pre/post party

I hope that everyone is doing well at home, staying healthy and happy. 

Last weekend we had the regional meeting.  It was nice to meet some other volunteers from my region and to reunite with others that I had went to training with.  We had the meeting at classy burger then changed and had a little Halloween party at Jessica’s house.  The Kumba cluster dressed up as the cast form Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia specifically the episode where they play flip cup.  So we all got t-shirts printed like the ones on the show, I got a blonde wig, and Brian (who was Frank) shaved his head in a horse shoes).

In more horrifying news; I had an incident with a latrine that I’m positive will scar me for life.   We went to this bar for dinner; the bar doesn’t have any toilets (typical) it just has latrines.  On the regular men just pee any where they want and most of the time at this bar particularly, men are too lazy to enter into the latrine to pee so they just stand in the open doorway to relieve themselves.  Well for all the females that makes the latrines 1. Disgusting since we have to walk thru your pee 2. Slippery …. Enough said.  From now on I’m walking down the road to the gas station even if the girls who work there are rude and hate it when we use their bathrooms (even though they are public toilets).  Funny how different things are here, the cleanest toilet I think I’ve been to is at the gas station.

On to a more dinner appropriate topic, the weather.  I’m sure that you have noticed from my pictures that it has been hot.  It has pretty consistently been hot.  If you walk anywhere when the sun is up you will sweat.  Other times it’s muggy and you still sweat.  The only time that you get a break is when it rains, then the temperature drops and it usually down pours.  Since rainy season is coming to an end down pours don’t happen every day anymore but they happen every other day or every three days and it rains, thunders, and lightening hard enough to take  down telephone poles, cut power, internet, and phone network.  Yet, since rainy season is ending that also means that when it doesn’t rain it’s even hotter to the point even in the shade just sitting can make you sweat.  Other pcv’s have warned me it will only going to get worse.  Time to invest in a fan.

Great news; Ryan is officially transferring to Kumba!! YAY

Elections are tonight so the Kumba cluster is going to Jessica’s house since she is the only one with a TV.  We’re going to make a nice little dinner and a lot of coffee.  The pre coverage on CNN should start about 10pm our time and we should find out who wins somewhere between 3-5am.  So it’s going to be a long night. 

Kumba Cluster

Things have been fairly busy in Kumba.  I have been visiting my host organization and learning about their processes, their organizational set up, and how they attract new clients.  I have also been meeting with several other groups and individuals to potentially work with.  Other than that Julius the Agro volunteer also in Kumba has been planning a HIV clinic that all the volunteers from Kumba and Buea helped with.  So we had three days of classes from 3pm-6pm on HIV, sexual health, sanitation, and other related topics.  We focused on youth to educate them correctly and have a safe space to actually talk about sex since it isn’t talked about in schools.  Adults were welcome to come but we had far more school age children.  Then on Saturday the fourth day we had free HIV testing open to the public and pre and post test counseling while at the same time we held soccer games for the children.  We had a pretty good turnout of about 200 people who got tested.   

                Still taking French but its slow and I need to step it up and do more outside of class.

                In other news some very exciting news, we have a new European restaurant in Kumba.  The chief is from Sweden who now lives in Kumba.  He has partnered with a Cameroonian nurse that lives and works in London.  Together they opened a little restaurant that does European/American food breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as their own bread.  They also are opening a wedding shop next door to rent out wedding dresses and bridesmaids gowns.  This is actually a very clever idea since American weddings (also called white weddings) are fairly common yet the dresses are very expensive and hard to afford.  Kumba has also just gotten its first schwarma stand. YAY! On top of that the vender is a woman.  She says that she was the only vender in Duala and that she now has come to Kumba and is teaching other woman how to do it.

                So far I’ve been in good health knock on wood.  I hope everyone at home can say the same.

                Next weekend we will have a regional meeting with all of the volunteers in the south west region.  So there will be about 15 people coming to Kumba.  After the meeting we will have a Halloween party Legendary theme.  Costume is a work in progress pictures are sure to come.

