Laos

Dave has sent a few short e-mails this week.  I will highlight some of his comments.
Tues:  "We are in the mountains so it cools off considerably.  Tonight I have a warmer blanket so I might sleep better.  ..
Wed:  "I had a better night, but the rooster woke me up this morning! 
I am doing a training session - with translation- which is interesting.
Fri:  "Thathom is in the middle of Laos.  Things here are not as undeveloped as they seem.  Agriculture seems to be largely 'mechanized'. 
I'm going to Vanghai today for a couple of days with the land survey team.
As far as language goes, I have people I can talk to in English, including some of the MCC national staff."
I don't expect we'll hear from Dave when he is in Vanghai.  Pray that all goes well.

Paris, Bangkok, Vientiane, Tha Thom

You may need to dig out your trusty atlas to figure out where all those places are!
Dave and I parted ways in Paris.  I headed home and his adventures continued eastward.  As I said earlier, I will quote some of his e-mails to keep you up to date on his travels.
Bangkok:  "hot and steamy, like Douala, but doesn't smell like Douala."
Vientiane, Laos:  a two-hour delay in reaching this city.  Paperwork was a bit of an adventure. 
Tha Thom, Laos:  "Guess where all the MCC blankets go that your mother sews?  To MCC of course.  And I am sleeping under one of those tonight."
The last night wasn't that great because of a noisy Buddhist festival going on, and because of a hard bed and a cool night.
He's 14 hours ahead of Alberta time zone.  It's going to be interesting to try to call each other.

Limbe and Leaving

Ever since Dave stuck his feet into the Atlantic Ocean at Limbe, he has said he wanted to take me there.  That was three years ago.  So, yes, we went to the beach at Limbe.  It was a beautiful clean black sand beach on a very warm ocean on a very warm afternoon.  What a beautiful ending to our time in Cameroon.  It has been a wonderful time; a great experience of learning about another culture first hand. 

I am now at home after about 48 hours of little sleep; 16 hours of which were spent in airplanes.

Dave has e-mailed to say his is now in Vientiane, Laos, having experienced some adventures in getting there.  Details to follow (maybe).
He will be there for the next two weeks.  If he is near a computer he will try to e-mail me some notes to post on this blog about his further adventures. 

Last Days in Bamenda

Our time in Bamenda is rapidly coming to a close. Today Dave did a presentation about the GIS Software that GP has installed on their systems.  This brings to an end his tasks here (for now).  To learn more about the organization, check out their website:  http://www.gpderudep.org/
As I mentioned before, Friday I finished the first draft of the Nutrition and HIV/AIDS learner's manual for IDF. To learn more about them, check out their website: http://idfbamenda.wordpress.com/about/
Yesterday Matou hired a taxi for us and we travelled through various parts of Bamenda.  She showed me some of the projects her organization has been involved in over the last few years.  This included widen and paving roadways in the quarters (residential suburbs), replacing narrow earthen footpaths with wider paving stone walkways, replacing rickety log bridges with concrete ones, complete with handrails.  These projects improved the safety and accessibility of the neighbourhoods, which in turn improved people's attitudes about their neighbourhoods encouraging them to improve the appearance of their homes and yards and making room for small shops and roadside market vendors to pop up.
In the afternoon I went shopping.  Matou sent me out with a colleague to be sure I would get a fair price.  I wonder why?!
Today, while Dave was doing his final presentation, I had the opportunity to visit a secondary/high school. It was a huge school (grade 7 - 12), with over 4000 students and 200 staff.  I was given a tour of the whole campus, library, computer labs, science labs and classrooms.  I spoke with students and teachers and asked many questions. The class sizes are huge and resources are limited.  Thus all instruction is done lecture style with students taking careful notes.  Despite the infrastructure challenges, I was told that the students fare well on government exams. When I spoke with the students, I asked them what they knew about Canada.  The first answer is almost all classes was "Canada is a bi-lingual country".  That is important, as it brings a certain kinship between our two countries.
This evening we were taken out to an exclusive tennis club for a farewell dinner, for "the best chicken and chips in Bamenda."  Their reputation remained intact, as it definitely was a very delicious meal.  It is a fitting ending to our last full day in Bamenda.  Tomorrow we expect to go to Limbe (the ocean beaches), Douala and by Thursday evening we will be on our way - I will be returning home, Dave on to Laos.

