Every morning
when I walk to training, I feel like I am stepping into one of the opening
scenes of “Beauty and the Beast,” the one where Belle walks into town and quite
literally EVERY villager (man, woman, or child) pauses whatever they were doing
to say a friendly ‘bonjour.’ Now imagine that African villageois style, and
without the cutesy Disney music in the background, and you’ve got my typical
morning. Although saying ‘bonjour’ to every single child in a large group that
is, like me, on their morning commute to school, sounds a bit tiring, it’s
actually kind of enjoyable, and even more so when the old ladies (who, by the
way, I greet with a ‘bonjour, Mama’ and a wave with my right hand – to wave
with my left would be taboo since the left hand is characteristically only used
for unclean things) return my greeting with a ‘bonjour, ma fille’ or ‘bonjour,
ma cherié’
(hello, my daughter/another term of endearment). Although these greetings may
seem small, it’s a sign that I have shown them respect in my greeting, and they
have accepted it – always a good sign that the white person, although ignorant
in other customs, can observe the basic politeness needed for greetings in a
country where they are so important.
This
week of training was probably the best yet, due in no small part to the fact
that we finally started learning more applicable content in our tech training,
instead of talking in broad terms. Monday started off with our first TDA
assignment (as with any government entity, the Peace Corps is rife with
acronyms, and while I know what most mean, I won’t bother to spell out those
that aren’t really important). Our job was to translate a series of questions
into French regarding malaria, including insecticide-treated bed net (ITN)
usage, knowledge about prevention and transmission of the disease, and other
related questions. We were then to ask our families these questions, which
conceded some very interesting answers. I also (finally) received confirmation
on one of the million dollar questions - that regarding what my host mother
actually does: she’s some sort of nurse, or nurse aid at the Bokito integrated
health center. This means that she, and the rest of my family, know a lot about
malaria transmission and prevention, including the importance of ITN usage
every night (and tucking in the net), IPTp (intermittent preventive treatment
for pregnant women) and other perceptions in the community, including the fact
that many members of the community do not use nets because they perceive them
to be hot, stifling, seem unable to breathe, and/or associate ITNs with an
element of the traditional funerary rights. As a side note, my friend Kimmie’s
family experienced the loss of one of their sons in a traffic accident, and
after having the funeral in the home (both funerals, rather – one preliminary,
and one after he was embalmed – or so I gather), the family retained the liver
of their son as a sort of charm for good luck in the future – thought this was
interesting. Although my family had fantastic knowledge about malaria, other
families in the community did not, some thinking that malaria was caused by bad
air, eating green mangoes, or the result of some act of sorcery.
We
also had the opportunity to practice our PACA (participatory assessment for
community action) and CNA (community needs assessment) tools with a community
group. Although much (okay, most) of my MPH education focusing on health policy
and management will probably not be applicable to my life in Cameroon, it was
nice to be able to finally apply some of the behavioral/social tools that I
learned while at Emory. I’m with the group working with roughly 40 secondary
school students (ages ranging from 11-28) from the school’s health club to put
our PACA/CNA tools into action. We designed an initial assessment with the
target topic of sexual health, specifically HIV/AIDS, and knowledge regarding
contraceptives. After the initial icebreaker activity and dividing the group
into males and females in separate rooms (we figured, correctly I might add,
that the division of the sexes would make for an environment more conducive to
discussing potentially sensitive topic areas). The leader of the club, the male
biology professor at the school, thought we should not be doing sexual health,
but instead wanted us to focus our efforts on WASH (water and sanitation
health) – which he told us after we arrived and told him our pre-formulated
program for the session… Our tech liaison, Theo, said that that would not be
possible, as we had already prepared our session, but that we would attempt to
incorporate WASH if at all possible. After we started with the group (after
working with them to create a set of ground rules/expectations, including
confidentiality), it was clear that WASH was not at all on their minds. While
the girls had seemed seriously demure with the presence of the males in the
room, when the guys headed out, it was as if someone flipped a switch on their
personalities: they were animated, they were fighting to ask questions, and
they wanted to hear and be heard on their own terms – if I had to describe it
in a word, I’d say these ladies felt empowered. And aside from that being good
for them, it’s also a damn good feeling to know that I could facilitate them
feeling this way, if only for a few hours.
