traveling for the holidays

Okay it has been a while since I’ve posted anything.

So there have been some changes in Kumba first we got a new volunteer Jamexis that will be replacing Julius, so they are both Agro forestry volunteers.  We found Jamexis a house pretty close to mine, about a minute walk, in downtown Kumba.  About a week or two later Julius left after completing his two years in Cameroon. 

                Christian is posted in Tombel which is about an hour moto ride from Kumba and was also a CED in the same stage as me, meaning he was in the same program, came to country at the same time, and we got trained together.  He was traveling back from a neighboring village where he was doing business classes when PC admin caught him not wearing his moto helmet.  This means that that he was immediately administratively separated and not allowed to finish his service.  So I traveled to Tombel with Erica who is posted in Buea an hour from me in the other direction to see Christian and his post before he left.  Then we all traveled to Yaounde the capital together.  Erica and I were on our way to our three month in service training (IST) in Kribi but since Christian was leaving we spent an extra day in the capital to see him off.  The South West and Peace Corps will miss him. 

                Kribi is in the southern region of Cameroon and is the biggest tourist destination even among Cameroonians.  It’s right on the water and has beautiful white sand beaches and amazing seafood.  IST was very productive, our counter parts came with us and we created action plans for the coming year, defined our roles in each plan, attended behavioral change workshops, sustainability, monitoring and evaluation, grant writing, etc.  the counterparts left a day early and the final day was medical sessions one of which included getting the flu shot since I am an American government employee, even though in Africa the flu isn’t a problem.  After IST I returned to Kumba where I had every intention to be extremely productive and work on things before the holidays but then I came back with a cold and was only about half as productive as I wanted, but it was okay since many of the Cameroonians that I wanted to meet with already had left for their Christmas break.

                For Christmas I went to the North West region with Veronica and Sean. After some delayed travel in the capital we made it to Mbengwi on Christmas Eve.  On Christmas day we hiked down to a waterfall then we went to some people that Isidro (Chilo) who is posted in that village knew for food.  On Christmas it is tradition to go to church all morning and then either at the same time or after drink.  Drinking is done by going from one persons house to the next and then to the next and visiting lots of people.  Often they will also give food.  But many times drinking also can be done at the bar or nightclub.  Since we weren’t too interested in drinking that heavily and after eating and drinking at two houses we decided to return relax and make our own smaller dinner later.  The day after Christmas we all traveled to Kumbo where we stayed with Bridget.  On the night that we arrived we went to a little party with other volunteers in that village and several Cameroonians that they know and work with.  The next day we went around town did a little shopping, I bought two paintings, and then we went to the cultural festival.  The cultural festival has the chief sitting at one end and different groups in the community come up to him do their dance and then the next group comes on and on.  At the same time there are Juju’s which are men dressed up in costumes with their face covered that usually don’t talk.  They go around and when they pass you, you have to crouch down or run away and if you don’t they will hit you with sticks and they will keep hitting you until you pay them.  These are supposed to be men that no one knows their identity and I think that they were created for entertainment.  There was also some baby Juju’s that if you looked at them they would start to dance for you then throw themselves at you feet and kiss them until you paid them.  The Kumbo festivals are the only festivals in all of Cameroon that are strictly Cameroonian and cannot be found in other countries.

                From Kumbo I traveled back to the capital where I spent New Year Eve.  Jessica another volunteer from Kumba was also heading back to America.  She was in Mamfe for two years then extended to Kumba.  For New Years we tried to go out to eat but the restaurant that we wanted to go to was closed so we made a nice little meal, had a few drinks, and played some games.  We spent a few days with Jessica after that and got to go to her closing and exiting services.  Before Ryan who met us in Yaounde and I went back to Kumba we met with ACMS a health organization in Cameroon who I might potentially get to work with.  Then back home.

                In other good news, I applied for HIV committee at IST and got accepted.  So even though I just got back to Kumba Friday I had to travel on Thursday back to Yaounde but will return Saturday.

When I left Kumba before Christmas the weather was still hot but not as bad as before IST.  When I reached Bamenda I thought I was in New England again.  I was so cold!  I had to go to the market the next day and buy a few long sleeve shirts, scarves, and sweaters.  It was so bad I would wear my t-shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, my jacket and a scarf just to feel okay.  Coming back to Kumba I was not prepared for the heat again.  I don’t even think it is any hotter than it was before but now I’m less use to it.

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!