Thursday, February 03, 2005

Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Its been nice to return to a bit of a routine that non-travelling allows. Since returning, I've taught my kids, given my seminars and worked with folks in and out of the bank.

I'm extremely happy to report that a project that my counterpart George and I put together has been financed! We put together a funding request for a community palm oil tree nursery and plantation for his village back in June and July. It was submitted through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (which essentially posts your project on the internet for anyone interested to read about and if they desire, finance) and was financed completely. The money arrived this week! George is, needless to say, ecstatic, and we've already set the wheels of progress in motion. As this project continues, it will require more and more of my time, and it'll be a lasting legacy that, in fact, I did help some folks while I was here. I went out last Friday to check the progress that's already been made, and the nursery is complete! We should have little leaves pushing their way through in a couple of weeks. In about five months, they'll be big enough to outplant them into the fields. Its really exciting!

The last few seminars were a resounding success. My friend, Gabriel came to give the lecture on inventory management. Since he runs one ofthe larger stores in town, people were quite attentive. Following that was what most people thought was my best seminar, human resource management. Luckily for me, the Peace Corps country director had decided to come for a site visit that day to see for himself the seminars I was putting on. About forty people, as usual, showed up, and we had a great lecture and discussion, with the director himself adding anecdotes a couple of times. Afterwords, the bank hosted a dinner in the director's honor, in an attempt to persuade him to replace me after I leave in August. They seem increasingly convinced that the growth of the bank depends on it.

During dinner and at breakfast the next morning, the director and I had a series of great discussions. He said that essentially it was up to me whether I was replaced or not, depending on my recommendation at the COS conference in late May/early June. I haven't decided conclusively, but I'm leaning in that direction. We also discussed a bit of the history and future of Peace Corps in general. I suggested that Peace Corps begin thinking of itself as an effective deliverer of grassroots-level development throughout the world, as opposed to a PR machine for the US government and travel and tourism company for new graduates. I had put together a brief memo to that effect, and he asked me to expand on it before discussing further and possibly distributing around Washington. I'm looking forward to working on this project in the next month or so.

Just last Wednesday was the last of my ten seminars, on the subject of marketing. I gave the session and then handed out evaluation sheets for the seminar series. After that, I had decided to share my happiness at the success of the seminars, so we brought in a few cases of drinks, and sandwiches to celebrate. Overall, it was probably the best experience I've had here, and I promised folks that I'd do it again starting in March. The results of the evaluations were overal very positive, with me receiving a 4.2 out of 5 rating as a speaker (between "Trés bien" and "Excellent"), and most people saying they would either take it again or recommend others to do so. In fact a couple of people berated me for not advertising it better so that more people could take advantage of the seminars. The second time it'll be a lot easier, since most of the preparation is already done!

In school, we worked with a number of letters sent a while back by the school in Charlotte, NC that I had been put in touch with by Peace Corps to set up a connection with students here. My students finally got to the point where they understand and can write enough to put together a basic letter ("My favourite colour is blue" -yes, I'm required to use British spelling). So, we read some of the letters and wrote back. My older kids got into a large discussion about american music, since many of the letters mentioned different singers and groups, so I decided to hold a one day "School of Rock" (I've seen the movie, even though it came out since I've been here, thanks to a volunteer's brother who sent it over- LOVE IT!). I brought in my CD collection and used the school's portable CD stereo to go through many of the genres of american music along with discussing the dates of origin and some of the better-known examples. For example, in the "Rock 'n' Roll" category, Guns 'n' Roses was held up as a prime example; in "Rhythm and Blues", Mary J. Blige; in "Acoustic Rock", Indigo Girls; in "Big Band/Swing", the Duke Ellington Orchestra; and in "Jazz", the venerable Miles Davis. In all, I went through fourteen genres of music, and the kids really enjoyed it- as did I. The students at the Providence Day school should be receiving their letters in a month or so...

