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!