08/03/12
Gosh wilicures its been a long time since I’ve updated this but Je suit content! It’s a full moon tonight, and I haven’t written about awesome events that usually happen with me on full moons in a good while. Good things have happened frequently on full moons for me even thought the crazies come out as my mother would say. I also had a very special person send me a message of how amazing the universe really is and it revealed itself to me today: ) So its been over a month, so much has happened in this past month, but even more so today, so I’ll start off with today before I delve into what I’ve been up to the past month.
Today is Women's Day in Cameroon. A day where women are commended for their work and life, kinda like mothers day, except for everyone with a vagina. Lemme start from this morning. I got up and had my hired help, Harris, come over while I did work outside. He did a kick ace job as usual. He’s been asking me to buy him a phone instead of paying him cash. I ask why and he says its because he spends his money on food and doesn’t know how to save. I can’t buy him a phone because anyone who buys a phone in Cameroon has to have it registered to their ID card. I explained that to him and told him that he should save half of what he makes each month, 2.500 CFA, for his phone. He asked if I would hold on to it for him. I asked why and he said he would spend it on food or other things? I told him he needs to learn how to save money, but Janelle had the same situation with her hired help, so for the time being I am copying what she did. I told him I would hold on to half of his pay until it reaches 10.000 CFA, then he needs to learn to save on his own. Since that will take 4 months I’ll have a good amount of time to talk out the importance of saving and not blowing your money on whatever. It will also help my french, which Harris has done each time he comes over to work. I practice my french while he practices english, more so me practicing french.
Stephanie came over to drop off her stuff before she departed today for Limbe. I’m close to the place de faites so it didn’t make to watch the parade, go home, pick up all her stuff, and then wait at the agency. Homegirl is going to Limbe with a couple other hommies before IST as a time to relax. I decided to stay here to set up a program with my counterpart, save money. I will have my relax time come May, and another year after that, so no rush for me. She dropped her stuff of and then all the volunteers met up to watch the women’s day parade. Back to that. Its a day to celebrate women. All the women, representing different groups, get their payna made up in all different styles, march in groups, and then hit the bars all afternoon and night after. Its supposed to be a day where the men do the “women’s” work while they get to relax. But really a majority go out and get celebrate all day and night. They drink, dance, and sing for the next 24 hours. But some ladies get a little too hammered. Like today I would walk by groups of women saying “Bon faite!” (happy day for you) and would get yelled at. Things like, “Go home, this is not your day” or “give me money, ect”. The city was busy but the marche was empty. Some women were respectful and nice when I wished them a good day, but most I encountered that afternoon were groups who were like the cool kids in high school. There were also the french girls who work at College Barry, the private school where I take my french lessons every Wednesday, at Women’s Day. These french girls are also volunteers who serve 6 months at a time. One is an accountant for the schools and one teaches. I met them for the first time last week at a dinner I was invited to. (I know I’m milanging (mixing) todays events and whats happened over the past month) The dinner was at the home of a solid, 2 solid, human beings named Ali and Fati. They own 2 boutiques here that sell whatever your need. I ate a fantastic meal. Cabbage salad, chicken, fried plantains, cous cous de manioc, and koko. There was also bread and they even brought me a new bottle of water. With some Cameroonians‘ the hospitality is unbelievable. I dunno if its because I’m white and they know I’ll be here for 2 years so they want my business, but I really feel they are genuinely kind hearted human beings who want to share a meal and rest with people of a different culture. In Cameroon, when you get invited for a drink or meal the inviter always pays.
I wanna take a moment to share a quote I read in my, “Roles of the Volunteers in Developent” book given to me by the Peace Corps:
“...people in Western civilization no longer have time for each other, they have no time together, they do not share the experience of time. This explains why Westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a ‘waste of time‘ nor is it a manifestation of laziness. Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relations.” -- Andreas Fuglesang
I will disagree with this statement to a certain extent, but to a greater extent its true. Voala! Facebook. People are so busy to keep up with all their “friends” so its just easier to mass message people about whats going on in their lives, post photos, complain about something and then forget about it enough to do something about it. I’m guilty of it. Facebook is a unique communication tool, but people in America really don’t just sit, rarely, and talk compared to undeveloped countries. Between FB and anything made my apple developed nations are filled with millions of people in their own world wanting to share it with everyone through an electronic device. Snail mail is a great example too. Who takes the time now in the 21st century to write a message on paper. Most don’t because of urgency or convenience. I tried to write letters and make birthday cards as much as I could in college and it was a great stress reliever for me. Its also a great surprise in the mailbox in between things that should be recycled or bills. I’ll say it again, mail is gold to me here, so thank you to the human’s who continue to take the time out of their day, an hour or 2, and pay less than $2 to let me know whats going down in your life. It is greatly appreciated. I have a collection of letters in the states and I’ve started a collection here. Its great support, along with the pictures I get. Thank you mes amies. Nous sommes ensemble.
