World AIDS Day December 1, 2011

For World AIDS Day this year, the students of the Health Club at the high school and members of our village Red Cross Club organized a day of events to educate people about HIV/AIDS. Here was the itinerary for the day:

10am-Noon Teaching at the High School run by the Health Club students

Noon-2pm Parade from high school to the Chief's house and teaching to people of the village led by Health Club students and Red Cross club members

3:30pm-5:00pm Soccer game at elementary school between Health club members and other students

In reality, the itinerary was not exactly that because some things started late, but all in all the day was a success. The weekend before World AIDS Day, the two doctors from the health center and I led a formation of peer-educators. This means that we taught Health Club and Red Cross members about HIV/AIDS, and then when World AIDS Day arrived, they taught their peer fellows and people of the village.

Below is my speech I gave at both the high school and in front of the Chief's house:

Bonjour chers professeurs chers élevés du Lycée de Gangassaou. C'est avec un réel plaisir que j'annonce la journée mondiale du VIH/SIDA à Gangassaou. D'Amérique au Cameroun et de la chine au brésil, le VIH/SIDA est une maladie internationale. Les enfants, les vieux, les femmes enceintes et les élevés comme vous ne sont épargnes, le VIH/SIDA est une épidémie qui touche et affecte tout le monde. A cause de cette maladie, chaque premier décembre, nous parlons et enseignons sur le VIH/SIDA en espérant qu'un jour, il sera vaincu.

Cette année, le premier décembre 2011, nous avons un grand programme réalise par les nouveaux pair-éducateurs des IST/VIH de Gangassaou. Le programme de la journée est comme suit:

10H-12H Enseignement par les pairs-éducateurs au Lycée

12H-14H Défilent dans le village et enseignement a la chefferie

15H30-17H Match a l'école primaire entre le club sante et le croix rouge contre les vétérans

Aussi, la semaine prochaine (du 5 au 9 décembre) tout le monde est invite au CSI pour le dépistage du VIH/SIDA. Les cent premières personnes vont recevoir le pré et post conseil et un dépistage gratuit.

Aujourd'hui est une grande journée ou nous apprenons sur le VIH/SIDA et devons respecter les personnes atteintes ou mortes de cette maladie. Dans le futur, j'espère que nous pouvons penser et parler du VIH/SIDA chaque jour de l'année. Une journée par année ne suffit pas pour améliorer le problème mondial du VIH/SIDA. N’hésitez pas de chercher vos pair-éducateurs pour en savoir davantage sur les IST et VIH/SIDA. Avant que les activités ne commencent, j'aimerai dire merci a certaines personnes qui ont rendu possible cette journée. Premièrement, merci aux personnels enseignants et administratifs du Lycée pour leur compréhension et l'espace qui nous ont été accorde. Deuxièmement, merci aux personnels de sante du centre de sante intègre de Gangassaou qui ont aide a la formation des pairs-éducateurs, qui vont faire les prés et post conseils et dépistages la semaine prochaine et qui nous ont donne les préservatifs. Merci a l'ONG SAJER pour leur formation sur les IST et VIH/SIDA et leur don de préservatifs féminins. Merci au ministère de  la sante publique pour le don de cent dépistages du VIH/SIDA. Enfin, merci a la croix rouge de Gangassaou, au club sante du Lycée de Gangassaou et a tous les élevés qui ont contribue a l'organisation de cette journée. Merci beaucoup d'avance pour votre présence et de votre respect a l'égard des pairs-éducateurs. Passez une bonne journée et rappelez-vous toujours que "la fin du VIH/SIDA commence avec vous". Je vous remercie.

Good luck translating it everyone! You can look for pictures from the day's events in my facebook album:

Facebook photos November and December 2011

Article for Health Newsletter

Below is the article I submitted to the PC Cameroon health newsletter. Enjoy!

