Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
9 out of 10 Dentists Agree
February 6th
I know it’s been a few weeks, but I’m officially back from my blogging hiatus. I do apologize for the lack of updates, but fear not, I have endured punishment enough in the form of a nagging mother via phone, text, and Facebook (love you mom, pestering from the other side of the world?… a whole wheel of cheese?... I’m not even mad… I’m impressed ;)
All jokes aside I guess the real reason I haven’t posted is because I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past couple of weeks. After New Year’s I went to Yaoundé for my mid-service medical checkup (I’m good to go, in case you were wondering), and then made a quick trip to Ngoundare with a group of friends. Minus the fact that in order to get medically cleared I had to trek across the capital city in a taxi cab with 6 other people in rush hour traffic in the heat of the day with….. wait for it… wait for it… a fresh stool sample (not a particularly high point in my Peace Corps career), I did have a lot of fun getting to spend time with a bunch of my American friends. The only drawback to so much “quality whiteman time” is that at the end of it all, when your back in village and you’re by yourself again it’s like you’ve got to push yourself through the mental readjustments all over again. It’s kind of hard to explain and I don’t know how this is coming across. I’m not lonely or depressed or anything, I’m just struggling to get back into my groove. Here’s to hoping me and the groove get together real soon ☺
However, in spite of my case of the Bankim blues I have been able to get a little bit of work done and I have a great story to tell you, so get pumped! I have this women’s group that I meet with on Saturday afternoons, and for awhile now they’ve been expressing interest in doing some kind of small income generating project. Thanks to the awesome work of some volunteers in the west I got a copy of this book full of great income generating ideas (woot woot Christina shout-out). After perusing the pages I made the executive call that we should probably start small and work our way up to some of the bigger things. With that being said we decided to go with toothpaste. This worked out great, the plan was to make the toothpaste, divide it up, and then end with a quick health lesson highlighting the importance of brushing your teeth and getting your kids to do the same. Here’s how it went down…
Step one: follow the instructions and mix a little baking powder, a little salt, a little water, and a little of this and that together in a big bowl.
Step two: Not getting the right consistency, opt to let the ladies incorporate what I though might be some local knowledge on toothpaste making and so we add more baking powder.
Step three: still not quite right , before I can stop it even more Baking powder is added.
Step 4: “Just a smidge more Baking powder should do the trick… ooops, that was way more than a smidge.”
Step 5: “Well ladies, I think this is as good as it’s gonna get. Let’s divide it up.”
Step 6: Disregard that part where it specifically says store paste in a plastic container and divide it up in small plastic bags.
After everything was doled out and the baggies tied shut we closed in on the final phase. My lesson was going great, I had just finished demonstrating the proper tooth brushing technique, which was basically me trying to convince them that in fact simply chewing on your toothbrush for a hour while walking around the house doing other chores will not actually do anything at all. Then like a little kid with a roll of bubble wrap: POP POP POP POPPOPOPOPOP… all of the plastic bags suddenly exploded splattering everything in their vicinity with a nice layer of toothpaste. Ooops. ☺
Moral of the story; 9 out of 10 dentists agree following the directions is kind of clutch.
P.S. In the time between writing this and posting it online I’ve been pretty busy and I can say that for the time being the groove and I are like this (I’m crossing my pointer and middle finger fyi). All it took was a good old fashioned Cameroonian fete, a nice solid week of work, and a West Adamaoua cluster meeting to get me back in the swing of things ☺
I know it’s been a few weeks, but I’m officially back from my blogging hiatus. I do apologize for the lack of updates, but fear not, I have endured punishment enough in the form of a nagging mother via phone, text, and Facebook (love you mom, pestering from the other side of the world?… a whole wheel of cheese?... I’m not even mad… I’m impressed ;)
All jokes aside I guess the real reason I haven’t posted is because I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past couple of weeks. After New Year’s I went to Yaoundé for my mid-service medical checkup (I’m good to go, in case you were wondering), and then made a quick trip to Ngoundare with a group of friends. Minus the fact that in order to get medically cleared I had to trek across the capital city in a taxi cab with 6 other people in rush hour traffic in the heat of the day with….. wait for it… wait for it… a fresh stool sample (not a particularly high point in my Peace Corps career), I did have a lot of fun getting to spend time with a bunch of my American friends. The only drawback to so much “quality whiteman time” is that at the end of it all, when your back in village and you’re by yourself again it’s like you’ve got to push yourself through the mental readjustments all over again. It’s kind of hard to explain and I don’t know how this is coming across. I’m not lonely or depressed or anything, I’m just struggling to get back into my groove. Here’s to hoping me and the groove get together real soon ☺
However, in spite of my case of the Bankim blues I have been able to get a little bit of work done and I have a great story to tell you, so get pumped! I have this women’s group that I meet with on Saturday afternoons, and for awhile now they’ve been expressing interest in doing some kind of small income generating project. Thanks to the awesome work of some volunteers in the west I got a copy of this book full of great income generating ideas (woot woot Christina shout-out). After perusing the pages I made the executive call that we should probably start small and work our way up to some of the bigger things. With that being said we decided to go with toothpaste. This worked out great, the plan was to make the toothpaste, divide it up, and then end with a quick health lesson highlighting the importance of brushing your teeth and getting your kids to do the same. Here’s how it went down…
Step one: follow the instructions and mix a little baking powder, a little salt, a little water, and a little of this and that together in a big bowl.
