18/11/11
Wow. Outsourcing Christmas shopping is THE way to go – I LOVE al-Adji and Djanabo. Al-Adji was just over and I got the history of the Qur’an and a count of all the gendarme checkpoints between here and Kousseri (21!).
23/11/11
So far, so good on the village pumpkin pie front. Sadly, my lack of a tin is going to make for some hideous mini-pies.
Tee hee. Al-Adji just came over to visit again and, I, once again, got a theology lesson. This time? Each person has a running dossier of good and evil deeds. Two small malachies (Arabic for “angel” maybe?) sit on your shoulders and record everything you do. When you die, the grande malachy pulls your file from his cabinet and determines your eternal fate. This case isn’t the best example but I often find it interesting how devout Kanuri people are and yet how much mysticism is evident in their worship.
24/11/11
I had to force myself to go to my environmental education class today but it was good. I talked about water and did a fun water sanitation demonstration. Take that, cholera!
Pumpkin pie versus Muhammed was a draw – you should have seen the size of the bites he took (I don’t even think they can be called bites they were so tiny) but he took a second.
27/11/11
What is wrong with me? Now, I’m less excited than anxious about going home. It’s like I’m living my life 2 weeks ahead of time. I’m already thinking about coming back and I haven’t even left yet. Time is going too fast (ha, that’s the Cameroonian speaking)! I think I’ve just been feeling a bit trop lately. I had a formidable/formidable day in Mora yesterday and I’m overwhelmed. Too overwhelmed – I’ll write tomorrow.
29/11/11
I got cadeau-ed a skeeter netJ The government distributed mosquito nets to every family in Cameroon and the doctor included me in the census. Woot, woot!
Kay, karambani – I just had a bizarre, slightly sketchy encounter with an old lady I saw on my way back from Double today. This afternoon, she said she was going to come to my house for a cadeau. I laughed, as I always do. But she actually came…and got really mad when I didn’t give her anything and tried to force her way in. I’m grateful for Loki. I owe her a big ‘un anyway. She got away from me en brousse today and let me catch her before she terrorized the village. (I almost book-ended my year here in a not-so-good way). I’m ready for vacation, I think. I’ve been thinking about this for so long, now it’s really happening and it doesn’t feel like it. I will be home one week from today. Wow. There is a lot I’ve been wanting to write about (depuis depuis) so here go bullets:
-I had a super-productive day yesterday (not necessarily time-efficient – in fact, it only happened because I gave it a whole day – but productive). I opened the project bank account and saw the sous-prefet (who, by the way, looks EXACTLY like the guy from Super Troopers – a fact I couldn’t really get over during our meeting).
-I had an in.sane Saturday. Djanabo and I had programe-d making sauces with Kellou. Then Kellou was hospitalized with malaria and typhoid on Thursday. Thus, I left for Doulo wondering if our cook-off was really going to happen. But it did. Oh, it did. We went to the onion farm to pick leaves and then headed to Mora. Before anything, we had to have a lunch of folere (delicious, as always!) and I had to depense major bucks for a kid to go to market to get all of our ingredients. Then we made 5 sauces – folere, folere and onion, gumbo, ngubudu, and something I forget (my favorite! Shoot – zome, hada – something like that). At first it was fantastic – I LOVE time spent sitting on a mat, shredding leaves, listening to the cadence of Fulfulde and then sharing a plate of food. Then it was embarrassing – they made me cut the veggies (avec a dull knife and sans cutting board or any surface to cut on) and turn the cous-cous. And then it was too much – 4:30 PM, getting dark, still had to bike home and only one sauce prepared. Four hours later…I showed up at a Mora PCV’s house with our smorgesboard. He was sick but let me stay. Like I said before, formidable/formidable.
-Goni and I were talking about the U.S. last night (I’ve been spouting off to anyone who’ll listen – woohoo, vacation!) And we were both determined that he would go there someday. I was semi-serious about finding a way for him to visit. He was dead serious about wanting to come live. As he says, “you pay aller/retour and you ‘lose’ the retour” hahaha. Du courage, mon ami. Anyway, for now he’s praying I get a good job (you’re not alone, Dad!) so I can buy him a ticket. I completely sold him on Virginia. Goni’s American accent – “oh, HI! What you doing here?!) was absolutely hilarious. He’ll have to work on his southern one.
