Well, I have found a computer to use while I am waiting for my Mac to be repaired(?).  It’s  clunky and slow, but I’m thrilled to have it.  It’s so great to be reconnected again right here  in my very own village and to be able to access info when I need it.  Phew!  What a relief!

 I am still trying to integrate into the culture and have met many interesting and friendly people. The culture is very rich.  I have not started actual work yet. That will happen after IST….In Service Training…that will take place in early december.  We (the new volunteers) will go to Kribi for about a week to learn the various tools and organizations that are available to help us, among many other things.  Kribi is on the ocean, so that should be fun and a nice change.  My young friends are very excited and one of them told me how she had brought 7 different bikinis for just this occasion. Hmmmmmm.  My speedo will have to do, and a biiiiiiiiiig towel. I don’t want to scare anyone too badly!

I have requested a site-mate, but that won’t happen for at least a year if at all.   It can get pretty lonely in this little village with nothing to do.  I get home before dark and go to bed early.  Unless there’s a wedding….an all night party…. there is absolutely nothing to do at night.  But, I am told that during the dry season, which will start in a month or so, there are many weddings as there is not much work to do at that time (no planting or harvesting) so people get married instead. There is nothing about “love” that is involved in these weddings.  It is about culture.  A woman reaches a certain age and must marry and start popping out kids.  Quite often her father picks someone who quite often already has several wives and many children. You rarely meet a woman who is over the age of 20 and not married with children, unless she is a widow with children .Average family size is around 9. Not that anyone can actually afford 7 or so children. It is simply what is expected, but it causes a great deal of hardship. The women pretty much accept this without question.  All I can do is speak of a different way.  They listen with interest and complain a lot but are not willing to change anything…..even though, to a woman, they consider men “useless”.  Sigh.  I think that working with the children is a better answer, teaching the boys respect and responsibility and the girls their own value, but you have to catch them early. There is a wonderful non-governmental organization in Bafoussam that works with youth and they welcome PC input. We’ll see.  I have to pick and choose where I will put my efforts, as there is so much to be done.  That is why PC asks us to lay back for the first 3 months and just integrate and learn, so we can pick wisely.  Otherwise, we will be spread too thin and get nothing done. …. or so they say.

The mama’s here are quite striking in their beautiful Pagne’s and head wraps.  They are all chubby and full of life and always trying to give me food. It is rather rude to not accept, so I try not to eat before going to visit someone.  To get to the city, I have to take a taxi, which  is usually a small beat up Toyota that they insist on cramming 7 of us into before departing.  I am almost always in the back seat crushed among 3 hefty mama’s.  We usually end up having a good laugh over it.  There are no seat belts, but we are usually so wedged in, that should there be an accident, we probably wouldn’t budge.  So I will leave it at that for now. More to come…