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.