South Africa. My first impression upon my arrival was seeing a giant soccer bowl counting down to the world cup’s commencement (which is June 11, 2010). The airport also had a large number of deaf people working at it, all of whom were wearing vests that let other people know they were deaf, and one of them gave me directions to the nearest duty free store with food. At this point I was sure of it – I wasn’t in Africa anymore. The following is my collection of reasons I was sure that I wasn’t in Africa, and the Pretoria couldn’t be on the same continent as Bibemi – sushi, manicured lawns, electric driveway doors, curves weight loss centers, delivery pizza, delivery Chinese, movie theaters, malls with department stores, sidewalks, Subway (the sub chain), McDonalds, KFC, and theme parks. Yes, in the 16 days I was in South Africa I saw all of these things. It was fabulous. I got my haircut and my eyebrows waxed. I further confirmed my opinion that no other country does pedicures as well as the US (Asia does them well, but the US still wins). I ate cheese and apples. I had sparkling apple juice every damn day. It was heaven. Oh, did I mention I also got an emergency root canal and went to the dentist 5 times in 16 days. Yea, that was the downer part.
Some facts I learned about South Africa – particularly the Gauteng province (I think I am spelling that correctly). Gauteng is the richest province in South Africa and it has both Pretoria and Johannesburg in it. Pretoria is the 2nd largest university in the world (after Mexico) thanks in large part to their huge numbers of correspondence students. Soweto (a large, black South African populated, suburb of Jo’burg that was created for Apartheid) has the largest hospital in the world. The discovery of gold completely changed Jo’burg. The Apartheid museum is located near both a casino and a theme park. In Soweto there is a museum about the events of 16 June 1976 and I learned that the white South Africans used the language of Africaans as a form of oppression by changing it to the mandatory language in schools and the students revolted and some died. Crazy. Jo’burg has 2.4 million people. Pretoria has 2 million people. Soweto has 5 million. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu were both from Soweto.
There are numerous malls in South Africa. I went to three of them that were in Pretoria (Menlyn, Brooklyn, and Hatfield). In all of these malls many kids, and a few adults, walk around barefoot. It was very odd. These were rich people dressed in nice, clean, expensive clothes, shopping in a nice mall, BARE FOOT. WTF.
Other cool things I did in South Africa, besides EAT – went on two different one day safaris, ate at an Indian buffet, shopped at a flea market in the malls parking lot on Sunday morning, took a hot shower every day, watched cable tv, bought a World Cup t-shirt, went to see a movie in a movie theater (twice), went to dinner and clubbing in Jo’burg with some locals.
Oh, yea, and I didn’t do all of these things alone – although I did some some of them alone. I met lots of other volunteers who were also med-evaced to South Africa – some from Tanzania, one from Kenya, one from Zambia, one from Uganda, one from Ethopia, and one from Mozambique. Oh, yea, I knew the girl from Mozambique already. It was Gracey Uffman. Gracey was a friend from childhood in Hammond and I hadn’t seen her in 13 some years. But, there I was at breakfast one morning and she walks in. Crazy small world. She had gotten injured during a soccer game (that her team did WIN) and got sent down to Pretoria. So while hanging out with her I got to see the inner workings of a South African hospital (they are run quite nicely and even have restaurants with milkshakes and fresh juices. She had her 23rd birthday during this med-evac trip and we went on a one day safari to Plainesberg National Park (spelling might be off but you get the idea) and saw lots of cool animals – photos to come.
After my root canal, I also got my tooth bleached and my tooth buffed and the root ripped out and all that good stuff that I was sent down there to have done. It was the nicest dentist office I had ever been to – honestly soooo nice. Full of computers and scanner things for teeth and other high tech inventions. My dentist had a picture of him and Bono together at that dentist office – apparently Bono needed some work done at some point in Pretoria. Didn’t want to guys to think it was all fun and games in South Africa – just like 90%
While in South Africa, I heard in some movie the phrase “it is a common belief among anthropologists that you must fully immerse yourself in a foreign culture before you can truly appreciate your own” and I think I have witnessed that a few times. First, being in Cameroon has really made me love and miss certain things about the US. But, at the same time, being in South Africa made me realize that while SA is amazing and beautiful and full of everything you’d want, it made me miss some things about Cameroon and Bibemi. So, I think what all these recent travels have done is simply confuse me – or maybe teach me that you can find things about any culture of place to appreciate. Who knows. Guess I will have to keep traveling to figure things out!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Oh Cameroon...
This morning my guardian (the person the NGO who's house I live in employs to watch my house and the rest of their property) called me at 6:25am telling me he was bringing me my electric bill soon. He showed up around 6:45am and knocked on my door with an electric bill. But, the bill was for 11,000 CFA - which is about $25 now - and that was way more than I thought it should be since we rarely had power that month and I had unplugged my fridge. Upon examination I realized that he had changed the date with a pen in one point - making the date of 20/06/2009 to 20/10/2009 trying to make an old bill appear to be a current bill. I had already paid that bill and that was noted on the bottom of the bill. I simply pointed that out to him and told him that was an old bill and stood there looking at him. He tried to convince me it was the recent one for about 5 minutes and I very nicely just kept saying that it was old, that is was from June and July and that I had already paid it (hence the PAID note and date stamp on the bottom). Finally he agreed with me and said he would go find me my current bill. I said, thanks, I will wait. He shows up about 15 minutes later with my current bill. But, this time he has manually added a 0 to the end of the price changing it from 796 CFA (like a dollar 50) to 7960 CFA (like 15 dollars). I caught it because I added up the individual amounts, also I knew that was too much money for last month as well. So I calmly gave him 1000 CFA and told him that would cover it because I had done the math and it was 796 CFA. Then I thanked him giving the electric company the money. I didn't even get mad, you cannot get mad when people do something you expect them to do. Just need to make sure I check each bill thoroughly. A few months ago he brought me someone else's bill and I caught that too. Oh the best part, as he was leaving with my 1000 CFA and my bill he asked me for a loan (again). I kindly said no and closed my door wishing him a good day as I did so.
OH CAMEROON.
This brings me to one final story. Buying apples in Yaounde can go one of 3 ways. One, you are tired and don't want to discute the price and you just pay what they ask. I have done that, but it is boring and not part of my fun story. During my trip to Yaounde this week I went to buy apples, twice. The first time I was walking down the street and saw a man with an apple cart. I asked him the price and then told him that was the white person's price and apples should cost this and that I wanted to buy these two apples for this much. He laughed and went down in price but not enough. We talked back and forth a few minutes and finally he wanted 50 more CFA (like 10 cents) and I wouldn't pay it and so I grabbed a plastic bag and bagged my own apples and left the money on his cart while we both laughed and I walked away saying thank you and that I would come back next time (this is a common way to leave a conversation in Cameroon - saying thanks, next time). The is the second way you can buy apples in Cameroon. The third way is less fun and brings me to my second attempt to purchase them recently. I saw another man with an apple cart outside of a white person store in downtown Yaounde (that was mistake one, trying outside a white person store). I asked him how much the apples were, went into the store with my friend and her mom, and we came back and I decided I wanted apples and began to bargin. He got angry and started screaming at me that why would I assume the price could change - he told me the price and I should have accepted it and blah blah blah. So I laughed it off telling him, this is Cameroon you discute for all the prices and tried again to bargin with him. He got angry again. Then, I got mad. I told him he was very rude and that I didn't care what his apples cost now I wasn't buying any from him. He yelled back that I was rude to try to bargin with him when I was rich (aka white). I repeated that he was rude and wouldn't get my money today or in the future and left. A year ago that interaction might have upset me but now I simply ran to catch up with my friend and her mom and repeated it while laughing and saying that I guessed it wasn't my day for apples.
OH CAMEROON.
OH CAMEROON.
This brings me to one final story. Buying apples in Yaounde can go one of 3 ways. One, you are tired and don't want to discute the price and you just pay what they ask. I have done that, but it is boring and not part of my fun story. During my trip to Yaounde this week I went to buy apples, twice. The first time I was walking down the street and saw a man with an apple cart. I asked him the price and then told him that was the white person's price and apples should cost this and that I wanted to buy these two apples for this much. He laughed and went down in price but not enough. We talked back and forth a few minutes and finally he wanted 50 more CFA (like 10 cents) and I wouldn't pay it and so I grabbed a plastic bag and bagged my own apples and left the money on his cart while we both laughed and I walked away saying thank you and that I would come back next time (this is a common way to leave a conversation in Cameroon - saying thanks, next time). The is the second way you can buy apples in Cameroon. The third way is less fun and brings me to my second attempt to purchase them recently. I saw another man with an apple cart outside of a white person store in downtown Yaounde (that was mistake one, trying outside a white person store). I asked him how much the apples were, went into the store with my friend and her mom, and we came back and I decided I wanted apples and began to bargin. He got angry and started screaming at me that why would I assume the price could change - he told me the price and I should have accepted it and blah blah blah. So I laughed it off telling him, this is Cameroon you discute for all the prices and tried again to bargin with him. He got angry again. Then, I got mad. I told him he was very rude and that I didn't care what his apples cost now I wasn't buying any from him. He yelled back that I was rude to try to bargin with him when I was rich (aka white). I repeated that he was rude and wouldn't get my money today or in the future and left. A year ago that interaction might have upset me but now I simply ran to catch up with my friend and her mom and repeated it while laughing and saying that I guessed it wasn't my day for apples.
OH CAMEROON.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The rains went away...
So I am aware that I owe ya'll a blog about South Africa but you aren't going to get one just yet. Sorry. First, while it is fresh in my mind, I am going to tell you about the last month here in Northern Cameroon.
I got back from my whole schnanigans in South Africa and ran right back up to post. I took the train up north on the fete for the ending of Ramadan and there was NO ONE on the train. My couchette car was half empty - that is unheard of here. It is always oversold. I made it back to post in record time. I was in a rush to get back because I was helping Phil to put on a day long AIDS training in his village that our mayor paid for and we are hoping to replicate in Bibemi. So, I spent lots of time in Adoumri that week helping sort out the details like the price to pay the women who makes food and how much beef to buy and drawing the pictures for different parts of the training - like portals of entry or a map of the world for when we gave the epidemiological statisitcs. The day before the training (which we were planning to basically co-facilitate with an NGO from Garoua) the man from Garoua called and told us he had to go to Yaounde and wasn't going to make it this weekend but he could come next weekend so we should just change the date. He was the person who was bringing the PVVS (people living with HIV/AIDS)from Garoua as well. This PVVS was the biggest deal. That was an intergal part of our training - having the PVVS talk about living with AIDS and having them meet a person who they had lunch with and have them talk about AIDS and help reduce stigmas and everything was essential. So, we called the most amazing person in the world - Amadou - the Peace Corps staff in Garoua - and he found us a PVVS that day who would come. It was awesome. So, crisis averted. The training went really well. Mike came and was great - asking questions when other people didn't, willing to read things when other people wouldn't, etc. We made a few faux paus like we didn't have drinking water as well as coffee and sodas. Little things. But, all in all soooo successful. The next week we brought the mayor our actual budget (the prices things turned out to be) and we gave him the remaining money (something unheard of in Cameroon). Then, we pitched him the idea of doing a training like it in Bibemi and he seemed very receptive. I spent the next couple days preparing the budget. I used Phil's from Adoumri as a foundation, talked with my counterpart, Mike, etc. My counterpart came over and we talked about which 25 people we would invite from Bibemi, who would present topics, etc. So, Wednesday I brought the budget back to the mayor and ended up getting sucked into a meeting (with Mike) for 7 hours about development in Bibemi. It was brutal. Honestly so bad. It could have been great - but it was just so poorly organized and people just soapboxing there different positions. But, it was good that we showed our faces there.
All in all since I have gotten back I have been really productive. It is 63 days til I go home for Christmas. I am quite excited. The rains have been intense. Rainy season ended with a harsh winds filled two weeks. We lost power about half the time I've been back. My electricty shorted out and caught on fire. Long story. I'm fine. The house is fine. I have electricity again thanks to Abel (a village friend), my counterpart Bouba, Mike, and duck tape. It will eventually get really fixed. I have pictures. It is fairly impressive. I went to the Lycee (the local high school) this past week. They have no electricity because bandits stole the lines. Got to love this village life right? But, I got to see the library. It was depressing. It has about 25 books - max. 12 of which are leather bound books from the 1980s on Africa - with countries like Upper Volta and Zaire. 1 of them is a world geography book with a section on the USSR. The teachers at the Lycee asked Phil and I if we could help them to get more books. So, my sister Courtney happened to call that day and ask me about any project I had in my village that she could take on for a school class project - I got talking about the Lycee and now she is working on getting us books. And that my friends is how shit gets done here!
There were rumors going around here all this past rainy season about sorcery (which is a very popular belief here that I haven't met someone who doesn't believe in it) and a group of people from Nigeria who steal people's sex. So, let me explain. The belief is that these socerist shake your hands and that act alone can take away your penis (I mostly heard about it happening to guys) and leave you completely penis-less OR they can switch your penis and leave you with a very small one. So, there were many many people who claimed they saw evidence of this and a Lycee student in a neighboring village was stoned to death over it (they thought he was one of the sex stealers). It was a bit tramatic and very strange but, that seems to have died down now so that is good.
Alright I am drawning a blank as to what else there is to talk about now. So, signing off for now. Promise a more detailed blog about South Africa soon!
I got back from my whole schnanigans in South Africa and ran right back up to post. I took the train up north on the fete for the ending of Ramadan and there was NO ONE on the train. My couchette car was half empty - that is unheard of here. It is always oversold. I made it back to post in record time. I was in a rush to get back because I was helping Phil to put on a day long AIDS training in his village that our mayor paid for and we are hoping to replicate in Bibemi. So, I spent lots of time in Adoumri that week helping sort out the details like the price to pay the women who makes food and how much beef to buy and drawing the pictures for different parts of the training - like portals of entry or a map of the world for when we gave the epidemiological statisitcs. The day before the training (which we were planning to basically co-facilitate with an NGO from Garoua) the man from Garoua called and told us he had to go to Yaounde and wasn't going to make it this weekend but he could come next weekend so we should just change the date. He was the person who was bringing the PVVS (people living with HIV/AIDS)from Garoua as well. This PVVS was the biggest deal. That was an intergal part of our training - having the PVVS talk about living with AIDS and having them meet a person who they had lunch with and have them talk about AIDS and help reduce stigmas and everything was essential. So, we called the most amazing person in the world - Amadou - the Peace Corps staff in Garoua - and he found us a PVVS that day who would come. It was awesome. So, crisis averted. The training went really well. Mike came and was great - asking questions when other people didn't, willing to read things when other people wouldn't, etc. We made a few faux paus like we didn't have drinking water as well as coffee and sodas. Little things. But, all in all soooo successful. The next week we brought the mayor our actual budget (the prices things turned out to be) and we gave him the remaining money (something unheard of in Cameroon). Then, we pitched him the idea of doing a training like it in Bibemi and he seemed very receptive. I spent the next couple days preparing the budget. I used Phil's from Adoumri as a foundation, talked with my counterpart, Mike, etc. My counterpart came over and we talked about which 25 people we would invite from Bibemi, who would present topics, etc. So, Wednesday I brought the budget back to the mayor and ended up getting sucked into a meeting (with Mike) for 7 hours about development in Bibemi. It was brutal. Honestly so bad. It could have been great - but it was just so poorly organized and people just soapboxing there different positions. But, it was good that we showed our faces there.
