I’ll admit, I have a pretty nice set-up in terms of my living situation. With running water, electricity, and fairly consistent Internet, I know I’m living the “Posh Corps” lifestyle. While a part of me wishes I were “roughing it” a bit more, I’m thankful for the fact that my apartment is cozy and comfortable. When I returned from vacation, however, I learned that the motor for the water pump 50 meters from my house was broken. Luckily, the next nearest water source is less than a kilometer away…but when you have to carry your full 20-liter container (bidon) *uphill* with that water, you start to realize how easy it is to take a simple thing like H2O for granted. You start to re-examine your water use, being even more vigilant about conserving every single drop. Another PCV told me the following saying: “Some people look at the glass as half-full; others see it as half-empty. A Peace Corps Volunteer looks at the glass and says, ‘I could probably bathe with that.’” Thankfully, the rainy season is upon us so I set a few buckets (seaux) outside and nature took care of my needs a few times.
The Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon recently visited my village to dedicate a water source he had helped finance. It was a little bizarre to see another white person in Bapa, and people kept asking if he was my father. All in all, it was a nice ceremony and it gave me the opportunity to chat with a few village “elites.” This pump is in the neighborhood where the high school (lycée) is located, so it will be put to great use.
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| Swiss Ambassador to Cameroon...a.k.a. "Dad" |
English classes at the primary school are going well. We’re not covering a lot of material, but I feel pretty good that they seem to be getting the bulk of information. One day we built upon our knowledge of colors by learning possessive adjectives with articles of clothing (“my red skirt,” “your blue jeans,” “his yellow shirt,” etc). We came to a consensus…favorite word? Flip flop.
I’m continuing to go on semi-regular runs and love exploring this village, seeing how the different paths and tiny trails connect. Eventually, I hope to learn the ins and outs - one district (quartier) at a time.
In the kitchen, I have successfully made vegetarian chili, pizza, onion and rosemary foccacia bread, and zucchini/lentil/rice soup. The last concoction yielded so much that I shared with the family who lives in my concession. My neighbor reciprocated by teaching me how to prepare legumes (a leafy green a bit like spinach) in the traditional Cameroonian way. It has also been exciting to witness a few soy (soja) transformations across the Western regions. I successfully made tofu on my own a few weeks ago and it’s great to see village mamas prepare it and get excited by it. It’s amazingly good whether you marinate it with curry powder and lightly sear it…or give it the traditional Cameroon deep-fry in palm oil and put it on skewers with fresh onion and spicy piment pepper. Besides the taste, there are other benefits –
*Agriculturally: Soybean plants are nitrogen-fixers. That is, they put nitrogen back into the soil, which means it’s a great crop to alternate with other staples like corn (maïs).
*Nutritionally: 1kg soybeans has the same protein equivalency as 3kg meat, 13L milk, or 60 eggs (and far less expensive than any of those)!!! This is key considering the general rate of protein insufficiency.
*Economically: Women who make and sell the tofu are able to reap pretty impressive profits, thus making it a great income generating activity.
During the monthly vaccination day at the Health Center, I gave a presentation to the mothers on understanding growth charts and nutrition. Babies were routinely weighed on vaccination days, but the results weren’t really plotted or explained. We were pleased to see that overall, child development is pretty good in village, with most falling between the normal ranges we’d expect to see. Only a few children are mal-/under-nourished by the numbers, but now we’ll be able to follow-up and monitor them regularly.
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| Many pain-staking hours spent on the floor with a piece of paper and a ruler to recreate this growth chart. |
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| La Maison de Nourriture. Carbohydrates are the foundation, proteins are the walls, and vitamins/minerals provide protection as the roof. The kids in my concession helped me draw pictures of various regional foods. |
In other news, I’ve compiled my “bucket list” and have a daunting collection of more than 175 ideas. I’ve hung it on my wall to give me motivation to accomplish some of these goals in the future, but who knows what I’ll tackle next?
I’m curious to learn what’s on your list of things to accomplish before you die…
