The Female Cameroonian

This weekend I got to go back to Green Eyes orphanage for Riessa's 13th birthday party. Me, Ang, and Liz all went together after school on Friday. (We drove home with Ryan and Joell and Riessa so no more getting lost and hitting bikers.) We stopped at the store and got bread and cheese and sausage for our feast. Riessa doesn’t have a ton of friends her age, I think because she changed schools recently, so there was one girl her age. There was also a French woman who is sort of like a grandmother to the orphanage, and two Mormon missionaries who are in their 2 years of service and come visit at the orphanage quite often. I also met Olivier, a Mormon Cameroonian who is the “backbone” of Green Eyes, he lives there too and is Ryan’s eyes and ears as he knows the country and people in it. I think he’s like an assistant director. And there was a teenage boy there who is a refugee from Sudan who speaks no English or French, who Ryan and Olivier are trying to work with (although I found out today that he was stealing and leaving the gate open at the place so I don’t think he’ll be living there).

The party was nice- we sat outside and ate and talked, and everyone went around and said something they like about Riessa or something they wish for her. It was really touching to see everyone’s relationship with her and how much they care. A common theme was that Riessa would never be dependent on a man, that she would continue her education, and that she’d never settle for less than her best. Riessa, like almost all Cameroonian girls, has had some bad experiences with men, so it is impressed upon her pretty hard now that she does not need nor should she be pressured to depend on or serve a man whom she does not love. I told her that I would pray for her long after I leave Cameroon, so I’d love for you all to hold me accountable to that.

Anyways, Ryan, Riessa, Joel, and Olivier performed some dance routines for us too- Ryan used to dance and choreograph, so he taught the kids to dance and to tap. They were really good! It was an interesting thing to watch- these orphans in a poor country who have learned choreographed dance and tap routines, something most people in Cameroon will never know, and something we would consider enrichment in the states, but an enrichment that is not an opportunity of a lifetime but a convenience. Joel and Riessa had the biggest smiles as they danced to “I just wana dance with somebody” and others.

Along the lines of females in Cameroon, I had an eye opening experience on Saturday night. I went out to a coffee bar with some teachers, 2 other expats, and Ryan. While there we kinda randomly met a Cameroonian, I forget his name, let’s call him Maurice, and an Estonian (is that where princess diaries takes place?). Maurice is a basketball player. We chatted for a long time- he wanted to give me tennis lessons and have me teach him English… the problem here is that, even though it’s mostly the same with random guys at home, you can’t trust anyone. Especially men. And especially if you’re foreign. He was very nice and not pushy at all, but it makes it kind of awkward when I know that I am engaged and not interested at all, and even if I was interested, I would not be going home with anyone I met randomly, well, I wouldn’t be going home with anyone period, but you know what I mean. So we left and went to this biker bar that Ryan liked (it’s a very Americanized bar, like in Vegas) and Maurice came too. But good old Ryan helped me out and made sure I didn’t have to sit next to Maurice and get into conversations that never ended. Ryan and I have many of the same values, which is really funny because often times I’m kinda the only weird conservative, as is he in many ways. And Liz does too, so its just funny that there’s 3 of us all here together.

(A little side note: I don’t want to be crass or insensitive, but I do want to convey what I’ve been learning. So keep that in mind if I describe anything inappropriate.)

So anyways, while at the bar there was this girl dancing very inappropriately while an old white man was pouring beer all over her, all the men cheering and making comments. So this sparked a lot of conversation with my group. The thing is, yes, this happens in bars all over the states too, and although it is sad to me, its not like that far out of the norm. But, this situation was very different. For one, what she was doing was really bad. Everyone in our group was very appalled (except for Maurice, of course, who was watching intently). The main reason is because of how women are viewed and treated in Cameroon. They are not valued, they have no say, and they have no opportunity. They have almost no choice. The problem is that the dancers at bars only do this because they have no other option to make money. They sleep with old white rich men to make money (and Cameroonian men). There really is barely any alternative for these women. People were saying how strippers in the US at least have to choice to be strippers. They could get a job at McDonald’s if they wanted. They also can still hold value as people in society. Girls here are brought up to be used and devalued right from the very beginning.

Another interesting tidbit: One of the men who was up there getting a lap dance was actually a man who works for this center for gender equality or something like that. One of the people from the embassy said that he actually came to one of their seminars and taught on female empowerment (or something like that). !!!

The guy who was pouring the beer on her actually talked to us, he was the owner of the bar, and wanted Ryan to dance (because he did last time) and Ryan said he wouldn’t because he didn’t want to support what was going on. The owner was actually really calm and nice as he explained that there’s no nudity at this place, unlike most other Cameroonian places, and that “this is a biker bar, what would you expect? It’s no different than in the states.” He actually made some good points. Not that I think he’s justified. But I guess what we were so appalled about is that what we saw is just a representation of the life of a Cameroonian female.

