(part one) My Holidays: Bumpy Dusty Roads, Mystical Twin Lakes, HOT DRY SUN, and Fulfulde

Part Two

Part Three

The title of the blog post, Bumpy Dusty Roads, Mystical Twin Lakes, HOT DRY SUN, and Fulfulde, pretty much sums up everything I have been doing since my last days of teaching.

A poorly traced map of the first leg of my journey. From Buea to Douala to Melong to Bangem
then back to Douala, Buea and up to Kumba!

The first leg of my journey started in Douala. Douala is known to have the best night light in the entire country. Here you will find not only bars on every corner but also a slew of night clubs that are open until dawn and tons of cabarets that play some of the best music ever. Since we were going to Bangem and had to change vehicles in Douala anyways, we just decided to go a night early and enjoy the city. My friend Laglan and I went to meet some friends who live in Douala. After eating some amazing grilled fish, we went out for a night on the town to listent to the ever so popular Makossa music.

Makossa music is 100% Cameroonian and 100% amazing! It is the most popularly played musica at cabarets and dare I say night clubs as well. Makossa actually means dance in the Duala (ethnic group in the Center Region) language and originated from the Duala traditional dance called the kossa. It uses strong electric funky bass rhythm, horn sections, and vocalists to create a unified sound which urges the dancers to move in rhythmic motion. This rhythmic motion is NOT east – trust me, I’ve been studying it and watching Cameroonians dance for 10months and I am still not capable of doing it properly. It takes real skill. Some modern day popular Makossa musicians include Hendri Dikonge, Petit-Pays, Lady Ponce and many others.

 

We were on a bus by dawn to head towards Melong which is also the same town that busses stop in when driving to and from Buea to Bamenda. From Melong we headed towards the Bangem bus park where we found a ‘bush taxi’ that would take us to Bangem. The road was more like a dried up four-wheeler trail that had been washed out by heavy rains and never repaired. It took nearly two hours but we only had one break down.

We Made It: Bangem

Bush Truck, loading up to head to the village.

Dust prevention: Everyone told me I needed to wear a plastic bag

over my head to prevent 'dust from entering and spoiling my hair'.

Bangem is one of the two Bakossi ‘villages’ the other being Tombel both located in the Kupe Muanengouba. I say ‘village’ because they are actually the two major towns that are surrounded by hundreds of Bakossi villages but the two main towns are often referred to as villages. For example, if one person asks a Bakossi person where they are from, the person will respond with either Tombel or Bangem. If the person is familiar with the area they will ask for a more specific village such as Nyasoso which apparently the crater of all Bakossi civilization. Once we finally arrived in this dusty village, our friend met us at the main corner and took us to his place. Laglan is Bakossi and has lived in Bangem before so we had several friends to see and places to stay.

The main purpose of coming to Bangem was to visit the infamous Twin Lakes! These two stunning lakes are said to be closely linked with Bakossi heritage and their ancestors. This is not an easy task. I thought the road to Bangem was bad…the road to the lakes was 10x worse plus seriously steep sections. We could only access the lakes by moto bike – but only the best of the best riders in town were skilled enough to take passengers up that road. It was a good things we had friends who lived in the town because they were able to show us which guys were the best drivers in town.  There is one female lake and one male lake. The female lake is the larger of the two. There is a nice path down to the base of the lake where you are permitted to swim, fish and walk around. This lake is relatively harmless and has a beautiful blue color.

Female Twin Lake

Male Twin Lake

The male lake on the other hand is feared by all who knows its power. This is the lake where I was told if you throw a stone into it, it will throw it back out. As you can see in the picture there are trees all around but a leaf will never drop into the water. From where we were sitting, we could hear some sort of small waterfall or stream entering the lake yet there was no evidence of any moving water. There is no path down to the lake, it is only observed from a distance. Some say that there are nothing is capable of living in this lake and those who touch its waters will be cursed. Notice the color difference below.

