Sannu

Asalaa Maalekum Himbe Pat. I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy and not too bogged down by snow or politics. I get the political update every once in a while here, from some nurses at the hospital. They are quite fond of Obama here, since he is half African and are rooting for him. Besides random political updates from the states, and hearing about the news in Tchad, (rebel troops took over the capital city for a days, located about 12 hrs away from me/threats of a massive coup d’etat, now peace/rebels have been stopped/no problems) I do not get too many updates from states. People cannot even fathom snow. I try to tell them is minus 15 degrees Celsius but since it never gets below 10 degrees Celsius here, it’s an odd concept.

Any way, life has been chugging along here in the dusty, sunny, hot, dry, allergy enducing province of Adamoua. Since it is the crux of dry season and there are sahelian winds blowing dust everywhere, my allergies have been horrible. Without sunglasses and protective covering, skin just shrivels up /it’s difficult to see. Highlights these past weeks have been; 1. Developing my curriculum for the health education class 2. trying to start/help various women’s groups in the area 3. visiting vaccination campaigns and doing health animations 4. Getting my second cat as a present

I absolutely love teaching at the college, about the equivalent of 7^th grade in the states. Various topics have been covered such as malaria and hygiene, but now steering towards sexual reproductive health. Since most of the kids will probably not continue school, have never received health education before, and in their culture many topics are taboo, it makes the classes oftentimes stressful and challenging, especially with my french vocabulary, but feels rewarding.

In 2 weeks is the National Holiday of Women’s Day. At my post, they have never ever done anything for Women’s day, due to cultural constraints and perhaps ignorance about the holiday itself. Most elsewhere in Cameroon it is a HUGE day including, parades, partying, dancing, etc. Well…I wanted to try, try, try to do something in my post for the women. Currently in the midst of organizing a large party for them next week. Since funds are greatly limited and each women can only contribute about 50 cents to the party, it’s not exactly going to be an exquisite affaire, but we’ll make do. There also is no locale to have party, no community centers/large rooms exist. So I invited 50 women over to my house. So far the plan for the party is eating and listening to Fufulde music, hopefully will get a good ambiance going to chat about health issues.

In addition to the womens group in my village, also trying to develop groups in villages nearby. A town 25 km away has a very large weekly market. Consequently, prostitution is a huge issue. There are dozens of “free women” they call them and unfortunately ISTs/HIV is a very large problem, estimated at about 30%. Thanks to a very dynamic, french speaking women in that town, we are working together to try to educate women/mobilize them.

One of the cutest moments in my weeks here is every Thursday which is vaccination day. Scores of women bring in their babies to be vaccinated. It’s adorable. Fortunately the vaccination campaigns here are very efficient and run well. However, only about 50% of women give birth in health centers and very little come in for Pre-Natal consultations. Culturally it’s just not seen as necessary to give birth at hospital. Women usually leave there house a month before giving birth to go live with their family. Needless to say, promoting Pre-Natal consultations and birthing at hospital is one of the topics targeted.

About my cat….I had a cat last week. I called it “Fatty” short for “Faturo” or cat in Fufulde. In fufulde the term for “I like” is the same for “I want.” A precious grandmother thought I said “I want a cat” not just “I like cats.” So she brought me over a cat. It was cute but frankly made me really, really appreciate all the work put into cat rearing. Living alone, not liking to prepare for myself here, and having no cat supplies that we have in the states, I sadly thought that I could not provide a nurturing environment for Fatty and had to give it away. C’est la vie.

