Hi all,
Sorry this has taken such a ridiculous amount of time to
start and post. I want to say so many things that every time I sit down to
write I get too overwhelmed and end up with nothing to share. I am under the
impression that the last time I sent an email it did not actually attach the
document that I wrote about life in, so really no one knows much of anything.
Since I’m going to assume that’s the overwhelming majority, I will just start
from the beginning and hope to cover everything without people losing too much
interest.
So the best place to start is probably way back when in
Philadelphia (which seems like 2 years ago already). So in Philadelphia we had
“staging” which is basically just a one day introduction to Peace Corps and the
group you are going to your country with, which is called your stage (en Fracas).
In my stage we started with 55 people in Philadelphia. We spent the day in
staging then got our “last meal” in the US and had the evening to ourselves.
The next day we got on buses and went to JFK Airport in New York City and flew
from there to Brussels and on to Cameroon. For those of you who have been lucky
enough to fly anywhere with me you know what a fun few days this was for me.
Honestly though, the flights were that bad and I made a few new friends
quickly. Actually today I was just talking to Michael (who I sat next to on the
first flight) about what a basket case I was. The good news is he is amazing
and one of my good friends who I am posted by (but now I’m getting ahead of
myself).
Anyway, we arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon after 48 hours of
travel and we carted off to a hotel in the city. We spent 5 days in Yaounde
doing more general information things such as getting money, going to the
police station to get our temporary IDs/visas, and filling out an outrageous
amount of paperwork. This all seems so long ago to me and so unimportant
comparatively now so I’m just going to move on.
After 5 days in Yaoundé we all packed up our stuff, left our
running water and Wi-Fi at the hotel and drove 2 hours north to the city of
Bafia to live with our home stay families. Bafia is a medium sized village (I’m
guessing medium sized, but really I have no idea comparatively). Ok I have to
back up really quick… so in our stage there are 55 people that are going to
work in 3 different sectors: health (that’s me!), environment, and youth development.
In Cameroon there are 5 sectors that work here (business development and
education are the other 2). So in our stage because we have so many people
there were not enough families in Bafia for the home stays. The health group is
the largest with 21 people so we actually live in a smaller village called
Bokito with about 10,000 people that is 20 km west of Bafia. Ok so back to the
story, we drove up to Bafia, and then santé (health en François) went on to
Bokito. So we got to Bokito and a family member picked us up from the training
center and brought us to our new homes.
Most of these random terms (and I’ll probably throw in
acronyms now and again because Peace Corps LOVES acronyms) will be explained in
time, so just keep reading. So yes, my biggest fear was confirmed immediately
upon my arrival in Bokito when my home stay family spoke absolutely no English
and I of course spoke no French aside from “Hello, my name is Lacie,” mais
maintenant pas de problem! Yup the first night we just all sat around staring
at one another… good times! Alright, so now I have finally figured out who is
who in the family (it took we 3 days to learn names and 5 weeks to learn the
relationships). So I live with the Moise family here in Bokito. Papa Anamana is
a retired teacher who spends most of his time living/working in a smaller
village at his other house where they have a cacao plantation. Mama Sylvie is a
housewife and stays home with the 7 kids that live here (yes, you all can
imagine what I was thinking when I got the sheet of paper saying I was going to
live in a house with 7 kids), but now I love them all dearly (I mean who else
is going to kill the mice, cockroaches, and spiders for me?... but again I’m
getting ahead of myself). So the kids are wonderful. In the house there are
Mama Sylvie’s 3 kids: Sonia who is 16, Junior who is 9, and Miguel who is 7.
Then there are Papa Anamana’s 3 grandchildren: Gabrielle who is 14, Elaine who
is 9, and Princess who is 7. My French still isn’t the best, but from what I
understand Papa Anamana is a polygamist and has 3 wives. Mama Sylvie is 2nd
wife and lives here in Bokito. The first wife died, but Papa Anamana had 3
daughters with her, but all are older and at university. One of these 3
daughters is the mother of the 3 girls who live with us. Ok then the 3rd
wife lives in the other village at the plantation from what I understand, but
again I’m really not sure. So anyway, that accounts for 6 kids. The last one is
Papa Anamana’s nephew, Gau-Gau (pronounced JoJo) who is 14 and my protector
because he kills everything for me. So that’s my family here in Bokito. We also
have 4 chickens that I usually want to kill because they start crowing (I’m not
sure if that’s the right term), but they start at about 4:30 every morning (yes
Maggie, it is as bad as Jamaica!). So my house, I’m sure you’re all wondering
what kind of house I’m in these days. So our house is pretty big comparatively.
