notes from cameroon

I’ve been in Cameroon for over a month.  Everything is going well.  This experience of training with 41 other Americans has been intense.  I have to remind myself that this will be totally different than what my two years of service will be like.  I’m about half way done with training and I will find out my post next week.  Cameroon is a very diverse country so each post is very unique.  I do not have much in terms of preference but there are other people here that are very vocal about theirs needs and preferences that I feel I have to come up with something.  I want to be in a place that is not two hot.  This means the west or the northwest provinces.  (There are ten provinces in Cameroon.)    I also want to be in a Francophone province.  I feel like I have worked really hard on French and if I was to than be place in an Anglophone and lose my French would be pretty frustrating.  (The Anglophone provinces are the Northwest and the Southwest.)  But I’ve heard some really cool things about the Anglophone provinces.  Especially the fact that you get to learn Pidgen, which is a bastardized English, and seems like a really fun language.  Other than that I have no real pressing needs.  So we will see where that takes me.

Some interesting or amusing things I have found in Cameroon:

Because of colonialism, Cameroonian history is not very well known or studied in Cameroon.  We received a short class on the history and politics of Cameroon and it barely went over any pre-colonial history.  Also the most definitive accounts of Cameroonian history are in Germany, France and Britain.  Cameroonian historians pretty much have to go to libraries in Europe to study.  We asked for books or resources about Cameroon and the history and they said they looked for books but could not find anything English language.  Pretty sad.  Especially for me as a history major.

 

Television here is pretty interesting.  In the United States the majority of the people who watch sports are white and the majority of athletes are black.  Cameroonians all watch European soccer leagues, which are mostly white.  If only they saw the irony.  They also watch some French shows but the most popular shows are over the top soap operas in Spanish dubbed into French.  One of them in Argentinean and the other is Spanish.  At 7:30 everynight a surprisingly large number of people settle in front of the TV for the latest twist in “The Femme de Lorenzo.”  Even the men watch it.  We will be at the boutique (sort of like a bar) and the soap opera will be blasting and everyone there will have there chair turned towards the tv.

 

The other night we all got together to watch the Rugby World cup, of England versus South Africa.  Again a mostly white sport.  I think there were about five people on the teams who weren’t white and more were on England than South Africa.  Cameroonians didn’t follow this as closely as soccer but when ever I told someone that South Africa won they cheered.  Never mind that 95% of the team is white, a team from Africa won.  Rugby is a pretty funny sport to watch.  Especially when you don’t know all the rules and the commentary is in French.  From our American perspective we reduced it to being if football was just onside kickoffs and punts.  A man kicks the ball high in the air and chases it.  The person on the other team lines up to catch the ball and than braces himself to get hammered by two people.  Than they all just scramble to advance the ball a few yards and than kick it again.  When watching it we just ohhed at the collisions, laughed at the funny looking rugby players and debated what the call could have been on that play.  A good time had by all.

 

After watching the rugby world cup I returned to my house at about 10:30.  (Or should I say 22:30 since everything is military time.)  Anyway I talked to my father who had just returned from a trip out of town.  He asked me if I went to church today and I said no.  He said we could go tomarrow, I said “d’accord” in agreement, and than he said 6am.  Okay, I can do that.  Than he told me to knock on his door at 5:30 to wake him up for church.  I could not believe this.  My opinion of him took a free fall with that request.  I don’t know if he even has an alarm clock.  I think he has his nephews, Georges and Charlie wake him up for work everyday. 

Anyway, church lasted more than two hours.  It is about the same as a Catholic service in America so I can’t figure out why it takes so much longer.

 

But this just illustrates the paternalistic culture of Cameroon.  You do everything for the people above you until you are big enough to get people to do stuff for you.  So in the street if you come across a kid you just yell to him “petit” call him over and than have him run an errand for you.  The kids all just accept this as part of life.  So my father doesn’t have to wake himself up because he has other people to do it for him.  Georges and Charlie get up at 5:00 anyways to clean the house so they might as well wake him up.