All in all since I have gotten back I have been really productive. It is 63 days til I go home for Christmas. I am quite excited. The rains have been intense. Rainy season ended with a harsh winds filled two weeks. We lost power about half the time I've been back. My electricty shorted out and caught on fire. Long story. I'm fine. The house is fine. I have electricity again thanks to Abel (a village friend), my counterpart Bouba, Mike, and duck tape. It will eventually get really fixed. I have pictures. It is fairly impressive. I went to the Lycee (the local high school) this past week. They have no electricity because bandits stole the lines. Got to love this village life right? But, I got to see the library. It was depressing. It has about 25 books - max. 12 of which are leather bound books from the 1980s on Africa - with countries like Upper Volta and Zaire. 1 of them is a world geography book with a section on the USSR. The teachers at the Lycee asked Phil and I if we could help them to get more books. So, my sister Courtney happened to call that day and ask me about any project I had in my village that she could take on for a school class project - I got talking about the Lycee and now she is working on getting us books. And that my friends is how shit gets done here!
There were rumors going around here all this past rainy season about sorcery (which is a very popular belief here that I haven't met someone who doesn't believe in it) and a group of people from Nigeria who steal people's sex. So, let me explain. The belief is that these socerist shake your hands and that act alone can take away your penis (I mostly heard about it happening to guys) and leave you completely penis-less OR they can switch your penis and leave you with a very small one. So, there were many many people who claimed they saw evidence of this and a Lycee student in a neighboring village was stoned to death over it (they thought he was one of the sex stealers). It was a bit tramatic and very strange but, that seems to have died down now so that is good.
Alright I am drawning a blank as to what else there is to talk about now. So, signing off for now. Promise a more detailed blog about South Africa soon!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
South of the Equator in East Africa
Okay so this is a long awaited blog, I know this and I am sorry! Let me first start by writing about the week leading up to my vacation in East Africa....
Mike and I planted 100 moringa trees at our hospital in Bibemi in July. These trees got planted over the course of 2 days but the hole digging and spacing took the whole week prior. Then, after we planted each tree we put some prickly bushes around each tree to protect them from the goats and cows that graze on the hospital grounds (what? you're local hospital isn't also a lifestock grazing ground?). Then, the next day I had my site visit from my APCD (in Peace Corps lingo that means the person who is the head of your specific program, which for me means the associate Peace Corps director for health). Silvie (my APCD) and I talked about my ongoing projects, my upcoming projects, etc, etc. It was nice to have her visit. She was also very impressed with my well behaved kitten. Well done Lulu, way to impress the boss! The tree planting was Monday. The site visit was Tuesday. Wednesday I headed down to Ngaoundere (where I catch the train) but there were no tickets for that night. So, I tried again the next morning and spent the first 4 hours I was awake on my 24th birthday waiting in the world's most chaotic line at the train station and they finally found me a first class ticket reservation. After the train station, I ran back into town and had my birthday lunch - beer with steak and cheese sauce - YUM! Then, packed my stuff up and grabbed an omelet sandwich for my birthday train dinner and headed to the station. Well, I was in first class, kind of. I was in the dinning car. My seat had no cushion on it - well actually that isn't true. The women who was sitting next to me, her seat had no cushion and she had gotten there before me, stolen my seat, and refused to move. I asked her to move and she ignored me. So, I went a got the train attendant and told him the situation and he told me to find another seat and just take someone elses. Lovely advice right? Well, some grande (important person) got on the train at this point - realized that his first class was really the dinning car and refused to sit there. He gave me his seat and demanded they find him another. 16 hours later I was in Yaounde. Ever sat at a picnic table in a moving train for 16 hours (6pm - 10am). I have. Be jealous. But, when I arrived in Yaounde I allowed myself to eat all the beautiful foods that I could find. I had chinese food, strawberry sorbet, black forest ice cream, and eggplant parmesan (that my friends and I made from scratch). I went to happy hour at the Yaounde Hilton (twice!). I attended a 5 hour VAC (think Peace Corps student council) meeting and a 1 hour PSN (peer support network) meeting. I got to wash all the clothes I had with me in a washing machine and then dry them in a dryer! I got to take a hot shower! To top it all off, one of the other volunteers had found seasons 3-7 of West WIng on DVD and I was able to copy it onto my external hard drive (a God send in Peace Corps). My last task before I left for East Africa was that I need to find US dollars. My visa for Tanzania cost $100 and you had to pay at the airport for it in USD (odd I know). Well, I asked around trying to figure out the best way to get USD in Yaounde, Cameroon and I heard that the Hilton had them (who the hell knows why). So, I headed back to the HIlton in search of dollars. I walk inside and one of the doorman asks if he can help me. I said yes that I was looking for USD. He guided me back outside and over to the corner and introduced me to a Nigerian man who had a WAD of cash in all currencies that he was willing to exchange for me. I handed him 100,000 CFA and he handed me 200 USD (a 100 dollar bill, a 50, and 5x 10s). It was quite entertaining to experience this situation. I was glad to have the money for my visa even if I was a bit sketched out by the process :) The next morning I headed to the bus station to go to Douala (where I was flying out of to go on vacation). I didn't leave until midnight but I was worried about arriving at the airport after dark so I was going to get to the airport 8 hours early. Woot. Well, of course, I couldn't get to Tanzania that easily - something had to go wrong. As I was getting off of the bus at the airport in Douala I fell (really complicated 15 seconds of things going wrong that ended with me falling) and I face planted on the pavement with a great deal of force - enough to cut up my face and chip my front left tooth. Lucky me right. The people at the airport were really nice and everyone was asking me what happened and telling me they were sorry about my face. It was a bit embarrassing but lucky after 11 months in Africa I was use to people staring at me and the added stares didn't faze me too much. So, with that accident under my belt I bored the plane to Tanzania.
After landing in Dar and getting in the taxi I fell asleep on the way to Nicky's apartment. The driver had a bit of trouble finding the place but luckily Nicky had told me it was the tall orange building and so I could find it in the sky line. It was odd to see a big city with apartment building and multi story buildings. It looked nothing like Cameroon. Oh, did I mention they drive on the left side of the road and car in Tanzania. Again, somehow I missed that memo. I should have figured that an African country who's currency is the Tanzanian SHILLING still had some of those British colonialist roots in them and they probably drove on the other side of the street but I didn't. Once again I almost sat in the drivers seat. Note to self - more countries than England, Ireland, and Australia drive on the left. I know Thailand does - learned that this past summer - and now I know Tanzania does. I leave for South Africa in a few days, I bet they do there too!
So, I arrived at Nicky's rockstar apartment and shower and then we began the best of Dar self guided tour (that was to be conducted in one afternoon). We got to drink Savanna dry cider (absolutely delicious) and go into lots of neat shops. We went to the traditional wood carving market and I bought a traditional Tanzanian wood carving of people working together (you have to see it) off a guy as he was carving it. It isn't polished or anything and I need to take it to the wood guys in Garoua to have them make the bottom smooth. Oh, did I mention that I couldn't stop speaking French to people. Apparently in my head now all Africans speak French. Well, clearly this is not the case and people in Tanzania speak English or Swahili. But, I wouldn't stop with the French thing. It was an unconscious response to people. I did learn a few words of Swahili while I was touring the city. White people are muzungus. Elephants are tembos. Lions are simbas (way to be creative in your naming of characters Disney). Friends are rafikis (again, Disney!). It's cool is poa. Hello is jambo. Thank you is asante san. Nicky was pretty good at the Swahili thing and with my mad bargaining skills and her skills and Swahili we were a good team. I had a lot of fun running around Dar in one day. OH, and I found Obama pagne. Well, of course it wasn't called pagne cause we weren't in francophone Africa but still, I found it. I bought the 4 the lady had and brought them back to people here in Cameroon. Speaking of pagne, everyone I encountered in East Africa (Nicky, her friends, Emily, her friends) was jealous of the rocking West African pagne (which I sported most every day). So yea, East Africa might be more developed but West Africa has the cool pagne and the tailors to make them into clothes.
My second day in Dar we spent the morning on a great bike tour of the city (we biked 24km in a few hours) and got to try to local cuisine and see parts of the city most tourists don't venture out to. Seeing those parts of the city made me feel much more like I was still in Africa - up until that point I wasn't convinced that somehow I had been transported back to Europe or America. That afternoon we flew on a 15 minute flight to Zanzibar! Oh, have I mentioned yet that Tanzania (and Zanzibar in particular) has a lot of Indian influence? Yea, so we got to eat some delicious foods that night in zanzibar. We spent the first night there on the south side of the island at a place called Dolphin View Village on a part of the island called Kizimkazi. We did this because at 6am that next morning this hotel had us booked to go swim with dolphins in the Indian ocean. So, we got up at the crack of dawn, literally, and got in bathing suits with dresses and sweaters and towels and headed out in a wooden motor boat to go find the dolphins. They knew where the dolphins would be because of the tide of something. About 10 minutes off the shore we saw them! Dolphins just swimming near our boat! Nicky and I were each given flippers, goggles, and a snorkle and told to jump in. It was cold and woke you right up but then again you were swimming around with dolphins in zanzibar so you couldn't think much about the cold. It was amazing. We jumped out and swam with dolphins about 6-7 times and the last time we ended up swimming with a family of about 20 dolphins! So cool. Oh, did I mention that my face was all scratched up though - so that mask and salt water felt interesting. But, after about 4 jumps into the salt water my face stopped pussing and must have gotten all that infection out. It was probably really good for it. It healed very quickly and quite nicely after that!
After swimming with dolphins we got back, showered, ate breakfast and got driven to Stone town. We ate a local lunch there in Stone Town, which was quite good (again, that Indian influence means the food is well spiced!) and headed out to our spice tour! The spice tour was interesting- we literally pulled up to this guys farm and got out and he took us around to all the trees and made us try to guess which spice they were - I got about half of them correct. We got to see vanilla bean pods, cinnamon bark, cumin, pepper, lemon grass, ginger, coriander, and a few others I am sure. We also got to taste them from the tree/ground. That was fun. Then, we bought some spices from this guy and headed out to see the slave caves. That was about a 15 minute trip - we arrived, climbed down the steps into the caves, walked around with flashlights and then I saw about 100 bats and said I was going back out. I don't do bats - they carry too many killer diseases. After these slave caves we headed to Kendwa on the north side of the island - which was our final destination point in Zanzibar. Kendwa is paradise. I got to meet lots of Nicky's friends - Kilimanjaro (the massai man who sold jewelry and danced for us), Tarloch (who owned the hotel we stayed at), Rodger (who worked at Duniani Lodge - where we stayed), etc. It was so amazing, pictures cannot do it justice. Oh, also, apparently Zanzibar is like the Bahamas for the Italians. There was a whole resort next to us that was exclusively for Italians and you could only stay there if you booked this all inclusive vacation from Italy. Very odd. But, Duniani had happy hours in the evenings and we arrive just in time (well planned us) and so we got to drink Konyagi (the local moonshine type drink) and local beers (Tusker, Kilimanjaro, Serengetti, or Savanna dry cider) while watching the sun set in Zanzibar. Nothing to complain about at all. My face healed more and more every day and was healing really fast - everyone was amazed by my healing abilities! Nicky and I staked claim to the 2 beach chairs that were outside Duniani and maintained them for the week. Tourism hasn't ruined Zanzibar so the hotels are small and don't ruin the ambiance or view of the island and so there aren't 1000s of beach chairs covering the beach. These were two woven wooden chairs with a thatched umbrella protecting them. I was careful to keep my face and knee out of the sun so that they wouldn't scar and Nicky, like Courtney, put on sun tanning oil and went out to get tan. I bought lots of local jewelry and other artisan work from Kili that were made to order (apparently I have larger wrists then most Africans). I every night Nicky and I ate sea food that was caught that day in the ocean. I got to listen to my favorite African group P Squared who are popular apparently everywhere in Africa (I think they may be from Uganda). The power in Zanzibar oddly enough went off every night from 7-7:10ish like clockwork (pun intended). Every night as Tarloch would start walking to turn on the generator the power would come back on. It was hilarious. Then, soon enough, it was Nicky's 25th birthday/the full moon/the lunar eclipse. We started the morning by going to a place called the Aquarium which was really just an ocean water lagoon where like 20 sea turtles lived. We got to feed the sea turtles and then get in the lagoon and swim with them - this I have pictures of but the swimming with dolphins I only have pictures of dolphins not me with them. Then, we walked along the beach to a bar where the driver from Duniani was suppose to meet us and we found ranch flavored pringles and twix at this boutique and promptly bought them and ate all the pringles on the spot. While sitting at the bar we found a super brave local girl who came up to us and was sitting on our laps and stuff - it was adorable. We needed some hair of the dog as we had gone to a party down the beach at Kendwa Rocks the night before and drank like college kids! We got back to Duniani and met some of Nicky's friends from that states who were flying in to see Zanzibar and climb Mt Kilimanjaro with Nicky. Tarloch had found a way to make Nicky a birthday cake and we all sang and then headed out to a bondfire party down the beach to celebrate the full moon/lunar eclipse/Nicky's birthday. We danced the night away to odd songs requested by European tourists and then came back to the hotel in time for me to grab two hours of sleep and get up to get in the van and be driven to Stone Town to head to Rwanda. The two girls I ended up in the van taxi with had no more cash so I ended up paying for most of the 3 of us (the had a little bit of money). All the ATMs in Stone Town were down that morning so they couldn't get money. All 3 of us were flying to Arusha (northern Tanzania) where they were going on safari and I was going to Mt. Kilimanjaro airport to fly to Rwanda. They promised to get me the money in Arusha. And, when we landed in Arusha the driver who picked them up had brought me my money!! Then, I had to figure out how to get from Arusha to Mt. Kilimanjaro - there was suppose to be a shuttle, but their wasn't. So, I went and talked to the airline that I had just flown with (Precision Air) and convinced the driver to bring me and my stuff with him from the Arusha airport to downtown Arusha and then from there for him to drive me with the pilot and flight attendants to the Mt Kilimanjaro airport. He agreed and I got an interesting tour of the city. I could have taken a taxi but that would have cost like $50 so this making friends with the airline staff was much more economical :) Needless to say, I did arrive 3 hours before my flight to Rwanda at the airport and sat down to wait. My face was healed almost completely and I was headed to Rwanda. Tanzania, check!