Likes – I really like the way that people shake hands here.  They have a couple different ways to do it but they all pretty much involve a snap.  This is only done with friends not with professional business relations but it can be done with children or adults.

Dislikes- I have seen a few times some woman with a zip on hair piece which can be removed and replaced with another different top piece usually the zipper is very visible and sometimes even different colors and is on the top sides of the head and can be changed to have different top pieces and when removed completely is basically a horse shoe.

mini vaca

Things have been going well in Kumba. I still don’t have my furniture but it is still a work in progress.  The more I get to know my neighbors the more they seem to grow on me.  So directly across the hall from me is a laundry service they are a little to pricy for me to afford but still a nice guy.  Down stairs I have a lawyer’s office and below him is the bank that is guarded 24hrs a day by guards.

                For work I’ve just really been meeting people sitting in on something that the other volunteers are doing.  I was suppose to teach a business class on personal finances and budgeting but the afternoon of the class they told me it was rescheduled it to the 28^th even thought I had met with them the day before and had even discussed the session. Oh well it will give me something to do next Friday.  I also attended a HIV/female condom seminar with ACMS.  AMCS works with Jessica the other pcv in Kumba.  I must say that I was very impressed by their seminar and learned a lot on the female condom, how to address sensitive issues in a cultural context, and overall how ACMS conducts its sessions.

                Also I’ve started to take French classes again just for an hour twice a week with the secretary of my counterpart.  We’ve only met one weekend so far so we’ll see how that goes.

                For a couple days last week I had a mini spout of food poisoning.  No big deal; with all the new foods I eat and all the restaurants that I try I feel I’ve been pretty lucky to have been relatively healthy.  So I can’t really complain.  Speaking of food I found out while talking to the other pcv that apparently I’ve had cow stomach when I was living with my host family. I had no idea but now I can cross that off my bucket list.  *cough cough* Well besides the texture it wasn’t that bad, not that I think ill choose to make that for myself.

                Wednesday Kate who is originally from Nguti came to Kumba which was a nice little visit. On Friday Kate, Ryan, Jessica, and I all went to Limbé and went swimming in the ocean.  We got extremely lucky to miss the rain and have great weather for the couple hours we were at the beach.  The bus ride over wasn’t quite so lucky. We got to the car park at about 10:30 and got a bus that was going direct to Limbé so first of all we didn’t leave for about two hours waiting for the bus to fill the whole time being deranged by a bag man to marry him.  Then we finally leave and but have to stop at EVERY car park along the way. So what should have been an hour to two hour car ride too us about four.  It was all worth it to get some beach time.  After swimming we went to a restaurant that is owned by a south African couple.  The restaurant is a little expensive but has great food.  I split a cheese, tomato, and basil sandwich and a cheese pizza with another volunteer.  We had decided to go to this restaurant which is in the gorilla sanctuary and when we arrived we ran into Andrea who lives in Buea which is where we were staying the night.  Andrea was meeting Laura, Claire, and Sam who are all from the North West region of Cameroon. So we had a nice little dinner together.  Everyone was heading to Buea for Andrea’s going away party on Saturday.  The party was really nice there were a bunch of volunteers there, Americans from other non profits, and Cameroonians.  We had hot dogs, French fries, frosted brownies, fruit salad, chopped carrots and green bell pepper with ranch dressing, ginger snap cookies, and equan (a Cameroonian dish).  Good food and great company.

Transition

Last days in Bafia:

Classes were pretty much over it was just last minute things and packing.

