Peace Corps Fail

This week went from awesome to epically bad within a record amount of time. Here’s the story:

The Good:

The beginning of the week was the busiest I’d been in a while. Monday and Tuesday mornings, I got up early and went to school. I had informed the new principal of the high school that I wanted to do a large HIV testing campaign, with high school-aged students as my main target.

So, armed with a bunch of bananas, condoms, and chalk, I went from class to class with the aim of teaching the following things:

1)What HIV is
2)The 4 modes of transmission (blood, sperm, vaginal fluid, and breastmilk)
3)How HIV is prevented (abstinence, fidelity, condoms, including a condom demo)
4)That there would be a free HIV testing campaign in Bazou in 2 weeks, and that they were encouraged/invited to get tested

I let them ask questions and made it interactive. Without fail, everytime I pulled out the condom and banana, the entire class threw up their hands are started making “OOH ooh!!!!” sounds. I’m glad that I did this in my second year of service, when my French was much better. When students, especially the boys, would make quips about what I was doing, I was quick to respond, garnering cheers from the rest of the students. I think I earned some street cred amongst the students. Who said that Madame Wesley was a boring old American?

At the end of the day, I had talked to over 1,000 students. Although some of them were pretty rowdy, I think I got my messages through to them. And when I was done, I felt I’d finally accomplished something. It may have been small, but for the past several months, work had been extremely slow.

Afterwards, I told relayed what I had just accomplished back to my sister via the lovely Gchat. Her response was something along the lines of, “I think you enjoy this a little too much.”

And hey. Maybe I did.

I guess it’s nice feeling like I actually taught something useful outside of my once-a-week health classes. I feel very strongly about the fact that these students need a solid sex ed class, but aren’t learning it at home or at school. This is the biggest need that I see within my own community, so I’m glad that I can contribute positively in some way, and not just lump around the house. Not to mention the selfish reason that I just enjoy working.

I had taught in 3 of Ramelines’ kids classes, and when I showed up at the house, they all told me that the other students found my presentation interesting and pertinent. It was also a nice ego boost when they told me about how they were impressed with my French (what what?!).

Anyways, that was the beginning of the week.

Now for the second half of the week. The Bad.

Last week, I was informed that money from Peace Corps Washington had been put into my account for my HIV testing campaign. But upon arrival to the bank, no money was to be found. So I immediately called up the person in charge of this, from the PC: Cameroon side of things. After lots of emails and phone calls, it seems that the money got deposited into the wrong account, but nobody knows where exactly.

The bottom line is that my HIV testing campaign, set to take place one week from now, has no funding to get HIV tests and no likely feasible solution to get us the money that we need in order to pay for the test materials. Postponing event would mean a far less effective campaign, as once exams are over, the student population will empty out from Bazou. And I’ve already been informed several times over that adults will not likely get tested.

This has been beyond disappointing and frustrating. For once, it seemed that the receiving end (the students) were motivated about a project I was going to do. It’s taken me 1.5 years to get to this point.

Ever since last fall, when the library fiasco happened, it subsequently forced all my others projects to come to a screeching halt, I’d be trying to pick things back up and try to put them back together again. Just like Humpty Dumpty.

While I know that I grew a lot as a person these past 19 months, I don’t count that as justification for being here. I came here thinking that I had something to share with the community, that they could in turn use to empower themselves. I’m fairly certain that personal relationships with people in this country will go a long way. I’ve made some great friends while here. But it’s also hard to justify a full 2 years abroad on the government’s money.

I also remember reading an article about how Peace Corps teaches its Volunteers, probably better than any organization, about failure. I get that PCVs will fail at handfuls of projects. That’s just the way it goes. But that’s talking about individual projects, not exactly an entire service.

As I’m heading towards the end stages of my service, I can’t help but look back and critique what I did and did not accomplished. My “did not accomplished” list is looking far longer than the former. I always considered myself as someone who always set decently high goals, and generally achieves them (or at least lands somewhere near my goal). But this time, I feel like I totally missed.

I know I tried hard, and that there were an absurd number of completely unexpected/ridiculous obstacles in my way, mostly due to village politics. But I think I’ll be left for a while questioning myself if those were valid reasons for having accomplished so little, and if I did everything that I could have done to contribute in this community.

I think that with time, my perspective will shift a little bit, and maybe a little more positivity will come through. But, for now, everything is very un-sugar-coated and bitter tasting.