Step two: Not getting the right consistency, opt to let the ladies incorporate what I though might be some local knowledge on toothpaste making and so we add more baking powder.
Step three: still not quite right , before I can stop it even more Baking powder is added.
Step 4: “Just a smidge more Baking powder should do the trick… ooops, that was way more than a smidge.”
Step 5: “Well ladies, I think this is as good as it’s gonna get. Let’s divide it up.”
Step 6: Disregard that part where it specifically says store paste in a plastic container and divide it up in small plastic bags.
After everything was doled out and the baggies tied shut we closed in on the final phase. My lesson was going great, I had just finished demonstrating the proper tooth brushing technique, which was basically me trying to convince them that in fact simply chewing on your toothbrush for a hour while walking around the house doing other chores will not actually do anything at all. Then like a little kid with a roll of bubble wrap: POP POP POP POPPOPOPOPOP… all of the plastic bags suddenly exploded splattering everything in their vicinity with a nice layer of toothpaste. Ooops. ☺
Moral of the story; 9 out of 10 dentists agree following the directions is kind of clutch.
P.S. In the time between writing this and posting it online I’ve been pretty busy and I can say that for the time being the groove and I are like this (I’m crossing my pointer and middle finger fyi). All it took was a good old fashioned Cameroonian fete, a nice solid week of work, and a West Adamaoua cluster meeting to get me back in the swing of things ☺
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Never Ending Update
First things first, I want to wish all of you that read this a happy new year and I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I always get a little bit homesick right around this time of year but luckily I live near some wonderful people and I think I speak for us all when I say we had a very nice holiday… but more on that later.
Before I get into Christmas and New Years stuff I want to take care of this list of things I’ve been meaning to mention on here and just keep forgetting about. I always have this little notebook stashed in my purse and I keep a list of all the blog worthy moments that happen to me so I don’t forget about them later on. However, getting them from the little notebook, into a post, and then on to the Internet is harder then is sounds. So here it goes…the never ending update:
1. Beginning of December was Fête de Mutton (The Feast of the Ram). I had a new party dress made at my tailor’s and made the tour of all my Muslim friends. I even got the watch my neighbors sacrifice their ram. Contrary to how that looks in writing it was actually really cool. The only not cool part was that after the ram was dead and they started cleaning it, in an attempt to be nice and neighborly they started chucking all the unwanted parts over the fence for Beamer to eat. There I was standing in my kitchen when all of a sudden I hear what sounded like a loud belly flop and when I went outside to investigate I found my dog chowing down on a set of bloody, raw sheep lungs and an assortment of other bits and pieces… YUCK. To top it all off the dog ended up burying everything he couldn’t eat before sunset and my back yard smelled like something terrible for a week or two
2. I was invited by some of my Bamoun friends in village to participate in their big cultural festival. Apparently it’s a bit of a big deal because they only hold it once every two years and people come from all over the country and all over the world to watch the celebration. I felt particularly cool because I not only got to watch, I got to be in it. I put on my most “traditional” looking cloths, they handed me a spear, and we all began the march to war. If you want to get the real feel just try and imagine thousands of people dressed to the T, covered in war paint, and yelling and chanting Braveheart style in the streets, and that would be kind of what it was like. It was a once and a life time experience and I’m so glad I got to see it ☺
3. World AIDS Day 2010 was a huge success. Over 3 and ½ days the Mbororo men’s group I work with and myself got a chance to talk to and do HIV education with over 162 people in the market AND combined with everyone who signed the online petition we had almost 300 signatures. Now this might not sound like a lot but I finally feel like the idea I’ve been pushing on the men all year, that if you take the time to talk to people they’ll listen, finally got through ☺ (which is a enormous accomplishment for a group of people who in general feel unheard by the larger population). Thank you for taking the time to singing the online version!
4. Aislynn and I had the chance to meet a very interesting German couple traveling through Cameroon last month. When we met up with them they had just traveled two days non stop from Ngoundere (Regional capital of the Adamaoua) to Bankim and were on their way to Foumban (another 4 hours down the road) Oh and I forgot to mention they were probably in their mid-sixties. I was astonished, I know 20 somethings that moan and groan about taking that road (myself included) and here were these two people, grandparent age, backpacking and using public transport around Cameroon. It blew my mind! After talking to them for a bit we learned that that every year they take a holiday to a new country and from the sounds of it they’ve been all over the world and back again (and not just the cushy parts ::cough cough:: the United States, :: cough cough:: Western Europe). They also told us that the secret to their happy marriage was that they never stopped going on adventures together ☺
5. I had to go into the local jail to talk to a gendarme about something the other day (breath mother I’m not in trouble with the law or anything) and what was blasting from an old boom box? None other then Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah Chorus. I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I found it to be quite comical. On one side of the room was a guy standing in a jail cell and on the other side of the room a very intimidating solider, in uniform, happily humming along to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music… only in Cameroon.
