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| Birthday fun |
My neighbors just welcomed a tiny little girl into the world
the day before my birthday. It is custom that Muslims wait a week before giving
the baby a name. Of course when I asked last Saturday for her name, I got a mix
of Oumaheidi, Oumahaley, so it’s something like that. This baby is the mother’s
8th child and 6th girl. Also she has given birth to all
of her children in her house even though there is a health center in my
village. Most women here choose to give birth at home instead of choosing the
safer route of going to a hospital. Well it’s supposed to be safer at the
hospital. I have heard stories of doctors using forceps to get the baby out and
sitting on the mother’s stomach while she is pushing. According to most men
here, the stronger the wife, the less noise she makes while giving birth and
they always tell me that it could not be that painful. And how would they know!?
Her oldest daughter is 15 (and should be married soon) so I’m guessing the
mother has a baby every chance she gets. Birth control is hardly used here. But
good news is that the mother and baby are safe and healthy. Another child to
add to what I like to call my “Cameroon family”. As much as I disagree with
some of their decisions, they are the friends I go to for help, company, and
whom I have grown to love in this small, dusty community.
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| Mamma with her new baby and daughter, Guyia |
Recently another volunteer and I have taken up traditional
archery here. We visited a small archery practice the other day where a group
of men (mostly older) get together a few times a week to shoot their arrows at
targets a good 80 meters away. They use the traditional bows and arrows made
out of wood with no feathers on the bows. People use to and still today hunt
animals with bows. It is a bit different from what we are used to in the U.S.
No high tech bow that is easy to pull back and they don’t take their time
aiming. Just a small pause to get sight of the target, then they pull and
release the arrow in one stroke, even flinging themselves a little forward to
give the arrow momentum. We bought arrows and a couple bows from them. I even
got a small quiver made of cow hide for my arrows. I felt like a regular Robin
Hood. Yet my technique was lacking. It took me a while to learn how to shoot
the arrow with this tight-stringed bow. But the men are very welcoming and love
to teach us. It reminds me of the groups in the U.S. that reenact battles and
the picture of a uniformed soldier showing his teenage son how to load a Civil
War rifle.
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| Archery practice |
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| Kind of like Robin Hood? |
My father gave me this idea of writing down some “Wildlife”
descriptions. Since most of the actual wildlife in Cameroon is in the North,
where we are currently not permitted to go with the Boko Haram activity, I
actually don’t get to see a lot of the animals that you might connect with
Africa. Mostly it’s been a few monkeys and then the domestic sheep, horses,
goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, birds, and cats. So I will give you some of the
“Wildlife” situations and experiences that always make me feel like: yes I am
totally in Africa.
First example is transportation (it is difficult to take
pictures here without people staring so I borrowed some of these pictures, but
all the pictures are examples of what I have seen here):
While there is one train that goes from the capital of
Yaoundé to the Adamawa city of Ngaoundéré, mostly everywhere else people use
buses, taxis, and motorcycle taxis to travel. The train can be alright if you
pay more and sleep in the small bed for the entire night ride which goes from
7pm to technically 9am. Although most of the time the train breaks down in the
middle of the night and you can arrive sometimes as late as 2pm; always over 12
hours on a train. If you take the cheaper choice of 1st or 2nd
class, you will have to sit in a less-comfortable airplane like seat and where
they do not turn off the lights or music. To add more distress, there are
always guys selling anything from tissues and candy to bibles and books,
walking up and down the aisle shouting throughout the night. Compared to buses
and cars, the train is still the most comfortable means of travel here. And
thankfully I live in the Adamawa so I take the train more often than buses.
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| Train in Ngaoundere |
Motorcycle taxis are everywhere here. I pay 200 CFA (less
than 50 cents) to get from my village to the city. During dry season, the roads
are dusty but not too bad to drive on. Rainy season however can create rivers
in the middle of the dirt roads and many times have we tumbled because the
motorcycle wheels slip on the mud. But the most interesting fact about these
moto-taxis is that you can fit everything on them. This includes mattresses
(that is how I transported my mattress to my house in the darkness of night;
tightly holding the folded bed between me and the driver, my abs having a great
workout as I tried not to fall off the back), large piles of sticks, a goat or
two, large pieces of plywood or metal balanced precariously but stretching a
few feet into the air, chairs (my postmate sat on his chairs which were on the
moto-taxi to transport them to his house), and of course there can be up to 5
people crammed on the motorcycle, maybe more sometimes. It is always funny to
see a little kid sitting in front of the driver, his hands resting on the
handles. Reminds me of riding in front of my dad on a draft horse, but I think
I was the safer kid.
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| Motorcycle in Cameroon |
The same “we can fit that” attitude is with the taxis and
buses. It is not unusual to see beds and luggage sticking out of a car trunk with
the door strapped a quarter of the way down by large pieces of black rubber. I
saw a guy sitting on a bunch of mattresses that were strapped to the top of a
car as it went down the road; part of me wanted to try it. And if they can fit
luggage, they can fit people. The record for me is when my postmate and I got
into a two-door taxi with 4 of us in the front and 5 people in the back with
two children. It was a long, cramped ride. Buses are the same. You are lucky if
you can take a Touristique bus which resembles the large tourist buses but a
lot older and beat up. In those, you have your own seat, even if you are a
little squished. Otherwise you might be stuffed into a large van like vehicle
that reminds me of how my basketball team and I traveled to games except we
didn’t have to fit 5 people in a seat for 4. And if its dry season, no one
wants to open windows because of all the dust. Sometimes we see these buses go
by and swear we see them tip to one side as they turn a corner because there is
so much stuff packed on top. You can even see a few goats tied to the top of a
bus usually. And why does Cameroon have this outrageously dangerous and
uncomfortable way of travel? Because the only way to keep prices cheap and
still make money is to have as many paying passengers as possible. For me, I
will stick with the train and moto-taxis as much as possible.
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| Typical "van" bus |
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| Packed taxi (roads are not always this nice in Cameroon) |
So while the wild animals are not seen as
much in my area, there is still the ability to live the wild life through
Cameroon transportation…if you can handle it.
Read
about some other wildlife experiences in my next blog post.
I’m sure some of you have read on my Facebook
page that my cat, Annie died a few weeks ago. Instead of writing the sad story
here, I have made a special page for her on this blog. So if you feel like
shedding some tears and feeling your heart melt a little, just read “Annie” page.
On a happier note, we gave the money that
you all kindly donated to Sister Carine for the orphans. They were all so happy
and excited to receive the funds and we will keep you updated on how it goes
getting them better mattresses and such.
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| Sister Carine and Doctor Max with the orphans |
Life and work in Cameroon have been passing by
with every bit of dust that gets into my eye when I forget to put down my
helmet visor on the moto-taxi. We are looking for participants for the 2016 Soy
Project and handing out flyers everywhere in the area. Those participants will
be chosen hopefully by the end of February. Thanks to everyone at home for
words of comfort and support after Annie passed away. I even got some birthday
packages to brighten my day. I watched the movie Gremlins the other night and
around midnight I woke up depressed and with a migraine. After trying to get
back to sleep, I heard a rustle and thump in my living room. All I could think
was that there were gremlins in my house. Then my neighbor’s cat, Crosby jumped
into my bed, scaring the crap out of me. I hadn’t closed the cat door in my
window. But somehow Crosby has figured out when I most lonely and in need of a
friend. It is amazing that even in a country where people treat animals with
such disdain, a cat can be there when she is most needed. And the next morning,
I let the children come color in my house because the next best therapy for
sadness other than cat snuggles, is hearing children laugh.
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