We have a large salon with a sitting area, a large dining table, a buffet, and
a TV. Then there are 5 bedrooms (I think, but I don’t really go into the back
room/area, so I could be one off in either direction) and a bathroom (which has
running water sometimes). We also have a kitchen/pantry/storage area that is in
a different building next to the house. The houses here are basically all
concrete with tin roofs and false wood ceilings. In my room (which I get to
myself with a lock on it) I have my bed (about queen sized), a small desk, and
my trunk (for my fellow Harry Potter fans, I want you all to know how much I
enjoy having a trunk with my clothes in it, but I want to know how in the world
Harry keeps everything for a year in his and still manages to carry it because
I can hardly move mine). So as I mentioned above, yes we have a TV which indeed
means that we have electricity, most of the time that is. So yes it’s not
exactly “Posh” Corps like some of the people here, but it has been great thus
far.
What next… food? Since all I think about is eating, I’ll
talk about that next. Mama Sylvie is an amazing cook and I love everything she
makes for me. For dinners there normally some sort of sauce with a compliment.
The compliments are starch foods such as manioc, macabo, rice, noodles,
couscous de maiz or manioc, and/or plantains. The sauces also vary and include
tomato sauce, peanut sauce, kom-kom sauce, or some sort of legumes. For lunch I
usually have a sandwich or yogurt. I am quickly becoming a Cameroonian because
my favorite lunch sandwich is (brace yourselves) a spaghetti omelet. Yes this
is exactly what it sounds like… an omelet made with spaghetti noodles added on
baguette bread. I know, it sounds crazy right, but it is inexplicably
delicious. I have to say I also love the Cameroonian breakfast of beans and
beignets. The other amazing part of Cameroonian food here in Bokito is the
fresh fruit. Bananas (yes I’m now eating bananas… usually 2-3 a day at least),
pineapple (Alli I need someone to get a picture of me eating pineapple
Cameroonian style, you’ll love it), oranges and mandarins, mango, guava, and
papaya just to name a few. Oh and I almost forgot… fresh avocados!! Yes, the
food here is wonderful.
I wish I could tell you all about how much free time I have
to enjoy the fact that I’m in Africa, but that would be a huge lie. So how do I
pass the 12 hours of daylight… pre-service training (PST- our first Peace Corps
acronym). When you heard me talking about Peace Corps, I probably told you it
was a 27 month commitment, well I lied to you all, ashia (this is a Cameroonian
expression for sorry and can be used both as a nice sorry or a sucks to be you
sorry, it’s an amazing word). Our stage is the first to have only 8 weeks of
training instead of 11 ½ like there were before. Yes that means we have only 8
weeks to learn a new language (if you came in with nothing like me), the
Cameroonian culture, and all our technical skills for the next 2 years.
Needless to say PST is quite a bit of work. As I mentioned briefly above we
have a training center in Bokito (there is also one in Bafia, but we’ll get
there). Most of our sessions are with our individual sectors because we are
doing technical training for what we will do at post. That means usually santé
just stays in Bokito and we do our individual sessions there. However, there
are also some of the sessions that are for the entire stage so we will travel
to Bafia once or twice a week to do things as a whole group. This is nice for
us because there is always electricity in Bafia (they have a generator) and
they have internet there (we don’t have that kind of technology way out in
Bokito). Either way in Bafia or Bokito we have class at one of the two training
centers from 8am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. We
have 4 classes a day that vary, but include language (in small groups of 3-6
people), technical training, cross culture, safety and security, and self
healthcare. The titles pretty much explain themselves. Technical training
really is just that, we are learning the skills we will need to teach people
when we are finally at post. We have really boring days when we just talk about
how to assess community needs to really awesome days where we get to do hands
on activities that we will do at post with our communities such as tofu and
wine making (yes I can now make tofu, soy milk, soy flour, and wine from
scratch). There is also cross culture where we learn about things like what to
expect when you are traveling or family structures in Cameroon… semi-useful
information usually. The other sessions on safety and security and self
healthcare are really just information for us while we are in country about
obviously how to stay safe and healthy. Along with training we have a lot of
homework. We usually have language assignments daily (well I do because I’m in
a lower class), technical assignments where we interview our host families
about their practices along with weekly quizzes, and a community questionnaire
that we need to fill out 50 questions in by the end of training. So yes my 12
hours of daylight are usually fully consumed by PST. Don’t get me wrong, we
have plenty of days were things go completely wrong and we don’t do anything,
like the other day when our trainer didn’t show up so we had our hour and a
half session so do nothing. P.S. family: I found Yuker and Bid players and we
play cards during lunch or after sessions.