[Gaaaarrrrghhhh…sometimes I hate the lack of control here! Goni won’t let me leave tomorrow because Mal Ali is going to Bunki to get something – like a melon?! – for my mom.]
30/11/11
Well, tomorrow is the depart and it feels really weird. Surreal. But also sort of sad. I sepnt the night hanging out with Goni, Muhammed, al-Adji, and Kodomi. I can’t imagine what it will be like to leave for good. Noufou for breakfast to cap off my 4 days of living on 250 CFA. Wow – I have a haircut appointment a week from today. This is too much!
5/12/11
**Excuse this post – it’s the stream of consciousness that documents my travels home. Note – my friend, Megan, and I were together until Brussels (hence the “we” – though it may seem otherwise, I haven’t gone completely crazy)**
At a Total (gas) Station in Yaounde. Been driving around the city for 2.5 hours. I’ll believe we’re leaving Cameroon when I see it. But – Christmas cadeau of all cadeaux – we scored a ride to Douala with a Peace Corps staff member. We just finished dinner – complete with Chilean, Argentine, and South African wine – at his house. America, here I come (I think)!
Douala airport (AIRPORT?!?!) – Feel like the uber-villageoise Kanuri dudes on the train. Bumbling idiots. Currrently stuffing folere leaves into our wallets.
Brussels airport – Now, I feel like I’m watching a movie, partly because we look like we landed from Mars – everyone is in black and gray scarves and we’re in pagne and flip flops (so funny to see the Africans layering on the plane). Simultaneously so foreign and feels like I was here yesterday. So happy this isn’t final. Had a minor freak out taking off. Grateful for the 300 CFA plastic flip flop – they remind me of (Cameroon) home.
Freaking out! Just left Megan. Almost missed boarding – ha! – they had to call me. Hesitated when they asked if I had any weapons in my bag but never did end up stabbing anyone with that cous-cous turner…
I love you, America! Smuggled in folere/dates (sort of…it was legal, don’t worry); found out Philly to Syracuse flight was canceled; everyone and their mother helped me get on an earlier one (even though I was speaking Nigerian English); felt the urge to start skipping and singing the national anthem.
The 75 year-old Korean woman next to me is using an iPhone. Help!!! These worlds just don’t seem compatible. So indescribable to see grass and trees. Ah! Just started eating a bowl of potato salad with my hand…oops.
Everyone is reading, reading, reading (and fat, fat, fat!).
4/1/12
It’s 12:30 a.m. – I’m back on the other side (and seriously jet-lagged). I have so much to write. I feel more alone than ever – not because I’m unhappy, au contraire. I came home to Magdeme today. And it felt like home. And, just like when I got to the U.S., it felt like I hadn’t left – I looked at a picture of Jenna and thought “Aw, can’t wait to see her” – wait, I just saw her. If both places are home, where am I supposed to really feel at home? I almost cried seeing people today. They were so happy – the neighbors all came out; Yababa stopped playing to hold my hand; al-Adji showed up; all of Goni’s daughters came by with him (he told me that every time Yagana saw a plane at night, she would say “look! Liz is back!”). Anyway, I’m in a real limbo. Happy to be back/loved home. So to recount…
Well, I’m over a month past what I want to write about but I’ll recount anyway. Getting into the Syracuse airport was amazing. Looking back, I was seriously out of it. But I saw Mom and Dad right away (with balloons haha) J. We went to Kirby’s and had steaks at the bar while watching the SU basketball game. I’m not going to give the details of the rest of the trip. Suffice it to say it was excellent – thank you SO much to everyone who made time to visit with me, I can’t tell you how happy I was to see all of you!! General reactions: right from the first night at Kirby’s, it was so strange how un-strange everything was. I slipped right back into “life.” It’s like the two “lives” two don’t coexist. Then there would be moments – like calling Goni from the mall or seeing millet in plastic dispensers in the grocery store or setting up a tree in the house – that would just give me a serious jolt. And the choices! Ah, I was COMPLETELY incapable of making decisions. There were other times at which the excess rightly gave me a shock – like girls in flip flops wearing leg warmers or people making fun of each other for having old iPhones. (I’m sorry but I am SO not into SIRI and e-books). But people kept asking me if the excess was awful. No, it wasn’t. The lack of recognition/gratitude was. We shouldn’t necessarily shun nice things just to shun them. Most people who live much simpler lives (like my neighbors here) wouldn’t. But we should recognize that we are very lucky to have those things and that life would still be pretty great without them. I got back into Cameroon mode on the Philadelphia-Brussels flight – tried to save part of my flight lunch to share with villagers ha (fail).
