Here is a sampling of my house in Meiganga for the parents. I worked hard, but I just want to warn others that I live in the lap of PC luxury. I guess they just realized how special I was and that a queen deserves a palace.
My pride and joy.
Monday, January 26, 2009
White Picket Fences
Here is a sampling of my house in Meiganga for the parents. I worked hard, but I just want to warn others that I live in the lap of PC luxury. I guess they just realized how special I was and that a queen deserves a palace.
My pride and joy.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Bobble Head Babies and Environmental Sustainability
I am settling in nicely to life in Meiganga. The house is pretty settled, although I constantly have house repairs to complete. But I feel like I have nicely fused my old ways of life with new tips I have picked up from the Cameroonians. I am making some friends and the children in my neighborhood are sort of starting to learn my name. The part that still makes me smile is the look I get from the 2-3 year old children. As I walk by, they freeze in their tracks, their eyes widen to a moon shape and in bobble-head fashion their heads follow my movement. It always makes me laugh and well generally feel like an alien. Such interactions incite a “ketchup on your face” sensation. The children constantly amaze me here. They could not be more adorable especially when they repeatedly yell out “white lady” after you have passed them half a mile down the road. I think I have seen maybe two stuffed animals here, but besides that toys are not a commonplace. Instead, in the most environmentally sustainable manner, they craft toys out of leftover parts and trash. The old tire and a stick bit still reigns. They make wooden cars and push them all around the quartier. Sometimes they put other little bits of trash in them, to carry around, give some purpose to their play. A few days ago I noticed a group of boys huddled around outside my house. I thought maybe they are plotting the overthrow of terrorism, or maybe just looking at porn. But no, in the ground they dug out holes in the ground to create an all-natural Mancala game. It was genius and although have yet to play, I am confident I will kick some butt.
So babies and children here at SO completely different than those found in the US. I know some people have “great babies” but not like here. The best example can be found in the terrible bus rides through the Adamoua region. The types of bus called “prison cars” have no windows, basically metal benches and always squeeze in one more extra person into each row. The roads are unpaved and quite bumpy and dusty. Already an unpleasant experience, but during the latest ride of seven hours, a maybe one and half year old was placed in the lap of another stranger as his mother already had three others to deal with. So the women’s lap he is placed in was well not “thin”, the man in front had no backrest and he kept falling asleep and therefore into our laps. So basically this baby is being smooshed into a tiny little crevice from all sides and angelically sat in silence or sleep for the entire ride. At various times during the trip his mother would pass back some water or food and strangers would help feed him. If I weren’t sitting next to him, I wouldn’t have known he was there. This is common with all the other bus rides I have taken. You barely hear babies cry and these are long, dusty and bumpy trips.
When I moved into the house, the side door that connects to the garden and water pump was broken. So before I went out to buy a new lock I tried to unscrew the old to make sure I got the right type. Well after a good two minutes of trying, genius realized it was welded to the door. Which is a common place in Cameroon, so the next realistic solution is to have them take the door away. So this morning a man came, took the entire door, put it on a motorcycle and returned five minutes later with a new lock on it. I took advantage of this open hole in my house to do some dishes outside. A single part of the lock was broken and so the entire door is taken away. It couldn’t have taken more than 8 minutes and cost maybe 4 dollars. If that is not efficiency, I don’t know what is.
I was hanging out in the yard of some friends yesterday and all of a sudden a young boy appeared from nowhere yelling something carrying a sack over his shoulder. Like sharks to blood, young children from every nook and cranny of the neighborhood emerged to gather around the boy. The family erupted in laugher and encouraged the young man of family to join in. Turns out that these kids can bring their broken shoes to this boy and he will give them small candies in exchange. It is sort of like the Cameroonian version of the Goodwill, but instead of tax write-offs you get a bon bon. I can be halfway around the world, but life here can be so familiar.
