Making Sport

So if you didn’t know, Cameroonians are really into sport. Of course they love football (soccer) but they also enjoy lots of other sports. In Banyo, Saturday is sport day and people small to old come out to ‘make sport’. Most people come out to the stade municipal where they warm up with a few laps around the field and then take their pick of activities. There’s soccer, basketball, volleyball, aerobics, gymnastics, handball or some more running. And then you can always go run out to the Baptist Hospital if it’s too crowded for you. And if you really want to get out of town, you can take a few hours and scale the mountain.

Soiree Culturelle

As far as entertainment and leisure activities go, there really isn’t too much around town – don’t expect to see a movie theater or park anytime soon. And without a tv or radio or even power a lot of the time, reading is about all you have left whichobviously isn’t bad but not exactly something to do with other people. However,there are a few events that come around that allow you to enjoy yourself, have some laughs and be with others. One of those is a soiree culturelle.

Some traditional dance and costume

Soiree culturelles are in the best terms like comedy variety shows. Groups of people put on different ‘acts’ – a lot of dances, some lip syncing, fake news reports, fashion shows, skits, etc. Most often it is a school that puts on a soiree and the students present different acts.

First soiree I went to a the bilingual school - these girls were dancing

In my time at post so far, there have been numerous soirees at my school, the other schools, in my neighborhood, for weddings, etc. And I must say most soirees are similar. You usually receive an invitation which tells you a time. But of course it’s African time so it’s best to have a student or someone just call when the event is about to actually start (let’s say if the invitation says 2:30pm, you come around 4:30-5). As a foreigner, I usually get a seat good seat near the center front. They usually block off an area and maybe even make a stage (like desks pushed together with words boards on top). There is always an MC who hosts and introduces each act. On the program, there may be upwards of 30 acts however because it started so late and there isn’t usually outside lighting, many of the acts willbe cut because the sun will set before it’s over. There’s lots of dancing to the latest songs like ‘pinguiss’ or some Lady Ponce even some Shakira and of course some traditional Houssa music. Then there are some skits or maybe even clown acts. And of course there’s news where students just talk about maybe what’s going on at school. During different acts, members of the audience will get up and put money on performers’ heads or intheir pockets if they really like the performance. The audience can get really riled up and excited about some of the acts and altogether it’s really a fun time and better than just sitting around the house. You get out, see lots of people and some great performances. And even though the events are always behind schedule and technical difficulties occur with speakers, etc., every event has a slightly different part to it that makes it exciting to attend and watch.

'clowns'

News Report

Two little kids lip syncing at a soiree for a wedding

My Students

Some of my younger students and I on a Saturday

Of all the people I meet here – teachers, parents, functionaries, people in the market, neighbors, other volunteers- I must say that my favorite peoplewho I enjoy the company of the most, who I share and learn from every day, who inspire me, make me laugh and support me, the people who I will miss the most are my students.

I teach approximately 210 students ages maybe 10 – 24. And now I will be the first to say that I do not always enjoy my time in class teaching and that I do not think that I am really making that big of a difference as far as their English skills are concerned. But it is the moments in between classes and instruction, the times outside of school whether passing them on the street, attending a cultural event with them or visiting their families in their homes that I truly enjoy my students and get to see them as they really are.

One of my funniest students

Particularly in the past few weeks, as I’ve had more time and energy to spend time just chatting with people, I have spent a great deal of my free time meeting some of my students’ families and seeing more of their life outside of school. And in doing so, I have begun to appreciate and love even more my students. They are caring; they are inquisitive, funny, understanding. They are actually interested in things and ask questions. They are not afraid to chat or joke with me. They are the people I trust the most and who I go to when I have questions. They welcome me into their lives and want to be a part of mine.

Some of my 1ere students

One of my 6e students met me at 5:40am just because he wanted to go to do sport with me on a Sunday. And the same day another student in the same class came as well andran for an hour with me. Just the other day, I was at the field running at 6:30am and a boy came and began running. I quickly recognized him- another different student who had just come to see me and chat for a bit. I climbed the mountain earlier this week with a student. Last week, while I traveled, I left one of my 6e students the key to my house to look after my cat. In the past week, 3 of my students’ families havewelcomed me into their homes, offered me food and chatted with me. Students stop by my house just to say hi. I see them all the time just walking down the street – they always have a big smile and are glad to see me. When I came back from traveling last week, a number of my students told me how much they had missed me. And I too had missed them. They also think to the future and clearly hope to have me in their lives – some of my younger students have already asked to marry my daughters one day and older students have already invited me to their weddings in the next 10 years or so.

