Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Baby's Got Back

I just realized I should have used that as a post title a long time ago when I got to carry the baby on my back in Dschang. Oh well, better late than never.

SATURDAY April 23
I thought today was going to be a bit dull because once my meeting with my advisor was cancelled, the only plans I had left for the day were ‘laundry’. But then I decided to try to be a good host student and cook something for my family. Therese wanted Mexican, but multiple Dovv searches had turned up no tortillas or tortilla chips, so I gave up on that and made alfredo pasta instead. Actually pretty successful!
Then, the other intern at Heifer (Rodrigue) called me wanting to borrow my recorder. When we met up he had a whole little list of things for us to do. We walked to the Palais du Congres (conference center of sorts) where you get a good look down on the city, went and got some ‘beeftek’ at a restau, and dropped by his sister’s house. Turned out to be a pretty busy day in the end (and a refreshing 24 hour break from ISP!)
This just in: I’m suddenly not sure if I’m ready to come home…It will be nice, but strange too. Oh well, as the good Lord says, ‘there is a time for everything’. So, ready or not, I’ll be peacing out on a flight May 10th (not my original, mind you—that just got cancelled…)

SUNDAY April 24
Happy Easter! We went to mass and then had a pretty average day, actually (though I don’t think this was necessarily an accurate representation of the rest of the country…). Somone, however, did try to ‘save’ me as I was walking to an international call box to give my ‘real’ family a ring. If you thought evangelicals were intense in the US, think again—this dude ended by telling me I should call him so he could take me to the airport. [Side note so as not to come off as rude: I respect the work of those preaching the Good News, but I think it’s frustrating when they refuse to accept the fact that you’re already Christian]

MONDAY April 25
Here’s your mundane fact of the day: Therese washed my towel for me…in the machine. Praise. The. Lord. Either bucket washing wasn’t cutting it, or this bucket washer lacks the proper skill, but either way, that poor yellow towel had not been yellow in ages.
Less mundane: Today I think I saw a dude walking down the street with only a shirt on. That’s pretty strange even by Cameroonian standards.
Also odd: it was surprisingly cool out today! No complaints on my end!
So, most of the time we take the Heifer pick-up to go work out in the field, but sometimes we split into groups and have to take public transport (read: 12 passenger van with 20+ people, and maybe a chicken or two), which is unfortunate mainly because it slows our day down a lot. Anyhoo, today was a public transport day.

TUESDAY April 26
I think today was my last day in the field…long (left my house at 6:30am and got back at 7:20pm—OOPS, curfew violation) but good. Today we were training a new group on the 12 Cornerstones of Heifer, how to avoid dependency syndrome, etc
Today we were in the same shed-thingy as the elementary school students. OH. MY. Singing Cameroonian children simply melt my heart.
After the training we visited the priest who hooked these groups up with Heifer, and he was as cool as I had imagined. He was rocking his Jesus-pagne-pants and cracking priest jokes. When he kept teasing the staff about how he too demonstrates ‘true need’ (a Heifer cornerstone) and deserves some goats, I told him “well, you know what the Bible says…the first shall be last and the last shall be first, so I think it’s okay if you’re suffering a little bit”. Wow, did I think Minnie (staff member) was going to die; she was mortified (and giving me the ‘you did not just say that to a priest’ look) but whatever, we all enjoyed a laugh. Feels good to be able to tell a joke in French!

WEDNESDAY April 27
My taxi broke down for a bit on my ride to work this morning; I would have ditched but the driver had it up and running again in no time.
Did some odd jobs at the office today, but also spent awhile working on translating my paper (2/3 of the way through round one of translating!)
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today!
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

beaucoup

Before I went to France, I never thought about the possibility that not only would the LANGUAGE be different, but the small, everyday GESTURES would be too ! In Cameroon I’ve become quite fond of two very popular hand motions. The first is a wave of sorts and means “come”, and the second looks like “paper” in rock-paper-scissors and means “beaucoup” (a lot). Be on the lookout—I’ll definitely be bringing these home with me.

