority of money comes from donations state side. Please visit the website and read what an incredible idea this is, www.A2Empowerment.org. Please know that the more money that comes in means more girls will have the chance to continue their education. I will leave you with a quote by Greg Mortenson who the book Three Cups of Tea is based on, "You can hand out condoms, drop bombs, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change."

So, you know the nursery rhyme, “Rain, rain go away, come again another day”? I will never say those words again in my life. The dry season began in November and will continue through all of February. When I left my house yesterday, there was a huge thunderhead in the distance. I got so excited I almost did a dance in the middle of the road. Never in my life did I think I would be so happy about rain. I am beginning to understand how farmers feel in the middle of a drought (of course my life isn’t dependent on my crops). The cloud might as well have been a mirage because the few drops of rain that came from it was not even close to enough water to bring the dust down. The dust is now a couple of inches thick on the ground and I can’t step out of my house without my feet, ankles and legs becoming covered in a fine, red dirt. The atmosphere also seems affected; I have not seen the mountains clearly in weeks.
I would like to tell you that I have been working hard this month but unfortunately that would be a lie. I am still learning how Cameroonians (and I hear this is true of all Africans) work. I have been stood up multiple meetings in the past month and my patience is pretty much shot. My counterpart returned last week, which means hopefully things will begin to pick up. Bridget and I have gotten the business classes lined up and we will begin those in the middle of March.
So what do I do with all my spare time (this is what I imagine everyone at home is thinking)? And it is a great question. The truth is that I am learning a lot. I have read a ridiculous amount of books from Faulkner to Sophie Kinsella. I am working on my 30th book right now, which is one Mama sent me, Same Kind of Different as Me. I still have not finished War & Peace (good Lord, this is a boring book) but hope to sometime soon. For those of you who know me very well, you would be surprised to find out that only three of those books were trash novels! How about that?
I am also learning to cook. I have mastered a pretty bad ass banana bread. I also have made Dad’s meatloaf and gravy (Dad – you would have been so proud) a couple of times for other volunteers. This Tuesday we are having pizza night, I am going with an entire Italian theme. Making pizza from scratch isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
I have also been studying for the GRE’s which I will be taking in Yaoundé next Saturday. I will stay there for a couple of days to meet with Nkumu Fed Fed’s national president. She wants to discuss what I am doing and any ideas that I have for the NGO. She is a very impressive lady, who I am looking forward to sitting down with.
I also have been spending time with my friend Jane and her daughter Praise. Last night I got to teach Praise, Jane and Ma Bri how to play Twister. It was quite fun but I think I need to start yoga or something; I am not nearly as flexible as I used to be!
One Friday I went with my post mate, Carl, and his counterpart to visit a small village called Osham. We met the Fon and drank palm wine with him and then we were taken on a hike. The hike led us to these beautiful waterfalls; we later found out that we were the first Westerners to see them. I have to admit, that is a pretty neat feeling! The waterfalls are held as a sacred place for this specific tribe. They believe that their ancestors go there after they die. On the same note, last weekend I went with Kristin and her principal, Christopher, to see a lake in between Santa and Awing. The lake was beautiful and I had to suppress the urge to dive in, the cool water just looked so welcoming. The fact that the lake is the main water source for the entire area was a good reason not to. The lake also has religious meaning to the people of Awing; they believe that their ancestors go there after death while waiting to go to heaven. Kristin and I both drank some of the water, which we were told was special and would make us “strong and healthy”. Sick is more like it, I ended up with killer stomach pains for about three days after that! Good choice Cat! The highlight of that day for me was holding a baby goat, man was it cute!
I apologize for the gap between this entry and the last; I will try to be better! After I finished writing this, the sky opened and the rain fell! I was so happy, I wanted to go stand in it, but like the lake, I held myself in check.