Hopefully things will turn around soon.

Anywho, here are some highs and lows:

LOWS

- Needless to say, my VAST grant not going through
- Rameline was busy all week in preparation for going to the US, getting things in order at her health clinic and also at the farm. I’ve been quite bored without her around. I also waited around for an entire day for her to never show up :-/
- Timon peed on my floor this week and knocked my little camera off my table, breaking it.
- I found that my big camera has some sort of fungus/mold growing inside of 2 of the lenses, despite my best efforts to keep it in a dry sack with rice and moisture-absorbing packets. Apparently that basically means the end of my camera

HIGHS
- Teaching the students at school. It was tiring but I had a lot of fun teaching
- I got a package from Meghan and a letter from Melody!! DEFINITELY boosted my mood. Thank you thank you thank you to you both!
- Kinda gross, but in two days, Timon killed a cockroach, lizard, mouse, and spider. He got the cockroach in his mouth, spit it out, let it run around aimlessly, re-trapped him, ate him, spit him back out, etc. In between he was licking out the roach guts that gushed out. He basically did the same with the lizard. First eating the tail, then the head, then some guts. He also got a mouse, which was headless by the time I saw it. I woke up this morning with a decent sized spider in my living room. I put Timon in front of it – and CRUNCH. He was gone!
- After a million frantic emails/calls back and forth to the US and to a Cameroonian travel agency, which proved to be, well….very Cameroonian…. we finally got Rameline’s flight changed so that she will officially be spending one week with my family in the US after her program ends and before she heads back
- I finally left post and went to Bangangte just for a few hours to pick up my package/letter and to hang out with a few PCVs. Though brief, it was definitely a much-needed destressor.
- I’ve been eating my feelings via mangoes. I will definitely miss mangoes when I’m out of this country.
- Last week, I got to vaccinate another baby! One in the arm and one in the thigh. Looks like he’s gonna HATE all white people/albinos for the rest of his life.

Well, I think that’s all for now. I hope I have slightly more upbeat stuff to share next week.

Peace and love
Wes, Pumba, and Timon

It’s World Malaria Day, y’all! (And I posted some awesome pix)

For most of you back at home, I’m sure that y’all could care less, seeing that malaria doesn’t exist in the US. Anymore, at least. (Yes, we had it in the US at one point). But here in Cameroon, like most of sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is a big deal.

There are all sorts of statistics and stories that I could regale y’all with. But, I figure that 99% of you won’t bother reading the rest (but there are some interesting stats at the end of this post.) So, I put up some pictures from a project I just did yesterday at school with my health class.

I brought in crayons, paper, and safety pins so that they could each design their own “dreamcatchers” to hang up in their mosquito nets. On one side, they showed what they would do to prevent malaria, and on the other side, they showed a future goal/dream that they have. Most kids have no clue what they want to do the next day, let alone 10 years from now, so it was a good exercise.

It took them awhile to figure out what to write/draw, but at the end, they each had a dreamcatcher to take home. I got a picture of each of my students (who wanted his/her photo taken) at the end. Like in a lot of countries, Cameroonians don’t usually smile for a picture. So getting them to smile was quite the achievement. Here are some of the photos from the day.

Side note: I told the students I’d possibly be showing pictures to Americans back at home, so I’m not being creepy by posting their photos up.

Making his dreamcatcher

He drew a picture of a mosquito net and wrote that he would sleep under his every night.

Prudence, one of my girls from my girls camp – she wants to be a doctor.

Nini wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

Camera shy. But he depicted a mosquito net in his drawing.

Harsain says he’ll sleep under his mosquito net.

Gauthier wants to be a doctor when he grows up

Don’t let their sizes fool you. These kids are tough.

Three goons of my class. They always keep things interesting.

Me and most of the kids in my class. And yes, this is the best picture that we had at the end of 5 minutes of trying to get everyone to calm down and stop trying to beat each other to the front of the pic.

Anyways, for those of you still reading this, malaria is something that matters to me. Not only do I avoid trying to get it by taking my prophylaxis and sleeping under my mosquito net each night, but I care because it affects a lot of people around me. People get it here with relatively frequency, meaning that they miss out on days to go out to the farm or to run their shops. This equates to lost

For the kiddos, it’s a lot more serious though. Kids under the age of 5 are the most at risk, and a lot of children still die from it.

