Youth Week

08 fevrier 2012

Today I played football (soccer) for the first time sinceeee 8th grade. This week in Cameroon is known as Youth Week. These are the events planned for the week:

Monday and Tuesday - normal classes

Wednesday - Youth clean-up day. Each class of students is assigned a certain area of the town to clean up. I was in charge of the Premiere D class and we went to the health center (of course) to clean. The students machet-ed down the grass, swept and mopped the floors. Because we finished early, they then helped another class burn down a field. Burning down fields is big this time of year during the dry season. The fields of grass, corn and beans that grew all during the rainy season are now dried stalks and people want to get rid of them. They want to start the year off fresh. Side note: my postmate told me that actually burning fields is one of the worst things you can do because it burns all the nutrients that were put into the ground from the previous year's crops. I tried explaining this to someone. They looked at me like I had four heads. So this is how burning goes: a group of people, in this case students, circles the land to be burned. One match is all it takes because once one dry stalk goes up in flames, the rest follow shortly after. It is quite interesting to watch as insects fly in all directions away from the heat, and students clap and holler as they move the flames to other areas. In the US, being a pyromaniac is frowned upon. Here, it is just part of life. For the student's work at the health center, the supervisor gave them 3000 FCFA. We split it among all the students and they went and bought bennets and beans with their hard-earned money. They were happy. After the clean-up day the kids had the day off.

Wednesday afternoon - All the teachers and administrators went to the neighboring town of Berem where we played a soccer game against the teachers of that high school. I played the whole first half of the game - and by play I mean I was running around, making a fool of myself, and attempting to kick the ball. I didn't touch the ball once - it's fine though, next time. Our team won 2-1 but Berem will come visit us next month for a re-match in our village.

Wednesday night - I was reading in my house and heard a knock on the door. To my surprise, 10 students waited on the other side. I welcomed them in to my house to practice their skits and dances for the following morning's cultural activities at school. It brought me such joy that they came to my house to practice. I like to be “serious” and an educator that students respect; but at the same time many of these students need an adult figure or role model in their lives. They came to my house because they knew it was a safe and positive environment to practice.

Thursday - cultural dances and skits at school

Friday - no class

Saturday - parade and festival in a village called Ngan'ha