Dhuse in Africa

Visitors!

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:26:53 +0100

My father, brother and my brother’s girlfriend, Kristen all came for a visit here in Cameroon. I arranged for a ride to and from the airport in a private car with a friend from Limbe. He is a Cameroonian and besides driving he helped get the family through customs as well. With just minor trouble getting through customs we were out of the airport and loading the baggage into the car. Unfortunately at this point the keys accidently got packed into the car as well. So after shutting the back hatch we realized we were locked out of the car.

With the help of some by standers we acquired items to try and break in. We tried for 30 minutes or so to get in, but were unsuccessful. Finally one of the guys standing around had a master key of sorts and opened the door. After fending off all the people who wanted money for helping, and there were 15 or so, we were off. The ride back to Limbe was about an hour long, so my family and I caught up with each others’ lives.

The hotel I found for our stay in Limbe is a little two room place. I rented both rooms so we essentially had the place to our selves, with the exception of the dinner crowd for the hotel restaurant. During our stay in Limbe we went to the wildlife center, the beach and checked out my friend Bill’s software company.

We then took the bus to my region of the country. After a small hiccup with having to change from our bus to a van on a deserted, in the middle of nowhere road, things went smoothly. We finally arrived at my house and we were all exhausted, so we all decided a nap was in order. After a short nap we took a trip into town to get lunch and some supplies for dinner.

The next day we went to Bafoussam to do a little shopping. Bafoussam is the third largest city in Cameroon and probably the ugliest. However you can get just about anything you want there. For us we were looking for fabric that we were going to use for custom tailored shirts. We went to one of the biggest fabric sellers in town, La King. However when we arrived they were closed for lunch. So we decided to get lunch ourselves. We went to a western style restaurant called Narco-Line, one of the nicer places in that city. After lunch and using possible the nicest bathroom in all of Cameroon, we went back to La King. We spent a good hour looking through different styles and debating what to get. Everyone finally decided and after a few errands we took the car back to Bangangté. Now I should mention here in Cameroon cars travel packed with people. A small car will have four people in the back seat, two in the front passenger seat and sometimes a person sharing the driver seat with the driver. We didn’t feel that we needed to travel as the Cameroonians do so we bought all the places in the car for the four of us.

That night we returned to my house, prepared and ate dinner with pineapple for desert. For entertainment we played Carcassonne, a type of board game my dad had brought for me and used my slow internet.

The next day we took a trip to a nearby village called Banderfam where another Peace Corps volunteer lives. This village is small and was a great chance for my visitors to see a true Cameroonian village. While we were there we fixed one of the villages three computers and installed software on another. Julie the volunteer also took them on a tour of the village while I continued to work on the computers.

After finishing the work with the computers we rode back to Bangangté and went to a restaurant for an early dinner. After which we went on a tour of the University. Since it was a Saturday, it was pretty quite. Then it was back home for some pineapple and a movie.

The next day we tried to make arrangements to fly to the north to go on safari. However we found out that there were no flights on Wednesday, the day we expected to leave but it was instead on Tuesday. We scrambled around trying to get tickets but there was no travel agent that would take a credit card and we did not have enough cash to buy the tickets. After trying some options we eventually gave up. We changed our planes to go to Yaoundé and then on to Kribi.

The night before we bought our bus tickets, we had to talk the agency into it and ended up paying a bit more for it. However we did get good seats and thanks to buying an extra place we were not crammed in. The bus ride went well and once we arrived we took the taxi to the hotel. We stayed at a hotel right next to the Peace Corps office and transit house. This was desirable for several reasons: first, they offered a Peace Corps discount, second there is a good restaurant just across the street, and third, perhaps most importantly it allowed us to make use of the transit house.

The transit house features a full kitchen with all the appliances, living room with TV and DVD player as well as many other things. We spent both nights watching movies and hanging out there. Strangely there was hardly anyone there, just one new response volunteer. This situation actually worked well as when the house is full it can be a bit crazy.

The stay in Yaoundé went very well; we had drinks at the Hilton bar on the eleventh floor with a great view of the city. We went to a primate sanctuary just outside of town and went to the famous pizza place in the expat district.

