The air, the air, it’s everywhere… (written Jan 09)

These are the mountains just west of my house.

This is the same view, but no mountains, just dust!

In Fulfuldé it’s sollare, in French it’s poussiére, in English it’s dust, but no matter what you call it… it’s everywhere. All those wonderful hills and mountains I kept talking about—gone. At first, looking at the closer hills one could mistake it for fog, but the dust is so thick, that past about 500 meters the landscape disappears completely. It’s not really a bother in the day-to-day, but it does make traveling on already dusty roads that much worse. Since reading Grapes of Wrath I feel like I should probably note that it’s not the dust bowl over hear. A lot of the plants, especially the large Teak leaves, have turned brown from the dust settling, but it’s not like I have to wipe down my furniture and windows, dust my food off before eating, or anything extreme like that.

            It’s a new year and my second month at post, things seem to be moving a little more coherently now, but before I start talking work-stuff, I’d rather track my progress on the home front. In the Grand North, it’s customary to have large walls around one’s house for protection, privacy, to keep the goats out, etc. Although I appreciate my cement wall for all the above reasons, it does at times feel a little self-isolating, especially when the neighborhood kids are lurking on the other side. These kids and I had a funny relationship from the start—they would just stare (likely in shock and awe), sometimes daring to yell out la blanche (French for white person) or nassara (Fulfuldé for stranger or white person) once I’ve passed or entered my house, and I, in response generally greeted them bonjour/bonsoir/ca va? /etc. (or ignored them depending on my mood and their distance). Anyway, their curiosity got the best of them during their vacation, and in the days between Christmas and New Year’s they finally decided to cross through the gate and get a good look at Boo Radley. The thing is, as much as they are loud and rambunctious together, the second their feet hit my porch they become silent and shy, which makes it different to make conversation and attempt to befriend them. One afternoon a bunch of kids are hanging around my porch and as I’m attempting to drag some words out of them I remember that I have crayons and a coloring book left over from gifts I brought for my homestay families. Once I bring these out and start handing out blank pictures and crayons, more and more kids start to trickle into my yard until there are at least 15 kids (ages 2 – 13) hanging out, coloring, and of course, fighting over crayons. All in all it was a good time, and even though the kids are still kind of shy, they frequent the porch to say hi (actually looking to see if I have a new a coloring book or candy) and I stop by and inquire about whatever activity may be keeping them interested that day.

This makes traveling less fun.

            In terms of work, after “establishing my presence”—meeting officials and visiting offices, my next step is to start meeting community groups and farmers and finding out what kind of work can be done in the area. Even though many of the offices seemed to be in an end-of-the-year lull, one community group leader seemed eager to work with me and introduce me to his group. Unfortunately, the same day that we had planned to go see his group’s land, he informed me that there was some trouble amidst—the members of his group are unable to work in their fields because a family of lions (3) have left the parklands and descended into this community group’s field looking for food—a threat to their cattle, their crops, and their lives. When I told a fellow PCV about my “work dilemma,” her response was comically accurate: “well, we’re definitely in Africa”. Unfortunately, the problem has not yet been solved and the group is waiting on a response from the local MINFOF delegation. In the meantime, I have been able to get a start on things, beginning with a trip into the park to visit my supervisor, the park conservationist, to get some contacts and make a work plan. To get to him, I had to endure a 3 hour moto ride on a pretty terrible road alternating between rocks and sand (and at one point a shallow stream), and then cross the Faro River by canoe (and then do this all over again to get back). Even though I came home covered in dust and with an extremely sore butt, the day was hailed a success. With the help, I was able to schedule a meeting with several community group leaders for this Friday (Jan. 14) and will be staying in the MINFOF office outside the park for a few days so I can meet with groups individually, visit their villages and hopefully see the land they work on.

            Wildlife count: I saw some hippopotamuses in the Benoué River upon entering Garoua one morning, while crossing the Faro River I saw some baboons drinking by the riverbank, and as we were leaving the park I saw a whole bunch of coup de bouffon (a kind of antelope). 

Even though the large rivers like the Faro and Benoué are still full of water, animals, and all things good. Almost all of the other streams, brooks, etc. have dried up. The crazy thing is (from what I'm told) is that most of these bodies of water will be flooded during the rainy season, but for now people with no access to wells are digging for water.