My students at home with their other siblings...of the 4 who go to my school, I teach 3 of them

The students who asked about marrying my daughters

Although there can be rough days in class with them, there have been many a bad day when it’s just being with them that puts me in a better mood and reminds me why I enjoy being here. I don’t think I will ever have relationships with other students like I do here with them. They are more than my students- they are my neighbors, my friends, my family. And I already know I will miss them the most when I leave.

6e Students on a Saturday

Women's Day 2011

A lot of planning and preparation went into the celebration of Women’s Day in Banyo – I was actually even at one of the meetings held at the Prefecture with women and delegates in charge of organizing events. Activities lasted an entire week starting with the first event on Wednesday March 2 - a ‘sport walk’ around town. The next day was kind of like community service work – women’s groups went to different places in town to do ‘public service’ aka clean floors and buildings.

The third day (and first activity I was actually able to take part in because I didn’t have class) was on Friday – we went to the prison to donate food and clothes. It was quite interesting. I had heard stories about the prison but actually wasn’t how I imagined. I mean it was stinky in some parts but the prisoners greeted us with some songs and we said some prayers-it was a nice little visit actually.

At the prison with our donations

Saturday there was a roundtable discussion on the following theme: Egalite d’acces a l’éducation, a la formation, a la science et la technologie: Sentier pour un travail décent pour les femmes. Basically the panelists spoke about how women are equals and should be able to do things like men. It was an okay roundtable but would have been better if it hadn’t started 2 hours late. Oh Africa time.

Roundtable...before it started

Sunday was the big sport day – there were handball and football matches between the girls football group and a women’s group. Activities on Monday included marching practice for the parade and a cultural party- women put together skits and dances basically and present them. However this activity was like the roundtable in that it started 2 hours late and after being at school since 7am I was a bit tired when it still hadn’t started at almost 5 and hence I missed this event.

But I certainly didn’t miss events the next – Tuesday March 8 – Women’s Day. I started by going to my classes which I was told that yes there was school but it was optional to come (only in Africa) so as I only had 2 hours of class anyway and finished by 9:30, I did go to school and wore my Women’s Day pagne so as to go straight to activities once I finished and I did just that. The parade was first at the place des fetes and actually started fairly on time. Different women’s groups and associations walked across the field and lots of people came out to see everything.

Parade

After the parade, I went with my postmate into town for a quick party with the nurses from hospital who she works with. Then we kind of quickly had to get to the Sous-Prefets house for the invitation cocktail. Got lots of food, chatted with the prefetand lamido (who told me I looked handsome- this was said in English and obviously English is not his first language). After the cocktail, we went off to another food event- different women prepared food from different areas that you could buy and taste. There was also music and dancing. By this time, it was ahbout the afternoon and I was also quite tired, sun burnt and had ripped my skirt so I was ready to go home. So the evening was not quite as eventful as others’ evenings were, but overall, I was quite pleased with how the event was celebrated...lots of fun and food.

Yay Women's Day

Holiday Season

Happy Holidays !

While holiday season may be over back home, here things are just picking up. I think this month alone there are 4-5 different fetes. And really I think pretty much year round there are all kinds of fetes going on- In the summer/fall, they are more Muslim holidays (like Ramadan) and now in the spring it’s more about national and international fetes. But no matter Muslim or non-religious, the big fetes are all just that- big- lasting anywhere from 3 days to an entire week. Here’s a calendar run through of recent fetes and upcoming fetes:

National Bilingualism Week: January 1-February 4

Youth Day/Actually an entire week: February 4- 11

Women’s Day/Actually an entire week: March 1 - 8

Commonwealth Day (kind of like Bilingualism Day): March 9

National Arts at School Day: March 11

Open Door Day (have no clue- guess I’ll find out): March 17-18

Francophonie Day: March 18

Labor Day: May 1

National Day: May 20

Celebration for fetes can range from big parades and soirees with the whole community to small things like maybe events just at the lycee. Sometimes there is no school for a fete (like Youth Day) and other times there is kind of school (like Women’s Day) which means officially there is school however most likely many students won’t come and neither will teachers (although no going to lie, that’s pretty much every day).

So in case you didn’t notice the dates, right now we are actually in the middle of celebrating Women’s Day. Activities started Wednesday and continue until actual International Women’s Day- March 8. Now I could write all about the activities butttt I will wait until after the 8^th when everything is finished but I will say it involves a visit to the prison, football, a parade and really cool pagne. But until then, Happy International Women’s Day! I think someone should celebrate back home for women, it is an international holiday.

