So fresh and so clean

I would have to say that the thing that struck me the most about life here that I hadn’t expected at all is the importance of appearances, specifically clothing. I’m sure anyone back home wouldn’t really expect to see people here in Cameroon so nicely dressed and I know there are plenty of volunteers here that use the excuse – ‘It’s Africa and you just get dirty so why dress nice’. But appearances and attire are actually very important to people.

When people go out, they try to look their best, whether they are wearing traditional clothing or more modern clothes. And yes things are dirty here particularly now with the height of dry season and red dust absolutely everyone but that doesn’t stop people from putting on their whitest t-shirt and going out. It’s important to have clean clothes and clean shoes – yes shoes. People wash their shoes some almost every day. And for example every morning after students and teachers make the trek out to the school and are covered in dust, the first thing they do after arriving is make sure to dust off and clean their shoes. And even tennis shoes that are used for sport are cleaned. I myself have even begun to clean my tennis shoes even though I wear them every day for sport and they get dirty every day, it’s important here. Ironed, pressed clothes are also important. And when you look extra nice and clean, sometimes people will say you look ‘fresh’ which is a nice compliment.

So cleanliness is across the board an important part of looking nice when going out. But then there are other things that maybe wouldn’t be that popular back home, but people do love here.

- Tight t-shirts with decals or glitter/sparkles. ‘Africa’ and ‘Cameroon’ t-shirts are super popular right now. And Ed Hardy knock off t-shirts also.

This was given to me for my birthday

- Small ties. Every big man, important person at some point rocks out a super small tie. The smaller the tie, the more important you are. Also super pointy men's dress shoes.

- Man purses worn around the neck. You know something nice like Gucci or Louis Vutton.

- In the realm of traditional clothing, right now a popular outfit is pants and a long tunic for girls with of course a scarf to cover the head and hair

So while I don’t necessarily follow all the particular fashion trends here, I do always try to look presentable with ironed clothes and cleaned shoes. And I would say for any volunteers coming, don’t underestimate your appearance here. If I could do it over, I would definitely bring some nicer clothing and dressier shoes. Things do get dirty, but it’s nice to look clean and professional every now and then.

Don't they look so nice and clean