What I've seen and what I've done

It has been such a long time since I last posted, that I really should apologize to all of you who take the time to read the words I write. I tried to make up for lost time by uploading a decent amount of pictures onto Facebook, so now I’ll finally offer some of the stories behind what you might have seen.

Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.

                Near the end of August I left my well-trimmed farm and dutifully fasting community to go down to Yaoundé for some meetings. Unfortunately leaving Voko at this time meant that I would be missing a big fête in village—the end of Ramadan, but at the same time, being down in the Southern half of the country gave me a chance to spend some time seeing more of the country and visiting other volunteers. After wrapping up in Yaoundé, some friends and I left for Limbe, a beach town in the Southwest region of the country known for its beaches of black volcanic sand. It ended up being a little too cold and rainy to spend much time in the water, but we still took full advantage of being on the coast and gorged ourselves with the delicious seafood in abundance.

One of two crater lakes at the top of Mount Maunenguba,
east of Bangem

                After a couple days on the beach I traveled farther north (both geographically and quite startlingly in terms of elevation) to visit another PCV working with MINFOF in the town of Bangem. Although I was still in the Southwest region, I had already begun noticing how startlingly different—visually and culturally—both the region and the country as a whole seem to be. At times communication could be quite a problem, often repeating the same phrase a few times before finding the correct language... French? English? Pidgin? Definitely not Fulfulde like I’ve become so used to, up North! We spent a few days hiking “en brousse” into the various protected areas surrounding his town and I was able to learn about their issues, along with the work being done, and compare it to life in my village, in the North. Bangem was surprisingly cold and as we hiked up the hills surrounding the town, this “Nordist” became aware of how unprepared I was to tackle anything besides the hot, Northern sun.

Tofu made at the prison.

                On my way back to Yaoundé, I stopped through another PCV’s post to get a small glimpse at the West region. While there I accompanied her to a soy formation at, of all places… a prison! It was interesting to see the interworking of a Cameroonian prison and as always, to work alongside another PCV and make some delicious tofu. I made my way back up to post, thoroughly impressed with the diversity of the country and the validity to the much-heard statement coining Cameroon as “Africa in miniature.”

Corn and sesame growing steadily, soy yellowing for harvest

                Back at post I was ecstatic to see my village friends again, recount my recent adventures, and of course, see how my farm has progressed! The rest of September and all of October were spent partially harvesting soy, but mostly helping out on friends’ farms harvesting peanuts as fast as we could before the rains end and the ground becomes too hard and dry to uprooting the peanuts. Now that school has reopened, I’ve met with the Environmental Club at Voko’s high school a few times, organizing our plans for the year, hoping to create a student-run tree nursery, student garden, and possibly a trip into the National Park (along with conservation-focused activities).

The community convenes to pray together.

In full "Hadja"-wear for the fête

                November began with much excitement as all of Voko came together to celebrate the Muslim holiday of L'Aïd al-Adha, where much praying is done and a lamb sacrificed, just as Abraham had done, to show his devotion to God. The day of the big “fête” was an exciting one as everyone was dressed in their best clothes, making their rounds around village to greet friends and family. The day ended with much of the village—from young children to old village mamas—congregating in front of the Lamido’s (traditional authority, village chief) compound to celebrate with some of their traditional music and dancing. In a small village that is usually asleep by 9pm at the latest, it was exciting to see everyone out and dancing late into the night.