The world through my eyes: Work in Progress

Its taken about 2 months to feel settled in after returning from the states but I now feel comfortable and happy again here in Cameroon. Work has been going really well and I am learning a lot everyday. I can tell I am getting situated into village life because after some time I found myself sweeping my dirt yard because I know my neighbors would judge me-weird, yes but so it the amount of work/money we put into grass lawns in the United States. I also have to sharpen my machete everyday because I am working in the field on my project and the villagers always make fun of my if my machete is not sharp enough…. This is when I realized I starting to get jungle weird and I’ve been away from electricity and Internet too long and I come to the capital, Yaounde.

This week Peace Corps Cameroon is celebrating our 50^th year here in Cameroon and are having a huge ceremony to commemorate it. It is open to the public and the US ambassador will be there as well as Chantal Biya- the first lady! I am excited to present my work and be with all the other volunteers.

Right now in Messamena I am working on some large scale projects with UNICEF- Repairing a forage in one village, constructing desks for schools , putting together a parade for World Aids day and starting 5 pretty large school gardens. The school gardens are my main focus right now. I’ve always wanted to do a project like this but I always imagined it to be with inner city youth but here I am working with inner jungle youth. The project is really important though, because malnutrition is a big set back in the development of youth here. Most of their diets consists of carbs, such as rice, cassava and macabo with little to no proteins or greens. So, I got a grant from UNICEF to design this project and I am working close with the parents of the kids to do sessions on nutrition and work together to build these gardens. To do so, we had to clear through thick jungle brush in order to make room for the vegetables! I split my time up between 4 villages that I usually have to ride my bike 8-12 miles through jungle paths to get to then work out in the sun with my machete. The communities are really impressed to see my commitment so they themselves have put in a ton of effort to get this project going. At the end of each day my hands are bloody, scrapped and blistered and I’m completely exhausted, but I feel great! Its nice that my dog follows me everywhere. She usually runs about 20 feet behind my bike as a ride but one time she went running ahead of me and barking and I saw that she chased off a 4 foot viper snake that I would have come into contact with. Its nice to have here around but villages aren’t used to someone having a domestic dog like that here so they laugh (and laugh about everything else I do)

The gardens are HUGE. Way bigger then I expected. I told the communities it was up to them what size they wanted to make it and I will try to supply the seeds for it. One of the gardens is about 400 feet by 600 feet! We are focusing on planting soy for protein and moringa trees for vitamins. Moringa is this miracle tree that when you eat the leaves it provides incredible amounts of vitamins and minerals and is used in many countries as a form of medication. I found a few seeds and divided them up for the gardens. We are also planting a variety of vegetables and greens… Green Pepper, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Basil, Onions, Celery, Carrots, Garlic and whatever other seeds I can get my hands on. I tried hard to avoid buying seeds distributed by Monsanto… but that wasn’t happening. Its cool to do this project- I am learning so much! It’s weird that I am doing a farming project in a small village when I’m a city guy who is used to going to clubs and dancing. Ha- it’s a nice break and change from that for a few months.

It’s an awesome experience working out in the jungle with people of the forest. I have learned so many things about traditional medicines and alternative forms of healing from the people in the communities I work in- there have been some really interesting home remedies that they use. Most of the remedies are in the form of a moonshine they drink and it’s a big part of their culture. I am constantly trying to avoid drinking it, but when local chief offer you a glass, its really disrespectful. So you drink it- even if it is 7 am. The villages have been really kind too- they know I came back to Cameroon to work after my mother passed away and they have all been really supportive. One village said they were going to dedicate the garden to my mom and another held a mass for her and they invited me- it was the first time I went to a service here and man, was it a hoot. There were drums made out of carved out logs paired up with non-stop singing and dancing. The service itself was in their local language and I couldn’t understand anything besides the fact they kept mentioning Barack Obama. It’s been really great to work closely with all the local chiefs in the villages and the parents of the students.

UNICEF has given me a ton of supplies to give to the schools I am working with- I am trying to split it up and not give everything out at once so once I week I’ll show up to the schools and if I see they are working towards making the classroom a priority- I’ll distribute some of the materials. I feel like I’m the Santa Clause of Messamena right now- I’m making it rain with gifts. While I don’t really like the idea of hand-outs as a form of development work, I have to say that if there wasn’t hand outs available to me in terms of scholarships for college, I never would be where I am today. So, I’m trying to give out these handouts in a sustainable way and teaching everyone how to save the materials to use again and profit from. Well see how that goes. It’s nice that I still have another year to follow these projects to see how they carry out.

So I got another year in the village. Village life is quite interesting- there is so much small talk and gossip, its really humorous. One time the police office invited me to the police station to have a beer with him because he is asking me to try to get him a computer from the states- word got out that I am trying to get people arrested because I am friends with police. Haha. When 4 beautiful Peace Corps volunteers came to visit me a few weeks ago word got out that they were all my wife’s so now all the guys think I’m a big pimp and are trying to get a piece my girls. Haha, oh small talk. I’m using it to promote my gardens in the villages and it’s actually working really well. The jungle is beautiful. I get to see crazy wildlife like toucans, strange birds, weird insect, snakes and endless varieties of plants and trees. Its really cool and I’m enjoying it a lot- until I get my ass back to San Francisco.

The Health Club at the High School I am working with for the World AIDS day Fair

The Green House- protected area for the new seeds in Messamena Village. Here inn the picture are the Chief of the village, the director of the school and president of the water committee.