Ever since my arrival to Cameroon, my mind has been a jumble of language; since moving to the Grand North, jumbled with the addition of Fulfulde and now also a decent amount of Voko, which is a very tonal language, lacking the rules and simplicity of Fulfulde, thus making it much more difficult to pick up on. The more time I have been spending in Voko (soon to be a fairly permanent placement), the better my language(s), since I’m immersed nearly 24/7, and I’m pretty pleased with my progress—I can now carry on basic daily conversation that makes me feel like I’m actually contributing and not just a warm body hanging around. I do get told that I don’t speak enough (a shock to all of you, I’m sure), which I find hilarious—I’ll be sitting with a group of people who are chatting, mostly Fulfulde with intermittent Voko, and then they turn to me and ask, “why are you so silent?! Speak!,” to which I usually answer “mi don nana!” (I’m listening) which actually does significantly help me pick up new words and phrases.
Another high point of my recent stays in Voko have been my increasing popularity with the children, specifically a baby who was so scared of me he couldn’t even look at me without screaming and crying (yes, I have that mystifying power over children here). To try and win over his love, I bought him a piece of candy, and after accepting with careful consideration, this child sticks to me like glue. He’s taking to me so, that he dances around the concession singing “Shara don don, Shara don don! (because he can’t pronounce Nasara = white person in Fulfulde), and although I don’t like being called Nasara and he’s slowly learning my name, this is still totally adorable.
In terms of work, right now we’re preparing for cultivation which should begin very soon as the rainy season is just beginning. If I haven’t already noted this, the crops that dominate here are corn (not the sweet corn you know), peanuts, millet, cotton, and rice. A few of the GICs I work with will be planting soy, and throughout the villages we will be planting various types of trees (for consumption, shade, and farm use). The women of these GICs are very interested and motivated in learning about all kinds of IGAs and are constantly asking about all kinds of different things that we can do. I’ve done soap-making sessions with a few groups and built an improved cookstove with another group. Some stuff that we might be doing later on include lotion making, products using soy flour, fruit-drying, canning, juice making, and cloth dying. What’s cool is that we’re constantly coming up with generating ideas; possibilities manipulate local resources and ways to preserve food products. A recent idea that I’m really looking forward to researching is the use of bees wax to make various products… updates to come!
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