Here you can see the small road/path which separates the two Twin Lakes. On the far sides you can see just a tiny

bit of each of the two lakes. The male is on the right and the female is on the left. Notice the stark color difference?

It's like night and day!

 Ho Ho Ho! Off to Kumba We Go!

On Christmas Eve we planned on heading back into Melong to take a bus to Douala, then to Buea and then up to Kumba for a couple of days. Unfortunately, there was no car leaving Bangem that day because there were not enough passengers, therefore we had to take a moto bike. The only good part about this was the ride was shortened to about 45min instead of 2 hours but I will say I feared for my life a number of times.

After we switched cars in Melong, and then again in Douala I was finally home in Buea. But only for a couple of hours. I baked two cakes and grabbed a bottle of wine to bring to the family house in Kumba.

Note: It is tradition and good manners here to always bring gifts when you are visiting friends of family. The size of the gift is not too much of concern but it is expected. Also, if you are living with a family and you travel somewhere, even if it is not far, you are expected to bring something back for the family – even if it is just bread from the bakery. They will always ask, “What did you keep for me?”

Christmas in Cameroon: Ok so here it is…everyone has been asking me all sorts of questions about Christmas in Cameroon. “Are there Christmas trees? Do they sing and play Christmas music? Is there snow? Do they know what Christmas is? Etc!” Surprisingly there are Christmas trees, they just aren’t real. People put up small decorations in and around their house but not nearly to the extent of that in the Western world. I think we can all agree that it is a unnecessary and almost as if people are competitive with their decorations. The radio plays Christmas music and everyone goes to church Christmas morning. Same like in the US and I am assuming other parts of the world, Christmas is a time where family and friends come together to celebrate first and foremost the birth of Jesus Christ. The major difference I saw was that there was no physical gift exchange. But we did exchange love, laughter and food!! Although there was something missing, a bit of an empty feeling, when I woke up and we didn’t sit around opening gifts,  I will say it was a bit of a relief to see that Cameroonian Christmas is not commercialized! …Yet. One thing I did really like was the way that everyone in the neighborhood shared their food. People cook a lot of food and everyone brings everyone a plate of it, sometimes even a beer to go with it! Here in Cameroon, sharing food and drink demonstrates hospitality and trust. It’s a beautiful thing. This country and its people (and quite possible all of Sub Saharan Africa) survive on generosity. That is a fact. In Cameroon, you pretty much just eat and drink. There was a lot of eating and visiting with friends/family/neighbors then everyone stays in their neighborhoods close to him and drinks.

Achu and Njamajama: The traditional dish of the Bamenda people. Achu is the yellow soup which is put inside of an eatable bowl. You use your fingers to go 'around the world' scooping up a bit of the bowl before dipping it in the yellow soup and then grabbing a bit of njamajama (the green leafy vegetable). It takes some serious skills to eat this food - but I have mastered it. People tell me, you bi bamenda pikin (I am a child of Bamenda

Barombi Mbo Crater Lake

This crater lake is easily accessable from Kumba - only about a 5-8min moto bike ride to the entrance. You then have to walk for about 30-40min to get to the lake but it is not a strenuous walk at all. Along the way, we passed several villagers carrying fire wood on their head and other heading into town for work in their nice suits. The entrance fee is 2,000cfa but luckily, Laglan is from Kumba and happen to know those who were taking the entrance fee so we got in for less! The walk to the lake is filled with lush and thick rainforest. Once you arrive at the lake, you can see massive ancient tropical trees surrounding the lake along with other plants. Barombi Mbo is most famous for its unique fauna and is one of the most studied lakes in Cameroon. There are 15 fish species and the lake measures 2.5 kilometers across and over 100 meters deep!

Laglan was telling me about a game that the local boys play called "first to the net": The fist boy who swims to the fish nets (which are in the middle of the lake), catches a fish with his hands, puts it in his mouth, and swims back to shore with it wins! This lake is considered sacred and it is the subject of many stories about people disappearing at the hands of some sort of mystical creature which drags them down. 

