I know I
say this practically every post, but I truly cannot believe how fast (although
incredibly slow at times) this past week/PST has gone. This feeling was further
heightened when we took a trip to Yaoundé on Saturday for a safety and
security tour – aka all of the stagiares dividing into groups of 4-5 based on
region, and going around the capital with a PCV guide showing us relevant sites
so that we would feel more comfortable in our future trips there. It was
interesting being in the same environment in which we had spent our first few
days in Cameroon, and being back remembering the feelings/emotions/thoughts I
had upon first arriving, and how those have changed so dramatically over the
past 10 weeks. The trip to Yaounde was awesome, and the highlights included: Indian food; Western supermarkets with yogurt and apples and cheese, the artisan market, going to the top of the Hilton Hotel to see the view, and just generally getting to explore with other stagiares and volunteer - super fun.
This
week was one of the best weeks yet, due in no small part to the fact that all
of the activities that we were doing in class were directly relevant to our
future lives at post. On Tuesday, we went to the nearby maternal (primary)
school to give 20-30-minute group presentations on a health topic to the
students. After conducting protocol (seeing the principle and having him give
an introduction to the class about our presentations), we set out to give a
presentation to the 70+ students sitting on wooden benches and long plank desks
in our single classroom, where the teacher sat by nursing her baby (who she
then passed off to the students to take care of), and with the principal
looking on (with a whip in hand, made out of the rubber of a tire). We did an
exercise on the fecal-oral route, including an interactive game with the
students. Definitely a good experience, but I am very glad I’m not an education
volunteer. The next day, we had our final session with our health club
community group at the secondary school. Allely, Ludi, and I put together
handouts for the girls on the different methods of family planning, and one on
prevention/transmission facts and myths about HIV/AIDS. We also answered their
questions and helped them brainstorm ideas for the upcoming World AIDS Day and
other activities that they could do to inform the student population about
relevant health issues.
We also had our final tech sessions,
including our post-test for health (we had to take a pre-test at the beginning
of PST to determine our baseline knowledge on health issues in Cameroon,
although we never did get the results back) and our medical post-test when we
got our final vaccination (the flu shot). Vaccination-wise, I can now travel
anywhere in the world. Apart from tech sessions, we’ve all been enjoying
hanging out with everyone for our final week. I taught pretty much all of the
other health stagiares to play the card game ‘euchre’ and they’ve been hooked
ever since – during breaks there are usually one or two games going on. We also
had a health PCT trivia night at the bar and played two rounds (roughly 15
questions per round including bonus questions). We divided up by region to play
(Anglophone regions were together), and my team took second in the first game
and won the second game in double overtime questions – super fun. Despite not
liking aspects of having tons of activities planned all day, every day, I’m
really, really going to miss having the structured routine with all of the
other stagiares – not to mention how much I’m going to miss my fellow
stagiares. Apart from spending time with the other PCTs, I’ve also been
spending time with my family – we made three cakes from scratch together – even
though I’m not a huge fan of cake, doing all the prep work and the actual
baking of the cakes over the fire made them taste delicious.
On Thursday and Friday we had our
community host/counterpart workshops. My counterpart’s name is Pauline, and
she’s a 40 year-old midwife that works at the health center (she also acts as
the pharmacist tech at the health center). If Pauline could be compared with an
inanimate object, she would easily be a bulldozer. She’s very petite (she
doesn’t even reach my shoulders), but damn if she’s not a pistol that packs a
serious verbal punch. Although we have a little bit of a communication barrier,
it’s not nearly as much as those with Francophone counterparts – having an
Anglophone counterpart will be significantly easier for me, especially when it
comes to starting projects and interacting with my community members. She is
only one of 4 female counterparts (out of 18), and she’s incredibly
motivated/dedicated to her job and the community. During the sessions, she was
an active participant, telling others to participate, and even insisting that others
take photos of her when she helped facilitate one of the sessions. She hates to
be idle, and when she doesn’t have enough patients at the health center, she
goes and tends her farm – by herself, mind you, as her 21 year-old daughter is
away at school. She was born and raised in Kembong, and her parents hosted PCVs
in their compound from 1992-1998. She still remembers their first and last
names, what they did in the community, and is still hurt by the fact that the
last volunteer left rather unexpectedly in 1998 without telling the community
why. She said that my house is right next to the gendarmarie and brigade
(police station), that water and electricity are very reliable in the community
(both of which my house has), and that “there is no bad juju in the community”
(what this actually means remains to be seen, but for the time being, I merely
smiled and nodded in response to this statement). She mentioned that I’ll be
working with the health center and the local NGO, ETAYA (literally meaning
“working for the poor and needy” in the local dialect), which has been in
existence for more than 10 years, and is run by a pharmacist by the name of
Felix Tanyi. Right away, she had me call him, and during our 5-minute
conversation, he said that he was very excited for me to arrive in Kembong and
work with the NGO, and that now I am a member of his family, and this his home
in Buea is now my home, too, and that I am to treat it as such – very
comforting words for someone who I’ve never spoken to before in my life, let
alone met.
