November 27, 2009

I have so much to say that I am not really sure where to begin, so I guess I will just go in chronological order. Please forgive me if I go on too long, I will try to get everything in without rambling too much. First and foremost, I would like to say that I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is now at this very moment breaking out the Christmas music. I for one am and at this moment I am enjoying Otis Redding’s soothing voice singing White Christmas. It makes me a little home sick but really happy at the same time.

I was invited to a funeral by my friend Jane a couple of weekends ago. I know this sounds a little odd because in the U.S. you go to funerals if you know the person or someone who was close to the deceased. It is not that way in Cameroon. The family invites everyone and anyone to come celebrate their family member’s life. There is a lot of food and alcohol and in my case even local dignitaries. I later found out that the event I attended is not even the full deal. It was only the burial, the actual celebration will be held in a couple of months when all the grandchildren could be present. The celebration will be even bigger and will include dancing and much more food. There was a crazy amount of food and beer and at this moment I can’t imagine what the actual celebration will be like but I hope I get invited. I met some interesting people and stayed thoroughly entertained the whole time. While everyone was eating a sudden thunderstorm popped and annoyed us all. Sitting under a metal tent was not the place to be and those thoughts were reinforced when I watched a lightning bolt touchdown not 10 feet from me. I have never seen lightning that close and I hope I never have to again. My favorite part of the afternoon was when I went into the room where the ma’s were cooking/preparing food. I hung out there a while and was introduced to a lot of people. They are such a welcoming group and it meant a lot to me to be included in their family event.

That following week I was invited to have dinner with the US Ambassador for Cameroon. She was passing through Bamenda and invited all the volunteers nearby out to a very nice Cameroonian dinner at a restaurant called Dreamland Cabaret. It was by far one of the nicest restaurants that I have been to in Cameroon. The conversation ranged from how the volunteers were doing to her and then our opinions of Cameroonians and their political opinions. It was nice to talk to her and hope I get to again next time she comes through.

Last weekend I went to my post mate’s send off party in a neighboring village. It was a large fete and a lot of volunteers came to wish Seth well and celebrate his two years of work. In the evening we made our way to the Fon’s palace for dinner and drinks. The Fon stood up and talked about Seth and how much he had done for the community. He then was given a title and a beautifully hand stitched shirt and hat. It was a great experience and I am thankful that I was able to meet the Fon and hopefully work with that village in the future. The Fon was really taken with Kristin, I quickly reminded her to watch out of she might find herself a 30^th wife. It did work in our favor though because he invited us to spend Christmas at the palace. I politely declined because I already have plans with a Cameroonian friend and her two little girls for Christmas. Who knows what Kristin will do? Personally, I think she really wants to be a princessJ