I started what I consider my first week of work here. I spent each morning at the private hospital basically shadowing the staff. It is a small facility, with maybe six staff members. Monday and Tuesday I observed pre-natal consultations, Wednesday was infant vaccinations, Thursday I worked in the pharmacy. I just wanted to get an idea of what goes on there. All in all, an eye opening experience. I got to feel where a baby was positioned in a pregnant woman, hear a baby’s heartbeat through the belly and weigh dozens of skinny, fat and generally adorable babies. It is popular here to decorate your baby in knitted cotton sets. As if your grandmother made an outfit for every single Cameroonian child. At one point during infant vaccinations I was helping a nurse weigh and register babies, she plopped a baby on the scale and just disappeared. After ten minutes, the mother was understandably starting to get irritated and I looked out at a sea of mothers and babies waiting. I searched the entire hospital (which isn’t very much, there are only about four rooms) only to find her in the last room, well, delivering a baby. No one said anything. I didn’t hear any screams-being four feet away. It was the strangest thing.
I have a feeling I will settle in nicely here. I just have to figure out exercise and some sort of routine. If anyone was worried, I had my dose of grilled fish again. Really you all should visit just for the fish. I miss everyone dearly and erupt in joy with every letter, email, package. The only thing missing from this place is lox and you.
So babies and children here at SO completely different than those found in the US. I know some people have “great babies” but not like here. The best example can be found in the terrible bus rides through the Adamoua region. The types of bus called “prison cars” have no windows, basically metal benches and always squeeze in one more extra person into each row. The roads are unpaved and quite bumpy and dusty. Already an unpleasant experience, but during the latest ride of seven hours, a maybe one and half year old was placed in the lap of another stranger as his mother already had three others to deal with. So the women’s lap he is placed in was well not “thin”, the man in front had no backrest and he kept falling asleep and therefore into our laps. So basically this baby is being smooshed into a tiny little crevice from all sides and angelically sat in silence or sleep for the entire ride. At various times during the trip his mother would pass back some water or food and strangers would help feed him. If I weren’t sitting next to him, I wouldn’t have known he was there. This is common with all the other bus rides I have taken. You barely hear babies cry and these are long, dusty and bumpy trips.
When I moved into the house, the side door that connects to the garden and water pump was broken. So before I went out to buy a new lock I tried to unscrew the old to make sure I got the right type. Well after a good two minutes of trying, genius realized it was welded to the door. Which is a common place in Cameroon, so the next realistic solution is to have them take the door away. So this morning a man came, took the entire door, put it on a motorcycle and returned five minutes later with a new lock on it. I took advantage of this open hole in my house to do some dishes outside. A single part of the lock was broken and so the entire door is taken away. It couldn’t have taken more than 8 minutes and cost maybe 4 dollars. If that is not efficiency, I don’t know what is.
I was hanging out in the yard of some friends yesterday and all of a sudden a young boy appeared from nowhere yelling something carrying a sack over his shoulder. Like sharks to blood, young children from every nook and cranny of the neighborhood emerged to gather around the boy. The family erupted in laugher and encouraged the young man of family to join in. Turns out that these kids can bring their broken shoes to this boy and he will give them small candies in exchange. It is sort of like the Cameroonian version of the Goodwill, but instead of tax write-offs you get a bon bon. I can be halfway around the world, but life here can be so familiar.
I started what I consider my first week of work here. I spent each morning at the private hospital basically shadowing the staff. It is a small facility, with maybe six staff members. Monday and Tuesday I observed pre-natal consultations, Wednesday was infant vaccinations, Thursday I worked in the pharmacy. I just wanted to get an idea of what goes on there. All in all, an eye opening experience. I got to feel where a baby was positioned in a pregnant woman, hear a baby’s heartbeat through the belly and weigh dozens of skinny, fat and generally adorable babies. It is popular here to decorate your baby in knitted cotton sets. As if your grandmother made an outfit for every single Cameroonian child. At one point during infant vaccinations I was helping a nurse weigh and register babies, she plopped a baby on the scale and just disappeared. After ten minutes, the mother was understandably starting to get irritated and I looked out at a sea of mothers and babies waiting. I searched the entire hospital (which isn’t very much, there are only about four rooms) only to find her in the last room, well, delivering a baby. No one said anything. I didn’t hear any screams-being four feet away. It was the strangest thing.