Another example of this is that there is no such thing as a pick up game in Cameroon.  If you have more than about 8 people playing a game, an older person will just wander over and become the referee.  People are used to being told what to do and older people need something to do so it is nothing strange for them.  The other day we were playing soccer with some kids.  A girl’s team that was practicing near-by started subbing in for the kids.  So soon enough it was Americans versus some Cameroonian women.  Than their coach wandered on the field, with his whistle, and started calling fouls.  When not calling fouls he was yelling to tell the women what to do.  This from what we thought would just be a friendly pick-up game.  When some Americans were playing basketball in another city they said there ended up being two refs for their game.  One covered the sidelines and the other the baselines.  He ran baseline to baseline.  Mind you, no one asked them to do this, they just wandered on, became the refs and everyone accepted this. 

 

Okay.  I send my love to everyone back home.  Thanks for reading this.  If you want me to cover anything in my blog just email me and I will get on it. 

A month in

I have decided I have the best view in all of Bangante from my house. My house might not be the nicest but it is up on a hill and has a clear view. In the morning I see green rolling hills, covered by clouds floating across. It is beautiful seeing the change in light as rain clouds move in and you sense a downpour coming soon. The past few mornings I’ve been woken up by the sound of a downpour against my tin roof at 4am. When I get out of bed at 6am it is often still raining off and on. I stand on the porch with my brothers as they brush their teeth or clean their shoes. It is difficult to describe the beauty of what I see. Long vistas of green hills with tall broad leaf trees, intersected by dark red mud roads. Clouds slowly moving across in the morning, only to burn off around mid day to a bright sun. The temperature has been very pleasant. Hot enough for shorts in the shade, but too hot to stay in the sun for too long.

I’ve adjusted to most things in Cameroon. I’m starting to enjoy the food and speaking French though I still cannot understand most normal people. I have gotten used to the regular absence of water and power, the different bathrooms, the cold showers and the lack of recognizable fruits. But without fail what always frustrates me most is trying to use the cyber café. If I do not update my blog I can always blame it on a lack of power or the rain preventing me from walking into town. But the other day I made it to the cyber café and could not update my blog. I tried to use the internet and left after fifteen minutes in frustration. It is slow, I will stop complaining and leave it at that.

My general impression right now is of being busy. I have something from the time I get up till the time I go to sleep. I enjoy the French class but worry my French will not improve enough. The technical sessions about health are pretty boring. Most topics are very common sense, and seem like something that can only be fully grasped when experienced. You can not learn how better to interact with people in a classroom, you have to go out learn by doing. I just get annoyed. My work with be educating people about health topics. Which include HIV/STDs, Malaria, clean drinking water, family planning and anything else I can think to do. The most important part of my job will be building relationships and trust till I can bridge these topics.

  I have begun to bond with my brothers Georges and Charlie. They are both about 18 years old and go to different high schools. (I still don’t quite know the family dynamic. I know they are the nephews of my father, and I think they live with him during the school year and than return home when not in school.) I can understand them more than anyone else. They speak slower and with a simpler vocabulary for me. And like anywhere in the world, the easiest topics to talk about with them are sports, music, girls and alcohol. In our case we talk about soccer, hip-hop, Cameroonian versus American women, and different types of beer. I am anxious to get to my post. I have heard about some really nice houses that volunteers have. Though I enjoy Bangante, I want the freedom to explore and set up my house the way I want.

I miss American sports. To compensate I have watched soccer and rugby. On the weekend different European soccer is shown. I think I can get into that. Also the rugby world cup is going on. It is no replacement for the World Series, the NFL, and the NHL but it will do. Until next time. Ben

computer

So the last blog experienced so much delay and frustration. I typed the blog on a computer I borrowed from someone else on Tuesday. Not all of it saved so I had to later go back and add some more. I tried to go and post my blog on Wednesday. The connection at the cyber café was unbelievably slow. I tried to load my blog for at least 15 minutes and finally just gave up. It just kept trying to load, never changing on the screen. So I go back into town on Thursday and this time pick a different internet café. We arrive and find out the power is out and that it is closed. I forgot about that whole electricity thing. Very frustrating.

