Background information: Cameroon is divided into 10 regions, each of which has a very specific culture and set of stereotypes. The Grand North (Adamaoua, North, Extreme North) is seen as your backwards, Muslim region, the West (N. West, West, S. West) are Anglophone and hence not represented well by the mainstream, the Grand South (South, Littoral, Centre, East) is a hodgepodge (East being the most backwards of all because it’s an isolated rainforest, Centre being the most developed because of Yaounde.) There are volunteers in all 10 regions (the most are in the Northwest and the fewest number are in the Centre), but Youth Development is only going to four regions: Extreme North, Adamaoua, Southwest, and East.
Actual Exciting News: I KNOW MY POST!!!! I’m going to be a volunteer in Batouri, which is a city in the East. Is it what I wanted? No. Is it what I was expecting? Definitely not. Is it going to kick major butt? ABSOLUTELY. I’m excited, nervous, overwhelmed, and genuinely drained of emotion—it has been a crazy day of processing this unexpected news.
There are currently two volunteers in Batouri, and there’s
another two of us going in my class (the other being Mike, an Agroforestry
volunteer.) In addition to me, there are three other YDs, one Agro, and four
Health PCTs headed to the East. From the description I received, “Batouri is
the administrative headquarters of the Kadey Division in the East Region. It is
located approximately 90kms from Bertoua. [I]t is a cosmopolitan city… The
predominant religion is Christianity.” I’ll predominately be working with
out-of-school girls (again, something I said I didn’t want) and with these
organizations that work with youth to reinforce their capacities because the
vast majority of organizations in Batouri are fairly inactive.
So having wanted/expected the Extreme North, why am I so
amped about the East? Excellent question:
·
Having three post-mates! It’s going to be
incredible, Mike’s a great guy and the volunteer I called on the phone today
(Janelle) is so stoked that we’re coming. She sounds so motivated and
apparently has a lot of potential projects lined-up for me. She also found me a
fantastic community host (an employee of the Catholic health center) who is
amped to have someone to be there and work specifically with the youth
community. I’ll meet my community host tomorrow (aka: today, by the time you
read this) at the Community Health Workshop.
·
There are so many organizations to work with
that are actually active: AMAZONE Literacy Center (works predominately with
Muslim girls and women), Esperance Sare Jeunes de Batouri (associated with the
Catholic mission but does Income Generating Activities with youth, recreational
activities, reproductive health, etc.), a woman’s center, the Tripano Center
(works with handicapped people), and Youth Enterprise Without Borders.
Apparently all these contacts are stoked, as well, and have lists of
possibilities of things that I can help them work on.
·
I’ve been informed by the PCVs that are here
this week as well as by my Program Manager that although this is exactly what I
said that I didn’t want, I’m going to really rock in Batouri. Because I trust
Amadou and YD is his baby, I’m going with it. Having had time to process, I can
definitely see that I have a lot of experience in the right areas to succeed
here. It’ll challenge me in the right ways, but it’s going to be awesome and I think
I’ll have a great support system there.
·
By the end of this, I’m going to be a rock star
at French, which is going to be awesome. I’ve put in far too much work and
improved too much to not get to use it. Who’s excited to be multi-lingual? THIS
GIRL.
·
I can keep wearing pants: that’s acceptable in
the East (thank God.) I wasn’t excited about wearing dresses and skirts every
day for the next two years up North. And, in general, there’s way more freedom
for women in the East. Fun fact: I never thought I’d be excited to get to wear
pants, my life is so ridiculous.
·
I can run in a city without the awkwardness of
being judged for exposing too much skin. I’m so excited to start being
physically active again.
·
Food variety. I’m in the middle of the
rainforest, for God’s sake. I am, however, not excited about the bush meat. The
East is the bush meat capital of the country, and fish is probably not going to
be easily accessible.
·
I’ll be the first to live in my house, which
means I can stock it full of awesome things. But, I should also be able to get
things from the PCVs that are there. PLUS, since it’s a city, it’s going to
(hopefully) be stocked full of things. And, apparently my house is super nice.
I’m pumped to see what my market is like. I’ll let you know next time what my
accommodations are going to be like, but I have high hopes J
So, we have Community Host Workshop Thursday and Friday, and
then the journey starts on Saturday. I’ll be taking a bus from Bafia to Yaounde
(two hours), a second bus from Yaounde to Bertoua (five hours), stay overnight
at the Peace Corps house in Bertoua, and then take another bus the next day to
Batouri (three hours): all this to get through a country that’s the size of
California. Be thankful for your highway infrastructure in the States, friends
and family. I’ll be in my community for four or five days, I think, which’ll be
plenty of time to really acclimate myself to this new, crazy idea of living in
the East of Cameroon. [Update: banking situation is ridiculous, so I now will
be there Sunday and Monday, take a bus back to Bertoua on Tuesday maybe
spending another night at the case before going back, and then leave for good
on Friday to get back to Bafia on Saturday. Be REALL Y thankful for your
infrastructure in the US, guys!]
On a general level, things in Bafia are fantastic, but we’re
all pumped to get out for awhile… having class six days a week and living with
people on top of that isn’t always the easiest. Everything in my program
continues to be amazing, I’m blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing group.
I’m definitely looking forward to the next two years of life in Cameroon!
Keep checking here for updates, I’ll definitely have a million
things to say about site visit soon. There are new photos headed to facebook of
general life in Bafia (like Halloween where I was a mosquito) and of site
reveal. Coming up for the future, I think we have another field trip out of
Bafia on the docket and then we swear in the 8th of December.
Miss you all, love you all, and I hope nobody was too
miserable during that snowstorm that hit PA.
ADDENDUM 3-11-11
My community host, Denise, is possibly the coolest person
ever—she’s a nurse at the local Catholic health center and is super sassy. She
also happened to show up in a dress that, like mine that I happened to wear
today, is lime green. We were clearly meant to be together J Everything she’s said
about Batouri sounds incredible, so I’m super hopeful.
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