Ali in Cameroon

Running in Rwanda

2010-02-05T01:46:00.000-08:00

Running in Kigali, Rwanda is polar opposite to Running in Goma, DRC. First of all, where we are staying, the roads are all paved, thus there is no dust or pot holes to contend with. Secondly, When you are looking out one sees rows of identical housing complexes that conjure up images of suburban America. Thirdly, there are not too many motos or cars to share the road with. It is a peaceful, amicable running climate donned with undulating hills.
We came to Kigali from Goma. Running in Goma, is mentally challenging at best. You have to brave the pot holes, succumb to the dust, dodge the cars and motos and the scenery...well, frankly, you can't focus too much on the scenery due to all of the potholes.
I feel so thankful to had experienced all of the various African running venues, in 5 countries, this past 1.5 months. Some have been more ideal than others. However, whether I've been running in Major Metropolitan areas like Nairobi and Daar Es Salaam, or in various Peace Corps Volunteers Posts in the middle of nowhere, I have loved engaging in my favorite hobby in some amazing locales.

At Cameroon-Kenya Soccer Game!!!/At Equator

2010-01-12T05:34:00.000-08:00

2010-01-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

2010-01-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ali and Abba's East African Adventure

2010-01-07T01:42:00.000-08:00

Tanzania was phenomenal. Between the beautiful scenery, the pleasant, amicable Tanzanians, the delicious food, and the deep-rooted culture, it was a great 2.5 weeks. Abba and I chose to start our EAA (East African Adventure) in Tanzania and it was a smart decision. Zanzibar was relaxing and very colorful, full of tasty Indian delights and Tropical fruits. When not eating we lounged on the gorgeous, vaste white sandy beaches and toured the twists and turns of Stone Town, the once epicenter for Swahili culture. Zanzibar turns Cancun at night, so we had a few good nights partying with a diverse, international crowd on the beach. In general I have been in a stimulation overload meeting so many people from all over the world. Being a Peace Corps volunteer in a tiny, homogenous village for 2 years does not leave much room to meet other from outside of the village. So I have taken advantage of trying to socialize with as many people as possible and make up for the last 2 years! (i.e. I'm not getting a lot of sleep).
After Zanzibar, we headed to Dar Es Salaam, a more organized, eclectic, western influenced city that has many beaches and wafts of ocean, breezy air. Reminded me a tad of Dakar, Senegal for it's ocean-side location. Next, we headed to Lushoto, the "Switzerland of Tanzania." At one point a haven for German colonialists, Lughoto was a nice forested, mountainous, green respite from the bustle of Dar. Finally, we ended our N. Tanzania tour at Moshi and Arusha to finish up with a Serengeti/Ngorngoro Crater Safari. Despite not being a huge animal enthusiast,I got totally into the safari and found it rather therapeutic. When one is enraptured in watching animals, one's worried subside. You get trapped in watching the animals and only think of the present--the animals you will see. Quite nice. I also enjoyed Arusha for its East African United- Nations- feeling (an African Studies Students dream) and all the good restaurants!
Now we are in Nairobi....once again amazed by all the good food and hustle and bustle. In general here are some generalizations that we noted between Tanzania and Cameroon:
1. Good, solid National Highways.
2. Cars/buses that leave on time.
3. Great diversity in food, esp. Indian Food
4. wonderful cheap coffee on the streets
5. Garbage bins on the side of streets, in general, less trash ridden
6. Very friendly population, everywhere we went!!! Reminded me of my village with the salutations.
7. Peanut Butter is ubiquitous
8. Less Derangement, rarely would someone come up and pester you
9. Conservation in the National Parks was note-worthy.
10.Seemed like more law-abiding on the highways, i.e. pulled people over for having too many passengers in the cars.
OK, hope this finds everyone well! Bonne Annee! We are continuing on our journey. Asante Sana, Kwa Heri,
Ali

On Food in Tourningal

2009-12-16T11:31:00.000-08:00

A Local Food Lover’s Paradise—Rural Africa
Little did I know that I am en vogue. . I’m en vogue due to my unconscientiously supporting the local food movement these past 2 years. Living in Rural Africa makes following this trend very easy. Particularly, not knowing how to cook and eating at my neighbor’s houses nightly who don’t buy packaged, industrialized goods has made this effort very possible.
This past 9 months I have read Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, three books that in someway or another mentioned the importance of supporting local food growers, as opposed to the industrial large corporations that have taken over the American Food System. Prior to coming to the Peace Corps, when I was getting by during college by scarfing down muffins and peanut butter, eating locally rarely crossed my mind. I considered myself a very typical college student, one who inwardly supported all the a la mode causes, but who oftentimes lived hypocritically not vocalizing my opinion nor trying to inform others to abide by causes I believed to be important. Rushing, busy, liberal-minded career oriented Americans are often guilty of hypocrisy, knowing it would be wonderful to support such or such cause, but not finding the time to actually abide by its’ tenets. That was me with the local food movement.
Then I entered PC and was shipped to Rural Africa, amidst an agricultural hinterland, amongst agriculturalists who earn their bread and butter by having a good harvest. If they don’t have a good harvest their family will suffer and, potentially, starve or become sick from malnutrition. Hence, the importance of my community to carefully respect their land and their animals who fertilize their land. I cringe when I see the onset of fertilizers on the farmer’s fields and the perhaps long-term ramifications of using these fertilizers in a haphazard fashion. The food that my villagers grow is the food that they use to sustain themselves throughout the year. Corn, similar to in the US, is their main crop. Although their cornfields are not nearly as neat and stacked as the typical fertilizer entrenched US corn field, a typical family’s corn field, will give them enough corn flour to provide an average family of 8 people enough main substance of food for 12 months. This is what my base has been for the last two years—corn flour.
Then, comes the sauces and vegetables to go with the boiled corn flour. All of my vegetables that I have eaten these past few years have come from local grown gardens not more than a few km. away from my house! These have provided luscious, savory sauces. Opposite as to most Americans, here we eat what is in season, during their respectful seasons, especially since there is no refrigeration. Meaning, when squash is ripe (Novermber-January) we eat squash everyday. Avocado season (December-March) is replete with daily avocado salads and sandwiches. Mango season (March-May) is my favorite; chock full of juicy, vitamin laden mangoes that are tasty as a dessert or snack alike. Sure there are days that I have felt lethargic and consequently pinpointed my low-blood sugar due to the dearth of vitamins.
Contrary to the occasional shortage of fruits and vegetables, one can get their share of protein without too much effort. Meat is available nearly every other day and if one has the means, one could also splurge and buy chicken, sheep or goats. The other week during the feast of the goat, Tabaski, I had sheep nearly 5-10 times a day. I think I’ve eaten enough sheep to get me through the next few years.
Dairy is also abundant in my village, due to its being surrounded by cows and cow herders. Especially during the rainy season every morning, while I go for my run at 5:30, men will go to milk the cows. While I’m getting my share of exercise by running, others are getting their exercise by walking kilometers away to milk the cows. Unfortunately there is no refrigeration. However, there are also no chemicals nor preservatives added to the milk. I have gotten inured to the taste of fresh, hearty milk, (of course boiled beforehand). Yogurt can also be ordered in advance. Coffee can also be grown in my village, however, it is a rather new crop.
As far as fast food is concerned, there is none. People eat three meals a day at home. It is rare to see food packaging and waste like we have in America. Hence, why my plastic containers that contain my various purchases such as powdered milk and peanut butter are so coveted. Household trash is severely mitigated due to buying locally, not having the means to buy westernized food items and not having refrigeration.
TO BE CONTINUED, MAYBE.

