Work, Weddings and Juggling Mangos!

It is happening. Tomorrow we leave for our adventure to hike Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania! It has been a good past couple weeks preparing and training for the hike. Today was an interesting day for the soy project and soy cooperative. As usual the majority of the members showed up late to the meeting today or didn’t show at all and we had to call everyone to remind them that there is a meeting right now. We were surprised they were late because the soy projects members were receiving their 10 Kg each of soy seeds so they can start planting in their fields while I am gone. My work partner who was going to give a short demonstration on planting soy got called out to work in the bush so another man from the organization helping us had to step in. The demonstration went well even though he wouldn’t let me pick up the hoe (white women can’t dirty their hands although I work in my own garden at my house). I kept back my anger because he was helping us. After the demonstration, we gave them their seeds. Some of the members in the soy project group are members of another cooperative and since their president couldn’t attend, they did not attend. We had to convince one of them to meet us to receive the seeds for the rest of the group. Stressful! At least now all the members of the soy project have their seeds and then my counterpart and I will visit their fields when I get back. The soy cooperative is another problem. They had decided to look for their own seeds instead of utilizing our help in ordering seeds with the soy project group. Unfortunately, the cooperative president did not do her part in ordering the seeds and when the members showed up today to receive their seeds, she started making excuses as to why she couldn’t order them and looking to us to help. It is becoming apparent that it is going to be very difficult to teach the cooperative to work on their own and that we will offer help but we cannot force them to work together (and if they do not accept our help, they cannot come back to us later when their plan does not work). No one said that this work would be easy. Especially in a culture where rich men are the leaders and there is a “fend for yourself” mentality. There are a few great, motivated workers in these groups so maybe my focus will be working with them next year.

Planting demonstration for the soy project participants

 

On a more positive note, I love taking walks out past the fields behind my village and see the greenness of the land with Mount Ngaoundéré in the background. Corn, tomatoes, okra, and other vegetables cover what used to be red dirt and now mango trees dot the horizon. Sometimes I catch my breath when I hear “Bonjour Renée” from the top of the tree next to me. I always forget that the kids are climbing the trees to get mangos. I have noticed that there are not as many animals (sheep, goats & cows) running amuck near my house. I hope that is a sign that people are not letting their animals go into people’s gardens and fields. Some farmers build fences with large tree branches stuck in the ground and barbed wire wrapped around the limbs to fend off the grazing animals.

Beka-Hossere during the rainy season with Mt Ngaoundere in the background

Fencing around fields to keep animals out

Tomato and okra plants

 

We went to buy the soy seeds from one of my work partners and he showed us where he lived and I saw his pet monkey was hanging out in his front yard. I fed the monkey and his dog bread (they are best friends). I forgot how much I love animals and really monkeys are just so cool. Afterwards all of us chilled at a bar and I commented on this girl’s awesome toe socks and flip flop combo. I had done that in junior high at one point and thought it was nice to see that my fashion wasn’t that odd in Cameroon. My work partner decided that I must have toe socks so the next day he showed up at my house with three very colorful pairs of toe socks. I don’t know what they must think of me since I had juggled some mangos for them at the bar as well but buying me socks was a nice gesture.

Feeding my work partner's dog and pet monkey

Juggling mangos

 

I am so happy to finally see the green land of the Adamawa, but with the rains comes the dangers of traveling. Last week, I got in a little mototaxi accident/tumble on my way back to my village. Firstly, I am fine. We were not going that fast and he hit some muddy rocks which made the motorcycle slide. He tried to stop but we both went over and I did a “tuck and roll” so the motorcycle wouldn’t fall on me. Unfortunately, my laptop was in my backpack and the fall was hard enough to damage it. The LCD screen is cracked and there is a blotch of black in the bottom with a streak of black across the screen. The computer works fine and I can see most of the screen so I am not going to fix it anytime soon. I figure I am lucky to have not broken it until now. Most volunteers go through a couple computers in their two years. But I am being more careful about traveling with it. I was more scared about telling my Dad about the computer, but like usual my Dad is a pro at being cool with a problem especially since I beat myself up enough about it. It took me a few days to get back on a mototaxi but it is the only way to travel out of my village so I really have no choice.

The water pump where my neighbors and I get our water (she is pumping the water with her foot)

Grilling corn, a good snack for 100 CFA (the Cameroon fast food)

 

