Autumn in Cameroon with Fetes & the End of Rainy Season

The last “second year” Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) of the Adamawa region has just left. Other than Rachel who will end her service soon after being a PCV for 5 years, there should be nobody else leaving until Carl’s stage in June 2016. Rachel and I are the only agribusiness volunteers in our region until the new health/agribusiness volunteers arrive at the end of November. It is a weird feeling to see the veteran volunteers closing their service and saying goodbye to their villages, knowing that I will be doing that a year from now. Plus the newbies will be here soon and then my stage will be the veterans. Pretty crazy. I cannot say time flies here, but I am sure I will miss it when I leave. As the changes are happening, I am pulling out of my mid-service drag and jumping back into work again. There were a few weeks where I didn’t have as much work since the soy was growing great for most participants and we were just waiting to harvest. But there were some events that stirred up some excitement. I already did a post on the LuminAid distribution, but we also had the Fete de Mouton, an Artisan Exposition, Halloween, and a random carnival in Ngaoundéré.

The Fantasia celebration for Fete de Mouton

 

Fete de Mouton (or Eid-al-Adha the feast of sacrifice) is a Muslim holiday to celebrate a story where a father was going to sacrifice his son but later God replaced the son with a sheep. Each Muslim family in my village kills and eats a sheep. Reminded me of our Thanksgiving except with some mass praying. Even the poorest of households must buy a sheep including my neighbors who cannot even afford to send all their children to school. Before the Fete, it is normal to see herds of sheep at the markets and random spots in the city. When we walked by them we tended to say “Sorry dude” or “Enjoy life while it lasts”. On the day of the Fete, the Muslims in my village held a mass prayer in front of the Primary School. We showed up a little late, but there were still people coming in on motorcycles and in cars. Goes to show that Cameroonians are late for everything, even prayer time. The men and boys prayed up front in one group and a smaller group of women prayed behind them. It was really neat to watch since usually they pray in the mosques and you can’t see the calming sight of a large group of people all kneeling on mats while lowering their heads and standing to pray in unison. After the prayer, we started eating. Just like when you have many Thanksgiving meals to attend and you try to plan them out so you can be at everyone’s house, we tried to do that. Except it is Cameroon and no one really knows when they are going to eat. Carl and I first went to our community host’s house where he proceeded to kill a sheep in front of us. We ate there quickly (pretty easy since for some reason they had us eat by ourselves- it is really the gesture of eating at their house that is important). Then we went to Carl’s landlord’s house who is an amazing silver jeweler by the way. We tried to eat enough to be nice but not too much so we would make it through the day. Next we went into the city to eat at our Lebanese friend’s place. He had invited some German girls who teach in our region, some Frenchmen, and a few more Lebanese. It was an interesting group. There was tons of food and then our friend carved the sheep: picture perfect Thanksgiving. I was about to burst when I got home and then my neighbors came over with a plate of cooked sheep meat. Food coma for sure.

My neighbors dressed in their finest for Fete de Mouton

Last year the Fantasia (celebration at the Lamido’s Mosque) was the day after the Fete, but of course being Cameroon, no one really knew when it was going to be until the day before. Life is so interesting with no schedule. The Fantasia is a big celebration at the Lamido’s Grand Mosque in Ngaoundéré. Horses and their riders are dressed in Cameroon’s finest traditional clothing and they take turns in groups galloping up to the Mosque at full speed and stopping just before the mass of important Chiefs and government officials. Being the only “Nassaras” at the event, they at first seated us with all the important people. No matter how much we explain that we are not rich, colonialism has made the white man permanent kings in this place. Always the first to receive money requests and always given “the backstage pass”. Even with the unwanted royal treatment, we really enjoyed Fantasia and seeing a display of Cameroon tradition. The Fete ended with the Lamido riding in on his beautiful horse all dressed in traditional garb where we couldn’t even see his face and of course with someone holding a large umbrella over him. Made me totally think of Aladdin and how I wish I could have a horse in this country.

The Lamido at Fantasia

 

