Rainy season is the Dying season

This is what I've come to understand. In the time I went to Yaounde for a few weeks I came back and about 4 people had died each week. Some were random, like a snakebite. Many are children. Rainy season brings the mosquitoes which bring the malaria. But I think also the fact that people work so hard during the farming season, they wear themselves out. Their bodies are tired and susceptible to sickness, which sometimes goes a little farther than treatable. Sometimes they die. My landlord and neighbor has been sick for over a month now and hasn't been able to farm, his family carrying most of the burden, yet not all of it, and they are forced to let some fields go. Apparently he gets sick like this every year and I wonder what it is. It pains me to see all their money go right out the window into doctor visits and medications which seem to have no effect. As crops come in they must be sold to cover the treatment. There is no getting ahead.

Trees planted 2009 season

Here's a rundown of the trees planted with me, around my region this tree planting season

Ecole Biblique
Mango 45
Lime 4
Cashew 2
Neem 5

Muslim Quartier
Mango 20
Lime 1
Neem2
Dalehi 2
Terminalia 2

Health Center
Mango 5
Neem 4
Cassia 5
Danielia 2
Guava 1

Random houses
guava 5

Medicinal field
total trees 140

Medicinal field live fence
acacia 100

Alley Cropping field
Cassia siamea 60
Leucaena leucocephela 60

Alley Cropping live fence
Acacia nilotica 100
Acacia senegal 25
Acacia polyacantha 25
Zizyphus micronata 25

Community Woodlot
Azadirachta indica 26
Albezia lebbeck 52
Dalbergia sissoo 26
Cassia siamea 169

Israel
Mango 22
Anacardium 80
Guava 87
Acacia Nilotica 300

Mangos in people’s fields
134

Verger Djakaya Jeremie
mangos 172

Lainde Karewa
Anacardium 36

Mafa Kilda chemin de l’ecole
Cassia Siamea/Neem 225

Total Trees 1969

1 year Au Cameroun

Fete de Ramadan 2009

Me at homestay with homestay mother Aissatou and "Sister" Aissatou and older Coultchoumi. They actually smiled for a photo!!!

Fete De Ramadan was a fun three days, starting on Sunday. I went to my homestay family's house Friday night to spend a few days with them. Upon arriving I found out that my little sister, the baby Coultchoumi had died about a month ago. She had always been sick and malnourished and finally didn't make it. However, all the rest of the family was there, including my homestay brother and it was a really nice visit, so relaxing, so nice to be back there, and see old friends.

Homestay father and brother Abdu (with other random boy) show me their Manioc (Cassava) and Follere field

The morning of the Fete, all the men went to a giant field in Nassarao out by the high school for the prayer. I didn't go to watch, but I sat outside our doorway and watched the parade of men walk back from the prayer to the town, all in beautiful fete clothes, old men with walking sticks, fathers with little sons in gandoras (big robe), cars, motos, people on foot. Honestly I had no idea that there were so many people in Nassarao! I had wanted to go to the Grand Mosque in Garoua to watch the prayer there, but when it came down to it, I felt bad leaving my family again after such a short visit, so I stayed put thinking maybe for Fete de Mouton, I'll go. I left shortly after that, and when I got to Garoua, the people were still leaving the Grand Mosque, hoards upon hoards of people, talk about rushhour traffic! all the beautiful colors. Seeing all the people, the seas of people, I was thinking, wow I wish everyone coming to visit me in Cameroon would come visit around a fete, to be able to see all this. This is what I want to show people.
I got all dressed up, all prettied up, with my hair braided, henna on my hands and feet, my new clothes and went to a concert in the afternoon/evening with Jessie, Emily and Cameroonian friends. It was a group called Waam, sponsored by the Alliance who are amazing. They are a traditional Northern music/jazz fusion and I love their sound.

