Tuesday, July 22, 2008
One more thing..
working on changing my old pic website. new one will be called melissainafrica.shutterfly.com. at some point in the future, it will have new pics. thanks!
A few other things...
That last post was so long, but i though i would say a little something about my house in mamfe. there are 4 new houses being built, and mine is sort of a duplex. there are 3 bedrooms, living rooM, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and im pretty sure i have both running water AND electricity! a lot of volunteers do not have that. i saw my house in progress while i was in mamfe, but i have since learned that it will not be completed in time for me to move in. that means, for a few months i will be living with another volunteer. supposedly i will have a fancy wood floor in my living room (most houses have cement). i will try to post pics once my house is completed.
also, i just finished my second day teaching here in model school. the first day went surprisingly well. i thought the kids would be bad (they were for their first teacher), but it was ok. i had 2 chemistry classes, then another 2 today. some of the kids love to give answers, but a lot of kids dont speak very much. im trying to draw out the girls, bc they never say anything. these classes are to prepare us for teaching at our sites, but my site will be very different. right now i have 14 kids in one class and 18 in the other. at site i will have about 70 per class. tomorrow i teach an it class, which is not that helpful for me, as my school does not have any computers.
its been cold and rainy here for the last few days, so i hope you are all enjoying the warm weather and sunshine at home!
also, i just finished my second day teaching here in model school. the first day went surprisingly well. i thought the kids would be bad (they were for their first teacher), but it was ok. i had 2 chemistry classes, then another 2 today. some of the kids love to give answers, but a lot of kids dont speak very much. im trying to draw out the girls, bc they never say anything. these classes are to prepare us for teaching at our sites, but my site will be very different. right now i have 14 kids in one class and 18 in the other. at site i will have about 70 per class. tomorrow i teach an it class, which is not that helpful for me, as my school does not have any computers.
its been cold and rainy here for the last few days, so i hope you are all enjoying the warm weather and sunshine at home!
Trip to Mamfe
I know it has been a long time since i have written, but I haven’t had much access to the internet. Quite a few things have happened in the past couple weeks. We have had a lot of health and info sessions, and learned about many of the horrible diseases we can get living here, like worms and malaria, and learned a lot about hiv/aids. We actually had guest speakers come in to tell us about living here with hiv. The stories that we heard were terrible. Their families and neighbors stopped talking to them, and one mans story was in the newspaper. His town found out that he had hiv before he did; he was in the hospital at the time. It was an eye opening experience, to see how people can be treated here.
On a lighter note, I also found out my site. I will be posted in Mamfe, in the southwest province. It’s the hottest place in southern Cameroon; its located in a valley, as opposed to most cities that are in the mountains. I will be placed at a bilingual school, though I don’t know what ill be teaching yet.
