September 18th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” – Amelia Earhart
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Cameroon and have had very little internet connection for one week. Do I miss internet? That is a question I asked myself last night. Believe or not, I have mixed feelings.
When I first arrived in Yaounde and discovered that the internet was slow and unreliable, I felt frustrated. I was impatient. I was used to the fast pace life that I’ve always had in America. I wanted the news reports instantly. I wanted to stay on top of what was going on in my family and friends’ life. I quickly learned to accept that the slow connection would become the new way of life.
Then on Saturday afternoon, when I was cut off completely from internet, I felt like I was thrown into a dark cave and I was completely cut off from the world. I no longer knew what was happening outside of the village where I was living. I had this feeling that was like as if one of my body parts had been cut off. There were times when I felt like I wanted to pull out my iPhone and check Facebook and Twitter to know what’s going in the world.
However, by Sunday afternoon, I quickly forgot about internet. My day was so busy as I spent time touring the village, getting water, helping my family cook and clean and talking to them. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Prior to Peace Corps, I always needed to be on the internet before bed to help me fall asleep and again, to keep up with latest news. I did worry about what I could do to help me fall asleep without the internet access.
However, since arriving in Cameroon, I have not had one day where I felt the strong need to have internet before bed. Once I’m in bed, I fall asleep right away. My days at training are long and intense. When I come home, I still have more work to do. I spend a lot of time playing with the kids, getting the water, running errands and reading some materials from Peace Corps. By the time I finish with everything, I’m so exhausted that I can’t imagine having a moment to use the internet.
Last Tuesday when I accessed internet for the first time in more than 48 hours, the feeling was so mixed. The moment I saw my emails coming in and Facebook and Twitter notifications, I felt both a sense of relief and overwhelmed. I was relieved when I could finally get news from friends and family, but I felt so overwhelmed by the amount of messages and notifications I received. I received more than 20 Facebook notifications. Because I had limited time to use the internet, I didn’t know where to start in catching up what I missed. I did manage to have time quickly go through the notifications. I was amazed by how much news could flow into our lives within a short period.
I did worry that I would have a hard time keeping my iPhone put away and not using it during classes when I’m at the training center that had internet access. I actually had said that if I had to go back to school, my biggest challenge would be keeping my iPhone put away or internet shut off on my computer during class. Yes, I was really addicted to internet. There were times when I’d be looking on my iPhone when I shouldn’t be. Here, during my training in Cameroon, I haven’t felt the strong desire to pull out my iPhone. The classes have been keeping me so well engaged as the instructors speak about topics which really makes me want to pay attention closely. I also have become motivated to do my best job.
I now say that I don’t always miss internet. I sure do wish that I could know more about what is going on in the world, but not having internet has forced me and taught me to have more face to face communication and spend more time outside. I am spending a great deal of time getting to know my host family and neighbors. If I had internet, I likely would have stayed in my room or in the living room and rarely get to know people in my home and community. But I do miss the convenience of staying in touch with everyone.
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.
September 15th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
Close your eyes for a second. Picture Africa in your mind. What do you see?
You’re probably envisioning a hot desert. People wearing African pagne and walking with big buckets filled with water or food on their head. Lions, tigers and giraffes roaming through the open space land. You’re probably also imagining homes that look like shacks and are not well maintained. You may think there is no access to electricity and people have to walk far to find water.
Prior to leaving for Cameroon, people asked me how I can recharge batteries for my cochlear implant devices. I was also asked how I can protect my sound processors from the heat. People also asked me how I can find toilet paper and other essential items. Most importantly, everyone’s been asking me how I can stay in touch with everyone in the US.
Well, let me tell you what one small part of Africa really looks like. I’m in a village called Mengong which is in south of Cameroon, just outside of Ebolowa. The village is so small that there is probably only three convenient stores and two restaurants. The convenient stores have everything I would need which includes toilet paper, soap and packaged food. They even sell a chocolate spread that is similar to Nutella. It’s chocolate with peanuts. It tastes very similar to and just as yummy as Nutella. I am living with a family of six in a beautiful home that is built with bricks. There is electricity. I can recharge my batteries for my cochlear implants every night and use the dry and store. The moment my host mother opened the door to the bathroom, I saw a toilet. You have no idea how happy I was to see a toilet. I even texted my mother, “OMG! I have a toilet! And electricity.” However, in order to “flush” the toilet, I have to get a bucket of water and pour it into the toilet. There is no water access inside the home. However, just right next to the house, there is a water pump. I just take a bucket outside and pour water into it. I do take a bucket bath. I can boil the water to have a hot bucket bath. I certainly will have to do laundry by hand with the buckets and also wash dishes by hand. The weather is cool and mostly cloudy at the moment. The landscape looks like as if I’m in a rainforest. There are lots of green trees and grass. There are even palm trees. There are no lions, tigers, or giraffes but there are lots of roosters roaming the grassy field. I am so grateful that I can turn my ears off because roosters are pretty loud in the early mornings. People in the village wear ordinary everyday western clothing. They even dress beautifully and look clean. Some guys wear nice dress shirts and black pants. Children and teenagers walk around with iPod and headphones on their ears. I see people everywhere texting and making calls frequently with their cell phones. I just spoke to my parents in the US without any problems. My host family has a flat screen TV with channels from both the US and France such as Nickelodeon, Synco, Canal+, and MTV. Children love watching Spongebob. My host family also has a car.