To help explain the situation: the girl that came to Riessa’s party, Joyce- her mother was in a polygamous marriage (to a wealthy man) where she was beaten. She decided she had enough and took Joyce and left. She was ostracized by the whole family (all the other wives). She and Joyce lived literally in a hole in the wall. With rats. This mom had the strength to get out, but to go where? The alternative isn’t much better. And this is so common here. What was she to do? Stay in a polygamous marriage and get beaten but have essentials? Or take her daughter and live basically on the streets? They are doing much better now though, still struggling, but making it. I’m not sure how.

It’s just so different- girls are sexually abused all the time, beatings are commonplace, and they can only really make money by playing up their sexuality, except that’s all they’re valued for.

This is all based off of my observations, stories I’ve heard, and what other people have told me. I could be off base here, but there’s still no denying that it’s a hard life.

But that’s one reason I really want to pray for Riessa, that she can overcome it and make a difference for other girls like her.

Orphanage Reality

This weekend I got to visit 2 orphanages- the first was the Fact Foundation, the place where Ang started helping out last year. Ang, Liz, and I drove there on Saturday afternoon (which is a mini adventure in itself because Ang is still new to driving standard, and, like me, doesn’t have a great sense of direction J. And the driving here is absolutely crazy, as I think I talked about in one of the first blogs.) To summarize, Ang said that the Fact Foundation improved a ton since she had been there last year. Using Liz as a translator, we talked to the director about the place, if the septic system that was supposed to be put in by another group actually worked yet, what the needs were for the kids, stuff like that. I’ll try to explain what it was like.

There’s about 70 kids at this place. We walk in the gate and there’s a courtyard area where kids are playing with a flat soccer ball. A lady that works there is chopping up food on the ground sitting near baskets that have flies swarming around them. A soccer game is going on (Cameroon v Gabon, a huge game) and most of the kids are crammed into a room with a tv watching and cheering. There are two rooms stuffed with bunkbeds for the girls. The beds have bug nets up, which Ang said they raised money for last year, except the place never actually put up the nets last year for some reason. They were up, although there were lots of holes in them. The boys rooms are two rooms with a bunch of bunkbeds, no bugnets. Most windows have screens on them, which Ang and a guy from ASOY put up last year, except that the doors don’t have screens and there are a lot of holes, so I don’t see it deterring many bugs.

The bathroom area was 4 stalls with the doors taken off and leaning against the wall. One was flooded. The stalls just have a hole in the floor, that apparently they “flush” by dumping some water down the hole and its supposed to drain through the pipes. A group came and put in a septic system, which I guess is hooked up but there are no water pipes. Around the back of the property is where the septic system is, which is also like a mini dump- there’s trash all over the place, and some kids playing soccer in a cleared out area. The kitchen is outside, two little fire pits with grates over them, using wood for fuel. There are some wooden door frames over two cement rooms, one of which is supposed to be the kitchen, that a group came in to fix up, but haven’t finished yet. The woman who works there cooks food for 70 kids outside over those two little firepits. Amazing.

The director said the need is for money for school for the kids (which costs anywhere from 10-15 thousand CFA for primary school and 30 thousand for nursery school- 10,oooCFA is like 20 US dollars). I guess getting this money is hard, except the director said all the kids were starting school on Monday.

There were two infants that we saw there- the director said they were new: two girls had come to the orphanage who had been molested, and they had their babies there. I saw one of the girls holding her little baby- she was so young. I think that was the most powerful thing I saw there.

Ang said the orphanage was greatly improved- before there was just trash everywhere and no bug nets and it was just bad. So I guess its doing better now. But still, it’s amazing (in the negative sense of the word) to see so many kids crammed into one place, no possessions, no kitchen, barely bathrooms, 3 kids to a bed- and these kids have no one else. Ang is going to try to arrange a thing with ASOY where they bus in the orphans kids once a week to get tutored by high schoolers at ASOY and to play with the little kids.

A very different experience was going to visit Ryan’s orphanage, Green Eyes. I went with Liz, Ang, Lindsey, and Brian. Brian drove, but it was night and we didn’t have good directions, so it was a crazy experience getting there. The first adventure was that a biker hit us. That’s right, we didn’t hit him, he ran into us. I was sitting in the back left seat of the car, and we were driving past a big truck that was going the opposite direction, and I hear this clanking near the trunk of our car, and then I look out my window and I see a guy smushed between my window and the side of the truck! We pulled over- turns out the guy was drunk riding his bicycle, and for some reason tried to pass us on the inside of the road right when a large truck was coming straight towards him. He was fine and kept riding his bike. We’re pretty sure he’ll be feeling it once he’s sober. It was so scary at the time though- it definitely could have been really bad.

