Site Visit!

Sorry for the late post everyone, I haven’t been able to get on the internet all last week! I’m now in week 9!! Crazyyy. I swear in on December 8^th (only about 2 weeks left!). Here’s my post about site visit. Enjoy!

11/13/11

Salut friends! Just finished week 7 of training which just happened to be SITE VISIT for the YD and Agroforestry volunteers (Health went the week before us)! I’ve been cooped up in Bafia since I’ve been in country, so it was great to finally get out and see what else Cameroon has to offer. Overall, my site visit was so much fun! I had some awesome cultural experiences while getting a feel of what my next two years would be like…and I’m in for an amazing time here. So the easiest way for me to describe my week is probably to break it down day by day…so bear with me J

Saturday, Nov 5: Everyone met up at the training site bright and early at 7:30am. Community hosts and volunteers packed into 3 buses for their specific destinations. We are all spread out throughout the country, so some buses were headed straight through the West, and some went to Yaounde to connect to other modes of transportation to either the East or the Grand North. The Grand North people (including me) have to take the train which leaves for Adamaou every night at 6:20pm. It’s supposed to be about a 13 hour journey, and I say “supposed to” because there is always the occasional break-down that can turn a 13 hour trip into a 24 hour trip. So we left for the train station around 4:30 to be safe, got some dinner while we waited to depart (freshly grilled fish and manioc…soooo good!), and at 6:20pm we were on our way! Since this was a PC paid trip, community hosts and PCTs were given the sleeper cars, so we got to sleep on a bed through the night rather than sit in a seat, which I’m sure made ALL the difference (it was a bumpy ride).

Sunday Nov 6: I arrived in Ngaoundéré (the final stop of the train in the Grand North) around 9:30am. The Extreme North PCTs (4) waited for their 9 hour bus ride to their posts while I was picked up by a PC driver who took two others and me to the Peace Corps “Case” or Safe House. One thing I can say is I am so grateful to have a fairly easy travel to post, whereas North and Extreme North people travel for almost 2 days just to get to their posts. So, every regional capital has a “case” for all the PCVs in Cameroon. This is where I stayed the majority of my site visit. Shortly after settling in I met one of two post mates, Krystina, who lives right next to the case. She is a Small Enterprise Development volunteer and has been in country for a little over a year. She took us out to lunch at a popular PCV spot and afterwards I met up with my community host.

**My community host’s name is Ismaila Abbo, I call him Abbo (because it sounds like Aboo from Aladin, and I thought it was his first name when I first met him). He is the vice president of the Youth Center that I will be working with when I get to post. He is also Muslim, which has an important correlation to the rest of my activities in the next couple of days.

Sunday was the “Fête de Mouton” for the Muslim culture, the Celebration of the Lamb. Abbo took Andy and I (he was staying in Ngaoundéré until Tuesday before going to his post, and he’s a good friend of mine) to introduce me to some family members and begin our “fête-ing” as we liked to call it. I will be living in the “cartier” (neighborhood) called Bumjéré, where Abbo and his family live as well, which is a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. We met only a small portion of his family, as well as a Chief of a nearby village (pretty cool), and I think we went to 5 houses total. Because of the Fête, it is custom to eat at every house you are invited to, and when you eat, you eat a full meal. At the Chiefs house, the three of us split half a ribcage of lamb, after already stuffing our faces at the first house (big mistake). It’s also culturally rude if you don’t finish your plate, so if you weren’t careful to pace yourself, like Andy and I did, well...it was a struggle to put it lightly. After our first day of Fête-ing, Andy and I went back to the Case to relax, digest, and mentally prepare ourselves for round two the next day.