Building on the success of the business seminars, several attendees have approached me to help them with their businesses. One woman is starting a small office services business (photocopies, typing and other computer-related services), another woman is starting a used mobile phone and mobile repair shop, and a third has just begun her hair salon. At least two people have become members of the bank, and the board of directors has become truly invigorated, launching new products and looking for new employees... we're rollin'!

BOOK REPORT- Austen, Buffet, Eggers and Twain

At long last, after much interruption and difficulty, I finished reading, 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. I had picked it up after hearing that two movies in the US were being released based on the book, so I figured maybe it had some modern significance from which I could benefit. It was similar to the other recent "classic" I completed, 'The Sound and the Fury' in that I can see how multiple readings would increase the enjoyment of the book, but I still enjoyed it the first time through. I'm not sure I would say its on of the best books of the English language, as the back cover of my copy claimed, but it was quite interesting and certainly gave an insight into early 19th century English life. I could almost imagine I was there, and at times wished I were. As they say, "Life was so much simpler when..." In the end, it was not a life-changing experience, but interesting and enjoyable nonetheless. And as for books of that period, certainly one of the best I've read.

While I was in Buea around Christmas, I didn't have 'Pride and Prejudice' with me, and since we were heading for a day at the beach, I needed a beach book. And what better beach book than, 'Where is Joe Merchant?' by the king of beaches and summers, Jimmy Buffet. Nan, the volunteer hosting us for Christmas, had recently finished it and recommended it as a fun read. If you've only got one eye and half a mind to read a book (just keeping a look out for anything else interesting going on, or your own life is a bit too distracting to get lost in a book), I would recommend this one. That's really all it takes since devoting both eyes and the whole brain will leave you disappointed. Its one part adventure-romance and another part mystical-cartoon. If it ever gets made into a movie, the movie will be better, but it still won't be worth the ten dollars to see it.

One of the few books I read in the years preceding my Peace Corps service was, 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius', that I thoroughly enjoyed. It took a few years for Dave Eggers to finish another one, but 'You Shall Know Our Velocity' was worth it. Its the unique writing style that I enjoy most that includes the usage of photos, drawings, asides, internal dialogues and other changes which makes the story more interesting and somehow more "real". Its certainly written from a "Generation X" perspective, but describes a trip two friends take as they try to make it around the world in one week while finding needy people and giving them stacks of money. It sounds like an unusual pretext for a book, which makes it all the more valuable. Read it.

Of all of the books I've read, most were lent or passed on to me by other volunteers. 'North and South' by John Jakes is one that I brought with me, after having purchased it in an "antique" shop in Richmond, Virginia. Many of you probably saw the mini-series in the 80's based on the book, and while I don't remember it, I'm sure it was terrific. This epic novel (having read a few of them now, I've decided the qualification for this name is 800 pages and a minimum of fifteen main characters) is written with all the drama, action, and romance necessary for a successful television mini-series. I hope I can find it on DVD when I return. The book follows two families, one from Pennsylvania and the other from South Carolina, as they experience life leading up to the fall of Fort Sumpter in Charleston Harbor. If you're a fan of historical novels, this one is fantastic. Now if I can just find the next volume...'Love and War'.

Its been many years since I have read anything by that great American author, Mark Twain. I think I was forced to read 'Huck Finn' in senior english in high school. When 'Letters from the Earth' showed up on my bookshelf, I was determined to read it. 'Letters' is a collection of thoughts and short stories written by Mr. Clemens around the turn of the 20th century. Several of the stories were apparently not published until well after his death due to their controversial nature. Even today, his thoughts on religion would burn the ears of any devout conservative of any religion. He takes away much of the credit for all things good from God and equally removes much of the blame for sin (especially 'Original Sin') from Satan. His analysis of the old testament (up to and including Noah), is cynical, refreshing, and/or even enlightning. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the stories don't hold up. They are notated by the editor as being unfinished in some cases and are mostly just curiosities for the hard-core Twain scholar. One of the more hilarious non-biblical discussions is a deconstruction of James Fenimore Cooper's 'Last of the Mohicans'. If you've ever had trouble getting through that or any book of its era, you'll truly appreciate Twain's short essay on the matter. Overall, it was uneven (I blame this on the editor) but the readable parts were highly enjoyable.