I travelled to Mamfe last week with my counterpart (another teacher at the school). We caught a bus from here in Bangante with a few other trainees to Bafoussam. Then 4 of us continued in a car to Dschang. From there we took a short break, and I bought apples. They were the cheapest ive seen yet; so I had to buy them. I also went to a `traditional’ house, where I tried palm wine for the first time. It’s the strangest thing. When it first comes out of the tree, its this sweet soapy looking liquid. It is interesting. When you drink it, it tastes almost healthy. After about 2 days, it has fermented and tastes more alcoholic. I tried that too, but didn’t like it. After that I hopped back on a bus with my counterpart to go to Kumba. The driver was interesting, giving points of interest (which were then translated to me by my counterpart). What was more interesting; was that the vehicle did not have an emergency brake, so anytime the driver got out of the vehicle (which was often), I had to reach my leg around the stickshift to hold the brake so we didn’t roll away. Those passengers lives were in my hands, and they didn’t even realize it. We stayed in Kumba overnight, but not before I ate street meat (or soya as it is called here). The meat sits out all day, and cant be good for you, but tastes so delicious. The next day I got into a 4 x 4 to travel the horrible road that leads to Mamfe. The road is really torn up and obviously not paved. A lumber company along the way is slowly trying to repair it, so that they can travel the road; but it’s a slow process. Anyway, we loaded up the truck (we were transporting about 200 lbs of marble tile), 6 people in the cab, and another 4 people in the bed, sitting on top of everything loaded in the truck. We got stopped at the first gendarmes checkpoint, bc there are duties to pay on any supplies being brought in or out of certain areas. Our fees were so high, that the driver got into a fight with the gendarmes and we were told to pull over. After all the men in my vehicle hopped out to argue, we were on our way to Mamfe again. Not even half an hour later, our vehicle broke down. Again, all the men hopped out to see what the problem was. I could have sworn that they fixed it with glue, but in retrospect, it may have been oil. Then another hour later, car broke down again. Turns out, the problem was oil, bc most of the engine oil had leaked into a puddle at my feet in the cab. They added more oil and some tape (for the hole in the line), and we were off again. Next problem was that we got stuck in the mud. We were so heavy that we got stuck and couldn’t get out. We all had to get out of the vehicle and the men had to push. We got out, and not too much later we got stuck in a different spot. Same thing – got out, men pushed. Then we stopped for lunch, where I ate bush meat. Supposedly I ate antelope. It tastes like a mix between venison and pork chops. It was pretty good. My counterpart ate antelope and porcupine, which I hear is really good. A common bush meat here is monkey, but I didn’t see any of that. We continued on, and we were about 1 hour to Mamfe when the driver got into a fight with a passenger and refused to drive us anywhere. After a while, this young kid started driving. Im not sure he was even high school age, and he was NOT a good driver. He ran us into the tops of trees, and almost knocked off the guys in the back of the truck. As soon as he stopped to drop someone off, we got a new driver (our third of the day). This driver was the owner of the vehicle, and drove like a crazy person. Our first driver tried to avoid holes, but this guy did not. He just rammed through them, and I was thrown all over the cab. Of course, there are no seatbelts –only one for the driver. At this point, I was tempted to put on my helmet. After this; one of the guys in the bed dropped his cell phone on the road and wanted to stop to find it, so we stopped the vehicle. Then the road was washed out; so we all walked and the truck tried to take a motorcycle trail (successfully). Then we got a flat tire, so we had to stop, then the road was washed out again. This time we had to wade through the water to walk through it, so I probably have some sort of weird worm in my feet from being in the fresh water. After that we finally made it to Mamfe. The 4 hour drive took us almost 12 hours. The only thing that would have made my trip longer was if it rained, bc then we would have spent the night on the road until the water dried. Luckily; that did not happen. Once in mamfe, I stayed with a current volunteer. We spent the next few days seeing the town, meeting people and eating. I had a lot of local foods, the most popular of which is eru and fufu. Its sort of greens that you eat with this starchy food made from kasava. Its not bad; but very hard to describe. I had a very nice time there, and everyone was really friendly. I even went to a club one night. The heat will take some getting used to though. I sweated the whole time I was there; and I like the heat. Next time I write, ill give details about my house. Right now, its still under construction. After my visit; I had an uneventful trip back, and im currently in bangante. Please keep in touch, and letters are much appreciated!
On a lighter note, I also found out my site. I will be posted in Mamfe, in the southwest province. It’s the hottest place in southern Cameroon; its located in a valley, as opposed to most cities that are in the mountains. I will be placed at a bilingual school, though I don’t know what ill be teaching yet.