Since I kind of touched on language I’ll talk about that
next, because I know it’s another question people had. Cameroon has two
official languages, English and French, along with about 280 various tribal
languages. The country is divided into 10 regions: Extreme North, North,
Adamaoua, East, Central, South, West, Littoral, Northwest, and Southwest. The
Northwest and Southwest regions were former British colonies and are thus the
two regions were they speak English. Then all the other regions are French
speaking. Yaounde is in the Central region, along with Bafia and Bokito. And
unlike many developed countries, people that speak one of the languages usually
don’t speak the other official language (assuming they have learned either
French or English). So what does this mean for me in the country? It means that
there has been a very steep learning curve and I have to know French in 8
weeks. The first weekend in Yaounde we did Language Proficiency Interviews
(LPI) and are scored based on international language standards for people who
work in the foreign services etc. Basically they just care about your oral
skills and nothing about what grammar you know. There are 3 levels (Novice,
Intermediate, and High) that are subdivided into 3 categories each (Low, Mid,
and High). People posted in Francophone regions must test into Intermediate
High and people posted in Anglophone regions must test into Intermediate Mid by
the end of training. I tested into Novice Low the first weekend. After 4 weeks
of language class we did another LPI and I moved up to Intermediate Low. Then
we just had another LPI at the beginning of the week after another 2 weeks of
language and I tested into Intermediate Mid. So I know these are arbitrary
levels that give you almost no indication of what my actual ability is. Well as
I said above I live with a family that speaks no English so my French is at the
level now where I can talk about more than my basic wants and needs. I am
learning how to cook various Cameroonian dishes, I can help the kids do their
homework, ask them about what they like to do, explain to my mother what I do
during the day and where I’m going and with whom, and most importantly express
that the mouse in my room is not my friend and I want you to keep looking for
it until you kill it (yes this was last night’s conversation, don’t worry
though this was the first mouse that I’ve encountered in 7 weeks… not all the
trainees can say that). I can also talk about home and what I did while I was
in the US and what family and friends do there etc. Basically my language is
great when it comes to reading/writing, but my pronunciation sucks (yes
MEEPP/Gernika people, it is like me trying to pronounce species names, but now
I actually have to do it until I get it right). However, we just found out our
posts yesterday and I made my language level!
Yes, this means I am going to an Anglophone region! So we
are now at the end of week 6 of training and everyone found out their posts
yesterday. I am going to a small village called Afab which is about 25 km
outside the village of Manfe (which I can find on the maps of the entire
country) in the Southwest region. I really don’t have a lot of information yet,
but I’ll share what I know thus far… I am opening a new post in the village (no
other volunteers have lived/worked there). The main focus of the community is
HIV/Aids, but there are also needs for nutritional education and
water/sanitation.
Again, I’m going to back up quickly. For Peace Corps
Cameroon there are 4 areas that health care focuses on: HIV/Aids, Maternal and
Neonatal Health, Malaria Prevention, and Water Sanitation Hygiene. Activities
vary from educational sessions with community groups (women’s or men’s groups,
school clubs, etc) to nutritional demonstrations to larger community projects
like building wells and latrines, etc. Peace Corps has also changed the way
they do their first few months of service. The first three months at post are
just a time to assess the community needs and not to start any projects. This
means I will go around the community meeting people and talking to them about
what changes they want to make or see happen and what they want more
information about. This is also a time to get involved with the health center,
schools, churches etc to identify already existing groups in the community.
So back to Afab, I will be doing exactly all of those things
for the first three months so I really still don’t know what kind of projects
and work I will be doing over the next two years. I can tell you a little more
about the village though. There are roughly 1600 people in my village and about
6000 in the area that the health center serves. My house is apparently only
about a 5 minute walk from the health center and I live right next to the chief
of the village. My program manager told me that the chief is really excited to
have a volunteer and looking forward to working with me. Apparently he is very
well educated and speaks French, Pidgin, and English. Oh yes Pidgin… this is
really what language is spoken in the Anglophone areas, which I’m going to
learn. Peace Corps will pay for you to have a language tutor for your first
year at post if you want to learn the local tribal language etc. I am going to
take advantage of this and be learning Pidgin, but this doesn’t mean my French
is useless because I will still need it for traveling around the country etc.