How do you respond when the person you sit next to on the airplane tells you his wife and 4 children were children during the genocide? I don't know but it was a heck of an introduction to Rwanda. He was a really nice guy and we were talking about Rwanda and he just casually mentioned this information. I told him I was sorry and I didn't know what else to say or what the appropriate response was. He accepted that answer. Crazy. Sad. So, after this flight on Rwandair Express I landed in Kigali and immediately felt more of this "this isn't Africa" feelings I had in Tanzania. There was a coffee shop in the airport! Some friends I had made en route stayed and waited with me while I bought a sim card (the company MTN exists in both Rwanda and Cameroon but you need to buy a new sim card in East Africa - of course!) to call Emily with. Emily's post mate is dating a South African who picked me up in his car with Em and Ali. From there Em and I got dropped off at our hotel and then walked to a delicious dinner at a place called Soleil et Luna where I got to try to famous Rwandan beer Primus and eat some delicious pizza. They weren't kidding when they named Rwanda the land of thousand hills - Kigali was full of them and we trekked up the hill back to our hotel. Also, despite the fact that English is now Rwanda's national language, French was very helpful while I was there. It made the fact that I want to speak to everyone in Africa in French kind of useful. Emily kept telling me not to talk to people she knew in French because she had already laided the NO FRENCH policy down in stone. Woops. My bad.
First morning in Kigali we went to this fabulous little place called Bourbon Coffee where I got a latte and a cinnamon roll and ate some crazy amazing food. It was so good we shopped around in the area and ate lunch there as well. The food at Bourbon Coffee was fabulous beyond words and Kigali has this pleasant "external spring" weather that I just loved. I met most all of the Rwandan PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) and they were very welcoming and very curious about what my West African Peace Corps experience was like. Where we went to dinner was even more ridiculous. We went to a new place called Shokola and when we walked in me, Em, and the two other PCVs we were with all stood there with our mouths open. It was NOT Africa. The place didn't serve alcohol and we knew this and had brought our own (shhh, don't tell). So, I ordered a fresh squeezed orange juice with hummus and guacamole has appetizers for our group. The rest of the dinner was equally ridiculous. We had tilapia with mango salsa, moroccan style cous cous with roasted veggies, salad with grilled chicken and something else that I cannot even remember. I know this might not shock all of you in America but it meant the world to all of us here in Africa to eat that for dinner. Then, we spent the rest of the evening being driven around to different hot spots by one of the embassy marines in the armored car that the embassy staff drive (they have drivers). Kigali has quite the posh ex-pat establishment in terms of night life. One of the bars we went into was legit like Perkins Park in Stuttgart and had flavored Absolut. Crazy.
The next morning I got to see the Peace Corps's new office in Kigali. I left my bag of gifts that I had bought in Tanizania at the office (no use lugging those around Rwanda with me!). Then, post office and sans stuff, Em and I went over to this mall called MTN center and went to yet another Bourbon Coffee (there are 3 or 4 in Kigali and I think one is set to open in DC soon) and had more delicious food. I had to try to cheesecake there but it was rather disappointing. Mom, yours is seriously not beatable. The MTN center also had a GERMAN grocery store. It wasn't super German but it was fun to walk around in and they did have Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste - my family will know what that means to me!!
There are tons of white people (aka muzungus) in Rwanda - way more than Cameroon. Also, some of the cars are British (steering wheel on the right side of the car) and some are "normal" with the steering wheel on the left. That took some getting use to and I swear was just that way to keep you on your toes. Also, for a country that has so many white people - they have no international ATMs. All their ATMs are local banks only. So, getting Rwandan Francs was an interesting process. So, I had to take my VISA to a bank called AccessBank in Kigali and they ran a charge on my credit card in Euros and then gave the the corresponding amount in Rwandan Francs once the charge successfully went through. Sound complicated - it was! But, it also worked. AccessBank was convienently located in the other (that's right there are two) mall in Kigali called UTC. There was also a large Kenyan grocery store their called Nakamat where you could check your bags while you shopped. Well, Em and I would check our stuff there and ask if we could leave it while we went places in the city. Sounds risky I know but we couldn't very well lug our suitcases around Kigali with us. But, it turned out just fine.
The second afternoon we also went to the co-op. This is where you can buy all the local handcrafts in Rwanda. They are big into baskets and paper necklaces and carved wood items so I picked up a number of those for myself, friends, and family and had fun with Em speaking Kinyarwandan and me speaking in French. As we left the co-op we bought tickets to go to Em's post the next morning - it is in the south of the country near the DRC border. Post shopping and ticket buying it was time for dinner again (eating is a favorite travel habit of mine, as is shopping) and this time we went Indian. Ice and Spice, an Indian restaurant in Kigali is where we ended up for dinner with a group of other PCVs and I had some fabulous dinner. Stupid East Africa with their Indian influence. Not fair.
A favorite thing to do in Cameroon is oversell buses. If the bus is a 15 passenger van you can guarantee there will be no less than 25 people in it. This was not the case in Rwanda. They only sold the number of seats that the bus had. So, I got to ride the 6 hours to Em's post in my own seat - it was quite nice! Also, people don't try to sell you stuff off their heads out of the windows of the bus. That was nice but I also kind of missed it to be honest. It is nice to have all the food come right up to your bus :) As we were pulling out of Kigali the scenery was great - green hills and little houses and all that good stuff and I told Em how pretty it was and she looked at me and said, "this, this is ugly for Rwanda". Well, she was right that the drive did get prettier and prettier. When we got to the big national park en route to Em's village of Mwezi called Nyungwe National Park we had about 30 baboons along the side of the road when we entered the park. It was great. Em said that she hadn't seen that many. It was great. Then we got off the bus before the ride was over and stood on the side of the road waiting for the mottos from Emily's health center to come pick us up. We then took mottos up the mountain for about 40 minutes to her city of Mwezi. For dinner that night we went to visit the nuns who live next door to Emily and Ali (they are post mates who live in the same house - odd set up for Peace Corps) and we brought two instant muffin mixes that they had received in the mail and wanted to make in the nuns oven. So, we had muffins for dinner and I sat and talked with the nuns in French. One of them was from Chad and spoke some Fulfulde as well. It was great fun getting to talk with them and she complimented my French (which I swear isn't very good). That next morning we went to see Em and Ali's health center. It was beautiful and well stocked and nicer than Bibemi's hospital. It was insane to see. They have a computer at their health center where they track the AIDS statistics for their health region, the had a pharmacy that had Coartem (the malaria treatment Peace Corps gives us). It was very interesting to see. Their health center works with Catholic Relief Services AIDS relief project though and is much more well funded than Bibemi's is. Still, the dfiferences were astounding. Then, we went on a walk through Mwezi to see the sites. The town in beautiful and situated up in the mountains and surrounded by tea fields (I learned that you only pick the top few leaves each time you go tea leaf picking). It was about this time that my tooth started to hurt, a lot. But, I tried to ignore it - nothing I could do from rural Rwanda.
That night we had a pagne fsahion show where they took pics of my pagne made clothes for inspiration for their clothes in the future. I had one of the health center staff by my ticket for the next morning back to Kigali and we settled in for our last night together in Rwanda. The next morning I headed out to catch my bus. The bus had been told that there would be a white girl waiting in this small town about 20 minutes from Cyangugu (the closest big city). I got there and the motto driver waitied with me until the bus arrived. When the bus got there I was told they had saved me my seat - I was sitting up in the front right window seat - the muzungu seat. When I arrived in Kigali I was tired and my tooth was hurting so I went to the hotel and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up to find that my tooth was turning brown. I was less than pleased. I called the PCMO (Peace Corps medical doctor) and he told me not to worry that I had a dentist appointment Monday. I enjoyed a last breakfast at Bourbon Coffee, checked by bag and the Nakumat store and went to the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali. I only had about an hour to spend there but that was enough to get a feel for the museum. The bottom floor told the story of the genocide, complete with personal accounts, clothes, and random bones from Kigali. It was horribly sad. Then, the top floor was dedicated to other genocides that had occured - Cambodia, Bosnia, Armenia, the Holocaust, etc. It was very moving. There are about 250,000 people burred at the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali. I was glad I got to see the museum before I left. From there, I got back to Nakumat and grabbed a cab which I made stop at the office to grab my other bag and then go right to the airport. I got there plenty early (I hate being late to airports) and checked in.
On the flight to Narobi I sat next to a women who worked for International Medical Corps who was talking to me about their work in Uganda - most of the white people in Rwanda are NGO workers or rich people coming to trek the gorillas. It was a nice close to the East Africa experience, a talk with an NGO worker. The trip to East Africa was fabulous, pictures are already up on picasa! I am about to head out to South Africa for a root canal (hence the painful brown tooth I got last day in Rwanda) so I promise stories about that whole situation will come soon!
Mike and I planted 100 moringa trees at our hospital in Bibemi in July. These trees got planted over the course of 2 days but the hole digging and spacing took the whole week prior. Then, after we planted each tree we put some prickly bushes around each tree to protect them from the goats and cows that graze on the hospital grounds (what? you're local hospital isn't also a lifestock grazing ground?). Then, the next day I had my site visit from my APCD (in Peace Corps lingo that means the person who is the head of your specific program, which for me means the associate Peace Corps director for health). Silvie (my APCD) and I talked about my ongoing projects, my upcoming projects, etc, etc. It was nice to have her visit. She was also very impressed with my well behaved kitten. Well done Lulu, way to impress the boss! The tree planting was Monday. The site visit was Tuesday. Wednesday I headed down to Ngaoundere (where I catch the train) but there were no tickets for that night. So, I tried again the next morning and spent the first 4 hours I was awake on my 24th birthday waiting in the world's most chaotic line at the train station and they finally found me a first class ticket reservation. After the train station, I ran back into town and had my birthday lunch - beer with steak and cheese sauce - YUM! Then, packed my stuff up and grabbed an omelet sandwich for my birthday train dinner and headed to the station. Well, I was in first class, kind of. I was in the dinning car. My seat had no cushion on it - well actually that isn't true. The women who was sitting next to me, her seat had no cushion and she had gotten there before me, stolen my seat, and refused to move. I asked her to move and she ignored me. So, I went a got the train attendant and told him the situation and he told me to find another seat and just take someone elses. Lovely advice right? Well, some grande (important person) got on the train at this point - realized that his first class was really the dinning car and refused to sit there. He gave me his seat and demanded they find him another. 16 hours later I was in Yaounde. Ever sat at a picnic table in a moving train for 16 hours (6pm - 10am). I have. Be jealous. But, when I arrived in Yaounde I allowed myself to eat all the beautiful foods that I could find. I had chinese food, strawberry sorbet, black forest ice cream, and eggplant parmesan (that my friends and I made from scratch). I went to happy hour at the Yaounde Hilton (twice!). I attended a 5 hour VAC (think Peace Corps student council) meeting and a 1 hour PSN (peer support network) meeting. I got to wash all the clothes I had with me in a washing machine and then dry them in a dryer! I got to take a hot shower! To top it all off, one of the other volunteers had found seasons 3-7 of West WIng on DVD and I was able to copy it onto my external hard drive (a God send in Peace Corps). My last task before I left for East Africa was that I need to find US dollars. My visa for Tanzania cost $100 and you had to pay at the airport for it in USD (odd I know). Well, I asked around trying to figure out the best way to get USD in Yaounde, Cameroon and I heard that the Hilton had them (who the hell knows why). So, I headed back to the HIlton in search of dollars. I walk inside and one of the doorman asks if he can help me. I said yes that I was looking for USD. He guided me back outside and over to the corner and introduced me to a Nigerian man who had a WAD of cash in all currencies that he was willing to exchange for me. I handed him 100,000 CFA and he handed me 200 USD (a 100 dollar bill, a 50, and 5x 10s). It was quite entertaining to experience this situation. I was glad to have the money for my visa even if I was a bit sketched out by the process :) The next morning I headed to the bus station to go to Douala (where I was flying out of to go on vacation). I didn't leave until midnight but I was worried about arriving at the airport after dark so I was going to get to the airport 8 hours early. Woot. Well, of course, I couldn't get to Tanzania that easily - something had to go wrong. As I was getting off of the bus at the airport in Douala I fell (really complicated 15 seconds of things going wrong that ended with me falling) and I face planted on the pavement with a great deal of force - enough to cut up my face and chip my front left tooth. Lucky me right. The people at the airport were really nice and everyone was asking me what happened and telling me they were sorry about my face. It was a bit embarrassing but lucky after 11 months in Africa I was use to people staring at me and the added stares didn't faze me too much. So, with that accident under my belt I bored the plane to Tanzania.
After landing in Dar and getting in the taxi I fell asleep on the way to Nicky's apartment. The driver had a bit of trouble finding the place but luckily Nicky had told me it was the tall orange building and so I could find it in the sky line. It was odd to see a big city with apartment building and multi story buildings. It looked nothing like Cameroon. Oh, did I mention they drive on the left side of the road and car in Tanzania. Again, somehow I missed that memo. I should have figured that an African country who's currency is the Tanzanian SHILLING still had some of those British colonialist roots in them and they probably drove on the other side of the street but I didn't. Once again I almost sat in the drivers seat. Note to self - more countries than England, Ireland, and Australia drive on the left. I know Thailand does - learned that this past summer - and now I know Tanzania does. I leave for South Africa in a few days, I bet they do there too!
So, I arrived at Nicky's rockstar apartment and shower and then we began the best of Dar self guided tour (that was to be conducted in one afternoon). We got to drink Savanna dry cider (absolutely delicious) and go into lots of neat shops. We went to the traditional wood carving market and I bought a traditional Tanzanian wood carving of people working together (you have to see it) off a guy as he was carving it. It isn't polished or anything and I need to take it to the wood guys in Garoua to have them make the bottom smooth. Oh, did I mention that I couldn't stop speaking French to people. Apparently in my head now all Africans speak French. Well, clearly this is not the case and people in Tanzania speak English or Swahili. But, I wouldn't stop with the French thing. It was an unconscious response to people. I did learn a few words of Swahili while I was touring the city. White people are muzungus. Elephants are tembos. Lions are simbas (way to be creative in your naming of characters Disney). Friends are rafikis (again, Disney!). It's cool is poa. Hello is jambo. Thank you is asante san. Nicky was pretty good at the Swahili thing and with my mad bargaining skills and her skills and Swahili we were a good team. I had a lot of fun running around Dar in one day. OH, and I found Obama pagne. Well, of course it wasn't called pagne cause we weren't in francophone Africa but still, I found it. I bought the 4 the lady had and brought them back to people here in Cameroon. Speaking of pagne, everyone I encountered in East Africa (Nicky, her friends, Emily, her friends) was jealous of the rocking West African pagne (which I sported most every day). So yea, East Africa might be more developed but West Africa has the cool pagne and the tailors to make them into clothes.
