May 2013
4 posts
“You think that just because it’s already happened, the past is finished...”
– Milan Kundera
Death Celebration
Three days. Thousands of people. Copious amounts of beer. Hours of dancing. Relentless drum beats. While these sounds like ingredients for a music festival, they actual describe the funeral of the second-class-chief of Njinikom, who passed away about two weeks ago. A second-class-chief is extremely important and respected in Kom culture, which was evident in the wake of his death.
I have been to...
April 2013
9 posts
I have so much to look forward to in these coming weeks/months that I felt compelled to make a list of what’s to come:
Last week a second-class-chief died in my village. His burial is going to be this upcoming Saturday, and it is going to be bananas. The Chief of all of Kom is even sending his jujus (masked dancers) from the palace for the burial. While it sounds terrible to say that I am...
“It is positively insulting how well the world functions without one. While the...”
– Nigel Barley
Black Bean Burgers
I didn’t want my last post for now to be a downer, so I thought I’d share one of my new favorite recipes. There isn’t a whole lot of variation in my diet here, so it is always nice to find something new to make with what I have available to me.
2 cups cooked beans
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 t. salt
pepper to taste
seasonings (I use the suggested...
April Showers
The month of April has been a rough one to say the least. I often stray away from writing any sort of negative blog post for a couple of reasons. First of all, I know people worry about me enough already without broadcasting my daily struggles to the world on my blog. Secondly, I don’t want to complain about something and then have 15 people sending me e-mails that I should just come home....
March
First of all, I apologize for my lack of blog posts these last few weeks. The second half of March went by in a complete blur.
I attended a St. Patty’s Day party at my friend Stephen’s house with 30+ volunteers, which was a bit insane to say the least. Copious amounts of delicious food was eaten, improvised green outfits were worn, and a DJ was hired for a late-night dance party.
...
March 2013
9 posts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21783945 →
Making Progress!
Women's Day
March 8th is International Women’s Day, and while I had never even heard of this holiday in the US, it is widely celebrated here in Cameroon.
I spent this past Women’s Day celebrating in Njinikom and then traveling to Fundong for my friend’s birthday dinner.
The Women’s Day event in Njinikom included speeches by many high ranking officials and leaders in the...
Book-A-Week
As you may have read in my “resolutions” post, I have made one of my goals for this next year in Cameroon to read one book per week. While I have realized that some of my other goals are probably not going to work out so well, such as learning the guitar in Cameroon sans guitar or teacher, my book-reading-aspiration seems to be more than reasonable.
Below is a list of the books...
Reproductive Health Club Training
Since August of last year I have been working towards the implementation of 10 Reproductive Health and Rights Clubs in and around Njinikom. This has included planning the entire project with the woman I teamed up with, Clotilda, and her NGO, CAGEAD, gathering and compiling information with Clotilda for a 50-page lesson manual, writing a proposal for funding, waiting, and waiting, and...
Race of Hope
After I finished up in Yaounde with Peer Support Network, I got on a bush taxi for a six hour ride to Buea in the South West for the Race of Hope. The Race of Hope is a yearly 24 mile race up and down Mt. Cameroon, the tallest mountain in the country. While there is no way I would ever subject myself to that kind of torture, I had an amazing time volunteering at the race and cheering on some of my...
Peer Support Network
Mid February I traveled to Yaounde for my first meeting as a member of the Peer Support Network (PSN). PSN is a group of volunteers other PCVs can call confidentially to discuss problems or issues they are having that they don’t feel comfortable talking to others about.
I am really excited to be a part of this group and for some of the events we have planned for the rest of this year. We...
February 2013
6 posts
Lake Oku and Ndawara
(Pictures Below)
One of my priorities for these next 10 months is to make sure I see all of the areas of Cameroon I want to go to before I leave since I have no idea if or when I’ll return to Cameroon. I’m happy to report that in one day last week I knocked off two of the seven places on my list - Lake Oku and Ndawara Tea Plantation - with three other PCV friends.
It takes about...
January 2013
5 posts
As I have told many of you, Cameroonian men are pretty persistent when it comes to “love.” To give you a glimpse into what I mean by this, below I copied an actual text message that I received the other night.
” We make many friends, some become dearest, some become special, some fall in love with someone else, some go abroad, some change their cities, some leave us, we leave...
Back in Cameroon
(Warning: this blog post starts as a downer, but I promise it gets better.) I can’t believe I’ve been back in Cameroon for almost two weeks already after my three week vacation home. I would by lying if I said I was 100% ready to return to my Peace Corps life after three weeks of hanging out with my family (and meeting the new addition to the family!), going out with friends, drinking delicious...
New Year's Resolutions
I usually kind of suck at keeping up with my new years resolutions, aka I forget what they even were by February, but I am hoping this year will be a bit different. This is my last year in Peace Corps Cameroon and I want to make it count.
My Resolutions:
Learn to play guitar
Plant a garden
Finish my reproductive health project
Go hiking at least once-a-month
Go to the farm with a friend...
December 2012
6 posts
And there is nothing more beautiful than the moment before a voyage, the moment when tomorrow’s horizon comes to visit us, to announce its promises.
-Milan Kundera-
After 455 days, 170 received letters, 62 books read, and 2 bouts of malaria, I am finally coming home for a visit!
I cannot wait to see all of my family and friends that I have been separated from these last 15 months!
See...
Things I Learned in the East
A two hour moto ride on a dirt path gives your skin the same tint as a spray tan.
I can still get by speaking French.
It is incredibly difficult to poop in the hole of a latrine infested with biting ants.
Brown spiders with alternating black and white legs are bad. Kill them.
Jack fruit are the largest fruit in the world (up to 85 lbs!), are slimy, taste like nothing I’ve ever had...
November 2012
13 posts
GO VOTE!
I live in Cameroon and I voted. You have no excuse people at home! Vote!
Morocco!
I just returned to Cameroon after spending 9 utterly fantastic days exploring Morocco with my friend, Eric. This trip was my first time leaving Cameroon since arriving 13 months earlier and was just the break I needed to refresh myself and truly relax for the first time in over a year.
After landing in Casablanca and finding Eric in the airport, we took a train into the center of Casablanca and...