I have a feeling I will settle in nicely here. I just have to figure out exercise and some sort of routine. If anyone was worried, I had my dose of grilled fish again. Really you all should visit just for the fish. I miss everyone dearly and erupt in joy with every letter, email, package. The only thing missing from this place is lox and you.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PICTURES!!!!!
A dimly lit shot of the living room in Pitoa
Familial Pit Latrine
Practicing being a health volunteer with the youth group
Me, Caitlyn, Sonia(taught me french), Cara in our matching Swearing-In pagne
The language and tech trainers at Swearing-In Ceremony
Love it
The famdamily-Edith, Me, Diane, Cedric, Flo, Damari, Hassiya
My beautiful sisters(and baby) Damari, Flo, Cedric and Edith
My quaint room during training in Pitoa
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Cedric the best baby
Flo next to our newly built Foyer Ameliore-improved cookstove
Diane and my husband in our courtyard
My homestay sister Damari(i think between Edith's legs)
Theo our tech trainer, Cara and Brianna showing the wonders of latex
Garou Soccer Game-Mike is in the background leading a wave.
Pitoa Health Training Center-End of Rainy Season
Settling into the Nest
So a lot of time of passed since I last wrote, but it has been a bit of a whirlwind since training ended and I got to post. The entire process of moving from one stage to the next was a bit abrupt. Saying goodbye to my family was especially difficult. Right before we left we built a “foyer ameliore” together. It is an improved cookstove which creates more of oven than the fire they typically cook with. It helps reduce smoke intake, uses less wood and looks nice! It was great to get my hands dirty and do something truly productive for the family. I walked to the fields with my mother to collect dry grass and she was so proud of what we were doing together. Neighbors kept stopping by all day and my sister and brother were able to really show off their skills as they go to the masonry high school. It was the most productive day I had in Cameroon.
So I just spent the first week alone at my post. I tell you putting a house together in the states is a challenge, but with language barriers, bargaining and lugging everything around on motorcycles and what are basically wheelbarrows, I am exhausted. I think have created quite a scene this past week lugging giant plastic bowls and wooden beds around town. I spent two days painting the living room and kitchen. Although it was a bit of a herculean feat, it was quite hilarious to have people come by the house and watch with wonder my act of painting inside. Some young guys earnestly asked “do girls/women in America do this often?” But it opened a great door to come by the next day and help some new friends paint their place. It felt good to be of some use, even if it didn’t have anything to do with development or health work! But after eating crackers and peanut butter for a week, I have proper stove, gas tank and table to cook on. My first meal I think I ate in 20 seconds because it was so great to eat food I really wanted to eat.
So typically Cameroonians just burn their trash here. In my neighborhood if you throw something out the neighborhood children sift through it all. It is actually a pretty environmentally sustainable process, well except for the burning of plastic in the same vicinity where small children play. So the day the previous volunteer moved all of her stuff out of the house, I assume some of her Cameroonian family members helped throw things out and left some toilettries in a pile. So a half hour after the house has been purged and I am alone, three small girls return with a display of goods on the porch. There are a few bottles of contact solution, some lotion and well, a bottle of vaginal cream. The oldest girl asks in French that her mother wants to know what all these things are for. So here I am with an audience of neighborhood children staring wide-eyed. I explain the contact solution is medicine for your eyes but you can wash the bottles out and use them for something else, the lotion for your skin and then I am speechless. I can’t find a way to explain the vaginal cream, even if the mother was to use it for something. I also don’t want to ignore it and have the girls spread it on their faces or something. So I quickly take it back and burn it immediately. I like to think they were none the wiser.