For more info about malaria, or to join the fight, check out:

MalariaNoMore.org or StompOutMalaria.org

Peace and love,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon

Running is Our Refuge

I went out running for the first time this week. I’ve tried to get myself to run more here, but some days it’s too hot during the hours that I’m free, it’s raining, or, let’s be honest, I’m just too damn lazy.

In light of the two bombs at the Boston Marathon, I decided to go out and actually enjoy the actual running. And as I did, my mind began to wander a bit.

Before I went back to the US in December, I wrote in a “Things I Miss from the US” blog post that one of the things that I missed from the US was running in races. And for a few months now, I’ve been planning a cross-country roadtrip that will allow me to see the beautiful national parks that I have yet to see, and also to go running through all the American glory I’ve been missing for the past 2 years, while joining in on a few races, ranging from 5ks to a half-marathon.

But why running?

I started out at the end of my sophomore year, struggling (big time) to finish a half mile. I had no idea how to pace myself, what my limits were (it quickly became apparent that I was quite limited in my running abilities…), or really what running was all about. I couldn’t believe how sore I was from that stupid barely-even-a-run run.

I decided to keep trying though. I bough a Nike+ gadget to attach to my iPod in order to track my progress, and day by day, I ran just a little farther (warning: calibrate those damned things. You don’t want to be caught in your first 5k thinking you’ve trained for a whole 5k when you really haven’t).

Fast forward a few months later, and I was running a 5k. My first race ever. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was defnitely nervous. But once I started, I remember the feeling of camraderie amongst all the fellow runners. There were people of all ages (nothing like a self-esteem booster when the 5^th grader and grandma are out-pacing you), shapes, and sizes. Some were obviously well-seasoned runners, while you could tell that this was the first race for many. They say you can always point out the newbies when they’re wearing their race shirt from the event.

There were spectators along the way who were holding up signs ranging from hilarious to motivational, volunteers handing us water along the way, and even amongst the runners, I remember cheering each other on, whether they were being passed or passing others. I soon found myself doing the same.

I may have been passed at the very end by an overweight man pushing his kids in a double-stroller at the finish line. But I finished. And for many of us newbies out there, that’s really all that matters.

With time, I entered into a handful of 5ks, 10ks, and even signed up for a half-marathon and then a marathon. Never in my life did I think I would find myself running in a marathon, but I was hooked. Still am.

You often see people with shirts that say, “Running in memory of…,” and that’s often enough to make you want to keep going just a little longer for those who can’t run. Or, you catch snippets of conversations along the way like, “Yeah, I did this to celebrate my 5^th year in remission” or “This is to celebrate losing 100 pounds.” You can’t help but cheer them on.

Maybe it’s like this because I’m slow and always find myself in the back of the pack, with the obvious “recreational runners.” I wouldn’t know what it’s like at the front of the pack. But I suspect this spirit runs from those at the front when the gun goes off, all the way to those in the back of the group, just trying to stay alive.

Everyone runs for a reason. I think there’s a lot of emotion tied up in running. On the outside, it seems like a very straightforward activity. Literally, just put one foot in front of the other until you reach the end. But talking to fellow runners who regularly do races, it’s more than just running that they love. It’s an escape from the stressed of school or work, it’s a way to showing yourself that you can set and achieve goals, and it’s what sets the tone for the rest of your day. As one blog-poster wrote, “Running is our refuge.”

As I scrolled through Facebook the past few days, I saw a lot of posts about marathoners running past the finish line, and then even continuing on to give blood at the hospital. I also saw a lot of posts quoting Mr. Rogers, saying that we should also “look for the helpers” in a negative event. I’ve already seen races and fun runs being set-up just to show support for those in Boston.

It doesn’t surprise me one bit that so many marathoners were also helpers this past Monday. Runners, whether novice or with ultramarathons under our belts, we get each other. We understand the early morning routine of getting in a run before most people are awake. We get the blackened toenails, post-run soreness, the excitement of getting a PR or running just a little farther than the last time. While others think we’re crazy for running (don’t even get me started on my village), I’m starting to think others are crazy for not running.

After all, running is pretty much an answer, at least temporarily, to everything, whether it be stress, wanting to celebrate a life milestone, or just because.

