Guider!

            Today marked the unraveling of the great mystery of where everyone will be living for two years! I am placed in Guider, North Province. I don’t know much about Guider but it is a large town near Garoua, which is the capital of the North Province. I will be working with Credit du Sahel which is a partner microfinance institution. Previous PCVs at this post also worked a lot with a women’s center on establishing Village Savings and Loan Groups. I supposedly have some pretty big shoes to fill – I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the volunteer I will be replacing.

The North is the hottest province in Cameroon – even hotter than the Extreme North. Traveling to the North takes a long time and trainees laugh and joke that you could return to the US in a shorter amount of time than it takes to get from Bafia to the Northern provinces – it’s true though. A 12 hour train ride starting in Yaoundé will only get you about half-way there; the remaining distance will be covered in a bus.

 I reached my target level in French (Intermediate High) to be posted in a Francophone region. Yes, the North is a French-speaking Muslim province. So now I no longer have to worry about the language requirements for swearing-in in August. Actually, since I met the target level in French I will start studying Fulfulde along with French for the remainder of training.

I leave on Sunday for the voyage up North and will spend a week there so my predecessor can introduce me to the organizations she works with, help me set up a bank account and show me around the area. I will stay with her in her home which will be mine in a short while. I’m told she has a fan :) Happy Fourth of July everyone!

End of Week Three

     I'm happy to say that I was moved up three language levels at the beginning of this week even though our next Language Placement Interview isn't until next Wednesday. The language coordinator was able to observe me in class and I was moved.

     Last Tuesday we met with our assigned companies that we will work with for the remaining weeks we are in Bafia. My company is Complexe Agroindustriel de Bafia which is a two year old company that manufacturers manioc (cassava). My first meeting last week consisted of getting a general understanding of the company, their needs, and of course meeting the owner. This week was more concentrated on me getting a handle of first - how the heck manioc is manufactured and second - what it's used for. I was able to discern that its primary use is for food (really popular here is the "baton de manioc" which is wrapped up in leaves and when unwrapped, looks like a giant swollen gummy noodle). More surprisingly a portion of manioc (l'amidon) is used in chocolate. The owner started to inform me this week that a potential contract with Nestle could be in the cards but the problem is that the quality here may potentially not be up to par. Currently (according to the owner of my company) Nestle buys all their supply of l'amidon from Nigeria and Ghana. Not only is it used for food however, manioc is also used to make clothes and there is an element in it that is used to bleach them. I'm not surprised - it seems manioc's uses are endless because there are 57 components of the crop and none of it is wasted. I doubt I'll even know all of its uses by the end of the partnership. Right now, this collaboration is a little overwhelming because of my limited knowledge of manioc and all of the interaction with my business is in French. Not to mention I have training 8 hours a day. However, I'm not expected to work miracles, I am expected to give some valuable advice to help the company. Like, for instance, the lack of a sign outside of their factory.

     On the home front things have changed considerably. I'm an auntie! That's right - my host sister had a baby girl four days ago. They keep the baby at the hospital for two days for observation and then are allwed to go home. Even though I wasn't feeling very well the day she came home they still wanted me to hold her. "Est-ce que tu as vu la bébé?!" She doesn't have a name yet and my host father asked me if I had any suggestions... I laughed a little, totally not my area of expertise.

     This next Thursday marks the day when I will find out where I will be serving my two year term! Anticipation is mounting in the SED (small enterprise development) trainees because our fellow trainees (education) found out this Thursday and left today to visit their posts for a week. So it will be a quiet week here in Bafia without the 28 or so education trainees. Cameroon is so diverse so you really have NO idea what your surroundings will be until this placement. Landscapes range from the desert, mountains, jungle, and coast area. There is a reason the country has the nickname of "Africa in miniature."

     Peace Corps really wasn't joking when they said PST is intense. I go home after training and I sleep from 8:00 pm to 6:30 am every night - and I'm not alone in this aspect. Besides this fact, call me crazy but I actually like washing my clothes by hand, taking bucket baths and negociating prices for pagne in French. My first Cameroonian dress and skirt will be finished on Monday.

A Week In Bafia

Bienvenue à Bafia!

