Life in the Central African Rainforest

One huge tree

April turned out to be a hard month for me. After hearing bad news from back home I really began to question being here and whether or not I was enjoying living out in the jungle. I constantly get harassed, the conditions are rough and I am far from home. The culture of the people living out east in Cameroon is tough and aggressive. Everyone is constantly yelling at each other for every transaction- you seriously have to get in someone’s face to buy tomatoes in the market. It’s intense and has definitely made me more direct and upfront when I think someone has done me wrong, but damn when you’re having a bad day you don’t want to deal with some drunk local asking you to buy them a beer when they’re clearly wasted and their children are starving- sometimes you have to freak out and talk back. It gets frustrating being seen only as a symbol of money and having people try to forge fake friendships just to then demand that I pay for that friendship.. yeah.. no.

But.. as hard as it is, at the end of the day I realize how lucky I am for this experience and how happy I am with the other Peace Corps Volunteers. They are all becoming such close friends. I am so grateful for all the experiences I’ve encountered. My work has really taken off- in April my counterpart and I traveled together to a Water and Sanitation conference and learned the processes necessary to build forage and working wells to provide safe drinking water to the community who is currently suffering from a horrible condition where there is blood in the diarrhea because of the parasites. It’s a huge deal and I am excited to work with him and the village and creating a water committee to help fund this project thru governmental and non-governmental grants.

Views on the river

Hanging out with friends at the river

My work with UNICEF is going great. I just recently did a partnership program with international students who study in the capital to visit Messamena to conduct a hygiene education program as well as water quality testing to then work on constructing bio-sand filters and eco-friendly latrines. The visit went well and the Chief of Education for UNICEF Cameroon came out and took part in the event as well. I am excited to see how this will all develop in the next year and a half. Who knows, I might have a job with them after Peace Corps. They are currently funding me to carry out hygiene education programs, build school gardens and survey new schools where vulnerable populations are not getting basic access to education. This upcoming week I will be working with a member from the Ministry of Technology to do a survey of what needs to be done to repair 2 forages and one well in the Messamena school district. I can’t wait to learn more about it.

I am a member of the Health Steering Committee for Peace Corps Cameroon. With 8 other volunteers and our Program Manager, we get to discuss and design the training classes for future volunteers, how those lessons are conducted and what topics we should focus on in terms of our health program. It’s been a great experience. I was also chosen to be a member of the Diversity committee- it’s a committee that provides support to other volunteers who deal with complex issues here in Cameroon because of a variety of things, being a (independent) woman, older,  gay, asian, jewish, atheist, left handed- haha you name it. The committee is there to help volunteers hold on to what makes them diverse because sometimes when you are overseas in village you tend to hide those things that make up who you are because you are already seen as so different so you try to just fit in as much as you can sometime, pushing an important part of you aside. So.. Im happy to be one of those supporters for volunteers. But with these committees are always meetings in the capital so in the last month I think I’ve spent more time in Yaounde rather than in Messamena!

Going down the river

Jackie Chien, Captain of my boat

Messamena has been great, my house continues to develop to my home- there was an awesome porch built and we adorned it with bamboo siding and my neighbor gave me a ton of plants for landscaping. I adopted a puppy- her name is Jackie Chien. She’s been so great. I take her for walks around town, on my bike to the river, swimming, on my pirougue and she helps keep my house guarded. I now have 2 chickens that should be starting to lay eggs any day now, my garden is getting a lot bigger and my banana trees are growing quick. I should have fresh pineapple and papaya in another month or so. I also planted a few Moringa trees that I will be using at the school gardens because they offer a crazy high amount of nutrients to any sauce dish that is prepared so I am trying to pass it along to the communities here.  Joe and Suzy, other Peace Corps volunteers came to visit me this past month and it was so great to show them around my village. We got to go on crazy hikes to visit baka pygmies tribe, take a 25 mile bike ride through the jungle, go canoeing down the river and they helped me with my UNICEF visit. It was so great to have visitors!

Bake tribes

A baka tribe in one of the villages where I work

Mural Project at the Koum school with UNICEF

Teacher's education conference

Tough girl

Next month I am taking a trip to the north of Cameroon and going to visit other volunteers. At one point we are going on a safari to go see giraffes. I’m so stoked for this! My time in Cameroon is starting to go by fast now that I have my own schedule going and a routine. These two years are going to be over before I know it… unfortunately. I want to make the time last!