While many people may say they run to get a personal record, I think we’re really in that race to feel the adrenaline rush that comes from being with others who also understand what it’s like to cross the finish line. And if there’s another runner down, we feel for that person. It’s a team sport masked as an individual activity.

As I ran out into the bush on Wednesday with some Lady Gaga pulsing through my headphones, I found myself wishing that I was running in a race back in the US. I guess that won’t be happening for several months, but I know that when I get back, I’ll find myself crossing a few start and finish lines as soon as I get the chance.

Sending lots of love to Boston.

Links to other runners who share similar sentiments or wrote about being inspired to run:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0417/Why-I-ll-run-the-Boston-Marathon-again-in-2014

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/17/opinion/sutter-run-for-boston/index.html

 

LOWS:

• Obviously the events in Boston. It’s been hard to digest what’s been going on from miles and miles away from home.

• Getting to school on Wednesday for my health class and finding that they “forgot” to tell me that my lessons were bumped back an hour later. I could have used that extra sleep!

• I had to hold a baby down for a circumcision. The entire time, as he was looking at me and crying bloody murder, I just keep telling him, “Don’t hate me and all white people!!! It’s her who’s doing this! Not me!”

• Got stopped while walking to the market the other day by some a man who felt like he could talk to me the same way that many men here do to their wives. I had to very forcefully tell him that I hated the way that he talked to me, and that if he thought he had a chance to work with me with his NGO in Yaounde, he’d have to get his $h!t together.

 

HIGHS:

• I’m finally feeling busy again. I finally feel like I’m not just puttering around all day, accomplishing very little.

• Seeing my first baby delivery! Except I got a call from Rameline at 5am about that. That wasn’t so fun. And we had to moto out to this village in the pouring rain. But at the end, it was my job to dress the baby. With the clothes that the mother had brought, it was like I had just dressed up a baby eskimo.

• According to Rameline, there are 2 villages that want to do water projects with me! Although it’s pretty late into my service, I’m glad that there’s potentially work still left.

• I’ve been working with Rameline to get her ready to the US. The whole process has been eye-opening and fun. How do you explain to someone what the US is like? On Monday, we went to Bangangte together to meet up with a woman who also happened to do an IVLP program in the US last year. We had the chance to listen to her share her experieces and impart her knowledge onto Rameline. Things that she shared included how awesome Target was (esp compared to Wal-Mart), how everything is very orgaized, and how their group toured around in SF and ended up in an LGBT neighborhood (the shock!!). Her biggest advice?? NEVER EVER take anything from the snackbar/fridge in a hotel room!!!

• I got a package from Mom and Dad!!! THANKS!

• Rameline will be spending a week in DC with my parents after her trip is over!! If anyone is free during the weekdays from June 3-7 in DC, let me know!

• I love the feeling of being busy. Sure, it might not be the same as being busy in the US, but I like not milling around my house all day and having a to-do list that can’t be finished all in one day.

• I found myself cracking up by myself yesterday when Timon was napping on my lap. I guess he snooze was so intense that he tumbled off, landing on his side/face. He shook off the surprise, and proceeded to leap onto my chair in order to get up to the table. Instead though, he landed on a stack of papers on my chairs, that immediately slid off, causing him to tumble off yet again. I guess I can’t say that my pets aren’t entertaining

 Sending lots of love to everyone in the US – especially Boston,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon

Thank God Even Crazy Dreams Come True

The more time I spend with them, the more awesome I realize they are. So when Rameline sent me this text the other day, I was overjoyed:

“bsr juste pour te dire que je suis retenue pour le concour des USA. Bonne soir.” (good evening, just to tell you that I was picked for the competition for the US. Good evening.)

So casual.

When I read those words, I was ecstatic. I was even thinking that maybe it was too good to be true. I immediately called her and was practically yelling into the phone asking her about details. I swear I could hear her smiling on the other end of the line.

Too bad her internet was too slow to load the details of the email, so she couldn’t tell me when she was going to be leaving. Eventually, though, I hacked (ie got the password from her) into her email while I was in our regional capital and was able to see that she was officially accepted!! She’ll be leaving May 10!

I’m so excited for her to go to the US and see the world where I came from. I think that sometimes it’s harder for us to relate simply because she’s never seen, with her own two eyes, the land of the good ol’ USA. I’m excited to be able to take public transportation where she won’t be packed in like a sardine and she’ll be on roads that are not riddled with pot-holes. I’m excited to see photos of her standing in front of a statue of her role model – Martin Luther King, Jr. I want her to tell me about all the different flavors of ice cream that she tested out and all the cheese she feasted on.