in progress: 'The Partner' by John Grisham

HIKING THE JUNGLE- KORUP NATIONAL PARK

For some reason I was in the mood for physical punishment, so I kept my end of the bargain and got on a bus back up to Kumba to Cathy's house. The next morning, we got up early, did a final check of our bags, and headed out to the store for a little shopping. We had decided to concentrate on tunafish, cous-cous (really easy to prepare) and oatmeal. Following our success, we headed out to the car park to get a vehicle up to the village of Mundemba, the entrance point for Korup.

Entering the car park, one realizes exactly what happens to all those Toyota Corollas when they "die" - they're reincarnated as taxis here in Cameroon. We purchased our tickets, which were quite expensive- comparatively speaking- and waited for our car. Almost two hours later we were ready to go (after a little bit of hassling about our bags which they wanted to charge for since they were convinced we were tourists and could get a little extra money). There were eight of us, including the driver in a standard five-seater Corolla. The worst part was that it took over three hours on a non-paved dusty and extremely bumpy road. When we arrived, I was already tired, but it was about 2:30pm and Mundemba is a small village. We talked to the guy running the park office and he told us that he could find a guide and porter in an hour, if we wanted. We decided that camping inside the park would be more fun than a run-down hotel, and it might give us the opportunity to see more or take a slower pace if we did, so an hour later we were on our way.

Cathy and I and our guide and porter piled in a Land Rover with all of our stuff for the next three days and were driven to the entrance of the park, on the edge of a palm oil plantation. The park could only be reached by crossing a wide river by swinging bridge. It appeared to be well built, with strong, thick cables supporting it, so we ventured across. That isn't to say that one bad step wouldn't have sent you plunging into the rapids below, but slowly we made it- asking our guide and porter to go ahead so they wouldn't cause too many vibrations while we were crossing. I took one nice picture looking down at my feet standing on the planks of the bridge with the river rushing underneath. The adventure had indeed begun.

An hour of hiking through the forest led us to our camp for the night. There were all kinds of bird and animal calls throughout, and our porter (who had gone ahead) told us there were monkeys near the camp, but had left before we arrived. The park was developed by the World Wildlife Fund about 15 years ago. It was the WWF and their money who built the bridges, trails and campsites, and I have to say they knew what they were doing. It was all well done. Sadly, the WWF left the park about four years ago (presumably because there aren't enough animals left to save) and they handed over management to the government which has failed to maintain the facilities. The first campsite though was still fairly nice and was situated not far from one of the many mountain streams. So, throwing caution to the wind (many streams here carry harmful bacteria), we took our sweaty, dusty, dirty selves to the stream and took a bath. It was truly one of the most refreshing things I've ever done. It was also quite beautiful with the large trees hanging over the stream, large rocks creating ripples, and a small pool large enough for bathing. Afterwards, we fixed dinner of tuna sandwiches and went to sleep- or at least tried to. The cabins were furnished with bunk beds without mattresses on which I put my sleeping bag. Its at that point you realize the necessity of a sleeping mat, or an extra twenty pounds- neither of which I had.

We woke up the next morning to a knocking on our door. I sat up and saw the porter outside. He was pointing up to a large tree next to the camp saying there were monkeys up there- where he had seen them the day before. We crawled out of our beds as quietly as possible (me still in my boxer shorts) and looked up to see what appeared to be Colobus monkeys playing around, going from branch to branch. They were too far away to show up in photos, but it was pretty cool and a good way to start off our day in the African jungle. After a breakfast of oatmeal with raisins (tasty), we packed up our stuff and headed off to see the waterfall. It was an hour down, over streams and through the woods.