I wonder what my future employer will say when they read "expert cockroach killler" on the top of my resumé. The first night I spent in my room, (under my mosquito net mind you) I woke up at 1 am to a loud "plop" next to my head. I quickly grabbed my flashlight to survey the cause of the noise only to find a huge cockroach inches from my head. Welcome to Cameroon, Krystal. Im actually just thankful that this has been my worst bug encounter so far.

My host family is great. Both of my parents are computer scientists and I have been living with 4 little boys and 2 girls. They love music and we frequently have what I would classify as as "jam sessions" either in the morning before I go to training or when I return home. I don't think it's too much to say that our house is "bumping" with three huge speakers in the living room. And for those of you wondering, yes we do have a TV.

Training is what the Peace Corps describes as an intense language, culture and technical training period. For the most part I enjoy the sessions but for some reason I have been placed in a language class way below my level. My teacher noticed this after the first day but for some reason the administration won't move me until our next Language Placement Interview. This is a source of great frustration for me right now. I always end up teaching the other 3 guys in my group. Today was a lesson about the verbs that utilize etre in the passé composé. I taught them the VANDERTRAMP trick (Merci, Dr. Fish).

I attended church with my host family on Saturday and it was very interesting. Aside from all the dancing and joy of the songs, there was this conversation "debate" about whether young adults or children can practice a true religion in the context of today's world. I didn't catch everything that was said but one man announced that it was possible but it was a question of time and maturity rather than anything else.

I have to make one reference to one of our medical sessions. Of course, our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) wants us to be able to call her for emergencies but only if they are emergencies on the weekends and late at night. Quote on quote, "If you find that you have a worm in your stool... Do not call me. That is not an emergency. It's not a problem for you anymore, it is a problem for the worm. He has no place to live." Of course there is a voice in the crowd that announces, "Well I'm calling SOMEBODY!" We all just laugh. Laughter is a huge part of Peace Corps.

Dinner at LaHoma's

     I apologize for the information overload right now - I really only plan to update about once a week or so once I start training. I don't know what my internet situation will be in Bafia because I made a personal decision not to bring my laptop. So I will share what I can now :) We started with safety orientation today and I'm feeling more comfortable with the mutual expectations between the volunteers and Peace Corps. We had two volunteers who have lived here for a year share some information they wish they would have known going into homestay. One tidbit was always mount a motorcycle from the left side because of the hot engine on the other. During this time we were told that we would join one or both of the clubs of PC - Cameroon. The moto burn club or the pooped-in-my-pants club.

     We had the afternoon free so I took the opportunity to take a nap. There was this loud beat thumping until the wee wee hours in the morning (I now know there is a club next door). Needless to say my slumber wasn't at its best last night. The Melfloquine must be living up to its expectations. The past two night I dreamt of flight complications - pretty normal even though my traveling is over. However, during my nap today I dreamt about a flying saucer that also served as a boat that went around rooftops squishing people - not so normal.

     Tonight we had dinner at LaHoma's house (our country director). Many important people dined with us and we met the American ambassador to Cameroon and his wife. They are wonderful people and both gave a brief inspiring speech that reminded all of us of why we are here and how important it is.

First Couple Days

First and foremost, after about 27 hours traveling by bus and plane from Philadelphia, we have landed safely in Yaounde. We all were really tired after the flights so we had dinner and went to bed.

Today we had our LPI (language placement interview) and our SED (small enterprise development) pre-test if you will. I'm really grasping the extent that Peace Corps loves acronyms. After that we were given the chance to walk around the city for a little while. I am, of course, la blanche (the white). I was called this at least 20 times walking down the street. A couple of things caught my eyes, for instance - the huge avocados! They are almost twice the size than those back home.

Interestingly enough Cameroon played Senegal today in the stadium about 5 blocks from our hotel. We were all a little bummed that we couldn't go watch. Let's just say Cameroonians are passionate about their soccer and the streets were lively. We had to watch the game from the hotel and a good thing because a riot broke out after the game which ended 0-0 :( We had a group of Cameroonians come dance after supper and a couple important people could not make it because of the chaos. I wouldn't have even known this was happening if our director did not tell us. At the end of the dance, our group (consisting of 42 SED and Education trainees) all formed a circle and tried to shake it as hard as the dancers. (Fruitlessly for most of us, I must say.)

Tomorrow we have our first safety orientation and then dinner at our country director's residence. Tuesday we will depart from Yaounde and continue to Bafia for our stay with our host families for PST (Pre-Service Training.)

Bonne Nuit.