Its been awhile since my last post, alot has happened and thinking about sitting on a computer always overwhelms me, I don't know how I'm going to switch back to life on computers in the states after so much time in the jungle.
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| Finished Well in Messamena Vilage- the Water Committee and students who use it |
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| A Baka family I've been working with for the past year. This is me hiding from the rain in their home |
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| Doing a training on Well repairs in Koum with the Ministry of Water and Electricity |
In March my bag with all my belongs was robbed at the bus station in Yaounde- I was so upset and over Cameroon at that point. I felt violated and was wondering what I was still doing here... I was ready to finish, especially since I just got back from being in Cape Verde. So, that month was pretty rough and was definitely a low point. But things got better soon after. It took awhile to post a blog about it because if I wrote it right after my things were stolen I would have went on a negative rant about Cameroon- which I didn't want. There are enough horrible things being said about Africa that I didn't want to add to that pool. Plus I was robbed 3 times in Brasil and I never have said anything bad about that paradise.
Since then I've been working on a bunch of projects.... We finished a well in Messamena
Village, planted 200 trees in 4 of the schools and are working on
putting together plants for a large coconut farm. It's been alot of
work, and alot of fun too.
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| Our crew in the treehouse |
I recently went back to Moloundo where I did a summer camp with UNICEF for Baka studens last year, but this time to search for the wildlife I didn't get a chance to see last year. It was awesome to see my friends who I made last year again- I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see them again because this place is ISOLATED! Its part of one of the largest streches of untouched rainforest outside the amazon. It was so beautiful! I went with My friend Kristin and her boyfriend Eric who was visiting from the states. We spent 5 days in the jungle and it was rough in such a great way! We set up an itinerary at the WWF office but had to just go with the flow as this place is not really set up for a great amount of tourism.
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| Eating fruit that the gorillas just ate next to our campsite |
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| Gorilla en Route |
We entered with an ecoguard who had a rifle, and 3 porters/guides who were born in the area. It was awesome! The first night we got put off the main track and had to sleep in the middle of the jungle, not at a known camp... the mosquitos were terrible and the whole night you could here the jungle in movement- it ws thrilling bt I don't think I got more than 2 hours sleep. Then next day we made it to a lookout over a savanna where we slept in this treehouse structure. It was a blast! We didn't see much in terms of wildlife but had a blast hanging out with eachother. The next morning when we were hiking out, we were trying to find the trail but the jungle grows back quickly so we were a little lost. All of the sudden we heard a gorilla screaming and the ground started rumbling. The Baka tour guide stopped us and had a look of fear in his eyes, I looked up and saw a large 600 pound gorilla charging us. He was HUGE and his face was so human like. The ecoguard quickly got his rifle set and the rest of the guides started pounding theirs chests and the gorrilla vered off 100 feet away from us back into the forest. I tried to pull out my camera to take a picture but my heart was beating so hard when I saw the gorillas face and knew I could be in some serious danger. That image will not leave my head though.
After catching our breath, we hiked on the route to find the WWF car waiting for us. Because of a tree that had fallen, we ended up hiking through 30 miles of jungle in a little over 24 hours. It was rough! We got some rest and headed through the park the next day to the border of Cameroon and the Congo to a beautiful relaxing campsite. On a short hike around the area we saw 6 gorillas and 2 elephants within 45 minutes from our camp. It was so cool. We got to see the homes of panthers, chimpanzees, a variety of monkeys, birds, elephants, gorillas and more. It was a real life zoo with no fences. That night when we were bathing in a river we saw an elephant bathing just down river from us under the moonlight.
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| Patrick- our ecoguard with WWF, right before we got charged by a gorilla |
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| Elephant bathing |
On the way back the next day we caught a group of poachers en route in the forest. There was a decoy foriegner who came up and was saying she was just taking pictures but when she showed me her camera it was of photos that were on the otherside of the park a few days away and that was the last "photo" she took. It was a scam. Only the WWF has the right to go through the parc and that is why we had an Ecoguard with us. Patrick, our ecoguard, took their paperwork to the office and they were punished (I'm not sure how, but I know it wouldn't be pretty). Just after that we came across another large male gorilla on the road. it was so cool and out of this world to see a gorilla like that.
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| Crazy Landscape at sunrise |
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| Beautiful Crater Lakes, South West Region, Cameroon |
After that I headed across the country to Nkonsamba to go camping next to the crater lakes to celebrate my friend Joe's 30th birthday. The lakes were beautiful and we had a blast celebrating together. We were up in the mountains so it was so cold- I couldn't believe that I was still in Cameroon! The lakes are said to be some of the deepest lakes in the word by depth and diameter, so the water was a color of blue I've never seen before!
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| After swimming in the Male Crater Lake |
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| Attending the Girls Forum i |
From there I headed down to Kribi for the 2nd annual Girls Forum and this year's theme was "To educate a girl is to educate a nation". My counterparts from Messamena and I were lucky to be chosen to attend. I was so excited to bring them because they have never been far outside of Messamena, let alone to the beach in their lives. It was a 3 day conference were we learned the importane of girls in school and what we can do to retain their participation through educational practices. It was really empowering and my counterparts really got alot out of it. I took them swimming in the ocean for their first time ever and took them to eat seafood theyv'e only ever seen in pictures but never in real life. It was so cool to introduce them to all of this and they were so grateful to have had this experience. It was awesome.
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| Receiving our certificated from the Girls Forum |
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| Introducing my friends to Lobster, Shrimp, Crab and Red Snapper after the conference |
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| Taking my friends swimming in the ocean for the first time ever |
Back in Messamena things are starting to wrap up. I only have about 4 months left! In Messamena Village the Cheif of the Village came up to me and told me he wanted to discuss something with me. I was a little worried, I didn't know what he was going to say. He offered to build me house in the village for me to stay- they don't want me to leave and wants to kidnap me but know they can't because the embassy would find me haha. It was nice way of saying they don't want me to leave and since right now things are going so well the thought of extending a year sounds like a good idea. I'm finally really getting into the culture here and understanding the way of life. It hasn't been easy, and I will easily say that this is the hardest country I have traveled to... but then I see pictures of everyone back home and realize I'm ready to get back into the swing of life back in the states for a little while at least. The Peace Corps will definitely open the doors for future international work in the future.
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| Someone owns ostriches in Dimako, East region... bizarre |
My last big project was just approved. In Messamena Village we will be starting a 2 hectare (350 feet by 700ft) coconut farm with about 400 trees. I have been writing a grant to PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and proposed the idea of getting a non-profit legalized to start a income generating farm to help keep kids in school, give scholarships to the top students and teach the community about healthy life choices and safe sex practices. We now have a group that is working on the legal forms and opening a bank account and we will start to clear land next week. I might be out of contact for sometime in the Jungle. I'm really excited about this project and think it has potential to really help Messamena Village grow and develop. It is exciting to see how hard work really does pay off. I'm happy to be working with this community- they have a strong work ethic and drive to work together- I just hope they don't really kidnap me haha ;)