Being our first day in full daylight, we took time to take in the new trees and mushrooms that were along our path. We also discovered the most painful animal of the jungle first-hand: fire ants. I can tell you with much conviction, that, short of being mauled by a panther, fire ants have to be the most scream-inducing creatures of the jungle. The first time, we were naive, maybe a little arrogant given the obvious size differential. And maybe we disturbed their work or just maybe they have an inferiority complex. Regardless, we walked through them, and they fought back. Among their many powers, is a speed and tenacity that defies comprehension. For the rest of our time in the jungle, we became very aware of these monsters, and when we couldn't go around, we ran through them with great speed and long strides.

We made it to the waterfall, which was beautiful, took lots of pictures, rested for a little while and then returned back to camp. We rested a bit, ate some lunch and hiked onto the next camp where we would sleep that night. It was a fairly uneventful, but pretty hike. One of the highlights though was a tree that has evolved so that its exterior is spiked, sort of like a gigantic rose stem, which protects it against animals like forest elephants who like to push trees over, especially smaller ones. Go tree!

At the park office, we had run into a father and son hiking group from Sweden. They were extremely nice, and coming into the second camp, we discovered that we would be sharing the camp with them that evening. We all took turns taking baths in the stream, washing clothes and filling up water bottles (and purifying them, of course). We had a relaxing evening talking about American politics and Swedish technology.

We were off again the next morning, all headed in different directions. Cathy and I tried to express to our guide the desire to see everything of note in the park (a map of highlights existed, but sadly we didn't have a copy, but we had seen it). He assured us that would happen. We did have a nice day of hiking and saw some of the interesting aspects, including "The Big Boulder", which was exactly that (about forty feet tall, and clearly separate from the ground) and a hunter's cave which was used up until about twenty years ago. There were no cave drawings, sadly, but it was kinda cool and Indiana Jones-ish with thick vines coming down the sides of the giant granite rock. There were no snakes, but plenty of bats and large spiders to make up for it. We also went chasing monkees a couple of times, and were rewarded with a large group traveling high up in the treetops, probably red colobus. They were too far away to show up in photos (at least with my camera), but it was neat to see them and hear the rustling of leaves as they moved around. One last highlight was an overlook that was cleared by volcanic rock and up high enough that we could see the treetops for miles around. It was really hot, so we didn't stay out too long, but we could see the top of what we had been hiking under. At one point during the day, we ran across a village woman wondering through the forest. Inside the forest, there are about four small villages, and since the park borders Nigeria, there are also the occasional illegal immigrant comes down the trail. This woman was looking for her mother and two small children who were "lost" somewhere. Needless to say, she was a bit distraught, and our guide attempted to calm her down. After she moved on, he told us that people get lost all the time, which I believe. After a while it all startes to look the same.

The last camp was poorly maintained which was made worse by the presence of hundreds of bees, which, as we quickly discovered, are quite attracted to sweat. Having spent all day hiking in the rainforest, we had plenty of that (on numerous occasions, I had to wring out the canvas hat I was wearing since the sweat had saturated it). We escaped with another swim in a nearby stream, and stayed inside the cabin much of the rest of the day. Our porter did come across an attractive orange (probably poisonous) snake on another of the cabins. Of course, I promptly grabbed my camera and took lots of pictures. He's pretty cool looking, and I hope to figure out what it was, exactly.

Our last day, we threw everything into our sacks and headed out. We had a rendez-vous with the driver at 11am which we had to meet. On the way, we ran across a couple families of tourists out for day hikes (why they would come all the way out there for just a couple hour hike was beyond me). Some of them already looked tired though, so its probably best they weren't in it for longer. About a half kilometer from the bridge to exit out of the park we came across a sign proclaiming the spot as the furthest Prince Charles had ventured into the park during his visit in the early 90s. I suppose if he came to visit the park, its nice that he actually went in it, but I wouldn't say he's hardcore...