The trip to Kribi was a bit less smooth. With getting ready in the morning we arrived a bit late for the bus and could not get the good seats. So we were packed in the bus five people to a four seat row. Everyone that is except my dad whom we bought two places for. The ride was just over three hours but crammed in it can feel longer. Though we finally arrived and took a taxi to our hotel; the same hotel I stayed at during the Peace Corps in-service training. Which like the hotel in Yaoundé offered a discount to PC volunteers. We had a late lunch and then went into town to buy some souvenirs and fruit. With a quick stop to the bakery for some ice cream, of course. After which we returned we walked across the road to the beach; we swam and enjoyed the sunset. Later we returned to the hotel restaurant for some fruit and to relax.

The next day we went to the famous waterfalls just outside of town. These falls are one of the few places where a waterfall empties into the ocean. We walked up to the falls and took a small boat to the base as well. We relaxed with some cold drinks and bought more souvenirs. After a few hours we went into town had lunch. We were all a little sleepy and we decided to go back to the hotel for a nap. That night we went back to the beach, played in the waves and again watched the sunset. With the convenience of the hotel restaurant we ate there yet again. We spent the rest of the night relaxing and engaging in some video chat with people back in the US.

The next day it was time to leave, we took the bus to Douala where the airport is. I checked into a hotel, where I would stay as the flight out was late and I would have no time to travel. We had a nice lunch and then my three visitors repacked their bags and got ready for the flight. We took the hotel shuttle to the airport, they checked in and we said our goodbyes.

Over all it was great to have visitors, we had a lot of fun together. However being the tour guide and translating for two weeks is exhausting, I am defiantly looking forward to staying at my post for awhile.

See photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2375762&id=22405894&l=b264fa2f70

Finally a Vacation

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:44:20 +0100

After six months in Cameroon I am on vacation! I finished up my classes on Friday, December 11th and got on a bus to Yaoundé. I spent Friday and Saturday night hanging out with other volunteers in the Peace Corps transit house. I ate out at good restaurants and had fun.

Sunday a big group of us headed to our IST, which is more training. It took place in the coastal city of Kribi. Peace Corps put us up in a nice hotel right across the street from the beach. After being at post for four months it was quite a shock to stay at a nice beach resort; defiantly not what I expected in Peace Corps!

The training sessions at the beginning of the week were with out Cameroonian counterparts, going over problems we had, solutions and possible secondary projects. Later in the week the counterparts left and it was just the Peace Corps group. We went over joining different volunteer committees, had health sessions and extra AIDS education training.

Every evening after sessions we partied on the beach. Beach American football and Frisbee games were a nightly feature. We had a few bonfires and late night swims.

Saturday we said our goodbyes and headed back to our posts. I arrived back in Banganté on Sunday. There I continued moving into my house, cleaning and buying furniture. I am not completely moved in yet but once my furniture is done being made I am hoping it will feel like home.

The University starts up on the 4th so I will be relaxing and getting my house in order till then.

Chez Pierre - Banganté, Cameroon Photo by Tim Balderston

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:35:15 +0100

Chez Pierre - Banganté, Cameroon

Photo by Tim Balderston

6 Months in...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:51:32 +0100

So I have not posted in a while, things have been busy here. I moved out of the dorm room into my new house slash apartment. I say that because it is a house, but it has been divided up into several apartments. It is very nice; I will get some pictures up as soon as I can find the data cable for my camera. I am still unpacking and everything is all over the place. So when things get arranged I’ll also post a video.

Classes are going well but preparing for class takes a lot of time, more that I had originally thought. The students are very smart they keep me on my toes with questions. We are almost at our holiday break. I will be spending some of it in training.

The training is for Peace Corps training and will be next week. However this time it will be in Kribi a city right on the ocean. I will be about a week and I am looking forward to being on the beach and seeing everyone from my training group again.

In addition to moving last weekend, I made a quick trip over to another volunteer’s post, to help her out with some HIV / AIDS training with kids. It went well but my group was kids from 8 to 13 and it had some awkward times, like showing them how to put condoms on. That is something that would not happen for that age group in the US. Though overall it was fun, and I hope we taught them some useful things.

Ok, I have to get back to work. A la prochaine!

My Morning Commute

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:10:17 +0100

My Morning Commute

First Week Of Class

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:29:24 +0100

It’s been a little while since my last post, here is what has been going on: This week I started teaching my two courses. They are object oriented programming in Java and new network technologies. I am teaching the two in English, the other professors recommended I do this for two reasons. First while I have learned quite a bit of French since I have been here, I am just slightly under what would be required to teach high level topics, perhaps next semester. And second, the university is very high on bilingualism and wants their students to be as close to fluent in both French and English as possible when they graduate.

