Happy Halloween!

Halloween isn’t exactly celebrated here in Cameroon, and in fact, no one in my village had heard of it. It was a bit difficult to explain, but people were happy enough to hear about it. Their lack of celebration did not stop us from celebrating, however. Some of us PCVs got together and put on our outfits and went out to the market. Two of my friends had the local nursery school uniform made in their size. People either thought it was hilarious, or were very very confused (often a bit of both). They would laugh with their friends and then just stop and stare. I went as a market bag. They have these giant woven plastic bags here used for transporting clothes, food, or anything else you can imagine. The bags are large enough to fit me inside one of them. So I just cut a whole in the bottom and wore it like a dress. I chose not to wear it during the day, since I attract enough attention as it is by simply being a foreigner, but I did wear it out at night. We all went out for food after it became dark. We walked out of the house and a group of young children were standing around out front. The second they saw me they burst into some of the most genuine laughter I have ever heard. Like side-splitting, doubling-over, pure joy laughing. One kid literally ended up on the ground in the dirt he was laughing so hard. “Dat whiteman di wear bag-oh!” He cried. (Or, “That whiteman is wearing a bag!”). They thought it was absolutely hilarious and were also a bit bewildered perhaps. It sure made my night though. 

Glasses Distribution Round Two

The first event went so well, and so many more people were requesting glasses, that we decided to do it again! Eyes on Africa was kind enough to donate a second shipment of glasses. Again, we gave small lessons on how to properly take care of the glasses and how to use them before anyone actually received their pair. 

Then we had patients come up and test their eye strength and matched them to the correct lenses. We gave out over 170 pairs of glasses this round, and there are still more that we continue to give away. People are so thankful and appreciative! They put the glasses on and the smile lights up their face as they say things like, “I can see it!” or “It is all clear now!” There are lots of hugs, vigorous handshakes, and thank you's.

One of the best parts of the event, for me, was helping my counterpart sell glasses cases as a source of income. She is a volunteer nurse at the health center, living at the hospital and thus working all sorts of hours. She is dedicated and extremely hard working, she truly does it all—from assisting with births, to giving injections, dressing wounds, applying IVs, giving medicine, attending to patients, and cleaning the center—for no pay. Not only does she volunteer full time at the hospital, she must also find time to manage her farm. She is also now responsible for supporting and taking care of (and feeding) her brother’s wife and one-year-old child, who have recently come to live with her. She takes care of the baby while the mother is at school during the day. This extra strain has been difficult on her financially, even though she is more than happy to do it. So when the opportunity of making and selling cases presented itself, she took it. She made over 100 USD in the first day and sold all the cases that she made. She pulled me aside and told me, “Allely, thank you for what you have done for me. I don’t have words to express my thanks. What you have done is a very good thing. It has made me to be so happy. I can now pay for my sister’s schooling. I am so grateful.” Of course, she was the one to actually do the work and make the cases, but nevertheless, I was, and am, so touched by her appreciation and am so happy to have helped her in some small way. 

Playing House

I was sitting inside of my house and a bunch of the neighborhood children were running around outside. Eventually they came up onto my porch and were shouting and making all sorts of noise. At first it was just general screaming and I wasn’t paying much attention, then I heard one of them ask, “Who will feed the pig?” This was strange because the child’s family didn’t own a pig. “Pikin (child), I will go farm. You go feed dat pig.” I realized they were playing house! “Should I make rice?” The pretend mother asked her children. It was such an incredible moment to discover that children all over the world take part in playing house, but that the realization of the game could be so different. The small variations that culture has created were fascinating to me. “Sweep for there!” Mother directed. “Then you go feed pig and go for farm.” The same concept, but such a different version of it! Instead of father needing his briefcase for work and the mother going to the office, the mother was going to the farm. Instead of making the bed the children had to feed the pig. Instead of pasta they were preparing rice. It was such an insight to the culture and the lives of these children. In revealing the events in their own lives, the game took on a rather sad turn of events. Then men came home, and instead of them welcoming the mother or greeting the children, the boys were police officers on a violent streak. “Police!” they shouted, “surrender!” There was some struggling and fake crying by the children. “I kill your woman.” An officer said. It was rather shocking and incredibly saddening to realize that this was the life these young children knew. That at ages 5 and 8 they knew about that type of violence and would replicate it in a game of house. That they had clearly been exposed to things that an American child playing house would never think to include in the game. It was eye-opening to witness and provided so much information on life here. It revealed the differences between the cultures so aptly and made me reflect on the aspects that led to the variations in the game. I was so happy to have that glimpse into their lives!

Akid Water Project

I am thrilled to announce that my long-awaited water project plans have been approved! There are two communities in my clan that are incredibly remote and still do not have electricity or pipe borne water.

The path leading to Akid community

 As of now, women and children travel far distances to haul water home in buckets and containers to use for cooking, drinking, bathing, and anything else that requires water. They are drinking this water straight from the streams without any treatment system, and it is often making them sick. The water is really not sanitary as the streams are used for all sorts of purposes. People are bathing in the rivers, urinating and defecating into them, dumping garbage, doing laundry, and allowing runoff pesticides to drain into them. The water is not really safe to drink or use for preparing foods. People have complained of stomach pains and have reported that they and their children are suffering from diarrhea. Additionally, there are many skin infections and incidents of filariasis. The village also has very high rates of malaria and in fact the majority of patients admitted to the hospital each month are treated for malaria. The fact that people are storing multiple containers of river water within their homes (normally in uncovered buckets) is likely contributing to these numbers, as the water already contains mosquito larva that is then brought into the household, and at the very least, the stagnant river water provides a good breeding opportunity for other mosquitoes. In general the community has expressed worries about drinking the water and have said they would like a system for health purposes. In creating the water system, we are hoping to reduce some of these particular health problems in addition to improving overall health.

Akid

For the past several months I have been collaborating with village members, technicians, and organizations to see how we can bring water to these people. We have designed a water system that will consist of a filtration tank next to the river to purify river water.  The clean water will be pumped to a tank over the community and the water will then flow down to several different spigots in the village for use. 

The river that will be used for the water system

After a long wait, I am happy to finally say that the project has been approved, and we found a very gracious donor, Water Charity, to front the necessary funds. Ready for some shameless promotion? If you are at all interested in helping with this project, please go to http://www.watercharity.com/akid-water-system-project-cameroon to learn more or donate!

 

Villagers collecting stones for use in the water system