Top: Christmas in Nkongsamba, Below: IST in Kribi

 I am sorry I let so much time go by since my last blog. I am fine and all is well.  The time just slipped by.  I went off to In Service Training at the beach in Kribi on Dec 9 and rebonded with all my best new friends and got refreshed and re-stimulated! I roomed with the other older volunteer (47) in my class who is very funny a bright and we shared some excellent conversation and lots of laughs. It was so great to see everyone! We stayed in an old charming motel just across the road from the beach. Once the hot water kicked in (a couple days into the week long stay), we were all enjoying our hot showers to the maximum. The ocean is warm and the weather very hot in Kribi (tropical). We swam every afternoon after training and had lots to eat......lots of protein including wonderful very fresh seafood. The mosquitos also ate very well. I even found a dog to pet on the beach that was not terrified of me. Dogs are terribly mistreated here and are usually either mean or terrified....or most likely both. I managed to learn a little something too and was elected to serve on the Peer Support Network, which is exactly what it sounds like.....support of fellow vols who are having a tough time and need someone to talk to.

i spent Christmas with 7 young friends in Nkongsamba. I will tell you that it is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit here tho we tried!  We watched Christmas movies ( on the computer) and made faux american food to eat. We made pasta salad, potato salad, hummus, guacamole, tofu, green beans and had some lunch meat and cheese from the white man’s store (very expensive!). One of us made a pound cake and I made chocolate chip cookies.....both of these in a makeshift oven on top of the gas cookstove.  

I am back home in Batie now. I guess the Christmas celebration was very low key here and from what my local friends tell me, I didn’t miss much.  Apparently New Year’s is the 

big celebration with a two day party at the Carrefour. I guess I’ll bring my specialty of the house....yes, the chocolate chip cookies....luckily. they are very popular .

We got a lot of new material at IST and I am, at the moment, spending a lot of time going over it and trying to learn the ins and outs of stuff like the Small Grants program, the Monitoring and Evaluation process, and the Peace Corps method of Needs Assessment called PACA (yawn). 

My first project will be teaching the Mama’s to compost....so I will be giving formations to the various women’s groups when I get this organized. I’m trying to get a fellow Agro volunteer to work with me on the first formation as there are tips and tricks for this climate that I am not aware of. Meanwhile I am just pulling info off the internet and creating my own formation.  I will be dealing with some illiterate women here, so I have to create drawings  to represent the process for them. In any case, this should cut down on the amount of garbage that is thrown into the bush (which is how they dispose of trash here) as well as increase output for these struggling women. Hopefully it will be beneficial for them.  It’s a start.  I have other ideas brewing in the back of my mind for follow up. 

That’s it for now. I will try to keep in better contact! Happy New Year!