Other than that everything is going very well. My French is improving and I’m settling in. Even though I’m already excited for my post and living by myself again. I am experiences minor victories every day. Sorry I haven’t responded to people, I will hopefully do that soon.

typical day

I left Buffalo approximately two weeks ago.  There have been so many daily changes, and ups and downs it is difficult to describe my experience with Peace Corps.  I’m realizing what is ahead of me is daunting, but very possible.  My French and communication is improving, (from single words to halting grammatically incorrect sentences) but I still do not understand my host father or anyone else that speaks to me at their normal speed.  I definitely feel ups and downs several times a day.  It is the nature of learning a new language and living in a new place.  I feel like I’m adjusting but right now it just sort of feels like an extended camping trip.  I have been in Bagante, where I live with a host family and have training, for five full days.  Here is the basic schedule of my day and some of my experiences so far.

6:00 I wake up to the sun creeping into my room, the noise people walking around my house, the roosters outside, and the neighbors who’s house is about 10 feet from my window.  I also do not want to see lazy right now and make an effort to get up at first light.  I once slept into 6:30.  I wash up and get dressed for training.  Cameroon is a very formal country, so I wear slacks, shoes and a shirt with a collar.  Right now I enjoy dressing nice, but I’m sure it will become more difficult and repetitive.  When walking around the village you would not think it is any more formal than anyother country as you see people in all types of dress.  But we have been told we are professionals here and professionals are to always be dressed respectfully.  Which I can see with the people who work for the Peace corps and my host family.

6:45 I now make breakfast for myself and my host father Beniot.  I do this by setting the table, and cutting up the bread.  The water is already boiled for us by the cousins who get up earlier than me for chores and have school at 7:00.  Breakfast is bread with margarine, or a nuettella like chocolate spread, and hot coco.  The hot coco has sugar, powdered milk and coco mix.  You dip the bread in the hot coco and eat.  It is tastey.  Though I sometimes feel like it isn’t enough in the morning.  Also in the morning we do not eat off plates.  We have a place mat and a mug with a saucer.  The place mats are reused so they are not clean.  I’m comfortable enough that I’m just going to grab a plate for myself to eat off of tomarrow.

7:15 I leave for training.  The houses where we receive our training is just down the street from my house.  It is downhill on a dirt road.  After any type of rain it is mud with little streams forming.  It causes a layer of mud on the bottom of your shoes, and makes keeping nice clothes clean difficult.  Before I leave I clean my shoes which is very important in Cameroon.  The P.C. told me that often people will look at your shoes first before they look at your eyes.  This is all for not though as my shoes are muddy after a few steps.  On my way to school I pass random roosters and chickens roaming about, (I don’t know who owns them) Cameroonians walking to work/school, random piles of garbage, and a tied up goat or two.  When passing people all of us Americans greet with a Bonjour or Salut, which is responded to in turn.  I like saying hi to people in French as it is just left at that as in American it often begins a conversation with any random person.

7:30 Language class.  There were four people in my class, now there are three.  Which makes for a good learning environment but there is no place to hide.  I am in the middle of the three in terms of proficiency but we are all at about the same level.  I am improving after only a few days but my teacher speaks so quickly to us in French that I usually do not understand her.  I usually just say Oui and than follow along by what she writes on the paper.  But I’ve started to stop her and tell her to talk slower.  My teachers name is Andrea and she is 29 and from Yaounde, the commercial capital of Cameroon.  She is unmarried and lives with her parents.  Nice person. 