While I was in Kumba I was lucky enough to be able to attend my ‘sisters’ wedding. When I went to her cousin’s wedding back in April, she had told me that her fiancé was in South Africa and they would wed in December, God willing. Well, God was willing because the fiancé made it back to Cameroon for the first time in five years to wed his beautiful wife! I was really happy I could be there to share the special moment with both of them.

The groom and bride together at last! :)

Here, there are not one, not two but three weddings for each couple. First you have the traditional wedding which is held at the wife-to-be’s family house. Here there is a lot of traditional/ceremonial activities such as libation, bride price, dancing, and eating. Then there is the court wedding where they go to court and are legally wed on papers by the Mayor and lastly there is the ‘white wedding’ AKA the church wedding. After all of these, there is usually some sort of animal slaughtered by the wife’s side of the family and given to all of the male members. 

Part Two

Part Three

Cameroon Bucket List: 2013-2014

I started this list when I arrived in March... 

Things have been added. Others have been crossed out.
Some are ongoing/continuous and will never be crossed out.

It's been rewritten, and now I've decided to publish it on my blog!

Cameroon Bucket List 2013-14

1. Visit all 10 regions in Cameroon
2. Improve my French
3. Attend as many cultural events as possible
4. Blog 2x/month or more
5. Attend a funeral
6. Attend a wedding
7. Be part of a wedding
8. Watch a football (aka soccer match in Yaounde
9. Take the train to the North
   
10. Hitchhike (just from point a to point b)
11. Do the Ring Road (Northwest Region)
12. Do yoga/meditate weekly
13. See Sexion D'Assaut (WATI-B) in concert in Yaounde
14. talk pidgin fine ooo
15. Climb Mount Cameroon (summit not necessarily included)
16. DRiVE!!
17. Get tear gassed by Cameroonian Police
18. Get beat by Cameroonian Police
19. Try to learn a dialect (Bakosi)
20. Successfully cook Cameroonian food
21. Drive a legitimate taxi (picking people up and dropping them off) for one run (Mile 17 to Buea Town)
22. Learn to ride a moto bike (well). Rent one to take on the Ring Road for a week or so. Wear helmit during adventure.
23. Open a bottle with my teeth   

Thats all for now...

This is a list that will be updated and added to throughout the next year.

What else do you think I should add?

If you were living in Cameroon... 

what you have on your bucket list?? 

A Cameroonian treat for ALL of your senses...

Last weekend I went to Malinde, a village about 40min North on the road to Kumba, to visit one of the girls from my workshops whom I had kept in contact with. She visits me from time to time in Buea and I told her I would meet her family and her son in their village. I finally got to Mile 17 (at the end of town where you can catch taxis and buses to just about anywhere in the country) and found the vehicles going to Kumba. I know the price is 700cfc to Malinde but the driver insisted I pay 1,000cfc (whiteman price)...I refused and waited for the next bus who happily took me for the correct price. I was about half way there, bag full of bread in my hand when I realized... I am becoming Cameroonian! Without a single thought of resistance, hesitation, unexpectedness or surprise... I had bought bread for the family (it's expected and tradition to always bring something when you are visiting or when you have just returned from traveling) and had been speaking in pidgin (or at least attempting to) nearly the whole time looking for and negotiating my ride and while in the bus

I visited the family of 8 (although not everyone was around) for about 6 hours. I tried Egossi Pudding for the first time and it was fantastic! Hopefully I will learn to prepare it next time I visit. After visiting with just Janet* and her son for a couple of hours, her Papa returned from work and was excited to show me the family's garden which was full of orange, mango and coconut trees, corn, egossi and more. Soon after, the rest of the family returned from the farm. One by one her sisters started coming in carrying an assortment of things on their heads. The family was, surprise surprise, extremely welcoming and kind. Dinah has a twin sister who also has a little boy. The 2 boys were showing me some dance moves as their mothers played Nigerian hiphop from their phones. When it came time for me to leave, I did not leave empty handed. They send me along with 2 papayas, a coconut, 3 egossi puddings, a pound of boil groundnuts, more than 20 bananas and more than enough money for transport. I am looking forward to going back for another visit and spending 2 or more days there. I unfortunately still dont have a camera but should be getting one soon. I wish I could have documented the visit with photos, but I will always have visuals in my mind.