I'm a strong believer in the expression "old habits die hard". If volunteers before Peace Corps (B.P.C. if you will) were social butterflies and preferred crowds to calm, then those personality characteristics  carry over into service. If volunteers B.P.C. were workaholics and would stay up until 3am in the library memorizing the
Krebs cycle (yours truly) then those attributes are again seen during two years here in Africa. I find work here in Cameroon becoming the biggest part of my day-to-day activities (well not so much the Krebs
cycle part). Within a given minute these are the work thoughts jumping around in my head:
vastfundingdeadlinesformationat1pmhealthclubactionplanwhatarethedateofmidservice... and the thoughts continue.

During one uneventful evening this past October after a much-eventful and activity-packed day, I took a breather to reflect on my service thus far. In such a calm and non-stressful village in the heart of the
Adamawa, why are these workaholic characteristics of my personality still showing themselves? I found myself asking: what happened to goals 2 and 3? And why am I letting goal 1 take over my existence
here?

When I applied to Peace Corps in the spring of 2010, I do not recall imagining development projects. I recall wanting to explore a new culture and live in harmony with people different than me. I wanted life to slow down for these brief two years, to be purely happy and to do some soul-searching along the way; as cliche as that sounds. However, here in PC Cameroon, I feel pressure and stress to do work and project after project related to health education. Are these workaholic characteristics within me just having a hard time dying off, or is there an outside pressure to do all of this goal 1 work? On the VRF that we all know and love, there are 31 questions to be answered for EACH activity done related to goal 1. On the other hand,
there are 3 questions related to goals two and three COMBINED. Note: yes that's right, I counted all the questions. How is it that goals 2 and 3, or 2/3 of our work, are minimized into just three questions? Does this not strike anyone as bizarre that 1/3 of our work (goal 1) is taking 91+% of the credit?

When I realized all of this last month, it worried me...and I decided to do something about it. I compiled a slideshow of photos on my computer from my home in good ol' Vermont and other states in the red-white-and-blue. I started showing people in village, and they love them. I am amazed by how many questions people have, ranging from how the healthcare system works to whether we grow corn too; things I
never would have thought of to explain. I also spoke with a French teacher from my old high school in Vermont and set up a penpal program between her students and my 4e English students here. On this end, we have sent out our first batch of letters and the my students keep asking when they'll receive theirs. I am also revamping how I interact with my WWS elementary school to help students in the US better
understand what life is like here in Cameroon. I am brainstorming other goals 2 and 3 projects to launch in village, and would love to hear what other health PCVs are doing to promote America abroad and
Cameroon in the US of A.

I hope that, at this near mid-point in service for my stage, other health volunteers in my shoes can reflect back as well on what brought them here to Cameroon. Focusing solely on goal 1 is leading me away from the things I wanted to achieve here. In my eyes, goals 2 and 3 are overlooked, but are currently where I find the most joy in my service.

School system in Cameroon

Elementary school grades: SIL, CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2 (6 in total)

Kiddos reading/looking at picutres in Nat Geo at my house

High school grades:

6eme/ sixieme. Classes: english, french, history, geography, civil education (education about cameroon and politics and government), mathematics, science

5eme/cinquieme. Same classes as for 6eme

4eme/quatrieme. Same as for 5eme plus physics and chemistry and student's choice of German or Spanish

This year's 4eme students

3eme/troisieme. Same classes as for 4eme

*After a year of classes in 3eme, students take the country-wide exam called the BPC in June/July. If they pass the BPC and had passing grades in all their classes for the year of 3eme, they move on to 2nd. If they don't pass the BPC, they can still move on to 2nd, but have to pass the BPC after a year of classes in 2nd. Passing the BPC is a big deal because if it is not passed after 2nd, a student cannot continue and has to take the year of 2nd all over again.

2nd/second. This is where courses get interesting. At this point in a student's high school career, they choose if they want to focus more on the math and sciences or on languages. A student's choice puts him or her in one of the following two classes/groups:

2nd A: Strong focus on languages; German, Spanish and Arabic. Math and science classes still present but very few.