Anyways, we get really lost and have to circle back many times, driving on these crazy roads with crazy drivers, and people everywhere- everyone here comes out at night and walks the streets, sells stuff, goes to bars and clubs and restaurants near the road. We finally find the road for the orphanage but then miss the gate and start going down this steep road that is barely a road, we have to turn around and almost hit another car- good thing Brian is good at driving stick. It’s definitely a danger here of getting stuck somewhere in a ditch off these narrow roads.

So we finally arrive at Ryans, which is actually really nice. They just moved places, apparently the last place wasn’t safe and kept getting robbed. Ryan said that with the ecomonic crisis they’re running off of 1/4^th of the funding they used to, so they had to revamp everything. Now they put most kids back with their families, funding the families and doing weekly checkups to make sure they’re treated well and that the families are functioning. So there are actually only 2 kids living at Green Eyes with Ryan. But the place is really nice- there’s a yard with some ducks, a living room, kitchen, a stairway that’s decorated like a pirate ship, a little library room (Ryan’s getting book donations and is going to try and expand the library so kids can come and check out books), Ryan’s room, and two rooms for the two kids who are living there now. There are little dolls and collections everywhere- lots of Disney. So I got to meet Joel and Ryessa, who were at the old orphanage (the one in the documentary) who are now living at Green Eyes. We sat outside and had crackers and cheese and talked. It was really nice. Definitely different than I thought it would be. Ryessa is having a birthday party on Friday so we’re gonna try and go to it. But we don’t want to drive there at night again J. Ryessa is turning 13 and loves highschool musical- she actually learned most of her English by watching the movies. It’s pretty amazing, the way everything is organized now. Ryan is like a dad to these two kids, and a guardian to all the others. There’s another guy I guess who volunteers a lot, who’s a Mormon missionary, so he takes the kids a lot to be with the other missionaries. I definitely want to learn more about it, because I still don’t know a lot about how they work, or even how many kids/families they’re helping out.

So that was my orphanage experience so far. It was amazing to see Joel, who I saw as a little boy in the documentary who was being mistreated and beaten, now a few years older and so happy and full of life. He loves attention and makes jokes and smiles all the time. Ryan said he has trouble at school with the other boys because he’s seen so much of life but is still happy and goofy, and the other boys at school are not.

I want to try and get more involved with this while I’m here. I’ll keep you updated. But not knowing the language is definitely a hindrance. Again, I don’t really see what the solution is to all this. It seems like what Ryan is doing is good- trying to restore families and help them out financially. The poverty just really messes everything up.

Well, now I’m back in the rich ex-pat world and I think we went last night to a concert at a bar where a lot of other white people were, it was kinda weird to see so many around here. We’re going to a guy from the embassy’s house tonight to play poker and guitar hero. Different world.

Thanks for reading- this week is week number 2 of school, I'll be picking up more resonsibilities in the middle school, so hopefully that goes well!

Week Two- School and More Reality

Well, this week is the first week of school with the students! Today is Tuesday, so I've survived two full days. Well, I shouldn't say survived because it really wasn't that hard. Starting out I'm observing the 6th-8th grade science, and I'm teaching 4th and 5th grade science. So most of the day I'm not actually teaching.

Let me give you a feel for what its like with kids there: This school is super diverse. (Cindi- you'd love all the "color" in the classroom.) Anyone who thought I'd be teaching a bunch of rich Americans, you were wrong. Rich other cultures mostly :-) I think there's around 150 students, and theres like 34 countries represented. Out of my 5 classes I think there's 6 Americans, maybe. A lot of the students are Cameroonian, but there's also a lot of kids who have lived everywhere, with parents in the Embassy or something similar. Almost everyone has an accent, it's great. This is another time when I feel humbled that I only know English and my small Connecticut world when these kids know at least 2 languages and are learning at this school in their second language. Today in 4th grade one boy was trying to tell me how the pendulum could show different results, and he turned to the boy next to him and asked him in his language how to say it, and then his friend translated "weight." It's pretty amazing to me.

On the first day we had the kids figure out who they thought had the most exciting summer in the class. Oh man, these kids travel more in their summers than I will in my whole life! Paris, South Africa, Holland... everywhere. Although in one class they all voted for the girl who went to Hawaii (shout out to Jenny!). And some even voted for me, because I went kayaking, which I don't think most of them even know what a kayak looks like.

One boy in the 7th grade is from China, and doesn't speak or understand a word of English. That's gotta be so tough. We have a lot of language learning support at the school for students who need help with their English so they can learn, but this boy is going to have to be in support all day. I don't even know what to do with him. No one on the staff speaks his language either, so I am a little worried about how he'll manage.