A Busy Weekend.

It has been a very full weekend of activities.  Our new friends want to show us as much of their county as they possibly can, as we'll be leaving much too soon.
Friday I completed the first draft of the booklet on "Nutrition and HIV/AIDS". Well, it is finished enough to hand off to someone else to continue.
In the late afternoon I observed grassroots democracy.  We went to a quarter (a sub-division or suburb, I suppose), where a community development council was elected.  This type of a free, open election at a small community hall level is a new idea and the people were so excited to participate.  To get to and from this venue I had my first opportunity to get to ride a taxi: three of us jammed into the back with bags and backpacks.  Nothing unusual!

Saturday was National Youth Day.  We were invited to attend, in either formal wear or traditional wear.  One of the main events was the March Past.  All the students from all the schools of Bamenda (a city of about 300,000) marched past the grandstands, complete with a circus organ drum beat that didn't stop.  For hours and hours.  Four hours.  At least we were sitting in the shade.  After, we saw a little bit of a cultural display and then drove for an hour into the country to village of one of Dave's colleagues.  He introduced us to an uncle who was a career diplomat, now armchair philosopher.  We had a very entertaining visit.

Today we went to Widikum.  This was the village where Dave had worked last time he was here three years ago.  It was good to see where he had stayed, etc. and his cook, Stellah, made us rice and fish soup for dinner.  The road to Widikum is apparently in much better shape than last time. We didn't take out the bottom of the Ford minivan.   The Chinese are working on paving the whole thing, rebuilding some sections and thus we encountered road building at every stage.  Dave had forgotten how much hotter and humid Widikum is than Bamenda.  Thus we returned quite tired from heat and bumpy roads.

A few photos.

Yes, we really are in Africa!

                                                    What would you like to try for lunch today?

                                    A typical street vendor scene, selling everything you can imagine.

The farmers burn off the dried grass for a fresh growth in the rainy season.  That's why the air always smelled of smoke here.  The rainy season begins March 15th.

You are Christmas

The days begin early, with sunrise at about 6.:00a.m. The church bells ring, roosters crow and the cars and motorcycles are honking their horns incessantly.  And so we awake.
Tuesday we went on a road trip around Bamenda.  GP-DERUDEP (it's a long name turned into acronym), has done a variety of development projects in the region.  Firstly, the roads. We were definitely in four by four country, bouncing up hill and down, in and out of potholes, blind corners, the finest earth roads in Africa!
We stopped at a health centre in a small village, serving over 1000 people. There was no doctor, just a nurse, mid-wife and pharmacist on staff.  The nearest doctor would be back in Bamenda, down that awfully rough road.  Next we stopped at a slaughter slab, a new concert installation that was set up to be more environmentally conscience in its waste disposal.  In another village GP had been involved in the construction of a large community hall.  The projects are always participatory in nature and the villagers put in materials (locally made red bricks), and labour in order to take ownership of the project.  Then we stopped by a school in another village.  GP had built three new classrooms, to create a total of 6 classes (5 teachers) serving over 200 students, grades 1 to 6.  The kids were so curious about us visitors. When I pulled out a camera they crowded around to photographed, especially when I showed them their pictures.  One of our group commented:  "Visitors are always a novelty.  We are like Sunday, we come by every so often.  But you, you are like Christmas!"
These last two days I've been busy with the IDF booklet.  My office is on the 4th floor (walk up). The windows are wide open to the noise of street vendors below; especially loud are those selling music, home and car audio equipment.  With all the competing sounds, it feels like I'm at the midway.
Dave had another opportunity to go travelling around and besides seeing some bridges, new market stalls, he also saw some brush fires.  That would explain why the air here is so smoky and hazy.  We haven't really had the hot sun shining down on us at all, making the temperature quite pleasant.
One of my colleagues was trying to wrap his mind around the negative temperatures of a Canadian winter.  "How do you live?"  he asked as we were weaving our way around market stalls on the street. I can understand his question because life in Cameroon is outside on the street.

