Gmail - Amanda in Cameroon to todayscyrano
Hello everyone! As they say here, "How is it?" I arrived in Belo Friday night, though the trip here was full of it's own excitement, and since I have arrived I have been met with problem after problem. It seems Cameroon is not welcoming me as easily as she did the first time I came! After my entire trip was re-routed due to blizzards on the east coast, and I had to take 5 flights through 3 different countries, one of my bags was lost and we have bee unable to locate it as of yet. Then on Sunday, while trekking, my only pair of shoes broke, and then Monday I came down with the flu and have been sick with fever and throwing up until today. Needless to say I have not begun to work yet, though I do plan to get started this afternoon for a half day. As wrought with problems as this trip has been, I do not for one second question coming here....I'm just glad it happened this time around instead of the first time I came or I may not have decided to come back!
I would love to tell you that Belo is just as I left it, but it's not. It has grown so much, and instead of the small, rural town it once was, you now see new buildings going up all over and everyone carries a cell phone. How they afford their minutes I have no idea, but the popular thing to do here appears to be owning a cell. Also, the traditional way of dress that I was so used to has gone, and now everyone is in western clothing. The only thing which has not changed is that the internet here is still slow as molasses and the computers are from the era of dinosaurs!
My friend Andy is much the same though, although he says this is his last trip to Belo....he is fed up with the corruption of the country and is frustrated at BERUDEP overall. The cultural differences here are vast, and they can grate on your nerves daily if you let them. He has developed a pretty busy schedule for me which is good, and I think I will do well with. The only problem is that all my sign language material is in my lost bag! Hopefully it will arrive soon. My days will begin visiting an orphan compound to help with 2 orphans who have little supervision. I will help them get ready for school, and insure they have breakfast. I will then walk them to school and go to the Kitchu deaf and blind school from 8-12 where I will work 1-1 with 5 deaf children and 1 blind child who is also developmentally delayed. My afternoons will be spent at the after school program Andy developed, and to which those of you who gave Will and I money at our wedding helped to build, and then my evenings will be spent with 2 HIV orphans who refuse to take their meds. This is the preliminary schedule, and will change as I need it to, such as more time spent with the deaf children.
I am the only American here currently, which is more frustrating then I thought it would be. I would love to hear news of the world from you all! There are many volunteers here now: Kusako from Japan, Richard New Zealand, Louise Ireland, The 4 "french boys", Louise and Andy Scotland, Sean Wales/France, Amie Phillipines. I did meet one peace corps volunteer from Chicago who lives in the next town over.
For those of you who donated cell phones I wanted to let you know that they can bring in a great deal of money here, and I have decided that the money I make from them will be used to buy BERUDEP a new computer. Andy knows of buyers for the phones so we can get those sold as soon as possible!
I want to say thank you again to all of you who helped support me in this journey, and a great big thanks to those of you who donated money, supplies, and your time to spreading the word of the work that BERUDEP is doing here. As Belo grows, so too does BERUDEP!
I will be in touch with you again soon, and for those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling to Africa let me remind you of the fun I am having cramming 8 people into a taxi made for 4! Good times, right?
Love,
Amanda
