Photos-traveling in Adamaoua, etc.

Bus ride from N'gaoundere to Banyo.

The route between Tibati and Banyo. (this is a national route!)

Adamaoua Region (grasslands in between Banyo and Tibati).

View outside of Banyo.

A Barber Shop, the "OBAMA" Coiffure.

The District Hospital in Banyo.

First take at braiding my hair.
Working with Community Groups in Pitoa.

January 15, 2008

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say hello. I have to go to Yaounde next week and will have free, hopefully extended periods, on the Internet at the office to write a longer blog and post more photos. Since I last wrote I have been trying to meet with everyone that my predecessors worked with and those vital to working well here. Since everything basically gets done in the mornings here I have been able to go to one, maybe two, offices a day. So far, I have met with the Department of Agriculture, all three high schools (and a elementary/primary school but there are eight+ in total), almost all the health centers in Banyo (but there are 4 plus the central hospital and 3 out in the countryside "en brousse"), a health club at the high school, one of the women's savings groups that my neighbor belongs too, and numerous other ministries and such but without much success on those fronts yet. I went "en brousse" to a health center about an hour away via moto on Monday and am still recovering from the trip (roads are a little bumpy!) It was interesting to see the area (very rural and closer to Nigeria) and I was able to meet the village chief when I was there and climb a small hill to survey the area. As I was leaving the health center to return to Banyo, the worker I was with came back from the village with a chicken that the Chief gave me. The whole ride back he had to not only steer the moto through this really, really bumpy road, but also hold on to the live chicken by its feet! It was really interesting to see! I gave it to his friends to cook up and got to have a little the next day. I don't think I will be able to kill a chicken here so I am glad there are many who can as I sure that is not the last chicken I will receive here!! Man..did that chicken have a wild last voyage :)

My post mate and I climbed the nearby Banyo Mountain last Saturday-recently redone-there were even stairs!! Is this Cameroon?? I have seen worse trails in Canada! We started about 6:30 am and then came down around 11 am. It was straight up at the very end and pretty hard but really cool to see the view below. There are also remnant's of the old German prison and fortress up there that you can still see. I will post photos next time of it all. This hike is also on those who come to Banyo's itinerary (advance warning!)

Hope you are all staying warm!! I hear it is cold there! Minus the immense dust here, it is beautiful! Wish you were here! Til next time, love-Anna

New Photos of Banyo, Vaccination Campaign, my house, and Swearing-in Ceremony

View of Banyo from a distance.

My living room in Banyo (prior to moving in). It has great potential!

My kitchen in Banyo (prior to moving in).

Going out on foot to the last village during the vaccination campaign in Banyo.

Village boys with Christmas Greetings during vaccination campaign.

Young girl from village during vaccination campaign.

On my way to Banyo from the north. This was the last bus to take (with all my worldly possessions behind it).

"Joyeux Noel" from Cameroon (out in villages near Banyo on vaccination campaign).

Host sister and I on Swearing-In Day.

Agro/Forestry and Health Women on Swearing-In Day (in pagne).

Agro/Forestry and Health men on Swearing-In Day (in traditional bobo outfit).


Host sister, Habiba, and I in Pitoa.

Happy New Year from Cameroon

1.02.09
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you passed a good holiday season with your friends and family. I spent Christmas Eve and Day with a couple who has lived in Banyo for the last 8 years working with the Baptist hospital here. They live on the out skirts of town near to the hospital and church in a valley next to the mountain-really pretty out there. I went with them to church Christmas Eve. Most of the church goers were from the neighboring baptist community, and therefore anglophone, so most of what happened I understood. First there was time for the children to come up and recite memory verses, then the choir would sing a song with drums and shakers, then there would be a sermon of sorts, and then this repeated. We left during the dramatization of Jesus’s birth and the subsequent events following (lets just say there was definitely some cultural adaptation!) After church was over I could here the drums and dancing that took place outside the church well past one in the morning. I went back on Christmas day and there was a lot more signing and celebrating as well. Everyone dressed up and went door to door saying, “Happy Christmas,” in which you reply, “Happy, Happy.” I maned the door for while handing out popcorn and cookies. Later that day, another baptist family and their kids came over for dinner. Ohh..it was so good! I brought over the stuffing mom sent for Thanksgiving (but didn’t reach in time) and we had mashed potatoes and gravy, and chicken, and green beans and carrots, and a jello mold, and pineapple cake, etc. etc. I was in heaven!! Lots of people stopped by throughout the evening and then we finished the day playing cards together. Needless to say it took a lot for me to leave there the next day! But my post mate arrived a few days later from his in-service retreat just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve together. We tried the local discotheque for awhile with some Banyo friends. And after discovering that he had had maple syrup mailed to him in a care package, we made pancakes from scratch that were pretty darn good. New Years Day we rode our bikes out to the Baptist community and spent the afternoon out there again. So all in all, a pretty different but good holiday season this year. I don’t think I will be spending next Christmas in a sun dress however!