Monday Nov 7: Day two of celebrating the Fête de Mouton, and my birthday! I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, a year ago I was in my last year of college, turning 21, and now I’m in Cameroon, Africa…crazy”!! So today was my most eventful day of the week by far. I started off by eating breakfast at Abbo’s Aunt’s house. Afterwards I met up with Krystina to get some “sipa” work done, which is the Cameroonian version of Henna tattooing for the Muslim women (it’s a black instead of brown). Abbo thought it would be a good idea to get it done in lieu of the Fête and my birthday. The lady who would do my sipa was busy at the time we arrived, so we went to Krystina community host’s house to eat lunch. Afterwards, there was a celebrating by the Lamido’s Palace, the King of the Muslim community in Adamaoua. I don’t really know how to describe the event, but there were a lot of men riding horses carrying spears, traditional dancing and music, and the Lamido was also on a horse. It was really cool to see, and I enjoyed viewing another interesting cultural aspect of Cameroon. After the celebration was over, I got my sipa done, which took a good 2-3 hours to get both my feet and hands done. The long hours definitely paid off because I received a lot of positive feedback on how beautiful the design was. I liked it because it was the closest thing I’ve gotten to a tattoo. The rest of the day Abbo, Andy, Krystina, and I continued fête-ing until we couldn’t eat anymore. Abbo invited us all out to a bar after a break to celebrate my birthday the “American” way. That was fun, but I was so full I could barely finish my beer (which happened to be a Guinness, which was the worst idea EVER). Most Muslims don’t drink alcohol, including Abbo, so it was really nice of him to pay for all our drinks and give me the chance to celebrate how I would in the states (except I’m sure I wouldn’t have eating a whole sheep before downing some booze if I were home). Overall, it was a perfect ending to an awesome 22^nd birthday J

Tuesday Nov 8-I opened my Peace Corps bank account so I can get paid during service. It was my first banking experience in Cameroon and to my surprise it went very smoothly. Afterwards, we continued to Fête some more at one more house for lunch, and for the rest of the day I relaxed. I ended up getting sick again, I’m thinking the travelling and change of climate got to me, plus I had contracted a sinus infection the week before I left and I don’t think I fully recovered from that either. I had to cancel a few activities that day so that I could rest up.

Wednesday Nov 9- The majority of the day I just hung out, rested, didn’t really do anything productive. Later in the afternoon I went to my other post mate’s village right outside of Ngaoundere, his name is Cyrus. He wanted to introduce me to his girls club that he inherited from his predecessor. The girls were great! They were really excited to meet me and since the club has been together for over a year, they seemed to be pretty comfortable with one another and have some sense of organization within the group. It was really great for me to see this in action because I would like to start a girls club in my cartier when I get to post, and I wouldn’t mind helping Cyrus out with his group as well. I think out of everything I did during site visit that really got me pumped for service was seeing this girls group and knowing that I could definitely put together a group of my own.

Thursday Nov 10-11-My two days of relaxation. I literally didn’t do anything but chill. It was fantastic.

Saturday Nov 12- Today was my last day at site. Before heading on the train to Yaounde, a group of us went to watch a youth dance group perform, the theme was Michael Jackson. It was awesome to see these youth groups in action. I was introduced to the group’s leader/organizer, which was great because hopefully I’ll be able to work with them in the future. After leaving the performance, we headed to the train station back to Yaounde and then catch a bus back to Bafia. I got back Sunday around 10am….and that was my trip!

Jabbama haa Adamaoua!

“Welcome to Adamaoua”

It’s NOVEMBER people! I’m currently in week 6 of training out of 11. I’m half way there! Yesterday I received my post, which is where I will be spending the rest of my service for the next two years! Before I tell you, I want to give you a quick introduction on the regions of Cameroon to give you a better understanding of where I will be.

Cameroon is known as “Miniature Africa”. Why? Because it has 10 different regions consisting of all climate types, vegetation, animals etc. that you can find anywhere else in Africa. There is the Grand North: Adamaoua (located between the Central and North), North, Extreme North and the Grand South: Centre Region (capital: Yaounde), Littoral, East (the “jungle”), West, Northwest, Southwest (location of Mt. Cameroon and the BEACH) and the South (borders Gabon). The climate in the Grand North has 4 seasons, one long rainy season, one long dry season, one short rainy season, and one short dry season. The Grand South is more tropical, long rainy seasons and short dry seasons, humidity, sometimes “cold” during the rainy season and winter (especially in the Northwest).