Riders racing towards the Mosque for Fantasia

The other event was an Artisan Exposition that only occurs every 2 years and organized by the organization I work with for the Soy Project. Artisans compete for the prize of going to the national competition in the capital city of Yaoundé. We attended the exposition of the artisans from the Adamawa Region. It was encouraging to see so many hardworking Cameroonians displaying their amazing work. Even a few of our friends were there including the silversmith from my village, another friend that works with leather from our market, and one of my Soy Project participants who works with metal to make swords. These were the best of the best. The Exposition could easily have been compared to a Craft Fair in the U.S. except for maybe the loud music and speaker that sounded like the typical “auction voice”. There were artisans that painted, made traditional bowls, bow and arrows, clothing, and huts. I was amazed to see an older woman drop spindling! Yes, my spinning/knitting friends back at home, it was real! Sheep do not live very long here (as my neighbor said: why keep them if you are not going to eat them) and their wool is not very good so I thought that my spinning knowledge was of no use here. But then I see this woman drop spindling cotton! So cool! She didn’t speak a word of French and lives in a village far away so Rachel helped me ask her questions and then she sold me her drop spindle. She said it was easy for her to make another one back at home. Her drop spindle is made out of a wooden stick with a rock attached to the bottom. My friend said we could find cotton in the market and I am going to see about getting this drop spindle replicated. Even if no one is interested to learn and this doesn’t turn into a project, I am just so happy to see that it exists here! I also saw a man weaving with a kind-of loom made of sticks where he used his feet to change the heald frames as he weaved the rock (pick) with the yarn attached to it under and over. If you are a weaver, you might get that description. Rachel and I attended the opening ceremony with the governor and other important delegates. Another day of us getting put into the important seats and getting free food. I swear I would love this treatment at a Josh Groban concert! Overall it was a brilliant showing of artisans. I almost bought a bow and arrow. Our friend that works with leather won first prize in the Exposition. Now I just have to see if he will make me a Zena Warrior Princess outfit and I will be all set for the Renaissance Faire back at home.

Woman drop spindling cotton the Exposition

 

Man weaving at the Exposition

No one celebrates Halloween here, but that didn’t stop us PCVs from enjoying it a bit. We didn’t get dressed up, but we carved pumpkins, made pumpkin pie and bread, and watched Rocky Horror Picture Show. I gave my neighbors some pie and cookies while they looked intently at my Jack-O-Lantern. I tried to explain how we celebrate Halloween in the U.S. They were a bit taken back when I said we celebrate sorcery and that the pumpkin was magical. Most Cameroonians believe in sorcery and see it as a reason why bad things happen. One of my fellow PCVs told me a story of how she and the children found a white line drawn across the path in front of them. It looked like toothpaste. The children would not allow her to step over it and said it was sorcery. So they walked around it. The next day it was gone and no one said a word. As much as we laugh about how we could just smear out the line of toothpaste or step over it, let’s not forget some weird American superstitions. And jeez if my neighbors only knew how many Americans carve pumpkins and let them rot in front of their house every year without always eating the actual pumpkin filling. There goes a family’s meal.

Showing my neighbor's children the Jack-O-Lantern

We also attended a small carnival in Ngaoundéré. It was organized by a local group connected to the government. There were white tents set up where people could rent a space to sell their items but unfortunately the price was too high and most of the tents were empty. Other than that there were two tents selling alcohol and two carnival rides: the Swings and a small roller coaster (similar to the Dragon ride at the Washington County Fair). We paid 200 CFA to enter (less than 50 cents) and then 500 CFA ($1) to ride the swings. I was actually impressed that the ride looked a bit better than some of the ones I have seen at U.S. fairs. And we eat cotton candy. It was green and I think there is a reason that there isn’t green cotton candy at my hometown fair. It tasted really weird. But that was my “Fair” experience in Cameroon. It was a fun night although I couldn’t help shedding a couple tears when seeing the brightly lit rides and tops of tents but no Washington County Fair.

The Swings ride at the Carnival- reminded me of children watching the rides from atop parents shoulders at the Washington County Fair- except this is in Cameroon

 

So those are the events of life here in Cameroon. Work is starting up again with visiting Soy Project participant’s fields before harvesting. We just visited one the other day and we were so impressed by her field of soy. She caught some people trying to steal her soy plants. They told her that they thought that this was their field but she knew they were lying. The soy is just so awesome, everyone wants it! After all the participants are done harvesting, we will have a party to give out certificates.



One of the Soy Project participants and field of soy (and corn) ready to be harvested

The rain is hardly here but has not stopped completely yet. My garden is shrinking to just some tomatoes and kale. The chickens are doing well and I found their nest of eggs! I don’t hear that bump in the night sound anymore after Annie caught and eat a rat the same size as her. I am hopeful my mid-service depression is over and with work starting again, I will get to January and the countdown to returning home. Thanks to my parents for putting up with my mood swings. Also thanks to some amazing friends back at home. Thanks to you, all of my neighbor’s children are attending school. Dada just started her first year of school at 6 years old. She really loves it! And I am trying to start a volleyball club at the Primary School. We set up the net and I am hopeful that my backyard volleyball experience will be enough to teach these students a sport where they cannot kick the ball. Sending hugs to everyone back at home as the holidays draw near. And just so you know, I will be totally jealous when everyone start posting about seeing the new Star Wars movie. Gosh I miss the American life! But in less than a year I will be home, probably missing eating grilled fish with my hands and watching Star Wars in French with the children who think Ewoks (little bear characters) are sometimes speaking Fulfulde.