2 weeks at post! (written dec 17)

                It’s been two weeks since my arrival at post and I’m happy to say that I actually have things to report! Tuesday of this week (14 Dec) I began protocol, which is kind of a formal/structured way to meet the area’s officials and basically let them know that I’m here. Some of the meetings were more of a formality (police chief, other security personnel, mayor) where I just give said official the document provided by the Peace Corps that lists all of the new PCVs in the region and each of our program/host institution. Other meetings, which hopefully will be the first of many, were with people who I plan on working with in the future and can connect me to relevant community groups (Ministry of Forestry and Fauna – MINFOF, Ministry of Environmental Protection – MINEP, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – MINADER).

 I lucked out that by chance there was a meeting at the MINFOF office in the national park I will be working with, so I was able to tag along. I say I lucked out because it sounds like trips from Poli into the park aren’t necessarily a rarity, but definitely don’t happen too often. The park is just over an hour’s drive west of the town—about 60km which I’ve been challenged to bike if/when I start working out there on my own, since there isn’t a regular form of transport on that road. En route to the park I finally saw what everyone at home’s been waiting for… WILDLIFE! As much as I wish I could say we had to stop the car for a herd of elephants, really it was just a group of monkeys hanging out… not even swinging from trees or anything, just hanging out and munching on whatever plant-matter they found of the ground. Sadly, I just caught a glimpse of them while we drove by, so no picture (yet!). The MINFOF office is just at the entrance to the park, so I didn’t actually go it, but I was told that when work commences after New Year’s, we can take a trip in and get a grand tour of everything.

The other day while reading in the “public space” (a shady spot with benches), I was befriended by two high school girls, both are seniors at the Lycée Classique (there are two high schools in town, Lycée Technique, which is more vocational-focused, and Lycée Classique, the general high school). I happened to run into them while we were both on the way to their school—I, to meet with the principal and possibly find someone to tutor me in Fulfuldé, and they, to pick up their report cards (as I found out en route, vacation commences today… “winter break,” if you will). When we got there, all of the students were standing outside for an assembly (no bleachers, but luckily plenty of trees for shade), while teachers and various school administrators read out class rankings and then proceeded to give out report cards to the top two students of every class. One 7^th grade boy was not only the top of his class, but had the best marks in the whole school and was not only praised by teachers and administrators, but also given some money as a congratulatory gift, I suppose. Even though this practice is totally foreign to anything I ever experienced at an American school, it was nice to see top students publicly acknowledged (yay, education!).

So that’s it for now. I don’t expect things to really “pick up” until January since it’s “the holidays” and well, people are on vacation and what-not. For the time being I’ll stick to what I’ve been doing—reading, getting to know people/the area at post, faire-ing le sport (see below) , motivating myself to study Fulfuldé and hopefully continuing to get my house together. 

Photos!!!

 <--train leaving Yaounde for the Grand North (last stop is Ngaoundéré, capital of the Adamaoua). En route to the north (during this particular trip), this train will stop about 3 hours away from or final destination for a total delay of about 6 hours. Why? The last 5 wagons or so (which included us of course) were detached from the front wagons, who didn't notice and couldn't be contacted due to lack of phone service)... as i've learned to say... TIA (this is africa).

 <-- A village in the Adamaoua, as seen from the train on our way up north. These houses are known as "saaré's" (the word for house in Fulfuldé).

The next two pictures two the right are both views of Poli from the top of a hill, behind my house. This hill is where people can be found faire-ing le sport (rough translation = working out) by running or hiking up and down the hill. Children also climb this hill on a daily basis looking for firewood.

A(t) Post… finally (written Dec 10)

Here I am—a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV)—almost two weeks old and with more than a week at post under my belt. Before I relay all that’s new and exciting about the Grand North, I think I owe it to any of you wonderful people who bother to check this, a brief summary of all that’s happened between September and now… or the three months we fondly refer to as “Stage”.

