Family Planning and Pygmies

Hello to All and Happy Humpday!
I hope the week is treating everyone well and that you enjoyed your day off. Obviously no one celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Cameroon, but I decided because I had nothing on the agenda that I would take a mental day to recoup from my busy weekend and chalk it up to MLK!
So this past week I experienced the nationwide frenzy that is Cameroonian football, was a guest speaker at a women’s conference and met with the Imam. The Imam (and I’m not sure if I’m spelling that right at all) is the head of the Muslim community, sort of like a Pastor or Rabi from what I gather. The one here in Bankim is really old and I don’t think he runs the day-to-day things in the actual mosque anymore, but he is a very highly respected figure within the community. From what I gather about him he used to be out and about within the district but nowadays he does a lot of teaching from his home, which is a very humble two room mud brick house he graciously invited me into for our meeting. He’s been living and working in Bankim for the past 60 years and he’s a treasure trove of information. We talked (Abdulai, the president of MBOSCUDA, translated for me) for about 45 min about this and that, my personal religion, why I was working with Muslims when I am a Christian, my life in the states, Peace corps, the health situation in Bankim, and how we can work together. Overall it went really really well and I think he’s a great person to have the support of. Very interesting man with a lot of wisdom to share!
Friday around noon Bernadette and I headed out of town to be special guest speakers at Les Femme Pour Christ annual regional meeting in Nigambe Tikar. I have to say the ride there was an adventure all in itself. The first leg of the trip is about 20 minutes by motorcycle out of Bankim until you hit water. When you get to the river you had to wait for enough people to gather and then they loaded the bikes, passengers and all the luggage on to a big canoe and paddle across. When we get to the other side we changed drivers so that we could take two bikes and be a little bit more comfortable and then head out into the bush. There are no roads between Bankim and Nigambe Tikar so the moto drivers follow the paths that the cattle herders use. There’s nothing out there except for them and their cows, and the occasional very small village where you can stop and buy gas. After about 2 hours of this we reached our final destination. The group put us up in a nice room at the home of a woman named Lucy. She was a wonderful host; a bucket of hot water to bathe with and good food to eat, it felt like the Ritz, that is minus the spider as big as the palm of my hand living in the latrine :-) The conference itself was a lot of talking and reporting on things from the previous year, mini sermons, health education by yours truly, lots of singing and of course in true Cameroonian fashion lots and lots of eating. Most interesting meal of the weekend hands down was the snake. I don’t know how big it was to begin with, but it easily fed 20 people nice size steaks, so I’m venturing to say it was a big mama. I can’t say that it’s my protein of choice (it had kind of a weird smell), but the taste wasn’t bad. It was somewhere in between fish and chicken. Saturday it was show time for Bernadette and me. We talked about an hour on family planning. Bernadette took the first half to explain different types of contraceptives and such and then I finished up with the benefits and a small demo. I was really nervous about my French, but a friend named Evangelist from Bankim translated into Tikar for me and it seemed to go pretty smoothly. The only hitch in the program was that a lot of the women were past their childbearing years and they already had big families so it was kind of moot for them. I think the solution is to highlight the role older women play in teaching their daughters and nieces and grandchildren etc… about the benefits of family planning. The other thing that kind of blew up my spot was when one women asked what my husband thought about this and then I had to tell them that in fact I wasn’t married and I have no children, (in the words of Andy I felt “like such a poser”) but I think I managed to save face a little by saying that when I do start a family I’m going to use family planning practices. In the end I think it went well and once my part of the weekend was over I got to spend some time relaxing and taking in the scenery. Bernadette grew up in Ningambe so her mother and a couple of her brothers and their families, and a ton of cousins all still live there. After our talk we spent most of the afternoon and evening on walking around meeting and greeting all of them. We even stopped to watch some of the African Cup Ghana vs. The Ivory Coast) in “the big man bar” with one of her brothers. It was really wonderful to see Bernadette in her element; she is just such a genuinely awesome person, people just flock to her no matter where we go. I’m really glad that we get to work together!
Sunday morning there was a closing ceremony that was part of the church service followed by a big lunch to conclude the weekend. Sunday also happened to be the big market day in Ningambe so of course we couldn’t leave town without making the rounds down there. I am really glad that I went though because I met some Pygmies and they said next time I visit I should come see where they live. Totally going to take them up on that offer. Definitely a “my life could not get any cooler” moment! After a round of goodbyes that took about 45 minutes to complete we headed out of town. We couldn’t find two separate motos this time so we had to share. It was me, Bernadette, the driver and our stuff which included 2 duffle bags and a chicken all on one bike. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride of my life, but I certainly wasn’t the only unhappy camper aboard. The chicken was not particularly grateful for the joy ride either and when we stopped once it tried to make a run for, It didn’t get far because it’s legs were tied together, it kind of just hopped around clucking pathetically for a few minutes until the driver could chase it down. It was a pretty funny scene to watch.
Finally, this week was the start of the African Cup of Nations and the entire country has been overcome by football frenzy. It’s what everyone is talking about all over the village and each night they project the game on the side of a big building in the middle of town. So far Cameroon is one and one. They lost to Gabon and won against Zambia< There’s a lot of hype for them to live up to because they qualified for the World cup and they’ve won the African cup 4 times in the past. I’ve been watching with my neighbors, but I think the next match I’m going to venture into town with a friend who promises to keep the drunks from bothering me. We’ll see how it goes… the crowd gets a little rough in Bankim once the sun goes down Wish me luck!

Until Next Time,
Kate

P.S. GO LIONS !!!