Let me tell you about my swearing in dress…

So my host mom took me and two other pc trainees to her tailor about two weeks before the ceremony.   This should be plenty of time to finish.  We were going to pick up the clothes the Monday before the swearing ceremony.  So on Sunday night we get a call from her saying that there were two births in the family and that she has been at the hospital and that they wont be done until Wednesday (the day before swearing in.  the three of us are now stressed.  But what can we do.  On Wednesday morning we get another call from the tailor saying that she’ll be done by 4pm, we decide to go there at 10:30 to check on her progress so that if there is any altercations she can make it from the beginning rather than having to correct it.  At 10:30 she is working on one of the outfits and hasn’t started the other two.  More nervous. But she has promised that she3 will be done at 4.  We return at 4:30; the other two trainees outfits are done, look great, and don’t need any corrections.  She hasn’t started mine.  But once again she reassures me that it will be done and that I can even pick it up at 6am the net morning.  Swearing in is at 10 were suppose to be there at 9:30.  So naturally I’m not happy, but start brainstorming about plan B.  Next morning at 6:30 my host mom calls her again she says that she isn’t done but she’ll be done before 8am and that shell call us back.  Eight o’clock rolls around without a phone call so we call her again and she says that we can head over and by the time we get there shell be done. *plan B have a friend bring a skirt that she already has made out of the same fabric and ill just wear that and change at the bar next to the grand stand where out ceremony will be.  So we head over get there about 8:20 and she isn’t even close to being done.  9:50 I’m zipping it up and as I’m walking out she tries to get me to pay extra.  So this turned out to be my most expensive (still incomplete) dress.  L posting pics soon.

For swearing in I let me host sisters braid my hair.  Give us something to do and talk about on our last nights.  Home stay is a good concept and I understand why peace corps does it.  Here is my take, for some people it did everything it meant to.  Show you what a normal family is like and how they function, practice the language, get exposed to cultural differences, teach them local cultures and about the community, and introduce local foods.  Some families welcomed their volunteers and included them as another family member.  In practice this didn’t always workout.  With that being said I have to say that my host family especially my host brother helped me a great deal in French.  He tutored me all the time even helped other volunteers. 

Swearing in:

The swearing in ceremony had three parts.  The first ceremony was speeches given by our program directors, the country director, by some prominent locals such as the chief of police, and three speeches done by us.  One was in French, one in fafulde, and one in pidgin.  Overall the speeches were nice and then we swore in and officially became pcv’s (peace corp volunteers).  This part was open for anyone to come.  Second we had a lunch ceremony with just our host mom and dad’s to thank them but three of my sisters came instead.  And finally we had the party with just the group of newly volunteers.  Where everyone stayed at one of the local hotels where we held this part of the party.  Overall all three ceremonies were nice.

Moving in to Kumba:

Normally the safety and security officer goes to everyone’s site to inspect their house before they are allowed to move in.  This is done even if the person is going to be replacing a previous volunteer and moving into their old house.  As it turns out the security officer wasn’t able to get into my house when she came to inspect it so what pc did was drive me and the two other volunteers who live closest to me to our sites.  This way they could look over my house before moved in and if it wasn’t okay I would stay with one of the other volunteers close by.   This meant that we wouldn’t have to take public transportation at all the journey would go faster since we were in a smaller more durable car and we could go direct. 

So when we got to my house the landlord let us in but the house still wasn’t done.  He had been given three months to clean the apartment, put screens on the windows, fix some of the electrical plugs, and board up one of the holes in the ceiling.  Since none of this had been done yet I spent the night in Buea with Erica another newly volunteer.  This worked out even better since I bought some items for my house from a volunteer that was leaving soon that was staying in Buea so I picked up those things and brought them to the house the next day when we returned to Kumba.

When we arrived the landlord had a man cleaning the place so we stopped in the market to buy some essentials that I would need for my house.  The rest of the repairs still weren’t done but I could stay in Kumba with Jessica another volunteer.  That same day the lock guy came and changed my locks but said that he would have to come back to finish.  The following day the lock on my bedroom broke and the inside part came out, it took me a little under a week to get the guy to come back to fix it and finish the rest of the locks.  Nothing else had been fixed yet and until the hole in the roof was repaired it wasn’t safe for me to stay in case someone crawled up and into my house.  So a few days later Jessica’s fiancé came and he was nice enough to help me and called a different carpenter who came that same day.  With his help the house by the next day has been re-cleaned, has curtains, screens, a counter top in my kitchen, and he fixed the hole in the ceiling.  I’ve been staying in my house now for a couple days.  I also have gas and a stove so I’ve been able to do some cooking J