I've talked to a bunch of kids about how long they've been here, lots of them just moved here this year. And they seem like they handle it so well. I can't even always pick them out, unless they have a different accent. But can you imagine being 10 and coming to a new country for the first time and going to a new school like a few days later? Definitly different than good old Hartland.

So far it seems like most kids are really well behaved. Oh- and I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the class sizes are super small. There's 6 in my 4th and 5th grades each, and there's 15 in 7th grade, which is considered really big. Weird. It's really different coming up with lessons for a group of 6 students as compared to thinking about 25.

I gave a lesson to the 5th graders today on how many drops of water fit ona penny. When I was planning it, I realized I don't have any pennies, haha. I checked the francs, but they didn't really seem like they had a big enough ridge on them. So I found some plastic ones in one of the classrooms (to teach counting money) and just used those. I had a funny moment when I was giving the lesson where I was talking about the different sizes of quarters and nickles, and I had to stop and ask, "Wait, do you guys know the different kinds of American money?" Yes, most of them did. And I couldn't even remember that they call their change francs. But the lesson went really well. (The most drops we got on a penny was 55- you should try it, its fun.)

Ok, so now for the reality part: I watched a documentary last night with liz and ang called Green Eyes in Africa- its done by this guy Ryan, who went to Africa to work at an orphanage. He discovers that Mama, who is the head of the orphanage, is stealing money, beating the kids, neglecting them, and using the orphanage as free housing for her family. Ryan eventually works out a plan to get the kids out of there by getting their living family members to come take them out. In the process he has to call the US embassy to come and evacuate him. He makes his own orphanage, but Mama gets revenge by paying off reporters to say that an American is abducting children. It's a battle between Ryan and Mama, who has friends in high places. It sounds crazy, but there were so many times when it all seemed impossible- they argued with the government, who wouldn't do anything about it, even though Ryan had videotapes of the kids being neglected and beaten. They got death threats. Ryan really only made it because the US Embassy helped him, but even then it was a battle. This was all only a few years ago, and the orphanage is in Yaounde, and Ryan actually works at ASOY in order to keep his visa. It's so different watching something like that when I'm literally here. I know Ryan, I live in the city, and its not like it happened long ago. It's also interesting because I'm getting more of an idea about the whole corruption thing. Even someone who starts an orphanage is corrupt, its so sad. Everything is corrupted. It's so crazy to think that something like that can even happen, let alone that someone would have evidence and money to make a good orphanage, and he would be stopped. Even social services was bought off by Mama. Bribes are everywhere. Even now Ryan is still battling certain family members. I wouldn't have understood or believed the struggles except that now I'm here and I see more of the whole picture, although I know I still don't understand or know nearly everything about it.

Ang, another teacher here, lived in an orphanage in Nepal for her first 2 years, and has been volunteering at Ryan's orphanage and another one in the area. She said that last year they raised all this money for bug nets and donated clothes, and when she went back, the nets weren't up and half the clothes were gone. The director said the kids don't know how to take care of things. It's so sad, that even if something starts out good, it gets corrupted, or it's managed so poorly that it ends up wasting what could be good.

Liz, another teacher who grew up in Gabon, West Africa, was talking to us about the culture here. The whole beating children thing is totally cultural. What we would call abuse, in some cases is just normal. Bad grades=beating. Liz said she used to be kept up at night by drunk fathers who came home and beat their families. (Again, the alcohol thing here is a big issue.) Another cultural thing is witchcraft- at the orphanage they were saying that a little boy had internal bleeding because of witchcraft. Even his family was saying that. Instead of helping him or bringing him to a hospital, they ostrasize him and let him bleed profusely out his nose. Liz said this is very common. What can you do? Ang said that it's like telling someone that their belief is wrong, like saying God doesn't exist. They believe it's witchcraft, and there's no convincing them otherwise.

It's so hard because I don't know what the solution is. We talked about adoption, but how it's so hard to adopt out of Africa, because you have to get every possible living family member to sign to give up their child- and they all want to be paid. It's so sad to think that a family would give up their child to an orphanage, but then you have to realize they couldn't support the child on their own. And then when someone comes who wants to give the child a better life, they want money for it, because they don't have enough. Where is the solution? Even someone who comes with funding to go a good thing faces so much opposition.

I'm planning to visit the orphanage with liz and ang this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write after that. You can look up www.greeneyesinafrica.org and learn more about it. I would reccomend watching the movie. If you have to buy it, you know its going to a really good cause.

Well, that has been my most recent reality check. I know there will be a lot more to come. Still glad I'm here though. Remember to pray for Cameroon- for the corruption and the poverty and the lack of a bright future.

Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll have funny stories to share from school.

