Northwestwards

Hey Everyone I need to divide this post into two parts: My sight visits in the Northwest and my new post in Adamawa!!!!

Journey to the Northwest

I'm back from Fundong in the Northwest region of Cameroon. I had a site visit with five other volunteers (three in health and two in agriculture) and we made the ten hour journey to the regional capital of Bamenda from our training center in Mengong (and Ebolowa for the agriculture for volunteers).  Upon our dusk arrival at the Peace Corps headquarters in Bamenda, we caught a cab that took us on the two hour mountain journey to Fundong. We arrived and met Jon who was the volunteer we would follow around for the next few days.

The Northwest is beautiful with large green mountains and lots of waterfalls.  The Northwest is a big tourist hit for its scenery and I can see why.  On top of that the people are very friendly and they speak Pigin English (English with local words and in a local dialect).

Jon showed us a water catchment that he and his counterpart worked on providing fresh water for the village below, and we met other volunteers who worked with local farmers and an agricultural bank.  On Sunday (and Saturday) I made the wild journey back across the country on an upset stomach.

My home for the next two years!

I am going to Mbakaou, Adamawa for my post!  I know so far that it is a town of 4,200 people on a lake.  I will try to hold off on the details until I get there and post about it then.

The ceremony was pretty fun. Someone made a sorting hat and read off the location as we wore the hat.  We then scooted to various parts of the room to stand and cheer with people going to the same region.

When we came back to Mengong from Ebolowa (where we learned our sites) a bunch of people in the van were singing out loud and suddenly stopped when a police officer poked his head into the van at a checkpoint.  He just laughed and let us on our way.

That's all just more training and less wifi in the next few weeks.  I hope all is well back home!

Church and Site Visit Preparations

Hey everyone.  There is not too much to report on this week.  I still have lots of training and my French is slowly improving.  I'm learning a lot about public health and health problems in Cameroon.  With my family I have been carrying water from the nearest well....which is exhausting! I also went to a Catholic Church service in Mengong.  It was really cool seeing the same service I would see in a Catholic Church in California in West Africa but with some Bulu (and some French spoken) as well as traditional (Christian) songs and outfits in the choir.  Also I have learned to scale and gut a fish and will hopefully learn to prepare a chicken as well with my home family!

Next week I will be going to a volunteer post with three other trainees to see the life and work of a volunteer in Fundong, Cameroon.  Fundong is in the Northwestern province and is well know for it's many tribes with their deep cultural roots.  It is also a Pigin English speaking region.  It is also mountainous which I love!  The week after that I will find out where my own post will be!  Lately we have been interacting more and more with current volunteers who are a wealth of wisdom and stories.  However I think the volunteer post visits will be particularly interesting because I will get a real taste of how I will be living and what I will be doing.

That's all for now!  News on my sight visit next time!

Au revoir!