Another adventure, Gretchen and I went to a Christian/Catholic wedding in Ngaoundéré. The bride is one of our tailors and invited us. We have known her for a while and she has made many different types of clothes for us including my bridesmaid dress for one of the weddings in the U.S. Being my first Christian wedding, I was not sure what to expect. There are mostly Muslim weddings in my village where everyone is invited and the bride isn’t even present during the celebration. This wedding was held at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ngaoundéré. Typical with Catholic weddings, the ceremony was long but typical to Cameroon, it was even longer. We sat in those church pews for two and half hours. The bride was beautiful with a long white strapless dress and veil across her face. The ceremony was typical Catholic except with even more singing (the songs were sung in Cameroonian style with a drum as the beat) from the choir and long sermons projected from the speakers that tended to have a loud buzz every few minutes. I have noticed that the sound systems here are not great and give you earaches. I’m glad we went to the ceremony but I was a little sorry we came when the guy on the microphone switched to English and thanked the Americans for attending the wedding. We can’t go anywhere without sticking out and being bothered or in this case, being treated like Queens at someone else’s wedding. One cool thing about Christian weddings is that women wear clothing that is a bit more revealing and modern. We even saw some shorts made out of the wedding pagne (fabric) and a very cool looking romper. Some of the older women looked amazing in large hats that reminded me of the Saratoga Horse Races. After the ceremony, we waited a couple hours before going to the reception which was supposed to start at 6pm. Thinking that we understood Cameroon by now, we showed up at 7:30pm. We waited another hour outside the reception area with the rest of the crowd and finally were seated in a very nice set up that looked similar to weddings I have attended in the U.S. Another positive attribute to Christian weddings, there is alcohol although we had to stare at it for another hour until the wedding party came. They only allowed people in who had invitations which didn’t stop the local kids from sticking their heads through the bars of the windows and calling “Nassara” (white man). They even threw a rock at a Cameroonian kid sitting next to us so at least we were not the only ones being bothered. We sat another hour until finally the bride and groom entered. It wasn’t until 10pm that the food was served. By that time we had to leave so we missed the rest of the reception but I had a feeling that the dancing later would not make up for sitting hungry for over 2 hours. Those pop tarts my Dad sent me was my dinner that night. I will never complain about a U.S. wedding ever again.

The kids helping me plants seeds in my garden

The wedding ceremony

 

Annie the cat is doing well and being so close to the city, I have found a veterinarian that keeps her healthy and kitten free. She has a boyfriend that visits her a lot and she brings dead animals in the house all the time (I finally got to see some of the Cameroon birds up close although they are dead). I have given up on raising chickens. I gave my last two chicks to my neighbors (the other two were stolen). I explained to them that I really just love chickens for their eggs and watching them peck around the yard. Their faces were priceless when I kissed the chicks goodbye.  My garden is all planted and hopefully there will be a variety of vegetables and flowers sprouting when I get back. Ramadan has started so many of the people in my village are fasting between sunrise and sunset. My neighbor’s kids, Dada and Guiya only have to fast for the morning since they are so young. This fasting also means my favorite bean mama and other food resources are closed so I am actually grateful that I will be gone the next few weeks. We will get back around the time that they will be celebrating the end of Ramadan with lots of fetes (parties) with food. I am so excited for this trip to Tanzania! We are supposed to start climbing on July 2^nd and arrive back down the mountain on July 8^th. Thoughts of the hike are making me nervous but it is the climb in life that is more important than making it to the top. But it would be nice to see that summit sunrise.

Visiting Home & the Perspective

It has been a whirlwind journey from visiting home in New York to coming back to Cameroon. I was so nervous to be visiting home so early in my Peace Corps service but it proved to be a good decision. I was able to see two of my best friends get married and even caught the bouquet at the second wedding! I remember crying every so often on the plane ride home and wishing that I could just apparate (Harry Potter term) and be in JFK airport. When I finally saw my father as I got through security, all my emotions exploded in my face and I can’t remember ever feeling more relieved. My poor Dad had to listen to my non-stop story telling all the home until he got me some Starbucks coffee and I shut up a bit. I was able to wake my Mom up at 11:30pm and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. It was good to be home.

Great to see my family!

 

Party with Friends :)

 

For the first few days I felt as though I was in a dream and at some point I would wake up in my bed in Cameroon. I would walk around in the fields by the barn and just enjoy the spring breeze and the ability to just be me without all the stares I was used to. I could hug and play with the dogs without people asking me why and I could sing out in the barn where no one could hear except for the goats and chickens. I didn’t have much time to relax like this for too long. My Mom and I went shopping for gear to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and I used my Dad’s car to drive around and visit friends. The weddings were amazing and beautiful. I got a cold on my second day home and my stomach didn’t ever settle from the new food but that didn’t stop me from enjoying every second home. I got to meet the students in a French class who had written me letters. They were all so wonderful and asked brilliant questions. I don’t think they realized how helpful it was for me to talk about Cameroon. It helped me digest all the thoughts in my head now that I was at home. And to top it off, my parents invited people over for a party and I was able to see many of my friends all at once.

