A belated Women’s Day Video

Ashley and I made this video to show how Cameroonians celebrate International Women’s Day, which is March 9th.  Despite the hot sun, we had a great time dressing up in traditional Cameroonian clothes, known as kabas, and marching in the parade with GHAPE borrowers.  I think we also had a little too much fun making this video…

I must say that Women’s Day was one of my favorite memories of Cameroon.  It was great to see women out enjoying themselves by celebrating with fellow women.  It was a nice change from the daily scene.  During this special day, if I got hollered at, it wasn’t a marriage proposal, it was simple a “HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY!” shout out.  I wish everyday was Women’s Day!

Still in Cameroon

Quick update:

I just arrived in Douala last night from Kribi, which was amazing.  I leave for Paris tonight.  See you all soon.

New Post on Kiva Fellows Blog!

Check out my second posting on the Kiva Fellows blog!

http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2009/04/22/its-time-to-invest-in-stock-livestock-that-is

The Random Things Everyone Wants to Know About Bamenda

Excuse the choppiness of this post, but I am going to attempt to really reveal some details about Bamenda and Cameroon in general.  

You can really see the stars here at night and when the electricity goes out, which is quite often, it’s even better.  The only other place I have seen as many stars is in Chesterfield, SC, USA, so this view is quite breathtaking and I can’t get enough of it.  I think I saw the Orion’s Belt the other day, which means the view is the same as NY’s. Something like that.

Common ingredients in dishes here are palm oil, beans, plantains, bananas, dried fish, yams, potatoes and corn.  How many foreigners make food is slicing tomatoes, avocado, and egg and calling it day.  I never thought I would say this, but avocado and I need a break.  I can’t enjoy it like I used to.  Maybe when I go back to NY where avocado is 2 to 3 bucks a pop, I will regret that statement.

Bush meat is real and I have seen it.  As Anderson Cooper has warned my whole family about, Cameroon is home to many jungle animals, like monkeys and these huge rat-like rodents, which are seen as delicacies to people here.  When I was in Foubam, I saw a man advertise his monkey meat but swinging by its tail down the main street.  YUM!

As far as I know, there is no McDonald’s in Cameroon.

I am pretty sure all of my childhood toys and clothes have ended up in Bamenda.  Everytime I walk through the market I see toys I had when I was 5 and when I look closer, many of these items have Salvation Army stickers on them.  Also, because so many of the clothes are second hand, it makes it more fun to try and find a t-shirt of a hometown or something similar.  The closest I got was one of the hospital attendants had a St. Leo College T-shirt on, which is a small small (pidgin talk) college located outside of Tampa, Fl.

Here is how I introduce myself in pidgin: “GOOOOD Morning, I salute Ou’Na. My name na Kristy. I work with Kiva. I come up from the U.S. I be very happy to work with Ou’Na all!”  Other important sayings are the following: 

• Talk Say=I said/say
• Massa=Husband
• Pickin’=Child
• Small small=small
• I chop=I cook/eat
• I go chop=I will cook/eat
• I de chop=I cooked/ate

There are three ATMs in Bamenda and usually only one is working.  And, everyone who has a Visa card is waiting in line at the end of the month.  If a line seems longer, it is probably longer: it is socially acceptable to stand in line and then ask the person behind you to hold your spot for a while.  So don’t be fooled.

Motorbikes are a common way to transport across town.  And, if the public saw all the babies who ride the front seat of these bikes, also known as ocadas, they would have been less harsh with Michael Jackson and his swinging baby over the hotel phase or with Britney Spears and her her front seat drivin’ kids.

Overall, living here has been different, but easy to pick up after the first week.  I want to remember these details and more.  It’s so easy to forget the daily routine when you go back to what you know.

Limbe!

These pictures (there should be more, but I just cannot deal with being on the internet longer than 3 hours to write one posting) are from our trip to Limbe, which is located in the Southwest Region of Cameroon.  Besides my dear friend Ashley being horribly sick, it was a fantastic voyage!

Just imagine sleeping in a tent next to the beach with two hammocks to lay on and somewhat indoor plumbing.  The sand in Limbe is black, which is something I had never seen before.  The beach we were on was not crowded whatsoever and the water was warm.  For a Floridian like myself, it was a taste of home but still enjoying Cameroon subsequently.

The town of Limbe is refreshing after spending a couple of weeks in Bamenda.  There are a couple of decent boulangeries and a great cafe, called Arne, which served iced coffee!  If you continue on to Down Beach, there are tons of fishermen to buy fresh fish from and then have it cooked right in front of you while you grab a beer.  What could be better?

