Getting to know all about Mengong

September 23, 2014

I can’t believe two weeks ago I was arriving at the hotel in Philly for staging. On the one hand it feels like just yesterday. On the other hand it feels like I’ve lived in Mengong forever. I would describe it as a good two weeks so far with a lot of stuff happening. Before I elaborate a bit, first I’ll address that I know many of you were concerned about my episodes. I had one at staging and one in the Brussels airport. That means I am at almost two weeks episode free. So rest easy my friends and family, I haven’t kissed the ground yet. ;-)

Mengong is in the south region of Cameroon about 15 km outside of Ebolowa (pronounced Eb – o – low – va) where the agribusiness volunteers are training. It is a very green, lush area, with dirt roads that are made extremely red by the iron in them. The area is mostly Christian. Many homes are part of mini-compounds. My host father is a cocoa trader and my host mom is a farmer. I live literally right next to the PC training center but some people live as much as 45 minutes walking. It is currently the rainy season. As I write this post there is an absolute downpour. I’m glad I made it back from the center of town before the rain hit.

This is a decent sized village but small compared to Ebolowa. The market is relatively small and many people say that to get better fabric/a better tailor you need to go to Ebolowa. Fruits are generally not available in Mengong and there is a limited supply of veggies (mostly peppers, green beans, and potatos). Pasta is quite popular for all meals of the day and rice is a standard. However peanuts and mambo (Cameroonian chocolate) are abundant!

My toilet is a latrine and that is also where I take bucket showers each day. Our kitchen is separate from the house and food is cooked over a fire in a brick room with only one window. Unfortunately that is as dangerous as it sounds as smoke fills the room quite quickly. I can only imagine the amount of carcinogens that people inhale cooking in kitchens like that every day of their lives. I often feel lazy in my home as others are already awake when I wake up at either 5:30 or 6:00 and are still awake when I go to bed by 9. I would stay up later and wake up earlier but I know my body needs its rest.

Monday morning – Saturday noon is spent with the other 21 health PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees)* at either the Mengong or Ebolowa training site. We study French, have tech trainings (learning about the health system in Cameroon), receiving more vaccinations (Hep B, typhoid, and rabies), and safety/security sessions about how to keep ourselves safe while serving. It more or less feels like school

 Today we visited the Health Center where pregnant women/new mothers and their children were receiving vaccinations and encouraged to breast feed. Maternal/Child nutrition is one of the three pillars of PC Health Volunteers in Cameroon, the others being malaria prevention and HIV/AIDS. I’m starting to feel much more confident about the type of work I will have the opportunity to do and how I might help my community establish sustainable health practices. Health care in the US is very different than here and that will merit a post of its own at a later date. But the differences are vast both in the system itself and facilities.

Good things to bring for your PC experience:

1.       Hand sanitizer and lots of it! (Anybody wanting to send me a care package, please consider including some hand sanitizer.)

2.       Your vaccination records

3.       A journal

Thanks so much for reading. I love and miss you all and look forward to hearing from you one way or another. <3

*I will be a PCT until I swear in on November 19 at which point I will officially be a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). Prior to staging I was a PC Invitee and prior to that I was a PC nominee. 

Smile when you flush your toilet.

September 16, 2014

I hope you smile the next time you flush your toilet, drink a bottle of water, or drop your clothes in the washing machine. I don’t want this to sound preachy because in the US we so often hear how lucky we are but it certainly is worth repeating. Water in my host village of Mengong is obtained from the river or wells and a thing that resembles a very short, three walled reservoir (both of which I’m sure are supplied by water from the river). This water is used for cooking, for bathing, for washing clothes (by hand), washing hands, doing food prep, and washing dishes.

Peace Corps provides us with water filters so volunteers are able to use safe water. Our families do not have even this luxury. I finally got my filter put together (I’ve been working off of bottled water up to this point.) and went with my sister Nelly to get water for the first time. It was about a 10 or 15 minute walk through jungle* that included a very very steep incline to reach the reservoir (easily 45 degrees, probably more). When she saw my reaction to the steep incline, Nelly took the mini-bucket she had given me and brought it down along with her larger bucket. She wouldn’t let me carry the bucket again until we were on very solid footing. We made it home successfully, which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case if I had carried the bucket the whole time. So, when I make it home and use plumbing to flush a toilet or wash dishes, I will absolutely smile.

                *Yes I did confirm that there are monkeys in aforementioned jungle. I also confirmed that some people eat monkeys. I also confirmed that my family does not. In a word, yay!

I had forgotten how exhausting it is to be immersed 24/7. Good exhausting but still exhausting. As my mind races before bed, I’m discovering that I’m thinking in French and even imagining conversations I might have with you at home, but the conversation is in French. Today we had 5 or 6 hours of French instruction with small groups decided based on our level. I placed as intermediate but feel like I still have so much to cover, especially if I want a Francophone post. If you’ve never had the chance to be immersed in a country that doesn’t speak English, I highly recommend it. After only a few days I can feel my brain working harder than it has in a long time.