I have a great marche in town open everyday. There is also a smaller marche only with food products at the end of my street. But the first time I went there I was the only shopper at the time and truly felt a million eyes on me, so now I go to the big show. Generally veggies and fruit are sold at small fruit stalls, there are always tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, bananas, oranges, herbs and dry goods. Lately I have seen green beans and eggplants so I am pretty content with my options. My new obsession is the grilled fish here. They are typically carp or capitaine fish, which are rubbed with a salt spice mixture and grilled. Then they give you some mayonnaise and a chile sauce with these battons of maize, which when I first ate thought they were rubbery sticks of starch, but have come to love. I could eat this fish everyday. I am in love.
For Christmas Cameroonians dress in their new clothes and basically just saunter around town visiting friends and family. So I did the same. I went to a party at the pastor’s house with filled with soda, tons of food and Spaceballs in French. Although it was a bit chillier than normal, but really it didn’t feel a thing like Christmas. I had to keep reminding myself, well that and cheesy Christmas carols being played in between Ne-yo and Usher songs and a few tinsel trees sold in the marche. I guess New Years is a big deal here too, well have to see if it can live up to epic years past.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Meiganga: say it anyway you like
Before ANYTHING ELSE: Thank all that is holy for our newly elected president. Words cannot express. Lets hope he is all I want him to be and more.
So I am looking down the barrel site visit week and equally exhilirated and terrified. To sum it all up: overwhelming. I had a nice volunteer to show me around and live with. She really was helpful with everything and I can't thank her enough. One night she made the comment "I thought coming from training you would have a lot more energy" and realized that I was just overwhelmed by it all. I mean I was meeting all these people, running around a new town, walking around this house, getting a glimsp of my LIFE for the next two years. I mean my french isn't up to par, there is more work that I know what to do with and I was seperated from these people who have become like a family for me the past 6 wks. With all that said, ultimately I think I am incredibly lucky.
My house: PC luxury, they really don't tell you about some of these houses in the pc interviews: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, electricity, running water, a water HEATER, flowers all around the front of the house. It doesn't really feel like pc in that place. But its a-okay by me, i'll learn to adjust.
My postmate: super mellow, really nice guy from Ohio. He is an english teacher at the local high school, has a good sense of humor and a general go with the flow guy.
One of the bummers of my post is that my province is pretty isolating, due to the terrible conditions of the road. So seeing other volunteers often isn't much of a reality. The closest large town is about 4 hrs on a bumpy dusty road, but it is the train stop to the south so a lot of people will be traveling through. I have got "le couple" in the next major town over, so things are looking up.
So the town of Meiganga is pretty big with a bit of a bordertown feel. We are right on the border with the Central African Republic, so lots of refugees and people moving through. The downtown isn't a sight, but the region surrounding the town is gorgeous right now, green mountains, with waterfalls and lakes. I can't wait to explore the region. The climate is quite cooler than the north, there were even some nights where I needed a BLANKET. There is a larger diversity of food available, so of course I am happy. Plus I have a mango tree outside the house and a avo tree down the street. AYO! things are looking up for miss "I am going to tempt volunteers to my post with culinary wonders barefoot contessa would ponder." I had the most incredible grilled fish the first night. I was sitting in this dingy bar, totally exhausted, but man was I happy. This lady grilled it straight on the street, rubbed a little salt on it, put some mayo on the side(who would have thought so good) and spicy chili sauce, some onions and toms. God, I craved it all week.
But the work, OH the work! I am SO excited and motivated, I can't even express it. So I have these two counterparts I am set up to work with. One works with a local NGO that basically serves as a community connector to the large intl. NGOs here like UNICEF and the cammeroonian gov't. My counterpart is absolutly wonerful, really motivted and smiley. He speaks the local languages(there are two in meiganga!) and couldn't be nicer. The other is this powerful and warm women who is from the west but her husband and her run the small private hospital in town. They need me to help with organizing the pharmacy, pre-natal/nutrition consults, and much more. Then there are three women's centers in town. One I am going ot work with to help get a little more organized and work generating some more money to expand the services of the center. The big work at the center is teaching income generating and language classes to young girls who have dropped out of school. So I am hoping to do some cooking classes with them and maybe some self-confidence/business classes. (Let me just previce this all with this is what I think I will be doing, things could completely change after the first three months)
I also stopped by this other women's center that was built only a few years ago, 14 empty rooms with signs above the doors, signifying what they are meant for "infirmiry, classroom, midwives, sewing room, kitchen, ect" but nothing is going on there. So it is my pet project to try to get some action into that place!
