December 9, 2008
After three days (luckily pretty uneventful) I made it to my post in the city of Banyo. I first took a bus with the Peace Corps trainers and other Adamaoua volunteers to the provincial capital of N’gaoundere. I spent two nights there to give me a day of recuperation and eat some good food (I found a place that serves spaghetti!!) With the help of a current volunteer, we were able to secure a pick up at the house with all our stuff (bike, trunk, suitcase, water filter, books, etc, etc) and then went to the travel agency around 6 am. My colleague left right away but because the next day was a holiday (Day of the Sheep, aka eating them-equivalent I would say to our Thanksgiving) we could not find a driver or bus that wanted to go all the way to Tibati (the next step in the voyage). Needless to say, I got through half my book (Barack Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” very interesting) before my car left at 1:30 PM!!!! I was lucky to get a seat in the front cabin so the ride wasn’t too bad-I was just happy to be moving at all! After only one stop to fix something on the car, I arrived at 8 pm. I stayed with a volunteer who is teaching in Tibati for the night and then spent the next morning trying to avoid the sheep killings, reading my book, and waiting on the call to come back to the agency. We also have been having rain storms lately which is very uncommon this time of year but made for a real beautiful foggy morning-reminded me a lot of mornings at Grandma and Grandpa’s house in northern Florida. Because of the holiday, I didn’t leave until 1:30 again, and do to many stops to revive the car, I didn’t reach Banyo until around 7:30 pm. Thank goodness I have a post mate and he was there to witness me extracting my limbs from the car when I arrived. They pack the buses so tightly with people and goods that I would say that I had two large football players sitting on me for 6 hours. I could barely move my arms to change a page in my book and there were two chickens under me as well that keep running into my legs. I figured out that a good metaphor for the trip is like driving my driveway for 8 plus hours in a school bus (for those of you who have had the privledge of trying my driveway in Cheboygan). Needless to say I was really happy to reach my house with all my stuff, until I realized that my power had been cut off. Once again, I am so happy I have a post mate as I can stay with him until I get the company to turn it back on (hopefully today). I will also have water too in the house as soon I find the man who is supposed to work in the water company to give him my money and fix the pipe that leads to my house. The house has a lot of potential though and the neighbors next door are extremely helpful. There is a high school aged boy who helped the volunteer I replaced every week with cleaning and washing clothes so he is going to be a big help especially in the beginning. He had assembled my bed and put up my bed net by the time I had pretty much located the broom to sweep. I have a bed, stool, and wooden hanger for a closet in my room, a complete bathroom (has a shower but no warm water), three fans, gas stove burners, a small kitchen table with two chairs in the kitchen, and then a few rugs, futon like couch, mirrors, and a book shelf in the living room area. There are only a few things I will need or want to get made for the house (a few chairs for the living room, maybe a desk and another shelf, and a bed for the guest room) so I am really lucky. I am also going to decking the house with colorful pagne soon and may repaint some walls when I have time. I have a small backyard that has real potential for a small garden (already have some carrots growing and a basil plant to keep alive) so if anyone can send seeds please do for anything that can grow in a temperate climate (maybe those who live in sunny places might be able to find seeds at the stores? I would love flower seeds too). Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures soon of all this.
A little about the swearing-in ceremony. I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer as of December 4th. Whew, what a process. Training was fun to be with all the other volunteers and I sincerely enjoyed living with my host family and will miss them a lot living in Banyo, but I am so very glad to be beginning the work and not just sitting in a classroom anymore. We had a lot of requirements to fulfill in order to become volunteers (language tests, cross cultural presentations) so I am also happy to be done with those. Of course, now the real work begins! Our swearing-in ceremony was in the morning of the 4th (it was actually a beautiful morning with a breeze) and the US Ambassador to Cameroon was able to come again. There were also probably about 20+ officials (governors, mayors, etc) that attended and spoke as well. It was my first official Cameroon ceremony so it was real interesting to see how it operated. Our host families were also invited to the ceremony, which was great to have them there and included in the event. We had two Peace Corps Volunteers give speeches in French and Fulfulde and then we individually stood up when they called our name and post and then we all took the oath and, Voila, volunteers! Throughout the whole ceremony, there was a group of men who played flutes and drums at strategic moments in the ceremony (some of us got a few toots on the flute when we were announced). We had a host family appreciation lunch afterwards with a live band (and Christmas tree!). We all stayed the night at the hotel in the big town nearby so had a moment to breath and jump in the pool before we all started heading our own ways the next day. Many of us unfortunately contracted some lovely stomach/GI problem throughout the day so it wasn’t as lively as we had hoped. Since I am so far from everyone in my training I will not get to see them as often as I would like, but it does give me the opportunity to meet new people posted in the west. I actually have to get into another 7 hour bus ride tomorrow to open up my bank account in the “closest” big city to me, but am going with my post mate so he can show me the city (people say it is little America but very hectic) and meet new volunteers there. Wish me luck!
