The Countdown Begins! 7 Months to Go!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

 

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!

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.