Your ears will love to listen to the play list I made of several beautiful African artists from all over the continent and beyond. I made just for you guys, to get a little sense of the talent and diversity that comes from this magnificent and breathtaking land called Africa. Watch their dance moves and give it a try yourself! The Azonto is a dance everyone should learn.

CLiCK HERE

(it wont allow me to post the video compilation so just click the link and enjoy!)

Let your hands touch the ingredients and prepare Mbongo Chobi while your taste buds savor the results of this delicious masterpiece and my favorite Cameroonian dish:

Mbongo (T)Chobi

Ingredients 
5 Mud Fish (any fish will do, but this kind is traditionally used)
2-3 Mbongo Chabi Spice Packets (can find at African herb stores)
2-3 small onions
3-4 garlic cloves
White pepper
6-8 tomatoes
150 grams njansang/djanssan (also found at African herb stores)
10 ripe plantains
optional: 3 cubes Maggie and/or salt (to taste)

Directions 
Cut fish into small pieces, clean and gut.
Wash and peel garlic and ginger and place in a blender with onions.
Blend together white pepper and small amount of water.
First prepare you spices by placing djanssan in a coffee grinder (or pestle and mortar) and grind to a powder.
Chop tomatoes into 1inch cubes or smaller.
Add tomatoes to blended mixture and blend again.
Put oil in pot and simmer.
Add 2-3 mbongo spice packets and djanssan into the tomato puree and blend until its properly mixed into a dark paste.
Add 1 spoonful of pepe, salt and Maggie to taste. Mix well.
Poor sauce over fish.
Add sauce and fish to pot with oil.
Cover and cook until fish is done but do not stir because the fish will break into small pieces.
Add a little water if the sauce is too thick then cover and cook on a low heat for 30 minutes.
Peel and boil plantains until done.
At the end of the cooking time check the consistency of the sauce then serve immediately with plantains. (Also served with rice and dodo)

This weekend I went to a funeral in Kumba. I traveled to Kumba in 2011 but I have very faint memories or the city (or 'big village' as its referred to) itself - it was around Christmas time and there was a trade fair going on. My friends/family from the wedding in Douala came from Douala to pick me and other family members to head to Kumba together. It took about 1 hour to get there, but that was private car - public transport would naturally take longer since it stops often. Upon arriving we stopped at a relatives house to quickly greet, drop off some things and have a glass of wine. Then we dropped off some family off at one house and the 5 that were left continued to my friend Josh*, Amanda* and Michelle's*  house. The three of them are siblings and it was their Grandma who passed.
Friday was the "Keep Wake" which is a huge outside event (rain or shine) at the deceased's house. There were tons of tents put up, a marching band, DJ and live singer. It was huge!! We visited with family, ate and danced all night. It's called a "Keep Wake" because you are supposed to stay awake all night. The marching band moved from tent to tent. When it would head towards another tent, people would pick up all the chairs, move them to the outside and from a dancing circle around the band who would play in the middle. I was getting dance lessons from a few people and had some fantastic conversations (a lot of it in Pidgin!) with new friends. I made it until about 3am, which was better than the wedding (where the same 'all nighter' tradition is practiced).
Everyone seemed to have a slow start of the morning but soon the women were cooking/cleaning and the men took their post relaxing/sleeping in various places around the house. There was a pig slaughtered in the late morning, I watched intentivly like at the wedding. After the funeral service there was the burial. Afterwards, I went to the market with a friend so I could see a bit of Kumba before I left. Their market is huge, beautiful, cheap and PAVED! dat makit no git poto poto. Muea makit git plenty poto poto pas dat won. A feast was prepared for all guests, subsequently we drove back to Buea arriving just around night fall.
Good news, 2 friends/sisters of mine are getting married this December/January!! I'm so happy I will be there for them, can't wait to attend!

