One of my sisters in the village with sheep, much of which I probably ate.

Kids at my house during Tabaski.

Barkadesella Himbe Pat! Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope the Holidays are going well. I definitely reminisced about being home in WI more than usual this past week. (Perhaps it was the 90 degree weather, how barely anyone celebrated Christmas or how I didn’t eat any sort of Christmas cookie…oh well)

It’s now week 3 at post and things are going well. Everyone has been incredibly nice. I cannot count the times that people have helped me with my house (getting rid of spiders, cleaning, fetching me water) helped me cook (usually squash…I think its squash?) or given me presents (eggs, melon, milk, etc). With the very little that people have here its remarkable how giving people are.

I feel already quite at home and am getting acclimated to the customs here, notably; when you greet someone have to do about a minute salutation back and forth, when someone comes to your house, immediately invite them to sit inside your house and have them admire your dishes (dishes are a sign of wealth), never decline food….(not too big of an issue for me), the very distinct gender roles, i.e. women rarely leave their houses during the daytime, men never cook, they have separate houses, eat separately, etc. etc. Even just after week 3 I feel incredibly privileged to have all the opportunities as a woman in the states.

Cows--Another reason why I probably feel at home here is the large amount of cows. My region is known for their cows who supply ample amounts of milk and beef. I have had to renounce my semi-vegetarianism that I upheld in the states, for beef is the only amount of protein that I can receive. People eat beef here twice a day. Cows are everywhere…walking in the streets, grazing in the fields, blocking the roads, etc. Due to the cows I get to drink milk nearly everyday. So far the fresh milk, which I boil, has not caused too many gastrointestinal issues, but I’m beginning to wonder when it’ll kick in.

Tabaski—Tabaski, or the fete de Moutons, is a big deal here, as it is in any Muslim Area. During the fete de Mouton, After all the men went into a sacred field to pray, every family slaughtered a sheep and then began sharing parts of the sheep and passing them around to neighbors, families, friends etc. During the first day of the fete I was served at least 10 plates of sheep. The second day of the fete was nearly the same. Now I fully realize why it’s called the fete of Mouton. It’s a bit like Thankgsiving, sans the variety of food.

Christmas- With less than 10% of the community Christian it was not too big of a holiday here. In fact, most people thought I was referring to Tabaski several days ago when I would mention Xmas. I went to a 2 hr church service on Xmas; highlights include, watching older women walk around with long sticks and tapping those in the crowd that were goofing off or falling asleep, and watching adorable children goofing off while the women were not looking. The majority of my Xmas was spent passing out food that I made the day before to those that gave me food for Tabaski....

Well, once again Happy Holidays Everyone! Sey Sidda, Bahowuje.

Going to Post

After waiting for 45 minutes, here is a picture of la grande fete pour mon anniversaire a few days ago; including, PC volunteers and many neighborhood children.

Jam Na! Jam bandu na? Hello Everyone! I hope all is going well. Happy, Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! It is about 85 degrees here and extremely humid, so it doesn’t quite feel like “winter” is approaching. I will probably be spending my Christmas in my Muslim village….thus, not much will be going on. Will probably spend New Years in Ngaoundere about 2 hours away. There are some other Americans a few hours away from me so we will probably meet up to Celebrate…but who knows.
Stage just ended so more liberty is on its way. My host family hosted a large party for my birthday. They prepared loads of food; rice and beef, fried chicken, salad, bread, cakes etc, and I had a large neighborhood fiesta, filled with cute children, dancing and good eating. The actual night of my birthday was spent in Yaounde. It also involved much eating. I’m sort of glad to have left Bangangte and am ready to go to my post. Granted its saddening knowing that I won’t be with my fellow stage mates for another 3 months ; however, hopefully I will find friends and be very busy in village…..
Currently I’m in Yaounde with about 40 new people. There are roughly 140 PC volunteers in Cameroon in total, so I have had the opportunity these last few days to meet a lot of new people, which is great. Besides the upcoming large adjustment that I am experiencing tomorrow, after the long, long train ride, by moving into village, not too much is going on. I will probably spend the next few months doing preliminary assessment of the village, learning Fufulde, meeting community members, attending meetings, doing protocol, and furnishing my house….I’m a far, far cry from any sort of interior designer; thus, it probably will not be too stylish nor any of the furniture matching.
Any way, once again happy holidays!!!!!

My Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tourningal!

After 4 hrs on a bush taxi, a 18 hr. train ride, and then another 3 hr bush taxi, I arrived at my post in the Adamoua Province of Cameroon about 5 days ago. I am going to spend the next 2 years in a village that has approximately 1,000 habitants, no cyber cafes, no electricity, no running water, no restaurants, bars etc....The village, however, is amazing. I loved it and cannot wait to go back and spend more time there.
It's called Tourningal and is situated approx. 60 km. away from the Provincial capital, Ngaoundere. The Adamoua province is located in the "Grand North" of Cameroon; but Adamoua itself is the southern most province of the grand north. Tourningal is about 80% Muslim, 80% non-French Speaking and about 80% non-alphabetized. Thus, the need for me to learn Fufilde, the lingua franca of the North is quite great. I'm super excited to learn Fufilde...sometimes I feel like life is one constant cycle, for approx. 2 years ago I stayed with Peace Corps volunteers in N. Senegal who also had to learn Fufilde (or Pulaar) and I remember how cool the language was and how much I would love, someday, to learn it!!! I also know that Tourningal is going to be great, for they sell these peanut butter balls or "Dakoa" which I absolutely LOVED in Mali about 2 year ago....thus I will always have something to snack on!
My counterpart is great. He is a nurse at the "centre de la sante" in Tourningal. I stayed with his family this past weekend. He has 5 adorable children and his wife is super nice and caring. She started a women's group in the village and seems very motivated to work with me. She also makes some mean beans and beignets and fresh honey which I ate every morning. My supervisor is the chef at the center. At this point one thing I know I want to work on in the village is Women's education and Health skills. Most all of the women in the village have never been to school and do not speak French. They pretty much just stay in their homes all day and do housework. I also would like to work in the elementary school doing health education/English . Tourningal has up to about 6th grade, then all the children have to live in surrounding communities to go to middle school or high school.
Another fun thing I did was spend a night about 2 hrs away in Belel, staying with 2 PCVs. Staying there, in a town about 3000 people, made me realize how little action there was in Tourningal. On the way back from Belel I thought I was going to die in a bush taxi, due to the pouring rain, flat tire, tipsy roads, and smoke exhaust that was bellowing into the car. I guess I should get used to this. On the way back to Yaounde (where I am now) I had a great 18 hr train ride, full of prosythelitizers who condemned condom usage and people selling random chinese products. It was quite the adventure.
Well....that's my life right now. All is well, especially after a long, steamy hot shower!!!!! Much love and happiness! Sey Yesso.

After many unsuccessful attempts...

After many unsuccessful attempts at putting up photos, I have decided that there's no point to dwell on that issue. However, I will try to explain the photos that I really wanted to show. Firstly, two adorable children, who give me much happiness; two sprightly children who adore to follow me around, run with me, come into my room and play with my things, cry…pick on each other, and ask me for "cadeaux" every hour. Secondly, two much older "grandmères" of the house, who (rumor has it) are 110…hmmm, they only speak Patois, a native language, thus my interaction with them has been quite disconnected and vague. Every morning I eat breakfast with them, as they look at me in splendor and me at them, sans communication. Thirdly, my two sisters that are so, so caring towards me and are much fun to be around. They help me clean my room, my clothes, my shoes (a cultural faux-pas here is to have muddy shoes, quite challenging after a torrential downpour and a long walk through mud). They also have introduced me to many of their friends and, recently I enjoyed going dancing with one of them at a Cameroonian discothèque. Fourthly, I assume I would show a picture of Bangante itself: its green, rolling hills, muddy streets, colorful vegetation, and tin-roofed houses that dot the landscape.