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One Month Left

2009-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Yay for Electricity…With One Month Left!
What do ya know, I get electricity with one month left of post! Perhaps it’s the electricity that is kicking me out. It’s saying, “Ali, it’s time to get back to a developed place,” or it’s simply helping me acclimate to life with light. Do not be fooled, “getting electricity,” constitutes 4 hours of light 18h to 22h. Half of my house still is not set-up nor is over half of the village, notably the health center (!?!) I can safetly say that due to the lack of light, although it did not facilitate computer use nor easy night cooking, it did facilitate meeting people in village, forcing myself to leave the house at night and, hence, integration. Thank you!
SO….30 days and counting. I’m becoming emotionally unstable. I have already started my goodbyes and it is saddening. I’m trying to scrounge up bad memories of Tourningal; i.e. being sick, getting into accidents, the poor roads, the monotonous food, teaching endless hours of English, dust, etc. for perhaps it will be easier to leave. I try to say to myself, whether it’s today or next year, sometime I will leave—I can’t stay in Tournignal forever. I’m trying to coordinate my time to a T, that is, I’m implementing rules: Make myself deal with the kids coming over, stomach the hundreds of daily salutations, the demands from everyone, try not to take naps, little-to-no Pleasure reading, etc. in order to maximize my last month at post. But regardless of what I try to do to soak in this last month and to minimize the pain of leaving, the inevitable is approaching.
Here are some recent thoughts from Tournignal:
1. Early Marriages—I recently looked at a photo of a Youth Camp I did in June 2008. Off the 11 girls that participated in the camp, only 4 are still in school. This feels like a defeat for me. It feels frustrating to know that all the information and encouraging I tried to partake in, was unsuccessful I have seen dozens of girls get married, pregnant, and have children in my two years. I feel like an old maid. Last week I attended a 16 year old girls wedding. She, like so many of her peers, felt pressured to get married. Once they are married and have children, the girls are like prisoners in their own compounds, rarely getting to leave and rarely having freedoms. Although I have tried to stomach their cultural customs, even after two years, this tradition is stiffing and from a western perspective, antiquated.
2. World AIDS Day—Preparations are under way for World AIDS Day 2009. Brandi, a close volunteer and I, are organizing an essay contest for the local high schools with a HIV prevention theme, and a celebration for the actual day; composed of a parade, a soccer match, running competitions, and a personal account of someone who actually has HIV. We targeted a certain village to do this celebration in, due to its’ high populations of “femme libres,” or prostitutes.
3. Refugee Situation—Recently I have had the opportunity to visit and learn about the Refugee Situation in the Eastern Adamawa Region. Supposedly, according to Medical officials and NGO workers in the area over 12,000 Central African Refugees have been forced into exile in Cameroon within the last few years. Most of the refugees come from the Mboboro ethnic group; a group that is composed naturally of cow herders who fled the instability in the CAR. With this exodus comes the onslaught of inevitable health and sanitation concerns; HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, etc. I have never seen so many cases of malnutrition, pure devastation and poverty. It was quite the sobering, humbling experience. It opened my eyes to many aspects of Humanitarian Work; such as, the isolating conditions. It’s crazy to think how just a few hours from where I live there is a massive Humanitarian Problem that gets little to no press coverage and NGO aide! Who knows what awaits me in the years to come; however, working with refugees and Disaster Relief is something that perhaps will pique my interests.
Sey Yeeso, Allah Hokku en Jam,
Ali

Injuries, Pictures and Such

2009-10-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

As of late I have had bad luck with travel. Note-- I’m writing this during my 18th hour of sitting on the train. Sure it is the end of the rainy season and the roads, or trails, are wet, slippery, and hazardous. However, it seems like every time I travel I either take twice the amount of “normal travel time” (which is quite ambiguous) or get into an accident.
Three weeks ago, as my counterpart and I were trying to maneuver the poor, slippery trails en brousse, I was burned by a motorcycle muffler. This may seem like a trivial event, yet the lack of immediate medical care and my obstinacy that “nothing was wrong” (I was taking the advice of villagers that pus and liquid oozing down my legs and swollen lymph nodes was a common step to the healing process) compounded the incident and made me visit the hospital over 10 times. I ended up staying in Ngaoundere for nearly a week. Ironically, during first role in the Cameroonian hospital scene seen, I was cared for by Norwegian nurses and even an American Surgeon, in a Norwegian Lutheran funded hospital. It was a bizarre experience. Needless to say my short-sightedness about how easy infection can occur and the importance of cleaning wounds was a humbling experience.
Getting sick in rural Africa is a difficult endeavor that involves long-bureaucratic hospital visits (what? I have to go out of the hospital to buy my medicine, then come back to the hospital and pay, then go back to the nurses for them to take care of me with the medicine I bought???) and plenty of money that most Africans don’t have. I spent nearly 40 dollars on my visits. 40 dollars is just about what the average Cameroonian makes a month. Hence why most Cameroonians wait to the last minute to go to the hospital or to bring their kids to the hospital. They wait to the last minute for a cure, or a miracle, so they will not have to shell out their couple of months salary that they don’t have, or ask a far-flung relative for credit. Needless to say, this experience has made me greatly appreciate American hospitals, despite the increasing criticism they receive. If not for their cleanliness, I appreciate the explicit rules that are in place. I appreciate that no one (usually) cuts you in line to pay for your medicine at the Pharmacy. I appreciate that you have the opportunity to see a doctor. I appreciate that normally you don’t have to wait all day just to get a small wound cleaned.
Besides getting injured, life has been fine in Tourningal. The Good-byes have started. The guilt for leaving post has kicked in. It’s hard to explain to people that it’s not because of them that I’m leaving. I love Tourningal and I have loved my friends, “family” and work. It’s hard to leave a place when you are perfectly content and hard to describe to villagers that have never leaved why you would leave if you are happy. Despite the attenuation of work these last few weeks, I have managed to get a bit of work done; notably still meeting with Women’s Groups and holding a few ceremonies to distributePre-Natal Consulation Materials, such as scales and blood-pressure cuffs. The Ceremonies are memorable. Dozens of villagers, both male and female, congregate. Together we discuss the importance of allowing women’s groups to meet and sending pregnant women to the hospital to do pre-natal consultations. Now is the ultimate test; if the trained women are going to educate their respective community members and if the under-staffed health center staff is going to take the time to consult pregnant women en brousse during their monthly vaccination schedules. On va voir. I hope that the person who replaces me will continue to follow though with these projects. This is one of the ultimate problems with development—sustainability.
Well, hope this finds all healthy and happy in the US! Hope you are having nice autumns. There is no changing of foliage here in Cameroon (except green to dry).
Allah Hokku en Jam,
Ali or Amina

Distributing Materials to a Women's Group

2009-10-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

Visiting a Group's Cassava Field

2009-10-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

My Village Boulangerie--The Bread's Awesome

2009-10-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Children Behind my House in my Soy Garden

2009-10-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Giving Toothbrushes to a Women's Group

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Waterfalls Near My House

2009-10-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Women's Group in Haldo

2009-10-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

Women's Group in Haldo

2009-10-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Men during the Fete

2009-10-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Dressing up for the Fete

2009-10-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

Kids at their Circumcision Ceremony

2009-10-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Lewru Siwtaare--The Month of Rest, Ramadan

2009-09-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Is it even possible for me to get any more rest in village? During Ramaddan it is. I have enjoyed this month to the utmost degree. After the hussle and bussle of America and the continuous doldrums of seminars (many of which were very helpful) during our Close-of-Service in chaotic Yaounde I triumphantly arrived back to village (Of course to hoards of kids shouting and welcoming me upon my arrival.) After catching up on much needed sleep and sleeping in about 6 hours past when most get up in village, to a rebellious 9 a.m., for a few days, I was good to go and started to undertake the joys of fasting…
Although I am not fasting for religious or spiritual reasons, I have learned a lot during my fasting process. 1. You can survive without eating for 24 hours 2. Eating makes life more interesting 3. Without eating one’s energy level dramatically abates, i.e. running not recommended 4. The best way to not be thirsty is to shut yourself in your house, bar your windows from the kids, curl up in bed and read or nap. Fasting makes me appreciate the trials that my friends, colleagues and neighbors have to go through. The best part of course is breaking of the fast; i.e. a mini party each night, where families gorge themselves on three or four course meals, until approximately 10 pm, that are loaded with sugary and oily delights, only to wake up again 5 hours later and eat before the sun rises. It’s quite the cycle which that leads to the mighty holiday of the End of Ramadan. In a small village that’s all that anyone talks about—the holiday. My friends say that in the Koran it is written that one should buy new clothes if they can for the holiday. Thus, everyone tries to buy new clothes for their families and spends the money they could be spending on sending their kids back to school on clothes. The women spend hours a day preparing for the fete; getting their hair done and putting henna on their feet and hands. Although this lunar month has been nice for my sleep, I will be glad to get back to my normal metabolic schedule and not feel like I’m going to pass out come 4 p.m.
In addition to fasting, I have been getting some work done and certain instances have been quite encouraging. Namely, it has been great to see the progression of many women’s groups that I have helped to start and organize. These groups went from being very informal to large, organized meetings in months! It’s amazing. The groups, generally comprised of about 30-60 members, (mainly female) get together each month, form small village banking structures, and have all done projects such as planting bean, corn, soy or potato fields. I’m excited to see the groups reap their, hopeful benefits that will come if they continue to work together and mobilize. In addition to working in the cadre of women’s group mobilization I’m still working to bring health supplies to 4 of the villages to help them undergo pre-natal exams en brousse. This project will aide the women not have to travel up to 60 km to health centers to do pre-natal exams, not to mention the costs. Instead the nurses will come to the villages during their routine monthly vaccination schedule and help to toned-down pre-natal consuls. Of course en brousse it is impossible to do complete blood and urine tests. Each village is getting; a scale, fetus scope, blood pressure screening and meter ribbon to help measure the correct development of their pregnancies. Prior to going home to the states in August, women in the villages, who are also part of the women’s groups were trained to help monitor the progress of pregnant women in their respective locales. Ultimately, we are trying to not only mobilize women but also guide them to help ameliorate the maternal and child health in their villages.
The main discouraging event that has happened this month was probably my moto accident. No I was not driving the moto. The moto driver’s moto fell apart and some contraption of the moto became stuck in the wheel thus causing us to topple over. This was about the fourth moto problem he had had along the route. Moto problem Number 3 which led up to the accident, occurred when we were stuck in the middle of a cow field where I thought I would have to spend the night, dozens of km away from even a hut. Thank goodness we were not on concrete. Thank goodness I was wearing my helmet. Thank you PC for imbedding in us the importance of helmet wearing! Although I’m quite sore and scratched up from the fall, as was the moto driver, we came out of the wreck alive. Alahumdulilay. I’m just ready to get back to cars and paved roads in the states.
Well that’s a summation of some of the cultural and work under goings I have been up to. Hope this finds everyone well! Happy Autumn to everyone back home in the US!
Peace, Ali