I have a busy couple of weeks. Last day with Green Cameroon, Yaounde for visa/residence permit questions, Douala for a craft market and good Indian food,  then to Bamenda for the weekend for Angel's first communion. Come back for maybe a day before heading to Kumba then Mamfe for a cultural festival!

Hope to be getitng a camera in the mail soon..

I miss taking and posting photos! Hope this 

isn't too boring to read without photos!

* Names changed for privacy purposes.

Making Progress and Attending Bakossi Weddings in Douala!

To kick things off this week I would like to play a song by Don Tom - a very popular Nigerian artist. There is such great music to dance to here! It is not all Cameroonian though, the majority of the popular music comes from Nigeria. This song is super popular here and played all the time :)

 

 Here is another popular song, the video is not very great but the song is :)

I have been busy busy busy and need to make more time to write in my journal and on my blog.

Yoga on the rooftop
I have began teaching yoga classes Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 6:30am on the rooftop of a friends apartment building in Molyko, Buea. I have anywhere from 4-8 students a day. They are really enjoying it and I am having fun too. We started doing classes in the bottom of an apartment building next to my colleague Delegate's (his real name is Max but everyone calls him Delegate pronounced 'Deli-gay') house. It was almost like an open garage and the doors to two peoples' rooms were located just there - so if they stepped outside to go to work or for whatever reason...they were in our yoga class. It was also distracting because on water day (Buea has water every other day) everyone would be filling up their buckets and jugs from the tap that was literally right behind the class. So people would just be staring at us and even sometimes saying things - all in good fun, but it was hard for me to teach and to keep my students focused so we found a better place - right on top of the very same building is a beautiful open rooftop that overlooks Buea and Mt. Cameroon. That is where I teach now, people can't distract us but the noise from the busy street is still there. I will have photos soon :)

Networking and Civil Society Strengthening
Last week I was invited to attend the Press Conference for the launch of the project “Action for Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Strengthening in the South West Region- ACSOS”. It was implemented by Reach Out Cameroon (and NGO in Buea) within the framework of the Civil Society Strengthening Programme- PASC. PASC is a Cameroon and European Union partnership. It was interesting to see where CSO like Social Development International are going in the next year to come and what the Southwest Regions plan is to strengthen their capacity. It was a good networking event and I made a couple of contacts. They plan to made a database of NGOs/CSOs in the region by their themes (what they focus on: eg: health, micro-finance, water/sanitation, youth empowerment, etc) and their location so that organization can work together to meet common goals and objectives. That was a problem I noticed from the start. There are hundreds (literally) of NGOs just in Buea and they are all so small and trying to do all the same things....if they just worked together it would be much more beneficial to the community, the region and the country.

Moving Foward
Things are really starting to come together with the organization I am working for, Social Development International. I said I wanted to start at the grassroots level in this "international development" field...and boy I sure am. I had a meeting with the organization founder (Suliman) discussing transparency, accountability, record keeping, volunteer recruitment and project sustainability/success. The money and finance part sort of went in circles and got no where, but I think he understood my concerns about the way volunteers are recruited and the way programs are run. As a man said during the ACSOS program earlier in the week "If you try to do everything, you will not be able to do anything well" and since Suliman was at that Press Conference, I refered to that quote several times as I was explaining how we shouldn't be running 10-12 different programs with SDI ...we need to focus on a few and see them to completion.
Because of this discussion and what I have seen so far with the way the organization is run... I am in the process of leading volunteer/intern recruitment and orientation section of SDI. I will be creating job descriptions for the interns and start looking for people to fill the position. I am creating intern policies that will list all of their job duties and what is required out of them when they are working. Since there is literally NO record of what people do here, that is one of the first things that needs to change.