8/1/12
Well, the return has been pretty easy, partly, I think, because it has been very productive. I went to Mora Friday and accomplished a lot: met with CADEPI regarding a giant reforestation project and secured trees for the Doulo, Tayer, and Magdeme primary schools; picked up an AWESOME package/letter from Makish; met with Jess and Liz regarding the girls’ camp and a Men as Partners seminar for Women’s Day; went to the market; met with the well tech to discuss materials procurement; and made a deposit in the project bank account. I’m going back next week and I’m hoping for an equally productive day. There is only one (major) downside to being back – Nigeria is going to the dogs. The president removed the fuel subsidy and people are not happy. The recent unrest on top of escalating religious violence in the north resulted in the closure of the border. Now, everything is expensive, there’s nothing in market and strikes are imminent. Open up, Nigeria, you’re supposed to be the land-of-everything-good!
10/1/12
I am riding a Kanuri wave. Neyley wayatay! I told a random guy en brousse this morning that there is no Kanuri in the United States (although there probably is) and he said I should write it all down and teach it. Ngala zoro! I had another nice conversation with my old, scarecrow friend (he’s about 75 and every, single day, he rides his bike out and spends the day sitting on a termite mound, yelling at the birds that attack his millet).
Curse the Magdeme market!!! Naira, francs, Kanuri, Hausa, Fulfulde – ah! Pick one language, one currency, and one exchange rate – PLEASE! I spent all my money again (I think – the Naira-CFA exchange rate changes so often, it’s not like I would actually even know). But the market is crawling with gorgeous, Nigerian tomatoes and noufou so I’m okay.
It’s weird/interesting to be on the “real” side of all the conflict in Nigeria, rather than the academic side. I’m certain the IMF/World Bank/international donors insisted on the lifting of the subsidy. But I find myself on the side of the strikers. We can’t afford this!
11/1/12
Argh. I went to the health center because it is vaccination day and I wanted to make lotion with the women who were waiting but there were no women there. So I talked with the doctor for an hour, which was actually really nice. My French needs brushing up, though, man. We talked a bit about work. He’s going to talk to the chief about the Moringa orchard I want to plant at the center and he’s going to put me on a team for UNICEF’S upcoming, regional nutrition project. I also told him about our tentative 8 Mars (Women’s Day) plans. He said he’s going to buy me pagne., to which I replied that the real cadeau would be if he wore it. He laughed so I added that I’d buy him a drink on 8 Mars since that’s apparently how it works here (on Women’s Day, all of the men say “happy holiday, now buy me a drink”). He concluded by saying that he doesn’t like 8 Mars because women think they can “leave the kitchen” – bah.
14/1/12
Let me just say “ahhhhhh, Nigeria!!” I would go into it but the whole situation is giving me a headache so I’m just going to leave it.
15/1/12
I love my students. Along with Parmesan cheese (which I’m already almost out of), they make life better. I’m going to talk to the prefet and the delegue from the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINSEC) about our student association and library project tomorrow. I also love Muhammed – talked to him on the phone tonight, didn’t understand a word he said. Where is he?! I have his WWE wrestling DVD! And I can’t keep it floating around here – according to Goni “people in the world, they don’t know what they are, can never follow the religion…especially these wrestlers.”