There are small projects with a library run by catholic nuns, computer labs for a church and the ngo, i might get involved with UNHRC in town, but I wasn't able to meet with them that week. Then the last day I stopped by the meetings of these two GICs, which are basically women's groups. It was fascinating. One has been around for a few years and is extremely organized. They managed to get some loans from banks and have a weekly fund to pay it back. They time it so that each woman can take out money right before the school year and therefore send their kids to school. They also rent out a room and teacher for classes in reading and writing, income genreating act. and health. They are trying to get birth certificates for all the orphans in town so they can go to school and what not. The second just started,but are really motivated, they mostly do work in the fields together and then sell the products. I hope I can do a lot of organizational work with them.
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! Hopefully my french, fulfulde, baya will be up to par and I can help this community out some more. A major part of my work the first three months will be conducting evaluations of the community and their health issues to see what work is most needed and learn about the community at large.
Quick funny story: so Halloween was a blast. It was exhilarating to stay out past dark and listen to some American music. We had our counterpart workshop all day and didn't get finished til late so I was running around trying to get my costume together and get to the party where everyone already is. So I have a typical colorful pagne outfit already made, but my plan to fufill the chiquita banana role was to tie real bananas to my matching pagne wrap. So it is about five and the marche is basically shut down, two fellow volunteers have mercifully agreed to help me find these bananas. Man I will do anything for a good halloween costume. So only one guy is selling bananas at this point, they are moldy and way overpriced but it felt like salvation. I was only able to keep the entire outfit going for the first 15 mintues of teh party, but it was a mild sucess for me!
So one special thing about Meiganga is this red dust. The cars you take out there are what people call "prison buses" they basically just stuff you in there and everyone has themselves covered with some wrap, because this red dust gets EVERYWHERE, and i mean everywhere! It didn't seem that bad one the ride, but when I took a shower later that night, I found it in places I didn't even know dust could exist. When I took a shower yesterday, after washing my body, I shaved my legs and the water was still running red. So all who plan to visit and I assume that is most of you, keep your whites at home!
Okay, time is running out. I will write more later. I still miss and think about you all on this side of the planet. Write, call, send packages with spices and magazines. I have a new PO box in meiganga
Allison Sander
B.P. 89
Meiganga, Cameroon
still follow all those notes on sending stuff.
Much love
So I am looking down the barrel site visit week and equally exhilirated and terrified. To sum it all up: overwhelming. I had a nice volunteer to show me around and live with. She really was helpful with everything and I can't thank her enough. One night she made the comment "I thought coming from training you would have a lot more energy" and realized that I was just overwhelmed by it all. I mean I was meeting all these people, running around a new town, walking around this house, getting a glimsp of my LIFE for the next two years. I mean my french isn't up to par, there is more work that I know what to do with and I was seperated from these people who have become like a family for me the past 6 wks. With all that said, ultimately I think I am incredibly lucky.
My house: PC luxury, they really don't tell you about some of these houses in the pc interviews: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, electricity, running water, a water HEATER, flowers all around the front of the house. It doesn't really feel like pc in that place. But its a-okay by me, i'll learn to adjust.
My postmate: super mellow, really nice guy from Ohio. He is an english teacher at the local high school, has a good sense of humor and a general go with the flow guy.
One of the bummers of my post is that my province is pretty isolating, due to the terrible conditions of the road. So seeing other volunteers often isn't much of a reality. The closest large town is about 4 hrs on a bumpy dusty road, but it is the train stop to the south so a lot of people will be traveling through. I have got "le couple" in the next major town over, so things are looking up.