As
a side note about gender relations, I had an incident with my host family the
other night. I made popcorn with my three host sisters, my creepy host brother
was nowhere to be find, not that I minded, since yes, this is the very same who
expressed his undying love for me on various occasions, most of which occur
when I am dripping in sweat and fairly positive that I stink. After making
American-style popcorn with melted margarine (what I wouldn’t do for a real
stick of cold butter) and salt (Cameroonians put sugar and salt on their
popcorn), my host brother came into the kitchen as I was talking with my oldest
host sister, Mireille. I didn’t notice he was there until he whispered ‘bon
soir’ (good evening) in my ear in what I can only assume he meant to be a
seductive voice – it had the exact opposite effect on me. He then announced to
Mireille that he was hungry, when the huge cooking pots of dinner (my family
makes enough food to feed a small army every evening) were sitting not two feet
away. He then told her to get him dinner, to which Mireille replied something
to the effect of ‘no, I’m tired, please get it yourself because I’m having a
conversation with Valerie,’ and I respond with “Ha! The cooking pots of food
are right there, so how about you get it yourself, Daniel.” He responded by
looking at me, giving me an indulgent smile, and shaking his head no. Mireille
looked at me helplessly, and then proceeded to get her brother (10 years her
junior, and who, to my knowledge, doesn’t do a damn thing in the house except
sweep occasionally and chop wood) his dinner. Needless to say, I’m still irked
by the situation, and am nothing but curtly cordial to him since then. However,
since then, I’ve had a couple awesome bonding moments with my sisters and mama,
most notably, singing Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Shakira at the top of
our lungs with only the light of kerosene lamps while the power was out
(sensing a pattern here from a previous post?). I also was roped into teaching
them the dance steps to Thriller. All in all, I really enjoy these little
moments with my family.
Getting
back to the community group, though. The ladies had lots of questions, each
demonstrating a different set of knowledge and experiences regarding sexual
health; many mentioned that they did not have a family member or guardian who
they could consult about sexual health issues; one girl asked us if condoms
cause cancer or any other diseases; another told us that she got birth control
pills from the “pharmacy” stands that pop up on market day (untrained villagers
selling potentially counterfeit drugs, or at the very least, drugs of
highly-questionable validity and ingredients, some of which could have fatal
consequences – my host mama has known women who have miscarried due to the
effects of taking supposedly inane medicines from these pharmacy stands); after
acquiring the birth control pills, the girl then proceeded to share them with
her friends (thereby completing defeating the purpose); and just generally
interesting tidbits and questions about whether or not they had the right to
ask their partner to wear protection, or insist on using contraceptive methods
in a relationship. All fascinating, really. We have two follow-up sessions with
the health club in the upcoming weeks, and I can only hope that they will be as
interesting/informative as this first one.
After
the community group session, and reading more about the SW region, I’ve been
seriously thinking about projects that I could do in my community. One that I’m
particularly excited about builds on the knowledge that I acquired in my
research in Tanzania, about the integration of medical systems: biomedicine and
ethnomedicine (more commonly referred to as ‘traditional medicine’). The SW
region has the highest degree of animism, shamanism, and ethnomedical use in
Cameroon, and I’m told that many women still turn to traditional birth
attendants (TBAs) instead of the staff at health centers when their time comes.
So, my preliminary idea for a project (again, this is highly tentative and may
not even feasible in Kembong) would be to promote a partnership and build
capacity between natural healers/TBAs and health center staff, to foster a
degree of cooperation, and ideally to hold dual training sessions for
practitioners from each medical system; particularly for TBAs to have some sort
of training in additional birthing methods to promote the safest birth
possible, particularly if the woman cannot make it to the health center, or is
hindered due to other barriers (distance, money, time, etc). Again, highly
tentative idea, but I’m still excited about it, and what I can accomplish with
my community. After my interview with the country director, Jackie, she seemed
particularly excited about the idea, and from her preliminary knowledge about
the region/Kembong, thought that project might in fact be feasible! We also
learned about the importance of PACA/CNA and constructing programs with your
community that are culturally relevant and actually needed when we heard about
a huge Plumpynut program in the Adamoua, where an NGO came in and distributed
mass amounts of the nutritious substance to malnourished children –
unfortunately, the mothers of these children proceeded to keep their children
malnourished, choosing instead to feast on the Plumpynut themselves or sell it
and reap the benefits, since they realized that the NGO would continue to hand
out mass quantities of the substance without any monitoring and evaluation
measures and/or community contribution to the project.
On
Saturday, we had our second LPI (language placement interview), and I was not
about to have a repeat performance of my first LPI in Yaoundé. My language instructor, Jackie, and I
practiced and did several mock interviews beforehand. All the practice and hard
work paid off, as I went from novice low to intermediate mid in the language
levels! I was very pleased, and even more so because intermediate mid is the
target level for those going to Anglophone regions, meaning that I don’t ever
have to take another LPI, and I can start learning Pidgin – hooray! ‘Catch
booby’ is Pidgin for bra, by the way. The weekend continued on a high note when
half the health stagiares went to Bafia for an evening of hanging out with the
Bafia stagiares, drinking shade-temperature beer, and generally enjoying a
night away from Bokito. I stayed with my friend, Kate (a youth development volunteer)
and had the luxury of watching the first episodes of the new season of Downton
Abbey (yay!) and making scrambled eggs (sans onions or tomatoes – another big
yay!) on a gas-fueled stove – oh, the luxury. Sunday continued to be good with
another dance party with my sisters and getting my hair braided again. Although
I’ll miss my fellow stagiares dearly, I can’t say that I’ll be too disappointed
if the next few weeks of PST pass quickly so that I can be at my post. But for
now, I’m sitting pretty and wuna waka fine (you all have a good life/time)!
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