So, speaking of beaucoup, what is there beaucoup of in Cameroon? Here’s a little mash-up of things I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet.

First, there are a lot of albinos in Cameroon! I don’t recall ever seeing one before I left home.

There is also a lot of corruption. Unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve met a person yet that doesn’t believe the government is corrupt. It’s really depressing to think about what they’re doing to their people.

There is a lot of carrying-things-on-heads. Ok, ok, I know I’ve mentioned this already, but I’m just so intrigued and impressed and amazed by this. It blows my mind to see someone walking down the street (la di da) with a jumble of buckets as tall as me…or maybe a cage of baby chicks….or maybe a tray of omelet supplies, including the raw eggs atop his head.

There is lots of nose picking in public.

There is a lot of voter apathy. What's the point in voting if you know ahead of time who will win? Only one person I've met has told me they will vote this coming fall in the election. (not my parents, not my professors...)

There are a lot of bad roads. Every time I imagine my poor car driving on them I cringe.

There is a lot of religion here. Most people are something, whether it’s Christian, Muslim, some traditional religion, or a combo of the above.

There is a ton of greenery here. Not in the city, but everywhere else it’s still all….jungle-y? I don’t know how to describe the landscape. Jungle seems a little strong. Basically, it seems like a lot of trees to someone who’s used to living where ‘the wind comes sweeping down the plains’.

Finally, there are a lot of “deuxieme bureaus” here. Literally that translates to “second office”. Can you guess what it means figuratively? ….”mistress”. We had a male lecturer at one point who told us that “everyone” has a deuxieme bureau. I think it’s safe to assume he was exaggerating, but still.

Friday, April 22, 2011

that's the sign of a victory

Monday April 18
Back at Heifer! Today’s field visit wasn’t a training session but a check-in on how a group’s “pass on the gift” payments are coming along. I must say I’m quite bummed I won’t get to attend a “passing” ceremony while I’m here—I think this group is having theirs next month. The best part today was that some of the women offered to show me their goats! I got to see about 15 of them, including some babies and one named “merci Heifer”. Precious.
Not precious: the skinniest dog I have ever seen. This poor thing looked like it should have died a month ago. Actually kind of frightening.
ISP progress report: as of today I am half way done with my surveys and completely done with my staff interviews and transcriptions! Hoorah!
Ah home: Manuella has new footy pajamas, and she is struttin’ around cuter than ever. Also, Oklahoma was on the news tonight for tornadoes (déjà vu, much??).

Tuesday April 19
First, I just have to say: I learned today that they eat termites here. When I showed up to talk to a group this morning, there was a swarm of children collecting them; why weren’t they in school? Good question, good question.
Anyway, today I split from the staff so that I could talk with a group that worked with Heifer from 2006-2008. My time with Heifer has been giving me a different view of Cameroon—I’m getting a real look at village life and its hardships. Today I found the poverty especially discouraging. Granted, it’s never fun to see, but today I just couldn’t handle it; I had only worked so far with groups that had recently begun working with Heifer, so maybe I was subconsciously hoping for a magic fix, a different scene in places they’ve already been. Don’t get me wrong, Heifer is doing good work—when I talk to the participants, they happily go off about Heifer taught them so much, but I look around and I see they still have so very few resources. And then I remember that there are so many others who haven’t received any help at all…
I get uncomfortable at how endless it seems and at how little I can relate to this suffering, but I’m trying to seek comfort in Mother Teresa’s words “we can do no great things, only small things with great love”.