17/1/12
Notes from the health center meeting:
-The village chiefs are asking me for news of Nigeria – not good. But I’ve adopted the “inshallah” perspective. It is somewhat frustrating to talk to Goni about the strikes/price spikes because he just doesn’t get that the Nigerian president is between a rock and a hard place (i.e. he can’t just reinstate the subsidy because moto drivers want him to). I have, on the hand, discovered something I really like – asking the Cameroonian government for money. I went to MINSEC yesterday and had a nice conversation with the delegate. I think he’s going to help us out with a contribution to the library. I have to follow up, though – we’ll see how good I am at that.
-That health center meeting was…I don’t know…ridiculous? Productive? Run-of-the-mill? It was basically just an upbraiding of the village health representatives (i.e. “Ousamanou, you are an ignorant villager who doesn’t clean his water – you need to be more vigilant!”). Does that work? And the upbraiding was mainly carried out by using concrete examples (i.e. “Ousamanou, because you are an ignorant villager who doesn’t clean his water and needs to be more vigilant, your two youngest children got cholera. Remember that?”) – medical confidentiality much? Also, while the 23 men, 2 women and I sat under the hangar, a girl gave birth inside. Poor thing.
-How different my situation is from this time last year. I remember at the first health center meeting I was so nervous and uncomfortable. Not so this time around – I chatted everyone up in Kanuri and was first in line to prends my jus at the end.
31/1/12
I am a delinquent writer. I got back from mid-service (a week-long, medical/general evaluation in Yaounde) on Sunday. It was fairly uneventful – no more Giardia (oh yeah, I was diagnosed with Giardia in the States – based on the same symptoms that I had been having here for 8 months. Special), lots of cheese, and the easiest trips down and back yet. Oh! I also met up with a friend from village. Trying to coordinate a rendez-vous in a city neither of us knew while speaking only Kanuri was almost impossible, but not quite because I found Baba Gana and scored new headphones from his older brother, Goni Salay, who sells fake iPods in the market.
I’m really happy to be back up north – I feel way too villageoise for Yaounde. But the froid is gone! I’m starting the fight against the hot season early with an afternoon tea (here, they say “hot fights hot”). Other than that, it’s plan, plan, plan for work – I had a meeting with the director of the Doulo primary school today and I have meetings with CADEPI and the well committee tomorrow.
3/2/12
I don’t know if that was heartening or disheartening. The well committee and I just did 2.5 hours of money-collecting rounds (to reach the 25% community contribution requested by USAID). We got 9.000 CFA to add to the 100.00 CFA already collected. 240.000 CFA to go. We stopped every 10 feet for kola nut (a stimulant that is basically the African village equivalent of coffee in America) but I got some taweeska (millet beignets), some good Kanuri conversations with kids, and a peek into all of my neighbors’ concessions. I don’t love how the women crawl on their knees to give money to men but at least they’re giving. I may like asking the Cameroonian government for money but I do NOT like asking villagers for money. One old lady asked what I had brought for her. Um, actually, on the contrary…
Speaking of the Cameroonian government giving money, though – the MINSEC delegate called today to tell me he is going to contribute a small sum to our project. Sweet! I’m really impressed that he called back. Now, I will be able to start the project for Youth Week.
On the education front, I had a meeting with the mother’s association in Doulo today. Holy cow. About 75 women showed up (thought it took them an hour). It is too bad I am just finding out about this group now. But we’re making lotion in 2 weeks and I told them about my big plans for doing a nursery with their children. The nursery will be comprised of Moringa trees, which the women can then plant, use, and prepare to improve nutrition in their community.
Ah! STARK contrast to last year – February is going to be WORK month. I won’t even get into the CADEPI/UNDP project yet – 16 trainings in the last 2 weeks of February. Aye, on verra.
6/2/12
Teeny, tiny mangoes in Mora market! I ate 5. They tasted like girls’ camp and hot season. Speaking of hot season – it is starting.
In other awesome news, I made it onto the old man mat today! It only took me 14 months but they finally invited me to sit down! I also ordered the library shelving. Allegedly it will be ready for Youth Day. I’m looking forward to the Youth Day cultural celebration, not so much the parade, which mostly entails baking in the sun while watching thousands of students march by. Maybe I won’t go and say I did.
