I am exactly where I am supposed to be

The plane landed nearly an hour behind schedule (right on time if you are going by African time) but thankfully it was still light outside. As I stood in line for customs I could feel my skin soaking up the humid sticky Cameroon heat. Suddenly, the power went out and as if rehearsed, the entire airport let out a synchronized sigh. “I'm back” I thought to myself as the corners of my lips lifted towards my ears. The line was moving slow, but I was in no rush. I could hear the officials speaking in French as they used their cell phones as a flash light to review passports.

Paul was right around the corner waiting to greet me in the luggage area. What a blissful reunion it was. He pointed out Mr. Suliman Turay (CEO/Director of Social Development International) who was waiting in the balcony region. They had been waiting since 2pm – it was now nearly 7pm. It was necessary for them to leave Buea early because depending on traffic, it can take anywhere form 1 ½ to 3 hours to get to Douala and you might have to wait for the bus or taxi to fill up before it leave (taking from 10min-3hours).

I collected my luggage and we met Suliman outside near our taxi. I was welcomed to Cameroon by being called “cheap” for not tipping the two men who literally only lifted my luggage into the car (without asking, just taking) and were both tipped by Paul 2 seconds before they asked me for money.

I was quickly reminded of the terrifying roads and drivers of Africa. There are no rules, no regulations, no lines on the road – nothing. I call it ‘chaos that works’. As our taxi zipped left and right tooting his horn and braking for no one I recalled the secret to keeping your sanity while on the road – don’t look out the front window, always look to the side so you don’t see what the drive is doing or what is really going on. I have heard the front seat be called the death seat in many regions because there are so many head on collisions with public transportation.

Mt. Cameroon (view from Paul's house)

I took Monday as a free day to get acquainted with the city but realized it would take me at least a couple of weeks – Buea’s population is over 200,000 and is very spread out – there are many districts and villages within the city. I met the two others who are working for SDI right now as well – Sara (from the US focusing on farming and agriculture) and Monica (from Australia focusing on Health and Nutrition). We are all staying with the same host family right next door to University of Buea. Paul lives behind Malingo Junction which is only about a 10min walk from my house.

Tuesday I went to the SDI office and met Suliman to discuss my projects for the next 5 months. We decided I would focus on facilitating capacity building workshops with teen mothers in Mamu village. I did as much research as possible on the previous projects that had been facilitated by previous SDI coordinators/volunteers, but information and contacts were scarce. Paul and I went to the Police Department to get a photocopy of my passport/visa, get it stamped and laminated so that I can use that as my ID. Afterwards we went to the Linguistic Center to take a French placement exam. I am Intermediate B and Paul is Beginner A. Classes start April 8^th.

On Thursday I met with Max (aka Delegate) who is the SDI Social Worker. He worked with the previous project in Tole (another village in Buea) and was the one who assessed Mamu village and identified the 20 teens whom I will be working with. Max is a short, middle aged Cameroonian who is not yet married, he says it is because he can cook better than the women and they don't like that. I was hesitant to partner with him at first, mostly because I my self was being gender biased not sure how good of an idea it was to have a man working with with teen mother empowerment. But I have to say, his attitude and knowledge wooed me and I am thrilled to be working with him on this project.

Later that evening Max and I met up to go to Mamu village to meet the teens. The meeting started at 4pm but we spend the first 30-40min walking around the village ‘rounding up’ the girls and reminding them of the meeting. It was finally about 5:15 when the meeting started and there were 6 teens present. I can see that my two biggest challenges will be 1) getting them to come out of their shell; 2) language barrier between their Pidgin-English (mix of broken English and local dialects but it is codified as its own language) and my English. We decided to meet every Thursday at 4pm. As part of this program, the women (and their babies) will be enrolled in Mutual Health (a local health insurance) for an entire year. Upon completion of the program, SDI will fund the teens to either A) go back to school; B) start a business (trading foods, small shop, etc) or C) learn a trade/apprenticeship (hairdressing, seamstress, etc). The program is absolutely free of charge – all that we require is attendance and participation from the girls. This year, SDI and the project received a grant from The Girl Effect and is has made all of these wonderful things possible.

On Friday, Suli, Max and I went to the Regional Deligacy of Women’s Affairs in Buea Town. I met with a the Chief of Services for Family and Children's Affairs and he wants to help me and contribute. I will go back to meet with him at the end of this week because he is traveling until then and will not be around. Before leaving, we stopped to see the Regional Delegate for Women’s Affairs. She was very interested and impressed by our program and is looking forward to hearing more. She even mentioned that she might want to come by one of the workshops. I have to stop back and see on on Tuesday or Wednesday to show her the program for the first workshop.

I went to Buea Town market on Saturday and got a wicket sun burn. The market was beautiful (as are all African markets) and I spent close to two hours wandering around with Sara and Monica.

Sunday Mama Pocome (Francophone neighbor) took the three of us to church because of our activities in Buea. She thought we could benefit the church. In my case, I went so that I could talk to their congregation about the problems that teen mothers face and how they can be addressed (i.e.: what topics I should use for my capacity building workshops). We went to Full Gospel Mission Church (which is a Pentecostal church) for 2 hours. I think faith is good, I think the morals that many mainstream religions bring are good, I think spirituality is also good – but I think there is a line and sometimes that line is crossed. I said it before and I’ll say it again – the missionaries devastated Africa and the destruction is evident all over the continent. For me, I am much more interested in traditional and animalism practices like the Ndep ceremony I saw inYoff, Senegal. I hope I get to be a part of something like that again.

Later on Sunday I wandered down to Muea (pronounced Moon-ya) town market by myself and made some new friends. Ruth helped me find some great fabric stalls and is going to look for the International Women’s Day fabric so that next Sunday I can buy it from her.

My backyard/compound

Sister Bernadette

Everyone here is genuinely hospitable and caring. I really enjoy their generosity and their frequent greetings and smiles. I have made it a personal goal of mine to visit every region (except for the Far North and the North) while I am here. I am living in the Southwest region and I visited the Littoral region in 2011/12, so I am left with 6 regions: East, South, Center, Northwest, West and Adamawa. 5 out of 6 are Francophone regions. J'ai haït de voyager (I am excited to travel).

Cameroonian food I have tried (so far):

Soya – meat on a stick (variety of meats).

Chin-chin – small crunchy fried sweet fried dough-balls.

Puff-puff – fried dough, sometimes with sugar (like a donut).

Ekwang – pounded coco yams, mine had a sauce that was fish based and had a lot of palm oil, not sure if it is always served like that.

Okro soup with Gerri - A fish based stew like soup made of Okro and vegetables with gerri which is ground dried cassava.

Ndole with Water Fufu – cooked green veggies with ground wet cassava. There is also corn fufu which I haven't had yet.

Dodo – slices of plantains fried in oil.

Bobolo – long pieces of cassava wrapped in leaves, traditionally eaten with grilled fish.

Fufu