Fast Food

No McDonalds hasn’t made its way to Cameroon, at least not yet nor has any other fast food chain, American or even Cameroonian. But alas there is food available here on the go and ready to eat- hot, cold, and in between. Now you won’t see hamburgers and fries with a milkshake anytime soon (at least not unless you are in the capital city and willing to spend more than 3x what you usually do on a meal) but sometimes the ‘fast food’ can really hit the spot.

Fast food can be found in many different situations. My personal favorite is when you are travelling. Instead of you driving up to a drive thru window, the food here actually comes to your window. Yep. As you travel and stop at different towns/villages along the way or even toll stops, children, women, adults will run up to the vehicle shouting whatever food they are selling. You pass the money to them and they pass the food- although you do need to be quick sometimes as you may not actually stop all the long and then the vendor will be chasing after the vehicle. Food sold in this manner various depending on the season and the region/road you are traveling on. Where I travel most, right now you often see oranges, baton de manioc (cassava), peanuts and beignets. But other places, like when I travel to the capital, you can get pineapple, mandarins, coconut, even meat.

Now for when you are not traveling but just around in town, there are two kinds of fast food. There is food that for the most part is available during the day either being sold in a particular location- like a vendor near the market- or you can see a child selling food just walking down the street. These kinds of food include: beignets, ‘popsicles’, yogurt, peanuts, hardboiled eggs, baton, croquettes (like hard beignet-ish snack), oranges, beans, ‘street meat’ (soya- meat on a stick). Then if you want something more like a meal rather than a snack, if you wait till the evening, women come out and prepare food on the side of the street. Some popular dishes include omelets (particularly spaghetti omelets- delish), roasted fish and baton or plantains, and bouillie.

I would say other than the obvious difference (choice of food), another big difference is that this food isn’t available 24/7 like some places back home. It can be very hit or miss- you may be really craving a particular vendor’s beans and beignets but maybe that day they are not there or all of the food is already gone. Another hit or miss can be the quality/cleanliness of the food. I would say the best thing is to find a few vendors you like and you trust to best ensure you don’t get sick later. And even then, you can never tell so be careful what you eat, particularly when traveling and thus stuck in a car.

Trash Talk

So this is actually something I didn’t really even think about before coming but learned quickly about after arriving- trash disposal or more so lack thereof.

When we all first arrived back in June, our firstfew days were spent in Yaounde in a hotel and honestly it did not seem all too far removed from life in America. But soon we were all with our homestay families in Bafia. And I rememberafter our first night with our host families, we all came together to discuss how things had gone and thought training continued to share experiences about life with our families. One issue that quickly came up that many of us seemed to share concerns about was ‘what the heck do we do with our trash?’ It seemed as though trash cans did not exist. And I know personally in my home, there was not a single trash can. Now for food, okay I can understand throwing that in the yard particularly if you are cooking outside to begin with. But I had no clue what to do with paper or plastic items. During training, I think other people found ways to dispose of their own trash. For me- well rather than ask my host family, I realized that there were trash cans at our training building so about once a week Iwould take me trash there to throw away. Now that may seem ridiculous and it kind of was but really even now the question still remains- what do you do with trash?

A sign in Banyo saying not to dump trash....

... And this is the area directly behind the sign...in case you can't tell, there's lots of trash and it al goes right into a stream

Trash really is a big issue in my town although I’m sure if youasked someone in my community about it they may not have a clue. In Banyo, there is no organized trash collection or disposal system. People literally just throw trash anywhere and thus trash is everywhere. Part of the problem stems from the fact that people love littleplastic bags and literally every time they buy anything they get another plastic bag that they then have to get rid of. Therefore, plastic bags are all over Banyo. At home, I think most families just dump their trash if not in their yard then in some larger area that maybe many people throw trashin. And maybe they are trying- maybe thinking that they are disposing of it in a common area like everyone else. However, the biggest problem is that more often than not this ‘common dumping areas’ are right next to water sources such as small streams. Some of these areas are so full of trash that it is quite disgusting and smelly just to pass.

One of the worst smelliest places to pass in Banyo

Every now and then you do see burning the trash. However, walking around town and seeing huge trash piles burning can also be quite stinky and smoky. But really what is there to do? I know the past health volunteer here has tried to educate about the environment and trash disposal but it is difficult. I think the best solution I have heard and what I personally do is I have a hole in my yard that I throw my trash inand then every couple of weeks I burn the trash. But really, the potential to address the trash issue in Banyo is exponential. There is so much that could be done but at the same time it would be a huge project. But hopefully, crossing fingers, Banyo will have an agro volunteer who could possibly focus on environmental education and trash.

Some trash burning in between some houses

Burning trash in my yard