Wednesday April 20
I FINISHED DATA COLLECTION!! Whew…that’s a relief. I enjoy talking to Heifer participants, but I never should have decided to do my research via surveys—the literacy level just isn’t there, which means the process demands a lot of patience. The members I talked to this morning were a riot; they were pretty certain I should take them home with me and set them up with my dad. I tried to tell them my mom might get upset, but they weren’t convinced. We also swapped a little language lesson before I left, so that was fun. I taught them a few words in English and they taught me a few words in….? Who knows what language…

Thursday April 21
I don’t think I’m tired of working, and I don’t think I’m tired of my topic, I’m just tired of only working on my topic. ISP is intense. I wake up, I go to my internship at Heifer, I come home, I work on my paper, and I go to bed. Repeat. I need a little more distraction in my life, but at least I’ve got my Manuella to play with!
Anyhoo, I’m just whining. My project is going pretty darn well in my opinion, and it will be over before I know it!
So the highlight of my day today was probably on my way home when the taxi driver—still rollin’ along at a good pace—tossed his corn cob out the passenger window and it landed perfectly in a dumpster. Made me chuckle.

Friday April 22
Today I finished the first draft of my paper…I think R Kelly would agree “that’s the sign of a victory”.


…I see the light at the end of the tunnel,
and I can feel heaven in its place…

and thats the sign of a victory


…I see the finish line just up ahead n
and I can feel it risin' deep within

and that’s the sign of a victory

ooooohh ohh ohhhh

[Sometimes you have to go all the way to Cameroon to fall in love with an American song.]

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Crumby Days

In one of our early classes this semester on Cameroonian history, our prof told us that ‘Cameroon’ came from ‘Kamerun’, which in German, has something to do with crumbs. I couldn’t resist the play on words.

Thursday April 14
I’ve got two days free to do work since everyone at Heifer is in Bamenda. Thank goodness! I need it!
I needed a place to go to transcribe and write, and since they don’t have practical things like libraries or coffee shops here, I finally broke down and went to Espresso. It’s an internet café that some of the other kiddos go to a lot. Probably the nicest internet café in all of Cameroon if I had to guess. I just went in, bought my drink and camped out. It was a $3 drink, which is outrageous, but I did then proceed to stay for 6 hours, so I think it was worth it. Besides, I heard Ke$ha come on the flatscreen tvs and used the nicest bathroom I’d seen since January 24th.

Friday April 15, 2011
Back to Espresso! Got a break from working when I met an American there today…whoa…I think the only other Americans I’ve spoken to since I got here have been
1. SIT students
2. US embassy workers
3. Peace corps workers
Anyways, he’s here searching for a market for his business. I was a bit shocked to find out that this business in online gaming. First of all, there can’t be much of a market for that, and second of all, what good can come out of encouraging gambling, especially in a country like Cameroon?
Magnus made crepes as a snack tonight….whoa! beware! Cameroonian man in the kitchen!! Rather nice of him, though—think he did it as a treat for Therese, because she’s in the middle of finals.
In other news:
-the water’s been cut for two days now
-I haven’t shaved my legs in over a month
-it’s mango season!! 10/$1

Saturday April 16, 2011
What are we going to do today Brain? Same thing we do every day Pinky, WORK ON ISP.

Sunday April 17, 2011
So apparently Therese’s oldest sister is loaded (ie she was sporting LV, and her two twenty-something sons had on Lacoste and Polo); she’s in town for the weekend and staying at the Hilton, so after mass we went and had continental breakfast there with her. Yes, you heard me right, I said Continental Breakfast. I felt minor waves of culture shock as I walked through that lobby…
Dinner tonight was a total crackup--Magnus excitedly sang through every song he had every learned in elementary school.
ISP update: I’ve finally started translating my paper into French! Woot!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Je suis blanche et je n'aime pas le manioc

Sunday April 10
I was in charge of writing and reading the petitions at mass today! As if that wasn’t great enough, Manuella ran up to me in the middle of it. Like I said, she refuses to stay still in mass, and we’re becoming quite good pals.
(offbrand) FROSTED FLAKES [they're more than good, they're great]. Yesterday Therese made some mention about corn flakes, and I must have gotten that wild I-remember-those-from-my-country look, so we picked up a box during our weekly post-mass family trip to Dovv. Cereal is good.