When I say Americans don’t just “sit” I mean aside from families inside their homes. I mean communities/neighborhoods. At least for me. Most people have their high security fences. Like their privacy. Stay inside. There is the occasional bi-annual block party. People will have their lunch/dinner dates, go get coffee, ect. But I remember when it was difficult to get people together for potluck dinners in the community garden at A&M. Just seeing if people could spare the time to make a meal and meet up at a common place to share a meal and talk. I think a big problem with the world today is that things are moving too fast for our species to comprehend whats really going on.
The difference here is what I observe. Outside most days in my quartier are adults sitting and talking. Making food. Kids playing. There is no denying there is a severe lack of work in Batouri, specifically for the youth, which might be observed or interpreted as laziness. Kids drop out of school early because of costs or girls get pregnant early. But having a conversation is something that is done well here, but its usually done over a beer.
For example, every Tuesday after my French/Fulfulde class Ahmadou takes Stephanie and I out to lunch. So he graciously pays for our delicious lunch every Tuesday. He is also my tailor, so it makes me feel low to bargain prices for clothes he makes for me. Different story. Lunch is somewhat awkward. We all serve and eat in silence, I try to start conversations, but once the food is done is when conversation really starts. We dive into different subjects. Polygamy and drug use in Cameroon vs. America was the last discussion we had.
To go back to a point I started earlier with dinner at Ali and Fait’s. They invited all the volunteers and the french girls over for dinner. We all ate and then just talked for 2 hours. We talked during the meal and after, and my western self wanted to just leave because I ate, I felt I had no more reason to be there, I’ll see y’all later. But I relaxed and tried to participate as much as I could in the french discussion. A good part of it was about fashion, I was the only male besides Ali, and how exposing ones self is disrespect to the female body. The subject was fashion because the TV was on during dinner on the fashion channel here. Fati and Ali are Muslim. I agree with them. I think its pretty obvious how messed up of a world young girls are growing up in, both in developed and undeveloped countries, but for different reasons. Developed because computers make people look like they shouldn’t setting expectations that are unattainable and can be explained by the movie Mean Girls. Jobs are created for people to help girls/women with disordered created by the idea that they are not “beautiful” or “acceptable” in their society. Thats bizzare to type. Undeveloped because of early pregnancies that pull girls out of school who have no means to provide for their children. If you don’t know what breast ironing is but google it. See why its popular in Africa. Or genital mutilation of women.
It was kinda bizarre sitting in Ali’s house watching a fashion channel, a whole channel, devoted to fashion. Showing whatever season is in with cloths that cost more than what people make in a year here and the people wearing them get paid to look a particular way down the length of your average American driveway. The world is so weird. I like that its weird, I think diversity is good, but some aspects of the human society are SO bizarre. I mean a designer comes out to bow after all his models display his thousands of dollars of work and he is celebrated for his “unique” craft. Wild. I’m a guy, I obviously don’t understand the “benefit/beauty” of developed countries fashion. But I do know how beautiful panya is. Thats fashion for me. Amazing colors and patterns and can be transformed into anything you want by a local tailor.
I get off on too many rants, back to today. I came home from the women’s day celebration and made invitations for the meeting Thomas, my counter part, and I want to have next Monday. We are pulling together his neighbors, farmers, community leaders, anyone who is interested in turning his farm into a demonstration ground for agroforestry practices. I spent a good amount of time making things neat, making sure my french was correct, and stamping the invitation before I went to go make copies. Thats when I started to get derranged (bothered) by the women from women’s day. No problems though. It cost double the price, 50 CFA, to get a copy made because the electricity was out and they were running on generators. I handed out 4 to people I knew and I left the rest to Thomas to pass out over the next 3 days. I missed lunch and grabbed some yogurt and a baked good from the boulangerie. I also stopped by my friend Mohammed’s shop because I had not seen him in over a week and he gets upset if I don’t see him in a day. We talked for a bit and I bought some panya. I have 4 types of panya to get made. I’m addicted if I havent mentioned that before. There are just some times I don’t want to miss the opportunity to have a particular kind. I would get them made, but Ahmadou my tailor, takes his time with finishing work for whatever reason. After Mohammed’s I went home and prepped for work at Thomas’s. I set up a schedule with him to work at least 2 hours every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 4 in the afternoon. I haven’t mentioned how awesome Thomas is or maybe I have. He has a sizable pice of land where he cultivates Moringa (an amazing tree), soy, medicinal plants, raises fish/chickens, and grows other legumes/fruits. Today we cleared the future soy plot of weeds and started his compost pile. Most people just burn leaves or whatever could be composted and returned to the earth.
