Halfway Through

Today marks exactly halfway through our time in Cameroon - 35 days here, 35 days to go. I have to say, while I love being here, I am looking forward to being at home with my family.

To date Alyssa, Chinedum, Jose, and I have finished 3 biosand filters, half of the filters we need to complete. We have certainly had quite a few bumps along the road to the completion of these three filters, including completing a filter only to realize two days later that it's leaking and we will need to empty the filter in order to patch the leak. We are optimistic that we will finish all the filters that we have been working on, but not optimistic that they will be used by the villages we have completed them in. I read through the previous ETHOS groups' report they wrote before leaving and read that the villagers were incredibly excited about this project when they began it, and even read that they left completed filters in a village we are supposed to be finishing filters in. Upon our arrival to the village containing the supposed completed filters, we found that they were in fact completed, and hadn't been used for the last two years. It was incredibly disheartening to us to see that, but none the less we started them over.

Every time we leave the office to go out into the field to work we get stopped at a checkpoint and have our documentation checked. The first time we got stopped a police woman gave us a very funny look and we were all very confused. None of us carry our actual passports with us for safety reasons and to ensure that our passports will not be lost, so we each handed her a photocopy of our passport and visa. She told us that we had to go to the police station and have the copies of our passports "legalized". Having our passports legalized meant going to the police station, paying XAF 1200 for a stamp that is supposed to cost XAF 1000 (and says so on the stamp), and then having someone place this stamp on our passport copies and having someone sign the photocopies. We were all incredibly frustrated that we had to pay someone to sign a piece of paper, especially since I have seen people use an unsigned copy of their passport to get through Customs in multiple airports. The government, however, is incredibly corrupt, especially the police and the military. We heard stories from some of the Peace Corps volunteers about being asked for bribes to be kept out of jail if they passed through a checkpoint without a legalized copy of their documentation. They had to call the US Embassy in order to be allowed to pass through the checkpoint.

Despite the setbacks and annoyances I have had such an incredible 5 weeks here. My host family has become comfortable with me, and the older kids have even started knocking on my door before coming into my room (when I'm home). I have found a place that serves cheeseburgers (even though they sucked) and fries, and have even gotten used to taking cold showers on my return home from work. With the World Cup happening right now, there is never a dull moment, despite Cameroon's loss to all three teams in their group. We hope to cheer on the US to a victory, or at least a tie, on Thursday, so that they will advance into the top 16 teams in the tournament.

Another UD group will arrive to a village about an hour away from us, and we hope to visit with them a few times while they are here, as well as take a weekend and stay in a port town. On the weekends we have been able to explore a little bit of Buea, including finding a night club called Las Vegas. We have also experienced some of the culture here in Cameroon. We have attended traditional dance practices, drank palm wine, eaten more corn fufu and vegetable than we could ever imagine, and been able to find new restaurants and take taxis on our own to new places.

Public transportation can get a little sketchy sometimes though...We occasionally take public transportation to the field if the company vehicle is not available. Most taxis will only take you so far, so you must take multiple taxis to where you can pick up a bus. A bus is definitely not like a bus you will see at home. A bus is a large van that will hold about 16 people in its 5 rows, with people's stuff riding strapped to the top of it. When a bus stops on the side of a road or at a bus stop it is swarmed with people selling street food (peanuts, snail kebabs, chicken kebabs, plums, etc.), drinks, white bread, and anything else they think people might potentially need while they are traveling. Because we are white, people try to sell us EVERYTHING. It is really odd being a minority. Even we have started saying "Guys look, a white person" when we see other Americans or Europeans, which happens very occasionally.

Well I'm using Alyssa's computer to write this, so I should probably hop off so I can give her computer back to her.
Peace and Love from Cameroon. And GO USA!!!
Katie

It's Been Too Long...

It's been too long since I posted a blog, and I apologize to everyone for that. We have been so busy going out into the field every week day that by the time I get home around 4:30 all I hope for is the cold shower that awaits me (if the water is flowing).  For those of you who haven't seen, I posted some pictures on Facebook ff my adventures here so far, especially some from the latrine installation I mentioned in my previous post.

Today, after 3 weeks, we finally finished our first Biosand Filter in the village of Misellele. After some confusion about the manual (mostly us just not reading it correctly) we now have more than enough materials to finish the 6 filters we intend to finish here. Hopefully we will finish our second filter in Misellele tomorrow and then pack up the rest of our materials to use in the other two villages we will work in.  We really hope that  the people we have installed these for will continue to use them after we leave, but Alyssa and I are not optimistic because they take so long to filter the water. We hope that these first few filters will be followed by many more installations by the organization we are working for, NKong Hilltop

I have experienced so many cool new things here. I went to a born house, which is a huge party they throw for  a family when they return home from the hospital with a new baby. There was music, food, drinking and dancing  and a videographer capturing it all on film. It made me smile to think that in 10 years when the family watches the video they will be like "oh yeah...that white girl was here for that summer!"  I also was invited to attend a meeting with Celestine where she meets with local women who are of her ethnicity. They all wear the same dress, speak their native dialect, sing and dance to traditional songs and eat and drink. Being invited to be one with them was very humbling. They consider themselves sisters, and to have them consider me a sister to them made me feel very honored.

Everywhere we go we take taxis or the company truck and I have learned some of the rules of the road here that I thought I would share with all of you:
1. Pedestrians do not have the right of way
2. If someone or something is in your way, go around it. Opposing traffic will get out of your way or stop for you
3. If your car's speedometer doesn't work...that's totally okay, just keep on going
4. If you don't have any cones and your car is on the fritz, just dig up some grass from the side of the road and stick it on the road instead of a traffic cone
5. The number of seatbelts in your car does not determine the number of passengers. Most taxis will take 5 passengers, sitting two passengers in the front seat. We have traveled with 9 people in a 5 person station wagon and  7 passengers in a 5 person pick-up
6. All vehicles are off-road vehicles and wear the pavement ends the dirt road begins. Most local African roads are dirt and rock
7. The cars here are almost exclusively old Toyotas, but I have seen some Mercedes and mitsubishis around, as well as the very occasional VW, BMW, and Porsche. I have only seen one American car here.

Well that's all for now. Love and peace from Cameroon!
Katie