Amicale- The Trip

AMIPELB: Amicale Personnel Lycee de Banyo

(this is on the front of our matching tracksuits)

Ok I have been waiting to talk about Amicale for a while but after this weekend, I think it is a good time to write about it.

Now if you are familiar with French, then maybe when you hear ‘amicale’ you think of amitie or friendship which is where this word comes from. Amicale is in the simpliest way like a group or more so extended family for teachers. Most lycees in Cameroon have an Amicale group. The group at my school meets the first Friday evening of every month. The meeting agenda usually has 5-7 topics: welcome, review of last meeting’s minutes, finances, family updates, outside activities, word from the administration. Then after all the talking, there is food and a drink for everyone. Now this might seem all simple and straightforward and even I thought it was too in the beginning. But there is so much more to it.

In the beginning of the year, a listwas posted with all the Amicale members broken into groups (one group for each month). So one group of about 4 teachers ‘hosts’ the meeting (with one of those actually having the meeting in their house)- if youare male, hosting means you give money to purchase food but if you are a female, you give money but also cook all the food- as I discovered during the first meeting as I was in the first group to host. I had to go to the market and buy all the food and then help cook all of it which you start cooking in the morning maybe like 8 or 9 and continue through the meeting until it’s time to eat. For the first meeting, we started around 5pm and atearound 9pm.

Outside of the food, there is the actual meeting. So I have already mentioned some of the topics, but I’ll talk a little more about some of them. Finances- some of this is basic like you have to pay to go to the meeting (for the food anddrink) but then there are all kinds of other ‘accounts’ you could call them. Here’s a break down of them:

Tontine- this is like a rotating savings kind of. There are 3 different ones at my school (25,000CFA, 10,000, and 5,000). This group is optional. If you participate, then every month you give that amount and one person in the group gets all the money and obviously it changes every month. It’s a way for people toget large amounts of since most people at least in Banyo don’t have savings.

Secours- This is like an emergency account that youcan give money to if you choose to. The money that is collected is used to help other members- like if someone has a baby or maybe someone is sick or something of that nature.

Savings- There is another savings account that you can give to and I believe you earn interest. This is also optional. This money is also available for members to borrow money from and I think you pay back with interest (hence how those who give to itwould get extra money back in the end).

Now some of the other topics discussed at this meeting certainly involve issues going on at the school but also activities outside of school. For example, the first couple of meetings, there were long debates about track suits- yes matching track suits for the teachers- so we had to discuss color and style of course. And now you may wonder why would teachers need matching track suits- which brings me to the next part of Amicale- also the reason I finally decided to write about it- the trip.

Back of our matching outfits

So one thing Amicale groups do is pair up with other lycee’s Amicale groups. Well last year apparently my school hosted another school so this year it was our turn to visit their school. The trip would be for a weekend in January. And now you would think- okay a weekend trip obviously can’t be that long because school goesuntil the afternoon Friday and obviously starts back Monday morning so this school must be in a near by town. Oh no,not at all. Our Amicale group planned to go to Bafang- in a completely other region- the West. The trip was this past weekend, and now it was a lot of fun, but let me definitely tiring. We left Friday, got to Bafang at like 7am Saturday and went straight intoactivitiesuntil like 3am Sunday, then left Sunday late morning and got to back home extremely late. I think it would be like the equivalent of going from Virginia to Florida for lessthan 48 hours- yep. But so it works like this- we pay for our transportation (like rent cars for the weekend) and then the hosting school plans all the events and food and housing.

Friday we had a set time to leave and but of course left actually 3 hours later. I came on time (I don’t know why) and I think I finally knew what I had gotten into when the principal showed up with a whistle and another teacher came with a horn both of which could be heard the entire trip. But like I said, it was fun (except the traveling). Although I was exhausted even when we arrived, the other school welcomed us with songs and hugs in their matching track suits. They had planned a full day for us starting by visiting the prefet and sous-prefet of Bafang. Then we got to visit their lycee. After that we saw some more sites of Bafang- a waterfall and the chefferie- all of this before noon. In the afternoon, we finally got to shower and rest some. Another female teacher was my host, so I went with her and met her family and stayed in her home. After some rest, it was time for sport. We all came our own matching track suits and while the women didn’t actually play, we did support on the side. There was a handball match and then the big football match. After the games, my host came back to the field to pick me up (she had been cooking for the evening). When we arrived back at her house, I asked her how much time we had before dinner- the program had said 7pm- she responded ‘oh 8 or 9’- I was shocked – thinking that it was just so late and I was already tired but oh well. So I took a nap and didn’t actually even wakeup till after 8 (when she woke me up). But we got cleaned up and dressed and went to the hotel de villefor the ‘gala’. I think it was about 10 when we finally arrived. Dinner was served closer to 11 and then the party really got started. To open up dancing, there is always a first dance with all the important people and someone pairs up males and females. The dance is really awkward but only lasts about 30 seconds. After the opening dance with the principals and prefet and such, the floor was open for everyone and everyone was dancing all over the place. I think some even danced till morning- there were still a lot of people going when I left around 3am.

Line up before the football match Dancing, dancing

Me with the teacher who hosted me

The next morning, we were scheduled to leave at 7:30am but of course when you count African time in, it was more like 10am. We were so late getting back, I knew almost no one would be at school the next day and sure enough, maybe 4 or 5 teachers came (most of who were not on the trip and hence not tired). And now Tuesday, 2 days later, I think some teachers are still recovering but it certainly was a trip unlike any other I have or probably will take in Cameroon and I am already looking forward to the next Amicale trip.