2nd C: Strong focus on mathematics and science, little or no language classes.

*After 2nd, students take another country-wide examen called the Probatoire. Just like the BPC, if students don't pass the first time around they can try again after 1ere. After 1ere, though, if they still don't pass, they can't move onto Terminale. They have to take the year of 1ere all over again and try in June/July of the following year.

Last year's 2nd students

1ere/premier. This grade is split up into three classes or groups again based on a student's choice of study. These groups are:

1ere A: Language focus of French, English, and choice of Spanish or German

1ere C: MATH focus with few language or science classes

1ere D: SCIENCE focus with few language or math classes

Tle/Terminale. This final grade is split up just like 1ere, with the focus on language, math or science.

*After Terminale, the third and final country-wide exam is called the BAC. Again, this is take in June/July after the school year is done. If the BAC is not passed, students take the whole year of Terminale again before giving their shot at the test a second time.

Note: As far as I know, a student can retake classes as many times as needed and take the three tests as many times as desired until the score are passable. The majority of students, though, get fed up with the system of only having one shot to move ahead per year in June/July when they take the test. At our high school here, the numbers of students per class start ridiculously high in 6eme (80+ students) but as the grades increase and more tests have to be passed, the numbers dwindle down. In Terminale this year at the high school, there are just under 20 students. And these 20 Terminale students are ALL male.

So, in total they are 13 grades or years (assuming they are all passed along with the three tests) from elementary school to high school. The majority of students start SIL in elementary school AROUND the age of 5, but for most it is more. There is not a set rule that once a child is 5, he or she goes to school. It is up to the parents when they are ready to send their child and when they think their child's french is well-enough to get by in school. How many grades/years do we have? 12 right? It just appears so different here because, for example, it is not uncommon to find a 1ere or Terminale student who is 23 or 24. If the student started late in elementary school, and had to repeat a few years due to grades in class or test scores, I guess it makes sense
that graduating from high school happens in early to mid-twenties. And after high school....higher education is a whole other story.



YOUR comments welcome...

November 16, 2011

I need to get better at blog-writing. Sometimes when I describe things or events that are happening, they make perfect sense to me because, well, I'm living them. But what about you, my audience? What am I not explaining about life here in the Adamawa region of Cameroon, Africa? What do you all want to know about? Any topic ideas? I have discussed food A LOT (but don't mind discussing it further if anyone has questions about it), my work at the hospital and high school, and bits and pieces of the culture here. What am I not including in these blog posts that would give you all a bettter idea about Peace Corps here in my village in C-roon? Please let me know in your comments below....and again thanks for following my bloggy blog.

Baby alice, Salomon and Alison (I'm her godmother)

Just some other random topics I don't think I've mentioned:

Most common illnesses volunteers get sick from here (me personally and the tales I have been told): stomachhhhh stuff giardiabacteriaamebas in any and all forms, malaria, weird skin problems like skin falling off due to heat/malnutrition absesses or bacteria in skin, worms in feet etc, dental problems where volunteers get sent to south africa to get cavities filled

Ethnic groups that I see on a daily basis:

Dii the largest ethnic group in my village, their language is called Dii-roo. Most recently, they are descended from a city north of us called Mbe. Before that, I don't actually know where they came from. They are primarily farmers, harvesting everything from yams in Mbe to beans and sugar cane here. The Dii are hard-working but, in my opinion, a bit stubborn

Fulbe, their language is Fulfulde, they are known to be nomads and at one point travelled all the way from Senegal and took over the three northern regions of Cameroon, they are herders (which means they always sell milk) and are very nice. Some small villages around mine are Fulbe where people have settled to stay. Ethnic groups other than them always joke that the Fulbe are thieves; because they always travel from place to place, it's said that they just take things as they go along

Mbororo, smallest ethnic group around here, their language is Yako (but I've never actually heard this spoken I dont think), they are primarily nomads and herders like the Fulbe, I can tell them apart from the others by the blue scars on their faces, a ritual called, appropiately, scarification. They also sell lots of milk in village :)

In the next town over, there is a large population of an ethnic group called Mboom. I'm not quite sure what makes the Mboom different from the Dii other than their languages, but I'm sure there are lots of differences.

