Trip to the North

It has been so long since I have really written. Here are some pictures of my mom's visit and my trip up to the Northern three regions of Cameroon: Adamawa, North, and Extreme North. (I know, aren't the names so creative).

I had an amazing time taking some vacation to tour the country. Culture is very different up north. In general, there is a lot less drinking going on because the Muslim population rules the culture. You hear call to prayer everywhere, the people are calmer and gentler. It is much hotter, but it is a dry heat since it is in the Sahel.

First I took the train up over night with my friend Andrea (who is posted in Mbouda). We left Yaounde and got to Ngaoundere the next morning and then proceeded straight to Garoua, the regional capital of the North. We stayed with Lea one night right outside of Garoua. Garoua is nice because there are fresh fruit smoothies! Something I really miss. Then the next three nights we stayed with Justin in Gaschiga, which is also very close to Garoua. There we did a computer camp at his school for two days. I brushed up on my computer vocabulary in French and had fun searching things on Encarta. After that Andrea and I split up for a bit. I went to Kaele on my own to meet up with Steven and Nick. Kaele is a non muslim town among very muslim towns, so they have many drinking caberets where billbill is served all throughout the day. I ate lots of salad and went to a beautiful Crocodile lake.

After that I headed to Maroua with Martin and Carmen. There I spent Christmas Even and Christmas with many people from the new stage. It was a very nice relaxed atmosphere. Maroua had a great art market, so I found lots of nice things there in leather and jewelery. Then I headed to Martin's post in Gouria, which is right outside of Roumsiki. Roumsiki is this very touristy area out in the middle of nowhere on the border of Nigeria. It is a very beautiful area and very peaceful. The rock formations around there are so interesting. I took a tour of the valley in Roumsiki with Carmen and then we ate at an amazing restaurant called the vegetarian carnivore or chez Kodji.

The last leg of my trip involved me coming back down to Ngaoundere, the regional capital of Adamawa. Here I met up with Anais and we had fun in the city and traveling to her post. We saw a beautiful lake and some nice waterfalls on the way there. Her post is very quiet and pretty. We ate dinner with her neighbors (they tried to feed us three times!) Then we toured her 'town'. We came back to Ngaoundere for New Year's. Andrea met me back in there and we took the train back down to Yaounde together.

Unfortunately I was only able to go back to post for 4 days before I had to come back to Yaounde for midservice. Now I am here and getting ready to have a short taste of America. I can not wait to see my friends and family, it will be so nice!

Pictures

Check my shuterfly for new pictures!

Mom in Cameroon

Wow this has been an interesting two weeks. My mom just left Cameroon after spending two weeks here. We spent almost a week in my village seeing the kinds of things that I do and some traditional ceremonies and then we spent a week seeing Bamenda and Limbe. Overall it was very different than I expected. I enjoyed getting to share my life with my mom and just getting to see her, but I think in some ways I was not prepared to take on the ‘mom’ role.

I know how to get around in Cameroon, how to speak French, and generally how to live here. All of this was very knew for her, though. So I had to go back to what it felt like when I first arrived. Ok so here is a short review of everything.

The first night she arrived around 9pm at the Douala International airport. I was not allowed to go to the baggage claim with her, but the driver I was with was able to go and help her through. Then we had crazy teenage boys carrying our bags and ripping the $2 tip out of our hands when we finally made it to the car. The first night neither of us slept very well because we were too excited to sleep.

The next morning we left bright and early from the hotel to get an early start on the day. We went to the bus station and then proceeded to wait for 7 hours before our bus finally left. I was so upset at this point because I knew there was nothing we could do but wait. Finally we left and made it to Bafoussam by nightfall. Right as we were about to go to Ben’s house, Mom realized that she had left her wallet on the bus. It was a crazy taxi chase to the next city. We met the bus there and the kind lady sitting next to us had found the wallet with everything in it! So exhausted after that.

The following day we saw the market in Bafoussam for a bit and then went t Mbouda. Alain and Rose met us there to pick us up with all our stuff. It was a long ride on unpaved roads and I think Mom was glad that I was in the car with her. We made it to my house at nightfall with no electricity, of course.

The next few days we went to the health center, went hiking, attended a few meetings, did market, etc. All of the normal things around village. Rose and Alain were very accommodating the whole week being great hosts. They were super grateful for the health supplies that my mom was able to bring over (a whole 50 pound crate of them!)
Finally we left for Bamenda and Mom got to ride a moto! I think she liked it. We stayed with Kelly in Bamenda and saw some art stuff. Mom bought some pagne is having a nice traditional dress made  I also found a few movies for myself and some pagna.