Here are
some other nuggets of information that she imparted:
-
The
second that I arrive in Kembong, there will be a HUGE welcoming committee/party
for my arrival, complete with the traditional chief of the village, the
vice-chief, the head of the health center, NGO representatives, and community
members, including a dance troupe or two that will be performing traditional
dances for me (very nice, but definitely overwhelming…)
-
I
will have the opportunity to explore all of the projects that the community is
doing related to health in the first three months of my service, but I have a
feeling that it will mostly focus on HIV/AIDS and malaria, at least from what
she’s said (particularly PMTCT – prevention of mother to child transmission of
HIV/AIDS). I’ll also have the opportunity to work with already-established
women’s and men’s groups in the community, in addition to schools. I’ll also be
assisting with the community outreach health campaigns at the health center.
The health center has five staff members, including her.
-
Additionally,
I don’t think the work that I had envisioned to form a partnership with TBAs
(traditional birth attendants) and traditional healers will be possible, as
Pauline mentioned that the government has not permitted TBAs to practice, and
there are not many traditional healers in the area (this doesn’t necessarily
mean that both groups aren’t practicing in the area in and around Kembong, it
could mean that she just isn’t affiliated with them, doesn’t know of their
practice in the community)
-
Unlike
in the Grand North where malnutrition is a bigger issue, in the Grand South,
obesity and hypertension are more prevalent, including in Kembong
-
Kembong
specifically had to apply and prove that they were capable of hosting a PCV
-
I
will be consulting with the chief of the health center – meaning that I will be
sitting with him as he hears the concerns of the patients upon their arrival to
the health center (the initial healthcare consultation to determine the
treatment course of the patients), so this should be interesting
(confidentiality/privacy laws don’t really exist here)
-
I’ll
probably acquire a tutor to develop a baseline/cursory understanding of the
local dialect (PC Cameroon pays for PCVs to have a tutor in the local language
during the first year of service)
-
I’ll
be working in the surrounding villages around Kembong, not only in the town
proper
She also
envisions me to do a huge project for which the community will remember me by
forever, in addition to doing grant-writing activities for the community.
Although I certainly don’t mind doing grant-writing activities, I’m not
entirely sure what her expectations are for this grand project that she wants
me to complete. Although she’s worked with volunteers before, I think that once
I get to my community, we should have a talk about our mutual expectations for
one another, along with the fact that apart from getting settled into the
community and conducting the initial community needs assessment to figure out
health issues, resources, etc, I will not be doing any real project work in the
first three months (a PC rule), and just general expectations for projects to
ensure that we’re on the same page. The first three months will also be a good
introduction to understand her role in the community and how others perceive
and work with her, so that I can gather tips/knowledge on how to effectively
work with her. At the end of the session, we mutually put together a list of
activities for the first three months, and it looks definitely doable and
includes things that will give me an introduction to the community/health
issues. Not to say that I’m not overwhelmed, in fact, I’m incredibly
overwhelmed, not just for my work on future projects, but also for the move to
my community, being by myself, and community integration – a tall order that
will soon be my reality in less than 5 days. However, despite being
overwhelmed, I’m also very excited. It’s also very comforting to know that
Pauline (and Felix, too), despite being intense, really do care about my
happiness and success in the community.
The next few days are as follows:
move all my things to the PC training center in Bafia; leave for Yaoundé on Monday
for a talk with the country director; leave my host family’s house on Tuesday
and go to the capital again to stay with an ex-pat or Embassy family; swear in
on Wednesday as an official Peace Corps Volunteer; return to Bafia for party
with fellow stagiares; leave for Bafia on Thursday morning to go to Bamenda;
meet other cluster mates in Bamenda and stay the night; leave for Mamfe the
next day and stay with cluster mates at their houses that night and set up bank
account and start buying things for my house; maybe stay for another day in
Mamfe before Pauline comes to Mamfe to help me buy things and move to Kembong.
All in all, a busy and hectic (although very enjoyable and celebratory) next
few days – I’m simultaneously nervous/overwhelmed, and very excited/ready! I’m
not sure when I’ll have a chance to post next, although I’m planning on buying
an internet stick as soon as possible, so in the meantime, keep me in your
thoughts/prayers as I make another huge transition! Also, Cameroon is going to the World Cup - wooohooo!!
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