Traditional wedding in the streets of Ngaoundere

Random Rituals:

-When the chief has something important to tell everyone in the village or news to spread, he sends the town "crier". The other night when Nini and I walked to the store to get a mambo chocolate bar (my guilty pleasure of 100 FCFA, approximately 20 cents), we passed the crier out yelling on the dirt pathways between people's homes. At first I thought it was the town fool, but Nini told me that the chief sent him. Apparently, he was telling all the families that once they sell their beans, they need to go immediately to the schools and pay the fees for their children. I'm impressed; go chief!

-Prayer times for Muslims in town: 5 am, 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 7:30 pm. If meetings are held in town, it is always in the afternoon interspersed with the prayer times. On Fridays, there is a longer prayer for the first afternoon one that begins at 12:30 pm. I do not see women going to pray at the mosque in town like I do for the men. During Fasting, I would see women going to prayer at night, but was told they bring they mats and pray outside the building while the men all participate inside.

The Fools

We have two "foos"or fools in our village. These are people who, if we were in the red-white-and-blue, their families would most likely pay for them to be in a special home. But here, special homes don't exist, and they are harmless, so we just accept the fools and they are parts of the village like anyone else.
Fool number 1 lives one dirt road over from me. He has been wearing the same outfit since I first arrived in February; a torn up leather coat and shorts. He doesn't wear shoes and just walks around our neighborhood. Sometimes he picks up trash and puts it in his pockets. Sometimes he pushes dirt from one side of the street to the other. He mumbles to himself, but doesn't bother anyone. He has a family that feeds him every day and he just sleeps outside their house. I asked someone once why his family doesn't bath him or buy him shoes. The response I got was he doesn't want to. I've been told he wasn't always like this, but didn't feel like pushing details as to how he got this way.

Fool number 2 is more interesting. According to town gossip, he used to be a big man in village and worked in many cities around Cameroon. But he got greedy, and took some sort of potion/medicine, and then became a fool. He still has his same family and children from when he was a fool and still plants corn and everything...but he's just a bit different. He sports pants, flipflops, a nylon running jacket and a train conductor hat. He is always holding a clipboard and writing scribbles on pieces of paper that he finds. On his clipboard/pallette, I have seen anything from a feather to an old piece of metal to a cookie wrapper. When I pass him he always says "Bonjour Hadidja, ca va?" and starts talking French normally...and then slips into some sort of rambling/local language/jibberish that I or no one understands. He visits the hospital, hobbling along because his ankles are tied closely together with string. I'm pretty sure he ties his own ankles together...not sure why, haven't figured that one out. He sings; the kids knows all his songs and sing with him (hamo lamo kiimoo mi hamo lamo kii, not sure what it means but that's verse 1). During market days, he yells at dogs passing by and invisible people on the street. He visits the hospital to see his friends that are sick or to scribble jibberish on his clipboard. He is completely harmless and everyone is entertained by him...except for when he starts yelling at the clouds in front of the hospital. Then the supervisor tells him to go back to his field.

