The weeks go by fast while the days can drag on forever;
that is what they said. Two years will pass in the blink of an eye; that is
what they said. I have 7 months left in Cameroon and I am not sure what to
think or how to feel. My postmate will leave in July then I will find out my
date of departure in August. Everyone is talking about what to do after Peace
Corps. I have started to look for jobs (If anyone hears of a job at a
non-profit agricultural based organization or a fair, let me know!). It all seems
surreal. 7 months feels like a long time to wait to see my family and friends.
But it also feels like a short amount of time to really enjoy being with my
friends in Cameroon. As you can see, I am not sure how I feel right now so to
avoid a depressing and scattered brain post, I will give you an update on the
always occurring adventures in Cameroon.
The 2016 Ngaoundéré Soy Project has started and we have 11
new participants! It is always a stressful time when advertising for the soy
project, setting a deadline for applications, and trying to get enough
participants but not too many so as to not overwhelm the project leaders. As
usual, we had a few applications by the deadline but then a week later, 15
people signed up. Deadlines are usually seen as “reminders” in Cameroon instead
of end dates. We were happy when 11 (6 male, 5 female) showed up to the first
class on business and paid their participation fees. We even had to translate
the soy informational packet into English because there are some English speaking
people from the Northwest Cameroon area. Well when I say translate, I mean
change to Cameroon English. For example when describing how to make soy milk it
is appropriate to say “it doesn’t drunken”. It was interesting to explain to my
work partner that in the United States that we do not call everything that is
spicy: “pepper” (pronounced as pep-pay in Cameroon). He said that we do not
speak good English in the U.S. and I had to bite my tongue. The best thing
about English is that it can be spoken in so many different ways. I have
friends in Oklahoma that I cannot understand.
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| Soy Project business class |
I have begun to pass
over more of the tasks to the project leaders. They are ready to really take
over the management this year so that when I leave, they will be the sole organizers
for the soy project. I will probably not be replaced by another volunteer but
other agricultural volunteers will be posted in nearby villages so they can be
contacted if the project leaders need help. My Peace Corps supervisor came to
visit and observe the class. This visit made my work partners happy and gave
them motivation to keep helping their community.
With my work going well along with the volleyball club at
the primary school, I am finding time to enjoy my last months in Cameroon. I
went on a short trip to visit the Northwest and West Cameroon. If you look up
Bemenda and Bafoussam on the map it will give you a good idea of where I traveled.
As you go south of the Adamawa region, the humidity rises but then go west and
you will see the mountains along with chilly nights. North of Bemenda there is
a place called Mbingo where it looks like you stepped into Switzerland. As we
drove along, these specks started to hit the windshield. At first I thought it
was snow but then realized it was thousands of termites flying through the air.
Crazy! The Northwest has some similarities to the Adamawa: the same packed
buses with luggage piled on top (one bus had two coffins attached to the roof
although who knows if they were full or empty) and roads with so many pot holes
that you cannot go more than 30 miles per hour. The differences are the tall
mountains, lush green forests, and people speak Cameroon English in the
Northwest (French is still spoken in the West). We went hiking one day to see
one of the many waterfalls but it rains every day so we got caught in a
thunderstorm. We spent the next couple hours walking through streams up to our
knees and traversing down muddy avalanches. Least to say we were soaked when we
got back but still with smiles on our faces. Plus one of the friend’s I hiked
with had a house nearby that had a shower with hot water and a washing machine
for our clothes.
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| Getting caught in a thunderstorm and trying to hike down past rivers of muddy water |
In Mbingo, there is a hospital organized by Baptist missionaries.
I stayed with a Peace Corps volunteer who lived nearby but got to visit this
hospital which is well-known for being tucked away in the hillside with mowed
lawns and a great view of the mountains. Because the hospital is private and
organized by Americans, the medical care is the best in Cameroon, but it is
expensive and many people have to pay a lot to travel across the country to
receive help. A friend gave a tour of the hospital and it still has the
reminders that it is Cameroon: flies in the surgery room, people sleeping on
mats along the walkways, Cameroonian and ex-pat doctors disagreeing on what to
prescribe, asking a question to a Cameroonian nurse who won’t look you in the
eye as she tries to not answer your question because she knows you will not
like the answer. But even with these reminders, it is still the best place for
medical care in this country. I passed through the ICU and saw a woman lying on
a cot staring at me with a look I wasn’t sure I understood. She looked to be in
pain but knew I could not do anything to help. The American nurse I was with
was explaining how the ICU was organized and as she went by the woman, she put
her hand on her arm and wished her well in French. I saw a faint glimmer of a
smile on the woman’s face and I knew that this hospital was still the best
place for her to receive care.
