The Journey North

It was wonderful, and very long, traveling from Yaounde up to Garoua and our training sites. We traveled from Yaounde to Ngoundere (the capital of Adamoua) via the overnight train. I think it was a 12 hour ride, through the night. We didn't have sleeper cars, but we had two cars to ourselves, which was nice, so we lounged all over the place, with our luggage. It actually was so cold at some points in the night that I was too cold to sleep! whoops, should have packed some warmer clothes. With the lights on all night and chairs instead of beds, it wasn't the best sleep situation, but I think I managed to sleep for two hours at a time, waking up every few hours for 20 minutes or so. I will never foget the jerking of the train at every stop along the way (usually jerking me awake), sticking our heads out the windows to peer at villages and trees racing by at dusk and dawn, and the surreal sound of all the "vendors" selling lait, miel, l'eau, banane, ananas at every stop, even in the middle of the night, going window to window, as passages passed money through the window in exchange for the goods. I think we'll all remember that....

We got to Ngoundere sometime in the morning, maybe more like noon. From the train station, we took two bus/taxis to Garoua, which I think was another 1.5 or 2 hour drive. The Adamoua portion was lush, cool, with tree covered hills and valleys. I will definitely be going back there at some point. As we crossed over the mountains in the car, you could feel the temperature changing, not only because the day was progressing and it was getting towards noon and then one pm, but because we were entering the sahel zone. It became much flatter, with some mountains still sprouting up here and there, covered with some scrubby trees. The whole drive was very pretty though, and I loved looking out the window and taking it all in.

Arrival in Cameroon---Sunday September 21

We have arrived in the country capital, Yaounde. We flew from from NY to Brussels and then from Brussels to Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, which is on the coast, where we spent one night in a hotel. The following morning we took a three hour bus trip up to Yaounde. So enough boring descriptions about travel logistics.I am in Cameroon. I am in Africa again. And Im not exactly sure what my feelings are exactly. I have been taking it all in. And while many people are already noticing their reactions: getting exited about being out of the US the first time, feeling happy about being back in Africa, looking forward to what we will be experiencing, feeling anxious about what will be hard, my feelings have been somewhat nonexistant. I notice that I am not incredibly excited, nor disappointed, not happy nor nervous. I am not sad, or anxiuos. I just am, and have just been taking it in. But I think that is somewhat normal (and can probably be attributed to the jet lag and days of travel).The ride up to Yaounde was really nice though, just to get to drive through so much countryside. It was so lush and green. The dirt is RED. And I saw my first African bird out the bus window (that was for you Ben) I dont know what kind it was, and it was flying, but it had a long tail and different shaped head and was certainly not a North American species, so that was super exciting.I have been thinking about the experience so far, and my lack of feelings, and have a picture of climbing up a mountain, where gradually, each step, I come more into my own, become more excited and purposeful, feel more at home. And eventually I will be at the peak.What I am most excited about right now:Getting traditional clothes madeGetting into the agroforestry trainingLanguage Language LanguageSeeing more of the countryContinuing developing relationshipsAnd it turns out that I dont know how much opportunity there will be to update this, as our schedule here in Yaounde, and then for training in Douala is very very packed, with little computer access or time (and the French keyboard continues to be my enemy, making typing take so much longer!) But hopefully from time to time......But thank you for your continued love and prayers. All is well and safe and we are doing well, happy, and excited, anticipating the training which soon begins!

End of staging

Well we just finished up our two days of staging. I had every intention to post last night, and of course we were swamped with "orientation to peace corps" in two days. I must admit that it still has not sunk in that tomorrow we take off from NY to Brussels, and then arrive in Cameroon on Saturday. And to be honest, I don't think it will really sink in that I am there, there-there, until a few weeks from now. This whole experience has been a little detached for me, like something that is real in theory but that I am not truly feeling or knowing in my heart. Especially the 2 years part. And I know that I am excited but as the real-ness has not set in, I don't necessarily feel it. Yet. But I do get excited thinking about what is coming...

It has been fun meeting the other members of our group, however I could have spent a week doing that, talking to people, getting to know people, but there will be time enough for that the next three weeks. I just learned something new today! Our actual training is not really in Garoua proper, but in a village--Nasaroua (agroforestry) and small town-Pitoua (health) 7 km from Garoua.