Monday April 11
In the field…but not “in the fields”. I’m learning a teensy bit about agriculture! I have a lot of respect for farmers--as proud as I am of our peach tree that we planted as a pit when I was in the 4th grade, I don’t think I’ve got the patience to do something like that for a living.

Tuesday April 12
The [streets] are alive with the sound of…cote d’ivoire. Every time I stepped outside today I heard the buzz, and I can promise you that what I’m hearing about it is not what you’re hearing about it (if you’re hearing anything at all…). I don’t generally follow politics very much, but I must say my motivation to stay up on things is pretty high right now; I mean, cote d’ivoire and Lybia and just a hop and a skip away. Since I actually do have an opinion for once, I feel inclined to get on my soap box and spout off about it, but I’m going to keep it to two words:
“Neocolonialism much?”
Find out what Oklahoma senator Inhofe is saying about the matter on his webpage:
http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.JimsJournal&ContentRecord_id=3218c4e9-b19e-9f09-3866-7981e5068dbf

Sights from the field:
-Need a car wash? Just drive a little ways into the river…
-A HUGEass snake. For sale. To eat.
-Plenty of graves…in people’s front yards
I’m spending something like 2 hours a day in the car, but I don’t mind, because I get some good views. Today’s village was in. the. Boonies. By which I suppose I mean, “in the jungle”. I have a hard time figuring out where one village ends and the next one begins or knowing how big they are, but let’s just say it’s quite different from Yaoundé. Pretty much all the houses are made with traditional mud-brick walls, which apparently are really good at keeping the heat out.
I like meeting the different groups. Most of the time is spent doing training sessions, though, so I don’t get much of a chance to speak with the members. The little time I do have I use to pass out my surveys (which, by the way, are slowly killing me—why on earth did I think 20 questions was going to be ok?). Probably my 2 favorite parts of visits are
1. Prayer at the beginning and end—generally they lead it, and so it’s in the local dialect
2. Singing and dancing. We either do this as a welcome, break from class, or a goodbye, and it’s awesome. Mainly because the women love it when I get really into it, which just delights me.
Overall, everyone loves me. Probably just because I’m white, but personally I like to think it’s because I’m friendly.

Wednesday April 13
Half of the office has already left for Bamenda for a meeting with the country base and the west Africa regional director, so it was just a few of us in the field today. It was my last day with my food-sharing-employee-friend because she’s going on leave for the rest of the month; it’s rather sad, but we did get a nice heart-to-heart chat in today, so that’s good.
In other news: I ate cassava in 3 different forms today.
1.uh, just regular ol’ steamed cassava, I think? First time trying it.
2. tapioca
3. couscous

Sunday, April 10, 2011

76 Trombones Led the Big Parade

Thursday April 7
First day on the field! Went with a team to have a preliminary visit with 3 groups applying for Heifer’s assistance (Heifer aids individual families only if they are a part of a farming group called a CIG).
This is how unorganized the groups were: some of the members did not know which group they belonged to. True story.
I was a bit shocked, and though I’m not yet sure if they’ll be approved, I think they will be, because immediately afterward our manager said ‘you see, it’s like I told you—Heifer takes very weak groups and helps them build their capacity’. Wow! More power to ya’, Heifer. By teaching groups to help themselves, Heifer contributes to more sustainable development; when they leave the picture in 3 years, hopefully the members will have the skills to successfully support one another.
Part of the reason these groups were so poorly organized was most likely due to the fact that they are cocoa CIGs, which means they’re mainly active during cocoa harvesting season, which only comes once a year (I’m learning some agricultural stuff!). Cocoa is one of Cameroon’s most important exports; looking around at my surroundings today reminds me why fair trade is important. How is it just that chocolate is such a booming market and these people are living in such poverty?
After our work we were taking to the priest’s house, because he’s the one who put the groups in contact with Heifer. We had a good lunch, but he wasn’t there…bummer! He sounds really cool—he’s growing a garden and raising piglets to help his poorest parishioners.