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| Mbingo Hospital (with waterfalls behind it) |
I am an agricultural volunteer but I was reminded that day
in the hospital that medical care is still so important for Cameroon.
Cameroonians go to city colleges to learn how to be doctors but they still do
not receive enough education to be good doctors. Ex-pats, especially
missionaries are sent to Cameroon to give medical aid but some of these doctors
are only here for a few short months. I learned recently that doctors can
remove goiters but what if that large lump is cancer or some other disease? The
only way to know is to take a tissue sample and have a pathologist look at it
under a microscope. There are not many pathologists or good microscopes in
Cameroon. Doctors can only help so much but if a procedure is complicated in
the U.S., it is really complicated in Cameroon. I was really impressed by the
work being done at the hospital in Mbingo, but it reminded me that there is
only so much we can do to help. The rest has to be done by the Cameroonians.
The colleges need to be better in Cameroon and if a Cameroonian goes to another
country for education, they need to come back to their villages and help their
community. The big question is: If Americans and Europeans didn’t go to
countries in Africa, building hospitals, schools, and water wells….would countries
like Cameroon eventually help it self and invent ways to improve livelihood?
Because that is what other countries like the U.S. did. I guess we will never
know. At least by living here, myself and other volunteers are asking the same
question: how does development work and how can we really help?
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| Northwest Cameroon landscape |
Other than those tough, complicated questions; the simpler
question is what do you do when it is raining and your roof leaks in the
bedroom? Seeing as my landlord said he fixed the roof and my mattress is still
soaked, how about putting the mattress on the floor in the living room (the
bedframe is too big to move), attaching the mosquito net to the ceiling and
spending the next 7 months sleeping in there.
As long as I tuck my mosquito net in better so the ants don’t find my
bed again. The best part about sleeping in the living room is that that room
has a wooden ceiling. Unlike my bedroom which just has the tin roof so when it
rains really hard I can’t hear myself think and I dream about being on a boat
caught in a storm at sea. Oh the wild life.
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| Sleeping space for the next 7 months |
Fun fact about Cameroon: if you go on a trip (even a day
trip), everyone expects you to bring a present back for them. And they will
ask! At first I tried to integrate into my community by bringing small gifts
for people. After over a year here I have decided that they need to learn about
the American way of not bringing gifts unless it’s a long, far away trip.
People were not happy about my answer of “no” to their demands but after I
explained the reason, they nodded their heads although I’m sure they like their
way better. After this most recent trip, I decided I was gone long enough to
bring back a small present. Even though Cameroonians expect gifts, they do not
expect big ones. Just a small sack of passion fruits from the Northwest was
enough to make my neighbors happy (we do not have passion fruit in the
Adamawa). And for all those wonderful friends in the U.S. that have been
sending me letters and packages, expect some small gifts when I get back!
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| Eating the Northwest Cameroon traditional dish of Njamma-jamma, made out of leaves. Same as the Adamawa's couscous, you eat it with your hands. This dish doesn't have a lot of nutrients but it can easily feed a whole family and fills you up quick. It also adds some extra weight around the hips for many Peace Corps volunteers since it is cheap food that conquers hunger. |
As of now, no need to send any more packages unless they are
gifts for my Cameroonian friends. It takes about a month (or more!) for
packages to arrive and I don’t want any arriving after I leave in November! So
don’t worry about me. Although my IPod just stopped working on this trip I am
still hopeful that the holes in my clothes/sneakers/socks do not get bigger (2
years washing by hand and Cameroon dirt destroys clothes), my computer doesn’t
get any more cracks in it, my couscous fat around my hips goes away, I keep on
being healthy (no malaria- knock on wood), and I enjoy every minute on this
soil.
I can hear the children practicing chanting verses from the
Quran. They wave at me as I record them and I wonder if they know that I will
watch these videos when I am missing them in the U.S.