We found a car relatively quickly (we returned to the park office with the Swedes) and decided that we'd pay the extra couple bucks to have a more comfortable ride back (we bought a seat). It was worth it, and after much inhaled dust, we arrived in Kumba. After showers and clothing changes, the four of us had a great dinner of cheeseburgers, fried chicken and beer at the "American" restaurant in town and returned early to sleep. We felt good, as we had survived three days in the jungle...

CHRISTMAS

The next couple of days was taken up with recovery, sleep, tending to wounds and cleaning of clothes. Throughout it all, my throat had hurt and returning, it had been increasingly difficult to swallow, so I called the doctors in Yaoundé who told me that I had strep throat. I began taking amoxicillin right away, which after about three days made it mostly disappear.

Two days after our small team had returned, on Christmas Eve, the other team of five made their way back to Nan's house. As tired as they clearly were, oddly I think they weren't as beat as we were upon returning. Scott and I chalked it up to smaller, easier days of hiking and less elevation change each day. Maybe they were just in better condition... We had done all the shopping for our Christmas dinner before their arrival, and were busy preparing it. We had decided to spend the day at the beach, and have a nice big dinner when we returned in the evening.

The beach was a truly enjoyable experience, and though we had illegally brung a picnic (it was a private, access-controlled beach), we weren't hassled too badly about it. We played frisbee in and out of the water, read books (see book report) and related our mountain stories. A black-sand beach is somehow more exotic, and it almost made me forget that it was Christmas and for the second year in a row, I was in Africa without my family.

Christmas dinner back at Nan's was easy to prepare, but quite tasty. We had done basic preparations, but were eating "Ameri-treats" sent by Fran and Ted (the married couple who ended their service early in August) in the form of instant potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce. We also outsourced the preparation of the chicken to the grill man across the street. He had the grill, and we paid him to cook our chicken for us, which turned out really well. We sang a few Christmas songs, drank boxed wine and had a white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a carved wood bottle opener, and since I had the first number, I was happy. It was a mellow evening, and I was able to talk to virtually my entire family, who were gathered in South Carolina for the holiday. I'll be home this year, I promise!

CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN

I kept thinking that the Christmas holidays would provide one of my last opportunities to "check-off" the major tourist-type attractions of Cameroon that I have not already had the opportunity to experience. When I was in Yaoundé at the beginning of December, I ran into one of the newer business volunteers, Scott, with whom I have become friends. He mentioned that he was going with a larger group to hike up Mt. Cameroon. I had sorta been on the fence about hiking up the mountain since I've never really been that kind of person and the last one I tried (Mt. Manengouba last Christmas) kicked my butt. Scott convinced me that it'd be fun, and since it was so close, I'd later regret not doing it. So, I adjusted my pre-Christmas plans and got out my camping pack and sleeping bag.

I first headed up to Kumba where I met Cathy for a discussion about our bank situation. There are only two other volunteers working in the same bank network as myself, and we wanted to discuss how to work with them to request and utilize Peace Corps volunteers in a meaningful way to the bank and the volunteer. We had a great cheeseburger dinner, but I increasingly felt sick throughout the evening. The following day we were supposed to head out to a lake near Kumba, but I just couldn't make it. I ended up staying in bed all day with a 101F fever and swollen tonsils. I didn't figure out until after I returned from the mountain hike (which I almost cancelled as a result of my being ill) that I had strep throat (among possibly other things).

I did head down to Buea Sunday afternoon before the scheduled climbing on Monday morning. I decided that I had come that far, and I felt well enough to give it a shot. That afternoon we did all our last minute shopping, including all the food that we needed to carry up for the next three days. Menu planning with packaged goods available here in Cameroon is quite a challenge, but we did it, and we didn't starve- although we got kinda tired of the bologna roll and canned tuna on smashed bread.