I travelled to Mamfe last week with my counterpart (another teacher at the school). We caught a bus from here in Bangante with a few other trainees to Bafoussam. Then 4 of us continued in a car to Dschang. From there we took a short break, and I bought apples. They were the cheapest ive seen yet; so I had to buy them. I also went to a `traditional’ house, where I tried palm wine for the first time. It’s the strangest thing. When it first comes out of the tree, its this sweet soapy looking liquid. It is interesting. When you drink it, it tastes almost healthy. After about 2 days, it has fermented and tastes more alcoholic. I tried that too, but didn’t like it. After that I hopped back on a bus with my counterpart to go to Kumba. The driver was interesting, giving points of interest (which were then translated to me by my counterpart). What was more interesting; was that the vehicle did not have an emergency brake, so anytime the driver got out of the vehicle (which was often), I had to reach my leg around the stickshift to hold the brake so we didn’t roll away. Those passengers lives were in my hands, and they didn’t even realize it. We stayed in Kumba overnight, but not before I ate street meat (or soya as it is called here). The meat sits out all day, and cant be good for you, but tastes so delicious. The next day I got into a 4 x 4 to travel the horrible road that leads to Mamfe. The road is really torn up and obviously not paved. A lumber company along the way is slowly trying to repair it, so that they can travel the road; but it’s a slow process. Anyway, we loaded up the truck (we were transporting about 200 lbs of marble tile), 6 people in the cab, and another 4 people in the bed, sitting on top of everything loaded in the truck. We got stopped at the first gendarmes checkpoint, bc there are duties to pay on any supplies being brought in or out of certain areas. Our fees were so high, that the driver got into a fight with the gendarmes and we were told to pull over. After all the men in my vehicle hopped out to argue, we were on our way to Mamfe again. Not even half an hour later, our vehicle broke down. Again, all the men hopped out to see what the problem was. I could have sworn that they fixed it with glue, but in retrospect, it may have been oil. Then another hour later, car broke down again. Turns out, the problem was oil, bc most of the engine oil had leaked into a puddle at my feet in the cab. They added more oil and some tape (for the hole in the line), and we were off again. Next problem was that we got stuck in the mud. We were so heavy that we got stuck and couldn’t get out. We all had to get out of the vehicle and the men had to push. We got out, and not too much later we got stuck in a different spot. Same thing – got out, men pushed. Then we stopped for lunch, where I ate bush meat. Supposedly I ate antelope. It tastes like a mix between venison and pork chops. It was pretty good. My counterpart ate antelope and porcupine, which I hear is really good. A common bush meat here is monkey, but I didn’t see any of that. We continued on, and we were about 1 hour to Mamfe when the driver got into a fight with a passenger and refused to drive us anywhere. After a while, this young kid started driving. Im not sure he was even high school age, and he was NOT a good driver. He ran us into the tops of trees, and almost knocked off the guys in the back of the truck. As soon as he stopped to drop someone off, we got a new driver (our third of the day). This driver was the owner of the vehicle, and drove like a crazy person. Our first driver tried to avoid holes, but this guy did not. He just rammed through them, and I was thrown all over the cab. Of course, there are no seatbelts –only one for the driver. At this point, I was tempted to put on my helmet. After this; one of the guys in the bed dropped his cell phone on the road and wanted to stop to find it, so we stopped the vehicle. Then the road was washed out; so we all walked and the truck tried to take a motorcycle trail (successfully). Then we got a flat tire, so we had to stop, then the road was washed out again. This time we had to wade through the water to walk through it, so I probably have some sort of weird worm in my feet from being in the fresh water. After that we finally made it to Mamfe. The 4 hour drive took us almost 12 hours. The only thing that would have made my trip longer was if it rained, bc then we would have spent the night on the road until the water dried. Luckily; that did not happen. Once in mamfe, I stayed with a current volunteer. We spent the next few days seeing the town, meeting people and eating. I had a lot of local foods, the most popular of which is eru and fufu. Its sort of greens that you eat with this starchy food made from kasava. Its not bad; but very hard to describe. I had a very nice time there, and everyone was really friendly. I even went to a club one night. The heat will take some getting used to though. I sweated the whole time I was there; and I like the heat. Next time I write, ill give details about my house. Right now, its still under construction. After my visit; I had an uneventful trip back, and im currently in bangante. Please keep in touch, and letters are much appreciated!
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