Tribal Wrestling in Bakwai village
I was invited by some friends to go see Tribal Wrestling in Bakwai village which is the 'brother village' of Bonduma village (where the SDI office is located). I was so impressed by the quickness and strength of everyone who fought!! We arrived early and sat in chairs behind the elders of the village underneath a makeshift bamboo shelter. I saw the chief and introduced myself, thanking him for allowing me to bear witness to such an event. This event takes place every Sunday for 4 weekends and then it moves to another village. Participants started to arrive by foot singing, chanting and dancing as they neared the wrestling field. Directly across from where I was sitting there was another bamboo structure that held drummers 10feet or so above the ground. They played the entire time :) Soon about 3 villages and their wrestlers had showed up, each taking different corners or sides of the field.

You can tell who the winner is in this one...

Men/boys and women/girls of all ages are allowed to wrestle but it was dominated by males. I saw women whom my friend said were going to wrestle, but time did not permit so I was not able to see them. Things worked like this: if you saw someone you wanted to wrestle, you approached them and bowed, if they accept, they return the bow and you both walk to the scored table (which was right in front of where we sat) to sign up together. If you were looking for someone to wrestle one people had started you walked around doing various things that symbolized you were looking for someone to fight. Some walked around with long large grass leaves in their hand shaking them and singing, others wrapped themselves in a Cameroonian flag and just walked with their arms spread open like wings. The matches started with the youngest age group, maybe about 5-7years old and they continued up to full grown adults. You could see the skill level and pure strength increase with every change of age group. I was impressed by even the youngsters... they do not joke around - they take this wrestling very seriously.

Drumming away with an attentive crowd.

When the match would begin, they would be escorted out by their village coach who always seemed to be giving them some sort of inspirational pep talk. The ref would check the two opponents for 'illegal' things such as sharp objects, shoes, etc. He would have them shake hands and then the fun would begin. It wasn't the wrestling I was exposed to in the US... if you are whatsoever flipped on your behind/back area - you lose. There is no 'pinning' for 3 seconds or anything like that....it is all about staying low to the ground and keeping your balance. As the age category increased so did the competitiveness and seriousness. If there was a very good match, were it was going into the 3rd round (the final round where if no one was flipped on their back it would be called a tie), the crowd would start going wild. Whenever a person would win a match like that... it was like making a winning shot at the buzzer during a state championship basketball game - everyone from the crowd would just pour out onto the field screaming and cheering and then soon go back to their respected sides for the next match to begin.
I am seriously considering training for a few days and wrestling one of these weekend - I just dont know if I can find the time between travel and work. It looked like so much fun!! I hope you enjoy this video I made of just some of the matches I witnessed. I had to pay 1,000 cfc to photograph (2USD) but it was totally worth it, and I don't mind supporting village activities like that...even though I'm sure the money just went to palm wine :)

Muea Teen Mother Empowerment Workshops
After working with a handful of social mobilizers in Muea our second Identification workshop had a phenomenal turn out of 30 girls!! We had the mobilizers make lists of who they talked to, so when we arrived at 4pm we called many of them and sent the mobilizers out for one last round of reminders. We explained the program several times, since people kept coming in late, and made it clear that if they didn't want to be there - we didn't want them to be there either. Everyone seemed interested and on board. We helped them fill out paper work and set the date for the next and first official workshops.
A Delegate from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment opened up the workshop with some motivational words. She was actually really inspirational and got the girls singing, smiling and laughing. We stood and sang a couple of songs before our next speakers. Mr. Bate and the Manager both attended on behalf of Buea Mutual Health Care and they gave an introduction on the importance of good health, the benefits of having Mutual Health and how it worked. We had a total of 15 girls attend, which in my opinion - is excellent. We took photos of the girls and their children (if they had any) and also chose topics for the next few months of workshops.