Friday April 8
I had to be at Heifer by 6:30 this morning! Yikes! That was, however, because I got to go the field again. Animated conversation during the hour drive, but....it was all in Pidgeon! PIDGEON DRIVES ME CRAZY. Very frustrating. Let's put it this way: during the average French conversation, I understand 9 of 10 words; during the average Pidgeon conversation, I understand 1 of 10 words.
This time I went with an employee who was giving a training session to a group that just recently began its partnership with Heifer.
I was a little shocked to realize that learning what binders, tab dividers, whole punches, staplers, and meeting agendas made up the majority of the lesson, but quickly realized that the beginning is in fact, a very good place to start. I just cannot imagine never having used a stapler. I think I learned a lot more than they did today.
I also began distributing my surveys today. Against all better judgment I made them way too long...this might get old fast. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
By the way, best part of today's work was seeing a momma goat feeding its baby goat. Precious!
I saw a firetruck for the first time today! And an ambulance yesterday! Nice to know those exist...
Helped Therese make crepes tonight—yum! Seems like a yummy treat for successfully finishing week one of ISP!! (Wait, what? One week down!? I’ve already learned a lot but don’t have much of a paper to show for it yet…*sighs*)

Saturday April 9
Today is my 76th day in Cameroon, and what a lovely 76 days it’s been!
This morning I met with my project advisor (a local professor) and again had to remember to be patient living on Cameroonian time…he was an hour and a half late, and as I waited with Araba (he’s her advisor too), dudes at a nearby “bar” were trying to buy us beers. At 9:30 am.
Spent the rest of the day trying to get work done, succeeding a teensy bit, but mostly playing with Manuella. We are getting to be quite pals and have even begun taking short evening walks to get a taste of fresh air. She’s definitely a cutie pie.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Step into my office, baby

Sunday April 3
Was ringing my host parents’ doorbell by 8oclock and was headed back out the door by 9 for mass.
Mass today actually made me kind of homesick. Called home for a bit (ok…maybe an hour) though and felt a jillion times better. I do find that I think of “home” (read: America and all things American) a lot, but I’m going to attribute that to the fact that it’s a sort of a constant mental contrast to my daily life here. I mean, I love Cameroon and am pretty well adapted, but let’s be real—it’s pretty different from the U.S.
Anyhoo, hard to believe that when I set up my mosquito tent today, it was for the last time…
5 weeks straight here in Yaoundé in some ways will be long (haven’t stayed in one town that long since Fall semester, I don’t get to see my new friends much now, and it’s what’s separating me from my return), but I know it will also pass more quickly than I want (ah! ISP work!!).

Monday April 4
Day 1 of ISP! Day 1 at Heifer! It actually went really well—I feel like I’m off to a good start. From what I can tell there are 5 permanent staff members, 1 six month intern, 1 security guard, and me, and everyone is Cameroonian and seems very friendly. Plus, I can tell they’re going to be very supportive of the research component of my project, which is key (in fact, I’m not sure if they’re going to give me anything else to do…hmmm…)
Got my ISP stipend (for lunches, printing expenses, etc); we’re all really going to miss these SIT handouts…

Tuesday April 5
Day number two in the office…feeling (sort of) grown up.
Today I started reading files on participants (whew! I should give them a lesson or two on the value of tabs and organization), helped a bit with translating (silly bilingual Cameroon with your non-bilingual people), and conducted a couple of interviews with staff members.
These people apparently do not stop for a lunch break. I don’t understand. I was quite hungry by the time I got home and ate at 5:30. [I had written ‘starving’, but then thought to my whole day’s work and felt rather guilty…there are whole communities reporting that they only eat once a day…]
I just want to say, Heifer is really really cool. I’m sure you will get tired of hearing me talk about it, and I’ll do a better explanation later of all the great things they do, but I just wanted to put that out there for now…

Wednesday April 6
Getting settled into the office and my new routine, and I like it. One of the staff members even gave me a whole plate of banana and avocado as a morning snack!
Cleaned up my questionnaire translations a bit with another staff member’s assistance (though I must boast a bit—they needed very little help) and got those all printed out. My-oh-my do I miss free printing at TU; printing in Bastos is $0.60 a page.
On my way home I ran into several of my friends, which was quite fun…I miss them!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Nasara! Nasara!