Love

Grace

Cabaret and a Little Bit of Reality

This past weekend I had another "African experience"- we went out to a "cabaret" or a dance club basically. It was really fun! I went with liz and a bunch of other teachers, and liz's cameroonian friend, Thiree (something like that). It was fun, definitly a cultural experience. Their music is all really similar, but there was some modified american songs too. And dancing here is pretty cool because for the most part it's very individual. There's space between everybody and you don't have to worry about weird guys coming up to you. mostly :-) and everybody dances with everybody, like girls with girls and guys with guys. so i had a really good time. It's actually right across the street from our apartments, which also means last weekend I heard the music all night long... But it's more like a restaraunt/bar during the day and then it turns into a bar/danceclub. You pay 1,000 CFA to get in (which is a little more than 2$) and that gets you a drink too. In my case, a water ;-) We got there around 11:30, which was too early. We sat around and talked a bit till more people came- basically there's the bar and tables and a dance floor, with a dj and lights. The music kinda stuck to one theme for like 10 songs then would change themes.

Liz and her cameroonian friend dragged me out there and were teaching me how to move my hips like an African, I guess. They had a tv with music videos playing- the girls on the tv could move their hips like no other. The dancing at the club was a lot tamer. After awhile 3 guys with drums played while the more experienced dancers danced- it was really cool to watch. They played so fast and for so long, and totally in sync- I'm not sure how they did it, I think one guy was the leader. The dj would kinda add little stuff here and there too, or do background beats. The later we stayed the better it got, in my opinion- it could have been because I was improving, or just cuz the music got better and more people were there for me watch and imitate. Some of the girls came up to me and Liz and danced with us (one even said I was a good dancer! I think she was probably just being nice to me because she knew I was white and didn't know what I was doing- haha). Another guy was trying to teach us (probably mostly me) how to dance too. When Liz told him I only spoke English, he changed from saying "Un, deux" to "one, two." I don't know French, but I at least know that!

I always feel bad having to be like, "Sorry! I only speak English" to anyone who's trying to be friendly. But I am also surprised at how many people know English, and can speak it pretty well, even though they say they're bad at it. Although the internet says that Cameroon's official language is French and English, English is not really used in Yaounde, it's more in the north and in villages (for example Bamenda). Here in the city everyone speaks French, and they don't really need to know English. Except that most people speak at least 3 languages! For a lot of people they can speak French, English with a heavy accent, and their "mother tongue," and maybe even their father tongue. (This is like their tribal language, except they don't like to call them tribes, I think because of the inaccurate connotations that go along with it.)

I was talking to a teacher at ASOY, he's Cameroonian but he actually went to college at Bethel, the Christian one in Minnesota! Small world. He also taught for 2 years at Rainforest International Academy, the missionary school in Yaounde. Now he's here at ASOY. He speaks I think 5 languages we counted. Wow. We also talked about how he handled the winter at Bethel as compared to Cameroon :-)

I also got to talk for awhile to a few of the female Cameroonian teachers at happy hour at the director's house on Friday. It's interesting to learn more about Cameroonian life, at least from the perspective of teachers or assistants at the school. Nephratiti is this supercute 30something-year-old who doesn't look it at all, with a teenager at home. I think she lives with extended family, which is really common here- the family extends very far. Another woman, I forget her name, is a single mom. They were talking about how the culture has changed in this new generation, how they don't do any of the tradition anymore- It used to be that the man and woman didn't even talk before. He would be interested and persue her, which really meant she played hard to get, and he talked to her family. You have to meet the family apart from the girl, get approved, have your families meet as well, then have this whole ceremony where the girls wear viels and the guy has to find the right girl. The ladies said it was so much fun and that it's a shame that people don't do it anymore. I can picture my parents and grandparents saying similar things about this generation :-)

Coming home the other day (friday) from school I was getting a ride from one of the teachers who hires a driver, Kevin, to drive him because he didn't want or didn't know how to drive here. Anyways, Kevin was late because the government came and gave him the weekend to move before they knock down his house on Monday. This is a common thing here- people live places they aren't techinically allowed to live, and then when the government wants their land, they make them move and tear down the houses. Usually this happens because people bought land from other people who didn't actually own the land in the first place, so they have no record to prove that they own the land. Or people just set up a house on land they want because they have no where else to go or because its cheap for the short term. Sometimes the government will compensate them, but I think it depends if they can prove they bought the land in the first place. I don't really understand all of it, but some teachers were talking about it, and there seems to be two viewpoints. One is that the government, although corrupt, has the right to kick people off land they don't own. Or to knock down shops that don't have permits to be there. I guess that happens a lot too- people just set up shop when they aren't allowed to, and eventually it gets knocked down. Although, apparently the government will give them like a year to move, and most people just don't move, so it looks a lot worse when they come and say get out by tomorrow. Also, these shopowners/houseowners aren't paying any taxes, which is unfair to the government or everyone else who is following the rules and paying to be a legitimate owner. So what should they do? Another part of it is that the government is trying to make Yaounde on the up and up, which apparently it was like a dump about 10 years ago, but its really improved, partially because the government has been cracking down on things like people living anywhere they want, selling anywhere, trash, etc. How can the city improve if certain things are allowed to stay?