The robbers came back to our house last night. I was woken up around 1:00 to a squealing pig outside of my room. Luckily Eric heard and got up and ran them off, his pig is safe for the time being. The pig sty looked a little rough though; the thieves had torn it up to get the pig out. I feel really bad for Eric and hope that this is the last time they come back.
We had In-Service Training (IST) last week in Kribi, which is in the South Province of Cameroon. It is a beautiful beach and I took advantage as much as possible considering we were in sessions until 4 everyday! The sessions were helpful and got me excited about being here and starting work. We learned how to apply for money through Peace Corps or Embassy’s for projects. I got some good ideas on how to teach illiterate women business classes (which I will start in March). So far, there is not been much done with illiterate people and if there is it has not been reported or written down for other volunteers. I am really hoping to learn teaching techniques for these women that I can pass along. I also asked to be one of the editors of the SED gazette when our now SED volunteers COS in August. This is the time where we apply to be on committees such as Gender & Youth, Environmental, Diversity and so on. I may apply for Diversity or Environmental, not quite sure yet. All I know is that I really want to be involved.
On the way to Kribi we passed through Yaoundé and there I had the best night. I will have to say that during my 7 months here, this ranks pretty high as one of my favorite experiences. The group that was staying at the case (transit house) consisted of people COSing, Mid-service and our IST group. Needless to say there were a lot of people present which made for a great weekend. We decided to go to a “Rasta party” not too far from the case. I was reluctant at first because I was tired and really was looking forward to a good night sleep. Thank goodness I was talked into going. The party was outside where there was a bonfire, bar and tables. In between the fire and bar there was a group of men sitting on stools, rocks and what not playing some of the best music I had ever heard. As the night progressed people started dancing. It was fun to watch because Cameroonians can dance beautifully and in ways that I know are impossible for my body to move! Unfortunately, towards the end I was pushed in front of the band and had to dance. I felt so incompetent in comparison but I threw myself in and just had fun. I don’t take my camera out at night any more but I really wish I had pictures to post of this.
While I was gone I put out rat poisoning to try to get rid of the mice. When I arrived home on Tuesday, I was welcomed with a horrible smell. The poison had worked! I found two dead mice. I was doing a happy dance until I got Pockets home, where lo and behold she finds a baby mouse. I am starting to think they are never ending!
I almost forgot to add, that while riding down Commercial Avenue the other day, I happened to glance over and see a nice looking 4 Runner. Now this isn’t too unbelievable but what made my day was the beautiful palmetto tree and moon sticker on the back window. It is amazing how far South Carolina’s popularity has reached!!!

December 2, 2009

First I need to start off by telling everyone that I ate grasshoppers and they were amazingly delicious. There is about two weeks out of the year where they come in swarms to the North West region. Market mami’s catch them and then sell them live at the market. The grasshoppers that I ate were cooked and actually tasted like pork, just crunchy. I would recommend trying them at least once, if you ever get a chance. I will admit that I still prefer our “grasshoppers” in the U.S. (you know, the pecans covered in chocolate).
Thanksgiving was a success although extremely tiring. Kristin and I met in Bamenda on Wednesday morning to take care of all the shopping. The plan was to buy 3 chickens (alive) and all the other ingredients for macaroni casserole, fried rice, mashed potatoes, coconut pie, banana bread and sweet potato pie. Luckily for us other people were bringing things such as homemade stuffing, mac and cheese, brownies and pecan pie. There ended up being around 25 people at my house, 20 of who spent the night. It was definitely a full house but great to be around a lot of American’s on such a special holiday.
The highlight of the day (besides the actual eating) was when Erin killed her chicken. It was an experience to watch and is one that I have to admit I could never do, nor do I really want to. I was proud of her for following through. She was a part of the entire process: she bought it, killed it, plucked it and then ate it (I am actually the one who cooked it). By eleven o’clock I was dead to the world even with a house full of guests but waking up at 6 to begin cooking really took it out of me. I love being a hostess (as most of you know) but man oh man is it harder in Cameroon! The entire time I was cooking, I was day dreaming of being in mama’s kitchen with two ovens, ones that you actually can tell the oven temp.
The dry season is finally here and although I have been looking forward to it for some time, I have to admit I miss the rain. The roof of my house is tin and it makes for a soothing noise to go to sleep to. On the up side there is no more mud or getting soaking wet every time you step out of your house. The down side of dry season is the dust, which I am told is not even bad yet. I have to soak my feet in steaming hot water to get them clean, which is a pain because I have to warm the water on the stove. I never realized that cold water doesn’t remove dirt that well. Kind of a gross thought actually, considering that I have been taking cold showers the whole time I have been in Cameroon.
I have just thrown a mouse out of my house for the second time in two weeks. Instead of eating them, which I thought is what cats do, Pockets likes to play with them. I think that the mama mouse had babies and I am dreading finding out how many there really are. The first night I found Pockets playing with the mice she was in the bathroom and would catch it in her mouth then let it go just to catch it again. Well, it got away from her and she became very upset. Luckily for her I found it on the counter in the kitchen and threw her up there with it. She happily put it back in her mouth and continued playing with it back in the bathroom. Finally I got sick of her torturing it so I threw it out side. A couple of hours later I hear her again in the bathroom, playing with something. Lo and behold it was another mouse but to my dismay she let this one get away too. Unfortunately it went into my bedroom and which made for an interesting night. For a couple of hours all I heard was scratching and running around and then I heard it messing with some things in my chair. I hopped up grabbed Pockets and threw her in the chair with it. Pockets could have been less amused. I basically shoved her face within an inch of the mouse and she could have cared less. She looked at me as if to say, “You woke me up for this?” The next thing I knew the mouse launched itself at me and then ran under my bed. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep that night. I kept having visions of little tiny mice running all over me in my sleep. Yuck.