Wednesday March 30
A very full day of IDI presentations; Ellen and I are officially done thinking about “women and work!”…time to focus on ISP!!
When I got home we had a precious moment where the children of the compound swamped Maria and played ring-around-the-rosy over and over with her.
I got to serve myself at dinner for the first time in awhile. That might not sound like a big deal, but it was—nice break from forcing down 2x as much rice as I think I can possibly eat.

Thursday March 31
Whew! Long day. We spent the last 2 days listening to everyone’s IDI presentations, and today we sat in that stuffy room from 9-5 presenting our ISP proposals. It was really good for swapping ideas though. Tomorrow’s our last day of classes…weird!
Got home and discovered the 4 and 6 year old had left again and won’t be back for a few days. Bummer because that means I don’t get to say goodbye.
I noticed that tonight my host sister Koulsoumi (14) knows how to time her prayer perfectly during the commercial break between El Diablo and The Gardener’s Daughter—2 of Cameroonians’ favorite soaps [I swear everyone watches at least one of these]. What’s interesting is that she’s the only ne I ever see doing the daily prayers; Dad goes to the neighborhood mosque, the other kids are too young, and maybe mom’s exempt because of the baby?

Friday April 1
Woke up happy because Balla was all snuggled up against me.
Used the morning to finish up my ISP proposal and then had our last class of the semester (research methods). Then we enjoyed a lovely lecture on the dangers of cholera, because it’s apparently cruisin’ around Cameroon at the moment. I was worried, but then I learned that Doxycycline helps prevent the dreaded disease. Who’s already on doxycycline for malaria prevention? MARIA’s already on Doxycycline. [BOO-YA]
Waking hoe I got chased down by a young gent who was quite sad to hear “we leave tomorrow”, but was somewhat appeased when I gave him my email address. Except apparently NOT.
He. Showed. Up. At. My. House. Later that night. I was sitting with my host parents when he came in. Oh man, was I mortified. I asked “oh are you guys friends?” and someone said “yes”, but after he eagerly handed me a piece of paper with his name, email, phone, AND his mom’s phone number (huh?) and headed out, I asked again, and my parents said they’d never seen him in their lives. Good times.

Saturday April 2
Perfect last wake-up in Ngaoundere—Balla was all cuddled up by me and petting my hair.
Went to the little market near our house this morning with Koulsoumi…It’s HOPPIN on Saturdays. I found a SWEET pair of hot pink rubber shoes (think Jellies material, Keds style), but could not convince the man to sell them to me for 800, all I had on me. I seriously went home and dug through the bottom of all my bags until I found another 200 (40cents). I’m offish broke (simply to stubborn to go to a bank, because I know we’re getting a hefty ISP stipend soon) but am wearing the shoes as I write!! Back at the house I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon hanging out with the family neighbors and getting saddened by all the “don’t leave us!!” comments.
There was, however, a slight interruption for “Maria’s lover: THE RETURN”. He CAME BACK to my house, this time with a letter in hand. I must explain, he is very friendly; however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t burst out laughing once he left. For the record, I’m laughing at the cultural difference and not at him. For everyone’s enjoyment I will now translate the letter in full…
[note: for some reason he has neglected punctuation]