I didn’t really do this, but the town also has a famous wildlife center and botanical gardens.  I will stop sounding like a tourist book, but it was definitely one of the only touristy areas I have visited during my fellowship and again, coming from a beachy area of FL, it was a piece of home and Cameroon!

I wholeheartedly recommend visiting Limbe, but if coming from Bamenda or somewhere similar, you definitely have to earn your trip-it takes 9 hours to get there and if you are economical, you take the night bus to get there.  I will be the first to admit that I really, really despise night buses. Imagine a mini-bus where it should fit 4 close together but instead fits 5, and there are speed bumps all along the way and numerous stops.  It is by no means a direct drive.  Oh, and there are goats sometimes standin gon teh roof of the bus or pigs and chickens under your feet in the bus.  

The other part of the bus ride is one of the most irritating to me.  It’s what I call the Cameroon version of street advertisements–someone gets on the bus at the beginning of the ride and stands there for a bit saying a couple of prays.  That is all fine and well, but then it continues.  The person then advertises black poison which will help with ANY problem you have–a “running” stomach, constipation, headache, cramps, fatigue, inability to conceive, impotence, you name it.  He or she passes some of this black powder around and the first time I witnessed this, I thought for sure that no one would be interested.  I was proven incorrect; in fact, when someone took a call during the presentation, the whole bus showed their disapproval of the rogue’s disregard.  When the person advertising the Lord’s medicine finishes, he or she then pays the driver for the time.  Interesting.  Pepsi should consider doing something similar here since I have only seen Coke.  I digress.  My advice to anyone taking a night bus in Cameroon is do what many do here–take sleeping pills or drink a beer.  Something to help ease the disruptions and tight squeeze!  And if going to Limbe, enjoy it!

Sick of Sickness and the Explanation of Jungle Justice

It’s been over ten days since my last post and sitting here trying to hone in on what I want to write about proves to be that much harder when I delay updating people on my whereabouts and what not. So where to begin? How ’bout a recap of all that is gone on in the past week or so?

After I posted some of those pictures, I got swamped with work at GHAPE as well as just plain frustrated with waiting for one webpage to upload.  On top of my work, some other things have gotten in the way–my health.  I will not go into detail, but to be honest, these past two weeks have been hard.  I have had a stomach/intestine bacteria that is refusing to go away.  And besides having to make sure I am close to a hopefully working toilet, I feel exhausted more than half the time.  I do NOT like being tired, sick and simply weak.  I am frustrated .  And yes, I have been the hospital.  Twice, though not that serious.

So yesterday I started feeling a little better. I got up at 6:30 in the morning and decided that even though I wasn’t feeling 100%, I would go on as if I was and then the rest would follow through.  It’s like the mentality–start smiling when you don’t feel like it to help your mood.  I got my running clothes on, put on my ipod shuffle and hit the streets of Bamenda running.  While I was not proud of how long I lasted out there, I was still content with the fact that I did it.  After the run, I decided that day it was going to be the day I had food again.  So Ashley and I decided to walk to one of our favorite spots to get coffee and breakfast.

On the way we stopped at the market shops buying small items for the apartment, and because I constantly needed money, I kept my wallet out, but in hand or in my pocket.  Lesson learned.

We were not in a crowded area, I was not waving my wallet around, I did not feel watched, but obviously was.  This man, around my age or so, nicely dressed, with books in hand, runs into me, and TAKES MY WALLET.  OH NO HE DID NOT.  Adrenaline pumping and not thinking at all, I go after him (and was ready to run as long as it would have taken).  Grabbing him, I YELL at the top of my lungs, “GIVE ME BACK MY WALLET” while saliva escapes out of my mouth (not purposely, but slightly satisfied some of my spit has landed on his face).  Without a struggle, I retrieve my wallet while he attempts to insult me with an adjective I agree with at the moment, “STUPID.”  And he just keeps on walking and I continue to shop.

This attempted theft is the second between me and Ashley (the first happened to Ashley while she was sitting in the window seat of a cab; she was too quick for this guy, too) and it makes me not mad, not sad, but just confused.  If you ask a Cameroonian why there are so many thefts in Bamenda, you will most likely get a one word answer–Poverty.  Well, sure, when the poverty levels go up, so does crime.  It happens all over the world and is especially happening right now in the US as our economy continues to be in shambles, BUT there is something else to this.  Out of all the crimes I have witnessed and have known about, the thievery is coming from people who are not the worse off.  And, besides the random occurrences of stealing from the white man, these people are taking from people who are just as bad off as them or worse, so why do it?  