6. I am now Hawoua’s official frog catcher. She’s not afraid of bats, rats, spiders, or roaches, (all of which I’ve had to call her over to kill for me and she’s never let me live it down) but something about things that go rib-it scare the living bejeezes out of her. Let me elaborate… a few weeks ago I was in the house and I heard her let out a blood curdling scream (like “there’s and axe-murder in the house” type scream) so I ran to see what was happening and I find her on her tippy toes, bouncing around, and pointing at a tiny little tree frog on her kitchen window. Then yesterday there was a pretty big toad under her last step. It was croaking and she was afraid it was going to come out and bite Rashid (her two year old son). Grant it, it was a pretty big frog, but in any case I tried to convince her that frogs don’t have teeth, that these ones didn’t look in the least bit poisonous and that they’re actually good to have around because they eat mosquitoes. I might as well have been talking to a wall cause she didn’t want to hear it and finally I wound up reaching under the step, pulling out the frog, and flinging it over the fence.
7. Beamer is quite possibly the worst guard dog in the world! The other day pigs were added to the ever-growing list of things he is afraid of (incase you were wondering that list also includes cows, goats, sheep, cats, jingle bells, and rubber rain boots). We were taking our usual afternoon walk through one of the quarters and I saw a pig crossing the road a head of us. Just to clarify this was no cute adorable Charlotte’s Web Wilbur type pig, this was a mean mother sow standing about the same height as my belly button and easily around 200 lbs. In my attempt to steer clear of Miss Piggy I unfortunately neglected to notice that Beamer and I were heading straight for her 3 little piglets. No sooner had Beamer lunged at the piglets, mama pig was coming strait for us. There was lots of angry squealing, and snorting involved, so suffice to say my heart was racing a million miles a minute. I was hoping/expecting the dog to scare it away or at the very least start barking, but no he immediately ran behind me creating a human shield thus leaving me to fend off the angry livestock. Luckily there was a big stick on the ground next to me so I picked it up and with a combination of yelling, stick waving, and very fast backtracking Beamer and I managed to escape unharmed.
8. On the mushroom front I have good news and bad news. The good news is that they started to bloom. The bad news is that only 1 out of 4 bags produced anything and they took a month longer then we were expecting them too (I think the climate is too hot in Bankim). I don’t think this is the best income generating project option for the money it would cost to start up versus the amount we can get to produce here in village, but it was a fun little experiment. Back to square one :/
9. Ok, so Peace Corps has three main goals for all it’s programs in all the countries it works in. Goal 1: sustainable development of the host country. Goal 2: share host country culture with Americans. Goal 3: share American culture with the host country. The following is by far the best goal three quote of all time: (while watching Toy Story with another volunteer and a bunch of kids from the neighborhood)
7 year old Cameroonian child “What’s a cowboy?”
Peace Corps volunteer: “Well it’s sort of like if you could mix a berger (cattle herder) and gendarme (solider)”
I realize this might not actually be funny to everyone but it gave me a good laugh so I thought I’d share ☺
10. Christmas was a bit of a whirlwind between Bankim and traveling to Banyo to celebrate with the other volunteers in the area( but a fun whirlwind none the less!). Some of the highlights included a very successful Christmas party for the neighbors hosted by yours truly, the most awesome frip find gift exchange ever (ask Hunter about his t-shirt and tie), a visit to the Banyo missionaries for what felt like a big family Christmas dinner back at home (not my home mind you… no one was teasing me incessantly and calling me a tree hugging hippie), a Christmas movie marathon (Elf, Charlie Brown Christmas, Love Actually and the Holiday) and a visit from the Raymond family to wrap up the weekend. Now all this was fun but the real highlight, and what I’m sure you’re all wondering about if you read my last post was the Christmas chicken. I’m happy to report that Chicken Little survived the journey from Bankim to Banyo first strapped to the back of a motorcycle and then to the back of a small hatchback Toyota and tasted all the better for it. When it came time to do the deed one of the boys slit the neck, but I pulled feathers out and it’s safe to say I’m a feather plucking pro now ;)
11. Last but not least New Year’s 2011… the start of which marks my 15th month living in Cameroon!!! New years eve was pretty low key. I had a movie night at my house for some of the kids and made them all pizza and popcorn. At midnight my doorbell started ringing nonstop so I got dressed and went outside to see what was up. I knew it was gonna be good when I started smelling burning rubber and sure enough my neighbors were all gathered in the street dancing and singing around a burning tire. Hawoua came out at the same time I did (they were ringing her doorbell over and over again too) but she was being a major party pooper… she wasn’t really feelin’ all the hub-bub. Finally I grabbed her hand and said, “Hawoua! It’s the New Year you can’t start off 2011 by yelling at people, come out and watch all the kids dancing!” She reluctantly can with me and I think (even though she’ll never admit it) that she had a good time ☺