Teaching

Novembre 2011

There are wonderful things about teaching. And there are not-so-wonderful things about teaching. But let's start with the positive first. The other day in my 5eme class of 50-ish students, we had some free time after going over the recent tests they had taken. For the most part, the tests had been "passable". I hadn't put anything too difficult on the test; it was all content we had gone over in class or they had done on the homework (if, in fact, they had done the homework). So, for the free time, I requested that they just ask me words they want to know in English or maybe songs they had heard from nigerian-pidgin-english and didn't understand. They love this asking-what-things-are-in-english game, by the way. I try to keep a straight face during the game, because, as my gal pal who teaches elementary school always tells me, if you laugh in class students won't take you seriously. After a couple of random words and lines from a poem they were taught but never knew the meaning, one of my favorite students stood up. Everyone became very silent (for like the first time ever) and he, very officially, shouted out,

"EEF YOU LOOK AT ME, I WEELL DANCE LIKE A CHA-CHA GIRL"

I lost it. Legit. Knee-slapping rip-roaring laughter. I could not contain myself. No one else in the classroom knew the meaning of what he just said, but they all started laughing too cause they wanted to get in on the good time. When I finally wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes and composed myself, I wrote the sentence on the board and we translated it together:

SI TU ME REGARDE, JE DANCERAI COMME UNE FILLE CHA-CHA

Then they all started laughing too, now that they understood the meaning.

And onto not-so-wonderful things about teaching. There is an expression I have been taught countless times in chemistry classes through the years. The expression is about reactions and goes something like: a reaction can only move as quickly as its' slowest reagant. Meaning that something can only go forward at the rate of its' slowest part. I have developed a similar expression about the students taking tests in both my classes of 5eme and 4eme. My expression is:

You are only as smart as...the person sitting next to you

Meaning that cheating is the  norm. I don't know how to win with these kids. This second test around, I tried splitting up my classes so that there would be only one student per bench, thus no wandering eyes like during the first test. However, one of the students in the first group wrote down test questions and handed it outside to his fellow classmates...and I caught him. Both he and the two boys he gave the paper to received 0. And I blamed myself at first because I should have just kept the classes together (even though there would be wandering eyes), or made different tests for the two groups. I cannot win either way. And then I stopped blaming myself, because the truth is, it is the students who will lose in this situation and not me. I gave out six 0s for cheating this time around. Also, if and when these students travel to anglophone (English speaking) regions of Cameroon, it is them who won't be able to get by because they did not study English.

Students of the class of 4eme

4eme students sitting at their desks

15 novembre 2011

only in my life right here right now will the following things happen:

-I was "cadeau"-ed some little plastic plates from a volunteer friend who is shortly leaving after her two years on service. The plates were on a side table next to the entrance of my house. Little Nini spotted the plates and asked for one. I told her I would trade it for something; ten oranges. She went off running with her friend, Oumoul, and brought back ten ripe oranges from a tree next to her house. I gave her the plate.

Nini

-Cell phone service is sketchy or nonexistent here. My cellphone is sketchy or not working. My SIM card is disfunctional. I needed to make an important phone call to one of my bosses to discuss an upcoming project, so I went to the local little store where I usually get credit transferred onto my phone. I beeped (cell phone lingo for when someone doesn't have much credit on their phone, you "beep" someone and they see you're calling but don't have a lot of credit so they call you back) my boss and she called me back. Of course this little shop (where this is random sketchy service outside behind the door) is right on the main road. As I am on the phone having this important call about my funding proposal and project, a huge tractor-trailer truck squeaks to a stop right in front of the store and the people start fixing the brakes/axels/god-knows-what. As all the racket and rumble are continuing in front of me, my boss is continuning to talk. Finally the truck leaves and I just politely ask her to send all the info to me in an email "so I won't forget"....slash so I can hear it for the first time.

-giardia. again. Don't get me wrong, I have been very fortunate health-wise here. I haven't gotten really sick and 95% of the time I feel great. But that other 5% of the time....ya, I need to be more careful about what street food I eat. Does giardia live in bush milk aka unpasteurized yummy yogurt that I've been consuming lately? I've been here for ten months now, and as time goes on, my strictness on what I consume and when I consume (as in medium rare or well-done) has definetly lessened. Maybe I should start my strict diet over again....but the bush milk is soooo good.