Another side story from this month. Last Wednesday I participated in Janelle’s handicap kids class. She meets these kids every Wednesday and presents different topics. This month its science/environment. So she was talking about the importance or recycling and not littering wherever you please, which almost everyone does in Batouri. She did an exercise where she broke the kids up into groups and gave each group a bag and 5 minutes to fill it with trash. It took less than 5 minutes because trash is everywhere. I was surprised at the number of kids who were grabbing hand fulls of leaves and grass to put in the bags as opposed to wiskey sachets, laundry detergent sachets, or plastic bags which are everywhere. They really didn’t grasp the concept of what breaks down back into the earth and what takes decades, or never, to decompose. Then we talked about what possible things you could do with trash. I stuff things I can’t burn into plastic bottles to make “bricks” that I will use to outline my garden. I think I might have mentioned that before. But the woven marche bags can be used to tie batton de manioc or tie bamboo structures. Plastics can be woven together to make bags or otra chose. Usually all trash is just burned here in a pile that someone starts somewhere on the side of a road. There are household private trash piles, secluded area trash piles, and town trash piles. Back to this class and the lady who started the group. This lady, Pauline, is this ship. She runs the group of kids because she has adopted 13 kids. Pauline helps Janelle run the classes each week. She herself is handicap and started the GIC Amicale des Handicapes de la Kadey a Batouri (AHBRI).
Back to Thomas, we cleared his land, started a compost pile, and then discussed plans for his farm. He drew up a very swell map of what he wants his land to look like, something to present the group on Monday and at IST. Then we walked around and talked all about his land, potential ideas, problems, resources available. All the things we will need to present at IST. We have tons of ideas and A LOT of work to put those into action and make them sustainable. Which is why I am excited about Monday. I hope things go well and there is a good turn out. Thomas said he could get 20 people, but I already passed out 4 invitations. I anticipate 10 will show up, which is fine. We just need to figure out the needs of the people of Batouri, the resources available, the challenges, and where to go from there.
Thomas also showed me how to sharpen my machete. It’s funny because the very first article I read from “Sticks and Stones”, the Agro newsletter, was about how proud a PCV was that he could sharpen his own machete and how he was complemented by Cameroonians on how he kept it sharp on his own, which took him a long time. I thought the first article was a joke but I appreciate knowing that local knowledge now. Its nothing difficult, but it was a good time of bonding. Learning how things go down in Cameroon. This whole first day of work was a great time of bonding. Much more laid back than my days of helping run the community garden at TAMU. Things were so specific. Dr. Novak’s an amazing person, but I do appreciate the laid back simple hard work of Africans. Thomas, I think, is like 50 but he’s pretty swole. Why? Because he eats simply and works every day. I’ll need to get a bunch of before photos of his land before the real changes take place.
Another side note. “Chop my money”. You tube it. That song is on right now and I don’t think I’ve mentioned how much it plays here. All day every day. I wake up to it, I fall asleep to it, I heard it when I’m reading books. I forget who its by. Something like PK squared. Its playing right now which is why I put another random note.
Its early Friday morning now and I need to sleep. I’m going to cut it off here, but continue tomorrow because much more happened today. Today was a busy and interesting day................................
It is now Saturday morning and I am house sitting at Janelle’s because her house cleaner is coming over but she had to be somewhere else. My plans today are clean my bike, make a birthday card, research trees, and prep for Monday’s meeting. I’m happy I have my bike here now, but as an American I get deranged even more. Its groovy. People are people, I like inducing smiles even if its at my expense. I brought my GPS here so I could ride around in the early mornings and map out Batouri. I tried getting this program that will tell you when your GPS will get the best signal (date and times) based on the satellites orbits, but it doesn't work for Mac. Since I got my bike I got to take a small trip with Jupiter to this huge rock formation where Catholics come once a year in August for Mass. People from all over completely fill this huge rock coming out of the ground and there is a little church stand at the top.
I forgot to mention the end of Women’s day. I was invited to dinner with a group of people by Janelle. Janelle knew one person there who she works with. We both got to meet this dude who is the chief of CAMTEL in Batorui. CAMTEL is the government run telecommunications company here. MTN and Orange are the other networks. Orange in French. I dunno what MTN is. Anywho, he wants to learn more english and I want to learn more french so hes going to show me around the huge Camtel building next Tuesday. One of the biggest buildings in this town and only 12 people work there. They have a huge antenna too which led me to believe they were well established here, but that is not the case. Thomas, chief de CAMTEL, has just been here for over a year. He is from the West region of Cameroon, but was moved here to help out CAMTEL in Batouri. I’m going to wrap this post up here. Hopefully in the future I won’t wait a month before my next entry so I can not make things so lengthy. I make notes of what to write about or cultural topics to bring up, but this post is already so long.
