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!

Back to Freshman Year and Cacao Trees

Hey everyone.  As I am writing this I have three young children hanging on to me, watching what I am doing. I have completed my first week of training. I like it so far and the Peace Corps certainly seems to know what we need in terms of practical and language training as well as other topics like medical and safety training.

Saturday, my home stay father and I visited the bush farm where he grows cacao in the jungle on a hill.  We were armed with machetes for the weeds and snakes.  It was interesting seeing his farm meshed into the jungle and up against the hillside, rows of cacao trees.  Soon he will sell them to distributors (from there they will end up in producing chocolate).  We reached the top of a nearby hill where the Orange cell phone antenna is and returned down to the village past the Presbyterian seminary.

On Tuesday, we visited the Mengong health center to see a nurse led meeting on mother and infant health.  It was pretty well organized and the health center definitely appeared to be a good model of a properly run health center in Cameroon.  I found it very significant that prices for the treatments and medications were posted.  This is not always common and it prevents corruption and allows the patients to know they are paying proper prices.  This instils trust from the community towards the health center and even the government.

I like training but can see why volunteers struggle the most during it. Along with intense training, we have a language barrier, culture shock, life in a home stay family, adapting to a new lifestyle (like using a latrine and bucket showers) and common sickness.  Also, all of this happens at once.  However I think everyone in our group is handling it very well and this adaptation process is essential for our two year post.

Right now training reminds me of freshman year of college: it's a whole new environment, there is a heavy class schedule, I have roommates I struggle to relate to (ie. my home stay family) and if one person in the dorm/training stage gets sick....everyone gets sick.

I'm really liking Cameroon and although I know there will be hardships ahead, I'm optimistic.

Au revoir!

Photos on Facebook!

My first week in Cameroon

Hey everyone I'm here in Cameroon at last serving in the US Peace Corps' health program.  I am living in a small village in Cameroon's South Region (yes that's the name of the region) called Mengong with a host family of 16 family members.  It is part of Peace Corps to have a local home stay while we are in training.  My homestay father is Monsieur Bruno and he is a bush farmer.  Six of the family members are his children and three of them constantly visit me with joyful smiles and "Alex"!   At first they laughed at me a lot because of the communication divide and other reasons I'm sure but it is better than an awkward silence.   I learned just to laugh as well.  The food here is very good.  I was worried about missing American food although I have been thoroughly impressed with the local cuisine. At my home stay house, it is generally rice with chicken or fish in one delicious sauce or another.  Breakfast is omelets with onions, tomatoes and spices with bread.  Last night I attempted to have fish head although I admit I did not eat all of the crispy pieces of the head. I tried.  Briefly.  I was also taught by them to hand wash my clothes in the Cameroonian fashion.  A few men who were neighbors and extended family asked me why I was learning to wash clothes.  I had to explain in French I would not have a wife at my Peace Corps post when I finished my training.  They also provide warm water for my hand bucket showers.  On Sunday I plan to attend church with them and at some point see the Nigerian films Monsieur Bruno likes (the Nigerian film industry, which is famous in Africa is referred to as Nollywood). Overall my home stay family is kind and very hardworking.

I have started training in the last few days.  I started intermediate French and stared my health education training.  I'm beginning to get more details on the work the Peace Corps wants us to do and the challenges we will face.  We also had a lecture on Ebola from the representative of the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in Cameroon.  They are very confident Ebola will not reach Cameroon and if it does it will be stopped quickly like it was in Senegal.  In the lecture we also learned all the basics of it: origin, spread, symptoms etc.  The first day of training we also received a warm welcome by the local officials (the mayor, head of the gendarme and the presidential representative). Tomorrow we will be talking about safety and security.

I really think it is wonderful we have been able to meet important officials (like the above mentioned) who regularly discuss the large scale issues, as well as the US ambassador to Cameroon (who was very nice), and at the same time live with the locals to understand their needs and lifestyles.

Right now I am serving with what seems to be a great group of volunteers in both the Health program and the Agriculture program.

I will try to post pictures when I can and illustrate my post with more stories.

Au revoir!


By the way this post was meant for last week.  An update of this week soon!