I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. This is my first Christmas not at home so I will miss it a lot. But, it is also comforting knowing that it is hopefully my only Christmas I will miss as I plan on coming home next year. I downloaded a lot of holiday music before I left too so can listen to that while I arrange my house. But, of course, I would love to see and hear about all that everyone is doing this year so send mail! My new address is Anna Stormzand Peace Corps Volunteer, B.P 17 Banyo, Cameroun. You can also go onto the US Ambassador to Cameroon’s web site (look for her activities in the Grand North) to see photos of our swearing-in ceremony on December 4th. Hope to write soon. Love, Anna
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
November 21, 2008
November 20, 2008
Bonjour tout le monde –hello everyone ! Hope you are all well. Another week of training is over. Only about 2 more weeks to go here before we are finished and sworn in as volunteers. We have been doing a lot of work here ! We have to do a 30 minute presentation on a cultural topic topic all en francais next week. I believe I am going to do mine on popular travel destinations in Cameroon-which is very beneficial for those who want to come visit while I am here ! So far I have learned that the beaches are great down south, Mt. Cameroon (the highest point in west Africa) is worth the trek, and there are some beautiful waterfalls in eastern Adamawa. There is also a good sized wildlife park called Waza in the Extreme North that if you go during the right season you can see elephants grazing at the water holes and other animals you might normally see on safari in eastern africa. I am very excited about the zoo in Yaounde that has been recently renovated with the help of an international wildlife organization. There you can see various monkeys and gorillas that are in rehabiliation. I really would like to go see mountain gorillas in the rainforest but I guess those places are hard to get to do to lack of infrastucture (which is probably good in the long term sustainabilitiy factor !)
We had quite an interesting day here yesterday. Our french class was on ¨field trip¨to meet with the director of the public pharmecutical center. We had a interesting meeting and then afterwards we learned that the director is also one of the mayors! Interesting.... he invited us to lunch and after touring some more of town he took all of us out at the francais resturant way on the other side of town and bought us like a three course meal complete with mousse for desert!!!! We all thought we had died and gone to heaven. We are trying very hard not to tell the others what they missed. We did not make it back until about 3 hours later. What an experience!
Other than that, not too much going on here.
I hope you all have great Thanksgivings . I miss you all ! Have some stuffing and pumpkin pie for me ! love Anna
Bonjour tout le monde –hello everyone ! Hope you are all well. Another week of training is over. Only about 2 more weeks to go here before we are finished and sworn in as volunteers. We have been doing a lot of work here ! We have to do a 30 minute presentation on a cultural topic topic all en francais next week. I believe I am going to do mine on popular travel destinations in Cameroon-which is very beneficial for those who want to come visit while I am here ! So far I have learned that the beaches are great down south, Mt. Cameroon (the highest point in west Africa) is worth the trek, and there are some beautiful waterfalls in eastern Adamawa. There is also a good sized wildlife park called Waza in the Extreme North that if you go during the right season you can see elephants grazing at the water holes and other animals you might normally see on safari in eastern africa. I am very excited about the zoo in Yaounde that has been recently renovated with the help of an international wildlife organization. There you can see various monkeys and gorillas that are in rehabiliation. I really would like to go see mountain gorillas in the rainforest but I guess those places are hard to get to do to lack of infrastucture (which is probably good in the long term sustainabilitiy factor !)
We had quite an interesting day here yesterday. Our french class was on ¨field trip¨to meet with the director of the public pharmecutical center. We had a interesting meeting and then afterwards we learned that the director is also one of the mayors! Interesting.... he invited us to lunch and after touring some more of town he took all of us out at the francais resturant way on the other side of town and bought us like a three course meal complete with mousse for desert!!!! We all thought we had died and gone to heaven. We are trying very hard not to tell the others what they missed. We did not make it back until about 3 hours later. What an experience!
Other than that, not too much going on here.