Work wise I have been pretty busy trying to meet with people in the community, job shadowing nurses at the hospital, and getting my house together. I had a minor success yesterday when the chairs and small table I asked to be made finally arrived at my house! And after paying to have the water lines fixed, discovering another break in the line after the water was turned on and gushing water for a day and a half, and then having a very leaky shower head that had to be replaced, I think the water situation is under control (keeping fingers crossed). I am now trying to navigate how to get my house repainted in Cameroon 101. All the former tenants were successful so we will see how long this takes. I am just so thankful every night for the fact that there are green beans, green peppers, eggs, pasta, beans, tomatoes, avocados, and rice at my disposal every day (coupled with the wonderful food I have received in care packages I may survive after all). I am starting to navigate the Peace Corps cook book we have and exploring the idea baking in a dutch oven. When forced to I might learn how to cook after all!

There have been a lot of things to talk about since I last had a chance to get on the Internet. Two weeks ago Banyo held their third vaccination campaign of the year which I mentioned in my last blog. I was able to go “en brousse” on motorcycle (out to nearby villages) one day which was pretty cool to see (very beautiful but very very vast). I am thinking that I will be able to do a lot of work with village women in the neighboring villages. Last week I just observed the district hospital that I am based with. I did rounds with the staff and spent one day in the maternity, pediatrics, and urgent care wards each. It was really good to see the difficulties that the nurses/doctors and patients face and also witness the major causes that bring people in (malaria, malnutrition, and moto accidents mainly). It also gave me a chance to start sitting and talking with patients and I think I could probably could do nothing more than just sit in the pediatrics ward the next two years and talk with mothers about their children's health and I would be very busy. I had some great discussions with a few moms that I think I may try to tap into for the community. I had my first real dose of reality though when I sat with a women who had late stage complications from AIDs (just then diagnosed). She did not make it by the time I returned after the holiday along with one baby who was a twin (brother came in with broken arm) who died of malaria during the night. Both cases that could have been prevented.

In lighter news, my neighbor's teenage girls did my hair the other day in braids (och!!) that I will try to post a photo of today. And I have a mouse in the house that I am aiming to get rid of soon! I also played my first soccer match with the neighboring boys with my post mate and scored, which was pointed out does not count because the goalie only came up to my waist :) It was fun though and I am hoping to get a girls match going in the near future perhaps (that will be a lot harder to do!)

I hope you are all well and enjoying the New Year. I hope to write back within two weeks or so. I have to go to Yaounde around mid-January (I will get to see the inauguration via CNN on the 20th) so will hopefully write then. All my best!
Love, Anna

Ambassador website

You may be able to find photos of our swearing-in ceremony and other Grand North related activities at the US Ambassador to Cameroon's web site: http://yaounde.usembassy.gov/photos-galleries.html

December 19, 2008

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say hello, Happy Holidays, and that I am well in Banyo. I just passed my three month mark now in Cameroon! I think the most difficult months of adjusting may be over so that is good. I have been in Banyo now for one week and have successfully gotten the water and electricity on and arranged for my french/fulfulde classes to begin. I also was introduced to the hospital staff yesterday and was able to hook up with the vaccination campaign that was going on in Banyo this week so things are moving! I was "fixed" for two days at the hospital doing vaccinations (polio drops, DTP, tuberculosis, Vitamin A drops, de-worming pills, measles, tetanus for pregeant women) and then spent the last two days doing door to door in the neighborhoods which is exhausting but very interesting.

I will write more soon and post photos of my house and Banyo then as well. Happy Holidays to all! I will be spending it with the missionary families here in Banyo but will be missing you all very much. Eat a Christmas cookie for me and enjoy those holiday parties! love, Anna xoxo

Arrived in Banyo!

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