Again, some might answer that it is because of the lack of government or absence of uncorrupt police, but that answer does not address the issue in its entirety.  In Cameroon, if you are called a thief, it’s bad news bears for you!  Jungle Justice is very real here, which is when people take the law in their own hands and punish those who have committed a crime like theft or murder.  There is a BBC article from a couple of years ago about it and nothing has really changed since: BBC Article on Jungle Justice from 2006.  Here is another from 2007 from an Reuters-like website for Africa: http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/12727. 

My point is that trouble with the law or avoiding jail is motivation to not commit a crime, and the same goes for jungle justice; it’s enough of a motivation to not steal, etc.  

Ultimately, I have no real conclusion as to why the crime rate is as high.  I will say poverty if asked, but I think there is more to it.  And now, it is even harder to deal with now that I have even confronted some of our offenders and have seen their faces.

Some Pictures

Greetings!

My home in Bamenda

Surrounding Mountains

My Work with GHAPE Borrowers

Today is a great day in Cameroon–I officially uploaded my first video of an interview I had with a GHAPE borrower.  The interview was meant for the Kiva website, but after spending much time on youtube, I found out that this borrower’s most recnt loan came from GHAPE and not Kiva.  So all is not lost if I can share it on here!

Some things you just can’t take pictures of…

From the bathroom mishaps to daily encounters with Cameroonians, everyday in Cameroon is pretty eventful. Today is no different. I normally wake up to the buzzing of my cell phone alarm, however, today I woke up to wailing and lots of it. Once I sat up and heard music, I realized that it was a ceremony.

I guessed it was a funeral procession, so it was not shocking to confirm, but I will tell you what was disturbing to me: the body that lay outside in front of my neighbors door in an bright orange coffin was of a little boy of ten years old. In Cameroon, funerals are a very public event and because death is a big part of life here, you would think that this news of our neighbor would not affect my co-workers as much as me, a foreigner, but I was proven incorrect. All of my co-workers walked across the way and gave their condolences, clearly moved by the passing of a child.

I don’t believe in exploiting a situation, but I wish I could have taken just one picture to show the seriousness of the situation here. While Bamenda has hospitals, international cell phone companies, restaurants, a soccer league and other developing businesses, it is still in bad shape compared to the developed world. Everyday, I meet with GHAPE borrowers (most of whom live off of less than a dollar a day), hear their stories, and see their homes and businesses, but witnessing this funeral today reminded me about the bigger picture—the macro side of it all. GHAPE and other microfinance organizations here seem to help one step at a time, but it frustrates me to hear about a government that clearly refuses to use their funds to help the infrastructure of its nation. Too many people are left without an education, health services and stable income and way of life.

Of course, I still do not have much time with the internet, so again, excuse my brevity. Expect a more upbeat posting soon!

Women’s day was this past Sunday, so expect pictures soon! To women’s empowerment!

 

Baby!

So, don’t be fooled–I still do not have a good internet connection or access, but I did have more time in my day to sit at one internet cafe that has wireless. Above is my new best friend in Cameroon.

On a different note, the other Kiva fellow (Ashley) and I took a day trip to Belo, a small village about an hour outside of where we are based in Bamenda.  In order to get there, we took a motorbike to the main part of town, then a taxi car to where you can catch a ride to Belo and other surrounding villages.  The ride from Bamenda to Belo consists of one main in a small car charing about 900 CFA per passanger, about $1.80.  The car has 5 seats, but in Cameroon, that does not mean it is 4 passangers and a driver.  It means 7 passangers and a driver (4 in front, 4 in back).  It’s one thing to squeeze four people in the back for an hour ride, but it’s another when you squeeze a fourth person on the left side of the driver.  I cannot explain to you how the driver actually drove-windy, but paved roads, going about 60 mph down steep hills.  I am starting to understand why religion is a major aspect of life here.  I know I was praying!

Before our trip to Belo, I had heard about the cattle herders who come all the way from the north end of Cameroon and herd about 30 cattle on foot, crossing the whole country in a matter of days. Yesterday, we got the experience of seeing these cattle herders. It is the coolest thing to see on the road.  Just tons of cows with HUGE horns getting out of the way with these old men just walking next to them.

Sorry for the short blog.  Will post again soon with better stories.