My theory classes went well I used a video projector with my Macbook to show Power Point slides and real code examples. My practical lesson in the lab went fairly well even with the two brief power cuts causing all the students’ machines to restart. There is supposed to be a UPS for both labs to handle minor power interruptions but for some reason it is not working. However with my constant reminders to save their progress all the students finished the lab.

I also received my job duties for my stay here at UdM. Items include teaching classes, consulting on the structure of courses, managing labs, assisting students with projects, setting up campus WIFI, linking our two main campuses by wireless, setting up our new fiber internet line, developing a software package for managing the student hospital, grant writing for UdM and other small projects. I hope two years is enough for all that!

In other Peace Corp Cameroon news: the new trainees are here. I’ve been hanging out a bit with them after work and on the weekends. It is nice to have so many other Americans to hang out with, though I’m sure it is hurting my integration and language skills as I can converse in English quite often now. I am not worried though; they will be done with training and gone soon enough. There will be plenty of time for my cultural and linguistic integration then.

Other than that things have been pretty routine here. The next big thing for me will be IST in December where all the volunteers from my training group get together on the beach for more training sessions. Though I will be sure to write a few times before then, but for now take care!

My Peace Corps dorm room.

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 18:15:28 +0100

My Peace Corps dorm room.

Swearing In

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:57:00 +0100

Swearing In

Model School

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:34:01 +0100

Sorry it’s been so long since the last post but I’ve been busy. The big news for me is that the education trainees started teaching at the model school.

The Peace Corps model school is a sort of vacation school with kids from the local village signed up. Last week all the education trainees observed trainers and current volunteers. This week it’s our turn to teach, which was exciting and terrifying at the same time.

The IT volunteers are teaching mostly in French while the TEFL (English) and science volunteers teach in English. I am teaching four classes: Terminal, 3em, Form 5 and Form 3 & 4. Since Cameroon is a bilingual country the Form one through 5 are English classes based on the British system, while the others are based on the French education system.

My Terminal class is the equivalent to upper high school students and I have eight students in that class. The 3em class is middle school aged students and there are over 80 students in that class, which leads to quite a bit of class control problems. I teach both of these classes four times a week. The Form 5 and Form 3 and 4 combined I teach once a week and they range from upper high school to lower high school aged students respectively.

I will say that teaching IT in French is quite a challenge for me. I can plan my lessons out and have my language trainers look over it, but having the students ask questions, I most of the time, don’t understand and then coming up with a response on the spot is very challenging. However things are good, my French is improving and life in Cameroon is great.

So between lesson planning, language classes and all the other things I have to do I don’t have much time. However I still am having fun and enjoying my life here in Cameroon. Though I am missing my friends and family as well but I hope that many will come to visit!

Till next time…

ED and SED

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:41:12 +0100

There are two types of volunteers in my stage, or training session for those non-peace corps folk. There are education, ED and small enterprise development SED. The ED volunteers found out their post on Tuesday and are leaving for site visit tomorrow. Site visit is when a volunteer departs the training village and navigates the country to get to their port city or village. A bit of a scary concept, something that I will not experience as my post is here in the same village as training. Never the less my fellow ED volunteers will leave today or Sunday for their posts and I wish them well!

I in the mean time have very little to do. I need to go to the neighboring village and open my bank account and maybe do some shopping. I also might do a bit of travelling to stay with another volunteer. For me site visit is a bit anticlimactic. However I will be visiting the university to observe class and get a feel for the structure and operation.

SED volunteers get their post assignments next week and will do site visit the week after that. Just as the ED volunteers return. So our little group will be divided for the next couple of weeks. A bit sad but as Norm, one of the current volunteers says: “You didn’t come to Africa to hang out with a bunch of Americans.”

That’s about all the news I have for now, I’ll try to upload another video and some more photos soon.

Three Weeks Already?

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:13:00 +0100

So I’ve been in Cameroon about three weeks now and I’ll try to catch you up on what I have been doing. First off, two weeks ago we moved from the capital to our training site. I’ve been living with my host family and everything is going well. They are really nice and have been extremely accommodating, they do not speak much English so all communication is done in French. Most of the time there is five other people living at the house with me: the mother, three brothers and the sister. Other family sometimes comes to visit but they don’t stay too long.

A little about my house, there are four bedrooms, a bathroom with shower, and a dinning/living room. The kitchen is outside in another building. I have my own room and a good sized bed, with mosquito net. Out back there are many corn stalks, and avocado tree, various chickens, the kitchen and various storage.

