Hello everyone...I hope you are all well! I am doing much better now that my bag has been found, but after a 6-7 hour trek yesterday I again became sick. Don't know if it's a bug from all the volunteers as many of them have been sick, or if I should just stop trekking! Regardless, it passed over night and I'm feeling better today!
After being here a full 2 weeks I am finally beginning to settle in. Some days I feel like I never left, and others I wonder why I came back.
The corruption here is rampant, and only seems to be growing steadily worse. The Cameroonians I know say they are trying to change this, but they too take part in it. It is so ingrained in the culture here that it sometimes feels like they don't know what is right or wrong. It's frustrating and leads me to trust no one but my western co-workers. I of course trust the BERUDEP staff, but you never know when they may revert to a bit of corruption. Here, it truly feels like it is every man for himself.
But enough with the bad stuff, which is really a minor part of my life, and on with the good and reasons I am here. I have been working long hours since coming back, beginning my days at sunrise when the damn rooster in my compound announces it is time to get up. I usually lay in bed ignoring him until about 6:30. At 7, I have to be at an orphan compound that is a 20 minute trek from my house. There, I sometimes push Gustav (when he is actually home) to his classroom. Gustav is a troubled orphan, so after arriving at his school, I talk to his teacher, ensure he stays put, and then walk home. Once there, I eat and enjoy my instant Nescafe coffee, and arrive at school about 9 am where I spend the next 3 1/2 hours working with 4 deaf children, 1 blind orphan, and the teachers at the Kitchu school called ALMBDC. It is tiring work as the school is supposed to specialize in teaching blind, deaf, and developmentally delayed children yet they have no trained teachers. After I finish with school, about 12:30, I walk the 20 minutes home where I have lunch and then I have a break until 3. On Tues, Wed, and Thurs afternoons I teach at the after school program for orphans from 3-4:30. There, I work with the 9-12 year olds, mainly teaching them how to read. On Mondays and Fridays I go to Susan Jam's home, the proprietor of the school that I teach in, and at her home I work with 2 of my deaf students that live with her. Monday through Friday I trek about an hour and a half to see two orphans that are HIV positive. These two boys are both about 10, and they do not like to take their ARV meds, which has caused them to develop serious infections. Stephan lost an eye, and Rickson has a large skin cancer growth coming out of his ear. My job is to watch them take their evening meds, which as many of my friends have who have worked psych know, it is not easy making someone take meds who does not want to take them. I sometimes have to resort to bribery; but luckily, lollipops are quite cheap here. Just like the states, kids will do anything here for candy! I typically get home between 6:30-7:30 and am getting into great shape with all this trekking for work!
Susan Jam, the proprietor whom I worked with last time I was here, gives me many excuses as to why she has no proper teachers. She is really starting to piss me off; and as a beneficiary of BERUDEP charity, she pisses me off even more. I have talked with Simon, our director, about this; but I am not sure he gets it. Anyway, if I see no improvement after my 3 months here, I will urge Simon to speak with the parents of the two brightest deaf children. I hope we can convince them to pay the fees to send their kids to the better deaf school in Bingo. It is expensive, about $120/year plus boarding costs, but I am more than happy to help with costs if it means these two very smart kids will have the chance to actually learn.
Speaking of money, I spent a small amount of the donated funds provided by many of you to buy speakers, cages, and an amp for the after school program. Sadly, we have to buy cages so that the large speakers can be locked up; as theft is rampant here. Our plan is to begin utilizing the after school programs more, and we are hoping that the speakers will allow the children to participate in movie days, parties for the holidays, play games, etc. I think this approach will be a success, as Richard, the project orphan supervisor who has been here for a year, allowed the children to watch Disney movies on his computer and they were all in awe... We are hoping to utilize this luxury as a way to get all of the orphans to come to the program everyday so that we can teach them more then they are learning in school.
Also, to those of you who donated eye glasses, Issac, the supervisor and resident Cameroonian eye doctor of the eye clinic, thanked me profusely for your donations. He truly is one of the sweetest men, and he wanted to write you all thank you letters, but I told him there are so many of you that we will just take photos instead. He plans to give all the glasses to needy people for free, and kissed my hands and said thank you about a dozen times. I absolutely adore him!
So, for the most part things are going well here. I am spending more time with the other volunteers here, and am learning a lot about their countries, which is always cool. President Obama is quite a hit here in Cameroon; and the Cameroonians swear he is one of them. Talk of President Bush continues to piss off the Europeans, but I hope that Brinn and I are giving America a good name here. We are both pretty open to discussing the problems with our political climate, and take it in stride when we get made fun of by the French for renaming our french fries, freedom fries.
Well, I guess that concludes it for now. I hope you all are well and I enjoy receiving your e-mails about life at home...even the stuff you may think it mundane or silly puts a smile on my face! Ok,
talk to you all soon! Oh-so my cook found a gigger in my foot this morning...they are worms that live in the earth here and get into people’s feet. Zita, the woman who cooks and cleans for me (and honestly takes care of me), got it out. I am really feeling like a Cameroonian now...if only I had my goats!
Love,
Amanda