9:30-9:45 Coffee break.  We were told that there would be a man that would bring coffee to sell to us caffine addicted Americans but one day he was not there and another he came late so we were already back in class.  It is 250 CFA (Cameroonian francs, about 75 cents) for a cup.  You can put sugar cubes in it or condensed milk.  The condensed milk is not all that good, very sweet.  Strong coffee.

9:45  Back to class.  Certain days two more hours of French others health info.  We pretty much always get 4 hours of French, atleast 2 health and certain days cross cultural info.  4 hours of French has not been bad but this was only the 4^th day.

12-1:30 Lunch.  A few options for lunch.  Peace corps arranged for a woman to bring food for us for 700 CFA, about 1.75$.  Today it was rice, beans and French fries.  Always a lot of rice.  Another option is the little store across the street which sells bagget sandwichs for 600 CFA.  The sandwich could have cheese, egg, avocodo, banana.  I think that is about it.  I have not had one but they look pretty good.  I have not wanted to stand in the line of Americans.  Or you can walk into town which is about a ten minute walk.

 

Saturday some Peace corps volunteers went to a restaurant in town for lunch.  It was a buffet specially made for us and cost 700 CFA.  It had fish, rice, vegtables, plantanes and sauce.  In Cameroon nothing is really done to change the appearance of the fish from when it was caught till put on your plate.  It still has scales, fins and everything on the head.  The best part is the head which you suck any meat you can off and eat even the eyes.  Not for me yet.  The interesting part of the story is that we were talking with the lady who runs the place and she said they had monkey meat.  I was sitting with Ralph who was excited at the chance to eat something different.  So I decided now was as good a time as ever and went for “le singe”.  Monkey meat is called bush meat and is banned in Cameroon.  But from descriptions is pretty common and if you ask for it you can get it.  It was a very black meat and had a pretty rough texture.  Others said it looked like deer meat.  I don’t think I will order it again, though it was not terrible.  Ralph, who is an older gentleman who has led a very interesting life including serving in Vietnam, was loving the idea of monkey meat and picked his and my bone clean.  We later found out the monkey was 1000 CFA each.  Monkey is damn expensive.

 

Even with the monkey meat my stomach had been going along fine.  I felt perfectly fine with the food and had no digestive problems.  A fact I like to remind the 75% of volunteers who had various stomach problems the first week in Cameroon.  (We talk about this stuff a lot.)  That was until today when I had painful cramps in my stomach and had to run to the bathroom a few times.  I guess I spoke too soon of my iron stomach.  But I am feeling better now, not completely normal.

 

1:30-4:30  More class.  Difficult to stay focused all the time. 

 

4:30-6  Our free time between classes and curfew.  Yes that is a very short time.  The past few days I have been rushing home to change into athletic clothes and going to the stadium to exercise.  So far its been soccer or a game of ultimate Frisbee with the fellow volunteers.  When I say stadium I mean an open, pretty level, dirt field, with bleachers on both sides for about 200 people.  Not the type of stadium we would think of.  It has been great to get out and exercise, and to interact with some Cameroonians without having to talk in French.

 

6:30 I take a shower.  The bathroom consists of a small sink, a toilet and a shower that falls pretty much directly on top of the toilet.  The water just falls down the drain in the floor.  There is only cold water.  Which pretty much means I shower as quickly as possible.  The other day I returned from playing soccer and the power and water were out.  So I took a bucket bath by lamp light.  An experience.

 

7:30 Around this time we usually eat diner.  A quiet affair.  I eat with my father and the two teenage cousins who live in the house, George and Charlie.  They prepare the meal and serve the table.  Before the meal a prayer is said.  I always serve myself first and than everyone else.  The father does not say much to the cousins and because of my language ability I don’t say much to anyone besides simple questions. 

 

After diner I usually bring my homework or a book out to the living room.  My cousins sit at the table and study, while my father listens to the radio or watches tv.  Often I have simple conversations with my cousins but other times we all just sit there quietly. 

I go to my room around 9.  And am usually in bed and asleep by 10.

 

There is a typical version of my day.