The Chiefs, Mayor, PC Director

2009-07-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

the center

2009-07-12T01:48:00.000-07:00

It's Finished

2009-07-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

On June 27th Tourningal officially inaugurated its Community and Women’s Center. After many months of arduous work and cumbersome planning, I’m frankly relieved the pomp and circumstance is over. In the words of one of my counterparts, “this will be the biggest ceremony that Tourningal has ever hosted.” I’m not sure if that was true; however, it was a gallant affair. The ceremony was held to thank us Americans for our collaboration and help to the community. Everyone is deeply grateful for the donations that Americans made to the community. Some notes on the ceremony:
-Was attended by hundreds of villagers and 5 PC volunteers.
--My Peace Corps Director assisted the ceremony to show PC support. His presence was greatly appreciated by the community. He came via the treacherous 17 hr. train.
-Over 60 women bought matching fabric to show solidarity.
-The community brought together over 1,000 USD to buy food for the ceremony. -Women from surrounding communities that I work with came; which was very exciting for me to see. The fact that the women left their houses and husbands to come dozens of kilometers away is quite a feat in this culture.
-It was supposedly the first ceremony ever in the community that women and men assisted and were able to sit next to each other especially in the presence of elites.
-A large soccer match was organized to commemorate the Jersey’s that Milwaukee University donated after the ceremony.
Of course like any event, there were vicissitudes. It rained after an hour, and there were scrambles for the food. In other words, mass disorganization. Putting hundreds of dollars of varieties of food in front of Africans that rarely mix of their diets, and not having properly planned who would serve the food, is a recipe for disaster. Many Men were very avaricious putting loads of food on their plates when other women didn’t get served. C’est la vie. All is well that ends well.
With that said, Let’s just hope the Community and Women’s Center comes to fruition and is properly managed, taken care of and, most significantly, used. If not, the project will have been a failure.
Hope this finds everyone well. Happy July. Less than a month and I’ll be home Enshallah. Health and Happiness to all, Ali

Ceremony Pictures/Women's Fabric

2009-07-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

2009-07-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

The camp

2009-06-24T02:06:00.000-07:00

Students Drawing During Camp

2009-06-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

Kids Learning How to Impregnante a Mosquito Net

2009-06-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

camp with my counterpart

2009-06-22T02:52:00.000-07:00

Camp Conclusion 2009. Phew.

2009-06-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

Combine 35 rambunctious teenagers, 5 Peace Corps Volunteers, limited resources and many, many (mostly appropriate) health questions, and you get Camp NJAMU JAM 2009! In Other words, Ali’s health camp extravaganza number II. I’m just glad it’s over. I am very gleeful that: 1.no one got hurt 2. No one went hungry 3. Only 2 of 35 kids didn’t finish due to misbehavior 4. I was able to convince 5 of my PC friends to come help me. If they wouldn’t of come to the camp it would have been more hectic and less fun for me.
If I could find some job in the future where I have as entertained and feel like what I was doing was as worthwhile as running a health camp for teens, I may try. (Note: I’m sure if I would have written this blog immediately after a 9 hour camp day, probably wouldn’t be as optimistic). I couldn’t have asked for a more manageable, disciplined group of 35 teens. The camp was a diverse hodgepodge of health topics, sports, team building activities, and art. The health topics included; nutrition, water importance, Malaria, gender roles, male/female relationships, HIV/AIDS, money management, school importance, and sexual health. The sexual health topic always provokes questions or embarrassment by the kids. In a culture where sexual decisions are generally 100% made by the males, just getting an open dialogue about importance of pleasing your wife and letting her make family planning decisions was intriguing; i.e. not forcing her to do anything against her will.
We did small and large group discussions, many, many long-winded and confusing sketches were performed, art contests were held, and some of my Cameroonian counterparts came to talk about health odds and ends. I tried to incorporate American learning techniques; i.e. anything other than rote memorization and very, very strict disciplinarian tactics, (Cameroonian styles) during the camp. Most of the kids have never gotten opportunities to be creative and draw, play sports between guys and girls, and do fun games. Teaching “Simon Says” to 19 year olds was a memorable experience. It went over well.
The apex of the camp was the Celebratory Ceremony on the last day. Not only was it held in the new, American funded Community and Women’s Center, but the turn out to watch the kids was fantastic. The room was full of Men; nearly 70 came to watch the hurrah, most did not know French. (I’m working on Women’s Involvement in the community…slowly but surely the women will come to community events). What was touching was the fact that the men came to watch their kids perform skits and dialogues that ridiculed their traditional cultural practices and tried to show the benefits of new behavioral and lifestyle changes. For instance, the kids showed their 70 year old fathers, many who have nearly 20 children themselves, the importance of family planning. It made me smile. They also showed the benefits of saving money. In Tournignal many people save money by “hiding” it under their pillows or mattresses. In this certain skit, a kid peed on his mother’s mattress and the mother then threw out the mattress, not knowing there was money underneath that was previously hidden by the father of the household. It got a laugh from the audience.
Granted the camp gives the children an outlet to express themselves and show off their versatile talents, whether it is sports or theater. However, to know that these kids do not have any other opportunities to practice these talents outside of my camp is hard. Whereas in America oftentimes kids with talents or interests can pursue them in extracurricular settings, in a small African village, no other venues exist. I guess something is better than nothing.
Besides the end ofcamp, I’m getting ready for an American friend to come visit me in Cameroon and for the large, much anticipated, official Opening of the Community Center. Villagers have brought together over 200,000 CFA or 400 dollars to help pay for the festivities--a large amount. An El Haji in village is donating a cow, worth nearly 1,000 dollars. All in all, it should be a gallant affair; but quite stressful for me, knowing that the huge fanfare of the fete is to show us, Americans their thanks. I just hope they do not overdue themselves. Any Americans who may find themselves in the vicinities of Tourningal on June 27th are more than welcome to attend the opening. The more the merrier.
Summer is now upon the US. I hope everyone who is reading this has relaxing, fun-filled summer plans. I know I am anticipating my older sister’s wedding in August and wish I could be around for more of the preparation. I am just trying to keep myself ensconced in work and my friends in Cameroon, otherwise it would definitely be hard to get through these next few months. Much love and Peace, Ali

May

2009-05-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

You know you have been in Cameroon too long when you start to not want to leave your 1,000 person “fish-bowl” of an isolated village, because you are too fed up with the roads and simply want to make it out alive for the next 7 months you have remaining. That’s me. There are two memorable voyages thus far this rainy season. First, my car flipping over when the driver fell asleep on the dangerous Adamoua roads and fearing being stuck in brousse (thank God no one was hurt, miraculously). Second, going a speedy 15 miles an hour during a thunder storm and making it back to my village, from where the mayor of the area is posted, an efficient 5 hours after the departure….
Sometimes it’s just not worth it to travel, or leave your post to go work in needy villages. But luckily due to the sub-par roads with the start of the rainy season, I have been busy in post. Notably the community center is now finished! A grand MERCI BEAUCOUP to everyone who helped me out with the project. Daily villagers thank me. It is officially the prettiest building between Ngaoundere (the capitol of the province) and Belel (where the mayor is) 120 km. away. The building is graced in my favorite color, green. Preparations are already in gear for the mega Opening Ceremony in late June. Women’s groups are already meeting in the space and future seminars; cultural and relating to health, have reserved the space in months to come. I’m just glad the building is over. I can proudly say that I know the price of every tidbit of a material that goes into a Cameroonian construction project and my construction French lingo has skyrocketed. I vetoed the some of the villagers plans: to put a picture of me forever in the building and to name the building “the cradle (berceau) of the community,” deciding that was a bit too formal.
In addition to the community center, I am in the planning stages of Camp Njamu Jam part II; in other words, my makeshift health/living skills/sports camp. This year should be better, for I will of hopefully learned from the mistakes of last year. However, the empathy in me, could not decline the participation of certain kids, for I knew this may be their last opportunity to attend; so, this year will have nearly 40 kids under my guidance and patrol compared to last years 30. (Sure, some of the kids may of just wanted the T-shirt, but at least they wrote really good applications and seem genuine). I may have an anxiety attack during the week, but will make sure to increase my yoga-pilates regime during the camp to deal with the stress. I also choose 5 kids as leaders or counselors and prior to the camp will do in-depth training so they can learn the ins and outs of the activities and perhaps do a similar event sans moi. To meet and train with a dynamic, excited, energetic, hard-working group of young adults is an awesome feeling. Let’s all hope Camp Njamu Jam Part II goes well.
Another work related activity up my sleeve for the next few months is soy animations and information sessions—year number two. Since malnutrition is a severe problem and protein is scarce, trying to inculcate the importance of this little bean.
Well, that’s about it work wise. Cameroon’s 4th of July, or May 20th just passed. Watching school after school of kids marching in their desynchronized fashion is always a joy, or a laugh. Hope this finds everyone in a healthy and healthy state, preparing for the playful, sunny time that is America’s summer.
Much peace,
Ali

Community Center...before work

2009-04-14T00:34:00.000-07:00

Unflattering Picture of me in a Hijab

2009-04-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

our safari

2009-04-14T00:25:00.000-07:00

Rhoumsiki

2009-04-14T00:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!