I’ve always pondered what my impact on my community will be. As any of you who have read some previous posts in this blog probably know, I’ve had a rough time trying to get projects going here due to corruption and other things. I know (or at least hope) that at least a few of the students whom I’ve taught will hopefully make better life decisions as a result of my teaching. But those things are really hard to measure. But now, with Rameline going to do this 3-week program, I know that she will harness what she learns to empower others and make changes within whichever community she finds herself.

She’ll be arriving in DC on May 11, and she will be going to see many different health/HIV-related organizations ranging from USAID, the NIH, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to her dream NGO – Doctors Without Borders, as she travels from DC to NYC to Little Rock, Arkansas (homestay!), LA, and finally Atlanta. I’m really jealous of her travels and the NGOs she gets to go to. If you currently live in one of those places and think you might be around to maybe show her around for an evening, please let me know

Obviously, the news of her being able to go to the US has been the absolute highlight of my service so far. I can only hope that America lives up to her expectations.

One year ago, when I asked Rameline if she would want to possibly have the chance to go to the US, she lit up like a Christmas tree. As qualified as we knew she was, we knew it’d be a long shot with all the competition. And now, she’s got  4 weeks ’til she’s headed to the US! 

Thank god even crazy dreams come true.

Anyways, aside from that, this week has been pretty uneventful. We were summoned very last minute to my regional capital, Bafoussam, for a “mid-service conference” that is a new thing that we’re (ie PC) apparently doing. I spent a night at my friend’s post in order to prepare some materials, and then the next day we met up with a bunch of other PCVs to get ready for the conference.

I would be lying through my teeth if I said that the information was relevant/interesting/useful. Most sessions have been hard to sit through. But, if nothing else, it’s been good to catch up with friends, and also to meet PCVs whom I previously never knew. I guess it’s not a bad trade off. And the hotel has hot showers. Oh, and I made it on Cameroonian TV!!!

Since our Peace Corps admin was in our region anyways, they threw in doing “protocol” with the governor of the West region. That basically means just waiting around for the governor to arrive to show some respect, etc. So we ended up having to do all the tables just to show off the work that we do, and I got to ‘present’ the health table’s work, although he really seemed to have cared less about our work. Oh well.

Afterwards, a Cameroonian tv reporter came up to me and asked what work I did, and I just explained generally what we did as health PCVs. Then he waved me off and said, “No! No! What do YOU do at YOUR site?!” “Oh…uhhh…I teach sometimes…?” “YES! THAT’S what you will say!!” And with that, he clipped the mic to my shirt and shoved the camera in front of my face and told me to talk about my work. Thankfully, I’m comfortable enough in French to just start talking, but I definitely wasn’t prepared to sound totally coherent as I explained my work.

I had totally forgotten about all of that, until I got a call from Rameline’s husband that evening. I could hear him laughing, as he told me that they had just seen me on tv! I was a bit embarassed, but, like the nice people that they are, they assured me that they understood me perfectly and that I spoke clearly and eloquently. I guess I appreciate the flattery, though they probably weren’t totally honest… But that was definitely an interesting part of my service.

We spend our days in sessions learning mostly about HIV related topics, and then we did Zumba a few times after session and also feasted on the “exotic” foods of Bafoussam (ie veggie schwarma and salads). I guess it’s a nice break, but I’ll be ready to head back to post this weekend.

LOWS:

• Being in sessions all day

• Being eaten alive in the hotel room by some mosquitoes. Waking up to the sound of a mosquito buzzing in your ear is one of the worst things one can experience without it being a dire situation.

• Rameline’s trip means that she won’t be here for my last big project at post – my HIV testing campaign. But I guess the trip is a fair-enough trade off

HIGHS:

• Obviously, Rameline going to America!!

• Hanging out with PCV friends

• Being on tv, though I think I just kinda blabbered

• Veggie schwarma

• Hot showers

Sorry my thoughts/blogs haven’t been totally coherent. But voila. On va faire comment? 

Until next time!

Peace and love,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon

April Showers Bring…Vaccinations?

Hey there, world.

Happy April! And Happy Frappy Birthday to my favoritist sister ever See you in less than 3 months!