I had an introductory meeting with the board members of the microfinance that I will be working with; we will be creating an action plan later this week to outline what work I will be doing with them.  So far thought I haven’t really started anything but I’ve gone to a couple meetings with Jessica and will be teaching some business classes at a seminar sometime in September.  The first three months at site are supposed to be to get to know the area, your counterpart, and your host institute.   Not to say that we aren’t allowed to do anything but when we start something big we should have a better understanding of what we are getting into. 

I hope everyone is doing well at home!  I love getting all of your letters.  Miss you guys!

last days of training

Just 5 more days! Until I’m off to Kumba.

I know I haven’t blogged in a couple weeks and I have a lot to catch you up on but I’ll just give you a brief over view.  So the biggest thing that happened was that I was preparing for my final language test which I did pass!! I had to be intermediate mid to go to post but i ended up getting intermediate high which is one level above so in total I’ve advanced five levels.  So I can leave Bafia on time with the rest of the group.  This also means I get to start taking pidgin. 

                Update on the host family; EVERYONE is now living at the house in Bafia which is quite overwhelming.  There is about nine of us in total and one bathroom.   They are here for church which they go to Monday thru Thursday from 4pm to anytime between 8-9:30 at night. Which means that I’ve been locked out of the house and having to stay with other trainees until they tell me that they are home since my curfew is at 7 but I can’t be at the house by myself for some reason  and I don’t get out of class until 4:30.  Also the week before everyone came I was eating really really well but now it’s back to normal.  They get home after church and still have to make dinner which I often help with. 

                Pretty much every day I end up having a discussion with my host brother on gender roles and females in general.  I think that it’s been eye opening for both sides.  I also wanted to bring this up since I haven’t posted about anything political or about any of the social problems I’ve encountered in Cameroon and this is because I want to be here long enough to get more of the perceptions of the locals rather than just my observations especially since at this time the Cameroonians that I spend the most time with are y teachers and my home stay family which I’m sure doesn’t represent all of Cameroon.

                This week is a pretty easy week for us. We are done with our technical sessions and all we really have to do is one more medical session and “bridge to post” which is telling us everything that we have to do to before we leave, how to get to post, and what to do when we first get there besides that all I have to do is pack.  This is a little worry some since I have no idea how I’m going to get all of my stuff on and off public transportation by myself and to my house and hopefully not stolen.  Things I have to bring:

·         2 suite cases I have

·         Backpack

·         Metal trunk

·         Bike

·         Water filter

And if I can’t fit everything from my room that I have and that Peace Corps gave me in that I will have to buy some market bags for the rest of the stuff. 

But with all that being said I’m excited to get to post.  I am very ready to be done with training. Also I get to pass though Yaoundé again.   I already have plans to use their washer and dryer, get smoothies, and probably some Indian food.  Maybe some other shopping at the grocery store to stock up for post depends on how much time we have.

                In health news I got a scrape on my knee a couple weeks back (different from the bucket wound) that it healing fine.  However I seem to be having a allergic reaction to something on my hand and wrist.   Which is just great.  So I’m on antihistamines and if it doesn’t get better by Tuesday I might have to go to Yaoundé to see the medical officer but should come back in time for swearing in ceremony on Thursday.

                All of the trainees have to wear matching pagné for the swearing in ceremony which I should be picking up from the tailor tomorrow.  So I have a couple outfits now that I think turned out pretty good.  But the two tailors that make most of our clothing are either the mom or the brother of one of the trainees.  So for the swearing in dress I went to the tailor that my host mom uses and recommended.  I decided to do this since the other two tailors have been very backed up and now take a long time to finish anything and do a rushed job.  But I don’t really see my mom wearing traditional clothing so it’s hard to say whether or not this woman will do a good job.