2009-04-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Sannu himbe pat (or hello everybody!) I hope this finds you all healthy and in good spirits! It has been a while, mainly due to being at post and traveling. Similar to in the states, “spring” or the rainy season here is upon us; meaning: hours on end every day rain falls. Within 2 days the dry, torrid landscape became green, the cows became fatter, the roads became more dangerous and women started flocking to the fields to start preparing for the growing season! I also have started baking (not good idea) to pass the rainy time away…they do not have baked goods in village, so my poor baking skills are a hit.It’s amazing how fast seasonal changes go here…2 days and it’s a 180!
Village has its vicissitudes as always. The downs lately have been caused by a plethora of deaths. I have known more people die here in village than my 24 years of existence. About every week or so I hear of another person I know pass away. What is quite disheartening is that a large percentage of these deaths are preventable; i.e. AIDS, typhoid fever or moto accidents. I have so much inner guilt to know that people are dieing by preventable sicknesses, sicknesses that would be attempted to be treated or calmed in the states. I have to remind myself that even in the US there are millions of people that do not receive proper healthcare and that die of preventable illnesses. Funeral ceremonies here are a totally unfamiliar experience. They consist of women and men sitting in separate obscure, windowless rooms. The women especially take part in “crying ceremonies.” It is said that one does not show empathy with a deceased family member if one does not openly cry or wail in front of them. I live in a village of 1,000 people. The family and friend network is intense,nearly everone knows everyone else in village. Thus one can imagine the endless stream of visitors one receives. It goes on for days. So a deceased person close family must sit in a darkened room for nearly a week and greet or cry to everyperson that comes. From an outsiders perspective, this cultural aspect seems monotonous and long-winded. However, it also shows how deep the community is.
Besides this rather dismal subject, my village life has been replete with the continuation of the community center project and various other ordeals. The community center is going well; despite a dearth of ciment in the main town for 3 weeks. I continuously feel so grateful to have had so many generous donators in the states that helped me out with this project. Thank you so much. If only I could easily transcribe how grateful and warm the community is--how much this project means to them. For example, everyday I get countless words of Appreciation. The woman’s group is already having meetings in the half finished building! I cannot wait till it’s finished. I already have a Maternal and Child Health Seminar planned that will take place in the space. The community is already planning to use the space for a large cultural seminar in July. Various women and young adults have already expressed huge interest to do sewing workshops. So, now we’re just waiting.
Outside of the confined bubble of my village, I have made an effort to get out and see other parts of “Africa in Miniature” or Cameroon. A few weeks ago, some friends and I took a trip up to the Extreme North of the country. Up north, there are no rivers or little flora. There are no hills. There is sand, flatness, wind storms and dried earth. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Rhoumsiki; which lies on the border of Nigeria. In Rhoumsiki, one of the most popular tourist destinations lays a “lunar landscape” or jutting, sharp rock formations. It’s quite picturesque. We also spent a day in Waza, the most famous National Park in Cameroon. It was a disappointment. Sure we saw a lot of giraffes, gazelles, birds, and wart hogs; but, the “big honchos” or elephants and lions were no wear in sight. I think I have to wait until East Africa. The safari consisted of riding around on pot-ridden, rocky roads in the blaring, 100+degree sunlight for 7 hours. After that I was ready to get back to my mountainous, tree laden, cooler climate region. I guess I’m just now partial to my post and to my region; which is probably a good sign!
OK, that’s a summation of my life these past few weeks. Easter came and went. No one celebrated it. Once again, I hope this finds whoever may be reading it, in good health and spirits. Eat some good baked goods (because mine do not suffice) and Peanut Butter (I’m out) for me!
Allah hokku en jam—May Peace Be With You
Ali

Youth Day Celebration/Rainforest on Mt. Cameroon

2009-02-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

2009-02-27T00:53:00.000-08:00

On Taking the GRE and Climbing Mt. Cameroon

2009-02-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

Taking the GRE and Climbing Mt. Cameroon were two polar-opposite experiences that took place within 2 days of one another. One experience was miserable, comical, but not fun. One was exhilirating and once-in-a-liftime. First--the not-fun experience. I'll admit, Taking the GRE in America isn't too memorable. However, taking the GRE in the Cameroonian context, makes it an adventure. For starters, just filling out the bubble letters took my fellow test-takers an hour. After that hour, my bladder was about to burst. Meanwhile, the proctor was mumbling criticisms about the "incompetent Cameroonians," (in her words) in front of them. Scrap paper, supposedly a GRE right, was not offered, nor were any breaks. Cheating and cell phones going off, were rampant. Consequently, several test-takers were thrown out of the test, mid-exam. Studying for the GRE in my bucolic, quiescent village was somewhat of a paradox. That is, studying for an exam that will drive me full fledged into the American anxiety-ridden, highway of success; while I'm surrounded by my not formally-educated villagers whose lives have not changed for hundreds of years and are "stuck" in their lives, immobile in time. I felt odd reviewing formulas and revisitng vocabulary, as I looked out my window to kids, who do not have the chance to go to school, adorned with no clothes or sporting evidences of malnutrition.
Yet, to every low-point in life, or rough patch, comes an apex. Minutes after finishing the GRE I was rushed onto a 7 hour bus to climb Mt. Cameroon. It was a memorable, fantastic experience that I recommend to anyone who is mildly in shape and who enjoys camping or hiking. Mt. Cameroon is the highest Mountain in all of West and Central Africa,measuring approximately 14,000 ft. My friends and I decided to do the 3 day hike which took us through Rainforest, Savanna, ridges of active volcanoes, lava flow fields, cold/tundra like environement,verdant "Irelandesque" fields, and lunar landscape. The range of temperature was probably 40 to 90 degrees on the trip. On the summit I felt like I was going to be blown off. It was phenomenal to experience all of this bio-diversity at 13,000 feet. Above the clouds and tree-line, I felt like I could of been anywhere; America, Europe or Asia. It's wonderful how equalizing a force nature is on humanity; how above the clouds, one tends not to worry about everyday matters, traffic, food, news, electricity, cell phone reception etc. I think that this hike, if more publicized and marketed would attract many more tourists, Yet, inevitably with more tourists would come more negative outcomes of human impact, that would surely destroy the pristine landscape. Who knows.
Any way, back to post tomorrow. Back to my diverse roles as; librarian, sewing and english teacher, construction site inspector, "doctor," women's group consultant, and village babysitter. Hope all is well in the States! Much happiness and peace, Ali

A women's Group and My Sewing Class

2009-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

2009-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dust

2009-01-30T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Family and Friends! Happy End of January! It’s been a loooooooooooooonnnnnnnng month here. One word to describe this month: dusty. Dust is everywhere you want to be. Especially being located on a “main road” (main road meaning, maybe, a car an hour passes)that is not cemented, means that whenever a car or moto passes, whoever is the fortuitous person to be next to the road is the lucky recipient of dust.
Firstly, I would like to sincerely thank family and friends for all the donations that have been given to my Peace Corps project. Words cannot express how thankful I, and my community, are. Thank you. The project is to construct a women’s and community center in the middle of town. It is a very worthwhile project for women for many reasons; 1. there are no central places to have meetings. Women need permission to leave their house to go to meetings and since the location is central they will not have to walk far. 2. There are 6 sewing machines that have been dormant for the last year. The center will hold the sewing machines and act as a work-space to learn how to sew=income generation! The center is worthwhile for men; because, once again, no neutral place to meet. About 15 years ago there were political rifts within the two dominant political parties, thwarting development in Tournignal. The village was split and the two rival fractions did not speak for many years. Still to this day an undercurrent of vengeance can slightly be felt, and the two sides rarely go into the others’ houses. Thee center will be worthwhile for everyone in the community; because it is a place to have: community events, cultural/ health seminars, and to welcome dignitaries, ambassadors etc. Last year when the Ambassador came to Tourningal we had to welcome her in my house.
Voila—mon projet. I hope to get it underway in a few weeks with the construction, especially before the rainy season commences. Besides doing the project, lately I have been busy with organizing women’s groups and teaching girls how to sew. The women’s groups is probably my passion. The natural high I get after I have helped organize and inform a group of women is immeasurable. Women generally never have the chance to work together and mobilize in village. For instance, unlike men they do not even have the right to pray together. Secondly, I will estimate that about 95% of the women I work with have never been formally educated. They do not speak nor write or read french. They have no chances to gain revenue. Most, unfortunately, do not know about birth control methods; thus, they routinely have children every 1. 5 years. Teaching family planning methods is on my agenda for this year. So, I try to inform the women about an array of topics; clean water, malaria, HIV, hygiene, etc. Yesterday some women were amazed about my lecture in regards to water drinking. No one drinks water here. We’ll see if any of them actually start drinking 1-3 L /day. In addition to teaching them health topics is the undercover goal of forming sustainable women’s groups. I hope to routinely meet with these groups over the next year to solidify their raison d’etre.
Sewing….has been a challenge. I have had to teach myself how to sew and have had to have enough self confidence to teach others how to sew with the little experience I have. The girls thoroughly enjoy the class. To see the smiles and passion they have for their finished products is priceless. We are starting on cross-stitch this week. Then go onto sewing machines. My goal is that even if the majority of these girls have to marry in the next few years, they will have learned a skill, and perhaps income generating activity, to keep them busy and help their families.
Well, that’s about it. Things have been slow. Dusty and slow. The fun of living in a place where everyone knows your name--The joys of living in a place where your every move is known by the community. Much peace and happiness, Sey yeeso, Ali