For the most part my time here has been quite pleasant. Training lasts another 9 weeks. My days are quite regimented. Between language training, tech training, cultural training, hanging out with my host family or exercising, I do not have much time to hang out with friends or just by myself. My friend explained it quite well in saying training is like summer camp, with new people, gossipy situations, regimented schedules, and learning new tasks. Yet, training is a lot less fun and more technical. I somewhat yearn every once in a while, while starring out of the window, to have the ability to escape from being cooped up, listening to French discussions. Sometimes it's difficult to know that although I'm surrounded by 85 degree sunny weather, picturesque scenery, and unimaginable adventures, I must abide by such structure and administration.

I'm sure however in a few months time, when I'm alone in an isolated community, I will miss the pleasures of a home-stay family; getting a baguette with some questionable, bright-pink sausage-looking substance and coffee in the morning, always having people to talk to. I'm sure that I will desire to be only a few minutes walk away from other Americans, occasionally to have the ability to go out with them. I'm positive I will thoroughly appreciate all my technical training and how much it will prepare me for what I will encounter. Thus training is going…c'est pas horrible, mais c'est pas super non plus. Ca va.

Until my next post, I can probably, fairly easily predict what my life will be like; I will experience electricity and water "cuts" daily, continue to consume an, approximately 75% Carbohydrate diet, fend off various large insects from my clothes, experience the changing of the seasons from rainy to dry, still have a 6 o'clock curfew, and sit in training for around 7 hours a day. Despite all those occurrences, however, I hope I will continue to be happy, and I know I will continue to feel very blessed that I am experiencing a little slice of Cameroon.

After many unsuccessful attempts at putting up photos, I have decided that there's no point to dwell on that issue. However, I will try to explain the photos that I really wanted to show. Firstly, two adorable children, who give me much happiness; two sprightly children who adore to follow me around, run with me, come into my room and play with my things, cry…pick on each other, and ask me for "cadeaux" every hour. Secondly, two much older "grandmères" of the house, who (rumor has it) are 110…hmmm, they only speak Patois, a native language, thus my interaction with them has been quite disconnected and vague. Every morning I eat breakfast with them, as they look at me in splendor and me at them, sans communication. Thirdly, my two sisters that are so, so caring towards me and are much fun to be around. They help me clean my room, my clothes, my shoes (a cultural faux-pas here is to have muddy shoes, quite challenging after a torrential downpour and a long walk through mud). They also have introduced me to many of their friends and, recently I enjoyed going dancing with one of them at a Cameroonian discothèque. Fourthly, I assume I would show a picture of Bangante itself: its green, rolling hills, muddy streets, colorful vegetation, and tin-roofed houses that dot the landscape.

For the most part my time here has been quite pleasant. Training lasts another 9 weeks. My days are quite regimented. Between language training, tech training, cultural training, hanging out with my host family or exercising, I do not have much time to hang out with friends or just by myself. My friend explained it quite well in saying training is like summer camp, with new people, gossipy situations, regimented schedules, and learning new tasks. Yet, training is a lot less fun and more technical. I somewhat yearn every once in a while, while starring out of the window, to have the ability to escape from being cooped up, listening to French discussions. Sometimes it's difficult to know that although I'm surrounded by 85 degree sunny weather, picturesque scenery, and unimaginable adventures, I must abide by such structure and administration.

I'm sure however in a few months time, when I'm alone in an isolated community, I will miss the pleasures of a home-stay family; getting a baguette with some questionable, bright-pink sausage-looking substance and coffee in the morning, always having people to talk to. I'm sure that I will desire to be only a few minutes walk away from other Americans, occasionally to have the ability to go out with them. I'm positive I will thoroughly appreciate all my technical training and how much it will prepare me for what I will encounter. Thus training is going…c'est pas horrible, mais c'est pas super non plus. Ca va.