The photo is quite blurry but here we are at the first official workshop in Muea! :)

After all the difficulties in Maumu and talking to several Cameroonians (and a friends/family at home), I am realizing that the way we were trying to go about this program wasn't the best idea. We are complete outsiders, especially me. These girls and their families wont trust me and our project for months. Instead of trying to target 20 teens from 5 different villages, I think it will be better to stick to 2 villages and work with whoever wants to attend. Soon the community and other girls will see the long term and short term benefits of the program. They will see out faces and become familiar with the project and our presence. I am thinking after some weeks or so, more girls will want to join in which case I will start a new series of workshops for a new group of girls in the same village.

Reaching out to Bolifamba (aka Mile 16) with Social Mobilizers
The Manager of Mutual Health has paired me with two women from Bolifamba whom I met with last week. I will be seeing them tomorrow and be doing a training of social mobilizers in the village. I will sensitize these social mobilizers on the Teen Mother Empowerment program and all of the benefits. From there, they will go door to door (as was done in Muea) to tell the community about the program and answer all questions. The identification will be set for sometime next week at the Bolifamba hospital, they already agreed to let us use their room once a week for our workshops.

Epic Bakossi Wedding
 Last week on Wednesday I went with Delegate to Douala for his nieces wedding which was a 3-4 day event. We had planned this for about a month since he knew I was interested in seeing 'traditional and cultural activities'. Wow!! What an event! Although it was in the Littoral region (which is Francophone) his family is Bakossi which is an Anglophone tribe so all week we spoke English, Pigdin-English, and their Dialect (Bakossi).

The traditional wedding was on Wednesday evening and it consisted of a massive party with tons of music, dancing and a lot of traditional activities. We arrived around 5pm and rested a bit as more and more family started showing up. Everyone was ridiculously welcoming and kind. After some introductions and some activities we ate. There was SO much food I thought I was going to explode.

Main guys are in the two white shirts. One was the elder brother of the
groom who is in the blue on the right.

So. Much. Delicious. Food.

After we had finished eating it was nearing midnight and I was already beginning to feel sleepy - I was just not used to staying up late. There were 2-3 men who were leading all of the festivities. There was a lot of palm wine drinking from a calabash. As the festivities continued I had one of the Aunties as me to help her with part of a traditional ceremony. I was a bit confused and embarrassed but agreed without knowing what I was doing. She brought me in a room with a couple of other female family members and the bride, Ida. The told me that part of the Bakossi tradition, and many other tribes for that matter, is the 'choosing of the bride' ceremony. The groom is tested by being approached by several women covered from head to toe in fabric and he must choose the correct woman that is his wife. This is what they wanted me to do - cover myself in fabric and walk/dance/sing together with the aunties as we approached the groom to test him. Of course I participated!! As we entered the house and the living room where everyone was gathered, someone spotted my white feet because the sheet/fabric was not long enough... the whole room was bursting with laughter, excitement and surprise! It was hilarious!!! I was told that in some tribes it is very serious, there is no laughter and if the groom chooses the wrong woman he is fined by the brides family. Afterwards, the aunties even gave me 2,000 cfc ($4) as part of the tradition... it was nice...bought my airtime (phone credit) for the next few days!

DJ Delegate and I getting ready to dance Wednesday night!

