After almost 2 years in Cameroon, I now know when I will be
leaving and when I will be home. We had our “Close of Service” conference in
Kribi (southern Cameroon). It was wonderful to see the people that I arrived to
Cameroon with only 2 years ago. We walked along the beach, ate amazing shrimp,
and recollected our many amazing adventures in this country. Peace Corps
administration gave us some advice on job searching and reintegration in the
US. As soon as we found out our dates of departure, we were booking flights and
making plans. My plan is to fly out middle of November and then go to France/Switzerland for a visit before arriving back on NY soil end of November. For more specific
dates, message me or go to my FB page.
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| Visiting soy fields |
The soy project is still going and we have finally visited
the last participant’s field of soy. As the rainy season reaches its peak, I am
glad that I do not have to take any more motorcycle rides out onto the muddy
paths to the farms or go 3 hours to another village in the pouring rain.
Although I do not like the travel, the participants make it worthwhile with
their hard work and smiles when we see their healthy soy. Our latest adventures
were so crazy that after driving out to the farmer’s field, I decided to walk
back because it seemed safer than riding on the motorcycle. Gosh did I have
blisters. Nothing that a cup of hot tea and a warm blanket can fix when I got
home. Some participants even gave us cous cous when we visited although I was a
bit afraid that my stomach was not going to hold the food in during our 3 hour
ride home. But alas, we have seen all the fields and now we are just waiting
for the harvest. I am hopeful that the participants will harvest before I leave
so we can have a small party and give them their certificates.
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| Trying to load a tractor tire onto a truck after visiting a soy field |
I recently started putting together the videos I have taken
in Cameroon so that when I return home, you can all watch a “movie” to show you
what life looks like here. The videos can show you the landscape, the homes,
the food, and the people but it does not always show you the culture. Below I
will write a list of what you might call strange, what makes my life sometimes
difficult here, and those cultural differences that you cannot see on video.
The Wild Life.
Most people have latrines (holes in the ground) here,
whether in or outside their homes, at the bars, or in a wooden shed. If it is
outside their home, there is usually a short wall of tied together straw to
shield you from any onlookers but it’s usually not thick. I have gotten very
used to not caring who sees me go to the bathroom. It is normal for women and
men to just be going to the bathroom on the side of the road when a bus stops. People
use water in plastic tea kettles to wash themselves after going to the bathroom.
(That is why you do not shake, eat, or give money with your right hand).
Yesterday I used a latrine that had a lot of honeybees flying around it.
Imagine pulling down your skirt and hoping the bees do not go close to your
butt or fly into your underwear when you pull it up. Always carry around
tissues just in case you eat something you shouldn’t eat and the water in the
kettle will not be enough. It’s like camping really.
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| Aiya cooking cous cous over the fire in the hut outside their home |
Mostly everyone eats with their hands since cous cous can be
easily picked up, molded, and squished in the usual sauce before trying to put
it in your mouth without it drippling down your chin. We always wash our hands
in water before and after eating. A family will sit around a dish of cous cous
and eat out of the same plate (girls eat separately from the guys). And if you
buy grilled fish at the bar, it is normal to eat that with your hands too (very
easy to pick out the bones, unless you want to eat those too). I use a camping
stove hooked to a gas tank to cook my food but everyone else cooks over fires.
Bundles of sticks and fire wood are sold on the side of the road.
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| Family eating cous cous |
Ever wonder where all the unwanted stuff goes? The sewing
machines here are the same ones that my Grandmother exhibits and explains at
our county fair museum. You will find all kinds of things here from earlier
years in America, especially cars (all standard, no automatics).
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| Sewing machines used in Cameroon |
As much as running water, internet, and other technology has
not reached many of the villages of Cameroon, cellphones are a norm. But mostly
there are tracfones or small smart phones. There are kiosks in the city that
sell calling/texting credit for phones. But once someone has my phone number,
they will call a couple times a week just to say hi and ask about my family. It
takes a while for Americans to get used to someone calling just to check in and
not for a specific reason. Although if I do not answer my phone, a Cameroonian
will call over 10 times, not leaving a message, just calling over and over
again to see if I will pick up. If you do want to talk to someone, just tell
them you do have calling credit, works every time. The richer people in the
city will have over 2 or 3 phones because there are many networks here (Orange,
MTN, Camtel). They will sit down to a meeting and place their 3 phones next to
each other on the table.
