Rain

The rains have come marking the end of the dry season. We have had 5 rains so far, the first coming the beginning of this month. One would think that after 5 months of no rain at all rain would be incredibly welcome. But in fact the first few storms have been quite strong they have come as a shock to me. These were no light drizzles but extreme wind and buckets of rain dropped. I lay awake one evening with the rain pounding down on the tin roof in a fury , tense and slightly uneasy. And for good reason. The second rainstorm in our village whipped through with such winds it tore off the rooves of many houses, both tin and thatched. And it also knocked over my newly built brick wall! Apparently the rainy season always starts, and ends, very dramatically with destructive storms. And because the rains have started so early, people in village who have procrastinated, are scrambling to finish construction projects that they had waited on all dry season, as each time it rains the mud bricks melt away. In addition, with the coming of the rains, people are turning their thoughts towards this season of cultivation, starting to prepare fields and getting ready to plant peanuts and corn, cotton and sorghum. Soy will come later on. Busy time of year! Soon, the rains will settle down, become more regular, and I'm sure become a joy rather than source of worry, once people (including me) finish construction projects. It is amusing how unused to the rain I became though!

After 2 rains little sprouts of grass started popping up everywhere. Such an incredible and fast transpormation! It is as if someone came in the night and splashed green paint on the sides of all the paths. Grass? What's that! Arriving in village in December, I had not experienced any rain in village and in addition, have not seen the village with its green, rainy season face, only in it's light yellow and red bare dirt dry season landscape. The trees on the mountain are starting to fill out with thicker leaves, covering the bare ground and dry yellow grasses of last season. Everything is changing dramatically, and beautifully and it is wondrous to see it for the first time.

patches of green among yellow and brown

Leila

This is my new puppy Leila that I picked up in Garoua on February 28. She is growing so fast and already cannot fit under that little bench! And quite a ball of energy and a sweetheart. She is a good friend and companion. While I don't really love the idea of guard dogs and our Golden Retriever in the States proved more likely to lick a burgler's hand than bite it, and I'm assuming Leila might turn out the same, I think it will be good to have her here at the house, as a security element, as many people here are fairly frightened of dogs. It certainly won't hurt! I'm also hoping that she will like to run and can become my running partner for those early morning runs.

Cotton Selling time

This time of year is cotton selling time. The harvest is finished and farmers are selling their cotton to Sodecoton, a French company who controls the cotton production in the north of Cameroon. They hold a monopoly, selling pesticides and fertilizer on credit and buying the cotton produced.

These are photos from my village cotton marche



Men stamping down the cotton

Villagers have noticed the difference in the cotton harvest in the past few years, watching as they collect fewer and fewer bundles. Cotton is a plant that is very rough on the soil, consuming all the nutrients and year after year the soil is degraded. Because of this, the failure of their crop, many farmers in my village are choosing to stop planting cotton.

Various designs for improved cookstoves

portable version without a bottom

portable version with bottom/base

non-portable fixed in place version

Improved Cookstoves

Yesterday I spent the day touring villages to look at improved cookstoves. We visited four different villages and groups of women who make the improved cookstoves out of clay. Improved cookstoves are a valuable tool for agroforestry and embraced by many women because if constructed correctly they economise greatly on wood. Everyone in villages and in cities cooks with wood, which is cut en brousse. The mountain behind my house is one place where people in surrounding villages go to cut down wood, not only for personal consumption, but to sell on the side of the road to people going into the city. However with deforestation and desertification, as well a population increases, wood is becoming more and more scarce. Thus any agroforestry volunteer could do well promoting the use of improved cookstoves, which conserve wood and also add to the health of a household by cutting down on smoke inhaled from the fire as well as protecting children from falling into an open fire. While many people do use some form of improved cookstoves, many still cook balancing a pot over three stones, which means that a lot of heat escapes and is not used. In addition, the fire is open to wind which can cause it wood to burn quickly and the heat, once more to escape without being used. Of the improved cookstoves that exist, many can be improved, either by making a model that is more efficient through it's structure and design or the composition of the clay and materials used. I am hoping to start working with two local potters in my village who are sisters and make caneries (the big terra cotta jars that store water) in developing a good prototype for an improved cookstove to use in village, but also to sell on the side of the road along with wood. Oumarou is the animator who promotes improved cookstoves with the ONG GED and he took me on his moto to visit some people he has trained in the fabrication of the stoves. One group, a GIC (legalized group) of women has been fashioning them for a year now. They sell them right next to the bundles of wood on the side of the road. One project, therefore goes towards environmental protection, economic gain and the empowerment of the women who create the stoves. The day was a long one, but wonderful and we spent a good three to four hours with the one group who work in GIC, getting together once a week to make the stoves (quite a nice social activity) and then sell them together splitting the money amongst themselves. (This GIC also does agriculture, and started out doing that.) I also got to try my hand at making one, a very small mini-version. Below are some pictures of the process, followed by some other pictures of various types of improved cookstoves.

