Family Visit

My whole family came out to visit me in Cameroon and it was one of those typical family visits, full of fufu, songs about me, and a goat. It was a wild time. They arrived in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, which was a bit of a rude awakening for them. The city is loud and constantly bustling, and right from the moment they landed they were being hassled. We escaped to a small beach town the next morning where we ate fresh fish and took a canoe ride up a river to a pygmy village. 

Our next stop was the town of Limbe, famous for its black sand beaches. 

After those few days of general luxury and relaxation (although here, my family might disagree), we headed up to my own village. The community was beyond thrilled to receive my family. Each section of the village wanted a role to play. Every person we passed on the road wanted to shake their hands and hug them and bless them and buy them a beer. People were literally fighting over who got to buy them drinks. (In that instance, they eventually decided they would pay for separate rounds). After several drinks we finally made it down to the neighborhood where I first lived. 

They went all out and decorated the house with balloons and ribbons. They gave a few speeches in honor of my parents and prepared a giant feast! There were drinks, palm wine, rice, fufu, ndole, vegetable, plantain, sauce, chicken, and fish. Then, the women performed a few original songs in honor of my family’s arrival. Our favorite featured the line, “whitemen are in our midst.” The next morning we went to Akid, which is one of the communities that is getting a new water system. They were so excited that they had decorated the whole roadway coming up to the village with flowers and palm fronds. This celebration was not only to welcome my family, but was also to name me the mother of their village. I now also have the name “Nyah Akid,” or “mother of Akid” for the work I have done to bring water to their community. It was an incredible honor. They gave a few speeches explaining that water gives life, and they see me as responsible for bringing potable water to their community, and thus I have given them life, just like a mother. They stated that I am the mother of every child of Akid and performed a few songs that dubbed me with my new title. Then, in a final flourish, they presented my family with a live goat. They wanted my family to bring it back to America with them, but after a few explanations about the rules and regulations of airplanes, it was ultimately decided the goat would stay with me. So I am now the proud and clueless owner of a ram. (In fact, I have so little idea of what to do with a ram, I went to my counterpart for help and the ram spent his first night in the male ward of the hospital). 

The party did not end there though, as we were then ushered to a big party in the center of town. There were more speeches, lots of drink, and so much food! There was fufu, plantain, rice, ndole, beans, fried rice, vegetables, fish, chicken, and more! Some of the children in the community performed traditional dances and played drums. 

It was a wonderful event! The next morning, a neighbor brought over food and then we went to our next party. We went to Nzimbeng, which is a very remote community. We walked over the bamboo bridges together and once there, they fed us pasta, rice, chicken, sweet potato, and sauces. Then they performed songs with lyrics like, “our Peace Corps’ name is Allely Albert who will go down in the history of Muambong health center,” and other classics like those. They also performed traditional dances. After many photos and goodbyes, we began our journey back. 

The next morning my adventurous family agreed to get on motorcycles for over an hour and a half to leave town. Before we left, my family had to be given several outfits from the local tailor and food to eat on the way from my counterpart. Finally, we climbed on our motorcycles and took off. It was incredible to have my family here and to be able to show them my life. It was really a wonderful experience and I am thankful to everyone in my village who welcomed them. 

Snake in the House! 12/2

Power has finally just returned after a month of being out at post! I was thrilled to be able to turn on my computer and immediately seized the opportunity to relax and watch some TV. I took a break from my movie and went to my kitchen for a snack. I flicked on the light and then entered the kitchen when a slight movement caught my eye. Under the door that leads to the backyard I saw a dark, scaled tail. I immeadiately thought lizard… or snake! The tail slowly retracted and vanished under the door. By its slow movement I was convinced it was a snake. I thought about letting it go, but then also thought about it coming back or all my neighbors who would be walking out there to the latrine that evening. I opened the door slowly, and sure enough, there was a two-foot long snake! It was relatively thin, with a dark black green color, just sitting on my steps. I ran around to the front of the house and called my neighbor. By just saying there was a snake, all the Cameroonians in my compound jumped into action. A snake is not to be taken lightly, apparently. She ran and called for one of the men. He came out equipped with his machete. The snake started to climb back up towards my door. The women looked on anxiously and with extreme caution. They were all leaving ample space between them and the snake. “This is a bad one,” the man said. Then he swung at it with his machete, leaving a hefty blow. The snake writhed and tried to lash out and bite at the machete. The man continued to hit it until it was clearly dead, and then he continued to hit it some more to really make sure it was dead. I guess they really don’t want to take any chances. They even decided to throw it into the latrine for good measure. My neighbor thanked me for getting her and continued to make disgusted noises for several minutes before everyone disbanded. I was very glad that power returned when it did, that I turned on the light before entering the room, and that I decided to get someone about it. My next step will be contacting the carpenter to extend the bottom of my door a bit. 

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I had my second Thanksgiving in country! On Thanksgiving day itself, I had a small celebration with my friend from home (who also happens to be serving in Cameroon—it’s funny that our first Thanksgiving together required us to travel all the way to Cameroon). We did not exactly have a traditional meal, but it was delicious nonetheless! What we ate was by no means what I would want back in the US, but it was incredible and definitely felt like a real celebration in this country. We had kraft mac-n-cheese, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. All of which are luxuries and were absolutely amazing. Is it sad that those items made me so happy? Very possibly, but I stand by it. And in the true spirit of the holiday, I was very thankful for that meal. I don’t think I could have imagined a better dinner here. To top it off, we even had oreo pudding pie for dessert! We are so incredibly grateful to those who sent care packages and made that meal possible.

That Saturday we had a more traditional celebration with all of the volunteers in the region. There were maybe 30 people present, including some Cameroonians. We started cooking early in the morning on our camping stoves and broke out the dutch ovens. We made pumpkin seeds, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, salad, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, pasta salad, baked mac-n-cheese, key lime pie, pumpkin pie, cookies, and several other dishes. We even had a real turkey that one of the volunteers killed and cleaned herself that morning! It was fun to have such a big celebration that felt so legitimate! 

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