Ketcheble, Tchamay, Gam-SIDA!

Ketcheble, Tchamay, Gam-SIDA!

May 22, 2009, 8:12 am
Filed under: Cameroon

You know it has been a long time since you posted when you need to read what your last post contained…. doh…
HI!
So life here in Cameroon has been going well. I have finally had a couple months without parasites (fingers crossed that that trend continues) so that has added a lot of happiness to my life. I have been biking a TON and going out and visiting a lot of tiny little villages that I had yet to visit. Basically working just at Hina center does not provide a ton of opportunities; 1. because the population is really very used to Peace Corps being in Hina (6 or 7 years now) and also 2. the population really is not all that dynamic. Really… it is kinda weird that when I arrived in Hina there was not a single communtiy group legalized in all of Hina center. (Side note, that the population is not that dynamic is not a reason for me not to work. On the contrary, I take it as a challenge and where the challenges are the most is where the most growth and progress can be made, right??? I will continue to try to being OPTIMISM… if ONE of these groups can take off the rest of the village will SEE the importance and it will be awesome!). There are like 4 or 5 in these tiny tiny villages like 1/10th the size and NONE in Hina? Hrm. Also, compared to smaller villages far from Hina Marbak (where I live), Hina is really well off. People are (relatively) rich there and have a little disposable income, we have a good situation regarding clean water, and there are easy ways to send for goods from the big cities like Maroua, Mokolo, or Guider. Also, Hina has a highschool which is actually pretty rare around here, even larger towns nearby cities don’t have highschools through the end of highschool (what they call the BAC). Students come and spend the school year from far away places to go to highschool in Hina. Finally, Hina has a health center, yes it might be pretty crappy but at least there is medicine and trained nurses.

Anywho, so I think now that my homologue Kari got a motorcycle, we will be going out and visiting a lot of the smaller more secluded villages to educate and help them solve their most pressing issues regarding health, education, or general development issues. For example, we went and visited this tiny village about an hour and a half away on the top of a mountain (Windy = cool and not hot) with a population of around 1000. They SERIOUSLY have a problem with water. They have one well that is around 2 meters deep that they constructed themselves, yet the opening is huge, maybe 2 meters across too because the ground is so sandy that if they tried to dig deep and small it would just collapse. Anyways, so it is SUPER open so anything could fall in, yes even your Hummer H2, or H3 for that matter. Now get this. So this one well started being low on water in December. Rains end in Octoberish, start for real in June. So… basically the well does not help much in the dry season (when it is important…). Women look for water in the middle of the night or walk miles and miles to get 20 liters. That isn’t even the bad part. This one well is not just for Ketcheble, there are THREE other villages that come with donkeys, motorcycles, feet, to get water from this one well. Yeah. People don’t take baths, no water. So… I want to solve this problem. I will solve this problem.
Basically the population of Ketcheble is AWESOME and super dynamic. There was this project called PARFAR where the villages would collect 200,000 CFA for a pump and the government would finish the rest of the 8 million CFA price tag (ouch!). They heard of this project and found me in the market one friday and just gave me the 200,000 CFA right then and there. Like, dude, we NEED water! Ok, maybe you don’t see the amazingness and dynamicism (word?) of this move, but you need to realize that most of these individuals have no money. They cultivate and raise a couple animals and that is it. The men of Ketcheble try their best to sell murchanise in the local markets (Hina center for example) to make some cash… but I could say that the majority live on much less than one dollar a day (500CFA). Really, even at Hina center I tried to get a quartier of the village to collect this money to get a pump since their quater was the only one without a pump and they refused to collect. Really, collecting money is NOT an easy feat with the extreme levels of poverty and corruption here. Almost everyone has a story of collecting money and someone eating it. Anywho, so this project PARFAR is finished, they were set up to only do 75 pumps and they have reached their 75 limit. So we are on probation to see if another village does not give the money or if for some reason another village does not work out they will come and dig in Ketcheble. So… cross your fingers??