New Years Day was a lot more eventful with visits to friends’ houses and lots of people visiting me at my house. At one point I had in my living room; 2 Mbororo girls, 3 Tikar wives, 2 Bamoum women, Hawoua, and Roses’ 23 year old Anglophone daughter Vera. All of them were pretty young (none were over 25) and being so, acted like a group of catty women (two of the women I think are pretty much mortal enemies and everyone has had to pick sides… I don’t even know what the epic fight was about but I ended up on Hawoua’s side by default… I live with her). I could have cut through the judging vibes with a knife, but thankfully every one enjoyed their cake, popcorn, and juice without starting any catfights. It was a little uncomfortable when it was happening, but after the fact it made me feel not so far away from home ;)
So that’s pretty much everything of interest that I did in December
Before I get into Christmas and New Years stuff I want to take care of this list of things I’ve been meaning to mention on here and just keep forgetting about. I always have this little notebook stashed in my purse and I keep a list of all the blog worthy moments that happen to me so I don’t forget about them later on. However, getting them from the little notebook, into a post, and then on to the Internet is harder then is sounds. So here it goes…the never ending update:
1. Beginning of December was Fête de Mutton (The Feast of the Ram). I had a new party dress made at my tailor’s and made the tour of all my Muslim friends. I even got the watch my neighbors sacrifice their ram. Contrary to how that looks in writing it was actually really cool. The only not cool part was that after the ram was dead and they started cleaning it, in an attempt to be nice and neighborly they started chucking all the unwanted parts over the fence for Beamer to eat. There I was standing in my kitchen when all of a sudden I hear what sounded like a loud belly flop and when I went outside to investigate I found my dog chowing down on a set of bloody, raw sheep lungs and an assortment of other bits and pieces… YUCK. To top it all off the dog ended up burying everything he couldn’t eat before sunset and my back yard smelled like something terrible for a week or two
2. I was invited by some of my Bamoun friends in village to participate in their big cultural festival. Apparently it’s a bit of a big deal because they only hold it once every two years and people come from all over the country and all over the world to watch the celebration. I felt particularly cool because I not only got to watch, I got to be in it. I put on my most “traditional” looking cloths, they handed me a spear, and we all began the march to war. If you want to get the real feel just try and imagine thousands of people dressed to the T, covered in war paint, and yelling and chanting Braveheart style in the streets, and that would be kind of what it was like. It was a once and a life time experience and I’m so glad I got to see it ☺
3. World AIDS Day 2010 was a huge success. Over 3 and ½ days the Mbororo men’s group I work with and myself got a chance to talk to and do HIV education with over 162 people in the market AND combined with everyone who signed the online petition we had almost 300 signatures. Now this might not sound like a lot but I finally feel like the idea I’ve been pushing on the men all year, that if you take the time to talk to people they’ll listen, finally got through ☺ (which is a enormous accomplishment for a group of people who in general feel unheard by the larger population). Thank you for taking the time to singing the online version!
4. Aislynn and I had the chance to meet a very interesting German couple traveling through Cameroon last month. When we met up with them they had just traveled two days non stop from Ngoundere (Regional capital of the Adamaoua) to Bankim and were on their way to Foumban (another 4 hours down the road) Oh and I forgot to mention they were probably in their mid-sixties. I was astonished, I know 20 somethings that moan and groan about taking that road (myself included) and here were these two people, grandparent age, backpacking and using public transport around Cameroon. It blew my mind! After talking to them for a bit we learned that that every year they take a holiday to a new country and from the sounds of it they’ve been all over the world and back again (and not just the cushy parts ::cough cough:: the United States, :: cough cough:: Western Europe). They also told us that the secret to their happy marriage was that they never stopped going on adventures together ☺
5. I had to go into the local jail to talk to a gendarme about something the other day (breath mother I’m not in trouble with the law or anything) and what was blasting from an old boom box? None other then Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah Chorus. I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I found it to be quite comical. On one side of the room was a guy standing in a jail cell and on the other side of the room a very intimidating solider, in uniform, happily humming along to one of the world’s most famous pieces of classical music… only in Cameroon.
6. I am now Hawoua’s official frog catcher. She’s not afraid of bats, rats, spiders, or roaches, (all of which I’ve had to call her over to kill for me and she’s never let me live it down) but something about things that go rib-it scare the living bejeezes out of her. Let me elaborate… a few weeks ago I was in the house and I heard her let out a blood curdling scream (like “there’s and axe-murder in the house” type scream) so I ran to see what was happening and I find her on her tippy toes, bouncing around, and pointing at a tiny little tree frog on her kitchen window. Then yesterday there was a pretty big toad under her last step. It was croaking and she was afraid it was going to come out and bite Rashid (her two year old son). Grant it, it was a pretty big frog, but in any case I tried to convince her that frogs don’t have teeth, that these ones didn’t look in the least bit poisonous and that they’re actually good to have around because they eat mosquitoes. I might as well have been talking to a wall cause she didn’t want to hear it and finally I wound up reaching under the step, pulling out the frog, and flinging it over the fence.