My second day in Dar we spent the morning on a great bike tour of the city (we biked 24km in a few hours) and got to try to local cuisine and see parts of the city most tourists don't venture out to. Seeing those parts of the city made me feel much more like I was still in Africa - up until that point I wasn't convinced that somehow I had been transported back to Europe or America. That afternoon we flew on a 15 minute flight to Zanzibar! Oh, have I mentioned yet that Tanzania (and Zanzibar in particular) has a lot of Indian influence? Yea, so we got to eat some delicious foods that night in zanzibar. We spent the first night there on the south side of the island at a place called Dolphin View Village on a part of the island called Kizimkazi. We did this because at 6am that next morning this hotel had us booked to go swim with dolphins in the Indian ocean. So, we got up at the crack of dawn, literally, and got in bathing suits with dresses and sweaters and towels and headed out in a wooden motor boat to go find the dolphins. They knew where the dolphins would be because of the tide of something. About 10 minutes off the shore we saw them! Dolphins just swimming near our boat! Nicky and I were each given flippers, goggles, and a snorkle and told to jump in. It was cold and woke you right up but then again you were swimming around with dolphins in zanzibar so you couldn't think much about the cold. It was amazing. We jumped out and swam with dolphins about 6-7 times and the last time we ended up swimming with a family of about 20 dolphins! So cool. Oh, did I mention that my face was all scratched up though - so that mask and salt water felt interesting. But, after about 4 jumps into the salt water my face stopped pussing and must have gotten all that infection out. It was probably really good for it. It healed very quickly and quite nicely after that!
After swimming with dolphins we got back, showered, ate breakfast and got driven to Stone town. We ate a local lunch there in Stone Town, which was quite good (again, that Indian influence means the food is well spiced!) and headed out to our spice tour! The spice tour was interesting- we literally pulled up to this guys farm and got out and he took us around to all the trees and made us try to guess which spice they were - I got about half of them correct. We got to see vanilla bean pods, cinnamon bark, cumin, pepper, lemon grass, ginger, coriander, and a few others I am sure. We also got to taste them from the tree/ground. That was fun. Then, we bought some spices from this guy and headed out to see the slave caves. That was about a 15 minute trip - we arrived, climbed down the steps into the caves, walked around with flashlights and then I saw about 100 bats and said I was going back out. I don't do bats - they carry too many killer diseases. After these slave caves we headed to Kendwa on the north side of the island - which was our final destination point in Zanzibar. Kendwa is paradise. I got to meet lots of Nicky's friends - Kilimanjaro (the massai man who sold jewelry and danced for us), Tarloch (who owned the hotel we stayed at), Rodger (who worked at Duniani Lodge - where we stayed), etc. It was so amazing, pictures cannot do it justice. Oh, also, apparently Zanzibar is like the Bahamas for the Italians. There was a whole resort next to us that was exclusively for Italians and you could only stay there if you booked this all inclusive vacation from Italy. Very odd. But, Duniani had happy hours in the evenings and we arrive just in time (well planned us) and so we got to drink Konyagi (the local moonshine type drink) and local beers (Tusker, Kilimanjaro, Serengetti, or Savanna dry cider) while watching the sun set in Zanzibar. Nothing to complain about at all. My face healed more and more every day and was healing really fast - everyone was amazed by my healing abilities! Nicky and I staked claim to the 2 beach chairs that were outside Duniani and maintained them for the week. Tourism hasn't ruined Zanzibar so the hotels are small and don't ruin the ambiance or view of the island and so there aren't 1000s of beach chairs covering the beach. These were two woven wooden chairs with a thatched umbrella protecting them. I was careful to keep my face and knee out of the sun so that they wouldn't scar and Nicky, like Courtney, put on sun tanning oil and went out to get tan. I bought lots of local jewelry and other artisan work from Kili that were made to order (apparently I have larger wrists then most Africans). I every night Nicky and I ate sea food that was caught that day in the ocean. I got to listen to my favorite African group P Squared who are popular apparently everywhere in Africa (I think they may be from Uganda). The power in Zanzibar oddly enough went off every night from 7-7:10ish like clockwork (pun intended). Every night as Tarloch would start walking to turn on the generator the power would come back on. It was hilarious. Then, soon enough, it was Nicky's 25th birthday/the full moon/the lunar eclipse. We started the morning by going to a place called the Aquarium which was really just an ocean water lagoon where like 20 sea turtles lived. We got to feed the sea turtles and then get in the lagoon and swim with them - this I have pictures of but the swimming with dolphins I only have pictures of dolphins not me with them. Then, we walked along the beach to a bar where the driver from Duniani was suppose to meet us and we found ranch flavored pringles and twix at this boutique and promptly bought them and ate all the pringles on the spot. While sitting at the bar we found a super brave local girl who came up to us and was sitting on our laps and stuff - it was adorable. We needed some hair of the dog as we had gone to a party down the beach at Kendwa Rocks the night before and drank like college kids! We got back to Duniani and met some of Nicky's friends from that states who were flying in to see Zanzibar and climb Mt Kilimanjaro with Nicky. Tarloch had found a way to make Nicky a birthday cake and we all sang and then headed out to a bondfire party down the beach to celebrate the full moon/lunar eclipse/Nicky's birthday. We danced the night away to odd songs requested by European tourists and then came back to the hotel in time for me to grab two hours of sleep and get up to get in the van and be driven to Stone Town to head to Rwanda. The two girls I ended up in the van taxi with had no more cash so I ended up paying for most of the 3 of us (the had a little bit of money). All the ATMs in Stone Town were down that morning so they couldn't get money. All 3 of us were flying to Arusha (northern Tanzania) where they were going on safari and I was going to Mt. Kilimanjaro airport to fly to Rwanda. They promised to get me the money in Arusha. And, when we landed in Arusha the driver who picked them up had brought me my money!! Then, I had to figure out how to get from Arusha to Mt. Kilimanjaro - there was suppose to be a shuttle, but their wasn't. So, I went and talked to the airline that I had just flown with (Precision Air) and convinced the driver to bring me and my stuff with him from the Arusha airport to downtown Arusha and then from there for him to drive me with the pilot and flight attendants to the Mt Kilimanjaro airport. He agreed and I got an interesting tour of the city. I could have taken a taxi but that would have cost like $50 so this making friends with the airline staff was much more economical :) Needless to say, I did arrive 3 hours before my flight to Rwanda at the airport and sat down to wait. My face was healed almost completely and I was headed to Rwanda. Tanzania, check!
How do you respond when the person you sit next to on the airplane tells you his wife and 4 children were children during the genocide? I don't know but it was a heck of an introduction to Rwanda. He was a really nice guy and we were talking about Rwanda and he just casually mentioned this information. I told him I was sorry and I didn't know what else to say or what the appropriate response was. He accepted that answer. Crazy. Sad. So, after this flight on Rwandair Express I landed in Kigali and immediately felt more of this "this isn't Africa" feelings I had in Tanzania. There was a coffee shop in the airport! Some friends I had made en route stayed and waited with me while I bought a sim card (the company MTN exists in both Rwanda and Cameroon but you need to buy a new sim card in East Africa - of course!) to call Emily with. Emily's post mate is dating a South African who picked me up in his car with Em and Ali. From there Em and I got dropped off at our hotel and then walked to a delicious dinner at a place called Soleil et Luna where I got to try to famous Rwandan beer Primus and eat some delicious pizza. They weren't kidding when they named Rwanda the land of thousand hills - Kigali was full of them and we trekked up the hill back to our hotel. Also, despite the fact that English is now Rwanda's national language, French was very helpful while I was there. It made the fact that I want to speak to everyone in Africa in French kind of useful. Emily kept telling me not to talk to people she knew in French because she had already laided the NO FRENCH policy down in stone. Woops. My bad.
First morning in Kigali we went to this fabulous little place called Bourbon Coffee where I got a latte and a cinnamon roll and ate some crazy amazing food. It was so good we shopped around in the area and ate lunch there as well. The food at Bourbon Coffee was fabulous beyond words and Kigali has this pleasant "external spring" weather that I just loved. I met most all of the Rwandan PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) and they were very welcoming and very curious about what my West African Peace Corps experience was like. Where we went to dinner was even more ridiculous. We went to a new place called Shokola and when we walked in me, Em, and the two other PCVs we were with all stood there with our mouths open. It was NOT Africa. The place didn't serve alcohol and we knew this and had brought our own (shhh, don't tell). So, I ordered a fresh squeezed orange juice with hummus and guacamole has appetizers for our group. The rest of the dinner was equally ridiculous. We had tilapia with mango salsa, moroccan style cous cous with roasted veggies, salad with grilled chicken and something else that I cannot even remember. I know this might not shock all of you in America but it meant the world to all of us here in Africa to eat that for dinner. Then, we spent the rest of the evening being driven around to different hot spots by one of the embassy marines in the armored car that the embassy staff drive (they have drivers). Kigali has quite the posh ex-pat establishment in terms of night life. One of the bars we went into was legit like Perkins Park in Stuttgart and had flavored Absolut. Crazy.
The next morning I got to see the Peace Corps's new office in Kigali. I left my bag of gifts that I had bought in Tanizania at the office (no use lugging those around Rwanda with me!). Then, post office and sans stuff, Em and I went over to this mall called MTN center and went to yet another Bourbon Coffee (there are 3 or 4 in Kigali and I think one is set to open in DC soon) and had more delicious food. I had to try to cheesecake there but it was rather disappointing. Mom, yours is seriously not beatable. The MTN center also had a GERMAN grocery store. It wasn't super German but it was fun to walk around in and they did have Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste - my family will know what that means to me!!
There are tons of white people (aka muzungus) in Rwanda - way more than Cameroon. Also, some of the cars are British (steering wheel on the right side of the car) and some are "normal" with the steering wheel on the left. That took some getting use to and I swear was just that way to keep you on your toes. Also, for a country that has so many white people - they have no international ATMs. All their ATMs are local banks only. So, getting Rwandan Francs was an interesting process. So, I had to take my VISA to a bank called AccessBank in Kigali and they ran a charge on my credit card in Euros and then gave the the corresponding amount in Rwandan Francs once the charge successfully went through. Sound complicated - it was! But, it also worked. AccessBank was convienently located in the other (that's right there are two) mall in Kigali called UTC. There was also a large Kenyan grocery store their called Nakamat where you could check your bags while you shopped. Well, Em and I would check our stuff there and ask if we could leave it while we went places in the city. Sounds risky I know but we couldn't very well lug our suitcases around Kigali with us. But, it turned out just fine.
The second afternoon we also went to the co-op. This is where you can buy all the local handcrafts in Rwanda. They are big into baskets and paper necklaces and carved wood items so I picked up a number of those for myself, friends, and family and had fun with Em speaking Kinyarwandan and me speaking in French. As we left the co-op we bought tickets to go to Em's post the next morning - it is in the south of the country near the DRC border. Post shopping and ticket buying it was time for dinner again (eating is a favorite travel habit of mine, as is shopping) and this time we went Indian. Ice and Spice, an Indian restaurant in Kigali is where we ended up for dinner with a group of other PCVs and I had some fabulous dinner. Stupid East Africa with their Indian influence. Not fair.
A favorite thing to do in Cameroon is oversell buses. If the bus is a 15 passenger van you can guarantee there will be no less than 25 people in it. This was not the case in Rwanda. They only sold the number of seats that the bus had. So, I got to ride the 6 hours to Em's post in my own seat - it was quite nice! Also, people don't try to sell you stuff off their heads out of the windows of the bus. That was nice but I also kind of missed it to be honest. It is nice to have all the food come right up to your bus :) As we were pulling out of Kigali the scenery was great - green hills and little houses and all that good stuff and I told Em how pretty it was and she looked at me and said, "this, this is ugly for Rwanda". Well, she was right that the drive did get prettier and prettier. When we got to the big national park en route to Em's village of Mwezi called Nyungwe National Park we had about 30 baboons along the side of the road when we entered the park. It was great. Em said that she hadn't seen that many. It was great. Then we got off the bus before the ride was over and stood on the side of the road waiting for the mottos from Emily's health center to come pick us up. We then took mottos up the mountain for about 40 minutes to her city of Mwezi. For dinner that night we went to visit the nuns who live next door to Emily and Ali (they are post mates who live in the same house - odd set up for Peace Corps) and we brought two instant muffin mixes that they had received in the mail and wanted to make in the nuns oven. So, we had muffins for dinner and I sat and talked with the nuns in French. One of them was from Chad and spoke some Fulfulde as well. It was great fun getting to talk with them and she complimented my French (which I swear isn't very good). That next morning we went to see Em and Ali's health center. It was beautiful and well stocked and nicer than Bibemi's hospital. It was insane to see. They have a computer at their health center where they track the AIDS statistics for their health region, the had a pharmacy that had Coartem (the malaria treatment Peace Corps gives us). It was very interesting to see. Their health center works with Catholic Relief Services AIDS relief project though and is much more well funded than Bibemi's is. Still, the dfiferences were astounding. Then, we went on a walk through Mwezi to see the sites. The town in beautiful and situated up in the mountains and surrounded by tea fields (I learned that you only pick the top few leaves each time you go tea leaf picking). It was about this time that my tooth started to hurt, a lot. But, I tried to ignore it - nothing I could do from rural Rwanda.
That night we had a pagne fsahion show where they took pics of my pagne made clothes for inspiration for their clothes in the future. I had one of the health center staff by my ticket for the next morning back to Kigali and we settled in for our last night together in Rwanda. The next morning I headed out to catch my bus. The bus had been told that there would be a white girl waiting in this small town about 20 minutes from Cyangugu (the closest big city). I got there and the motto driver waitied with me until the bus arrived. When the bus got there I was told they had saved me my seat - I was sitting up in the front right window seat - the muzungu seat. When I arrived in Kigali I was tired and my tooth was hurting so I went to the hotel and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up to find that my tooth was turning brown. I was less than pleased. I called the PCMO (Peace Corps medical doctor) and he told me not to worry that I had a dentist appointment Monday. I enjoyed a last breakfast at Bourbon Coffee, checked by bag and the Nakumat store and went to the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali. I only had about an hour to spend there but that was enough to get a feel for the museum. The bottom floor told the story of the genocide, complete with personal accounts, clothes, and random bones from Kigali. It was horribly sad. Then, the top floor was dedicated to other genocides that had occured - Cambodia, Bosnia, Armenia, the Holocaust, etc. It was very moving. There are about 250,000 people burred at the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali. I was glad I got to see the museum before I left. From there, I got back to Nakumat and grabbed a cab which I made stop at the office to grab my other bag and then go right to the airport. I got there plenty early (I hate being late to airports) and checked in.