This week was busy and full of small adventures, friends, and lots of food.

I got back to post from Yaounde on Thursday, after waiting for far too long in a bus because we had to wait ’til it was jam-packed full before we took off. Luckily, though, I traveled back to Bazou with a fellow PCV, so that always makes traveling much more bearable. On the not-so-nice side, though, she left her wallet in a taxi, which was a bit of a downer for the day.

Back in Bazou, we took it easy and made a delicious meal with Thai curry courtesy of my parents. The next morning, we were up early to head out to a teeny village, Bassoumdjang. Being the last Friday of the month, it was vaccination day, so we decided to go out with Rameline. We hopped on a motorcycle and road about a little over a half hour to get to the village. Since the vaccinations need to stay cold/certain vaccines can only be used for a certain period of time once mixed together, the vaccinations are only done once a month. It make it easy on the villagers to remember, as well.

Upon arriving, villagers started showing up with their young children, most of them under the age of 5. They arranged a bunch of chairs and benches to accommodate the group, and Rameline started setting up shop. She took out her packets of syringes, vaccines, rubbing alcohol, and hand sanitizer. Although the vaccinations take place out in the open air because of a lack of actual clinic, she tries to keep things as sterile and clean as possible.

Finally, she got started with the vaccinations. And after watching her do one (I’d seen countless other ones on other occassions), she handed me the syringe and let me do one myself! Before she handed it over to me, I asked her how hard it was to screw one up, and Rameline just looked at me and said, “Wes. If you screw this up…you’re stupid.” Oh, man. Talk about pressure.

But luckily, it ended up being easier than imagined. …Although, it took a split second to realize that it would take a little bit more umph to really get the needle into the baby’s arm. Sorry, Little Baby, for poking your arm a bit.

Anyways, despite it being a super basic procedure, I was pretty damn proud of myself. And afterwards, Katie did her first vaccination, too, and I got to do one more before we had finished all the vaccinations. The last part was just giving the kids Vitamin A supplements, and it was entertaining to see Rameline and the moms tell the kids that it was “sugary candy” in order to get them to open wide. One of the kids looked pretty excited, until the drops actually went into his mouth. A mother in the group said, “It’s sweet, right? Just like candy.” And he screwed up his face and just said, “No.” Oops.

The next part was a little bit more gruesome. Rameline was perform a circumcision on a 6 month old baby, because his parents couln’t afford it when he was younger. Ouch. This poor baby was so smiley, too! When Rameline asked the mothers who she was to do the procedure on, all the mothers pointed to the happiest, fattest baby in the group. Everyone just laughed.

The procedure itself was done literally in a mud hut. It was pretty crazy, since in the US we have this super-sterile rooms for everything. And here we were, in a mud hut. The scissors and other tools that Rameline carried were in a little tin box, kind of like an old school pencil tin. She sterilized everything by pouring some alcohol over the instruments and then setting it on fire. Then the mini-surgery started.

The poor little baby’s smile lasted about 5 whole seconds before he burst into traumatized screams. It was pretty awful to watch, just because he was crying and screaming so much. Luckily though, the procedure was over fairly quickly, although that baby’s screaming could be continued to be heard, even as he was carried off. Ouch.

Once everything was all done, Katie and I decided to be adventurous and walk back to Bazou. Bassoumdjang is at a much lower elevation than Bazou, so we had quite the uphill trek. We hiked for over 2.5 hours until we were both pretty tired and dehydrated, so we decided to hop into a car heading back to Bazou for the very last part of the hike. The few cars and motos that passed us during our trek all offered to take us, but they were all pretty shocked to hear that the two Whites were going to walk all the way back.

The next morning, we headed to Bafoussam, and I continued on to my other friend’s post. After a short and scenic moto ride, I made it out to Kate’s house, where I was welcomed with banana bread, pasta, and all sort of yumminess. Another PCV also joined in that evening, and the next day for Easter, Katie (the one who was in Bazou with me) and another PCV joined in. After lots of preparation (I can’t say I took a big part in it, though) and lots of goofing off in the kitchen (that was mostly me), dinner was ready. Kate’s postmate came along with 3 of her friends visitng from the US. I would say that the Mexican-themed Easter was a success

The rest of the key has been pretty low-key. We got a very last-minute notificatin that we’d be going to Bafoussam for a seminar next week, and I was asked to help set up a table for a mini-fair. It’s been nice to have a little bit of busy work, even though a lot of it is stuff I can’t really do from post without materials and supplies.