So, for what I have described so far about my surroundings, is it what you have expected to see in Africa?
It’s important to note that what I shared is based on just one person’s experience and every volunteer has unique experiences. For example, not all have toilets and most host families do not have a car.
September 15th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
Since the day after we first arrived in Cameroon, we have been busy listening to various lectures that focused primarily on health, safety and what to expect during the next 27 months. We met with the director of Peace Corps Cameroon, one of the medical officers, Director of Pre-Service training, current Peace Corps volunteers, host family coordinator and training manager. I want to share one thing I heard that hit close to home.
The director of pre-service training who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay shared a personal story that happened while she was a volunteer in Paraguay. She was meeting an uncle of her host family who was a mayor. As they were speaking to each other, she “hears” the mayor asking why some people are short and others are tall. She gave an explanation of why people are in different heights. The host sister then giggles a little and said, “He was asking how were you doing.” She said that she was embarrassed but soon realized that it was part of the experience in living an environment that is different from hers and speaking a second language. She asked all volunteers to be humble and be open to experiencing mistakes like her example. I laughed and could relate to her experience.
Even though I’ve misunderstood what I heard from time to time when communicating in French, I’ve also done it in English a number of times in my life because of my hearing loss. It’s very easy for people with hearing loss to give a wrong or odd response to what one person says because they mishear. So, this particular experience will not be a culture shock for me personally because I’m so used to dealing with the situation. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have had to say, “Oh I’m sorry! I misunderstood you. I thought you said this…” However, for people with normal hearing, it’s almost like as if their tables will be turned around. They will get to experience not only what people experience when communicating in a second language, but also what people with hearing loss experience too when facing misunderstandings. It will be interesting to see how Peace Corps volunteers will face the situation.
We also had an interview in French to determine our placement level. My interview went OK. There were a couple words from there and there that I forgot and so, I had to quickly figure out how to say things differently to try to get around the words I forgot. For example, I was asked what was the weather, and I forgot the word for “cloudy” and so, I said, “There is not a lot of sun.” I’m not too worried about my current French skills because I am confident that once I’m totally back in the French speaking environment, I’ll quickly get back to where I was when I last spoke the language in 2009.
We also interviewed with the head of our sectors. So, I interviewed with the head of the health sector. The goal of the interview was to have the head of health sector get to know me better and give me the opportunity to share my goals and worries. I told her that while understand that one of Peace Corps’ policy is for the volunteers to be flexible and go where the volunteers are needed, I’d like to be placed where I can work with people with disabilities as a secondary project. All volunteers are required to do a secondary project, and it can be in any area of our choice.
I mentioned that I had been in touch with two Cameroonian women with disabilities who are presidents of disability organizations since shortly after receiving the invitation. One of them was featured on NPR recently, and the head of health sector already knew the woman well. In fact, Peace Corps volunteers have worked with her in the past. Both women with disabilities told me that they need a lot of help to improve the lives of people with disabilities, especially when it comes to equality and accommodations.
She then said, “About seven years ago, we had a volunteer who was totally blind and she did the most beautiful work.”
“I know the volunteer who you’re talking about. She’s the one who was in the Far North?” I said.
She said, “Yes, that’s her.”
It was really refreshing to hear that she already knows that people with disabilities can do good work, and I don’t have to worry about her doubting my ability to work. She was very open to my idea for secondary project and said she’d take my idea into consideration when deciding where to post me for two years.
On Friday night, all volunteers went to Peace Corps Cameroon Director’s home and the US ambassador to Cameroon was present. We were asked to wear formal clothing and be present before the ambassador arrived. When the ambassador arrived, we all stood up to greet him. He spoke for a few minutes. He emphasized that we, soon-to-be Peace Corps volunteers, are considered “ambassadors” too because one of our biggest responsibility is representing ourselves as Americans, teaching Cameroonians who are the Americans, and also teaching Americans who are the Cameroonians. One of our goals is build good relationships between Cameroon and the US.
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.