Then it took a whole day to travel to Limbe and we made it to our very nice hotel by nightfall. The black sand beaches were amazing and it was a much needed rest after our eventful trip. I am so happy that my Mom was able to see Cameroon and experience how I live first had. She took lots of pictures and video so I am sure that soon most of you will be seeing everything I just described.

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

You never do know exactly what you are going to get. One minute the sun is shining, the next a huge rainstorm has moved in and you are all soaked. But do not worry the sun will come back out to dry your clothes soon, or eventually as the case may be in the rainy season.

On that note, lots of things have been happening lately…

A few days ago I saw my first live birth ever. It all happened so quickly. One minute Rose, my counterpart, was telling me that we should go to the market and then the next she said that there was a birth going to happen first. I was so excited because I have told her before that I wanted to watch a birth. Right then I realized that I was scared, why? Because I had never seen a birth before and I was not sure what it was going to be like, more I was not sure what my reaction would be. What if I gasped at an inappropriate time, or cried?

With all of this going through my head, I took a deep breath and told myself now or never; now it was. I walked into the room very unsure of my role, but knowing that the best thing to do would stay out of the way and only do as I was told. The contractions were coming so fast. Then all of a sudden I could see a head with curly black hair starting to appear. Magically somehow a person was coming out of this lady laying there in pain (making little no noise may I add, and do not kid yourself into thinking there were any pain killers used). Magical, that is the only way I have been able to express what I saw. A new life was on this earth and I saw it happen.

While I was still floating on this incredible high from seeing a live birth, I was talking to Rose the next day. She was discussing the number of HIV positive people this month. Ever since I have come to help at the health center the numbers have slowly been going up. When I first got here almost every month it was 0 positive with maybe 1 every once in a while. Slowly now the number goes up. And we have about three each month or more. This month we have already had at least 3 positive and each of them is a young unmarried female, two of them pregnant and one a Bororo. The reason that it is women testing positive is because for every women who comes for a prenatal consultation we require that they get an HIV test, all the other ones done are people coming and soliciting the tests.

Well this information really put a damper on the magic of birth. If one of the Bororos is infected then a good number of them will be soon. It is a small community and each man has at least 4 wives… And as for the other women they are pregnant and would have to move to Bafoussam to get the ARVs and their boyfriends are moto drivers, aka they get around. It feels like the virus is taking over the village. Maybe that is just because before this it was hidden enough that I was able to convince myself that HIV is not a huge issue in Bamboué.

After this downer of a realization I went up into the mountains to go for a hike and to say hi to my friends, the Bororos. Luckily I got up there right before the rain came down. I then settled down into their one room house to talk and zone out the rain. Soon it was time to eat and we had one of the best meals I have yet had in Cameroon: couscous and jama jama. Let me explain the meal a little for those of you not familiar with Cameroonian cuisine. Couscous is flour from corn mixed with water and then steamed. Then the jama jama part is some of the best greens (like spinach leaves) in this country cooked with oil and salt. Soo good. So we sat there and ate with our hands watching the hail, yes hail, come down. Every once in a while some hail would bounce in. The view was crazy and somehow the scene was so beautiful, until I had to walk home in it.

Then just yesterday I went to a community meeting about Cholera. As you probably already know there is a large outbreak in the north of Cameroon. Right now the big cities of Yaounde and Douala are already seeing cases of cholera too. So everyone else is preparing to take precautions and figuring out the steps for when/if cholera comes here too. So it all comes round circle. My days are as up and down as ever with the ups being way up there in the sky I can almost touch the clouds, and the downs as depressing as can be.

But through all this I know my mother is coming to visit soon and I get a break on a cruise/America for my birthday. So no matter what happens I have that to look forward to.

Friends, Family, and Fun

A lot has happened since I have last posted. Lets see, I helped out with another summer camp in the West Region with some Agroforestry volunteers. It was in Baham, which is pretty close to Bafoussam. It was a girls camp, so we got to deal with reproductive health and girls empowerment. Our group of girls ranged widely in age so some topics were harder than others. Overall it was a great experience. I spent the whole week with other volunteers making great food and doing wonderful activities with the girls.

When that ended I got to visit my host family for the day. I have not seen them since the end of stage and it was a much needed overdue visit. I got to see most of my friends from Bamena, except for one of the other volunteer’s mother, who I was really close with. I saw Gambino – he has physically grown up a lot and seems to be doing well getting ready for the next year of school. My host uncle was sweet as always. He is now usually living in Douala working to unload boats for the World Food Program. He was back in Bamena to see his family. It was very nice to see him because we got really close running every morning. I know that if I ever need to go to Douala I will surely contact him to help me get around. My host mother was so welcoming and excited to see me. She made boiled peanuts as well as rice and peanut sauce for me. Then she gifted me more peanuts when I headed out. Most of the kids were visiting family in the South West Region for the vacation time, but I did get to see the youngest, Rickson. He was finally able to walk and even talking a bit now. Finally my host father drove down from Bafoussam to meet up with me and he is doing well. He has a new car and was very excited to take me around town to say hi to people.