Waam frontman Alpha Barry

The next day I spent visiting a few neighbors, like Stephanie (an old education volunteer who lived in Garoua) neighbors, which was really nice. This is the typical pasttime around Fete. Everyone goes to relatives and friends houses to visit, eat, sit together.
The evening of the second day were the horse races as well, which of course I couldn't miss. There were only three races so it went by quickly but there was a little performance by XMaleya, a hit group from the south of Cameroon during it and all the fanfare with the Lamido of Garoua, so the whole event was a little longer.
The third day of the Fete I went back home and Jessie met me there and we walked behind the mountains to the village of Israel. Their Fete was completely different, almost the same as any other day in the Foulbe villages, with the men sitting on mats eating by the mosque. However this time they were all in their finest attire. We sat and talked a bit and then went walking even further, another 30 minutes or so out into the country, the real "stix." Where the kids were having a dance out there with the cows. No adults were allowed, no parents, although there were a few "chaperones," unmarried men around the age of 23 or so. Even little kids aged 6 went. They danced and danced and danced, and played their games until around 1 or 2 am. Jessie and I only made it to 10 pm before heading back to turn in! But it was something to see, something to experience. Magical.

Foulbe kids who are in love with the camera

Where are we now?

People are harvesting. Big brown piles of peanut plants all over the fields--the discarded peanut plants whose peanuts have already been taken.
The millet has become a work of art...before all green with a bit of white. Now, ripening, a mix of striking colors...green stalks, some of which are turning yellow. White unripe heads contrasted against the ripened ones which are now a range of bright red to maroon. All those colors together in one little swath of space. And being harvested as well.
Corn stakls are drying up. Butaali yori. I used to think plants, crops dried up and gave their harvest when there was no more water (here) or the weather got too cold (home). But as it goes the crops have a natureal lifespan of a certain amount of days and are dying now as that time is up. I guess I didn't think about it but imagined that as long as there were suitable temperatures nad enough rain they would go on growing and producing, like trees. I guess that's a funy though. But it is strange having lots of rain lately, falling all around, and instead of things popping up growing green, the corn is drying up before our eyes, turning yellow. "No, no! Wait!" I find myself shouting internally, remembering the red, white, orange landscape without a trace of real green through the dry season, and not feeling ready for that.
Villagers are hanging bunches of corn from branches, from porches, from roofs as we do for Thanksgiving decorations, for them, drying it in the sun. And some of it is a bright yellow variety that also, drying in clusters hanging around is striking and beautiful--bright gold clusters of color. The peanuts and other greens--okra, follere, squash leaves-- are strewn on the ground to dry in the sun after harvest. Peanuts on the ground and greens on plastic sacks/tarp.
Squash is growing everywhere, the vines tendrilling up on thatch roofs, giving a whimsical fairyland appearance to most family compounds. And cooking squash leave sauce is one of my favorite things, meals here! Delicious. That added to the happy pink and white flowers that line every little path in village during rainy season do make it seem like a fairytale village.
These days as the sun sets it does marvelous things. I'm sure it does marvelous things all times of year as it sets. I know that for a fact. But lately it takes my breath away and makes me think "Wow, its amazing I'm here--I wish everyone at home could see this." The grass has grown tall and much if it has gone to seed so that the tops are wisps of red or purple or white. Looking into the sun as it sets, it lights on the grasses and turns everything golden, alive and bright and soft. Looking away from the sun, as its setting and just after, the whole world has a purple tint. The red mud of the houses, the grey is straw thatch roofs, the orange and blond paths, the red tipped grasses, as the sun sets all acquire a velvety purple, maroon hue, that melds so well together it becomes a monochromatic world, as if the air itself is purple and gives the tint to everything. It is beautiful.
School more or less has started up for children, though they tend to wander back to classes when their family is ready, either done with them in the fields or finding money for school fields, or remembering a little after the fact! Still, adults are in full fieldwork with the harvest. When does it shift from planting season to weeding season to harvesting season? It is one smooth cycle, through all the summer months. But now officially we are all in the harvesting season I believe...But wait...the rest of the dry season will soon come, and I'm sure people, their bodies especially, are looking forward to that rest, the lack of labor, the sitting around and shelling peanuts in the company of friends.

