Author Archives: Rachel

Maggi is to Cameroonians.  Parmesan cheese is to Americans.  This is how I explain to my Cameroonian friends about the importance of Parmesan cheese.  I never realized that the parmesan cheese is the most prized food until when I made my first pasta dish at my post, a few days after moving to Bamenda.  When […]

This is a long overdue blog post.  This photo essay features an upper-middle class, modern host family with whom I lived in Mengong, a rural village just outside of Ebolowa, during training.  The photos give the Americans and other foreigners an insight into the life of a group of Cameroonians in a home.  While most […]

I have so far interviewed over 70 persons with disability for my Community Needs Assessment throughout the Mezam division which basically means Bamenda and villages surrounding Bamenda.  I have not only met with people with disability in their homes and workplaces around the town, but also I have met people with disability at a rehabilitation […]

In training, I listened to a presentation about Peace Corps Volunteers getting malaria. Cameroon unfortunately has the highest number of Peace Corps Volunteers getting malaria.  About 50 volunteers out of about 170 volunteers have become ill with it each year in the past few years. According to the results of surveys completed by Peace Corps […]

“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” – Oprah Winfrey Today marks exactly four months since I stepped on Cameroon for the very first time.  It’s really hard to write my feelings down because I cannot believe that I’ve been away from the United States for four months already.  It […]