Training has been going well, I’ve had lots of language and cultural classes. I have been settling in and getting in to the routine so things are becoming more and more normal for me but I’ll share some things you won’t find in the US.

This town gives new meaning to the phrase: free range chicken. Seriously they are everywhere; there are no fences and the chickens just wonder around all day and return home every night.
Corn, its everywhere I’ve never seen so much. People will grow it in every possible spot of land they can.
Spanish soap operas dubbed in French are all the rage here.
Hissing, here it is acceptable to get peoples’ attention by hissing at them. This takes some getting used to if you have never experienced it before.

I hope that can tide everyone over for now. I’ll try to get more updates soon!

Peace Corps Blog: Day 4

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:03:00 +0100

Hello everyone, I`ve made it Cameroon safe and sound! Currently I am staying in a hotel in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon with the thirty other volunteers who left with me.

I`ll give you a quick rundown of my first days with Peace Corps. I left Grand Rapids, Michigan on ~~Thursday~~ Wednesday morning. My friends and room mates drove me from the Movey house to the airport at 6:30 am. We arrived at the airport and checked in. While doing so we found that both my bags were over weight, so in the middle of the airport I began pulling out item to lighten my load. After ditching some of my items I was able to get one of my bags under weight and ended up paying extra for the other one (thanks mom!) After a bit of waiting I said a tearful goodbye to everyone and left for ~~Pittsburgh~~ Philadelphia.

I arrived in ~~Pittsburgh~~ Philadelphia, grabbed my heavy baggage found a shuttle to the hotel. Once at the hotel I unloaded my baggage in the Peace Corps holding area sat in the lobby with some of the other volunteers. Shortly after we began registration. This consisted of making sure our paper work was filled out correctly, turning it in and meeting some staging staff.

The rest of the day we played ice breakers, went over policies and got to ask questions about our service. Later that night a group of us went for dinner and drinks with money given to us by the Peace Corps. After a good night of meeting people I went back to the hotel and fell asleep.

The next day we woke up early ate a quick breakfast and went to the clinic to get vaccinations and our malaria medication. After the clinic we loaded up our bus and drove to New York and JFK airport. There we unloaded the bus we processed thorough the airline counter and through security.

At this point we still had quite a bit of time before our flight so we all ate. Finally it was time to board and we borded out tiny American Airlines plane to Brussels. After a 7 hour trip we arrived qt the Brussels airport. Being tired most of us just sat around until out next flight to Cameroon.

As it turns out, we shared our flight with the Cameroon National football team! This was quite a treat for us and we were pretty excited. Nothing spectacular happened between our two groups, beside some small chatting.

When we landed at Yaoundé International airport it was Friday afternoon. After a 45 minute ride to our hotel we checked in and had dinner. During which we were introduced to some of the staff of the Cameroon Peace Corps office.

After dinner most of us were tired so we went to bed. This morning we ate a simple breakfast, filled out paper work and toured the Peace Corps office and transit house. The rest of our day is free so it gave me time to update the blog and hang out with the others.

I am running out of Internet time so I’ll rap this up. So far I love it here and I’ll update all of you as I get time.

Save Africa, Save The World

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:59:00 +0100

So as you all know I am off to Cameroon to serve with the Peace Corps in June. What you may not know are the details, so I will write what I know so far.

I will be finishing up work at Grand Valley State University on May 5th, this gives me about a month to get everything in order before I leave. I am hoping in early May that I can take a climbing trip down to the Red River Gorge to get one last climbing trip in! In mid-May I will be flying out to Seattle to visit my brother Ryan and to relax a bit. Upon my return I will be moving out of my beloved Movey house in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan and putting the majority of my belongings in storage.

June 3rd, 2009 I will be flying to Philadelphia for two days orientation. Once there I will fill out paperwork, get any remaining vaccines and meet the other volunteers going to Cameroon. Two days later the other volunteers and I will fly out to Cameroon. Once in country we will make our way to the town of Bangangté. There we will have a ten week training session consisting of intensive language and cultural training, during which time I will be placed with a host family.

After the ten week training period I will be placed in another part of the country. I will not find out my exact location or assignment until the training draws to a close. As of right now, I know that I will be teaching computer education to students somewhere between middle school and college level; most likely in French.

I will try to update this blog as much as time and circumstance allows. I want to thank my friends and family for all the support you have given me. Thanks for helping me to make the world a bit better for all of us!