for dad : backtrack to yaounde

i realized, in looking back on this blog, that i never really wrote about yaounde. thats not really fair, because 1) yaounde was an amazing part of the journey so far and b) it is chronologically innaccurate to talk about kribi after dschang as if there was no in between. in fact, kribi was more of an inbetween from yaounde to ngaoundere, if that makes sense. so...back to yaounde.

After being in a small town like dschang for 5 weeks, at first yaounde was a little like Disneyland. Mahima is a supermarket with flashing fluorescent palm trees in the parking lot and aisles of organized whites tiles with air conditioning like january in minnesota. i almost threw up the first time i went in there. the supermarket in dschang didnt have lights, much less white tiles. i had forgotten the smell of clean linoleum. i didnt miss it. it wasnt so bad the second time, but still not a place i would frequent when given a choice.

we met with several different national and international non-governmental org.s which have offices in yaounde (WWF, FAMMCameroon, World Bank), as well as national and international government org.s like Peace Corps and the US Embassy. as american students who've studied development in cameroon now, we came in as big skeptics to the world bank and the us embassy. there have been so many failures in development strategies here that sometimes it almost seems like the welfare of cameroonians is last on the list of priorities (for instance, check out any info you can on the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline, esp. at the world bank website and the WWF website. One of the most horrible mistakes in development history according to many). however, after talking to the people who work on development issues and methods every day, there is much thats being done that is hard to see. corruption makes funding very difficult, and progress comes in bits and pieces. what seems to me to work best are true national NGOS like MUFFA, a women's micorfinancing group, and foreign aid objectives through peace corps and the embassy that create a viable work force of cameroonians who can start development projects of their own on a micro or macro level. in retrospect, i am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to interview so many leaders in cameroon’s development, and I don’t think I would have had this chance with another program. Thanks SIT!

sandy beaches and pink ladies

i'm in kribi, a resort town on the southern coast of cameroon. we've been here since monday, and our stay has been truly relaxing -- the first unscheduled days of the program that i can remember! this is a little slice of paradise -- clean, sandy beaches and warm atlantic waves, calm and quiet (its not tourist season yet). i walked along the beach to a waterfall and hiked into town to shop for souvenirs. we had lunch seaside yesterday and ordered pina coladas and pink ladies! i, too, have turned quite pink -- the equatorial sun was too much even for my SPF 70. it's been so nice to hang out here and just chill.

to emphasize the varitey of cameroon's landscape, tomorrow we leave to board a train in yaounde for ngaoundere in the northern desert-savannah region. more when i get there!

tant de choses! (so many things)

well there's a lot to catch up on in this blog, i have gotten behind because of time and logistics. i am now on the road again with the group, staying in the capital yaounde for 8 days. after that we'll go to the coastal city of kribi for three days and then head north to ngaoundere and maroua where we'll learn about muslim culture and visit a nature reserve ( thats right, on safari -- i never realized i would do that here!).

since last entry, i have really experienced too many new and interesting things to explain them all. i will do some quick bulletpoint updates:

--> stayed at a chefferie, the home of the traditional bamileke cultural leader. there are several around dschang, situated in each neighborhood and surrounding village. i stayed the weekend in the small chefferie of fonakeukeu with one other student, and we basically followed the chef around to see what his life is like. "our" chef wasnt more than 40yrs old, was very intellectual and very well-read. we went to a funeral, had dinner with him, talked about a lot of different subjects including american eating disorders and the war in iraq and polygamy and cameroonian agriculture, and went to a soccer game. pretty sweet.

--> baked sugar cookies for my family. sugar cookies are pretty much the easiest thing ever to bake, correct? WAH WAH, think again! the oven in our house doesnt work, so we only use the oven on the balcony, which is essentially a small woodburning metal trash can with a grill. i took the big cast iron pot and put the cookie sheet inside it, covered the top and checked every five minutes. they actually turned out really well...plus people dont bake cookies here so it was a treat. i decided to try one egg next time instead of two, and to remember to use my headlamp when uncovering the pot after it gets dark on the balcony -- i have a distinct little burn from the cast iron on my forearm. woodburning stoves get hot!

--> went to the *only* night club in dschang with all the students. really funny, really fun. along with cameroonian music, they also played such favorites as "umbrella," "beautiful girls," and akon's new one. which by the way are played everywhere and every second in restaurants, bars, the street, the cybercafe, peoples houses...it gets a little ridiculous, one of the three is always stuck in my head.

thats the interesting stuff. im also doing homework and getting ready for my research project, but i think about that too much as it is. at this point, my plan for the big research is to study marriage as an institution in the bamileke culture, probably focusing on polygamy in the chefferies. i have a lot of questions about this part of the bamileke culture that continues as the instance of polygamy descends in other cameroonian communities. is this an important part of tradition to the chefs, to the wives? can women who are part of a polygamous relationship have autonomy, equality, power, independence? what do these terms mean to these women? that's a start at least.

time to get back to the mission we're staying at -- dance class tonight! i love experiential learning. i will leave you as the cameroonians do, by saying "j'arrive", which literally means "im coming" but in cmr french means "seeya later" (it can be very confusing).

j'arrive!

this was about my adventures at the chefferie & the last week in dschang, until...

i just wrote a long, interesting blog for you all to read, and it was deleted when the power went out. i feel like crying right now, communication is frustrating as it is but this is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!

cant even look at the computer to start again, i just want to kick it off the balcony...

i wanted to say thanks for all the emails i have received from family and friends, you guys are the best. the advice and stories make me feel so happy and loved!

i promise to rewrite this soon. thanks for your patience.