September 12th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
It was dark outside when the plane was landing. So I couldn’t get any first impression from the air. However, once the plane landed, I said to myself, “Am I really in Africa now? Oh my god!”
Once I got off the plane, I immediately sweated to death. No, it was not because I was nervous. It was because there was no air condition. I was getting a taste of what to expect for the next two years. The airport surprisingly didn’t look like it was in a bad condition. It did look old but was well maintained. As soon as all 51 of us volunteers arrived at the customs, we met the first staff from Peace Corps in Cameroon. She was in charge of travel arrangements. She took all of our passports and took care of all the customs duties for us.
Then once we passed the customs, many other Peace Corps staff members including the director of Peace Corps in Cameroon were there not only welcoming us but also already picking up our bags at the baggage claim.
As soon as I was on the bus and it left the airport, I could really see what was outside even though it was dark. I was expecting to have the same reaction I had when I first got off the plane in Cusco, Peru five years ago. When I first got in the taxi in Peru and saw the town looking like as if it had been destroyed by an earthquake or tornado and the environment being completely different what I have seen all my life, I said of myself, “What the hell have I done to myself?” I remember shaking a little and feeling like I just wanted to close my eyes for a bit. I was truly overwhelmed. I experienced a very serious culture shock. I have been telling everyone prior to leaving Cameroon that I would most likely have the same reaction once I got off the plane.
But I didn’t have the same reaction.
I just said, “Yeah. It reminds me a lot of Peru.”
Many buildings looked like as if they were falling apart. I saw lots of street vendors. They were just simply tables by the street with umbrellas and people selling ordinary items such as food and clothes. I could see that some roads were not paved well. It’s important to note that in spite of the very different landscape in comparison to the US, it does not mean Cameroon is a bad place. It’s just a different world. I am sure that will find many beautiful treasures as time goes by like I did when I was in Peru.
I was even surprised at myself that I was not having a panic attack. I think I didn’t experience a shock because I had mentally prepared myself for several weeks to experience seeing a landscape that is totally different from my homeland. Seeing photos taken by Peace Corps volunteers who were in Cameroon on blogs has also helped me prepare greatly to know what I should expect to see. I will always be forever grateful to Peace Corps volunteers who made the effort to share their experience and photos through blogging. I also believe that having already experienced living in another developing country also helped me not experience the sudden culture shock.
However, that doesn’t mean I’ll never experience culture shock while living in Cameroon. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading to Mengong, a village next to Ebolowa where all Health volunteers and I’ll be living with a host family for the next ten weeks. Ebolowa is where we will do most of the trainings for the next ten weeks. We will officially become volunteers in mid-November and move to our posts then. Therefore, it is very possible that I could face unexpected experiences by seeing how my host family live differently from what I have seen everywhere I have traveled and also my doing things differently on daily basis such as taking a bucket bath and washing clothes by hand.
Since last night, I have been staying in a hotel in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, that had air condition and warm shower water. I’m certainly surprised that I would have modern amenities in the hotel!
I will try to write a blog post tomorrow about my first day of training in Cameroon. If not, definitely next week. My internet access will be limited for the next ten weeks as my host family will not have access in the home and that means I’ll only have access at the training site. I’ll at least have a working cell phone that can only make calls and text.