I’ll write about Thanksgiving soon…

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…

September 9, 2009

I believe I am here to stay. I am slowly but surely getting settled in and acquainted with my town and Bamenda. Last weekend I had my first “dinner party” and it turned out really well. As with everything here, it was a hassle to prepare for and of course the cooking took ten times longer than it would have in the states, but it was well worth it and the food was awesome.
Market shopping here is a lot of fun. Each market is different and varies from village to village and town to town. Bamenda’s market is huge and occurs every day (except Sundays). You can find anything there from fresh vegetables, American clothes (that I think come straight from Good Will), plastic containers, pots and pans, meat (alive or already butchered) and so much more. If you are claustrophobic these markets are not the place for you. The experience is amazing but there is no doubt that you have to prepare yourself to be in the right mind set, which is patient and tolerant of others. There are always young boys walking around selling something (generally pens, cigarette lighters and so on) and they are constantly deranging you to buy something. They will actually follow you for a good little while. As you are getting harassed by these boys, each shop owner calls out to you to come in and look and whatever they are selling. The markets are crowded and the idea of personal space is often forgotten. The market in Bali is different, it is an outdoor market that occurs once a week and is rotating. For example, the market this past week was on Friday so this week it will be on Saturday. I actually love going, it is exciting, exhilarating and fun to try to haggle with the owners over price. I would definitely recommend not wearing any clothes that are easily pick pocketed and always keep you purse tightly on your shoulder.
Now, that I have described to you what the market is like. I have to describe what a hot mess Kristin, Tess and I looked like at the Bamenda market last Friday. Tess, Kristin and I agreed to meet at the Dreamland to get lunch and then head to the market. Tess was on her way to Yaoundé for a meeting and Kirstin needed to do banking. After lunch we headed to the market. So here we are, three white girls (which draws a lot of attention regardless), tromping down Commercial Avenue with packs, a rolling suitcase and a cat carrier. As we enter the market it begins to rain (I still can’t believe that I didn’t hear one peep out of Tess’s cat). At this point we decide to just go straight to the meat part and forget everything else. Once we find the meat guys, we have two arguing over who gets to sell us the meat, but Tess quickly squashes that by speaking to them in Pidgin and telling the other guy to calm down and basically get over it. Next, is the ordeal of finding a place to have the meat ground. The first place we are directed to doesn’t work for reasons that are beyond me, the boy just said that the machine was worried. I am still not sure what that was supposed to mean. Finally we find a man who will grind it by hand for us, I had to pay double what I would have for it to be done in one of the machines. It was well worth it because the meat loaf was fabulous, but I have a feeling that I will not be cooking meat very often.
On Saturday I went to get my kitten from Courtney in Bamenda. Her cat had had three kittens and I got the only one that lived. I was so excited to get a cat, not only for the company but to hopefully control the mice, cockroach and spider problems that are prevalent in this country. I already have a mouse but I have not seen it since she has been here (I am taking that as a good sign). While I am once again walking down Commercial Avenue holding a cat I keep having people screaming out to me, “Is your pussy for sale?” or “How much for your pussy?” In the pidgin language, cat is pussy and they love to use it with white people because they know that it has an altogether different meaning. I found it a bit disconcerting but pretty damn funny at the same time. One other thing I should point out is that different tribes in Cameroon eat dog and cat and a whole lot of other bush meat. This is a very big thing in the North West and especially my area. I really hope that I never eat either and if I do, I will never know it!
I named the kitten Pockets and she is absolutely precious. She is into everything, for example while I have been typing this she has attacked my purse, knocked over a glass mug full of incense (yes, it broke) and has been chewing on my cell phone charger cord. She is now curled up next to me dead to the world. On the other hand she does sleep through the whole night with me in my bed. Although she wakes me up in the morning by pouncing on my face, I still love her. She also likes to sleep on top of me or curled up right next to me. I am truly scared that one night I am going to roll over on her and seriously injure her.
Last week, I went with my counterpart and the other two employees of Nkumu Fed Fed for protocol. I met all the appropriate people and was pretty excited about it. I met three or four police guys who all promised to look out for me and other important people in the community. I am looking forward to starting working and getting to know them better. I was also happy to find out that the first deputy mayor is a woman. It is nice that the North West province has such strong, smart women in positions of power. It is not this way through all of Cameroon and I am extremely thankful to have been put in an area that women are already empowered. I will begin meeting all of the women’s groups next week and will hopefully make some great contacts. But for now that is all but I will keep you posted as things develop.