By the end of three months of showing up to “school” everyday, having essentially all my meals prepared for me, and living under the law that is Peace Corps admin (especially their 7pm curfew) I felt like I was leaving a weird version of some kind of summer camp (but probably with a lot more time spent at the bar than your average camper). As I mentioned in the last post (long ago) we had a routine schedule of language and technical training, with a few cultural and medical sessions thrown into the mix. Since I (fortunately and kind of surprisingly) came in with a level of French just below our swearing-in requirements, I had a month of French to “polish up” and learn rules, vocabulary, and whatever else I needed in order to reach level. These classes, along with the constant French immersion with my homestay family, drastically improved my language skills. After reaching the required level, I was able to begin studying Fulfude, the (non-official) language spoken throughout northern Cameroon, as well as much of West Africa.

            Tech training covered a range of topics including an overview of Cameroon’s climate zones, traditional farming techniques, agroforestry (A/F) techniques, environmental education, and a variety of other tools that might be useful as an agroforestry/environment “extension agent”. The more hands on part of the training included a group demo plot (which turned out to be very successful—the green beans we ate on Thanksgiving were our very own!), a tree nursery that each trainee kept outside the home of their village homestay family, and Dendro (tree ID) books. Admittedly, these last two weren’t as successful as the first, but I will note that my dendro book totally makes up for what my tree nursery (or lack thereof) was lacking. Lastly, it may be because we’re lucky, but probably because we’re just that cool, the “Agros” (as we came to call our camp as opposed to the Health or Santes) a couple of field trips: the first to the West region of Cameroon and the second to the Northwest region of Cameroon. [*I should note: “region” is like the equivalent of “state” in the U.S.—Cameroon has a total of 10 regions] Both trips served as a chance to see more of Cameroon, visit some PCVs, see A/F techniques put to use, and of course, some wonderful group bonding (while totally crammed into a questionable van and traversing the worst roads in Cameroon).

            Besides all the training, Stage was a wonderful time to get to know a lot of really great people. Outside of the classroom we could usually be found making friends with one of the local bartenders, buying some pagne (traditional fabric used to make clothes), or just kicking it with my homestay families. Homestay came with its own trials and tribulations: setting personal record time for how long I could hold my breath in the latrine, eating whatever was served to me regardless of the amount of palm oil it might be swimming in, or just restless nights (due to anything from loud rain to a mouse in my backpack), but all-in-all it I had a great experience with both homestays and truly left both with not only a feeling of family, but with a great deal of knowledge.

             I realized that in general, I through around lots of terns that are common to us, but foreign to anyone who’s not in country, so here’s some rough geography/general info that might help immensely: Cameroon is generally divided into the Grand North—containing the Extreme North, North, and Adamawa regions—where both French and Fulfulde are spoken, and the Grand South—Northwest, Southwest, West, Littoral, South, and East. Although the whole country is officially bilingual, the Northwest and Southwest are the two Anglophone regions where Pigdin (you might recognize some thanks to Shakira… “waka, waka, eh eh...it’s time for Africa”) is spoken.

            So now I’m finally at post. Things have slowed down and my time is mostly occupied with getting to know my surroundings, meeting new people, putting together my very own house (!), and in general, lots of time to myself. In terms of setting, some things are the same… there are still mamas on every corner selling beignets, the power still goes out sometimes, I still get my water from a forage (deep water well), and everyone from young girls to old men are covered head to toe in either brightly colored or simple, traditional pagne (probably even more so here than in the South). Some differences are that now along with French, everyone speaks Fulfulde; I am no longer in the tropics so it’s a much drier climate (and sometimes surprisingly chilly), and I am surrounded by a beautiful ring of hills which makes for an endlessly interesting landscape on a daily basis.

For your viewing pleasure:

 <--- marcotting = probably one of the coolest things i learned in stage. in short, some bark is shaved off a tree branch, pack the area with mulch, seal it with a plastic bag, wait for roots to grow (in the bag), cut under the area marcotted, place in polypot (plastic baggie filled with soil) and keep in a tree nursery or just plant! AWESOME.

 fellow PCV (then PCT) teaching a high school class about the water cycle, water pollution, pertinent general environmental education -->

 <--learning how to stir couscous de mais (corn flour + water) with my host grandma in the village

<--Agro stage class, right before site visit!