On the flight to Narobi I sat next to a women who worked for International Medical Corps who was talking to me about their work in Uganda - most of the white people in Rwanda are NGO workers or rich people coming to trek the gorillas. It was a nice close to the East Africa experience, a talk with an NGO worker. The trip to East Africa was fabulous, pictures are already up on picasa! I am about to head out to South Africa for a root canal (hence the painful brown tooth I got last day in Rwanda) so I promise stories about that whole situation will come soon!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Link to pictures!!!!
I've been busy here in Yaounde trying to get recent pictures online - feel free to look and enjoy - they took me long enough to post that you had better!
http://picasaweb.google.com/aubreyinafrica
http://picasaweb.google.com/aubreyinafrica
Friday, July 10, 2009
Month 10 commences!
Okay so I know that is has been like a month since my last blog, and I am sorry. I have been rather busy. Rainy season is in full force. Power outages, humidity, a greenness. Everything looks so incredibly different than it did during dry season – it’s hard to believe it is the same place in some respects. So, I have been in Cameroon 10 months now. Damn that is a long time to be someplace without ever leaving. I haven’t been on an airplane in 10 months – that is crazy. I am normally a fairly frequent flyer. But, exciting news, in 21 days from now I will on an airplane headed to Tanzania! That’s correct. I am going to see Nicky in Tanzania and we are going to party in Dar and then go over to Zanzibar! My last night in Zanzibar will be Nicky’s quarter century birthday which happens to be the next full moon – so yes, my last night there will be a full moon party on the beach in Zanzibar. The next morning I fly to Rwanda to play with Emily for 6 days! I am very very excited.
June was very busy with work. I helped another volunteer do a soap animation en brousse – we taught a group of about 10 women to make soap and Mike checked on it last week and it was great! (soap takes like 3 weeks to make). Then, I did some soy animations with another volunteer and taught about 25 women to make soy milk and soy beignets. It was really fun! Mike and I got permission from the head doctor at the hospital to plant 100 moringa trees on their property and I gave the doctor all the information about the health benefits of moringa and will start doing animations as soon as those trees are in the ground and have some leaves. While we were digging those 100 holes (which we did this past week) the doctor from the health center in Lombo (a village about 20km from Bibemi) came by and told us he wanted 30 trees for his health center and the information about the health benefits in French. Mike promised the trees and I promised the information. Next week Mike and I will plant those 100 trees in the ground! My counterpart and I also spoke with the head doctor about the possibility of doing animations about traditional birthing techniques or just maternal health in general. We have to give the doctor back another proposal with exact indicators for the maternal health stuff and the traditional birthing stuff I think may be a no go. Still trying… Speaking of trying, Phil and I are still working on getting out the kinks from out AIDS training we want to do in Adoumri. Projects take a really long time here to get started. You have to get money, permission, etc. And, all of that takes about 3x as long as it should, minimum. But, slow and steady I suppose. We are trying!
The first week of July was a giant vaccination campaign here in Cameroon. I got to help out and watch how this vaccination campaign worked. It was a bit different from the polio eradication campaign because we were vaccinating against measles, polio, and tetanus (for the pregnant women) as well as de-worming kids and giving them vitamin A supplements. For 3 days my team sat in various neighborhoods in Bibemi and set up shop and sat for 7 hours (from 8am-3pm). While we were sitting in Bibemi we set out teams to the 3 villages we go en brousse to. The next 2 days they walked door to door in Bibemi or en brousse and vaccinated the people who had missed the previous 3 days. Turn out was really great and we got a number of kids who hadn’t been previously vaccinated. When they came to the campaign Salamatou (one of the nurses) would ask if they knew about the childhood vaccine days every Tuesday at the health center and whether they went. She would encourage those who didn’t come to do so! It was really neat to see how people mobilized for this campaign.
It’s official, there are no volunteers left in Garoua. They all left in May and June. But, we will get new ones in August (most, but not all, of them are being replaced). I miss my friends and it is crazy to think how fast time is going. I went to a number of going away parties in June and got to go clubbing in Garoua and see just how fun it can be to people watch there. Cameroonians love to watch themselves dance in the mirror at clubs so all the clubs have these floor to ceiling mirrors that people crowd near. It is hilarious. For those of you who brave the trip to Cameroon to see me, I will be sure to let you experience this joyous sighting.
Oh, did I mention that I am writing this blog entry from my house in Bibemi and will post it on the blog while sitting her on my couch. Yea, I got internet in Bibemi. I have had it for two weeks. Camtel (Cameroonian telephone company – properly named CamTel) arrived in Bibemi in May and it took me awhile to figure out how to get internet (having a Mac made things difficult) but with the help of my grandmother and sister I got a program that let me run windows and then bought an antenna that I put outside my house and bought a phone from Camtel and presto – internet! It has been super nice to have and unfortunately I forgot how addicting internet can be – all that information at your fingertips! But, the internet connection isn’t great and clicks off all the time and often for hours or days. But, once again, this is rural Africa. I am lucky that internet works ever. Lots of duck tape, string, black bungee cords and machetes, helped to make this internet possible.
4th of July was great and I got to celebrate with a number of other volunteers. We hung an American flag and tried unsuccessfully to listen to American music but we did all get to talk and hang out and drink beer. One of the volunteers was from Texas and wouldn’t stop talking about Texas independence and how she celebrates that as well. I learned that Texas Independence Day is March 2, 1836 and after hearing that date told to me about 30 times that evening I shall not forget it anytime soon. There was lots of cheering to America! (led mostly by Phil) and lots of talk about how people wish fireworks were possible. But, it was super fun to get to celebrate with friends! Mike, Phil, Kauleen, and I (all north province volunteers) have July birthdays and we are planning a get together for later this month complete with us in matching pagne – get excited for those pictures. I got a great outfit made with sleeves inspired by a shirt Caroline wore her last night out in Garoua.
Alright, I have some cleaning to do before I make dinner. Food is super scare in Bibemi now because it is rainy season so I have been getting creative with food. Eating lots of peanut sauces, started cooking with dried leaves rather than fresh (which are hard to find), created a lemon cream sauce (cause citrons are available). But, we are managing to eat pretty well even when everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING is out of season. Tonight it’s peanut foulere sauce with rice. I also made oatmeal raisin bread – hadn’t made bread in awhile and had raisins and oatmeal from Garoua! It will be delicious :) Happy belated 4th of July to all of you! And Happy birthday to Mike and Phil tomorrow!
June was very busy with work. I helped another volunteer do a soap animation en brousse – we taught a group of about 10 women to make soap and Mike checked on it last week and it was great! (soap takes like 3 weeks to make). Then, I did some soy animations with another volunteer and taught about 25 women to make soy milk and soy beignets. It was really fun! Mike and I got permission from the head doctor at the hospital to plant 100 moringa trees on their property and I gave the doctor all the information about the health benefits of moringa and will start doing animations as soon as those trees are in the ground and have some leaves. While we were digging those 100 holes (which we did this past week) the doctor from the health center in Lombo (a village about 20km from Bibemi) came by and told us he wanted 30 trees for his health center and the information about the health benefits in French. Mike promised the trees and I promised the information. Next week Mike and I will plant those 100 trees in the ground! My counterpart and I also spoke with the head doctor about the possibility of doing animations about traditional birthing techniques or just maternal health in general. We have to give the doctor back another proposal with exact indicators for the maternal health stuff and the traditional birthing stuff I think may be a no go. Still trying… Speaking of trying, Phil and I are still working on getting out the kinks from out AIDS training we want to do in Adoumri. Projects take a really long time here to get started. You have to get money, permission, etc. And, all of that takes about 3x as long as it should, minimum. But, slow and steady I suppose. We are trying!
The first week of July was a giant vaccination campaign here in Cameroon. I got to help out and watch how this vaccination campaign worked. It was a bit different from the polio eradication campaign because we were vaccinating against measles, polio, and tetanus (for the pregnant women) as well as de-worming kids and giving them vitamin A supplements. For 3 days my team sat in various neighborhoods in Bibemi and set up shop and sat for 7 hours (from 8am-3pm). While we were sitting in Bibemi we set out teams to the 3 villages we go en brousse to. The next 2 days they walked door to door in Bibemi or en brousse and vaccinated the people who had missed the previous 3 days. Turn out was really great and we got a number of kids who hadn’t been previously vaccinated. When they came to the campaign Salamatou (one of the nurses) would ask if they knew about the childhood vaccine days every Tuesday at the health center and whether they went. She would encourage those who didn’t come to do so! It was really neat to see how people mobilized for this campaign.
It’s official, there are no volunteers left in Garoua. They all left in May and June. But, we will get new ones in August (most, but not all, of them are being replaced). I miss my friends and it is crazy to think how fast time is going. I went to a number of going away parties in June and got to go clubbing in Garoua and see just how fun it can be to people watch there. Cameroonians love to watch themselves dance in the mirror at clubs so all the clubs have these floor to ceiling mirrors that people crowd near. It is hilarious. For those of you who brave the trip to Cameroon to see me, I will be sure to let you experience this joyous sighting.
Oh, did I mention that I am writing this blog entry from my house in Bibemi and will post it on the blog while sitting her on my couch. Yea, I got internet in Bibemi. I have had it for two weeks. Camtel (Cameroonian telephone company – properly named CamTel) arrived in Bibemi in May and it took me awhile to figure out how to get internet (having a Mac made things difficult) but with the help of my grandmother and sister I got a program that let me run windows and then bought an antenna that I put outside my house and bought a phone from Camtel and presto – internet! It has been super nice to have and unfortunately I forgot how addicting internet can be – all that information at your fingertips! But, the internet connection isn’t great and clicks off all the time and often for hours or days. But, once again, this is rural Africa. I am lucky that internet works ever. Lots of duck tape, string, black bungee cords and machetes, helped to make this internet possible.
4th of July was great and I got to celebrate with a number of other volunteers. We hung an American flag and tried unsuccessfully to listen to American music but we did all get to talk and hang out and drink beer. One of the volunteers was from Texas and wouldn’t stop talking about Texas independence and how she celebrates that as well. I learned that Texas Independence Day is March 2, 1836 and after hearing that date told to me about 30 times that evening I shall not forget it anytime soon. There was lots of cheering to America! (led mostly by Phil) and lots of talk about how people wish fireworks were possible. But, it was super fun to get to celebrate with friends! Mike, Phil, Kauleen, and I (all north province volunteers) have July birthdays and we are planning a get together for later this month complete with us in matching pagne – get excited for those pictures. I got a great outfit made with sleeves inspired by a shirt Caroline wore her last night out in Garoua.
Alright, I have some cleaning to do before I make dinner. Food is super scare in Bibemi now because it is rainy season so I have been getting creative with food. Eating lots of peanut sauces, started cooking with dried leaves rather than fresh (which are hard to find), created a lemon cream sauce (cause citrons are available). But, we are managing to eat pretty well even when everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING is out of season. Tonight it’s peanut foulere sauce with rice. I also made oatmeal raisin bread – hadn’t made bread in awhile and had raisins and oatmeal from Garoua! It will be delicious :) Happy belated 4th of July to all of you! And Happy birthday to Mike and Phil tomorrow!
Friday, June 12, 2009
"If you want the best rice - go to the refugee camp"
Yes, that is a quote that Phil and I have both been told now. Apparently, the refugee camp has bags of rice that the UN has provided for them and it is "American" rice (at least in the minds of Cameroonians here). This rice is suppose to be a much better quality than the rice available at the market here and in the boutiques soooo.... everyone says that if you want really good rice you should head to the refugee camp and buy theirs from them. I found that statement a bit disturbing. I know the refugees try to sell everything - I've been offered many UNHCR fleece blankets at the market and almost bought it once or twice - but still - thoughts??? Oh, speaking of the refugee camp - on the way home from Garoua last time, Mike and I were in our bush taxi from Pitoa to Bibemi. Now, the bush taxi had made us wait about 2 hours in Pitoa before we left and so we were leaving so that we would get back to Bibemi about 30 minutes before sunset. Well, this bush taxi sucked worst than most do and it broke down twice in the first 15 minutes and then finally broke down for good it turns out directly in front of the refugee camp. We had blown two tires. Mike and I saw that this was going to be awhile and he went and bought beingets from a refugee women who was selling them and we ate beingets while talking to some of the refugee men. One of them had been studying English at a language center in Ndjamena (Chad's capital) when they were evacuated. We learned that 4,000 of them had initially settled the camp and about 2000 of the original group were still there and more had come from other places and he thought about 3000 lived there. They didn't know when they'd be going home but he didn't seem optimistic that it would be anytime soon. About this time, the driver(s?) of our bush taxi who had been working on the problem for about 30 minutes they just gave up. Okay, well we don't live at the refugee camp so Mike and I began to formulate a back up plan. We had to turn down two open bed trucks because they were full and PC doesn't let us ride in them. We contemplated calling Phil and making him send a motto from Adoumri or calling someone in Garoua to send a motto from there but just about this time I saw a random guy driving towards Bibemi on his motto alone. We flagged him down and he agreed to take us home for 3000 CFA total (about 6 bucks) and we were thrilled and would have paid just about anything as we watched the sun set quickly behind us. I was glad Mike and I were together cause I would have been much more unhappy doing that whole thing alone! But, we did get home safe and sound!
Anyways, moving along to exciting news - Alyssa, my wonderful and amazing friend who COSed (close of service - because her two years were up) brought a CD of photos back to the states for me and uploaded a bunch of pics on my blog and onto my picasa site! So, enjoy those and thank Alyssa! Second, I have my ticket home! I will land in Germany at 8am on December 19th and get to see my family! Courtney - arrange your ticket so we land together! Joey, you too if possible! Also, 49 days from now I head to East Africa to see Nicky and then Emily! Wooohooo!!!
