We are a full four weeks into our Cameroonian experience thus far and I am glad to say that we have not had any other people leave our group since the two folks who came down with early sicknesses and decided to head back to the US and A during the first week in-country. It had to be a gut-wrenching decision to do so (no pun intended), but after several health and safety lectures here in Bafia it seems as though there are countless ways that a person can find him/herself needing immediate medical attention. To give you a better idea of what we’re dealing with, we just received our third rabies shot today, had two other immunizations shorting after arriving in Yaoundé, were provided with a medical kit that contains more than 30 different items, and take weekly Malaria pills. They tell us that Peace Corps Cameroon has one of the lowest early termination (“ET”) rates, which means that a very high percentage of folks complete their planned 27 month commitment, so we’re hoping these two ET’s are exceptions to the rule.
This week has been rather enjoyable, no doubt. To bust up the monotony of a dreaded Monday full of language and technical training (yes, dreading Monday transcends both country and continental borders), those of us in the community economic development program took a field trip to Yaoundé to meet with the Cameroonian leaders of UNICEF (the worldwide Children’s NGO) and ADAF (an organization advocating for the development of small businesses throughout Africa). There were more powerpoint presentations (not limited to the US and A either, unfortunately), croissants, and coca-colas present at each of these meetings, which were intended to introduce us to the resources available when working at our sites after training is completed. The trip to Yaoundé culminated with a trip to one of the city’s largest supermarkets, known locally as Casino, which was a huge hit to many of those who had been clamoring various goods not available to us in Bafia. The bounty ranged from Pringles to bath towels. Not surprisingly, I walked away with plantain chips and an orange soda (“pop” to those from the best parts of the States) … things that I can get here no problem. Oh well, they’re delicious.
The overarching theme of the trip to Yaoundé was the degree to which I am now accustomed to the constant chaos that occurs on the roads. No stoplights, no ‘right of way’, and there are motos weaving in and out of traffic everywhere you look. Its funny to think that the volunteers that we have met during training thus far consider a place like Yaoundé to be Cameroon’s equivalent to our New York City or Chicago, but I’m sure it will be the same for me in twelve months.
Another great reason why our trip to Yaoundé was a welcome break from training was that we had a tremendously successful party at one of the local hotels last Saturday night. Its certainly not a big deal to be out late on a Saturday night in the States, but it was a welcome chance for everyone to stay out past our Peace Corps-imposed 7pm nightly curfew. There’s little else to say than that we have become very close as a group than anyone would have previously imagined. With a combination of having such close quarters most of the week, the discomfort and unfamiliarity of living with a host family in another country, and the (relatively) low cost of beers, it did not take long for the good dancers (the “haves”) to separate themselves from the bad ones (the “have nots”). For those who know me best, I am most certainly a have not. Regardless, both the haves and the have nots were afforded the opportunity to enjoy people watching activities that have been rivaled only by a few sightings here in-country (i.e. random naked people, Cameroon national soccer team matches, etc.). Pictures were taken, but it sounds like they may be kept private and sold to the highest bidder when someone runs for political office in twenty years. Not worried about myself though, as I’m just planning to be ‘the guy behind the guy’ when the time comes.
After an evening of very little sleep, I did my best to fight off the exhaustion of Saturday evening’s activities by washing my clothes by hand, playing more baseball with the kids, and doing the dishes with my host sister while listening to Katy Perry (she seems to be our favorite for different reasons). Despite being a developing country, Cameroonians are very adamant about keeping a clean house and wearing clean clothes – especially having clean, shoes! Doing all of the above is a ritual that all families seem to respect on the weekend, which is apparent because it is a rare sight on a sunny Sunday when you don’t see clothes drying on the line alongside the house. For helping me with my laundry, I gave my little brother a small bag of sunflower seeds to share with everyone, while I burned a Katy Perry CD for my host sister for having done so much cooking and cleaning for me thus far. It won’t be long before I’m apologizing to my host family for having that CD on a constant loop via the house DVD player. Without a nap I made it to the crack of 8pm before falling asleep without dinner.
Outside of our trip to Yaoundé, the rest of the week was highlighted by a late afternoon game of pickup basketball with the locals. While soccer is the most popular sport here, not surprisingly, both basketball and volleyball have large followings. Ironically, my host family lives a couple hundred yards away from a huge mansion owned by the family of a guy who plays for the Chicago Bulls (though his name escapes me at the moment). I hadn’t exercised much since stepping off the plane in Yaoundé last month and I hadn’t played in quite some time, so my gameplan was to do my best John Stockton impression by passing a lot and running around in circles – which isn’t that much different than when I play in the States, actually. Although I could have built a house with the number of bricks I tossed up, a captain of one of the two local teams asked me to come back on Saturday to play with them against a club from Yaoundé. He was wearing a Michael Jordan jersey, so it would have been hard to say no … even though it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to say no to the guy from the town’s other team who had a striking resemblance in age and stature to Rober Parrish. The Big Chief could easily (and might yet still before training is over) level me with a flying elbow down low, so I’m just going to let him have the lane when it looks like he wants/needs it.
Speaking of basketball, I hear the Heatles won the NBA title. Hope they enjoy having that asterisk next to it in the record books!
Be sure to drop me a line via email if you want to get in touch. You can also reach me via standard mail at Jack D. Nelson, United States Peace Corps, B.P. 215, Yaoundé, Cameroon. If you end up sending letters and may send more, be sure to label them numerically in order so I know if one has gone missing. Also if you’re going to send a package, it is a good idea to address it to Father/Reverend/Rabbi Jack Nelson with a cross/fish/star drawn on it, as people are less likely to swipe something religious. As well, packages labeled “INSURED” (whether it is actually insured or not) tend to make it the final destination, which typically takes 3-4 weeks. If you want to call me on my (not so classy) burner cellphone, I’ll get you the number if you drop me a line.
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