There were two "teams" heading up the mountain- one for the three-day "highlight" tour and the other for the five-day "leisure" tour. I opted for the three-day tour since two fewer nights sleeping (or not sleeping) in a tent was quite appealing. There are folks who go up and down in one day, and in fact there is a race every February up and down the mountain (supposedly one of the most difficult athletic events in the world) where the winner finishes in four hours-something. The mountain is 4095 meters (13,000+ feet) high, with the starting point below at only 1000 meters (3000+ feet). Essentially, its two vertical miles plus all the horizontal ones. Far. And high.

We got up early the next morning and headed out for the office of the folks who control the hikers up and down the mountain and supposedly maintain the trails and campsites. Our three-person, three-day team consisting of Scott, Annie and myself stayed at another volunteer's house the night before to minimize the confusion in the morning. It worked- we arrived a half-hour before the other team of five did. We grabbed breakfast in the form of a spaghetti omelette, and returned to meet our guide and porter for the next three days. They seemed like nice enough guys, so we took the obligatory group photos and headed off in a taxi to the beginning of the trail. Since we were going express, we went to the most direct route, while our friends started on the backside of the mountain. The route we went up for the next day and a half until the summit is called the "Guinness Route", since they sponsor the yearly race run along this route and since the local advertising says, "Guinness brings out the power in you", I suppose its appropriate.

For most of the first day it was pretty easy going. The paths were clear and relatively wide, the incline not too-steep. We were still pretty tired by lunch break. At that point, as they say down south, we didn't know from tired. I felt more and more lucky in my traveling partners. Scott and Annie were of similar fitness as myself and we more or less went at the same speed and needed breaks at the same time. Our porters were much faster than us, so they just went ahead and waited for us at various break points. Our guide, for some reason, liked to walk behind everyone, making him a little less effective that way (that sounds like a management book, 'You Can't Lead from Behind!'). During the first day, we crossed paths with three folks who had started very early that morning and were now on their way back down. They all had these hiking canes which I guess helps with leg and foot fatigue, and obviously weren't carrying the kind of food and gear that we were. Still, its difficult to imagine.

In the late afternoon, we reached the hut where we slept for the night. It was constructed years ago, but was still in decent shape. We immediately got out our sleeping bags and laid there for a while trying to recover a bit before making dinner. Our guide came to tell us that there was a cave nearby and asked if we wanted to see it. Scott volunteered to check it out to see if it was worth further investigation. At some point, another hiker came in, an American college student studying for a semester in Cameroon. She was alone, and since the other rooms of the hut were already taken by French guys, we offered part of our platformed hut to her. Scott came back saying that the cave was close, but that a flashlight was necessary to go in, which he hadn't brought. Since it was starting to get dark, all three of us headed back with flashlights and jackets (we were high enough that it was already quite cold). Scott and I decided to go down into the cave (it was necessary to climb down into the entrance) while Annie served as our lookout, since we didn't want to be in there after dark. As soon as we got down, we found a small creek running through the middle. All the sides were quite sharp, and it got dark about ten feet into the cave. We explored only about 30 feet in as the structure changed and we didn't want to get in somewhere that might take us a while to get out of. We took a few photos and then climbed back out completing our little diversion.

That night we had canned hot dogs cooked over the fire and a can of semi-warm baked beans. It wasn't all bad. We weren't really interested in talking religion with the other campers (it seemed to be the subject for the night), so we headed to sleep.

The next morning, we were woken by our guide who wanted to get an early start. It became apparent a little later why he felt that way. Beginning the day at around 2500 meters, we had to climb to the summit and back down the backside to about the same 2500 meter elevation. We started on our way at a little before 8am. The trail quickly became steep. At one point, I turned to Scott and said, "I don't think I would climb a ladder any steeper than this". It was a two hands, two feet kind of climb. Between the steepness, our lingering fatigue from the day before and the elevation, we ended up taking breaks quite frequently- about twice as many as were scheduled. Not too long into the hike, we were shown the "magic tree" and told that we'd take a nice break there. After an hour of hiking and two unscheduled breaks, we reached the tree. We decided that it was magic because it kept getting further and further away.