After fetching water Nelly (I’ll most often refer to her as my sister but I actually have 16 siblings. I don’t think I’ve met them all yet. My father has two wives, which accounts for the large number.) told me she wanted me to come into the kitchen area to help make something,, the name of which I’ve already forgotten. With eggs, lots of sugar, even more flour, yeast, a little bit of salt, and a little bit of water, we basically made donuts that were then fried to deliciousness.

Tomorrow we spend the day in Ebolowa where the agribusiness volunteers do all of their training and live/where we have internet. We are leaving at 7 for sessions to start at 8. When I first heard that I thought, not too bad. I can wake up at 6. Hah! Nelly told me that tomorrow morning I will wake up at 5 to start learning how to cook Cameroonian food. My first lesson will be making a peanut sauce to be put over rice. I’m thinking it’s the same thing we ate in Senegal that I wasn’t overly fond of. Do any of my CIEE friends remember what it was called? I’ll keep you updated. Goodnight my friends and family. I love and miss you.

                *Update, I woke up at 5 as promised and my sister had already made the peanut sauce. Oh well.

Moving in

Some of you may have seen on facebook that I arrived in Yaounde a few days ago (late Thursday night to be exact.) I was pleasantly surprised to find that we had semi-hot running showers and wi-fi! My apologies for not posting while I was there. My laptop didn’t seem inclined to connect to that wi-fi and I did not take the time to post because we were quite busy.

When we arrived at the hotel, everything made its way up to our rooms and we had dinner, received our first dose of anti-malaria meds, had a very brief introduction and went up to bed. Friday was filled with more orientation which included getting our first aid kits, buying regulators so our electronics don’t get fried (those are about the size of a toaster and much heavier), and being given water filters (which are apparently much fancier and more compact that ones previous stages have received.) Still, it was a lot of stuff to carry to our homestays in addition to our regular luggage. I was so grateful for having packed only one bag.

Friday night we had dinner at our country director’s house. That gave us the chance to meet his wife, other PC staff and their families, local ministry officials who work with PC, and the ambassador. Unfortunately as he was making his rounds, he did not make his way over to the table where I was sitting. However I did get to stand almost right next to him in the photo, so I figure that balances out.

Saturday we had a half day more of orientation, focusing especially on language and what to expect from our homestays, which we would be moving into later on Saturday. We were told to move our bags downstairs ahead of time and we would catch up to our bags later (which as it turned out meant that our bags were split between sectors and were loaded onto the bus with us. It made for a slightly cramped ride. Agribusiness volunteers are staying with families in Ebolowa and health volunteers like me are staying in Mengong.

My home is Mengong is quite comfortable. Even more exciting is the fact that it is right next to the training center and only a 10 minute walk from the center of town. I feel as though it will be easier to manage my fatigue/episodes with living right next to the training center. I have a latrine toilet and bucket showers. The sea to summit pocket soaps I bought from www.moosejaw.com are absolutely perfect for bucket showers and minimizing how much water I use (mom please send me more of those!) It is so humid that 11 hours after I washed, my hair is still very damp and the sky was overcast basically all day. I hope once the dry season comes, that is not the case.

I’ve spent most of my time with my sister, Nelly, and she has been helping me to learn the community, how to do things, and learn Patois, the local language. People always grin when I greet them with “Bolo!” instead of “Bonjour.” When I slipped in the mud walking back from the city center, really would anybody expect anything less from me, she didn’t let go of my arm until we were safely in front of the latrine where she helped me rinse off the ridiculous amount of mud I managed to get on myself.

Another exciting thing is I got a call from mom and dad today! I think I need to buy credit though so I can send texts and make phone calls. It seems as though I will likely only have internet when I do group trainings in Ebolowa. I go to Ebolowa for the first time tomorrow and hope to post this blog entry at that time. Even if you don’t see posts from me frequently, know that I think of my friends and family often and have already shared pictures of you with Nelly.

Just in case any future PCVs come across this blog, I hope to include things I’m glad I brought/did before leaving  or particular things that might be interesting to somebody who is on their way to being a PC Trainee like me (I won’t be a volunteer until I swear in on November 19.)

1.       So glad I brought only one bag!!!! I know I’ll go home with two bags but for the moment I’m glad I have them.

2.       I was thrilled to be reimbursed at least partially by Peace Corps during staging.

3.       Super compact Cocoon travel pillow. Not just great for airports and the planes, but also great for pillows that although the do the job, couldn’t be described as luxurious.

Well that’s all for now folks! If you have particular questions be sure to let me know and I will try to answer them. For now, I sleep!

Dreams do come true

I'm packed! Even more exciting, I'm packed in one bag (44ish lbs) plus my carry-on (24ish lbs*). *A significant portion of my carry-on's weight can be attributed to technology I'm bringing for PCVs from the May stage who did not want to have their electronics shipped. We are allowed 2 50 lb bags but it was my personal goal to fit everything into one bag so I am feeling triumphant.

If I have seen you in person recently I probably shared my address with you, but just in case here it is:

Mary Moyer
Corps de la Paix
BP 215 Yaoundé
Cameroon (Par Avion)

This will be valid as I go through training. When I know my new address I will share it.

TTFN!