Secondly, since the population is so driven and engaged and ready to do their part I would love to help them build a school. Their current school consists of a wood hangar to block the sun with old stalks of millet and they kids sit on the floor and they have a tiny blackboard that is broken and basically illegible. If it rains they don’t have class. The population has collected 150,000 CFA before before and are just kinda waiting to see how they can collect or what they can do to build this school. Anyone want to help? Once I get my camera I will shoot up this so you can see the school that they are using now. It broke my heart too, yesterday was the annual National day of Cameroon (20 may) and their is the march to commemorate the union, anyways the school of Ketcheble was there and it is just striking to see the differences in poverty based on the location of the school. The students from Hina and nearby Zivoul are relatively well nourished and have nice colorful uniforms. Ketcheble on the other hand you could tell the difference in how terribly malnourished all the kids are and here they are marching infront of all the “grands” and “elites” in like 120 degree weather and sun. They also did another “dance” afterwards and they all did it BAREFOOT. Barefoot on sand that has been baking in the sun ALL day. *sigh*. So, if anyone is interested in funding a project to build a school… let me know. Could build a great cement structure for maybe two classrooms that would last for 50 years or so for around $3,500-.

Secondly I visited Tchamay. Another village really far and in the mountains and their water problem is even MORE pronounced than ketcheble. They have not a single well and everyone drinks water straight from the mayo. Yeah, a lot of opportunity for discussing water sanitation and how you can “treat” water by a myriad of approaches (I am heading there again the 31st right before heading to LONDON–woot—shout out thanks Dad+Kelli) in the future. However, this visit was not as encouraging as the visit to Ketcheble. I had a reunion with all of the important chefs and lawans of the town and they all came to the conclusion that yes their most pressing issues was water. We continued the discussion and I explained that there are many projects that will dig wells if the village can collect 40% or 30% or some portion of the total cost of the well, since nearly all projects demand community participation, and for good reason…

In the end they all agreed that they cannot collect anything. Not even 5F. I was like… hrm. Well, damn? They just said they would love for me to work there and do any sort of education or any work that I can do but don’t count on the participation of the community. Well then, what do you do in this situation??? Kids are affedted every day from intestinal parasites, becoming malnourished due to worms, dying from diarrhea (they even told me that they lost a lot of kids last year due to diarrhea). Ok.. yes.. education about water sanitation, how to treat water, how to prepare oral-rehydration salts en brousse can help, but seriously… the best and long-term solution is to GET potable water. In this situation do you just do nothing? Do you dig one well for free and then go “seee this is goood… help for the others”? I don’t understand how they CAN understand that this is their most pressing issue yet say they can do nothing to ameliorate their own situation. For every example of a village without any wells or with a SERIOUS water problem, there are other villages that have helped themselves and have dug wells or found projects and collected a part of the money and solved their own problems. I am here to help them help themselves, I don’t really feel comfortable with the top-down white man digging well for free sort of approach that has been so… to be honest.. damaging in the past. Grrr. Education it is…

The youth group (GAM-SIDA) is rockin’! We have started having educational conversations in each quartier of Hina center and it has been going well. We chat about HIV/AIDS, answer questions, dispell rumors, talk about the importance of HIV testing (another rant, HIV tests are NOT available. In my humble opinion here in the village, HIV testing is absolutely on the FRONT lines for fighting HIV infection. How can you fight a disease you cannot see? Condoms are well and good but HIV testing before marriage, with partners that are faithful, for pregnant women, for children, for everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Doh. I went all around Maroua to try to find them, even if I had to buy them expensive [HIV testing is supposed to be free, just like ARVs... Not] and I couldn’t find tests anywhere) and show how to use a condom…etc. It has been going well and with time we want to set up a little informational peer education kiosk at the market on fridays to answer questions, distribute information, and sell condoms (since they are still hard to find in my opinion… the people who run the little boutiques are slow at picking up wanting to sell them… why?? ). I think with time I might apply for some funding for this group, it also breaks my heart with happiness to see this group of youth who are EXTREMELY poor all just working little odd jobs for 50 cents a day, going to highschool (paying their own way), cultivating, and they are all giving money each week to this group to fund activities. They also want to do a communal field of soy which is sweet too! But… once they are well established it would be great to find some funding for this group. Seriously, they all are giving like 500 CFA (money to eat for 2-3 days?) to buy condoms to show how to use them…etc. I have tried to help where I can but I also don’t want to hold the group up by my passion. Furthermore, another issue that I have. I don’t buy anything and we get paid well yet I end up always not having money because I help out with little things like this. I have a hard time saving up money while others are working HARD but still suffering. Yes, there is a difference between people here who are just lazy and won’t even cultivate (which is the primary source of income… one sack of peanuts can fetch a hefty 60-70k CFA [70USD]) and those who work every single day but still have a hard time finding money to have a little disposable income. Also, after highschool school is pretty much prohibitively expensive. Basically impossible unless you are rich or have help. I don’t know if I can help not helping a couple of the guys/girls who are driven, intelligent, and hard working to university. We’ll see… anywho the group just finished setting up and running a ball (think all night dance party) with paid entry for the party of the 20th of may and that should get a good amount of cash $$ to fund group acitivies! With time… there is funding from the US government… but with that comes a ton of paperwork and red tape (read-abstinence only education must be a priority? Screw that… lie? (Barack Obama come change these rules?).