Ok back on track, I wish I could tell you all more about my house, but alas, I
will see it for the first time the day I arrive at post and move in. However, I
do know that I will have cell phone service and running water, but no
electricity. I am only about 20 minutes from Manfe though which is a large city
and will be where I do all my banking and will have a cyber café etc. Again,
because I haven’t been there yet I don’t know much about the climate either,
but my program manager told me that it is hot and humid and very flat. The
western part of the country is more mountainous and difficult to travel
especially during the rainy season, but she told me that my village is in a
flat area and always easily accessible (which cannot be said for everyone in
the stage). I don’t know much more about the wildlife (or more importantly the
critters I will encounter in my house) in the area, but I will keep you all
updated on that front. Oh I also know that I do not have a post mate (so there
are no other volunteers in my village), but I am in a cluster of volunteers so
within probably an hour’s drive there are 3 or 4 volunteers. There is
apparently one education volunteer who is only 10 km away from my village so I
will be within 15 minutes by moto (yes motorcycle taxi) to him (or so I’ve been
told).
Well I keep telling you all I’ll give you more information
when I’m at post, so when is that you ask… let me tell you more about that! PST
will be finished here in another week and a half (already, I can’t believe it
either), then we have a ceremony called swearing-in. This year marks the 50th
anniversary of Peace Corps in Cameroon so our swearing-in is actually going to
be a huge deal to bring awareness to projects throughout Cameroon etc. The
ceremony is usually just a small get together in Bafia with the trainees and a
few of the higher ups in Peace Corps. However, our swearing-in will be in
Yaounde with a lot of high officials from the Cameroonian government and
officials from the American embassy etc. There will also be a lot of different
Non-government organizations (NGOs) and somewhere around 50 Peace Corps
volunteers who have already been working in country. The ceremony is on
November 21st and is the day that my official 2 year countdown
begins. Once I have been sworn in I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer (now I’m
only considered a Peace Corps Trainee). I don’t know much more about the
ceremony, but apparently it’s pretty important. So then the plan is to spend
Thanksgiving together with the stage in Bafia/Bokito and make a traditional (or
as close as it gets) dinner and enjoy it together on Thursday. Then we will all
leave to go to our posts throughout the country. It should only take me the day
to travel to post, so I will most likely get there on Friday November 23rd,
but I don’t really know the details of how this will work yet. That’s still 2
weeks away; I can’t plan that far ahead in this country.
Ok so what else? Is there anything else that I need to tell
you all about… How am I doing here? I know you’re all going to love/hate to
hear this, but I absolutely love it here! I am having an absolutely amazing
time and am so glad that I did this. The people are so friendly and welcoming.
The climate is amazing (for me) and the landscape is absolutely beautiful. We
went on a field trip to the West and Northwest regions last week which is in
the mountains and very beautiful. If you haven’t seen them, there are pictures
on facebook (Al you should work on showing Mom and Dad so they can see some
pictures). It’s a good thing people in this group love taking pictures because
clearly I suck at taking/posting pictures, ashia. But yes, I’m very happy here.
The people are wonderful, I’m going to be sad to leave them to go to post, but
I’m also excited to meet my community and do what I’ll actually be doing for
two years. Like I said before I love my host family also, they are so patient
and helpful. They definitely take good care of me, really it’s the same as the
U.S. Mama Sylvie feeds me when I’m hungry and my host brother kills the
critters in my room (sound familiar Mom and Al?). Oh I haven’t told you all
about being sick here yet. Yes I have been sick with various things, but
nothing too bad. A couple weeks ago I had some sort of intestinal disease,
though I have no idea what. I had a fever of 102 for 24 hours along with some
other lovely symptoms, but they put me on antibiotics and everything was good
after a day. I also somehow managed to get ring worm (which is not actually a
worm, but rather a fungus) on my ankle. It has almost completely healed, I
still haven’t figured out where it came from because I make it a point to avoid
all animals here. Also right now I have a little bit of a head cold, but it’s
nothing to be concerned about. But yes, I plan on having a nice long list of
various illnesses I have encountered at the end of 2 years.
On that note… is there anything else you guys want to know?
I mean I could probably go on for even more pages about stories of botched
French, random days at the training center, and things my host family laughs at
me for, but it’s 6:15 and I need to be to school by 7 because we are going to
Bafia today.
Anyway, I love you all very dearly and hope things are going
well!