To miss Maria
Hi maria how are you I’m very well we just barely had our first meeting and you’re leaving me already. That’s normal because you’re rejoining your family but I’m very sad because I would’ve liked to get to know you better and the only chance is that we can see each other on the we and get to know each other better but promise me to never forget me even at home because me I even think that we could get married one day I would invite you one day to meet my family but one think can you give me your number that you use in America I will call you from time to time to know the state of your health and that of your family I await your response even if you give it through Koulsoumi she will give it to me
Have a good trip kisses goodbye
[He then proceeded to sign both his name AND an alias. Guess I’ll protect his anonymity just in case…]

Remember readers, all I did was say ‘hi’ to this guy.
Must say, all the girls are pretty jealous of my letter (minus Rebecca, because she already got one when we were in Dschang). I’m sitting next to Araba as I write this, and I commented “aw, I feel kind of bad”; she notes, “it’s hard to be a heart breaker”. So true, so true.

Sitting on the train headed back to Yaoundé as I write this. Leaving today was hard. This is my favorite (Cameroonian) family. I truly feel at home with them. I enjoy chatting with Koulsoumi and kids are fun and adorable. Not only do I approve of mom and dad’s parenting style, I’ve even seen them exchange small gestures of affection. Plus, I love living on top of a bunch of neighbors…I get so much attention and people interaction!
Ngaoundere: it’s been short, but it’s been real. We may have had a rough start (crazy lady), and you may be less beautiful than other places I’ve visited in Cameroon, but it wasn’t long before I realized how good you were. With your squishier baguettes, gorgeous pagne, and sense of peace, I practically want to write you a love letter, even if we did just meet…
Bye bye Ngaoundere, bye bye ‘nasara’. [I’m telling you—never have I ever learned a new word and then heard it so many times in rapid succession. ‘Nasara’ means white person in Fulfulde, and I swear I must have heard it 50 times a day for 2 weeks straight.]
…so as I mentioned, right now I’m sitting on the night train, but it’s much less exciting this time since they skipped buying us beds. Did just buy some bananas out the window at a stop, though. Great service, but I must say they’re crazy! It’s nearly 1am, and there are still kids out there!
All right…they haven’t bothered to dim the lights, but I should try to get some sleep anyways…

Peace out girl scouts,
Maria

Friday, April 1, 2011

ujineere didi be tenere didi be nogas é didi

...that means "two thousand two hundred and twenty two" in Fulfulde. I was going to translate the number of days I've been here into Fulfulde, but I don't actually know how many days that is...
so I just picked a really big number to impress you with my language skills!


Thursday March 24
Class and meetings with profs to discuss ISP proposal. Getting mixed feedback about feasibility, but I’m starting to get a clearer idea for the research component of my practicum and am excited. “Perceptions and impact of Heifer International’s ‘Pass on the Gift’ Policy”.
Here are the proposed research questions: 1) Do participants fulfill the “Pass on the Gift” requirement merely out of obligation or out of desire? 2) Does the policy inspire increased generosity among participants?
By the way, on my way home I passed a cow walking down the street. By itself. No big deal.
In other news, I now make water. Yep, I’m that magical. Or…maybe I’ve just started using my iodine tablets. Maybe.
Quiet at home because the 6 and 4 year old went to their mom’s for a few days.
I had to eat like a whole freakin’ bag of rice for dinner. Whew!
I had a nice chat with Papa about religion. My host parents here are just so kind and gentle.
I’m treating myself to 8+ hours of sleep here. Kind of a must since it’s my only “me” time. Though I must say, it’s becoming QUITE the party in bed—we’ve added the newborn to our gang!