But the other side is that these people have no where else to go. Where should they go? Or what if so many people don't have the money to be legal owners? Also, the government is so corrupt that sooo much of the GDP is embezzeled, as well as taxes. So why pay taxes and do things by the rules when a few wealthy corrupt poeple are just stealing your money? How is it fair for the government to come to a marketplace with firehoses and evacuate everyone? What can you do with the mass poverty- these people that make their living off of selling phone cards on the side of the road in little huts? If that's the only thing they can do, what other option do you have to give to them?

Another aspect that I've learned is that part of the culture is viewing things very temporarily. I guess the average life expectancy is something as low as in the 40's. People just don't think about the long term- even if you could make some money from an illegal business and then invest that money in a legal one, people wouldn't necessarily do it because everything is so temporary. Not to mention that if you buy anything nice it's bound to get stolen. Everyone who lives in a house that does't have a guard is likely to get stolen from very often. I guess one of the school employees had their house broken into i think multiple times, and a bunch of guys with machettes and guns put guns to their heads and said, give us the TV. or something like that. And this happens all the time, there's really nothing you can do to prevent it, except not have anything worth stealing, or have enough money to pay for security. This is just such a different way of life than I'm used to, different in so many ways, from individual ideas and habits all the way up to the structure of the government. Its kinda depressing to think about all these things and not know what the solution is. Everyone says that most of west Africa is like this- that all the former french colonies are like this, because the French just pulled out and left the country to the wealthiest, most corrupt person who wanted the job. Whereas the English ones left forms of government and structure. If true, it's amazing the kind of effect it can have over such a long period of time.

I'm definitly humbled when I talk to so many people who've had less opportunity than I have, but they can communicate so much better and they know so many languages, and they have a lot of other life experiences I have not. Its good to see more of the world. But hard.

More to come on that in the next blog.

I'm learning a lot and having a good time too. It's good to be at this school and living in the teacher's apartments, but makes me feel guilty that I'm having a good time and living safely and having priviledges that most people here don't get at all.

I miss you all, thanks for reading!

Grace

Week One- Practically Cameroonian

This is the view from a balcony of the apartments where I'm staying- if you click on it you should be able to see a lot more details, including a little bit of the road which I described in this blog.

(I put some more pictures up on facebook, so check it out!)

I've been here about a week, and it feels like way longer, just because I've seen so much and learned sooo much. I know it will start to fly by. I'm practically Cameroonian already. Ok, just kidding. I've realized how stupid I was to not work on my French before I got here, so I'm going to try and work on it now (I have rosetta stone, thanks to Derek- the guy who takes care of me, even when I'm across the ocean).

This week has been teacher in service week, getting ready for the kids to come on Monday. Oh man, not only am I new to traveling and to this country, but I'm also new to teaching in general. And to teaching at a private school. There is sooo much stuff to learn! So many forms and meetings and details... I'm pretty burnt out on all that stuff. Let alone planning for teaching a class! Not a class, 5 classes. The teachers have had just this week to clean their classrooms (and I mean actually clean- everything here gets moldy, and the teachers have to do it all) set everything up (like posters and arrange the room and organize supplies) AND to do all their lesson plans. Crazy.

So I realized I haven’t really said much about what I’m doing here and what the school is like. So here’s the rundown- the American School of Yaounde (ASOY) is a private, American, pre-k to 12 school that is taught in English and has an American curriculum. It’s located in Yaounde and is basically a school for wealthy Cameroonians, embassy kids, military kids, any kid whose parents are stationed in Cameroon or a surrounding country for a period of time. This means that the kids who attend are really diverse. For example, in my 4^th grade class, all 6 students are from different countries, none of them America. It’s a pretty small school, each class ranges from 6 to maybe 16 students. The school is surrounded by walls with barbed wire and has guards (like most large houses or embassies or establishments) at the gate who check each car for bombs before they enter (even the teachers). The school itself is so cool though. It’s kind of like individual classrooms that are connected but you have to go outside to switch rooms. There is a covered basketball court, a pool, tennis courts, and a soccer field which is more like a dirt field. I’ll try to take pictures of it soon so I can post them.