Women During a Vaccination

2009-01-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

Waterfall

2009-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

ugly christmas project

2009-01-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while...Bonne Fete!

2009-01-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

Bonne Fete 2009!!! Happy Holidays! Happy Winter! December has flown by in a flash. I have been busy. First Sister visited. The visit went as smooth as it could have gone, she can attest to that. I thank her wholeheartedly for bringing 100 lbs. of stuff for me. Watching her lumber out of the airport with her suitcases was impressive. Although she did not eat any food in village, she brought an ample supply of Luna Bars to last her a week. The end of the visit was great. We spent a few fabulous days on the black sand beaches of Limbe.
It has been quite a harsh environment here in the Adamawa these past few weeks after sis left.
1) The Weather. When I get up and go to bed it feels like Winter, an estimated, frigid 45 degrees. (Yes, I realize this should not be intolerable having grown up in Wisconsin, but especially for most of my community who do not own jackets or fleeces, it’s harsh.) Then, from 9-16 in the afternoon, it feels like the heat of summer, sans any sort of nice cool breezes or clouds. Combine the heat with violent wind and dust storms and one can imagine how pleasant it must be to live here. In addition, I have daily allergy problems to the temperamental environment, causing my eyes and nose to constantly run. People usually think I’m deathly ill.
2) The food. The food has made the environment even more fun. Due to the holiday season, and doing vaccination campaigns in the brush (going village to village vaccinating 0-11 month year olds) my diet has been abnormal. The only dish that anyone ever serves for any sort of special occasion here is rice and greasy meat sauce. This is no exaggeration. I have been fed rice and very, very greasy meat sauce probably 30 times in the past week. I have also probably been given greasy, sugary, deep fried gateaux about the same amount. Yes, I could just say no to the food that people give me. But when the only tangible way that a 100 person village, made of mud huts, can thank you for vaccinating all of its kids, and can feel honored to have thanked you, is to give you greasy meat sauce, you just feel inclined to soak it in…and take a few bites. Needless to say, my digestive tract has been very, very harsh lately and does not like me. Thank you Tums.
3) The lack of Entertainment. (I threw this one on myself my staying in village for the crux of the holiday season)
Christmas: My entertainment for Christmas was sitting in a three hour church service that was not in French. Then I got fed 3 meals of greasy meat sauce. My colleagues at the health center have made me the unofficial social chair to help alleviate them from the dearth of entertainment. SO, they came over chez moi and we had a sober fete watching fufulde movies on my laptop, accompanied by greasy meat sauce. Correction; they had a fete, while I was throwing up in my room from grease for 2 hours.
New Years: Once again I was made social chair of the evening and my colleagues came over, expecting an all-night fiesta. Although this night I did not get violently ill, I became quite vexed as the evening progressed for; a)I had to act as the undercover alcohol distributor to my colleagues that didn’t want others to know they were drinking and b)was constantly bossed around from my male colleagues to serve them. Yes, in their culture women serve men. Chez moi +during the fete= not fun.
A 3 Day Fulbe Wedding: I would say 75% of the wedding involved sitting, much of it during the cold. I have sat with Fulbe Women countless numbers of hours this past week and have a new dogma: sometimes you just got to dodge out of certain cultural events, if not, your life in a small village would truly, only be cultural events, accompanied always by greasy meat sauce.

This is the end of my rant. However irritated I may seem to be, in reality I am very, very happy and still loving my life here in Tourningal. Most of the incidences I mentioned are quite laughable. I’m busy with work, have loving, ebullient friends and “family” here who have accepted me, get to exercise outside each day under the sun, and get at least a few “I don’t want you to leave in a year” comments a day (….hoping not sarcastic). This is encouraging. Much, much love and happiness to all during the winter months. Eat some vegetables or fruit for me. May 2009 find you in health and peace.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
The last few weeks have been fun and stressful. Fun because my friend that I worked with from camp 3 years ago in California came to Tourningal for 2.5 weeks. It was quite the experience to have a “post-mate” and to have another American live life in Tourningal. Angelina, or Aissatou in Tourningal, was an amazing guest. We complimented each other incredibly—she would prepare tasty meals and help me out doing presentations and cleaning the house.
The weeks were Stressful because I had to organize a seminar for HIV/AIDS for 15 health liaisons from surrounding villages. In addition, I organized activities for International AIDS day, December 1st. Being a community health education volunteer, I see International AIDS day as a pretty important platform to lance education. Planning events and seminars is frankly fatiguing. Running around and having to organize the venue, food and drink, presenters, transport, money issues, etc not including the overall context of what will be presenting, led to many nights of not-getting-as-much-sleep-as-I-normally-get-in-village. (ok…not getting a lot of sleep here is about 7 hours/night).
I felt like the seminar was a very pivotal event for organizing my last year in Tourningal. It entailed inviting all of the health liaisons from surrounding communities that serve as educators between Tournignal’s health center and their villages. UNICEF cut funding for the health-liason program that they used to finance, thus for the past year there have been no formations or tangible ways to “motivate” the health volunteers…always a point of contention. If the volunteers do not even get money for transport how can they do presentations in rural villages that are sometimes 20 km.away or even go to Tournignal to do follow-up? The program started by UNICEF was superb from a community health perspective—forming dynamic, over individuals in every community as relays. But like so many other initiatives lanced by NGOs, this one has also seen its’ doom. Thus, one of my counterparts’ and myself thought it necessary to organize this get-together to, simply put, motivate and re-energize the workers. We did such fun things as; action plans, ways to work together as health volunteers, problems and solutions that they face; as well as, HIV/AIDS reiteration, condom demonstrations, etc. Needless to say, it really does feel worthwhile to work with these village health care educators. I love it.
For World AIDS day I unfortunately will not be in village. However, I took a very optimistic approach and put the work onto some of my counterparts in village, hoping that they will indeed follow through with my orders. All of the students in my middle school have an essay contest that they can choose to partake in revolving around how their country, community and themselves personally can improve the state of HIV/AIDS in Cameroon. I hope they do the contest.
On non-work related terms, currently, I’m in Yaounde where I just finished my mid-service health exams. It was quite the memorable experience having to do routine fecal exams. Thankfully I do have latent TB, unlike one of my PC friends here who has to start a 9 month medical process.
Today is Thanksgiving, even here in Cameroon. It was interesting explaining to the Cameroonians the history behind Thanksgiving with their history of European exploration/colonization. We are invited to an ex-pat and ex-PCV’s house for grub and good times/watching football (do not miss). I want to quickly say my thanks to so many friends and family from back home that have kept in touch. I truly feel blessed to have had this eye-opening, learning experience and only hope that my second year is as worthwhile and happy as the first. I also feel blessed for all my friends and family back home in the USA and here in Cameroon.
Happy, happy Thanksgiving. Love, ali

2008-11-26T11:10:00.000-08:00

HIV/AIDS seminar in Tourningal

2008-11-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

Our health stage group, over one year later, posing during mid-service.

2008-11-06T08:31:00.001-08:00

"Chucky" in my backyard in the midst of helping me with my soy harvest.

2008-11-06T08:27:00.000-08:00

My community praying before the Ramaddan celebration. The Women are in the back.

2008-11-06T08:22:00.001-08:00

My baby and I. I'm sporting my bright, lime-green Ramaddan ensemble.