Eventually we reached the top. The porters had left us at the lunch hut and were sitting there waiting for us at the top. I arrived a little before the other two, and took a few pictures of the view, which wasn't all that impressive given the cloud cover. Still, we could see a good bit of what we had climbed up the past day and a half. It felt good to be on top... It was also cold, so when everyone was there, we broke out the bottle of cheap champagne that we had carried up just for this purpose. We shared it with our guide and porters who enjoyed it more than we did -it was pretty terrible. After finishing the bottle, we took some group celebratory photos and headed down.

It felt good going in the other direction. All the muscles used to go up the mountain breathed a sigh of relief while the ones one the other side let out a rebel yell. The first bit was easy, it was fine volcanic gravel (did I mention the mountain is an active volcano, last erupting just three years ago?) It was a bit like going downhill in snow, and was much easier to run down that to walk. After that was the extremely painful irregular shaped volcanic rock, hard and pointy throughout. We hated this part. In the middle of it, we came across the other team of our friends. However, our guide told us we were so far behind where we should be for the day, that we didn't have but about two minutes to stop and talk.

As we were entering the "cones" area, it became evident why they had been pushing us all day. With about an hour left of light, the camp was no where in sight. Still, the cones were the highlight of the trip, and our guide wanted to make sure that we saw them. There were two right together where the lava came out in 2001, and in fact were still steaming. It was really impressive as it was my first visit to an active volcano cone, and unlike Hawaii (or what I've heard of it, anyway), we walked along the rim and could've quite easily fallen in. In fact, one time I did loose my footing on the large gravel surface and almost did. As the sun was setting over the black lava that surrounded us, it was quite a beautiful sight. I tried to capture it on film, but it just didn't come out quite as impressively. If it hasn't already, it'd be a great place to film a movie about some other black, barren planet.

After the sightseeing was finished, we moved into rapid hiking mode to try and get as far as possible before complete darkness. We succeeded only in making it to the grasslands area. Because of the darkness and large clumps of grasses, our guide lost the path (although we were always heading in the right direction) and it became a fight to not fall from poor footing and twisted ankles- a fight we all lost on multiple occasions (including our guide). We stopped trusting our guide (a bad thing to do on the mountain) since he kept telling us the camp was just ahead, were tired (it had already been eleven hours since we left camp that morning), and not a little bit cranky. Finally, just when we had almost decided to sleep there in the grasses (thank GOD there were no snakes), we saw a flashlight off in the distance. A couple of guides with the other groups had come back to look for us. At long last, we made it to the camp where our porters had set up our tent and were busy cooking their dinner, only an hour, but seemingly an eternity after dark had fallen.

It was a rough night following a rough day (how anyone could call that thing a three-person tent is astonishing). When we had taken care of our more immediate wounds, Scott took charge and went to fill our water bottles at the stream. When he returned, Scott somehow convinced me to help him make dinner over at the fire- an exciting meal of cous-cous and the rest of our bologna roll. When we had finished and were carrying our meal over to the tent to eat with Annie, Scott stood up from the fire and took the shelter above and around the fire with him. The whole thing came crashing down. I couldn't help but laugh, as I had escaped with the food and Scott was trying to put it back together. We ate quickly, leaving the dirty dishes outside and not caring about night animals- fatigue had overtaken us.