7. Beamer is quite possibly the worst guard dog in the world! The other day pigs were added to the ever-growing list of things he is afraid of (incase you were wondering that list also includes cows, goats, sheep, cats, jingle bells, and rubber rain boots). We were taking our usual afternoon walk through one of the quarters and I saw a pig crossing the road a head of us. Just to clarify this was no cute adorable Charlotte’s Web Wilbur type pig, this was a mean mother sow standing about the same height as my belly button and easily around 200 lbs. In my attempt to steer clear of Miss Piggy I unfortunately neglected to notice that Beamer and I were heading straight for her 3 little piglets. No sooner had Beamer lunged at the piglets, mama pig was coming strait for us. There was lots of angry squealing, and snorting involved, so suffice to say my heart was racing a million miles a minute. I was hoping/expecting the dog to scare it away or at the very least start barking, but no he immediately ran behind me creating a human shield thus leaving me to fend off the angry livestock. Luckily there was a big stick on the ground next to me so I picked it up and with a combination of yelling, stick waving, and very fast backtracking Beamer and I managed to escape unharmed.
8. On the mushroom front I have good news and bad news. The good news is that they started to bloom. The bad news is that only 1 out of 4 bags produced anything and they took a month longer then we were expecting them too (I think the climate is too hot in Bankim). I don’t think this is the best income generating project option for the money it would cost to start up versus the amount we can get to produce here in village, but it was a fun little experiment. Back to square one :/
9. Ok, so Peace Corps has three main goals for all it’s programs in all the countries it works in. Goal 1: sustainable development of the host country. Goal 2: share host country culture with Americans. Goal 3: share American culture with the host country. The following is by far the best goal three quote of all time: (while watching Toy Story with another volunteer and a bunch of kids from the neighborhood)
7 year old Cameroonian child “What’s a cowboy?”
Peace Corps volunteer: “Well it’s sort of like if you could mix a berger (cattle herder) and gendarme (solider)”
I realize this might not actually be funny to everyone but it gave me a good laugh so I thought I’d share ☺
10. Christmas was a bit of a whirlwind between Bankim and traveling to Banyo to celebrate with the other volunteers in the area( but a fun whirlwind none the less!). Some of the highlights included a very successful Christmas party for the neighbors hosted by yours truly, the most awesome frip find gift exchange ever (ask Hunter about his t-shirt and tie), a visit to the Banyo missionaries for what felt like a big family Christmas dinner back at home (not my home mind you… no one was teasing me incessantly and calling me a tree hugging hippie), a Christmas movie marathon (Elf, Charlie Brown Christmas, Love Actually and the Holiday) and a visit from the Raymond family to wrap up the weekend. Now all this was fun but the real highlight, and what I’m sure you’re all wondering about if you read my last post was the Christmas chicken. I’m happy to report that Chicken Little survived the journey from Bankim to Banyo first strapped to the back of a motorcycle and then to the back of a small hatchback Toyota and tasted all the better for it. When it came time to do the deed one of the boys slit the neck, but I pulled feathers out and it’s safe to say I’m a feather plucking pro now ;)
11. Last but not least New Year’s 2011… the start of which marks my 15th month living in Cameroon!!! New years eve was pretty low key. I had a movie night at my house for some of the kids and made them all pizza and popcorn. At midnight my doorbell started ringing nonstop so I got dressed and went outside to see what was up. I knew it was gonna be good when I started smelling burning rubber and sure enough my neighbors were all gathered in the street dancing and singing around a burning tire. Hawoua came out at the same time I did (they were ringing her doorbell over and over again too) but she was being a major party pooper… she wasn’t really feelin’ all the hub-bub. Finally I grabbed her hand and said, “Hawoua! It’s the New Year you can’t start off 2011 by yelling at people, come out and watch all the kids dancing!” She reluctantly can with me and I think (even though she’ll never admit it) that she had a good time ☺
New Years Day was a lot more eventful with visits to friends’ houses and lots of people visiting me at my house. At one point I had in my living room; 2 Mbororo girls, 3 Tikar wives, 2 Bamoum women, Hawoua, and Roses’ 23 year old Anglophone daughter Vera. All of them were pretty young (none were over 25) and being so, acted like a group of catty women (two of the women I think are pretty much mortal enemies and everyone has had to pick sides… I don’t even know what the epic fight was about but I ended up on Hawoua’s side by default… I live with her). I could have cut through the judging vibes with a knife, but thankfully every one enjoyed their cake, popcorn, and juice without starting any catfights. It was a little uncomfortable when it was happening, but after the fact it made me feel not so far away from home ;)
So that’s pretty much everything of interest that I did in December
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Christmas Chicken
Ok before I begin this story let me just say that I will never EVER take the meat section at my local grocery store for granted ever again.