So my role is to student teach for 4^th to 8^th grade science. That means I’m working with one teacher, Tom, for 6-8^th grade science, and then the 4^th (Roger) and 5^th (Richard) grade teachers. 4^th and 5^th is like regular elementary classes, so they have the same teacher all day, but I’m just going to come in for science. Although, there’s no textbooks or materials or curriculum really for these grades, so I get to be creative! I’m actually really excited about it. 6^th to 8^th is much more organized as Tom is the science teacher, so he has materials and books and everything. So I’m really excited to be learning from all these great teachers. Tom did peace corp in Cameroon awhile ago and has since taught all over the world practically, and has lived in Cameroon for awhile now, so even though he’s from Minnesota, we still say he’s practically Cameroonian. Roger is on his first year here, but he’s been teaching for like 30 plus years in Damascus and Holland. Roger and I are buddies because for both of us this is our first time in Cameroon, at this school, and neither of us know French. Except he’s obviously more experienced than me in travel and teaching, so I don’t really consider us equals. Richard is Cameroonian, he’s also in charge of the boarding house that I stayed at for about 5 days. He was a teacher assistant at ASOY for a few years and this is his 2^nd year teaching here now. These teachers and all the rest are just such cool people. There are a lot of Cameroonian teachers, but also some from Belgium, France, Syria, Israel… lots. Everyone is just so friendly. They love asking me why I chose to come to Cameroon J.

So, I also didn’t explain where I’m living. When I arrived I stayed the weekend at the teachers’ apartments. The apartments are for the ex-pat teachers. Everyone was so nice and so helpful. I was going to live at the boarding house, and I stayed there for this week, but now I’ve moved back to the apartments so I can be with the teachers- some of my good friends here offered for me to stay a few weeks with each of them, so I’m really excited about that. This is just a much better situation than staying at the boarding out, and its much more social. Right now I’m living with Liz- she’s who I stayed with right when I got here. She’s so great- she is an American who grew up in Gabon, which is just south of Cameroon, and also lived awhile in India. She went to the states for college and now is back for her first year at ASOY. She’s Bah’qui (I forget how to spell it, but it sounds like Bahigh), which sounds a lot like Christianity, but it believes that all the major religions are all really the same, like progressive revelation. She’s really fun and we’ve had a good time. I think she’s taking me dancing tomorrow night J

I’m also going to be staying with Angena, another single female teacher from NY, but this is her second year. Super nice and super cool. And I’ll stay with Lindsey and Brian, a married couple from Iowa, they’re second year teachers too. These teachers are just so nice and so helpful- they’ve really helped me to get adjusted here and taken care of me.

One of the things that struck me since I’ve been here is just how helpful and nice everyone is. That includes the American teachers and the Cameroonian teachers. The people are also very polite and friendly- everyone says hello to everyone else. Except that it still isn’t a safe place to be alone at all, because of the all the mugging and thievery.

Oh, so back to where I’m staying. We’re about a 15 minute car ride to the school, but still in the city, in an area called Bastos. The apartments also have walls and guards 24/7 (thievery is really big here). A lot of the returning teachers have cars, so we just kinda find a ride. The roads here are crazy!! There are tons of taxis, but they tell us to please please not take taxis because they are dangerous and you will most likely get robbed if you’re not in a group. But everyone in the city takes them- I think that its worse when you’re a white American who is easy to take advantage of. Liz still takes them by herself during the day sometimes, but she has lived here and is fluent so she knows more of what she’s doing. I will not be taking them on my own J. Back to the roads- there are no road signs or names, and not really any rules, except the bigger car has the right of way. I’ve only seen one traffic light. No speed limit. Basically its constant merging and passing. You can pass anyone anytime, sometimes people flash their lights when they’re gonna do it, sometimes not. Lots of horn honking too. Its crazy but fun. All the cars are standard, and there’s tons of hills, and a lot of the not main roads are very narrow and have all sorts of potholes (except they are dirt) and sharp turns. Needless to say, I won’t be driving anywhere while I’m here- don’t worry mom and dad.

The other day while driving home from school I saw something interesting- there was a guy lying on the side of the road, kind of passed out. We weren’t sure at first what was going on, but then we realized he was just really drunk (this was at like 4 in the afternoon). Another guy walked by and came up to him, I thought he was going to help- but he reached in and took the guy’s money out of his pocket! While he was walking away someone yelled at him and he went and put it back. The drunk guy woke up and looked around and started swearing at the guy who made the thief put it back!

Alcoholism is very big here. The beer is super cheap- like 1 US dollar for a bottle, which is like the size of at least 2 of our beer bottles. Apparently Cameroon has one of the highest drunk driving rates anywhere. Another reason why the roads are crazy I guess.