Friday March 25
Fewer classes - - > less structure - - > Maria feels unproductive.
Even when I don’t have class, I just get up and leave as if I do…it’s just simpler.
Maybe I’m a bit hard on myself though—part of the unproductiveness might be due to all my walking. I’m getting some good exercise! I takes me something like 45 minutes or an hour to get from my house to centreville (and pretty much all the taxis here are motorcycles).
Random note about town: So I’d seen plenty of Obama tshirts around Cameroon, but Ngaoundere is even home to several Obama establishments… “Obama Clothing” and “Obama Call Box” are my favorites so far.
We did, however, visit the Lamidat today, so I suppose it was somewhat productive. The Lamidat is basically the type of chefferie found in this region. It’s situated right next to the “grand mosquee”, and since today’s Friday, we got to watch the faithful gathering. It was a good compromise since I can’t actually enter a mosque since 1) I’m not Muslim and 2) I’m a girl.
Also, afterwards the Lamido dude himself showed up…I felt like I was in Aladdin thanks to his turban and the procession guiding him in. Those trumpets were bigger than me!
The neighbor ladies fed me dinner on our shared front porch; I think this means we’re officially friends. SO. MUCH. FOOD. Thinking of “The Little Engine that Could” as I eat.

Saturday March 26
Got picked up at 4am! To take a daytrip to a park. Closer than Waza and less cool, but we did spot 1 giraffe and 14 hippos! I s’pose that made the bumpy ride worth it.
Once back to town I met up with Ellen (she’s back!) to catch up on life and on our IDI homework.
At home I watched a bit of the soccer match…Cameroon lost to Senegal, which means they don’t get to compete in the African cup. Boo.

Sunday March 27
-La messe me manque.
-Put pedal to the metal and cranked out my IDI results. In short, Ellen and I found in our research that: when a woman begins working, her husband’s not going to pitch in with chores. Whether he’ll treat her better/worse/same because of her job, now that’s a mixed bag.
-Loads of visitors. Hard to say if it’s thanks to the baby or if it’s simply the usual way.
-Balla, the 15 month old, is my favorite. Great day, because he is finally not scared of me!! You don’t understand…he’s SO cute.
-It’s official: I’ve eaten couscous manioc or rice for dinner for a week straight.
-Out on the porch with the gals….
*One of the neighbors is a real hoot. Every day she tries to think up a new way to come home with me. Today she proposed several times that I marry her husband and the three of us go back together.
*The other neighbor sells that purple drank stuff on the street. We all helped fill and tie the little packets. Blows my mind—she’ll sell them at a nickel a piece. So in about an hour’s time she packaged enough to earn about $3. And it could take several days worth of work to sell those…

Monday March 28
-Class was our final “thematic seminar” discussion.
-Fulfulde lesson
-lunch at the milk bar (per usual)
-visit to an artist: this was really cool! He was a handicapped man who has won some of the top prizes for art in Cameroon and has even travelled some with his art in the US and Europe.
-Oops, I’m becoming a cyber café addict.
-I came home and found the kids are back, and everyone is freshly braided and henna-ed for tomorrow’s baptism. Wasn’t long before I was matching!

Tuesday March 29
I got really lucky! I didn’t start class till 13h, so that meant I got to stay at home for the baptism and all its prep. Even when getting ready for a party these people stay calm; I swear stress does not exist in Ngaoundere—greatest thing ever. I helped a bit with packaging kola nuts for the guests (important part of many Cameroonian traditions…I tasted it for the first time. Yuck!)
Friends and family started swinging by around 10h30 or 11h. I used the opportunity to snap a jillion pics. Makes up a bit for the fact that I can’t whip out my camera on the street to capture all the sights (a man tending to his small field with a water can—a patch of bright green in a sea of red dust; a moto zipping by with its passenger carrying a 12’ piece of plywood or the one following it, his passenger with a baby strapped to her back). Anyhoo, lots of cute kids and beautiful ladies wrapped in lovely pagne.
In fact, ALL the guests were ladies. Apparently the gents celebrated at 6 this morning, giving the baby his name at the mosque and sacrificing a lamb outside the house…wish someone had woken me up for that! I must say, I find it interesting that this ceremony is also called a ‘baptism’. No water or sin washing involved, but they did shave the boy’s head and shared plenty of rice and purple drank. From what I could tell, soap was the #1 baby gift; whew! that’ll last a while.