Right after thanksgiving my neighbor Rose started to prepare for the Christmas Fete. Now back home if I said this I’d be referring to the Christmas lights, holiday music, and (for all you day-after-thanksgiving-tree-putter-uppers) a decorated tree. However, here getting ready for the fete referred to the arrival of a new roster, who is currently being fattened up and is residing in the compound. I think I’ve mentioned some of my prior run-ins with these winged devils and but to recap, currently my record with them is 2 and 0. The first one claimed my front porch for his territory and didn’t much like me “all up in his space” (I’m referring to the charging, squawking, and puffed out chest that me trying to stand on my front porch incited) and the second one crowed all day right underneath my bedroom window (only my window mind you) starting at 4:30 am (on the dot… everyday… all day). Needless to say I don’t care much for them, but of course the silver lining is that they are mighty tasty ;)
So Rose got this chicken and I started thinking it over and I decided that I would get a chicken for my Christmas too (after all it’s Christmas…. I thought I deserved a little treat). It just so happened that the week I had be contemplating this I was also scheduled to go out and do some work en brousse, which as it turns out is the best place to find the big chickens. When we set out in the morning I told the nurse, Mbokas, that if we passed a place to buy a chicken he should stop. He quickly told me that he wanted to do the same thing, and agreed to help me pick out a good one and get a fair price for it.
We drove around visiting villages for vaccinations most of the morning and at the last place we stopped I met the chicken guy. Well, he wasn’t exactly a chicken guy, but he told us of this friend of his who has some chickens for sale and gave us directions on how to get to his place. I’ll sum up the directions for ya:
- leave the village heading that way (points in a direction the road doesn’t go)
- go until you pass the really big tree
- go past the bush fire (you may have to drive through it (and we did))
- and then you’ll see the guy’s place on the left
By what I can only call a miracle Mbokas managed to navigate the way and about an hour later I found myself haggling over the price of a chicken. The place we were at was a single-family compound (one father, four wives, and a bunch of kids) with a half dozen or so mud brick huts situated in this round clearing. I know this because after the money changed hands the father smiled at me, pointed at the chicken and said, “ok now lets catch him.” To which we spent the next 30 minutes chasing my bird around the place in circles.
In hindsight, I think what happened was that Mbokas bought his chicken first and caught it easily because he had the element of surprise. However, once my guy saw what was going on he went on the defensive and read me like a book when I started coming at him. In the end it took Mbokas, the Father, the 4 wives, and me to finally corner the chicken under what was the kitchen hut. There was one of us on each side and as we slowly started to close in the chicken got panicky and started darting every which way. He was getting desperate and I could tell he was gonna make a run for it soon and try and break through our line. It was at this point that I started praying “Oh dear God, please please, please don’t let it make a break towards me please, please, please, please, PLEASE! I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do if it comes at me. Please let it go towards someone else.” But alas I was the weakest link and in a final attempt to free itself the chicken came at me full force. Now, I know were only talking about a chicken here but, not gonna lie, it was kind of terrifying. He flew off the ground with his wings flapping all over the place and his large talons aimed at my face, making some god-awful clucking/crowing/desperate screaming sound. Naturally my reaction was to close my eyes, cover my face, and then emit my own desperate screaming sound. Thankfully, the wife standing to my left foresaw my cowardice and leaped out to grab the bird while it was in mid-air. I think the combination of my hysterical screaming and the chicken’s hysterical screaming could have been the most amusing thing to happen in the family’s home in a long time cause after I’d calmed down enough to open my eyes I looked around and saw that everyone else was rolling with laughter at the scene we had made. After the adrenaline stopped pumping I joined them and began laughing myself… after all it was pretty funny (it was like slow-motion T.V. funny, or funniest home movies funny)
So that’s the story of the chicken. After we captured him I rode back to Bankim on the back of a moto with a chicken under each arm and the cooler of vaccines slung over my shoulder. Now the chicken is living behind the house in the outdoor kitchen, it still crows at the butt crack of dawn and it still flaps it’s wings and makes a fuss anytime I get near it but it’ll all be worth it in about a week! I’ll be sure to let you know how the killing/plucking/cooking phase goes ;)
Right after thanksgiving my neighbor Rose started to prepare for the Christmas Fete. Now back home if I said this I’d be referring to the Christmas lights, holiday music, and (for all you day-after-thanksgiving-tree-putter-uppers) a decorated tree. However, here getting ready for the fete referred to the arrival of a new roster, who is currently being fattened up and is residing in the compound. I think I’ve mentioned some of my prior run-ins with these winged devils and but to recap, currently my record with them is 2 and 0. The first one claimed my front porch for his territory and didn’t much like me “all up in his space” (I’m referring to the charging, squawking, and puffed out chest that me trying to stand on my front porch incited) and the second one crowed all day right underneath my bedroom window (only my window mind you) starting at 4:30 am (on the dot… everyday… all day). Needless to say I don’t care much for them, but of course the silver lining is that they are mighty tasty ;)
So Rose got this chicken and I started thinking it over and I decided that I would get a chicken for my Christmas too (after all it’s Christmas…. I thought I deserved a little treat). It just so happened that the week I had be contemplating this I was also scheduled to go out and do some work en brousse, which as it turns out is the best place to find the big chickens. When we set out in the morning I told the nurse, Mbokas, that if we passed a place to buy a chicken he should stop. He quickly told me that he wanted to do the same thing, and agreed to help me pick out a good one and get a fair price for it.