Election Galore

2008-11-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated Election!!!!It has been a while since I’ve had a substantial blog post, mainly due to the lack of internet in Ngaoundere (my closest town). When internet is around, it is so slow that oftentimes I feel my life wasting away while starring at the blank computer screen in the cyber cafes. Needless to say, this can be a frustrating experience—sometimes technology can just be a headache.
Now I’m in Yaounde for a HIV/Gender Youth Development meeting. Two nights ago was a very exciting time here, for about 30 fellow peace corps volunteers and myself stayed up all night with our eyes glued to CNN international for the projections. It was an odd sensation to be up at 6:30 am with the sun shining while watching Obama’s Victory speech in the pitch dark of Chicago. Cameroonians have showed nothing but utterly zeal and passion for this election. Although I have not experienced many presidential elections in my lifetime, nor any others outside of the US, I can vouch to say that this year’s election will be hard to beat in terms of its African appeal. Even in my tiny village, most all news-following citizens were very in tuned to the election and stayed up as well to watch the outcome—as evidence by the dozens of text victory messages and updates I received throughout the evening. In sum, the US election and the Cameroonian interest in it, reiterated how small the world is and how events can touch even small villages thousands of miles away from the US.
Outside of the election, life in village has been great. I have been kept rather busy between my teaching, helping with vaccinations at the health center, and organizing/meeting with women’s groups. In addition to community work, is the everyday monotonous activities of cleaning the house, cooking (sometimes) and dealing with the neighborhood kids. I find myself rarely having time to read or rest. Privacy and alone time are not very valued in my village. After I eat my dinner at my “families” house they usually try to convince me to stay up and talk with them rather than me go home and relax. If I’m relaxing chez moi during the day, I am relaxing to the sounds of people knocking on my door to try to visit me. Resting thus entails having to bar my front door, if not, it is impossible.
Lately I have felt like a women’s day consultant. It is quite exciting to work with people that act like you are extremely valued. Usually when I go visit women’s groups the amount of applause and fanfare I get is sublime. The groups make me feel like I am a celebrity—a good confidence booster. Sometimes I question if the work I’m doing is helpful and sustainable, but I guess whatever the outcomes are at least the groups know there is some foreign influence that cares about them and wants to try to help them. Some of the work I do includes: reorganizing the structure of already existing groups, starting action plans, doing budgets, time-lines, health presentations, helping the groups form bank accounts, forming non-existent groups in new communities and neighborhoods, and helping them become legalized.
Life outside of work is going well. My village is as friendly as ever, I’m running every morning with the sunrise, the weather is now sunny and dry and I finally bought a short-wave radio so I can keep in-touch with international news. Hope this blog finds everyone happy and in bonne forme. Much peace and happiness, Ali

Sannu!!!!

2008-10-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

The majority of the time here in Tourningal I feel more like a man than a woman; due to the cultural constraints and roles that women perform here. That is, they more often than not; do not eat with men, cover themselves in front of men or when they leave the house (that is IF they leave the house) and usually marry by age 17 and have 5 kids by age 25. Then there’s me. I run in my short shorts and tank tops. (Granted I run at 5: 30 am so as to not flaunt in front of the men). I teach English and a girl’s home-economics and health class.(quite a funny coincidence since I am probably one of the least domestic people I know). I come and I go as I please, in a liberal fashion entering concession after concession to visit my friends who do not have as much liberty as I. I eat and discuss political and religious issues with the “Grands” of the village, including the chiefs, imam etc. I am invited to eat with the “Grands” of the village while my friends and mothers of the village are the ones forced to cook for the Grands. They are not allowed to enter where we are eating; left only to hear the noises of the men and to see the remnants of their half eaten meals that they, the women, strived to make.

Then other times I feel like a camp counselor or walking human museum. That is I always feel on display. The amount of kids and questions I attract everyday could not be counted. Wherever I go or whatever I’m wearing, holding, cooking, reading etc. etc. are always the targets of questions galore. For instance, a few days ago I used a few band-aids on my feet to cover some scratchy mosquito bites. No joke, during the day at least 100+ people asked me about my condition. Whenever I prepare anything to eat, whenever anyone walks into my house they want to know exactly what I’m making and always expect to be fed. If I go to Ngaoundere for the day, people want to know why I’m going and how long going for. Perhaps I just live in a really inquisitive village. I think it’s more the culture here and the life of a small, intimate village.

Then there are the moments I feel like a NGO representative or consultant; chatting with women’s groups about their action plans, organizing community meetings to help mobilize groups for parties and information sessions, or meeting at banks and ministries in attempt to legalize groups. Some of the best, most triumphal feelings I have had fit under this category. For instance, when I see a group I have worked with has worked together to plant a few hectares of corn. When I witness the bean harvest of another group I helped actually grow. Or when I help a group that is 1.5 hours away from my village in the brush, legalize there group, make an action plan, and try to get funding to help their group next season with their corn, potatoes, cassava, or beans. These are the moments when I feel very worthwhile and pray that hopefully the work I am doing now, that is community mobilization, will somehow be sustainable in the long-run.

Besides explaining my roles in the society, on a completely different note, currently it seems like everyone is sick here in Tourningal. Not to exaggerate I would say about 50% of the population says they have some sort of malaria, the flu, cold, cough etc. A nurse I work with claims one reason for this spike in health ailments is due to the dearth of people coming to the health center during Ramadan and their bodies having to adapt to the changing eating/drinking habits. In addition to that, mosquitoes have invaded the town. Thank goodness PC provides us with mosquito nets. I cannot imagine sleeping without one. I fall asleep to the sounds of buzzing mosquitoes.

Some of my best friends in village fall under those that have been stricken by maladies. Three out of the Four women I consider to be my closest mom’s in village are bed-ridden. One has HIV. Another is in a Ngaoundere hospital, five months pregnant. The other just lost her five month old fetus.

Well, it’s late here, almost 10:00 pm and the constant drone of crickets is providing quite a nice sound tranquilizer. I should go to sleep. Much, much peace and happiness to everyone. Allah Hokku en Jam,

Ali or Amina

2008-09-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

Girls Conference in Ngaoundere

2008-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

Community Clean-up Days....

2008-09-07T03:38:00.002-07:00

A typical site near my post

2008-09-07T03:38:00.001-07:00

2008-09-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Cute Girl with stuffed animal

Rain, Ramadan, Work and Wisconsin

2008-09-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

It has only been roughly 2 weeks since being back from my trip home. It feels like I never left. When I was home it felt like I was never here. This is probably because there are barely any similarities between the two “worlds” that I live in—my world here in Cameroun and my world in WI. When I got back there was one observation and one question that nearly everyone said; “You became whiter!” and “What did you bring me from the US?” I guess the first comment is self-explanatory but the second question really became quite disgruntling after a while. Still two weeks later people are waiting for their gifts. The people that DID receive gifts were very appreciative. For instance, the Obama shirts and bumper stickers were a hit… Could I be hired to be the Obama spokesperson in Cameroun??? Little stuffed animals, toys and photos I developed of cows and corn back home were also greatly received. In addition, I brought back Scrabble (not my fav. Game but can pass the time) and Connect 4. Connect 4 is probably the coolest thing in Tourningal since the electrical poles were put up a few months ago (we’re still waiting for the electricity).
SO….life has sloooooooooooooooowed down in village. It has been nice. With the start of Ramadan a few days ago, things are even less active in village— if that is possible. During the 30 days of Ramadan all the women get up at 3 am to cook what they would at noon. Then the family eats loads at 430, prays and goes back to sleep for a few hours. They pass nearly 13.5 hours sans eating or drinking. At 630 pm it is breaking of the fast when people make up for a day without food. It is quite nice because they eat a lot better than they normally do. Lately I have been eating loads of greasy beef. I have probably eaten more red meat these last few days than I have eaten all year. Lots of greasy potatoes and greasy donuts accompany the greasy beef. My face is not appreciating all the grease. I have fasted a few days mainly to experience what they all are going through. Normally as a person who eats, runs, and guzzles water, it has not been very easy. Surprisingly a lot of people tell me not to fast. Since I do not pray five times a day for me fasting is obviously not a religious endeavor. Oh well…it does make me appreciate the availability and abundance of food and water.
The rains are beginning to cease. With the rain halting the roads are actually passable. For a few days no cars were passing through my village because the roads were so dangerous. It’s never a good feeling to know there is no way of getting home. As evidence of the poor roads, I have scars up and down my legs from falling on motorcycles and on my bike. Because of the roads, work has been rough, never knowing if the weather will hold up to have meetings and be able to go out of the house. Some accomplishments of my village have made me very happy these last weeks. These include; after 4 months them finally whipping up the money for a bookshelf or two to start a library and the start of “community clean-up days” twice a month. My Supervisor helped motivate the community to start these days, or really 2 hours in the morning, when everyone is supposed to be working together on a specified area in village and stores all have to close. So far the turn out has been wonderful and even the griots come out with their drums to add ambiance. We hope that Tourningal will become the cleanest village in the area….but first let’s hope that people turn out for the next days in the near-future.
Well, I hope that everyone is healthy and happy. Thanks so much to everyone that welcomed me and saw me in Madison. I feel so blessed to have had such a great trip home and to be surrounded by great friends and family. Sey yeeso himbe Pat, Amina
Random comment—I received a package about a week ago that my parents sent last November. 10 months late, not too bad, eh?

