Youth Week and Mt. Cameroon Race

The past few weeks have been pretty busy here. First was youth week. It is actually one day (February 11), that has turned into a week long celebration. First, there is preparation for youth week, so many classes were cancelled. Then came youth week, so again classes were cancelled. It is a really nice idea though. All of the schools in the area compete and have different activities for the students to participate in. The kickoff for youth week was bilingualism day on Feb 5. We had an assembly at school. First we had a speech from the vice principal, in english and in french. That was followed by songs and speeches by the students in both languages, and a debate about why we should be bilingual. The debate was funny. One reason against, was that learning more than one language is "prostituting that language". I guess its hard to find reasons against a good thing. In between all of those were traditional dances. I took a bunch of pictures and short videos. Most of the girls dancing were my students, so that made it even more interesting for me. They were really good too. At the end, there was one dance with a juju. One boy was wearing a dress and mask, dressed as the juju. Im not sure how to explain it, but its kind of like a spirit, and people are afraid of it. It was really funny. I guess if the juju bends down to you, you have to give money. Of course, it bent down to me. I didnt mind though, bc the boy was so entertaining. After he finished, all of the students followed him to find out who it was. It was funny. Following that day, there were boys and girls football (soccer) matches, handball, and a knowlege bowl. Sadly, my school did not make it to the football finals, held on youth day. On the actual day, we all went to the grandstand to watch the students march. The march started with the nursery schools, then primary, secondary, technical schools, nursing, and teacher training colleges. Each group wears a different uniform, so i took tons of pictures. My favorite was one primary school. Instead of wearing uniforms, each child was dressed in traditional clothes. The girls were dressed as married women, with head wrap, and wrapper tied around their waists. Then boys were dressed as elders, with traditional robes and caps. They were hilarious. They actually won at the march, so their school received money from the government. After the march, i met up with a few friends to relax and have lunch. The next day, it was back to school. Quite a few students tried to say that it was "resting day", but i knew better.

That saturday, i was invited to a wedding in Bakebe. The baliff (called Maitre here) was having his tradition wedding, even though he's been married for over 5 years. There are 3 weddings here. First is usually the traditional wedding, then court wedding, and church wedding. The traditional wedding is after the man has talked to the family of the woman, and they accept him. At the wedding, the man speaks with all members of the family and pays the bride price. The bride price is usually a sum of money (200,000fcfa) to the family of the bride, along with certain items, like machetes, hoes, cloth, a pig, goat, chickens, and whatever else the family wants. Then, all of the men in the family can ask the man for their share. They can request money for any amount, and the man will have to pay. He could end up paying millions for the bride price if he was asked. This is all done in private, so no one outside the family can see what is happening. When they are finished, before they come out, everyone eats kola with groundnut paste for luck (i guess). Then the family comes out, followed by bride and groom, and everyone feasts. The court wedding is obviously at the court. It is where they sign the marriage certificate. Usually family is present at the courthouse, and after there is a feast. Then there is the church wedding. They have the church portion, then go home for a feast. Sometimes they wear ashwabi (everyone wears the same cloth, so they all match). Anyway, I went to a traditional wedding. It was the same as I just mentioned, and there was a huge feast afterwards, with goat, pig, chicken, fish, and beef. Most was slaughtered that day, so it was fresh. After the feast came dancing. I didnt feel like dancing, since i was already getting harassed by the men there. If i tried to dance, it would have been worse. Around midnight, we drove back to mamfe.

My next event was the following weekend. I traveled to Buea for the Mt. Cameroon Race. Starting at about 6am, hundreds of people run up to the summit of the mountain, then run back down. It usually takes about 4 hours. I met a group of PCVs, and we had a tent there where we talked about HIV/AIDS. We had posters, and handouts, and the idea was to talk to people after the runners left, while waiting for their return. I was amazed at the turnout. With all of the volunteers, we must have spoken with hundreds of people, at every age. We tried to talk mainly of ways to protect yourself (not sharing blades, being cautious with blood, protected sex, getting tested, etc). We also wanted to explain that having HIV is not the end of the world, and you can still lead a happy, healthy life. I answered so many questions, and people were really open to learning more. During down time, i wandered around the area. There were companies there, giving out tea and hot chocolate, and there were traditional dancers and entertainers. I guess here, people dont understand why we have clowns. Here, they have men that dress as women and dance around. It was very strange. I definitely did not understand it. I guess thats a cultural thing. At the end of our time there, i started to talk with 2 secondary school kids. As we talked, more and more kids came up, until i was surrounded by about 25 kids. They were listening and asking questions, it was great. We decided to play an HIV learning game with them, then we played duck, duck, goose. It was a huge hit. For the first time since i've come here, i actually felt like i was doing something useful, something to benefit others. Our tent was definitely a success. The next day, we went to the beach in Limbe for a short time, then back to mamfe.