We drove around visiting villages for vaccinations most of the morning and at the last place we stopped I met the chicken guy. Well, he wasn’t exactly a chicken guy, but he told us of this friend of his who has some chickens for sale and gave us directions on how to get to his place. I’ll sum up the directions for ya:
- leave the village heading that way (points in a direction the road doesn’t go)
- go until you pass the really big tree
- go past the bush fire (you may have to drive through it (and we did))
- and then you’ll see the guy’s place on the left
By what I can only call a miracle Mbokas managed to navigate the way and about an hour later I found myself haggling over the price of a chicken. The place we were at was a single-family compound (one father, four wives, and a bunch of kids) with a half dozen or so mud brick huts situated in this round clearing. I know this because after the money changed hands the father smiled at me, pointed at the chicken and said, “ok now lets catch him.” To which we spent the next 30 minutes chasing my bird around the place in circles.
In hindsight, I think what happened was that Mbokas bought his chicken first and caught it easily because he had the element of surprise. However, once my guy saw what was going on he went on the defensive and read me like a book when I started coming at him. In the end it took Mbokas, the Father, the 4 wives, and me to finally corner the chicken under what was the kitchen hut. There was one of us on each side and as we slowly started to close in the chicken got panicky and started darting every which way. He was getting desperate and I could tell he was gonna make a run for it soon and try and break through our line. It was at this point that I started praying “Oh dear God, please please, please don’t let it make a break towards me please, please, please, please, PLEASE! I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do if it comes at me. Please let it go towards someone else.” But alas I was the weakest link and in a final attempt to free itself the chicken came at me full force. Now, I know were only talking about a chicken here but, not gonna lie, it was kind of terrifying. He flew off the ground with his wings flapping all over the place and his large talons aimed at my face, making some god-awful clucking/crowing/desperate screaming sound. Naturally my reaction was to close my eyes, cover my face, and then emit my own desperate screaming sound. Thankfully, the wife standing to my left foresaw my cowardice and leaped out to grab the bird while it was in mid-air. I think the combination of my hysterical screaming and the chicken’s hysterical screaming could have been the most amusing thing to happen in the family’s home in a long time cause after I’d calmed down enough to open my eyes I looked around and saw that everyone else was rolling with laughter at the scene we had made. After the adrenaline stopped pumping I joined them and began laughing myself… after all it was pretty funny (it was like slow-motion T.V. funny, or funniest home movies funny)
So that’s the story of the chicken. After we captured him I rode back to Bankim on the back of a moto with a chicken under each arm and the cooler of vaccines slung over my shoulder. Now the chicken is living behind the house in the outdoor kitchen, it still crows at the butt crack of dawn and it still flaps it’s wings and makes a fuss anytime I get near it but it’ll all be worth it in about a week! I’ll be sure to let you know how the killing/plucking/cooking phase goes ;)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Happy World AIDS Day! I'll be sure to write an update about today later in the week but for now I thought I'd post this short message I sent par request of my younger brother's school group. Enjoy!
************
Hi, my name is Kate Millman and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, a small country on the west coast of central Africa. I live and work in a large village in the Adamaoua region called Bankim. Accurate and updated statistics are hard to come by, but we have a rough population of about 10,000 people who live in the center of town, and HIV/AIDS is a huge problem. It’s really hard to say exactly how many people have been infected because not only are we dealing with the virus but people are also up against stigmatization. Many people are positive, but afraid to be tested, others are tested and pay people off to say they’re negative, and still others lose their battle with AIDS and yet they go to their grave and their own families are still too afraid to say why. This coupled with large amount of transit workers and prostitutes that move through the area, has created a pretty serious situation in the village. So that’s my home in a nutshell… lots of truckers, lots of prostitutes, lots of stigma, too much fear.
However, even amongst all the fear, all the stigma, and all the despair, hope is not lost. Every time I see a child’s hand shoot into the air to ask a question after I teach a lesson on HIV, I know that child is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to ask questions. Every time I hear someone from my men’s group passionately explain the need to show compassion to those living with HIV, I know that man is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to love. And for every couple that comes into the health center to be tested before getting married I know that family is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to know the truth. These are the things that keep me going.
In today’s world, we have a choice to make; we can choose to feel overwhelmed by the scale at which HIV/AIDS is affecting us. We can choose to turn a blind eye and simply ignore the problem hoping it will go away or someone else will fix it. Or we can empower people to take a stand, seek knowledge, show compassion, and find comfort in the small victories.