When my last night at home came, I felt kind of hollow. Steak cooked on the grill, strawberries for dessert, and watching the Amazing Race with my parents made my visit complete. I was ready to go back. My airlines however had other ideas. My flight to Istanbul, Turkey was so late that most of the passengers, including me, missed our connecting flight. Turkish Airlines then sent me to Nairobi, Kenya to catch my next flight to Douala, Cameroon. Once we arrived in Douala, I realized only one of my bags had arrived but of course it being Cameroon, they said that I had to wait until I got to Yaoundé to make a missing baggage request. Our flight to Douala had arrived so late that the flight staff were afraid that they would not make it back to Nairobi before the airport closed so they said they could not take us to Yaoundé. We had to stay in a hotel and catch the flight the next day. Well most of us didn’t want to do that. Plus Douala is a little dangerous for an American so I was not ready to spend the night. We asked the airlines to book a bus to Yaoundé so we left at 6pm on the bus and arrived in Yaoundé at midnight. A couple passengers were really nice and found me a reasonably priced taxi ride to the Peace Corps office. I spent 5 days in Yaoundé waiting for the airlines to find my bag. I ended up going to the Yaoundé airport to see a friend off to the U.S. and looked in the lost baggage area just in case my bag was there. And it was! The tag on it had the incorrect number so who knows when the airlines would have found it. (They can’t just look at the name on the bag and contact me of course!) But being typical Cameroon, the official saw that my ticket number didn’t match the number on the bag and I had no paperwork but it must be my bag so he just gave it to me. Bribery and laziness are a big part of Cameroon business.

Annie & the chicks

I found out that my three chickens had been stolen while I was gone, but there were 4 chicks left. I must say I had a point where I wondered if Cameroon really wanted me there. But I threw my courage into my heart and made my way back to Beka-Hosséré. My neighbors were ecstatic to see me and I was collided with hugs. They were very sorry about my chickens and had adopted the chicks into their care. Everything was so different now that it had been raining more. It was green everywhere! My garden was overgrown with weeds but it was nice to be surrounded by green and have it be a bit cooler weather. I gave my neighbors their presents which included Washington County Fair t-shirts, t-shirts from my Mom’s work (Sutherlands) and a Washington County Fair stuffed animal. I gave my other Cameroonian friends little bottles of my Dad’s homemade maple syrup (it was interesting trying to explain maple syrup) and more t-shirts. Everyone is so happy with their gifts. Amadou was practically jumping with joy when he received his soccer ball. My trip finally seemed to conclude in my mind. Now back to work and prepare for Kilimanjaro.

Dada with her Fair cow

 

My neighbors in their new shirts!

 

Amadou with his new shirt & soccer ball

We had a meeting with the Soy Cooperative when I got back. Well we tried to. Most of the women showed up for this meeting, but the leaders of the group had forgotten that there was a meeting in the office that day with some of the “grands”. The Délégué (boss of my work partners) pretty much kicked us all out of the office because he didn’t want it to be swarming with people when the big guys came. It was embarrassing for us and for the cooperative members. I had never met the Délégué before but I could tell by how he rang a bell for people to come into his office (he can’t walk two feet to talk to someone) and how he talked to us like he was God, that he is another reason I do not like to work with the “grands” here. They are the people with the power and they see the rest of the population as the “petites” or their servants. The cooperative members were angry, we were angry but we rescheduled the meeting and hoped that people would come back. They did thank goodness and we had a successful meeting on Friday. Successful meaning mostly everyone showed up, most of the problems were discussed and plans were made for buying the soy seeds for planting. There were three women (mostly the executive board) that still do not want the one man to be in the group so that was a conversation with raised voices and pointed figures. The problem with most groups in Cameroon is that when money is involved, everyone wants their fair share. And yes, men are threatening to women in this country in that they have more power most of the time. But this man in the group is willing to work with the women and has proven to be more reliable than most of them. There are many other problems this group needs to deal with but they always focus on the one thing they understand: one male member. At least most of them left happy and we made plans to meet in a couple weeks to distribute the soy seeds. The participants in the new Soy Project will be there as well so that we can give out all the seeds at one time.

Finally good news, my grant for the Soy Project got approved! I am not sure when the funds will arrive but at least the project will keep going!

I went for a run the other morning and found the fields behind my house full of people working in the cool weather. I felt a little bad about running when they were working so hard but I was glad to see the growing tomatoes and corn lining the road. The rainy season is very late but people already have growth in their fields. The soy project participants are being told to not plant until July 1^st so that we can make sure it is raining every day. The soy needs water and cannot dry out otherwise it won’t progress enough to be cultivated in September.

Tomatoes & corn growing in the fields by my house

I am so happy I was able to visit home. It gave me the chance to think about my experience in Cameroon. I find now that I feel more comfortable living in the U.S. Before Peace Corps, I felt like I didn’t deserve to live in such a comfortable life. I didn’t understand the parts of the world where cultures were so different. There is only so much you can learn from books and T.V. But now I at least have an understanding of why cultures are different, why we have what we have in the U.S., why most of the time we deserve that comfort, why we must cherish it, and most of all I found out how thankful I am that I know people in the U.S. that work hard to try to make their community a better place. Sure not every American is like that and not everyone wants to visit places overseas, but there are some that care enough to make America a great place. Cameroon has changed so much over the years and it is getting better, but it needs more motivated people to be educated and then go back and help their communities. I am so thankful I am an American and I am so thankful for all of you.