J’avais trop parlé. Once again hope this finds people healthy and happy. Happy end to February. Sey Yesoo kaddi, Ali ou Amina a Tourningal

Moi with some kids.....this shot was taken as I was waiting for the car that never came for 6 hours. Having nothing to do and feeling quite ill I tried to entertain some kids

cattle crossing street in village; my counterpart and his son, girls in my class

First image: Men in village praying at a Do a or a traditional ceremoney when someone comes back from Mecca.
Second and example of what one receives for a marriage; the male family has to buy a lot of plates

The Good and the Bad

The Bad--6 weeks have passed since coming to Tourningal and all but one of them have been pleasant. This past week was definitely the exception. Getting sick anywhere is not fun. Getting sick when; no one in the town speaks English, when one lives alone, there is no electricity, you have to use a pit latrine that is covered in flies (and your leg muscles are not used to squatting so much), all you want to do is sleep and there are incessant knocks on the door, you vomit in front of a bunch of kids that, unlike in America (even when you are laying helpless on the dirt )they do not get someone to help, the only thing to eat is fufu (corn flour with water), no network in your house, and the only way you can call people is during the night when its cold….etc, etc, makes being sick a little bit more interesting.

I came down with my first bout of dysentery at approximately 3 am 6 days ago and I hope, hope I will not have it again. It was just a stressful week full of a lot of ORS, oral dehydration salt mixes and little movement. I did probably loss about half of the weight I gained since coming to Cameroon. However, having a malady made me realize the luxury of exercise…in order to exercise well one needs to have enough Energy to move, good food to eat, be hydrated etc. I have not exercised for a while. I have now learned my lesson and will eat less, not eat anything that is given to me and definitely not drink as much fresh milk even if it has been boiled. Since I couldn’t necessarily translate all my not-so-good feelings this week into fufulde, it was quite comical the responses I got from villagers when I told them my symptoms. Most everyone thought it was Malaria. About 80% of the health patients have malaria, so even a simple headache people will label as malaria.

The Good-- I am generally quite happy in my village and up until the sickness was doing great. I still feel very blessed that I have found a family here that has pretty much taken me up as their own. The mom came to my house countless times when I was sick providing me with a plethora of food; most of which I did not eat, (who really feels like eating oily soaked squash and large chunks of fatty meat when one is about to explode) and coffee (they didn’t really understand that laxatives aren’t the greatest…) There is always something going on in their compound, since she is the first of three wives, thus a heap of children wandering about and food to eat. Getting close to a Polygamous family has provided me insight on the nature of male-female relations here. Needless to say sometimes, dreamingly, I wish I could just push a button and start voicing my western- egalitarian opinions fluently in Fufulde knowing that their would be no repercussions from the males and they would, magically understand how to treat their wives, etc, etc…but that is not the case.

Work……Unfortunately, one of the repercussions of polygamy in this Male dominated, traditional society is HIV/AIDS. I have only been here for a month and a half, but have already met many people that have had to deal with the consequences of this epidemic. Especially in polygamous marriages, the wives are often victims to the males that leave the compound whenever they please. Last week learned of a case where one of the co-wives died of AIDS and the other Co-wives do not know they have it. The husband has not told anyone, anything….My province has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in Cameroun at about 17%. Two towns over the rate for sero-positive pregnant women is about 35%. In sum, this is an issue that I want to further explore.

Besides this, on a slightly more upbeat note, I have started working in the middle school in my town. I teach English and Health classes. Currently there is only one class of 55 kids, 10 of which are female. School here is more like a free-for-all, for the age range in my class is about 12-22. Their ability levels are quite eye-opening. There are students in the class that can barely write or read, at the 7^th grade American level. Having no French books, magazines or documents of any kind contributes to this problem. In addition, kids here are encouraged to study and learn the Qu’ran, not their French schooling. They often will spend their free time memorizing and reciting the Qu’ran written in Arabic and learning it in Fufulde. Furthering the education problem in my town is the fact that currently 2 of the 4 Primary School Teachers haven’t come back from Vacation yet. I don’t necessarily blame them, for they were affected to teach thousands of kilometers away from their families in the brousse, and are not receiving salaries; however, now about 120 kids have no teachers. The remaining two classes have about 90 kids to them each….not exactly conducive to learning.

I hope this finds everyone health and happy! Happy End of January. Allah hokku damma. Useko jur.

Until next time, hopefully my stomach will remain tranquil. Sey yesso kaddi.

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

Kids at my house during Tabaski.