************
Hi, my name is Kate Millman and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, a small country on the west coast of central Africa. I live and work in a large village in the Adamaoua region called Bankim. Accurate and updated statistics are hard to come by, but we have a rough population of about 10,000 people who live in the center of town, and HIV/AIDS is a huge problem. It’s really hard to say exactly how many people have been infected because not only are we dealing with the virus but people are also up against stigmatization. Many people are positive, but afraid to be tested, others are tested and pay people off to say they’re negative, and still others lose their battle with AIDS and yet they go to their grave and their own families are still too afraid to say why. This coupled with large amount of transit workers and prostitutes that move through the area, has created a pretty serious situation in the village. So that’s my home in a nutshell… lots of truckers, lots of prostitutes, lots of stigma, too much fear.
However, even amongst all the fear, all the stigma, and all the despair, hope is not lost. Every time I see a child’s hand shoot into the air to ask a question after I teach a lesson on HIV, I know that child is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to ask questions. Every time I hear someone from my men’s group passionately explain the need to show compassion to those living with HIV, I know that man is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to love. And for every couple that comes into the health center to be tested before getting married I know that family is the future and in the future we won’t be afraid to know the truth. These are the things that keep me going.
In today’s world, we have a choice to make; we can choose to feel overwhelmed by the scale at which HIV/AIDS is affecting us. We can choose to turn a blind eye and simply ignore the problem hoping it will go away or someone else will fix it. Or we can empower people to take a stand, seek knowledge, show compassion, and find comfort in the small victories.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
WORLD AIDS DAY 2010
Hello Everyone!
I’m working with a men’s group here in my village and we're doing a Red Ribbon Campaign for World AIDS Day on December 1st. The group wrote a pledge together and we’re planning to walk around the marketplace next Wednesday to try talk to people about HIV/AIDS, get signatures, and pass out ribbons to hang on storefronts. One of the things that I’m really trying to show them is that HIV/AIDS is a global problem and that on the 1st all the countries in the world will be united to talk openly about the disease and do HIV/AIDS activities.
Many people in my village think HIV/AIDS is just a problem for poor people in Africa, but the reality is that it affects us all. So I translated their pledge and put it online for people back in the states to sign, and hopefully I’ll be able to show them all the people who took their pledge at the end. If you could take 5 minuets to click on the link below, sign your name and encourage people to wear red on December 1st I would appreciate it a lot.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KNWDZ85
Thanks for all your support, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
Kate Millman
PCV Cameroon - Bankim
********************************************************
Here's a copy of the pledge:
WORLD AIDS DAY
1er December 2010
I pledge to show love and support towards those people who are living with HIV and AIDS. I will NOT be afraid of them and make them to leave the community. Instead I will eat and drink with them, play with them, sit with them, pray with them, and help them how I can.
For those who have already left us because of AIDS I promise to honor their memories by praying for them and helping the families they have left behind.
In an attempt to protect my family, and myself I also promise to be faithful to my husband or wife, use protection, and educate my children so we can have a future without HIV/AIDS.
I’m working with a men’s group here in my village and we're doing a Red Ribbon Campaign for World AIDS Day on December 1st. The group wrote a pledge together and we’re planning to walk around the marketplace next Wednesday to try talk to people about HIV/AIDS, get signatures, and pass out ribbons to hang on storefronts. One of the things that I’m really trying to show them is that HIV/AIDS is a global problem and that on the 1st all the countries in the world will be united to talk openly about the disease and do HIV/AIDS activities.
Many people in my village think HIV/AIDS is just a problem for poor people in Africa, but the reality is that it affects us all. So I translated their pledge and put it online for people back in the states to sign, and hopefully I’ll be able to show them all the people who took their pledge at the end. If you could take 5 minuets to click on the link below, sign your name and encourage people to wear red on December 1st I would appreciate it a lot.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KNWDZ85
Thanks for all your support, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
Kate Millman
PCV Cameroon - Bankim
********************************************************
Here's a copy of the pledge:
WORLD AIDS DAY
1er December 2010
I pledge to show love and support towards those people who are living with HIV and AIDS. I will NOT be afraid of them and make them to leave the community. Instead I will eat and drink with them, play with them, sit with them, pray with them, and help them how I can.
For those who have already left us because of AIDS I promise to honor their memories by praying for them and helping the families they have left behind.
In an attempt to protect my family, and myself I also promise to be faithful to my husband or wife, use protection, and educate my children so we can have a future without HIV/AIDS.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
A Post For Hunter
OK all you west coasters this blog is just for you. Hunter (my new neighbor down the road) asked me to post some pictures of Nyamboya for him cause the internet is really bad at the training site, so without further ado here are some shots of Hunter's new digs.
Hunter's House...
JUST KIDDING ;) This is Hunter's real house
Main street / Downtown Nyamboya
The road leading in to town just in case you want to come visit ;)
Hunter's House...
JUST KIDDING ;) This is Hunter's real house
Main street / Downtown Nyamboya
The road leading in to town just in case you want to come visit ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