So the town of Meiganga is pretty big with a bit of a bordertown feel. We are right on the border with the Central African Republic, so lots of refugees and people moving through. The downtown isn't a sight, but the region surrounding the town is gorgeous right now, green mountains, with waterfalls and lakes. I can't wait to explore the region. The climate is quite cooler than the north, there were even some nights where I needed a BLANKET. There is a larger diversity of food available, so of course I am happy. Plus I have a mango tree outside the house and a avo tree down the street. AYO! things are looking up for miss "I am going to tempt volunteers to my post with culinary wonders barefoot contessa would ponder." I had the most incredible grilled fish the first night. I was sitting in this dingy bar, totally exhausted, but man was I happy. This lady grilled it straight on the street, rubbed a little salt on it, put some mayo on the side(who would have thought so good) and spicy chili sauce, some onions and toms. God, I craved it all week.
But the work, OH the work! I am SO excited and motivated, I can't even express it. So I have these two counterparts I am set up to work with. One works with a local NGO that basically serves as a community connector to the large intl. NGOs here like UNICEF and the cammeroonian gov't. My counterpart is absolutly wonerful, really motivted and smiley. He speaks the local languages(there are two in meiganga!) and couldn't be nicer. The other is this powerful and warm women who is from the west but her husband and her run the small private hospital in town. They need me to help with organizing the pharmacy, pre-natal/nutrition consults, and much more. Then there are three women's centers in town. One I am going ot work with to help get a little more organized and work generating some more money to expand the services of the center. The big work at the center is teaching income generating and language classes to young girls who have dropped out of school. So I am hoping to do some cooking classes with them and maybe some self-confidence/business classes. (Let me just previce this all with this is what I think I will be doing, things could completely change after the first three months)
I also stopped by this other women's center that was built only a few years ago, 14 empty rooms with signs above the doors, signifying what they are meant for "infirmiry, classroom, midwives, sewing room, kitchen, ect" but nothing is going on there. So it is my pet project to try to get some action into that place!
There are small projects with a library run by catholic nuns, computer labs for a church and the ngo, i might get involved with UNHRC in town, but I wasn't able to meet with them that week. Then the last day I stopped by the meetings of these two GICs, which are basically women's groups. It was fascinating. One has been around for a few years and is extremely organized. They managed to get some loans from banks and have a weekly fund to pay it back. They time it so that each woman can take out money right before the school year and therefore send their kids to school. They also rent out a room and teacher for classes in reading and writing, income genreating act. and health. They are trying to get birth certificates for all the orphans in town so they can go to school and what not. The second just started,but are really motivated, they mostly do work in the fields together and then sell the products. I hope I can do a lot of organizational work with them.
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! Hopefully my french, fulfulde, baya will be up to par and I can help this community out some more. A major part of my work the first three months will be conducting evaluations of the community and their health issues to see what work is most needed and learn about the community at large.
Quick funny story: so Halloween was a blast. It was exhilarating to stay out past dark and listen to some American music. We had our counterpart workshop all day and didn't get finished til late so I was running around trying to get my costume together and get to the party where everyone already is. So I have a typical colorful pagne outfit already made, but my plan to fufill the chiquita banana role was to tie real bananas to my matching pagne wrap. So it is about five and the marche is basically shut down, two fellow volunteers have mercifully agreed to help me find these bananas. Man I will do anything for a good halloween costume. So only one guy is selling bananas at this point, they are moldy and way overpriced but it felt like salvation. I was only able to keep the entire outfit going for the first 15 mintues of teh party, but it was a mild sucess for me!
So one special thing about Meiganga is this red dust. The cars you take out there are what people call "prison buses" they basically just stuff you in there and everyone has themselves covered with some wrap, because this red dust gets EVERYWHERE, and i mean everywhere! It didn't seem that bad one the ride, but when I took a shower later that night, I found it in places I didn't even know dust could exist. When I took a shower yesterday, after washing my body, I shaved my legs and the water was still running red. So all who plan to visit and I assume that is most of you, keep your whites at home!
Okay, time is running out. I will write more later. I still miss and think about you all on this side of the planet. Write, call, send packages with spices and magazines. I have a new PO box in meiganga
Allison Sander
B.P. 89
Meiganga, Cameroon
still follow all those notes on sending stuff.
Much love
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