Hospitality

The past few weeks have been about hospitality. I have been learning a lot about it, and it seeme at every turn in the road there were lessons revolving around this theme, in books I picked up to read, in Bible Studies, in conversations. And I have really been growing in this area. General ideas about hospitality are simple. It's easy to be hospitable when you are the hostess of a dinner party and everything is straight and prepared and it's your favorite friends coming over. Or when your home is all nice and pretty and perfect. Or when you are perfectly comfortable and at ease. Easy to make people feel at home and welcome them in, right? But what does hospitality mean when you do not have a finished home. What does it mean when you are not comfortable in your living space; what does it mean to be hospitable when you don't feel particularly friendly, when you are frustrated or tired or lonely. What does it mean to have a hospitable heart, to make space for people when they show up at the door (or just walk through it for lack of one!) even when your nature would go against that. What does it mean to make a space hospitable through your welcoming heart and ears and smile rather than what is in the space/house? What does it mean to love people no matter what, no matter how you feel or no matter how they approach you? These are a lot of the themes that God has been taking me through this past month, and I feel blessed to be learning and maybe progressing a little in this area. I have been reading a book by Henri Nouwen called Reaching Out, which speaks on the subject of both solitude and hospitality, the necessity of solitude and the hospitality of the heart in reaching out towards others. So applicable for Peace Corps life. It has been incredibly beautiful as well as appropriate for this time, these past months, so helpful. And I do feel that I have come to a place where I am able to put my own discomfort and wants aside and make room for others, make a space welcoming, love more. It is an incredible thing when you reach a point of being on a plateau of sorts. I feel as though I was climbing up a mountain, climbinb up, climbing up. And finally reached a plateau, and was aware of it, that hey, my heart has changed! Looking back I can see the distance and the difference. I noticed that now, when the children stare through the unfinished wall of my house at whatever I'm doing, instead of feeling frustrated or mad or sad or at my wits end, just wanting to hide or have some peace and quiet, now the response is laughter, laughter at the kids, waving, smiling. So that is indeed progress. And just one small example, and a very nice, soft, quiet praise for that lesson and growth.

love is in the sms airwaves

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I'd share with you some text messages I've received in the past few months from random Cameroonian men, for your own enjoyment. Because yes, they are quite entertaining. Lesson learned: Cameroonian men are very, very dramatic. And definitely fall in love at first sight, even without more than three words exchanged.

12/7 17:49
bsr je suis oblige d tappelle car jai toujour envie de suivre ta voi et ce ma premiere foi decrire 1 msg. AbdulRaman

translation: goodevening i'm obliged to call you since i still/always desire to follow/hear your voice. this is my first time writing a (text) message.

1/29 23:05
slt dit je n ariv ps a control ma nouvel affection pr tw j ai ete decu m je lie ms stimt pr tw e a la patience j amrai gagne l affection d tn amite pr la suite. Ahmad the moto driver

hello listen i'm not able to control my new affection/love for you i was disappointed (when i texted to tell him i didn't need him to pick me up) i have my esteem for you and with patience i would like to win your affection and your friendship following.

1/30 16:17
slt cm va tu je sns pas 2 panse toi eliza je n une second rtard ta beaute me donne l'idee d joie tn image d ta bell face apparait dans mes yeux! bne soire eliza Ahmad the moto driver

hello how are you i don't know what you think eliza i ? one second late your beauty gives me the idea of joy and your image of your beautiful face appears in my eyes! good night eliza.

2/12 17:09
Qu tu me croi ou pas moi g pense a toi ca parai bizar ou terrifien el tu me mank. l'ocean a moin d'eau ke mon ker a? si tu poura compter ls etoil ds le ciel? Hammadou

whether you believe me or not, i think of you that seems bizarre or scary el i miss you. the ocean has less water than my heart has? if you could count the stars in the sky.

2/14 19:44
Tu a transforme ma vie en poesi e je te 2mand d'agir avec moi selon tn keur me sentiment pr toi st 6 for ke le garde secret sere impo6ble mn bb jetmmm k66666. Yannick the waiter

you transformed my life into poetry and i ask you to be with me according to your heart my feeling for you is so strong to keep a secret would be impossible. My baby I looove you. kiss.

2/14 20:03
bebe si g meurs c soir c sera d'amour et peine car au pres de toi ma vie est eternel. anonymous

Baby if i die tonight it will be of love and pain since next to you my life is eternal.


Now some of you might be wondering why these people have my phone number, and yes it's a good question. And every time I'm about to hand over the real digits I stop and think, hmm "do I really want to do this?" But every time it seems completely normal and mundane, even with no more than 3 sentences conversation exchanged...a moto driver who you need to come back and pick you up from the Bible Study and take you home. The waitor who has a restaurant next to a carpenter and said he'd be happy to bargain with the carpenter when he returned for a piece of furniture you wanted. A friend's homestay brother. And the thing is after a few weeks of non-returned lovesick phone calls and texts, they usually get over it and move on. Still, 95% of the time a man says "Well can I get your contact? Do you have a phone? Can I have your number?" the answer is NO!