Tomorrow we begin our long journey starting at 6:45 am. As one of the 4 group leaders, I am definitely hoping that all our prepartions and transitions will be covered in grace and flow smoothly...hotel to bus to airport. (seriously, we drew pieces of paper with our names on it, and I'm sure my parents are thinking how did Elizabeth become one of the group leaders. I'm not exactly the most organized person in the world...and I do tend to lose things...Thank goodness I am not the document person in charge of everyone's passports and other important documents. Thank goodnes. That would be a disaster.)

Staging first day

Well, I am more than a little tired after getting up at 5:30am for my flight to Philly and having staging from 2-7pm tonight. What an interesting thing to walk into a hotel and try to start meeting people that will spend the next two years with you!

A little about our class: We have 30 total volunteers, 16 agroforestry, 14 health workers. Agroforestry is made up of 7 men and 9 women, and health is 4 men and 10 women. And from all over the country which is very fun. I really do look forward to getting to know all of these people, although I don't really think it can be done in two days of staging...

For those wondering what staging is, our schedule looks like this:
Day 1
Welcome and Introductions
Peace Corps Approach to Development
Personal Definition of Success
Safety and Support
Anxieties and Aspirations
Nuts and Bolts

Day 2
Coping with Unwanted Attention
Managing Risk
Policies in Practice
Crossing Cultures
Staging Capstone
Bridget to Pre-Service Trainig
Logistics of Departure
Evaluation and Closing

Plus, lots of activities. (I really, really, do not enjoy icebreakers, but I will survive!)
Whew. Yeah a lot of broad things, which to be honest, I'm not so sure how helpful it is to go over all this because much of it needs much more depth and will be re-covered in training. It's possible they want to gather everyone to begin introductions, and cover some of these topics in brief so that everyone knows what they're getting into and if anyone has second thoughts, they can still get out now, before the flight to Cameroon!

Still not setting in though....Three days till another country...for two years.

Thai restaurant for dinner with 11 other trainees.

Fulfulde!!!

So we recently learned that one of the languages that we may be training on is Fulfulde. I am incredibly excited about this and hope I'll be able to jump into that training early on, if I do well enough on my French entrance exam. I had thought that if we learned a second language (second to the official language) it would be a very specific local language, used only in a few villages, not very practical for "post-PC" time, (although still incredibly exciting and enjoyable, as all languages would be for me.) But Fulfulde (also called Pular, Pulaar and Fula in other dialects) is the language of the Fulani people, who spread across much of West and Central Africa. And it is spoken in one form or another in 13 African countries! : Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia (Pulaar), Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissou, Mali (Pular/Fulfulde), Mauritaina (Pulaar), Niger, Nigeria, Senegal (Pular/Pulaar), Sierra Leone (Pular), Sudan, Togo. So, what a blessing, and soooo exciting to be learning a language that will be practical and probably useful later on down the road! (And, as it is in the north, and a very Muslim region, there are Arabic phrases that are used in Fulfulde--now, maybe I know why I was placed in Cameroon...that and that they cater to vegetarians!:))

rewind a week

So last Saturday (the 6th) my family was so wonderful to have a giant get together of dear friends. I think there were 45 people in our house for cookies and lemonade. That was a lot of cookies, all made by my sister, and mom and dad, who had an amazing oatmeal raisin, coconut, heath bar crumble concoction. (I'm sure there are still tins full, though we've been unloading them every chance we get on unwitting friends and guests). But I was struck by how it is such a beautiful thing that my sister and I have entered an age where all my parents friends have become our friends, and how wonderful it is, and how special it was to have them all present to wish me off, to wish me blessings, to pray over me and for me, and how meaningful it is to me that many of them have seen me grow up.

I was very surprised to receive many monetary gifts. I had talked with a previous PCV from Cameroon about her experience, and with similar contributions, she set up a fund that she could access when she got to her site and got to know her community, in order to fund a specific needed project. Often times, PCVs find specific projects that they can help get off the ground with matching funds from home and their village. This volunteer decided to use the money she received to help build and begin a library in one of her villages. So I put the money towards some last minute items needed to finish up packing, and then into an account, set aside for such a project. I would love to be able to work on a library (mmmmm books) or another similar project, and I will certainly keep you all updated on where that goes, as many of you were the donors!
Thank you all and thank you for coming last Saturday!