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| Kiosk where you can buy Orange phone credit |
As I have said before, transportation is not fun here. But
for motorcycles, women are supposed to always sit in front of the man. Also
women are not supposed to sit in the front seat of a taxi. And buses do not
leave at a specific time; they leave when the bus is full or over filled with
people. Also anything, anything can be transported on a motorcycle or taxi.
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| Path we used to motorcycle to a farmer's field |
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| Loading a bus (very close to power lines) |
FCFA or francs are used in Cameroon and usually the bank
only gives 5000 or 10000 bills. That is a problem because no one wants to give
away their small money. People are always guarding their 500 pieces (close to
$1) and give you a sour look if you ask them to change even a 2000 bill. Unlike
banks in the US, banks here will not give businesses small change every day
(like what I used to do when I worked at a bank). Also if a bill is torn,
people will not take it and I am not sure if the bank will exchange it. Peace
Corps volunteers will hoard small bills and coins so much that when they return
to the US, they wonder why they have so much US change all the time. Watch out,
I might do that when I return.
Bargaining prices is a normal way of buying goods here. And
they always try to raise the price for a white person. Not fair. But I have
gotten very good at walking away when they don’t lower the price. Sometimes
they will come running after me to sell at the more appropriate price. You have
to be ready to leave the market without the item if it is not the right price.
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| Typical view of an Adamawa village during rainy season |
The treatment of animals really bothers me here. There is no
respect for them at all. My cat Annie was the only animal here that I saw was
loved by my neighbors but she really had to work at it. A Cameroonian told me
once that he had read in the news that someone in France had been arrested for
killing all his cats. He was so confused at why that happened- “he can do
whatever he wants to his animals, right?” I always tell Cameroonians that I
cannot wait to go home and hug my animals. They give me a strange look and I
say “well I will give my parents a hug too”.
In some regions in Cameroon, women can wear anything
especially places with Christian religion but in the Adamawa where there are
mostly Muslims and conservative tribes, women must cover up. No showing too
much of the arms, cover most of the shoulders, and wear skirts past the knees.
I will feel so naked when I go back to the US.
Sometimes this place reminds me of old small town America or
Desperate Housewives community where everyone knows when a newcomer arrives in
town, they know all the village news and I am the last to find out, the women
are nice to each other even when they don’t like each other, most wives do not
leave the home, the girls are the only ones that work at home while the boys
play, and best of all if I need to tell someone something I just send a child
to find them in the village; everyone knows each other.
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| Guiya and Dada playing soccer in front of my house. These are the moments I will miss the most. |
These are all cultural differences but we have them in the
US too. As a foreigner, as much as I try to fit in here and eat cous cous, and
wear the clothes, I will always stick out. The most difficult part of this
culture is that no one is used to foreigners. I will always be stared at,
stared down for being a woman, and selected to sit in the front because of the
white man perceived power. This cultural difference is the one that I wish to
change. A Cameroonian friend took me to the market and I told him I was sorry
if he was given higher prices or stared at because I was walking him. He said
“Don’t people stare at black people in the US?” I said if people do, it is not
normal and for the most part the only time people stare is when someone is
really beautiful, like when I go out dancing and I want the guys to stare at me.
He laughed but I think he understood. But even though I want to change some
things about Cameroon, there is something I heard tonight that I really
appreciate. As I heard the call to prayer at the Mosque, I also could hear the
music from a Christian church service being held outside by the primary school,
only a short distance from the mosque. Even if Cameroon will always see the
differences of color, it is amazing that differences of religion are seen as
normal here.
The next two months are my preparation to leave. There is
now another education volunteer in Beka-Hosséré. She has just started her
service so she still has another two years left in Cameroon but I am very
positive that she will do an amazing job even after I leave. Although I am
excited to go home, I am nervous about going to back to what should be familiar
ground. For me, Cameroon is now the norm. I have gotten used to the bartering
for goods/transportation and being around the same people every day. But I am
going to try to do my best to appreciate my time left in Cameroon by hanging
with my neighbors, celebrating with the community during the upcoming Fete du
Mouton, and not taking for granted the cultural norms that I have learned here. My neighbors keep feeding me cous cous, maybe hoping I will stay. By the time I am home, I will have gained a few pounds of cous cous belly haha I am not sure yet what I will do when I get home but if anyone has any job
ideas (fairs, agriculture, management), let me know! Cameroon has been a great
adventure, sometimes reminding me too much of the Indiana Jones movies, but now
I am preparing for a new journey; I am excited to keep dreaming my wishes and living
my dreams.