2008-08-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

Some of my Friends in Village

2008-08-07T03:24:00.000-07:00

View from my Village

Homeward Bound...for Vacation

2008-08-07T03:21:00.000-07:00

As I’m getting ready to embark on my third, out of four, day travel back to the US for vacation, I am both; starting to reminisce about my 11 months here and also getting extremely excited to go home for a break. Although, the excitement about going home is currently trumping the reminiscing-leaving-village-feeling…for a break is needed.
It is a good time to take a congé. Firstly, it is the rainy season; therefore, meetings are routinely cancelled (since people do not like to go out in the rain) and scheduling activities is greatly hampered. In addition, is it quite hazardous to travel with the rains. For some reason Tourningal’s soil is not muddy; instead the ground is just slippery. It reminds me of WI winters and ice. There have been a few deaths in the area because of people falling into rivers due to the slippery conditions. My counterpart nearly broke his leg from falling on his moto with the slipperiness. Secondly, since it is summer vacation, most of the kids and teachers that I worked with during the school year are absent, leaving a bulk of the more animated-educated—french speaking community, not around.
Going home however, has already presented some problems in my community. I swear that every person I encountered asked me to bring them back something from the states. Perhaps if I had my own plane and an unlimited supply of money I could fulfill there exorbitant requests. Numerous laptops, radios, cell phones, jewelery, shoes, etc. etc. will simply be impossible to bring back. Most also were somewhat confused about whether or not I was going home permanently (it was probably my fufulde), so they will probably be surprised, enshallah, to see me again in a few weeks.
Although work has not been overwhelming these past weeks, my daily siestas have been greatly evolving and I have gotten some quality thinking time. One thing that I have been realizing in my village is the lack of any sort of community structure. My village makes me realize the importance of local government, for when there is none, like my case, nothing gets accomplished. There can be very little development for a village if there is no governing, centralized body to make decisions and bring together the community to work together. SO, due to this, I have been trying to mobilize the community to think about their future and what they need to develop. Sometimes I feel like my title should be a development consultant.
For instance, a few days ago I spent 2 days walking house to house informing the community about community-development meetings that would be taking place. Since the women and men cannot work together, two separate meetings had to be held, I was acting like the interlocutor between the two. The Men’s and women’s meetings were the first community meetings that had been held in months. At the meetings we discussed: hygiene and sanitation problems, water issues, how the community needs to have a budget to finance unforeseen problems, and what the community needs are. It was quite an elated feeling to mobilize the community members together. I hope that the meetings will serve as catalysts for future community action.
WELL, ca c’est ma vie. I hope this finds everyone in fine spirits. Cheer for the Cameroonian teams at the Olympics. Allah Hokku en Jam, Amina Pullo

2008-08-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

At my "mom's" house; her making beignets. This is one of the reasons I have chubbed up these past few months. They are delicious.

2008-08-06T14:16:00.000-07:00

My Family at Village; Ibrahima, 18, Maimounatou, 17, Fadimatou, 4, Nene, Aissatou, 7, Naffisatou, 19.

July in Adamaoua

2008-07-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

Asalaa Maalkum from Yaounde! Just had a riveting seminar on Maternal and Child Health. It had its ups and downs--the ups were notably my counterpart beaming with joy and incessant smiles. He loved it, thus it was worth it for me. Besides coming down to Yaounde for a fun-filled 3 days of sleepless nights, power-points, and street congestion, life has been good up in the Adamoua.
Over a week ago I finished my camp. It was a schmorgasbord of life planning activities, sexual health education, art introductions, sport training, female and male relationship talks, etc. etc. I can safely say that for five days I had a raging headache, but all in all, it was worth it and I think they all enjoyed it (especially with their cool shirts they got...trust me, just about every community member asked my why I failed to buy them shirts even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the camp, pretty typical). So After the camp and my zero day recovery from it, life got back to normal and my non-existent work schedule started up again. Non-existent meaning, I plan everything I do. Non-existent not meaning I do not have anything to do.
I have discovered these last few weeks that I rarely get a minute to sit down and rest. From about 6:30 am till about 20:00, I eiether have guests at my house, am "babysitting" kids coming over, in neighboring villages doing health animations, or at the hospital. Walking around the village is a tiring task in itself. Being the only white person in village and making myself rather available to talk and work with anyone in the community has meant that nearly every person that passes me, going anywhere, stops and wants to talk. Thus, a walk that should only take about 10 minutes, could end up taking an hour. ..I'm working on clandestine routes through the village, or perhaps should just start wearing camolflouge. Any way, perhaps my social standing in village though is one reason why I am so happy there, why I feel so comfortable.
So although there may be no restaurants, bars, dance clubs, or community centers, my african "social life" (a 180 from my American one) is full swing in Tourningal, no electricity and all. In addition to the societal pull, other work acitivites have included; soy planting (yay! it worked...) HIV/AIDS seminars, trying, trying, trying to start a small library, Pump and Sanitation work, etc. etc. Also trying to do Maternal and Child Health animations and community work. Judging from how only one women in all of our 12,000 aire de sante completed her Pre-Natal Consultations, gave birth at the hospital, and completed her vaccinations, this is definitely something we need to work on.
On an American note, Congrats to Claire and Chris for their Engagement! Claire I look forward to wearing an African Boubou at your wedding.
Hope all is well, happy July! Perhaps I will see some of you in August when I come home to visit. Much Peace and Happiness, Amina

2008-06-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

The kids and I after a session entitled "the importance of staying in school."

2008-06-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Tried to teach the kids how to play Ultimate Frisbee, definitely was a hit, especially with the girls. Since no girls ever do sports here, it was awesome to see the girls get excited about sports.

2008-06-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

The guys of the camp

2008-06-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of our favorites at the camp. A Central African Republic refugee of less than 2 years who had never frequented before, he surpassed all the other kids in age by about 7 years but brought many smiles to our faces.

2008-06-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

A rare moment of silence at the camp. The kids were mesmorized by markers and getting time to draw. They are in the midst of drawing for our health message contest.

2008-06-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

American Ambassador to Cameroon with the hospital staff and my country director.

2008-06-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

One of my counterparts...he mobilized the women in my community for the arrival of the ambassador.They are outside my house in the midst of clapping for her arrival.

2008-06-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

Kids waiting for the arrival of the Ambassador

2008-06-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

My sister and I at a waterfall about 10 minutes away from my house

Life Progresses

2008-06-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Asalaa Maalekum,

Life has been progressing here in Tourningal…slowly but surely. Have to be honest, there have been some challenging times these last weeks, times when I long for animation, a social life, friends, family, and some time to cuddle up with my cat. I think the best way to illustrate how villageoise and slow paced my life has become is by my daily schedule. I usually get up at about 5 to the sounds of roosters and cows. Not to pray with the rest of my community, but simply because without electricity my body cannot stay awake past 9—it’s like a nightly fight. After exercising till about 6 (because if I do not run in the morning all of the community sees me and the kids run after me in the afternoon) I need to clean my house, get water and be out of the house by 7, if not, people think I am either sick or not present. Doing chores and cleaning takes up a large chunk of my time. I think I have made up for the past 4 years in college in these past 6 months.

The weather—I realize this is a boring topic…yet, the weather really dictates everything I do here. Without cars, solid infrastructure, and roads, now that the rainy season has begun my slow paced life has become even slower, due to the weather. I have had countless meetings cancelled and generally there is a greater malaise in the community. The rule of law here is: if it rains, do not leave the house. Since is rains almost every day, things do not happen.

The Ambassadors Visit— Quite the gallant affair to happen in Touringal. The community and I were much honored to have the American Ambassador and my Peace Corps Director visit a few weeks ago. She picked Tourningal to visit out of all the province. I felt like an official event planner 2 weeks prior to the visit. Since women and men do not work together, every meeting had to be planned twice. All in all, her visit was wonderful—short and sweet. Various members of the community started changing the plans 5 minutes prior to her arrival (notably by hiring singers and drummers to come and add excitement as she was touring). The highlight of the visit was her coming to my house and meeting with various women group leaders.

Polio Campaigns—Since there have been rare cases of Polio noted in Cameroon within the past few years, the government launched a Polio Vaccination Campagin, which I got to help out with last week. It was a wonderful, yet arduous way to see villages outside of Tourningal. My counterpart and I took a moto into Mountainous villages, seemingly untainted by modernity, for none had any government resources, schools, electricity, stores, etc. etc. Thankfully was not thrown off the moto. For 3 days of back-breaking work, vaccinating hundreds of children, my counterpart was paid about 12 dollars…

Soy—Recently I’ve felt more like an agro volunteer…since I’ve never planted anything in my life, it has been a learning process. With the advent of the rainy season Tourningal has been consumed by agriculture, it’s like a contest…everyone is vying to plant ASAP, searching for seeds, preparing their fields, hiring help etc. I thus am trying to combine my little health education background with my non-existent agricultural one, by planting soy beans. Soy is chock full of protein and since malnutrition is a large problem here and simply the lack of variety of food, thought it might work. We’ll see….if anyone has any soy bean recipes that do not evolve electricity, please let me know.