Agroforestry

I will be an agroforestry volunteer during my time in Cameroon. So what exactly is Agroforestry? As I'm asked that question a lot, to be honest, I think it's a pretty vague and broad word, describing the use of trees in agriculture. It could mean combining agriculture and forestry through methods of intercropping trees and vegetables and other crops, using alleyways and windbreaks. It could mean reforestation efforts to improve water quality and soil quality. It could be focusing on the cultivation of "agriculture trees," fruit trees, such as mangoes, papayas, avacados, bananas, guavas. And that's all pretty broad. However agroforestry volunteers end up doing an even more wide variety of work at their sites, ranging from working with individual groups (school groups, women's groups, farmers cooperatives, church congregations) to forming community gardens or nurseries, soil conservation efforts, erosion control, small livestock raising, beekeeping and fish farming. (I hope to get as much experience as possible in all of these small project endeavors! especially with beekeeping, fish farming, and goat raising)
While that will be my primary job assignment, that is not to say that my duties and activities will be solely that. In fact, I think the most successful volunteers are those that go into their community and find out what the community really needs or wants and devotes their efforts to that, rather than having a preconceived notion of what their job may or should be. There have been many volunteers who have one designated assignment, and end up going to their location and finding out that other skills and projects are needed and wanted. Some agroforestry workers find that their village really has water issues and wants a well, and devote their time to that. Other water volunteers may find their village is more interested in other technical ideas, and shift their focus to respond to that. If they are flexible enough, they will help the village out in those areas and devote their time to that, and such experiences will likely be more successful as they will be identified by the village and wanted by the village, and therefore provide more ownership and relevence, and be continued after the volunteer leaves. So that is to say, we shall see what exactly I will be doing day to day!
In addition, volunteers are encouraged in what is called a "Secondary project" which is in another area outside their assignment. This could be working on HIV education, starting a school garden or nursery, organizing maternity education for women, starting a sewing organization, etc. I would love to get involved with women's groups, either working on sewing and clothing production, art and craftwork, and maternity. If I could work with a local midwife, that would be fantastic, as I am currently working on certification to be a doula (labor assistant) and have been reading books upon books on childbirth.
But we shall see. Like all things in the Peace Corps! I will only know once I arrive and find my place! :)

It really takes 6 weeks???!!!

Yes, mail will sometimes take 6 weeks to arrive to my post in Cameroon. Which means that if you want to send something that will arrive around my birthday, you're going to have to send it next week, before I have even left the country! I find that particularly amusing. It takes so long because it takes a while to get from the US to Cameroon, but then from there, in the capital Yaounde, it goes out to the individual sites. Mail runs obviously do not occur every day, and so mail might sit in the Peace Corps Headquarters for a while before being sent out with the delivery person to the training sites and later sites. I believe I will be in the north of the country as well, which means more travel time and less infrastructure.

However, don't let this discourage you! I know that I will love letters, whether they are a day old or 40 days old! So please, write away! I think that regular mail from my loved ones will be the most cherished possession I have, as email access may not be very reliable or frequent, and they will be one of the few connections with friends and family. To know what is going on in all of your lives will be more precious than silver. I too, will try to write as much as possible; however, I do know that when I am extremely lonely, I tend to withdraw a bit rather than reaching out, so your contact will be so much appreciated!

Some tips for mailing:
Write "air mail"/"par avion" on the outside of the letter or package and send it air mail. Items sent ground mail sometimes take years to arrive. (and I still remember sending a "ground mail" package home from South Africa which arrived many months after I arrived back home.)

If you are mailing a package, it is helpful to write on the outside the general contents of the package. (I.E. "cookies, t-shirt, watch" rather than "oatmeal raisin, j.crew, rolex") This will discourage people hoping for money or other items and might prevent it from being opened.

Sending mail in a padded envelope rather than in a box might help to disuade people from opening it.

Also helpful: drawing religious symbols (a cross or fish) on the outside, or addressing it to "Sister Elizabeth Moore", which might discourage pilfering and enhance speedy delivery.

Occasionally volunteers go back to the states and friends and family go to Cameroon to visit volunteers. When this happens, all the volunteers tend to group together in terms of helping each other out with mail. There is a box at the country capital entitled "Next Departure." People put their mail in there and then the next volunteer returning home will take it and mail it once back in the US, which of course, speeds up delivery. On the other end, parents and friends might be able to hand deliver mail from the US to Cameroon if they are coming for a visit. (of course, we're talking letters and small small packages, not huge things, as it is a blessing and a favor they are doing for us!) That way, you could send the item to them and then they could carry it over in their luggage and deliver it to the Peace Corps Headquarters, or even to the volunteer if they are in nearby villages. This of course, cuts way down on delivery time. There will most likely be a network for parents that will inform people of when visits will occur, and volunteers will be aware of that and let their loved ones know.