I still haven’t had any success in finding a room yet for my dance and English classes, no thanks to the number of hoops I’ve had to jump through just to talk to the right person who can help me. Teaching dance was my favorite part of my activities, so I’m really hoping that we can make this happen ASAP.

LOWS:
- I lost my Cameroonian ID card. Oops

- Power is out right now

 

HIGHS:

• Getting to do the vaccination

• Katie’s visit to my post

• The Easter feast at Kate’s post

• We’ve had water and power fairly consistently since getting back. Except for now, of course

• Getting a message from Ms. Melody that made my day

• Timon is officially a hunter. I found a little dead mouse (poor mousey) outside that he’d killed. And he also gobbled up a huge spider that I killed in my house last night.

• Despite no power today, I managed to get a call through to my favorite sister, MeesheePoo, for her birthday

• I found Timon’s collar!

• I’m slowly but surely getting through my essays for applications. Even though they kinda sorta really suck. Oops. Gotta start somewhere though.

 

That’s all for this week. Until next time!

 

Love,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon

…And Then I Ate Poop.

Accidentally.

Because somehow I ended up with dysentery (ie a bad case of the runs). Sigh.

Luckily though, it’s not that horrific (although far from pleasant), I’m on antibiotics, and it’s easily treatable. Plus, I’m in Yaounde, although I’m really ready to just head back to post tomorrow, where it’s nice and cool, I’ll have my own space, and I’ll be reunited with my AniPals.

However, I did have to give a blood sample that left my arm bruised as if I hit up some illicit drugs recently. Gross. And I also had to poo in a cup. Sorry, it’s TMI. But it’s the truth.

While I was here though, two of my good friends were in Yaounde, too. So that made things better, despite not feeling so hot. And I got a Peace Corps ride to Yaounde on Saturday and stayed with the Embassy family for a night.

I’m super tired from staying up too late, too many nights watching movies with other PCVs. So I think I should just stop writing now.

HIGHS:

- Saw two of my good PCV friends

- Got lots of fast internet/watched some movies

- Dysentery is easy to treat

- I got a rain jacket from my parents. It’s awesome and green. Thanks!

- My friend is gonna visit my post in Bazou and I’ll be celebrating Easter with another PCV over the weekend

- Free rides with PC = the best

- I only got 2 mosquito bites while in Yaounde. Hellooooo, DEET.

- Picked up a new dress from the tailor today

- Go WM!!  #11!! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-brainiest-colleges-america-164400109.html

LOWS:

- Umm. Dysentery?

- It’s hot here.

Okay, that’s all.

Peace and love,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon

Month 19. Or Mile 19.

Howdy,

This is another Milestone Marker post. Wednesday marked 100 days until I leave for my trip to S. Africa with my family and Thursday marked the completion of Month 18!

As I was walking around village the other day, I realized how similar Peace Corps was to a marathon. The only difference is that Peace Corps is more emotionally/mentally challenging, while a marathon is by far more physically demanding. But there’s a little of both sprinkled into the two experiences. Not to mention, a marathon is 26.2 miles, and Peace Corps service is ~25/26 months (they always say 27 months, but that’s the maximum time for a normal service).

I remember that at the start of Mile 19 during my marathon in 2011, I was really starting to hit a wall. I started out too fast (okay, who am I kidding? I just started out faster than I should have. I was never going too fast), and by the time I hit Mile 19, I was feeling much more fatigued than I wanted to be. I never quite got my second wind, but I finished.

With Peace Corps, I feel like I started off sprinting, and hit my wall way too early. But in the past month or so, I’ve been feeling my second wind coming back. Perhaps I’m a little tired and starting to show signs of wear and tear, but I’m definitely feeling a bit better than where I was before. The finish line is starting to feel more real, and before I know it, I’ll be done.

Anywho.

I’m back in the Land of Bazou where we were out of water from last Tuesday until this Wednesday. Lucky me, though because I got back to post on Saturday, so it hasn’t been too bad here. And luckily, we’ve had electricity. So I guess I can’t really complain much. And it also rained on twice, which meant more water for my buckets! Seriously, though. Who needs water? Not us, apparently. This time, though, I am surprisingly less stressed about the water situation. I guess it must be the rain. Or I’m just becoming Cameroonian.