Yaounde trips

I am in Yaounde again for the second time in three weeks. Late August I came down for a week for the Steering Committee meeting for Agroforestry, and now I am back for a planning workshop to plan training for the new Health and Agroforestry volunteers who will be arriving here September 18th! Crazy to think they are in the same spot as us, one year ago. These two meetings have gone really well, and I have really enjoyed being a part of them. They have been both productive and insightful. The agroforestry program is undergoing a change of project plan, transitioning from much more agriculture farmer leader training program to a broader program which will emphasize four points: 1) Tree propogation, planting 2) Soil Fertility 3) Income Generating agriculture related projects, concepts, and 4) Environmental Education. The new project framework, which will cover the next 10 years, will allow for more flexibility and breadth of work for agroforestry volunteers. The fact is that because agroforestry extension volunteers are off in the bush with little schedule, most have already been doing such work as EE, income generating projects, as well as even broader activities as health and water projects, volunteering at local health centers, etc. But expanding the project framework will allow at least space for reporting such activities, and giving more of a longterm focus and unity of purpose with such activities.
And being in Yaounde twice has been very fun, very lovely. I had the choice of staying down here for an extra week between the two meetings, because traveling all the way back up to the north and then back down for one week, is, well, a lot. But I couldn't think of being away from my post for three whole weeks, and there were a few things I wanted to get done...a few trees to put in the ground, the paperwork with WWF being wrapped up and turned in, so I went back to village for a week and then headed back down. Surprisingly, with all the traveling, I was really excited to come back to Yaounde. I swore to myself that I'd eat ice cream every day, and though it is Ramadan, I worked it out pretty well, buying big bowls of it during the day and stashing it in the freezer to save for the evening. In fact, I gained maybe 10 pounds, thus back up to my pre-peace corps weight, ha. Didn't really weigh myself, but think it might be around there. Just wait till I get back to village, people will comment on how great I look, each one saying "Wow, you've gained a lot of weight!" This is a compliment in the highest form. Some other Yaounde highlights: 1) a lovely dinner with a lovely woman from the Embassy, with 5 other Embassy workers. Learned all about the Foreign service through interesting conversation over delicious Indian food. 2) getting together with a Cameroonian Rasta painter who took me to an art shop in the city where I bought some oil paints. Yay! SOOOO excited to get back to post and work on them. 3) Watching an African dance class, which, were I posted in Yaounde, I would without a doubt sign up for, but alas, two days journey is a bit far to travel for that. 4) getting to know some other very cool agroforestry volunteers who are posted in the south, and who unfortunately will be heading out of Cameroon in December. It's sad to just make their acquaintance now.
On top of that, as I said, the actual meetings, while rigorous, have been good and productive, working on the schedule for training (where to put in all those language, safety, medical and technical blocks) as well as the training manual and technical session subjects. I would love to be a part of the actual training, but this year it is held in the south and all the new volunteers will be replacing the grand south volunteers, so I think it's a bit to far to go again. Next Yaounde trip, December, for mid-service medical exams.

"I hate technology...but not as much as poo you see. But I still hate techonology"

I'm hoping you sang the title to the tune of "I love techonology" in Napolean Dynamite because that is what I was singing in my head. (I only wrote poo because I couldn't think of something else to rhyme with "You" and I don't hate "You." I don't really hate poo, unless of course amoebas are involved)

So this week as reaffirmed my lifelong difficulty, lack of affinity with, and frequent dislike of techonology as I have watched three of my most "techonologically advanced" apparatuses malfunction, start to say their goodbyes, and generally make my life frustrating.

My camera: starting with my trip to Limbe back in June, my camera began acting up. I think it's telling me "Too many beaches, too much sand." Sometimes it has trouble opening up, taking photos and sometimes just refuses altogether to take photos. In addition, I've noticed recently there is a dark smudge on all of my photos. Great. So, who knows how many more photos I'll be taking. Enjoy the ones you've seen! My hopes are not too high on finding a place here that can/will clean/fix it.

