Saturday, July 5, 2003

I'm going to Edea!! I finally found out where I'm going to spend the next two years of my life, and I'm excited! I will be working with a bank called CAMCCULL, which is, I think, the largest (in terms of assets) micro-bank in Cameroon. It is also one of the fastest growing. My Director also told me that he is not allowed to post people in Douala, since Peace Corps focuses on more rural development, but he wants me to work in Douala regularly with the executive team of CAMCCULL! Edea is a decent-sized city near the largest city of Douala, and not far from the captal of Yaounde. There are a lot of great things going for it. First of all, its about 45 minutes from Douala, so I'll be able to get just about anything I want very easily (I can get my exotic imported groceries there!). Its also about an hour and a half from one of the best beaches in Africa, Kribi! I can't even tell you how psyched I am about that. I've also heard that there is more food-diversity there than anywhere else in the country with fresh fish, shrimp, broccolli and tropical fruits available virtually year-round. It is further south than Bandjoun and much lower elevation, so the climate is tropical- and being 2.something degrees north of the equator, it'll be like that year-round. I'll have to find the local Tommy Bahama!!

I'm leaving tomorrow to visit my new home. The house/apartment apparently already exists, so we'll see what the last folks left behind for me in terms of furniture, etc. I'll be there almost a week, which will give me time to get a good lay of the land, meet the folks I'll be working with, get a PO Box (so mail can come more directly to me), and a few other things. I may even have a day or so to check out the beach for myself! In case you can't tell, I'm quite excited.

There are links in very early posts where you can probably learn quite a bit about the city...

The past few days, since my last post, have been really terrific... Firstly, I got a great post (certainly one of the top 3, if not THE best- at least in my opinion)! Second, I helped plan a very successful 4th of July party yesterday. I think everyone came to the party and many prepared "American" food to share. I worked with my Papa to procure 5 kilos of ground beef to make good ole-fashioned hamburgers. Mike, a retired computer engineer with American Greetings in Cleveland, told me they were the best he's ever had (of course, its been over a month since any of us have had "American" food, so that could be a contributing factor). In order to get ground beef in Bandjoun, you have to visit the cow butcher (conveniently located next to the pork butcher- my Papa) the day before to pay and let him know what you want. I told him I'd be back at noon the next day to pick it up. Not to overly offend the sensitive (read: vegetarians), let's just say that that I had the opportunity to look the donor in the eyes when I picked it up the next day- it signifies freshness. My friend Kelly who went along with me to pick it up couldn't handle it and waited around the corner for me. I should say though, that it was some of the tastiest, leanest and freshest burgers I've ever had- and we ate all 5 kilos (about 11 pounds).

Yesterday morning, I also had my mid-term French exam. We have to hit a level of Intermidiate High by the end of training in order to be considered proficient enough to be useful in our bank jobs. In just four weeks, I was able to jump up to Intermediate Mid. I'm very happy, and feel that by the end of training, I should be well beyond the required level!

Today, Saturday, we took a field trip to visit the Chief of a neighboring village. We were encouraged to bring cameras, so you'd better believe I did just that. It was one of the most unique experiences of my life. The Chef du Village is a traditional post which is handed down to the oldest son in the family. He welcomed us into his compound and had us sit with him for a rather lengthy program. First, everyone made a short speech. Our trainers introduced us and thanked him for his invitation and we elected two fluent speakers among us to make short statements on our behalf. When one speaks to the Chief, you must bow down at the waist, clap quickly twice and then immediately put your right fist to your mouth (as if you were going to blow into your hand) before you may speak. The Chief spoke last and said that if we wanted to ask questions, we could. We were told that this was a very rare occurance, so I, along with a couple of others, decided to ask him a question. I did my bow, clapped and did the fist and then asked about what he saw as the greatest areas of opportunity for the future of his village. The strangest part was that it came out in French! I wasn't really thinking about asking it in French, since the trainers had offered to translate for us. He was very gracious, answered the question by talking about the need for better medical care and education. He also let me take 2 pictures with him! I can't wait to send back some photos for all to see. After the speaches, we watched 3 tradional groups: an all womens group who wore mostly yellow dresses and head-dresses and who sang, a drum and dance group who wore nothing but various animal skins on their bodies and heads (and carried stuffed animals that looked like prarie dogs) and the third was a special presentation of the local secret society dance, which meant that their bodies were entirely covered with large masks, made of wood, fabric, some kind of hair, and cowrie shells. Absolutely amazing! After that was over, he took us down to his house, sat us all in his living room (over 70 of us, with trainers), made another short speech and then fed us all. We had 3 kinds of fish- all fried, chicken, goat, plantains and boiled bananas to choose from. I had some of the fish and chicken, which were both quite good- and a beer! You've got to love a Chief who feeds you and gives you beer! Before leaving, I took another photo with him, just the two of us, and he asked me how tall I was. I told him 2 meters, and he burst out laughing. It was really a great day.

Enough for now- I'm going with Cathy to church in the morning, just to see what that's like, and then to Baffoussam for a little shopping and internet-action.

Oh, before I forget, I got a cell phone! The number is 237 (country code)-731-6923 (there aren't enough phones in this country for area codes, yet...). Incoming calls are free, so call me (its obscenely expensive for me to call the US)!!