I am headed to the regional capital of Adamaoua, Ngaoundere, in the Grand North. It’s a huge city, with a population of approximately 400,000 people. It is the regional hub for those traveling to the North and Extreme North. The demographics of this region vary from traditional African groups, Muslims (majority), and Christians. French is spoken as well as the local “patois” (dialect), called Fufulde.

Before finding out my post, I pictured myself living in the middle of the jungle with limited resources, a latrine (outside bathroom…no toilet), lots of rain and lots of mosquitoes. I thought I would live in a small village where I would easily make friends with my community. I even requested a small village during my interview with my program manager.

Well, I basically got the post that is the complete opposite of my Peace Corps vision. Big city, running water and electricity 24/7, internet access 24/7, restaurants, entertainment, you name it. Ngaoundere is also one of the biggest university cities in Cameroon.. You may be thinking, “Shanna, you’ve got it made”, and I agree, in some ways. I’m actually extremely intimated by the fact that I’m living in a city. More people, more obstacles. Youth make up 56% of the entire population in Cameroon (they consider youth to be age 15-35), so you can imagine there’s a lot of work to be done in a big city. Just a reminder, I’m the first YD volunteer in this city…ever. No pressure or anything…As for the mosquitoes...not a huge problem, but Adamaoua is known for being the home of the most deadliest snakes in the world...oh joy!

My work will primarily be focused on out-of-school girls. There is a large Muslim population in the Grand North, and one of the major problems facing young girls are high drop-out rates in school due to marriage at a young age (14 years old), early pregnancy, or their families do not permit them to go to school because of religious/traditional values. So, I’ll be assisting organizations to empower young girls through technical training and education that will cover life skill topics like HIV/AID prevention, family planning, sex ed., nutrition, business etc. That is just the beginning. There are so many different projects I can get my hands on with the number of organizations that are available. I think my biggest obstacle with my work will be the conservative traditions in the culture…and all I can say is…I’m so excited!!!

Since I am working in a capitol, there are beaucoup organizations that focus on youth that I can work with, such as: UNICEF, World Food Program, PLAN Cameroon, Cameroon National Youth Council, Ministry of Youth, different associations, technical schools, an orphanage, and a new youth center. So many choices! I don’t think I’ll have a problem staying busy J

Today I met my community host partner and for the next two days we are going over some PC business and Saturday morning I’m off to my post for a week visit! During the week I will be with a PCV who is posted there (I have two post mates), and she will help me get to know the city, meet lots of important people, open up my bank account, check out my house…basically get a feel of what I’m getting myself into. The best part about my site visit: I’m celebrating my b-day there…during Ramadan! Should be fun :)

Here are two things I want to highlight from the last two weeks:

-Last week I woke up in the middle of the night one night to find a cockroach in my bed…next to my face. If there’s one thing I haven’t gotten used to yet since arriving here are definitely the cockroaches. They are EVERYWHERE…and they are HUGE…like American cockroaches on steroids, and even that description doesn’t do it justice.

-I went to a Cameroonian night club for the first time on Saturday. It was at Hotel New Palace, a five minute walk from my house. There are two things I took away from that experience: the first was the infamous “mirror dancing”. Apparently all night clubs here have lots of mirrors in them, and Cameroonian love to use them when dancing. They look at themselves while dancing, have dance contests with themselves in the mirror (at least that’s what it looks like), and practice their moves. It’s quite amusing to watch. The second was when some guy at the bar tried to convince me to be his girlfriend (in English surprisingly), and when I refused him he accused me of being racist. He kept saying “You don’t like me because I’m black and your white, that’s is discrimination”! I was prepared for this type of “harassment” during training, but I wasn’t expecting to hear it from a drunk guy at a club. No silly man, it’s not because you’re black, it’s because you can’t handle an American woman…that’s what I wanted to say at least (which is true!)

I’m beyond excited to see my post. Since I’ll have internet access you’ll be hearing from me soon!! On a bad note…I got a sinus infection today! Went to the hospital for the first time to get some antibiotics…and now I’m feeling so much better! Until next time friends :)