Okay, time for an update on life here in West/Central Africa. First, let me say something about the "nassara rumor mill" that Cameroonians have perfected. On May 20th (Cameroon's version of July 4th)I had my friend Sarah who lives in the south in Bibemi with Mike and I for a visit. After the official ceremony was over we took Sarah to try her first calabash of bil bil. Then, the three of us took a motto back to my house to start lunch. This was around noon and since we were only going to my house the 3 of us (plus a driver) all shared a motto. I was wearing a skirt that required me to sit side-saddle on the motto and I was right behind the driver, followed by Sarah, followed by Mike. By 2:30pm Phil, who lives in Adoumri which is about 30 minutes away from Bibemi, had heard that Mike and Sarah and I all rode the same motto and knew that I sat side-saddle and which order we had sat in. WOW. I was impressed by the speed of that rumor - and on a fete day to. People in village keep track of everything we do, wear, eat, buy, etc. It is rather strange but if our friends come to visit they came simply ask someone on the street where the white girl/boy is and chances are that person can point them in the right direction. It takes some getting use to, the whole living in an environment like that, but all I can tell you is, you do get use to it.
A while back my mom sent me a cookie sheet because I have an oven and like to make cookies. However, my oven is really small and this American sized cookie sheet was just too big. So, becoming more and more "bien integreite" I simply took that cookie sheet up to the main road and handed it to one of the men working on the mottos and using saws and welding things and asked them to take the two sides off of my cookie sheet. Within 2 minutes I had a new cookie sheet that fit in my oven and they did it for me free of charge - you have to admit - there are times you must love this country!
For those of you who don't already know, recently the European Championship League soccer finals occured. It was between Manchester United (who wins the Championship League often) and FC Barcelona (where Cameroonians Samuel Eto plays). Well, Mike, Phil, and I all got to watch the game at the inspectors house in Bibemi where I swear Sonel got the power back on just for the damn game because it had been out for 2 days and came back within 90 minutes of kickoff. But, they set up a small tv and the whole town it seems like crowded around this television and watched Barcelona WIN! (Oh, I am sorry, excuse me, watched Eto win - there was little talk about Barcelona doing anything). Yes, Eto did score the first goal and the excitment that ensued was on par with the excitment that you feel at fan fest during the world cup. I seriously hope Cameroon qualifies for the world cup because I cannot imagine the insanity that will come with that.
So the roads become shittier during rainy season, that is a fact I know. However, I'm not sure I fully realized how bad they could be until I went en brousse with the health center last Wednesday. So, there are 3 "roads" to Baxa. One, is totally impassible during the rainy season so that one was out of the question. The second is the main road but it takes the longest so people don't want to use it. The third is a shortcut off the main road where you literally go left at the cows down a foot path for about 30 minutes. We got to the short cut and the chef of the health center asked whether the road was passible and the young man with his cows says yes so we took it. HE LIED. But, by the time we realized just how bad it was, we were committed to it and had to keep going. I may have aquired schisto a few times while traversing some river beds that had water in them and we both had to put our feet down multiple times to keep the motto from toppling over into the mud. The chef was pissed! He kept yelling about how "he says the road was open, he didn't know what he was talking about, etc". But, I was very glad we kept going because that day we had more women bring their babies to get vaccinated than we knew what to do with. 42 of them came from this small village. It was great. The health center hadn't gotten to come in May to Baxa so I think there was some spillover but it was great to see the turn out. We were there almost 4 hours! But, we did make a pack to take the main road for the return trip that afternoon - people in town couldn't believe the nassara had come on that short cut this morning. It was pretty funny. While we were waiting for the women to show up - all things in Cameroon involve LOTS of waiting - I talked to the chef about the structure of the health district a bit because I had some things I wanted clarified. Our district has about 30,000 people I think, there is one hospital and 14 satillete health centers - each of which go en brousse to a specific set of villages. Our health center goes to 3 but one of the health centers apparently goes to 8 places. It is crazy but somehow they do make the system, despite its limited resources, work.
So, Mike's old counterpart who moved up to Maroua to work with the NGO who the volunteer Mike replaced works with came back for a visit recently. Mike and I went over to talk with him and say hello and see how things in Maroua were going. When we arrived, Kasmir (the old counterpart) gave me a giant bear hug. It was strange, I had never had a Cameroonian hug me before. But, Kasmir is a funny guy and so I hugged him right back. First Cameroonian bear hug, check!
Last Sunday I had a crazy, bien integre day! I was suppose to go to my mom in villages house at 10 to start helping her make this complicated sauce for a party she was throwing. We had been working on this sauce all week, washing the leaves 3 times and then draining them and putting them in a fridge for 3 days and all that stuff and I was anxious to taste the fruits of my labor so to speak. So, I arrive at 10am, get mocked (lovingly) for being on time (which is a super American move and I know it but I cannot help it, I don't like being late). Of course she wasn't ready to start so first I got to peal the skin off of peanuts that had been soaking overnight in water for about an hour. Then, we took these peanuts across the way to have them ground in a grinder. Then, we brought back the peanut paste and while her daughter strained the leaves I sold beingets and maggi cubes to the little kids who came to buy them. Yes, I started selling the beingets. I was sitting there watching her and her daughter work and people kept coming to buy them and they were busy so I offered to, she asked if I knew the prices, I said yes, and she said go ahead! So, after selling beingets and maggi for about 20 minutes we started making the sauce. That was the easy part. Then, she made couscous while I ground up salt and ginger and piment to put into the sauce. Then, we got to eat and yes, it was delicious. It is called ndoulay or something like that. After this, I hopped on a motto and went to Adoumri to go to a tantine with Phil. Now a tantine is like a village group who collectively save money and then each member gets this money once a year. It was the president of the groups turn this week. So, he had bought bil bil for the group and we all sat around drinking and talking and hanging out. At one point, one of the nurses in Adoumri showed up and as he slowed his motto down to a stop he and the motto very gracefully fell over. After the tantine, we went to an afterparty at the presidents house and they drank more bil bil and I got into a discussion in German with the nurse who had fallen off the motto (he was fine by the way). It was great and I was one of two women at the afterparty so I was glad that I was there to provide moral support to her! Anyway, last Sunday I felt very African. It was nice.
Tomorrow is Caroline's going away party. This involves killing off all her pets and eatting them. The list of things we will bring to get killed today so we can eat tomorrow include one goat and 3 chickens. I promise pictures if possible. For now, I must go eat some lunch and run some errands. I finally get to pick up my bank ATM card here! Wish me luck with the goat roasting tomorrow! Happy Flag Day weekend and enjoy the 7 postings of pictures!
Anyways, moving along to exciting news - Alyssa, my wonderful and amazing friend who COSed (close of service - because her two years were up) brought a CD of photos back to the states for me and uploaded a bunch of pics on my blog and onto my picasa site! So, enjoy those and thank Alyssa! Second, I have my ticket home! I will land in Germany at 8am on December 19th and get to see my family! Courtney - arrange your ticket so we land together! Joey, you too if possible! Also, 49 days from now I head to East Africa to see Nicky and then Emily! Wooohooo!!!
Okay, time for an update on life here in West/Central Africa. First, let me say something about the "nassara rumor mill" that Cameroonians have perfected. On May 20th (Cameroon's version of July 4th)I had my friend Sarah who lives in the south in Bibemi with Mike and I for a visit. After the official ceremony was over we took Sarah to try her first calabash of bil bil. Then, the three of us took a motto back to my house to start lunch. This was around noon and since we were only going to my house the 3 of us (plus a driver) all shared a motto. I was wearing a skirt that required me to sit side-saddle on the motto and I was right behind the driver, followed by Sarah, followed by Mike. By 2:30pm Phil, who lives in Adoumri which is about 30 minutes away from Bibemi, had heard that Mike and Sarah and I all rode the same motto and knew that I sat side-saddle and which order we had sat in. WOW. I was impressed by the speed of that rumor - and on a fete day to. People in village keep track of everything we do, wear, eat, buy, etc. It is rather strange but if our friends come to visit they came simply ask someone on the street where the white girl/boy is and chances are that person can point them in the right direction. It takes some getting use to, the whole living in an environment like that, but all I can tell you is, you do get use to it.
A while back my mom sent me a cookie sheet because I have an oven and like to make cookies. However, my oven is really small and this American sized cookie sheet was just too big. So, becoming more and more "bien integreite" I simply took that cookie sheet up to the main road and handed it to one of the men working on the mottos and using saws and welding things and asked them to take the two sides off of my cookie sheet. Within 2 minutes I had a new cookie sheet that fit in my oven and they did it for me free of charge - you have to admit - there are times you must love this country!
For those of you who don't already know, recently the European Championship League soccer finals occured. It was between Manchester United (who wins the Championship League often) and FC Barcelona (where Cameroonians Samuel Eto plays). Well, Mike, Phil, and I all got to watch the game at the inspectors house in Bibemi where I swear Sonel got the power back on just for the damn game because it had been out for 2 days and came back within 90 minutes of kickoff. But, they set up a small tv and the whole town it seems like crowded around this television and watched Barcelona WIN! (Oh, I am sorry, excuse me, watched Eto win - there was little talk about Barcelona doing anything). Yes, Eto did score the first goal and the excitment that ensued was on par with the excitment that you feel at fan fest during the world cup. I seriously hope Cameroon qualifies for the world cup because I cannot imagine the insanity that will come with that.
So the roads become shittier during rainy season, that is a fact I know. However, I'm not sure I fully realized how bad they could be until I went en brousse with the health center last Wednesday. So, there are 3 "roads" to Baxa. One, is totally impassible during the rainy season so that one was out of the question. The second is the main road but it takes the longest so people don't want to use it. The third is a shortcut off the main road where you literally go left at the cows down a foot path for about 30 minutes. We got to the short cut and the chef of the health center asked whether the road was passible and the young man with his cows says yes so we took it. HE LIED. But, by the time we realized just how bad it was, we were committed to it and had to keep going. I may have aquired schisto a few times while traversing some river beds that had water in them and we both had to put our feet down multiple times to keep the motto from toppling over into the mud. The chef was pissed! He kept yelling about how "he says the road was open, he didn't know what he was talking about, etc". But, I was very glad we kept going because that day we had more women bring their babies to get vaccinated than we knew what to do with. 42 of them came from this small village. It was great. The health center hadn't gotten to come in May to Baxa so I think there was some spillover but it was great to see the turn out. We were there almost 4 hours! But, we did make a pack to take the main road for the return trip that afternoon - people in town couldn't believe the nassara had come on that short cut this morning. It was pretty funny. While we were waiting for the women to show up - all things in Cameroon involve LOTS of waiting - I talked to the chef about the structure of the health district a bit because I had some things I wanted clarified. Our district has about 30,000 people I think, there is one hospital and 14 satillete health centers - each of which go en brousse to a specific set of villages. Our health center goes to 3 but one of the health centers apparently goes to 8 places. It is crazy but somehow they do make the system, despite its limited resources, work.
So, Mike's old counterpart who moved up to Maroua to work with the NGO who the volunteer Mike replaced works with came back for a visit recently. Mike and I went over to talk with him and say hello and see how things in Maroua were going. When we arrived, Kasmir (the old counterpart) gave me a giant bear hug. It was strange, I had never had a Cameroonian hug me before. But, Kasmir is a funny guy and so I hugged him right back. First Cameroonian bear hug, check!
Last Sunday I had a crazy, bien integre day! I was suppose to go to my mom in villages house at 10 to start helping her make this complicated sauce for a party she was throwing. We had been working on this sauce all week, washing the leaves 3 times and then draining them and putting them in a fridge for 3 days and all that stuff and I was anxious to taste the fruits of my labor so to speak. So, I arrive at 10am, get mocked (lovingly) for being on time (which is a super American move and I know it but I cannot help it, I don't like being late). Of course she wasn't ready to start so first I got to peal the skin off of peanuts that had been soaking overnight in water for about an hour. Then, we took these peanuts across the way to have them ground in a grinder. Then, we brought back the peanut paste and while her daughter strained the leaves I sold beingets and maggi cubes to the little kids who came to buy them. Yes, I started selling the beingets. I was sitting there watching her and her daughter work and people kept coming to buy them and they were busy so I offered to, she asked if I knew the prices, I said yes, and she said go ahead! So, after selling beingets and maggi for about 20 minutes we started making the sauce. That was the easy part. Then, she made couscous while I ground up salt and ginger and piment to put into the sauce. Then, we got to eat and yes, it was delicious. It is called ndoulay or something like that. After this, I hopped on a motto and went to Adoumri to go to a tantine with Phil. Now a tantine is like a village group who collectively save money and then each member gets this money once a year. It was the president of the groups turn this week. So, he had bought bil bil for the group and we all sat around drinking and talking and hanging out. At one point, one of the nurses in Adoumri showed up and as he slowed his motto down to a stop he and the motto very gracefully fell over. After the tantine, we went to an afterparty at the presidents house and they drank more bil bil and I got into a discussion in German with the nurse who had fallen off the motto (he was fine by the way). It was great and I was one of two women at the afterparty so I was glad that I was there to provide moral support to her! Anyway, last Sunday I felt very African. It was nice.
Tomorrow is Caroline's going away party. This involves killing off all her pets and eatting them. The list of things we will bring to get killed today so we can eat tomorrow include one goat and 3 chickens. I promise pictures if possible. For now, I must go eat some lunch and run some errands. I finally get to pick up my bank ATM card here! Wish me luck with the goat roasting tomorrow! Happy Flag Day weekend and enjoy the 7 postings of pictures!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Photos Galore!
Adamoua - nice bridge right?
Got to love that Adamoua red dust! Alison has managed to stay clean, but I haven't!
Mango season - along with onions and cashew fruits
Prefect comes to Bibemi and many people sport the Paul Biya pagne for the occasion
learning to dance "Cameroonian" during stage
Got to love that Adamoua red dust! Alison has managed to stay clean, but I haven't!
Mango season - along with onions and cashew fruits
Prefect comes to Bibemi and many people sport the Paul Biya pagne for the occasion
learning to dance "Cameroonian" during stage
Photos Galore - because Alyssa is AWESOME
Me and Alyssa on the coldest day we've had thus far
Women's Day - March 8th, 2009
Women's Day - March 8th, 2009
Youth Day - Feb 11th, 2009 - note that harmatten dust in the air!
Youth Day - Feb 11th, 2009
Women's Day - March 8th, 2009
Women's Day - March 8th, 2009
Youth Day - Feb 11th, 2009 - note that harmatten dust in the air!