Aside from that, things have been pretty low key here. I’m still looking for a room to teach dance in. It’s just been a long process of trying to get a hold of the right person, who in turn, has to contact another person, whenever he/she is in Bazou to help us out.

I was feeling mildly sick the other day, so not wanting to risk going out and…well…soiling myself, ahem. I decided to stay at home where I worked all day on tedious things like my resume, some essays and applications. Last time I did this was in high school. I don’t think that this process has gotten much easier since then. But at least it was productive. And, on the bright side, I never actually got sick. Always a bonus.

In other crazy news, I was walking up a ginormous hill to get to Rameline’s house on Tuesday when I saw a woman walking towards me. She looked completely fine, but then suddenly she got a crazed look on her face and started running/stumbling forward towards me.

My first reaction was that she was just overreacting to seeing a white woman. So I let her stumble/run right by me, as she picked up momentum. Then suddenly she just came to a crash, face first, on the pavement. The way she fell looked like she might have cracked her skull right in two. I ran over to her, and luckily a man driving by saw what had happened, too, and immediately pulled over. Somehow, the woman had only sustained a bloodied nose, but was convulsing. People quickly gathered around, although nobody knew who she was. I called Rameline to come down from her house as we tried to go through her purse to search for a cell phone or her ID card. After asking everyone gathered around who she might be, a woman recognized her and was able to direct us to her sister. She also mentioned that she had had an epileptic episode just the day before and must have stopped taking her meds. Yikes.

Very luckily, the woman sustained no major injuries, and she was soon met by her sister who brought her back to her place. To say the least, it was an unexpected event in my day. I was just glad that she was okay at the end, although a bit shaken.

Well, tomorrow, I’ll be headed to Yaounde in a get this -  Peace Corps car!!! Whoo!! So I’m up for Skyping

CONS:

• I was bucket bathing the other day when I saw a pretty giant spider out the corner of my eye (although not the largest I’d ever seen). I quickly took off my flip flop, smashed the spider, ran out to grab Timon, plopped him in front of the slightly still-squirming arachnid, and watched him gobble it up. Then I went back to bucket bathing.
•  Termites are in season, too. With the beginning of rainy season come the termites. It’s really quite gross to have bugs swarming my lights. So I have to turn on my light outside, while keeping the one inside off. Then I wait for all the bugs to fly outside, slam the door, shut the windows, and hope that no termites made it in. But usually a handful still manage to make it in. Booooo

PROS:

• I’m absolutely lovin’ this rain. I guess maybe I won’t love it in a few months, but for right now, it’s so refreshing. My favorite is when I’m at my house reading, and you can hear the rainstorm moving in slowly across the hills. I even made a “Rainy Day” playlist on my computer. Perfection.
• MANGO SEASON IS HERE!!! I found my first mangoes in the Bangangte market on my way back from Yaounde. They are so beautifully delicious. This is what I love about Cameroon. I can’t wait until they become even more common and cheap.
• I’m starting to make some progress on these damned applications. At least it gives me something to do when I’m at my house
• Power has been much better recently, and it’s a wonder what a difference it makes to have constant electricity that’s not constantly being turned on and off. Not to mention that my internet seems to have gotten a bit better (for the most part)
• I got a cute card from my sis (thanks, Meeshee-poo!), although your package still has not arrived :-/
• I taught my health class on Wednesday, but I decided to switch things up a bit and do a warm-up with them. I brought my mini-speakers, and we played games with some music and dancing involved. They seemed to perk up a bit from that. Also, I taught them how to play Human Knot (ie hold hands with two other people in a group, and then try to untangle the whole group without letting go). I made them say “Please” and “Thank you” after giving someone else instructions. One of the groups literally started yelling, “S’IL TE PLAIT !” and “MERCI!” while pulling and yanking until they just fell into one big human pile. But surprisingly, one group, who was perhaps in the most intense human knot ever, made it all the way through. I was pretty impressed.
• I got a pot of beans cookin’ on the stove again. I’m hoping that it turns out better than the last round.
• One of my good friends from Peace Corps returns from her trip to Italy this wk! I’ll be seeing her in Yaounde

Okay, well that’s all. A la prochaine!

 

Love,

Wes, Pumba, and Timon the Evil