A human face of HIV—one of the hardest moments that I encountered these last few weeks happened at 5:30 in the morning a few days ago. As I was mounting my normal hill I run up every day, met a woman crying and holding her baby; the same baby that I had noticed a few days prior and asked my counterpart why it appeared so fragile and sickly. The baby that the women was holding was minutes away from dieing, its’ bones protruding from every angle of its body. I learned later that she had walked with the dieing baby kilometers away from Tourningal believing that the sickness, in reality AIDS, was a curse put on the baby by her father. After walking with the women to the nearest village and hailing her a moto, I learned later, minutes after, the baby died. This story, is just one example of the necessity to sensibilize and educate my area about HIV/AIDS. It is one example of how HIV/AIDS affects nearly everyone in the community; whether the community members know they have it, their relatives have it, their children died of it, or how important it is to educate their children about it. Now I’m working to help convince the health center to help convince the woman to get on ARVs.

Well on this sobering note, I should go. I hope that everyone is healthy, happy and is looking forward to the sunny summer months. Felicitations or Barka Kristin and Matt, I wish I could be there...I will think of you guys this Saturday and have some tea in your honor.

2008-05-06T02:42:00.000-07:00

kids in village at the naming ceremony.

2008-05-06T02:35:00.000-07:00

Example of the kids that come to my house each afternoon. They are playing with their cars.

2008-05-06T02:32:00.001-07:00

Some cute kids. They are numbers 11,12 and 13 of the family. Since there are no cribs the mom put the kid in a box while she did the dishes.

2008-05-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

A typical afternoon at my house with some of my students

2008-05-06T02:22:00.000-07:00

Oldest woman in village with a 8 year old baby during the naming ceremony.

Life in Tourningal

2008-05-06T01:28:00.000-07:00

I’m about to embark on my fourth journey to Yaoundé via train, in less than 2 months…that maybe a peace corps record. Yet, all of my trips to Yaoundé have been warranted; IST in Kribi, parents visit, parents return to Yaoundé (and another trip to the beach) and this time around, HIV/Gender Youth and Development meeting. I figured since nearly all my work will revolve around HIV/GYD activities it would be very worthwhile to join the committee—hopefully it will be just that.
Life in Tourningal after having been away for nearly a month and a half, for the most part is great. My parents visit went rather smoothly; Kudos to them for being able to bear the conditions with little to no complaints. They also did not become ill, which is quite a feat in Africa. They were met with much hurrah. In a village of 1,000 people, when any newcomer, yet alone a white person comes to visit, it makes headlines. Upon disembarking from the car, we were immediately invited to a wedding 15 minutes later and had a streamline of visitors chez moi for the next 2 days. The very traditional wedding, and very typical, was quite the culture shock for the rentals. The 18 year old girl, having never met the 55 + El Hadj of my village, moved into Tourningal….she is his fourth wife.
So then the parents left and life for me has been normal since; i.e. teaching at college, women’s group visits, planning projects, etc. etc. About a day into the village, I became bored, but now thanks to the new ipod have at least 3 hours of music every few weeks or so to look forward to! Somewhere along the line I figured organizing a summer camp would be a great idea since I was fortunate enough to grow up in summer camps and work at them. The week long summer camp at Tourningal, called Njamu Jam or “Good Health” in fufulde, is not based on a traditional American theme, rather reproductive health and life skills, i.e. leadership, planning, sex ed etc. In addition, the cost of this camp is probably a tiny fraction of any American camp, we are basically only paying for lunch for the kids. SO, enshallah all will go well and at least 25 kids will for one week break the monotony of their agricultural-raising cattle based summers and do something different for a change.
In addition, to the camp, have been trying to bring in resources to the village, i.e. magazines, journals, books etc. I have started brining in an adolescent- 17ish magazine that is strewn with health messages to village which has gone rather well. Since the kids have not grown up with books of any kind, their reading level is pretty low; thus many kids even in seventh grade level cannot read 4th grade level material. Perhaps in the months to come a library of some type will be formed, enshallah.
Well, socially life in village is about the same. With no restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. etc. honestly it is not too jam packed. Highlights socially are probably going over to my fufulde mother’s house each night and after eating a heeping plate of food (literally she refuses to let me go hungry, and consequently I fall into a food coma each night) I sit around a lantern listening about people’s days/problems etc, all in fufulde. Occasionally we might drink coffee or tea. Perhaps we might watch a film. Normally the films are all religious based. If they are at Muslims houses they usually will talk about Islam. If the film is at a Christian’s house they have to do with the New Testament or Christain-Islamic debates; probably not the type of films that I would be watching in America. Some of my best friends in village are 8-15 year olds. I seem to be a hit with this age group, attracting on average 20 or so kids an afternoon to my house. They come to “read” English magazines. They come to play cards. They come to simply sit and watch me do whatever I may be doing; brushing my teeth, sweeping, drinking coffee. They will literally wait for me to come home, run down the street and then follow me into my house. It is fine, except when the kids start to touch/play/ask and destroy things….then I shoo them out. It’s quite a routine. I’m sure the mothers of Tourningal appreciate my presence for I have turned into a quasi day care center in the afternoons. Perhaps I should start a community center?
Well, that’s about it…..life is progressing, rain is a falling and I’m dreading this long upcoming voyage. On va faire comment? Hope all is well! Come visit. If Betsy and Jim can, you can too. Les gens de Tourningal vous saluent. Ummatoore pat haa Tourningal hoofnoo mon. Everyone in Tourningal says hello! Peace

2008-04-09T02:21:00.000-07:00

Ham Ham--a northern delicacy. Not quite. But it is a lot better than what I normally eat. Consists of grinded up peanut balls without the peanut oil and a vegetable-oily sauce.Bottom photo is of our car stuck for a few hours en route to village. A 200 km village that took 7 hours.

2008-04-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

Pirogue near the Kribi waterfalls that enter into the ocean. Part of the group at Fufulde IST. My Fufulde teacher is on top of the car.

2008-04-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

Some friends from Stage at the Beach

2008-04-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

Gruber, Ben and I

2008-04-09T02:09:00.000-07:00

The Beach

2008-04-09T02:06:00.000-07:00

The Beach
My life up here is certainly not like life at the beach. There is no water of any sort, no fish, restaurants, bars, cafes, ocean breeze, or relaxation. There is also no nudity of any sort. The dress attire is in fact, a 180 from life at the beach. However, I just got back from the beach (and a whirlwind tour of Cameroon) and I soundly can say even at the beach I missed my small, remote village. My whirlwind tour of Cameroon is followed next week by an American parental visit….needless to say, I will be quite a tired person. It has been nearly 3 weeks since I have spent more than 24 hours at my post. I feel incredibly guilty for having other obligations that keep me away!
For our 3 month training we went down south to Kribi. Stepping of the train in itself was culture chock. After having lived up north where long boubous dominate, women in anything shorter than a skirt above their knees is a sin, seeing people praying on the side of the streets is commonplace, and the scenery is dry; going down south was a 180 and made me really appreciate the north. Yet for a small vacation, Kribi was absolutely fantastic for a variety of reasons: sharing post stories with friends, complaining in English, grrrrrrrrreat food---fish, porc, chicken, fruit, swimming, greenness, being able to dance, and the list continues….
Jumping ahead 2 weeks, I.just got back from nearly a week in Garoua, the capital of the north province. Garoua is a larger city, with more night-life than Ngaoundere, my closest city. It is famous for its hippopotami that grace its mud-filled river and…well, how hot it is--not too much else. But as a hub for the Northern provinces, it has a metropolitan feel and more asphalt laden streets than in my province. The reason for this northern voyage was to work on my fufulde skills, the language that I need to know at my post. Since they didn’t teach us any fufulde during training and left us with having to teach ourselves (which has been a fun/ sometimes stressful experience) they decided to bring the northerners together for an expedited course. The courses themselves were not too exciting, sitting for 6 hours a day never is too extraordinary; however, it was great to reiterate important fufulde points and to visit new part of the country.
Well….that brings me to this next week, that I’m sure will be an adventure in itself; having my parents come visit. Hopefully we will all make it through the next 7 days. Hopefully the party that my village is planning for their arrival will bring much joy and not too much food sickness. Best wishes to all. Mi don tamma himbe pat don be damma. Allah hokku en jam. Sey yesso, Amina

2008-03-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

My eleves in sixieme in front of their classroom.

2008-03-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

Mi takki naale, or I stuck henna-like substances on my body. Its associated with being Muslim and was a very laborious process involving much sitting.

2008-03-14T03:53:00.000-07:00

Women's day Fete part 2, in a town close to mine. We are all sporting the official women's day pagne. All of the women who participated in this fete unfortunately were "femme libres;" or not-married, often correlated with prostitution. At least they had the first offical fete ever.