Youth Day - Feb 11th, 2009
Photos Galore
Youth Day - Feb 11th, 2009
Phil at my house, being creapy :)
Mike, Alyssa, Amadou, Phil, and I at my house after the opening of the Barack Obama Information Center In Bibemi in April 2009
group at stage
Phil at my house, being creapy :)
Mike, Alyssa, Amadou, Phil, and I at my house after the opening of the Barack Obama Information Center In Bibemi in April 2009
group at stage
Photos Galore
Gridning salt at home with Mike
Yes, that hat was a gift! (and don't be jealous of my women's day shirt and soccer boxers I am sporting it in)
FREE BEER I won on Women's Day that I gave to my mom in village as a cadeau
Flags at Swearing In ceremony - Dec 2008
Yes, that hat was a gift! (and don't be jealous of my women's day shirt and soccer boxers I am sporting it in)
FREE BEER I won on Women's Day that I gave to my mom in village as a cadeau
Flags at Swearing In ceremony - Dec 2008
Photos Galore
Mike and the fish mama in Garoua - yes she is wearing his hat
Katie, Emily, Brianna, and I before a Coton Sport soccer game in Garoua
Phil dancing for his beer
bugs here mean business - but they can be cool looking
Cotton season - they are dancing down the cotton to fit more in the big trucks
Katie, Emily, Brianna, and I before a Coton Sport soccer game in Garoua
Phil dancing for his beer
bugs here mean business - but they can be cool looking
Cotton season - they are dancing down the cotton to fit more in the big trucks
Photos Galore
Christmas party in Garoua - Dec 25th, 2008
my cat killed that bat!
Yes, I found a condom stuffed animal on the street in Maroua, and yes, I bought it...
South of Cameroon
my cat killed that bat!
Yes, I found a condom stuffed animal on the street in Maroua, and yes, I bought it...
South of Cameroon
Photos Galore
Del Monde is protecting their bananas from bugs using those blue bags!
Rhumsiki
Waza
Hanging out with Angie and Mike
Rhumsiki
Waza
Hanging out with Angie and Mike
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Finding internet can be a challenge!!!
Okay so I realize it has been awhile since I wrote a blog entry. First off, let me start with the story of Stephanie’s bonne voyage party. Stephanie had asked me to help make spaghetti for the party so we went and bought meat in the market (a first for me!) and had them grind the beef for us (included in the discutted price) and brought it back to cook with. It was strange making spaghetti from scratch with only African ingredient but we did have fresh garlic, onion, tomato, basil and tomato paste and beef – so it went pretty well. So, needless to say, Cameroonians seemed to enjoy the spaghetti – either that or all the volunteers who were there enjoyed it enough for 2 groups of people – but in any case it was the first dish completely eaten. Well done me.
So I had purchased from Stephanie her dvd player and television and tv stand and after the party I got to face the daunting task of getting it from her house in the center of Garoua to Bibemi. Once again, I was successful but it was a big group effort. We broke the piece up and a couple of people helped me carry all the piece to the cars to Pitoa – then when we got out of the car we hired a cart (pus pus) to take us to the market cars that were going to Pitoa and we payed to take all my extra packages onto the car (I had packed the tv in its box and wrapped it in sheets (which were cadeaued to me by Steph) and then the tv box fit nicely into the stand – we were quite a scene. Then, when we arrived in Bibemi we waited until we found enough mottos to take each piece of the puzzle back to my house individually. Let me just say – they all made it safely to my house and are working just fine thank you very much! (Knock on wood)
Rainy season is back in full force and along with the rains came the humidity (imagine that) and Sonel (aka the electricity) left with its arrival. I mean we have electricity sometimes but at least one or two times a week it goes out for varying lengths of time. Right now we are on day 4 without it in village. But, you do learn to adapt, slowly but surely. But, the rains hear remind me of the rains in Asia a bit. Suddenly, the skies get dark and ominous and the wind starts. Then it starts pouring for about 40minutes to an hour and after that it goes away as quickly as it came leaving in its path the humidity. It truly is something to experience. I mean hell, Toto wrote a song about the “rains down in Africa” so you know it is sometime special – haha.
Since it has started raining all the bugs and insects and creepy crawly things have returned in full force. Along with them of course are mosquitoes. Therefore, I have started doing malaria animations at the health center. I have learned that toofee is the word in Fulfulde for mosquito and pot-bow-jay is how you say malaria. It was interesting trying to figure out how to draw pictures of fever, headache, fatigue, and stomach ache (the tell-tale signs of malaria – or palu as it is known among the volunteers and many Cameroonians). But many of you I am sure would be quite entertained by my drawings – I don’t claim to be any sort of artist but hey, the do get the damn health message across so go ahead and laugh I suppose – I will work on getting pictures of those up on my blog.
Speaking of pictures, I have sent my friend Alyssa home with a CD full of pictures to put on the blog so hopefully she will be able to do that soon so you will all get an updated look at life here in Cameroon. Be patient, things here take lots of time.
Earlier this month (May) I got to help out with the polio eradication campaigns. Twice a year the do these campaigns where every child under 5 who they can get their hands on in village (regardless of this vaccination history) receives a polio vaccine. Polio vaccines are easy to do on a campaign level because they are an oral vaccine that you can carry around for a hour or so in your hand when it is 100 degrees and they don’t go bad. My team the day I joined went to 75 houses and vaccinated 97 children. One in 75 houses turned us down. 4 children had to be held down screaming while I gave them the vaccine. 3 children tried to spit it back at me. We then went to a preschool and vaccinated all the children who the campaign hadn’t vaccinated yet. We knew which kids the campaign had gotten to already because when we vaccinate a child we use a permanent market to color in the left hands pinky finger. Then, on the outside of each house we write in chalk which number house it was, which campaign and year (ie A/2009) and how many children their were and how many were vaccinated. It was really interesting to get to watch how a mass vaccination campaign worked and to get to help out with one. At all the houses they told the children it was white person candy I was giving them but at the school (where the kids spoke some French) we explained that it was a polio vaccine and that polio was what made some people have to live in chairs and not walk and that they didn’t get this vaccine as a kid and that is why it was very important they get this. At the school we had NO trouble and each kid tilted back their head and opened their mouths of the vaccine without hesitation. Perhaps leading up to the next campaign I can do some animations about polio and why the vaccine is so important – we shall see! But, I really enjoyed taking part in that first one.
I HAVE KITTENS. I have two babies that we born I think on the 30st of April or 1st of May but I have declared their birthday to be May 1st (easier to remember their age that way). The cat had them the night of a big storm when I had no electricity but Mike did so I was staying at his house. When I got back home she was gone ( I had to kick her out of my house when I left for Mike’s) but came back about 30 hours later and came in the house looking for attention. She left after about 20 minutes and came back with a kitten in her mouth. She ran into the house with it and put it on the shower floor. She then stayed with the kitten for about 20 hours non stop really and I figured that was it. But, the next night she went outside and was wondering around and next thing I know she is running back into my house with a second kitten! Where the hell it was for the day she was in my house with the first kitten I will never know. She then stayed with these two kittens for another 20 hours. After this she went out again, possibly looking for more kittens and spent about an hour crying outside but has since nursed these two babies (both of whom I am pretty sure are girls) back to health. Then are super precious and have opened their eyes and I am pretty much in love.
Question that I am throwing out their into cyber space – can you win the battle against termite ants? If so – how??? Anyone who can give advice on this I would be greatly indebted to. They are currently winning the battle in my house and I killed about 200 (no, not kidding) of them the night the first kitten arrived but there are still hundreds around.
So I have spread the Cameroonian love of American cookies now. Not only do the children in my neighborhood have a love/appreciation of the cookies but now both my counterpart and Phil’s counterpart have a love of them. I had made some snickerdoodle (a huge hit here in Cameroon) and some oatmeal chocolate chip (a favorite among volunteers) and the counterparts got a chance to try them both. It was great to watch adult Cameroonian men get excited about a cookie. Phil’s counterpart also insisted that they must be eaten with tea which Phil and I found quite amusing. Oh the strange reactions people have to American foods. Speaking of that, the night we gave Phil’s counterpart the cookies I made him dinner (a full meal of pasta and sauce) on a hot plate. There was no gas in Garoua so Phil didn’t have any at his house but we had a hot plate he bought so we cooked on that. Phil’s counterpart doesn’t really like his wife’s cooking and loves when I cook him dinner – did it once and it started a trend where he asks me to stay and do it every time he seems me in Adoumri. Phil also makes him mac and cheese sometimes which is a hug hit. So, I did manage to make a successful pasta dish for him with only one single burned hot plate. Go ahead and be impressed.
Ah, the best news. I got malaria. Yep, I had just been thinking (not saying out loud – I know better than that – but thinking in my head) that I had been really healthy for almost a month and that had been so nice and blah blah blah and within 24 hours of having that thought the malaria symptoms started. Now, I don’t get bit by that many mosquitoes but I did manage to get palu. I am fine, coartem (the malaria treatment Peace Corps gives us here in Cameroon that I had at my house) worked well and treated me. But, it is not pleasant. Mostly, my head just hurt really really badly. I had a fever and all that good stuff and felt fairly nauseous but nothing too bad. But, I did loose electricity for about half the illness so it does suck to be feverish without electricity. But, I am all better from that now. While malaria sucks, bacterial dysentery is worse I think.
Okay yesterday was national day here in Cameroon (basically their forth of July). I had a great milestone achieved when the day before the fete (which is the 20th of May) I got my invitation and it was made out to Madame Aubrey Pirosko, Corps de la Paix. VICTORY LAP! My name was spelled correctly and on the invitation. It felt great. Anyway, for the fete itself my friend Sarah (the other Tulane MI here in country) came up to visit and faired the fete with me and Mike. There was no electricity and therefore no cold drinks but it was great. We went to the parade in the morning and got some great pictures of that. It was fun to see a fete when the outside setting was green and brown and not just brown (amazing how much color changes the looks of a city). It was the shortest of the parades and a great length and we then went home and made mango salsa, refried beans, rice, and tortillas (a mexican feast for Cameroonian national day seemed to fit for some reason). Then, we got to go out on the town and consume warm beer or soda with the rest of the town and hug out and introduced Sarah (who everyone got excited about, especially because the girl I replaced was also a Sarah) to everyone in town. Then, around 8pm we all went to a reception at the sous prefect’s house. It was great because it gave Sarah an opportunity to try northern Cameroonian food! The fete was fun and the sous prefect had a generator that ran lights for his house and music for the fete. When everyone had finished eating a man came on the microphone and announced that dancing would commence. But, before everyone else could dance there was a special dance for all the grands and their wives where they paired up each person with someone else’s spouse (for instance the mayor’s wife danced with the sous prefect and the sous prefect’s wife danced with the head of the gendarmes). I hadn’t seen that before but apparently it is a common tradition at important Cameroonian events – good to keep in mind for the future. I was just glad I wasn’t asked to dance awkwardly for 30 seconds to Celine Dion music with one of the grands for town! But, another successful fete was faired in Bibemi. Well done there!
Okay, time to go the to travel agent and see if I can find a reasonable priced ticket home for Christmas! Wish me luck and hope May is treating everyone well!
So I had purchased from Stephanie her dvd player and television and tv stand and after the party I got to face the daunting task of getting it from her house in the center of Garoua to Bibemi. Once again, I was successful but it was a big group effort. We broke the piece up and a couple of people helped me carry all the piece to the cars to Pitoa – then when we got out of the car we hired a cart (pus pus) to take us to the market cars that were going to Pitoa and we payed to take all my extra packages onto the car (I had packed the tv in its box and wrapped it in sheets (which were cadeaued to me by Steph) and then the tv box fit nicely into the stand – we were quite a scene. Then, when we arrived in Bibemi we waited until we found enough mottos to take each piece of the puzzle back to my house individually. Let me just say – they all made it safely to my house and are working just fine thank you very much! (Knock on wood)
Rainy season is back in full force and along with the rains came the humidity (imagine that) and Sonel (aka the electricity) left with its arrival. I mean we have electricity sometimes but at least one or two times a week it goes out for varying lengths of time. Right now we are on day 4 without it in village. But, you do learn to adapt, slowly but surely. But, the rains hear remind me of the rains in Asia a bit. Suddenly, the skies get dark and ominous and the wind starts. Then it starts pouring for about 40minutes to an hour and after that it goes away as quickly as it came leaving in its path the humidity. It truly is something to experience. I mean hell, Toto wrote a song about the “rains down in Africa” so you know it is sometime special – haha.
Since it has started raining all the bugs and insects and creepy crawly things have returned in full force. Along with them of course are mosquitoes. Therefore, I have started doing malaria animations at the health center. I have learned that toofee is the word in Fulfulde for mosquito and pot-bow-jay is how you say malaria. It was interesting trying to figure out how to draw pictures of fever, headache, fatigue, and stomach ache (the tell-tale signs of malaria – or palu as it is known among the volunteers and many Cameroonians). But many of you I am sure would be quite entertained by my drawings – I don’t claim to be any sort of artist but hey, the do get the damn health message across so go ahead and laugh I suppose – I will work on getting pictures of those up on my blog.
Speaking of pictures, I have sent my friend Alyssa home with a CD full of pictures to put on the blog so hopefully she will be able to do that soon so you will all get an updated look at life here in Cameroon. Be patient, things here take lots of time.
Earlier this month (May) I got to help out with the polio eradication campaigns. Twice a year the do these campaigns where every child under 5 who they can get their hands on in village (regardless of this vaccination history) receives a polio vaccine. Polio vaccines are easy to do on a campaign level because they are an oral vaccine that you can carry around for a hour or so in your hand when it is 100 degrees and they don’t go bad. My team the day I joined went to 75 houses and vaccinated 97 children. One in 75 houses turned us down. 4 children had to be held down screaming while I gave them the vaccine. 3 children tried to spit it back at me. We then went to a preschool and vaccinated all the children who the campaign hadn’t vaccinated yet. We knew which kids the campaign had gotten to already because when we vaccinate a child we use a permanent market to color in the left hands pinky finger. Then, on the outside of each house we write in chalk which number house it was, which campaign and year (ie A/2009) and how many children their were and how many were vaccinated. It was really interesting to get to watch how a mass vaccination campaign worked and to get to help out with one. At all the houses they told the children it was white person candy I was giving them but at the school (where the kids spoke some French) we explained that it was a polio vaccine and that polio was what made some people have to live in chairs and not walk and that they didn’t get this vaccine as a kid and that is why it was very important they get this. At the school we had NO trouble and each kid tilted back their head and opened their mouths of the vaccine without hesitation. Perhaps leading up to the next campaign I can do some animations about polio and why the vaccine is so important – we shall see! But, I really enjoyed taking part in that first one.
I HAVE KITTENS. I have two babies that we born I think on the 30st of April or 1st of May but I have declared their birthday to be May 1st (easier to remember their age that way). The cat had them the night of a big storm when I had no electricity but Mike did so I was staying at his house. When I got back home she was gone ( I had to kick her out of my house when I left for Mike’s) but came back about 30 hours later and came in the house looking for attention. She left after about 20 minutes and came back with a kitten in her mouth. She ran into the house with it and put it on the shower floor. She then stayed with the kitten for about 20 hours non stop really and I figured that was it. But, the next night she went outside and was wondering around and next thing I know she is running back into my house with a second kitten! Where the hell it was for the day she was in my house with the first kitten I will never know. She then stayed with these two kittens for another 20 hours. After this she went out again, possibly looking for more kittens and spent about an hour crying outside but has since nursed these two babies (both of whom I am pretty sure are girls) back to health. Then are super precious and have opened their eyes and I am pretty much in love.