Until my next post, I can probably, fairly easily predict what my life will be like; I will experience electricity and water "cuts" daily, continue to consume an, approximately 75% Carbohydrate diet, fend off various large insects from my clothes, experience the changing of the seasons from rainy to dry, still have a 6 o'clock curfew, and sit in training for around 7 hours a day. Despite all those occurrences, however, I hope I will continue to be happy, and I know I will continue to feel very blessed that I am experiencing a little slice of Cameroon.

Bangangte

Hello! It’s 5:30 a.m. here and I am sitting in my bed at my new home-stay family listening to the sounds of ménage, children getting ready to go to school, and rain pouring down outside. After 5 days of training at the PC headquarters of Cameroon in Yaounde, we have now moved to Bangangte, a town about 3 hours NW. I did not have very many internet options in Yaounde. The drive here was quite pretty, for the geography became increasingly filled with rolling, tall hills. This area of the country contains very lush vegetation and tall trees.

I’m very excited to see a new part of the country and now have more freedoms…well, besides the 6 curfew...that’s a whole other tale. There are about 11 children in my host family (I’m still trying to figure it out) and they seem quite remarkable having children literally spread out through the world in Europe and America studying various subjects and gaining professional degrees. There are still about 4 or 5 children at home, so I’m excited to once again have the opportunity to be an older sister and have siblings to play, gossip and joke with. Last night as I walked into the house there were about 30 people inside singing and dancing for the birth of a new baby in the family. Since I have an affinity for fetes and soirees, this was quite exciting!

Today we start our 11 week intensive training program where I will learn much more about health in Cameroon and work on languages. Here is my cell phone number:
(011) 237-74-83-02-23…..It’s quite fun to have a cell phone again.

Chau tout le monde et beaucoup de bonheur et paix!

First Couple of Days in Yaounde

Salut tout le monde!!!!! Hope all is well in the US! I arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon on Saturday evening. After about 24 hours of traveling, 8 meals, and 2 hours of sleeping my group of 42 fellow PC volunteers and myself were very, very ready to reach Cameroon and our lodging that we stay in, ‘til next Thursday. The group is geographically very diverse; a disproportionate amount hails from the Pacific Northwest, others from all over the US. There are astoundingly 3 from WI, and oddly I have made various second degree connections with about 10% of the group…(I like numbers), knowing cousins, flings, roommates, etc.
Unfortunately, as of right now, I sort of feel like I’m in a zoo: We are restricted to our hotel and cannot leave the confinements at all. It is quite difficult for someone who usually runs wild and thoroughly enjoys exploring new places…I realize that Yaounde may be a difficult or dangerous city to navigate; however, I feel very restrained and isolated, surrounded by various smells, visions and sounds that bring me back to Senegal 2 years ago. I also have absolutely no idea what language I will be learning and am rather dreading continuing with French. I realize that that is what I got myself into by coming to a Francophone country…oh well.
Altogether things are good. Highlights: We didn’t have water for 2 days, the food is tasty, a lot of rice and various sauces, and I cannot exercise (so probably going to gain loads of weight, since I eat more than most here…). Heureusement this program is blessed with many wonderful, warm, compassionate staff that seem very motivated and down-to-earth. I look forward to my first home stay family here on Thursday, about 2.5 hrs from Yaounde and to starting more technical health education. Peace, happiness and love to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vous me manquez.

Hi everyone! I decided this would be the easiest way to communicate, (although I realize how popular long emails sent en masse can be.) I look forward to hearing from anyone and know how much in advance any sort of communication, i.e. letters, emails, packages, peanut butter jars, etc. will be greatly appreciated. Here is my address while in Cameroon:


Alison Starling, Peace Corps Volunteer
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 215
Yaounde, Cameroon

While I'm doing the Peace Corps my assignment is Community Health Education. It is a 27 month program....So if anyone ever happens to be in the general West/Central African vicinity and wants to visit, the invitation is open!!! Peace, happiness, love and good times to all!