Everything else is going pretty good in Hina. My chickens are reproducing wildly, my dog is teething, and I planted American corn and sunflowers at my house! Sweet corn and the cool rains of the rainy season = booya! I also am planning on cultivating a field of soy, Kari gave me a field that was already labored with a donkey (how nice?!). I definitely want to try cultivating with a donkey though… Hehe, one crazy story that really colored my Friday last week was this guy at the market who was selling Chinese pills and all sorts of random cures. He would “test” you if you wanted with a plastic remote control with some electrodes attached to it that would shock you repeatedly for 20 or so seconds while he frantically pressed buttons randomly and random Chinese characters flashed on a screen with an outline of a body. He would then tell you what you needed to buy and how to take it. Yeah, needless to say I was pretty pissed. These people are SO poor and don’t know better, this dude comes from Nigeria or the south of Cameroon and is obviously moderately educated yet when I challenged him and got tested he said I did not have rheumatism… lol. Figures. I asked him about his medicines and when he gives what and what is contained in these mysterious capsules with no French or English on them at all, just Chinese characters. He had no idea. Basically I tried my best to explain to the population that he was a crook and to go to the hospital if they wanted medicine but it is not easy. 2 minutes after that people were back there buying medicine for dollars and dollars. That really pissed me off, more than it probably should have but I am THERE in village to improve the health of the population, really I need to start some sort of educational activities in the market because it is a place where there are a TON of people and it would be easy to draw a crowd with just some music or a megaphone…

But, long story short, don’t worry mom, I don’t have rheumatism!
Hehe one thing that never gets old is the children. Basically they are amazing and beautiful and their smiles alone are enough to brighten the hardest day. The funny thing is how scared some of the little ones get when they see you. Really in village I forget that I am white, ok that might sound weird but everyone is black here, everyone. So really when I am just hanging out with people I am accustomed to they don’t yell “Nassara” or anything that would remind me that I am somehow different from them. Yet, whenever there are people I don’t know like market day or in the big cities you always are aware how much you stand out. It is just funny how much we “Nassaras” stand out. Really there are not that many white people in the extreme north of cameroon. Hehe but back to the kids, the little ones scream and run it is funny. In Hina at least if they don’t run it is funny, the kids here are the most polite kids you would meet. ALWAYS, bonjour monsieur brad, bonjour monsieur, hehe… never just Brad.

I also started giving presentations at the Baptist chuch which has been AWESOME. At the end of the service I just give my little presentation/conversation (I always prefer a question/answer format where those are engaged, it makes you feel like you are really answering their questions and possible miscomprehensions or things that they have right). The first one I gave was just on general maternal health and it was a great conversation with the women being VERY engaged… a fact that sadly is rare here in an area 90%+ Muslim… the women are taught to not talk to men, be reserved, stay at home…etc. Depending on the husband they might have to ask permission to leave and if you want to talk to their wife you might have to ask permission too… takes some getting used to.