Question that I am throwing out their into cyber space – can you win the battle against termite ants? If so – how??? Anyone who can give advice on this I would be greatly indebted to. They are currently winning the battle in my house and I killed about 200 (no, not kidding) of them the night the first kitten arrived but there are still hundreds around.
So I have spread the Cameroonian love of American cookies now. Not only do the children in my neighborhood have a love/appreciation of the cookies but now both my counterpart and Phil’s counterpart have a love of them. I had made some snickerdoodle (a huge hit here in Cameroon) and some oatmeal chocolate chip (a favorite among volunteers) and the counterparts got a chance to try them both. It was great to watch adult Cameroonian men get excited about a cookie. Phil’s counterpart also insisted that they must be eaten with tea which Phil and I found quite amusing. Oh the strange reactions people have to American foods. Speaking of that, the night we gave Phil’s counterpart the cookies I made him dinner (a full meal of pasta and sauce) on a hot plate. There was no gas in Garoua so Phil didn’t have any at his house but we had a hot plate he bought so we cooked on that. Phil’s counterpart doesn’t really like his wife’s cooking and loves when I cook him dinner – did it once and it started a trend where he asks me to stay and do it every time he seems me in Adoumri. Phil also makes him mac and cheese sometimes which is a hug hit. So, I did manage to make a successful pasta dish for him with only one single burned hot plate. Go ahead and be impressed.
Ah, the best news. I got malaria. Yep, I had just been thinking (not saying out loud – I know better than that – but thinking in my head) that I had been really healthy for almost a month and that had been so nice and blah blah blah and within 24 hours of having that thought the malaria symptoms started. Now, I don’t get bit by that many mosquitoes but I did manage to get palu. I am fine, coartem (the malaria treatment Peace Corps gives us here in Cameroon that I had at my house) worked well and treated me. But, it is not pleasant. Mostly, my head just hurt really really badly. I had a fever and all that good stuff and felt fairly nauseous but nothing too bad. But, I did loose electricity for about half the illness so it does suck to be feverish without electricity. But, I am all better from that now. While malaria sucks, bacterial dysentery is worse I think.
Okay yesterday was national day here in Cameroon (basically their forth of July). I had a great milestone achieved when the day before the fete (which is the 20th of May) I got my invitation and it was made out to Madame Aubrey Pirosko, Corps de la Paix. VICTORY LAP! My name was spelled correctly and on the invitation. It felt great. Anyway, for the fete itself my friend Sarah (the other Tulane MI here in country) came up to visit and faired the fete with me and Mike. There was no electricity and therefore no cold drinks but it was great. We went to the parade in the morning and got some great pictures of that. It was fun to see a fete when the outside setting was green and brown and not just brown (amazing how much color changes the looks of a city). It was the shortest of the parades and a great length and we then went home and made mango salsa, refried beans, rice, and tortillas (a mexican feast for Cameroonian national day seemed to fit for some reason). Then, we got to go out on the town and consume warm beer or soda with the rest of the town and hug out and introduced Sarah (who everyone got excited about, especially because the girl I replaced was also a Sarah) to everyone in town. Then, around 8pm we all went to a reception at the sous prefect’s house. It was great because it gave Sarah an opportunity to try northern Cameroonian food! The fete was fun and the sous prefect had a generator that ran lights for his house and music for the fete. When everyone had finished eating a man came on the microphone and announced that dancing would commence. But, before everyone else could dance there was a special dance for all the grands and their wives where they paired up each person with someone else’s spouse (for instance the mayor’s wife danced with the sous prefect and the sous prefect’s wife danced with the head of the gendarmes). I hadn’t seen that before but apparently it is a common tradition at important Cameroonian events – good to keep in mind for the future. I was just glad I wasn’t asked to dance awkwardly for 30 seconds to Celine Dion music with one of the grands for town! But, another successful fete was faired in Bibemi. Well done there!
Okay, time to go the to travel agent and see if I can find a reasonable priced ticket home for Christmas! Wish me luck and hope May is treating everyone well!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The rains down in Africa have returned!
Okay first things first, IST (in service training that all volunteers go to after 3-4 months at post) is over and the rains have begun. Craziness. After not seeing rain here up North for 6 months it was insane to see it again. The first big rain in Garoua was on Easter, it was awesome. Okay, so Easter in Africa. I went to church – I wanted to see what an African Easter service was about. A group of us volunteers in the Garoua area all went to church at the Anglophone (English speaking) church in Garoua. Oh, did I mention that when I say English I mean Pidgin English (which I speak small small :)) It was truly interesting. We showed up at 8am for church and no one was there (Cameroonians have a very different concept of time then Americans) and we were told by another person heading to the service that they were meeting a couple “blocks” away and walking to church while singing songs and telling people the good news (that the Lord had risen). I couldn’t miss seeing that and so we drove over to this corner they were all meeting at. All in all about 20 people were there and walked to the church together singing. Once church started we sang songs that they taught us as we sang them. They passed out fans to each person in the congregation (did I mention this church was a tiny concrete building lacking fans or AC or real windows and it was 120 degrees?) and so I began fanning myself vigorously. Oh, did I also mention that I had bronchitis (super nasty flemmy cough) and was making some loud noises myself that got me many looks that said “that nassara has TB or something else nasty”. It would have been embarrassing to me in a previous life but I have grown a much thicker skin in my 7 months here. I did get a few of the songs on video so some of you will be lucky enough to see this scene for yourself one day. Oh, the service was also translated into Fulfulde so we had Pidgin and Fulfulde going on at the same time. Throughout the service, the preacher would get the congregation to participate by saying “Hallelu…” and we would follow with “jah”. That was pretty entertaining. Then, once the sermon itself started the fun truly began. We got to clap for Jesus who had conquered death. Some of my favorite quotes that I managed to write down during the sermon were – “the stone had been placed by strong heftic (is that a word?) men and couldn’t be moved by no women” ; “they had a problem, the weak women could not roll that stone” ; “maybe your mother in law is like a big stone before you” ; “if left to man, Jesus Christ would not have risen from dead, the stone was too big” ; and my personal favorite “why aren’t you the happiest of people now?”. It was a fantastic experience and despite the fact that it lasted 2 ½ hours and we left early and I haven’t sweat so much in a long time – it was worth it. Also, I was wearing a very festive Easter moo moo with giant fish on it and a crotch pocket (yes, that’s not a type-o). Pictures will eventually come, if you are lucky! After church we all went to the missionaries house and had a delicious brunch and watch a movie together. We also got rain so that was a special Easter treat!
When I got back to post with bronchitis I learned a few interesting cultural beliefs. First, to treat my cough I needed to eat lots and lots of raw onions. Also, I had my bronchitis because I had gone swimming in a pool when it was very hot outside. I tried to explain that this whole pool theory was not true but they wouldn’t hear any of it. But, I did give in a eat some onions (along with my erythromycin and inhaler) and I did get better soon so who knows – that could have been a good health tip! I find it interesting all of the taboos about illness that people have here. For instance, this week I also learned that they don’t like to drink water when they are sick – they don’t see the point. Also, cold drinks are bad for your health in hot weather – this one I have fought vigorously against because it means I don’t get cold beer in the hot season unless I bring it home and make it cold, but so far, I haven’t won that battle either.
So, last weekend Phil was sick and he came over to Bibemi to be nursed back to health – his words not mine. So, I played nurse and made him soup and we watched movies with my two fans pointed at us. Phil had been sick for about 2 days when he showed up and was better by the next day. He stayed until Saturday because there was a dedication ceremony for the new computer lab at the CETIC (like a technical high school) in Bibemi. The Peace Corps had been involved with getting them these computers so one of the Peace Corps staff and a handful of volunteers showed up for the opening ceremony of the Barack Obama Information Center. Yes, they are truly obsessed. Anyways, by Monday morning I was not feeling well. Phil had been kind enough to give me his bacterial dysentery. I will spare you details about this illness (you can google them if you really want) but it is disgusting and you feel like you got hit by a truck for 2 ½ - 3 days. Lucky me, right? But, this is the afternoon of day 3 and I feel much better. Not 100% or anything but the fever has left and I can move around now.
I got another invitation to an event here in Bibemi that was addressed to me. This time I was not Madame le Blanc but rather I was Madame Obri. Apparently that is the Fulfulde spelling of Aubrey. Hey, it’s shorter, it works! That is improvement though – it is an attempt at my name – that is all I ask for! It’s not nassara, le blanc, or Sarah. Progress is being made. Just wanted to keep you all posted on that!
Okay, I wanted to close this blog with a list I have started (with the help of another volunteer Kauleen who was equally bored during a special IST session). It is a list of all the most ridiculous things we have seen on pagne (the African fabric, but I hope you all know that word by now!). Okay, here goes the list for now – I will update it every so often as need be.
- dresser on round carpet with only bottom 2 drawers in it
- loaves of bread
- king kong and a bus – yes, together!
- Severed hand with spray paint can
- Wrenches
- Modern living room set (chair, lamp, carpet, table, etc)
- Computer with mouse
- Pope
- Jesus
- Virgin Mary
- Paul Biya (Cameroon’s President since the early 80s)
- Bird 3x the size of the accompanying bird house
- Toasters
- Toothpaste and tooth brush
- Electric fans
- Chairs
- Lamps
- Eyes
- Saucer and coffee cup
- Phones of all types (cellular, finger dial, etc)
- Sodecoton with peanut oil bottle
- Coo Coo clock
- Oyster with pearl
- Ladybugs put together in shape of large flower
- Computers with linked hands symbolizing the internet
- Hand with eye in the middle
- Diploma with hat and gown (more ridiculous here than you’d think)
- Different types of houses
- Game controllers (like for an Nintendo)
- Western Kitchen (sink, table, cabinets, etc)
- Alka-Seltzer in a glass
- Luggage at a hotel front desk
- Champagne glasses
- Badminton birdies
- House burning
- Sewing machines
- Spoons and forks
- Combs
- DNA strains
- Binoculars with eyes peeping out
- UFOs
- Rubber duckies
- Ears of corn
- Razor blades
- Bowling pins with bowling balls
- Men wrestling each other
- Personal CD player with CDs
- New Years part scene
- Western Bathroom (tub, shower, toilet, sink, etc)
Now, would you really want to been seen in a dress or shirt made out of any of these? Come on now, some of them are hilarious right – if I ever find some of these for sale and not just on someone – some of you will be getting the world’s best gag gifts!!! Be prepared. More to come…
When I got back to post with bronchitis I learned a few interesting cultural beliefs. First, to treat my cough I needed to eat lots and lots of raw onions. Also, I had my bronchitis because I had gone swimming in a pool when it was very hot outside. I tried to explain that this whole pool theory was not true but they wouldn’t hear any of it. But, I did give in a eat some onions (along with my erythromycin and inhaler) and I did get better soon so who knows – that could have been a good health tip! I find it interesting all of the taboos about illness that people have here. For instance, this week I also learned that they don’t like to drink water when they are sick – they don’t see the point. Also, cold drinks are bad for your health in hot weather – this one I have fought vigorously against because it means I don’t get cold beer in the hot season unless I bring it home and make it cold, but so far, I haven’t won that battle either.
So, last weekend Phil was sick and he came over to Bibemi to be nursed back to health – his words not mine. So, I played nurse and made him soup and we watched movies with my two fans pointed at us. Phil had been sick for about 2 days when he showed up and was better by the next day. He stayed until Saturday because there was a dedication ceremony for the new computer lab at the CETIC (like a technical high school) in Bibemi. The Peace Corps had been involved with getting them these computers so one of the Peace Corps staff and a handful of volunteers showed up for the opening ceremony of the Barack Obama Information Center. Yes, they are truly obsessed. Anyways, by Monday morning I was not feeling well. Phil had been kind enough to give me his bacterial dysentery. I will spare you details about this illness (you can google them if you really want) but it is disgusting and you feel like you got hit by a truck for 2 ½ - 3 days. Lucky me, right? But, this is the afternoon of day 3 and I feel much better. Not 100% or anything but the fever has left and I can move around now.
I got another invitation to an event here in Bibemi that was addressed to me. This time I was not Madame le Blanc but rather I was Madame Obri. Apparently that is the Fulfulde spelling of Aubrey. Hey, it’s shorter, it works! That is improvement though – it is an attempt at my name – that is all I ask for! It’s not nassara, le blanc, or Sarah. Progress is being made. Just wanted to keep you all posted on that!
Okay, I wanted to close this blog with a list I have started (with the help of another volunteer Kauleen who was equally bored during a special IST session). It is a list of all the most ridiculous things we have seen on pagne (the African fabric, but I hope you all know that word by now!). Okay, here goes the list for now – I will update it every so often as need be.
- dresser on round carpet with only bottom 2 drawers in it
- loaves of bread
- king kong and a bus – yes, together!
- Severed hand with spray paint can
- Wrenches
- Modern living room set (chair, lamp, carpet, table, etc)
- Computer with mouse
- Pope
- Jesus
- Virgin Mary
- Paul Biya (Cameroon’s President since the early 80s)
- Bird 3x the size of the accompanying bird house
- Toasters
- Toothpaste and tooth brush
- Electric fans
- Chairs
- Lamps
- Eyes
- Saucer and coffee cup
- Phones of all types (cellular, finger dial, etc)
- Sodecoton with peanut oil bottle
- Coo Coo clock
- Oyster with pearl
- Ladybugs put together in shape of large flower
- Computers with linked hands symbolizing the internet
- Hand with eye in the middle
- Diploma with hat and gown (more ridiculous here than you’d think)
- Different types of houses
- Game controllers (like for an Nintendo)
- Western Kitchen (sink, table, cabinets, etc)
- Alka-Seltzer in a glass
- Luggage at a hotel front desk
- Champagne glasses
- Badminton birdies
- House burning
- Sewing machines
- Spoons and forks
- Combs
- DNA strains
- Binoculars with eyes peeping out
- UFOs
- Rubber duckies
- Ears of corn
- Razor blades
- Bowling pins with bowling balls
- Men wrestling each other
- Personal CD player with CDs
- New Years part scene
- Western Bathroom (tub, shower, toilet, sink, etc)
Now, would you really want to been seen in a dress or shirt made out of any of these? Come on now, some of them are hilarious right – if I ever find some of these for sale and not just on someone – some of you will be getting the world’s best gag gifts!!! Be prepared. More to come…
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