The last few weeks have contained so many great times, sad
moments, depressing situations, and amazing experiences. I can’t imagine going
through them again and yet I know that the next two years will contain many
more of the same mixed emotions. My life here in Cameroon has been one of the
most rewarding and toughest experiences and it has only been a little over a
month. My days are long with training in agriculture, business, and language.
Combine this training with trying to learn how to cook, wash my clothes, bargain
at the market, and live the Cameroonian lifestyle without the amenities that I
am used to in the U.S. It sure is an adventure.
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| Visiting a local farmer and just had to climb a tree! |
But moments of bringing out my laptop in the complete darkness of my host family’s home and watching Frozen in French is one of the coolest but weirdest scenes ever. A good way to practice French though! I think watching the movie brightened my family’s night and my night as well.
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| Watching Frozen with the family and some neighbors |
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| When it doesn't rain, there is no water by our house so we have to carry it from another well down the road (I can wear shorts when I am at home, but I wear pants or skirts everywhere else) |
I accidently dropped my flashlight down the latrine a couple
weeks ago. I automatically started laughing when it happened since it was still
on and you could see everything (and I mean everything) that was down there.
Pretty gross. I walked back into my host family’s house and told my host mom,
thinking they would probably find it funny. Everyone started laughing and I
said “Wouldn’t it be cool if we tried to get it out?!” (just kidding of course)
but my cousin decided that that was a great idea. So there I was in the latrine
as my cousin took three long sticks and a folded coat hanger & duct taped
them into this long pole (the latrine is over 10 feet deep) so he could fish my
flashlight out of the latrine. I was so surprised that he would even try and
not sure I really wanted the flashlight back, but I couldn’t stop myself from
laughing at the scene. About an hour later, we all held our breath (literally
because of the smell) as he very carefully lifted the flashlight out of the
hole. The flashlight has been sanitized thoroughly and still sits on my desk in
my room. Can’t believe it!
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| The grand rescue of the flashlight lost down the latrine |
We also went on our post visits last week and Sam & I got
to visit Jacob in the Northwest region of Cameroon. It was great to see how
another volunteer lives and the projects he has been working on. We visited a
bunch of farms and saw how/what they grow. There is an abundance of food grown
here in Cameroon, even if it is not always grown to the best of its ability.
Corn, cassava, green beans, plantains, bananas, rice, beans, legumes, potatoes,
oranges, cocoa, coffee, and peanuts are to name just a few at least in this
region. And some beautiful jungle out there! It is normal to meet farmers
throughout the day in a kind-of bar and it is custom to drink palm wine pretty
much all the time with them. Thank goodness it doesn’t have a ton of alcohol in
it. Also palm wine comes straight from the tree without anything added or done
to it, so really natural! I just had to get used to the rotten egg smell of it.
All in all, it was a great trip and Sam, Jacob, and I met up with some other
volunteers in Bemenda on our last day to enjoy the city life (which is quite
different from living in a village!)
So awesome news! We all found out where our post will be for
two years! Everyone was so nervous about finding out that we tried to make it a
bit more fun. We made a sorting hat (like Harry Potter) out of paper and each
person sat on a chair while the sorting hat was placed on their head and their
name & post was called out for everyone to hear. My post was a big surprise
not only to me, but to everyone else in the room as well. Out of everyone in my
agribusiness trainee group, only one of us was going to the Adamoawa region of
Cameroon. Some people wanted Adamoawa or the East region because I guess those
places are more undeveloped and farther away than the other regions. Yet out of
everybody, I got Adamoawa! Guess I have more people that believe in me, more
than I always believe in myself.
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| Sorting (Posting) Hat! |
My village is called Beka Hossere and is about 1500 people. 70%
Muslim and the rest of Christian. It is usual for girls to marry there at 10-15
years old. Yet I heard that the community is very welcoming and the land is
beautiful! Kind of looks like Texas with more grass. It is about a 5 minute
moto drive from the city of Ngaoundere, which will be great for making
connections with NGOs in the city for projects. I will be replacing another
agriculture volunteer who is the 3rd ag-volunteer to be at that post
(meaning there has been an ag-volunteer in this village for 6 years). There is
another health volunteer joining me there and an education volunteer that has
been there for a few months. We all have different houses but live in the same
village. The guy I am replacing is very well-known for his successful projects
in Cameroon, so I have big shoes to fill. I will have electricity and hopefully
an indoor bucket-flush toilet (possibly outside latrine). There is a spicket
outside where we get water. As long as I reach my French level by the end of training
in November, I will go to my post and start my two years as a volunteer!
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| Working by lamplight |
As much as I am tired and mentally stressed, everything is
coming together and I am hopeful that my time here in Cameroon will be full of
purpose. Half of my heart is back at home with my family and friends, but the
other half is quickly becoming a part of Cameroon every time my 3 year old host
cousin smiles. Even when I crave apple pie and the feeling of autumn air, I
remind myself that two years of my life given in serving another country is
only a small portion of my life and I have the rest of it to enjoy homemade
apple pies. For now, I will have to look at plantain pile and think “apple pie,
it’s an apple pie”…. And then see my host cousin’s smile as she climbs into my
lap and I try to tell her a story in French about a hero who steals from the
rich and gives to the poor.