So since there had been a pretty big outbreak of yellow fever in the country the ministry did an emergency full vaccination campaign of universal free yellow fever vaccinations for EVERYONE from 1 year to…. That was pretty cool and helping with that was fun. I only wish I had a camera that worked there could have been some pretty sweet pictures. Sadly I wasn’t all that organized otherwise I could’ve profited from the big crowds to give presentations about health issues, but, it is always more complicated than that because I absolutely need someone to be there with me to translate… well, it was my mistake to miss that opportunity . Apparently in the big cities they were walking the streets with the vaccination asking people if they were vaccinated and if you said no, even if you refused they would try to vaccinate you by force. Interesting…

This last evening I was invited to the sub-divisional delegates house for a buffet dinner all free with beers and cocktails provided. These invitations always make me really uncomfortable. I went to the mayors and the sub-divisional delegates office a couple times this last month to talk about my work and to see if they could help in any way. In theory these people are in power to help the population and to utilize the money of the population in ways that will help… right? Well, they all did the classic political run-around and in the end = no help…ever. Hehe. I mean, maybe, but doubtful. Even if I find some great project to provide water for example to Ketcheble or Thchamay, I don’t think you could count on any money from them, rien. And then, the last 4 months there have been three national holidays (11 Feb, 8 March, 20 May) and each time there are these HUGE extravagant invitations with as many drinks as you can drink and way more food than we could ever eat. These three invitations alone must have cost more than 2 million CFA. I just really have a hard time going to these and watching all the functionnaires so easily drink until they are out of control and eat like crazy while I know within walking distance there are many children that sleep with empty stomachs. There is a lot of work to be done in the world. In the minds of individuals…

Anywho, we ate and I danced with all of the grand people in the village until around 2am… it was a good time.

Bon, de toute façon, I really am just as guilty of this since I am heading to London in around two weeks which simply for the plane ride would equal maybe 3 or 4 wells in these villages listed. How do you resolve that issue…? Makes the plane ride and the trip seem less inviting. You all need to come visit Africa. It will change your outlook on a lot of things, namely, life.

Returning to the kids, another thing that I will never get used to is the domestic violence. Well, actually, you do kinda get desensitized to it after awhile. It is just how things are done here. However, when the parents hit an infant or say “Mi Fouete” (I will hit you) to discourage a 1 year old from picking up something… really??? Cmon… past the line. Oh, also, one of my friends I asked why they had cut under the right eye of Bashirou (his son) and he replied because he cried so much as a kid so when the tears would fall it would hurt, maybe he would stop crying. Yeah, facial scarification is pretty widely practiced and some of it is really interesting and beautiful. But… usually done when the kids are too young to decide for themselves…?

Lets see, what else? Besides all of the issues regarding traveling it is going to be great to have a little break and be pampered. I just need to try not to think about the cost. OMG I had real coffee the other day visiting another volunteer, REAL coffee from starbucks, it gave me goosebumpies when I smelled it. Yeah. Good stuff.

I started a relationship with a local craftsman who makes knives and swords and drums and basically anything you want if it is with a local material he can make it. The blacksmiths in Hina are known all the way down to the south because of their amazing knives. They make sweet stuff. Bouba is making a traditional drum (Tam-Tam) for me right now which I am really excited to see… I also want to get the traditional flutes that the sing for the holidays and I would love to learn how to play the Tam-Tam and the flutes traditionally. Sadly whenever I say this people look at me like I am crazy and say it is the “grios” who play those to try to collect a little pocket money from people… like it is below the “grands”. Really there is not a ton of “traditional” things left, a lot of it died with the last generation, they did not teach it to their children. One thing that I learned is that there is a nearby village called Manja placed in the mountain by Hina with no roads connecting it… you go by foot and this town is where the people from Hina originated. The soil is really fertile and their are natural wells with water in them year round. A couple generations before the people from Manja decided to deplace to the plains below the mountain where Hina is currently located, probably as the population expanded. I am excited to take the hike there and check out the area… supposed to be really beautiful.
Sweet, you are probably sick of my ramblings at this point and I am kinda out of steam as of now. I took a break in the middle and went and bought some music video CDs that are sweet and really show the Cameroonian style of dance. Also I bought a machete to cut all the thorns that are ubiquitous and always seem to want to overcome the fields… .

I hope life in America is going well. I think of all of you all the time and every time I receive a letter or an email or some sort of correspondence it brightens my day and reminds me of how much love is shared back home. I may criticize America, but you are your own worst critic, right? The things that are closest to you are the things you critique the most… I miss home a lot, but I also love the feeling of growing and discovering new things every day. Life is an amazing adventure and I love being able to share it with such beautiful people as you all. Thank you for listening!

Love,
Bradley

P.S. Officially longest post yet. Sweet! See you in London June 9th!

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