My USB key: I got to the office one day recently to find that my USB key was filled with viruses. Some of the staff told me there was a computer lab down the block that would clean it for me. I walked the 10 minutes down the block in the full sun, always a joy, sat for a while while they looked at it and worked on it and finally told me, "ok, it's all done, it's good to go. no more viruses." Walked the 10 minutes back to the office now in fuller sun. Plugged in the computer. Same amount of viruses. Yay.

My computer: And then this is the big one. Recently, for the past five months or so, my computer has been sending me messages that virual memory is too low. I kept ignoring them slightly, trying to delete certain files here and there, compressing things, etc. But finally it's giving out. Now there is no longer enough space for a lot of programs to function correctly. I just spent a few hours stressfully going through and after uploading my photos online, deleting all my photos, trying to delete other unnecessary programs, going online to find virus software, and none of it even made a dent. Im' not sure if it's just old and giving in as well or if there is a virus that's eating up all the space. I'm assuming the latter, but don't know how to fix it. Why are there not more computer volunteers in the north??? My computer has served me for a good 6 years now, so I shouldn't complain and I'm not. I should probably just unplug it and put it to rest on the shelf...but it's hard to do, when I still want to upload photos from my camera, etc. And all of these things adding up recently has been, well not so pleasant. But I guess that's the downside of being priviledged enough to have those technology items in the first place...and become a bit accustomed to them.

Its a good thing I don't have anything more advanced, such as a nice Ipod or Iphone or blackberry. Surprisingly, many volunteers do. And I am glad that I did not buy anything new for the trip, as I figured the chances of it being stolen/ruined by heat, rain, dust were pretty high.

What to do now? Again I would hesitate buying something new for the above said reasons, so it looks like I'll be flying even more technologically solo from now on. I'll keep using my camera until it gives out for good, although I've got to take it somewhere to see if it can be cleaned b/c the black smudge is a bit too much on all my photos now. The computer is sad. No more burning CDs, no more using my own computer to type up work (sad because often the one volunteer computer in the office will have a waiting line), no more looking at all my old photos from college and the years after that flash up on my screen as a screensaver and make me smile and think of home. Oh well. I will survive, because afterall we do survive without techonology, as long as the world doesn't expect us to keep up.

And that brings up an interesting phenomenon in Peace Corps these days, which I have noted and we have been discussing a little bit with other volunteers, and that is this: Back in the 60s, with the beginning of Peace Corps, there were no laptops, volunteers were not handed cell phones in their third day in country, there was not internet at an arms length from post. Volunteers were put in the bush (in many cases) and carried on their lives with snail mail and supplies trips to capital cities every now and then, much more independent, much more isolated. Throughout the years, especially the past ten, techonological advances have been made in the developing world. Enter internet cafes, cell phones, volunteers arriving with laptops, skype. Especially in major cities, and Yaounde, the country capital, this is certainly the case and communication and techonology is just as advanced as what I was used to at home, with perhaps a few more glitches as machines act up, and maybe a little slower. (however this could be chalked up to poor machines bought on a Peace Corps budget). And the Peace Corps administration has run along with this advanced pace of life and new freedom, speed and ? with which to communicate and run its office. Here's the problem. While the rest of the country (major cities) are advancing, and many volunteers are in cities with access to all of these advances, many volunteers are still in "the bush" placed in tiny villages with no running water or electricity or cell phone reception, let alone internet, hours on poor roads from big cities and high speed communication. Basically still in the typical "Peace Corps situation" of 40 years ago. (perhaps more so for volunteers in the north, yet not limitted to, as I think of volunteers in the East Province who are two-three days journey from the country capital...they are out there) And the problem is that it feels like the administration forgets about this, and expects the rest of us to keep up with the changes "down south," or rather "in urbanity." Volunteer reports must be submitted digitally, on an excell program.

I find this whole phenomenon very interesting, and often at times very frustrating. So how's technology in the states of late? what's all this "twitter" deal? .....I dont' know.....:)