Made it to Cameroon! The beginning of my Peace Corps journey

It has been such a crazy week of new experiences, to think about my life one week ago to now is a complete opposite- so quick how things can change!
After saying a lot of hard goodbyes and trying to figure out what to pack for 27 months, I arrived in Philadelphia for the “staging event” or brief introduction to the Peace Corps. When I got off the plane there were two other girls from Cleveland joining too and turns out 5 of us are from the Cleveland area! There are 54 of us in our group that are split into 3 sectors; Agroforestry, Youth Development and Community Health- I will be in the Community Health sector. Everyone is really nice and come from a lot of different backgrounds.
The next day we all took a bus from Philadelphia to New York then a plane to Brussels then finally Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Arriving in Africa was so exciting- I really couldn’t believe that this was all happening! We all got onto a bus and drove to the hotel as the sun was setting and took in the views of the jungle that we landed into. Cameroon is so beautiful!
The first 5 days we were in the capitol at a hotel and were given many orientations to the culture and background of Peace Corps in Cameroon. We’ve had to do countless introductions to different officials and have had the opportunity to go to a cultural dance show, have dinner with the US Ambassador and be on a national television show!
On Tuesday we left the capital and headed 2 hours north to where we will begin our trainings and move in with a home stay family. It has been such a change going from the large capital to the small village of Bokito where I am living now. My host family consists of a grandmother, a mom and dad, and 5 boys aged 17, 12, 11, 2 and 1. The house I live in is a 25 minute walk through dirt paths to get to the training site- we are really in the jungle/forest! Everyday we have trainings from 8am to about 5 or 6pm. The days are long then we come home to the host families to practice speaking French (which for me is still pretty much a mix of Portuguese) and integrate ourselves into the family and culture.
I am really excited about being here and really impressed with the way the Peace Corps has set up the trainings and how they have such a strong presence here in Cameroon.. We are all being trained on medical procedures to keep ourselves safe and healthy- I am really surprised with how many materials the PC has provided us. We are definitely well taken care of and watched over if anything goes wrong.
I have so much more to share but it will have to wait for another post. Right now I only have access to Internet 2 days a week and it is pretty slow. I think that will change soon but for now if you contact me and it takes awhile to respond, bear with me! You can call me… I am most available on Sundays- 011 237 740 58 032!

One week countdown

My blog for Brazil never really took off- I could never get myself to write about life there without it sounding like some kind of "othering" process that I was studying at Berkeley. My time in Brazil was absolutely amazing and I plan to move back to Rio someday.

For now, my next trip is to Cameroon with the Peace Corps for the next 27 months! I will do my best to write straight-forward about my experiences without feeling like I am objectfying anyone or thing.

I received my invitation to join the Peace Corps one day when I returned to my apartment in Rio- the night guard told me a package had come for me and I knew exactly what it was..... I rushed upstairs to open the envelope that read, "Congratulations- Your Assignment: Community Health Educator Country: Cameroon Start Date= Sept 15, 2011 End Date Dec 3, 2013". It was so intense and I had 10 days to decide if I should try and stay in Brazil or accept the position. It was not an easy decision but I decided to go ahead with the Peace Corps. 27 months is a hard commitment to actualize and I am not sure if it has even sunk in yet.

I leave on Wednesday, September 21st from Cleveland to Philadelphia for a one-day staging event where I will meet the other volunteers. We will spend one day there then the next day we will be taking a bus to New York City to fly to Yaounde, Cameroon. There we will stay a few days in the capital for orientations and by Monday I will be moving in with my host family for my 3-month language and technical training in a city 2 hours north of Yaounde.

I will be studying French and learning different community based techniques for health interventions for the first three months. In November I will be assessed for my placement of where I will be living for the next two years.


One week left to say all my goodbyes, pack and try to prepare mentally for what is coming my way!