September 17th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
Mengong – this road takes us to the training center
On my first day of training in Mengong on Monday, all health trainees were asked to share their challenges and excitements of living in Mengong and staying with a host family after having spent a day with them. I will quote what I said to the class, “I got three marriage proposals and fell in the mud but my host family has been wonderful and very friendly.”
Marriage proposal is an issue that all female Peace Corps volunteers has been facing for many years when living in Cameroon. It’s not a harmful situation. A random man will just come up to a white female and ask along the lines, “Do you have a husband? Do you want to marry me?” Every volunteer responds differently. Some will be honest by saying, “No, I prefer to be single. I am here to work.” Some others will wear a ring on their ring finger and create an imaginary husband and just tell the men that their husbands are at home in the US. The first man asked me if I had a husband and asked for my phone number. I just said, “I don’t know my phone number,” and then I walked away. The second man who asked me was the English teacher of two of my host siblings. I just explained to him in English that in America, many women prefer to be single and that I’m in Cameroon for work. As for the third proposal, a man came running to me and as he was about to open his mouth and likely ask me if I have a husband, one of my host sisters who was with me put her arms around me and pulled me away from the man.
Almost all other female trainees in my sector had very similar experiences too when first arriving in Mengong. The host family coordinator told us that it’s something that all of us, females, will have to face no matter where we are in Cameroon during the next two years but it’s not harmful. I was personally not shocked when I encountered three marriage proposals. I have read about the situation on several blogs written by Peace Corps volunteers in Cameroon and so, I was well prepared to deal with it.
Yes, I did fall in the mud. I have learned that I should never ever wear flip flops outside in the mud! I got not only my pants and shirt totally wet and dirty but also my camera. My family helped me clean up my camera very nicely, and it’s still working well.
My host family has been incredibly kind and welcoming. There are three daughters, age 16, 13 and 12 and a son, age 11. The father is a high school math teacher and the mother works in a shop. They have been patient with me trying to regain my French speaking skills and allowing me to take time to look up words in the dictionary to fill in the words I forgot. They have been willing to repeat or rephrase what I struggled to understand what they said. The French accent is a little different from the accent in France but it’s no where near as difficult as Québécois French. So, my brain needs some time to adjust to hearing the different accent. My host brother took me on a tour of the village. He and his sisters are very photogenic. They love to be photographed. Every time the host brother asked me to photograph a building, he would get in front of the building and pose to be in the picture. I told the family that I would love to help them with household chores, and they welcomed me to help them with cleaning the dishes and cooking. They cook a variety of interesting dishes. I will save the details on food for another blog post. I feel that the topic “food” deserves its own blog post.
My host father and I made a very small world connection. One of his sisters lived in Boston, only about two miles from where I lived, for five years to do PhD at Boston University. She won a full ride scholarship to pursue her studies there. She now lives in Yaounde and still works for Boston University. She’s the director of a study program for Americans who want to come and study in Yaounde. She travels back to Boston a few times a year.