The men of the families always did this high five hand shake thing the whole weekend. Someone told me that it represented unification of the family and the amount of times that they 'high fived' represented a persons rank. (men of same age = 3, women and young men = 2) They would give three high fives with their right hands and then on the third high five they would grasp hands and then shake their hands as they brought their hands down.
I was warned that we would be dancing until DB (dawn break) but I knew I wouldnt be able to make it that late. I finally called it a night at about 2:30am and the house was still rocking with music. I woke early at about 5:45am and could still hear the music going and people hooting and hollering. I pulled myself out of bed and thought, well, 3 hours is enough sleep - these guys havent even went to bed yet! As I get upstairs I see the house is a mess and people are half a sleep and half dancing and just spread out all over the place.
By 8am those who had went to be (like me) were all awake and the ones who had never slept were still awake as well. The women started preparing the breakfast (tea and bread) while the men just hung out and BSed with each other. I moved back and forth between the men and the women. At about noon or so, everyone slowly started to fall asleep and begin to rest for the day. Thursday, as Delegate had explained earlier, was resting and preparation day. The men slept and the women cooked copious amounts of food for the next day...the court ceremony, church wedding and reception. I helped with whatever I could...washed dishes, peeled carrots, talked to so many family members, politely denied marriage proposals, etc. It remained a pretty low key day for the most part - everyone was just recuperating from the festivities the night before and preparing for what was to come the next day.

On Friday we had the court ceremony at 9am which was really 10:30am. Delegate had to go back to Buea to pick up a niece so thankfully I was in good hands with his family and just went with them. Everyone loved my dress; I had it made especially for the wedding. After court I came back to sleep a bit because I knew I would be up late that night. Delegate made it back in the early afternoon. The church wedding was at 2pm but I went with the second round of family members who arrive closer to 3pm (we didn't miss anything). We were out of the Church by 5:30 and taking tons of photos for at least and hour.

Groom and Bride at the Wedding on Friday.

Beautiful flower girls!

My new family :) I love them so much!

Some of the youngster of the family, they were
calling me "auntie" by the time I was leaving.

By the time we got back to the house, it was just about time to head to the reception. I changed into my 'dancing outfit' and we were on our way. Things started at about 9pm and dancing started veeerrry late, probably after 1am. I danced danced danced until 5am with everyone else!!

Hanging out at the reception, waiting for the dancing to begin!

By the time we got home after dropping everyone off, I wasn't even tired anymore. So I watched the sunrise and chatted with family. All of a sudden I heard large pig squeals coming from the back of the house. I went to watch the Saturday pig slaughter...another part of the wedding tradition. The husband's family gave a pig to the wife's family as part of the bride dowry. It is also like some sort of test - if the family eats it and is sick, then the marriage is not true and it will not work but if the family eats it and it is OK, the marriage will last and it is true love. The pig was huge and it took 5 men to hold him down and kill him. It was really intense but the men insisted that I watch so I can learn all about the traditions :) They then cut up all the parts of the pig and made a list of all the boys in the family (because the big is for the men [although they did share with the women]) and divided up the meat depending on age. Soon I was eating cooked pig skin with pepe (mixture of ground peppers) and holding my own raw chunk of meat to bring home. They really accepted me into the family as one of their own.

The festivities were slowly coming to an end and I started backing up to leave. I found one good cup of coffee and ice cream before I left the city and headed home with other family members who lived in Buea. I made it home before 5pm and tried to catch up on work, but the electricity was out so I just hung out and went to sleep early.

Future Plans
This week I am meeting with the social mobilizers of Bolifamba to set an Identification date for the village and better explain the program so that they can go door to door sensitizing the community about the program. On Friday I will have my 2nd Muea Teen Mother Empowerment workshop and am very much looking forward to it.

I need to find a job in Yaounde because I've made up my mind that that is what I want to do when my contract is done with Social Development International. I am going to Yaounde next weekend (April 27th) to do some networking, apartment hunting and job searching. I was accepted to SIT Graduate Institute for the Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management Masters Program which I would pair with Peace Corps but I will post pone that until fall 2014.

The following weekend, May 4th-5th I will be traveling to Bamenda, Northwest Region to meet/visit a family there. While I was visiting SIT Graduate Institute in February, I met a woman who was going to school there who was from Bamenda - she sent me to Cameroon with a package for her family so I will be bringing things for them and celebrating her younger brothers birthday with them. The Northwest also speaks English and Pidgin and has many historical chiefdoms. I also believe it is the largest exporter of palm wine in the country.