Now I am in Yaounde in order to prepare for the next stage that is coming. It has almost been a year since I arrived in Cameroon and now we are getting ready for the next group; it is a semi-surreal experience.

On a completely different note I found out that my Mom is coming to visit me in November! She will be here for about two weeks. I am starting to think about the different things that we will do while she is here. It will be so nice to show her my home and how I live for these two years. We will also go around and see some other areas.

My parents have also booked me tickets to come and see them in January. We are going to meet in Miami and take a cruise to Aruba for a week. I was not expecting to come to America during my service, but I can not pass up the opportunity to see my family. It will be so amazing, relaxing, and luxurious.

It looks like another friend, Rich, may visit me in February as well. So much excitement in so little time. I know this next year will fly by and I am really looking forward to it.

Milky Pineapples, frommage, plum cherries, evués, and cassa-mangues

There is a magical world of fruit here. You think you know about most of the fruits in the world and then you go to a city. I will try to describe the fruits that I have tasted recently.

The first one is called a sour sop. It looks green and spiky from the outside and comes from the hot humid regions (like the south). When you cut it open it begins to look more like a white pineapple with brown seeds in the pulp. I personally think it tastes like a milky pineapple.

The next fruit was called frommage in French. That word translates to cheese, but this is not cheese, it is a fruit. So I am not sure what the English word would be. It is small, like a tomato, with a top, as though it was once connected to a vine. You do not eat the thin layer of skin. Inside is a thick almost avocado-like consistency. It is much sweeter, though. Inside you will find a couple of brown seeds. I am going to try and plant some.

Plum cherries, that is the best way I can think to describe it. They are small like cherries, but have a hard skin. They might actually be a type of cherry. Once you take off the hard skin, it is a dark red, violet color and you can suck on the fruit until only the seed is left. The fruit pulp reminds me a lot of a plum.

The evué, is probably the most unique of them all. First you start off with this large lumpy type fruit. It looks like a big potato with four or so lumps in it. Then you peel off that brown skin and you see four whitish, transparent fruits. Each of them is covering a bright red seed. You eat the white part that is around the seed. The white part has been described as the texture of an onion and an apple combined and the taste is more like that of an apple and a litchi combined.

The last fruit is basically one type of bush mango. It is a round shape and I would liken it to a nectarine. It has a thin layer of skin that you can peel off and then eat the pulp. It tastes like a mix between a nectarine and a mango, but if you eat it too early it is very sour. The interesting part is that the seed is really spiky.

Sometimes I think I get set in my ways and end up eating the same things time and time again. But when you randomly buy the mysterious fruit instead, you never know what will happen. Bananas are my fruit of choice in village and papaya is my fall back fruit in the cities. I will be walking around and there are stands with cut up papaya, I love it. But thankfully I gave these other fruits a chance as well.
I almost feel like I am in Charlie and the Chocolate factory, except it is a fruit factory. I am licking the scratch and taste wallpaper and I never know what to expect.

Sorcery

My sitemate, Ben, just moved to Bafoussam; so that was a sad good bye. Other than that things have been going pretty well. I am working on a water project for my health district. It would include reforesting the area near the source of water up in the mountains and then finishing a water treatment plant. So that is exciting, it will be a lot of work, but it will be great if it actually gets done; woohoo for potable water!

Also my counterpart is looking at starting an internet cafe in village. Right now it is all only in the planning stages, but personally I would love to teach the people there some computer lessons. I think I would start with keyboarding, because it is such an important skill and then see what else they want ot learn.

Ok but now to the title of my blog: recently I have been walking down to the market and there is a man about half way down who keeps yelling at me. He tells me that a white person is inside threatening his mother. And then the next day it is that a white person is eating him. He is begging for my help. Maybe if he wasn't yelling at me I would consider talking to him. So now I am pretty sure that he is talking about sorcery. The beliefs are that at night the sorcerer turns into a vampire, or another animal, and then sneaks into your house and starts eating your soul. Once they have finished eating it you will die. They can do this in one night ( a sudden death) or it can last for years (then you would just be sick).

I am not really sue how to respond and I just hope that he does not try to do sorcery to me for not helping.