August 29, 2009

I am not sure where to begin or if I can even do justice to my thoughts and feelings about the past week and a half. I guess I will say that life is, without a doubt, full of twists, turns and plenty of dead ends that you were not expecting. At these dead ends it seems best to stop, re-evaluate and then decide your best course of action or direction.
I swore in as a United States Peace Corps volunteer on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. The ceremony moved along fairly quickly with no major African disasters (except the inevitable rain). The U.S. Ambassador and the Country Director slipped out quickly and left us to celebrate. Our group, decided to spend some time at Chez Pierre, spending the last money that he will be getting from trainees for a long time. We then moved to the Hotel Cristal where we partied till the wee hours of the morning. Superlatives were given, with me taking three in all. I am sure no one will be surprised by what they were: Most likely to be broke in 3 months, Most likely to have the most visitors and Most likely to receive the most packages during service. As you can see, it did not take the other volunteers very long to get to know me.
Stanson, Gloria, Kristin and I left the next morning for the North West. The plan was to spend the night at the case in Bamenda and then go on to post from there. In previous blogs I have described traveling in Cameroon, as stated earlier, it is almost always packed and quite uncomfortable. We all were extremely anxious about how on earth we were going to get to post with our luggage, bike, trunk, and water filter. Luckily, Peace Corps rented the bush taxis for us so there was plenty of room for us and all of our stuff. Just outside of Bafoussam I saw the most horrid thing that I have ever seen in my 26 years of life. A man had been burnt to death. He was laying face down on the ground with his arms tied behind his back. The scene was so fresh that the ashes were still smoking. We guessed that he must have been a thief. Mob justice in Cameroon is no joke and something that I hope to never see again. We arrived safely and enjoyed a great meal at a restaurant called, Uncle Sam’s, where we all had cheeseburgers and split pieces of pizza. We were in Cameroonian heaven!
On Friday, I received word from home about Mark. To this day I am still in shock. I never imagined my life without him in it. He was always there was a smile, a joke or a willing laugh. I will always regret not being there to see him in the hospital, not being able to say good bye, to be at his funeral and most of all not being able to share the grief with all of his friends and family. I continuously remind myself what a great night I had with him before I left. We had planned just to grab some dinner at the Oyster Bar but in the middle of dinner, he casually mentioned that Kenny Chesney was playing at the Bi-lo Center in downtown Greenville, and that they had dropped the ticket prices dramatically. What did I think? At this point the concert had already begun but he thought we could at least make it before the second act finished. I thought, “What the hell, why not” and off we went. This is just one example of how Mark loved life and was always open to doing something fun whenever the mood struck.
I am thankful for all of the memories that I have had with him over the years including; church, plenty of concerts, the Peach Shed, Lander & Clemson, “the cut”, him being the ring leader in my first and only keg party, mountain weekend in Gatlinburg and so many more. I might have to talk Gage into going with me to retrieve the numerous bulletins that are stuffed in the chairs in the church balcony. Another outstanding memory was when I went with him to his formal in Columbia his junior year of college. After the “fraternity party” part was over we headed down to Three Rivers Festival where Outkast was playing. Mark refused to change out of his tux and told everyone who looked at him funny that we had just gotten married and were leaving for Tahiti in the morning. My cheeks were sore the next morning from smiling and laughing hysterically all night. I want to thank you Mark, for making my life better and richer from just knowing you. I count myself an extremely blessed person to have known you.
The same day that I found out about Mark, I was unlucky enough to get mugged while trying to get back to the case. It really was not a big deal and I want to apologize if I needlessly made anyone worry too much. I headed into Yaoundé on Sunday morning and had all of my papers redone and made it back to post by Thursday. I have since been cleaning my house, which at this point seems impossible. On the other hand I finally am finding my two summers of cleaning beach houses extremely beneficial!
I now find myself at the in between point where I am settling in and figuring my way around this foreign country and town. Before I left the South Carolina, Connie started a journal for me that a lot of people wrote in. Christa Emminger wrote a quote that fits how I feel right now perfectly. For now I will leave you with that, “It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but that place in between that we fear… It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to”.

August 17, 2009

I am two days from swearing in, yes two days. After spending 74 days here I felt like it would never happen. For those who do not check Facebook or speak to my family regularly I passed my language evaluation, thank goodness! So far the best words that I have heard hear in Cameroon were, “You did it, it’s over. Start packing.” I have no idea what level I made, but at this point I really don’t care. I am just over the moon to be going to post on Thursday!
The past couple of days have been busy. A large group of trainees went to eat dinner in town on Saturday night. I had to pick up two dresses from the seamstress (which is another story entirely) so a friend and I made it to the restaurant before everyone else. We went ahead and ordered our food, thinking that it would help when the other 15 people came in. The fact that they probably had to kill at least 10 chickens also factored in. We ended up getting our food at the same time as everyone else but two people didn’t. By the time our bill arrived, our table had been charged for two extra chicken dishes. After some great French speaking by Gloria, we got it straightened out but we had been there a total of 3 hours. 2 of which were waiting on food drinking luke warm beers. This service is very normal in Cameroon and in all actuality probably better than in a lot of other places. I’m not sure how many times we reminded each other that we were not in the U.S. and to sit, relax and enjoy each other while we can.
Sunday brought another interesting trip to chiefdom near Bafoussam. This experience was incredible and although I probably should have been studying for my French exam, I do not regret going. When we arrived, we were greeted by groups of women singing and dancing. Then we were given a tour of the outside parts of the chefery. In my opinion, the best part was when we were shown the magical forest that the chief goes into before he becomes the next chief and when he is ready to die. Along the walk we saw the traditional guards who then walked with us into the palace. At this point, it has begun to rain and no one really seems to care. We continued on, to see the absurd amount of houses that he has for his wives (which number around 100) and then were greeted by even more groups of women all wearing the same pagne. Each group was singing different songs and then the sky let out and the down pour began. We were told that this was good luck and that now they were going to make it stop raining. I am guessing this was the opposite of the rain dance.