Market Day

                                             

Working in Bamenda

This wasn't supposed to be a holiday and thus we've both been put to work.  Dave is getting the GIS software set up and will hold training sessions on it in the next few days.  I've connected with IDF, a local development agency.  After a meeting on Sat., I arrived at the office on Monday with a full agenda set out for me.  Lydia, a previous volunteer, put together a workshop for community health workers on teaching HIV/AIDS clients how to cope with their disease with good nutrition.  What I'll be doing is creating workshop booklets for the clients. I was asked to do this because of my training in ESL/Basic Literacy and my experience in teaching adults.  And as I've begun, my love of scrapbooking is making this a fun project.
But I guess it's not all work all the time!  On Saturday we experienced the market.  What a wonderful crazy place.  Everyone is calling out from their little stalls trying to convince "mama" to buy.  A lot of fruit and vegetables were quite familiar but there were also some new items.  I tried to learn about those foods and how they would be prepared:  things like yams, plantain, huckleberry, cassava, dried fish, etc.
Sunday we attended a Baptist church.  Our driver didn't know the start time so we arrived at the end of the message. Oops.  But that was just the first service.  We then attended a Sunday School class and sat through the entire two hour second service.  The African music was just as I'd imagined; just like those children's choirs that come sing for us from time to time.  What struck me was that here I was, half-way around the world, joined together with a huge congregation worshipping my God!
In the afternoon our driver, Theo, showed us his home, a very tiny one room apartment.  Then he took us to a local tourist site, a botanical garden.  He was also a very good tour guide and identified for us the mango, orange, guava trees, palms, banana and plantain trees.  As it is nearing the end of the dry season, it isn't very fresh and green but it was a beautiful garden nonetheless.  The curious thing was that admission was:  children 250 fr, adults 500fr, and tourists 1000fr. Really now?
Today is another day and it looks like it will be a full one again.  But I can't you about it yet...

More Scenes from Bamenda

Dave's Office:  "It has a door and a window!"  No it doesn't have A/C but even with the +28 weather, it's quite comfortable.

Another view out the office window.

Bananas or plantain. I don't know. Either way, they're pretty yummy!

Scenes from Bamenda

We are enjoying our time in Bamenda.  On Thursday, Dave (and I) had a meeting with GP-DERUDEP, the organization he is working through, to outline what can be done in such a short time.  Then it was out for a traditional meal.  When you order at a restaurant, you ask what they're serving.  The waitress with say:  "Chicken, pork, beef, kidney sauce."  You make a choice, and then the waitress returns to say, "we've out of..."  So you make another choice.  I had fish and fried plantain. (Fish - from nose to tail!)   Dave had ndule and fried plantain (Ndule is a creamed green vegetable with some beef chunks).  The servings are always huge!
Friday I went with Jerry, our mayor friend, to a presentation by another NGO, called VSO, showcasing the development projects they've done in a given community; things like water wells, bridges, culverts and classrooms.  It was a cooperative project between the mayors and the community. 
I'm learning alot about this area, sometimes overwhelmed by the activity, but fascinated and enjoying it all.

The sunrise from our hotel window.  It rises about 6 every morning, and sets at 6 at night.

The view from Dave's office window.

Bamenda

The road from Douala to Bamenda is very long.  Not because it is of poor quality (it was very good for the first 5 hours), but because the road is the lifeline of the nation.  Everything happens along the road:  people walking, driving cars, motorbikes, bicycles, transport trucks, busses, did I say walking?  And every village entrance and exit has a huge speed bump, to help us slow down even more, and possible buy some fruits, vegetables, tires, baskets, bbq meats, and everything else one can imagine!  Needless to say, it took about 8 hours to get here.
Bamenda is the capital and major commercial centre in NW Region and it's been interesting, to say the least.  We're staying in a very good hotel and are being well cared for by our hosts.
But now I've stolen enough of Dave's computer time.  He's got work to do --- he even has his own office (with a window and door .. not a cubie!)

Welcome to Cameroun

We have arrived!  Cameroon is hot, humid and helpful, that is, overly helpful baggage carriers at the airport!  (Those who've been to Africa will understand!)
We had a restful night in a very good hotel and now we'll meet with CESO and find our way to Bamenda.