Well, I want to end on a positive note, so you don’t get the idea that I have negative feelings towards Cameroon. It is such a cool place- so beautiful. The dirt is red, and there are a lot of green trees- lots of palm trees. There are these mango trees that the bats love- during the day these huge bats just fly around these trees- like seriously at least 100 of them. It’s also very hilly- so close to the city are these little “mounts” I guess, which are kind of rainforesty, I really want to go exploring. There are these cool yellow flowers everywhere- so when you look around it’s a lot of bright green and yellow. And the temperature is great- I thought it was going to be hot, but its not humid (although I guess its very moist so that everyone gets moldy really easily) so its like 80 every day, and at night it cools down a little so its just very comfortable. And its always sunny, the sun is very strong. Except when these huge black clouds roll in and it’s a torrential downpour. It’s the rainy season, so it happens very often, and sometimes they are short but sometimes it lasts for hours. The streets get like little rivers, although there are trenches alongside all the roads to prevent it. Its also super loud, especially because a lot of the roofs are metal. I guess when it pours when you’re teaching you just have to stop because no one can hear you. I think it’s really cool J.

Ok, well now that I’ve given a lot of introductory stuff, I hope my next messages can be more about observations and about the culture and the people. Also, if you have questions about something I haven’t mentioned yet, just write and ask so I can be sure to cover everything. I’m writing these and other emails, so I might forget what I told to whom.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to email me too.

Love

Grace

Welcome to my Cameroon blog!

As suggested by my good friend Emily, I am going to make my very first blog- mostly so I don't have to try to email everything and so that more people can read about my experience. The only rule is that you need to email me! I actually get a lot more internet than I thought, so I'd love to hear from you (or even talk to you on skype!) so please write. Ok, so here goes!

(Oh! I think all of you probably know, but in case you don't- I'm engaged!!!! To Derek Rupe, love of my life :-) And the wedding I think is May 22nd!)

(This first section is going to be basically the first email I sent out, so if you got that one, you can just skip to the next one.)

So pretend this one is dated August 23, 2009

I'm in Yaounde, Cameroon! (That's West Africa- on the coast, right above the equator, in the little armpitlooking notch)

I flew out on Thursday night (20th) and arrived here in Yaounde on Friday night. ( For those confused, I'm student teaching in Cameroon at the American school of Yaounde- ASOY-for 3 months!) I've been staying the weekend in the teachers' apartments, but I'm moving into the boarding house on Monday. Planning is this week, and school starts next Monday! To summarize, I'm having a GREAT time. I was really nervous on the way here, but since I've been here its been so great. All the teachers here are sooooo nice and have been taking really good care of me. This is my second full day and I feel like I've already seen and learned so much. I think all of the teachers except for 1 have either taught as this school before or have lived in Cameroon for one reason or another even if they are new to the school. So I'm definately a newbee- seeing as I only went to Jamaica once, and I've never taught :-)

The Cameroonian culture is really cool. We're in the "city" although it doesn't really feel like a city to me because there are barely any big buildings. But it isn't very safe, so I guess that's a similarity. But it is crowded, and its also a new experience to be the minority. Oh ya, I don't know any French, so that's interesting too! I can't even write all the things I've learned about, like just basic living stuff- don't drink the water, don't go anywhere without a copy of your passport, but not the real thing because the police will take it and bribe you, don't leave your clothes out after dusk or else flies will lay eggs in them and then you'll get maggots in your skin, lock everything....

Ok, I'll summarize what I've done so far:

I went out shopping for food and essentials with another teacher, saw some of the "grocery stores," listened to a lot of people speaking french and exchanging money that I don't really know anything about, went swimming in my director's pool and got kinda stuck in a torrential downpour (its the rainy season here), had a Cameroonian meal cooked by one of the teacher's helpers, went out to my first real Cameroonian restaurant and had fish and chicken and plantains and this chewy white starch stuff, lost power in the restaurant but that's normal I guess, drove around town to find a cabaret (dance club) and got a flat tire so had to change it, and got up early this morning and hiked/walked up this really long hill that everyone runs up in the mornings on the weekends.

Observations: I live in the wealthiest part of the city and there's still people living in abandoned buildings and planting crops in random small pieces of land- which is really sad. There are a good amount of embassy people here, so they are all really wealthy. Every once in a while you see a bullet proof hummer or escalade, which is really quite different than the crappy cars everyone else drives around. I know that I am wealthy compared to people here, but it does kinda stink to be grouped in with all white people. I guess the biggest difference I notice is that, although I feel very safe at the school and with the people here, there isn't a general feeling of safety for anyone. The government is corrupt and the police are corrupt too, so one of the main concerns you have is getting IDed by a policeman and possibly getting thrown in jail. This also means there isn't really a crack down on theft and everything, so everyone has their own guards. This apartment and the school are all guarded 24/7 and have barb wire and walls all around. Even people with their own homes all have guards. Well, I guess just the richer ones do. Oh, another thing, the school recommends that the teachers all get cooks and maids- not because they really need them, but because so many people depend on being employed like that, and teachers can afford it here, so they all pretty much have a "servant" kinda. which is weird, but I guess its really to help out the people. It does make me feel a bit uncomfortable though.

Ok, hope this gives you a little picture of what I'm doing!

Miss you all,

Grace