I hope you all have great Thanksgivings . I miss you all ! Have some stuffing and pumpkin pie for me ! love Anna
Saturday, November 15, 2008
November 15th, 2008
November 14, 2008
Hi everyone,
Well, I made it back from site visit (Banyo) last Sunday alive so that is a great feat in its self. I started off on Friday afternoon taking a bus for 4 hours to Tibati where I stopped for the evening. Got up the next morning and did the long haul from Tibati to Ngaoundere (7 hours). And then I stayed there for the night, recuperated a bit (ate some great french fries with a beef, mushroom, cream sauce), and then continued onwards the next morning for another 5 hours to Garoua where the group was reunited. That would be a 3 day journey !! I was/am really tired from the trip but glad that it was a whole lot easier than the way there. I won’t have to do that trip too many more times because I can take another route to Yaounde through the west in the future and can do my banking in a town about 6 hours away from me (Bafoussam) instead of the other direction where the road is really bad. Apparently right now (directly after rainy season) and during the rainy season is the worst time to travel that route so it should get better. We are getting, ¨this is as worst as it can gets, ¨all out of the way I hope !
The post-election atmosphere here is very exciting. Everywhere we go we get, ¨Obama, Obama !! ¨with outcrying of cheers ! Everyone is very anxious to see what will happen when he becomes President. I was not able to see or hear the news on election night but I guess many, many people here stayed up all night (6 hour time difference from the east coast) to get the results. We keep joking that it will only be a matter of time until we are seeing Obama Pagne here (colorful cloth with photos of Obama on it that are made into shirts and dresses). I don’t get too much news here so send news and magazine articles my way !
We have three more weeks here before we are officially sworn in as volunteers. I will miss living with my host family, especially since the little kids are finally warming up to me. So much, that I am pretty sure I have gotten cold number two from them today !! Oh well ! The other night one of the little girls (5 years old) tried to begin braiding part of my hair-no such luck but it was entertaining. At night I usually watch tv with them while eating dinner and all the kids sit there and point things out to me in Fulfulde (not making much progress in that langauge yet but will need to since most of my neighbors in Banyo only speak Fulfulde).
It is hard to beleive that everyone there is getting ready for Thanksgiving traveling and such. Know that I wish I was there with you all. We are preparing a small feast here and with the help of the stove and refridgerator in the office we might be able to pull it off. I will write hopefully again next weekend.
All my best. Love, Anna
Hi everyone,
Well, I made it back from site visit (Banyo) last Sunday alive so that is a great feat in its self. I started off on Friday afternoon taking a bus for 4 hours to Tibati where I stopped for the evening. Got up the next morning and did the long haul from Tibati to Ngaoundere (7 hours). And then I stayed there for the night, recuperated a bit (ate some great french fries with a beef, mushroom, cream sauce), and then continued onwards the next morning for another 5 hours to Garoua where the group was reunited. That would be a 3 day journey !! I was/am really tired from the trip but glad that it was a whole lot easier than the way there. I won’t have to do that trip too many more times because I can take another route to Yaounde through the west in the future and can do my banking in a town about 6 hours away from me (Bafoussam) instead of the other direction where the road is really bad. Apparently right now (directly after rainy season) and during the rainy season is the worst time to travel that route so it should get better. We are getting, ¨this is as worst as it can gets, ¨all out of the way I hope !
The post-election atmosphere here is very exciting. Everywhere we go we get, ¨Obama, Obama !! ¨with outcrying of cheers ! Everyone is very anxious to see what will happen when he becomes President. I was not able to see or hear the news on election night but I guess many, many people here stayed up all night (6 hour time difference from the east coast) to get the results. We keep joking that it will only be a matter of time until we are seeing Obama Pagne here (colorful cloth with photos of Obama on it that are made into shirts and dresses). I don’t get too much news here so send news and magazine articles my way !
We have three more weeks here before we are officially sworn in as volunteers. I will miss living with my host family, especially since the little kids are finally warming up to me. So much, that I am pretty sure I have gotten cold number two from them today !! Oh well ! The other night one of the little girls (5 years old) tried to begin braiding part of my hair-no such luck but it was entertaining. At night I usually watch tv with them while eating dinner and all the kids sit there and point things out to me in Fulfulde (not making much progress in that langauge yet but will need to since most of my neighbors in Banyo only speak Fulfulde).
It is hard to beleive that everyone there is getting ready for Thanksgiving traveling and such. Know that I wish I was there with you all. We are preparing a small feast here and with the help of the stove and refridgerator in the office we might be able to pull it off. I will write hopefully again next weekend.
All my best. Love, Anna
Photos November 15th, 2008
Landscape outside of Pitoa.
All the Peace Corps trainers and trainees with the Ambassador to Cameroon in September.
Katie and I preparing for bike ride in Pitoa a few weeks ago.
My host mom with Cheboyan, Michigan tee shirt.
View from my soon to be backyard in Banyo.Wednesday, November 5, 2008
More photos
Local foliage outside of training site in Pitoa.
Rain storm approaching during a soccer match in Pitoa.
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