The next morning, however, we got up and headed on our way. I had fallen so much the previous day and twisted my ankle that I taped it up before leaving camp. The porters saw this and insisted on taking my bag for the day. I wasn't sure it was necessary, but was happy to be free to fall without the extra weight. As a result, I kept a rapid pace, usually with the porters for the rest of the way out. Being our last day, we did our best to eat the food and drink the water so that we hadn't carried it all that time for no reason. Several hours after the grasslands and into the rainforest (where there used to be chimps), Annie came to our resting spot clearly too tired to carry on. Her shoes had litterally fallen apart on the hike - disintegrated is probably a better word, and every step was pure pain. I then took her backpack for the rest of the day, and we slowed down to minimize the torture she was going through. At long last, we arrived at the end of the trail, walked through a small village (where all the kids cried out, "White man!" - their powers of observation are amazing), and took a taxi back to the office where we started three days before. In the fight of man against nature, nature had clearly won this round, but we were happy about it.

Catching Up -happenings in December

Monday, January 3, 2005

Its been a crazy last few weeks, which has caused me to run far behind in my blog writing. I apologize, but can only see it getting worse as time approaches for me to leave Cameroon. That's right, only seven and a half months stand between me and the United States of America. But don't get me wrong, while I am very anxious to return to my family and friends and begin the "rest of my life", I have much to do here in Cameroon before that time comes. And it will take every bit of the last months to get it accomplished. In an effort to provide and update on all fronts, I think its probably best to go topic by topic through the last month since my last real update.

THE BANK
After months and months of frustration caused by the ineptitude of the Board of Directors (they like to come by one at a time just to "check-in", but can't seem to get together at the same time to have a meeting), we finally had a Board Meeting the second week of December. I'm sure they were overwhelmed since George and I had built up quite an agenda for them. The president did come by the day before the meeting to preview the items though, which allowed the meeting to go much faster. After beginning at 10am, we finished around 3pm with no break for lunch. The only reason we finished when we did though was because I was running a seminar that afternoon and the president wanted the whole board to attend.

During the meeting, we were able to accomplish a couple of big items that had been on the burner for months including the approval to hire another employee to help us out (we're growing, and we want to extend hours to Saturday, which isn't possible with only one employee), the approval of special loans for Christmas (which were quite a success and brought in several new members), and the approval of a marketing plan and an action plan for 2005. These were necessary to put together a budget reflecting all the priorities of the bank for the new year.

George and I continue to offer consulting services to small businesses in town. The nursery school we worked with back in August and September has completely turned around and had a large Christmas party with an inspector from the Ministry of Education attending. Its a success story. We've also started working with a member of the bank who just opened a beauty salon just up the street. She just opened a month ago, and she's having more problems than she knows how to deal with. Its a complicated situation, but I'm confident we can put her on the right track. I've also been working with a couple of other women from my business seminars who are trying to get loans to start their own businesses. I hope I'm here to see them open up and become successful.

BUSINESS SEMINARS
The business seminars are turning out to be the most rewarding and successful thing that I have done here in terms of sharing some of my knowledge and working with people to improve their situation in life. Its been amazing to me the lack of basic knowledge that exists (such as how to calculate interest on a savings account). I'm sure I would be similarly amazed in the US. Of course, that's why I'm here, right? I was able to secure Peace Corps Small Project Assistance funding for the seminars which is what enabled me to keep the price low (about 40 cents per week) while giving handouts and having guest speakers.

Attendance has hovered around 40 people each week, with most of the same people returning each week, but some new faces coming in each time, despite the fact I have stopped marketing the seminars. People are attentive and ask questions when they don't understand. And luckily, my french seems to be good enough as to not cause problems (it helps that most everything I'm saying is written down on the handouts). I've also continued to have guest speakers, including the return of the bank auditor from Douala, Inspector Bata, who did a great job once again.

I took two weeks off for the holidays, and I restart this week with a seminar scheduled for every Wednesday in January before ending the series of ten. I will likely restart the seminars in March, giving me time to evaluate and take care of some other projects during the month of February.

SCHOOL
My students have been doing quite well, and even my older kids seem to have calmed down a bit and are more willing to learn (they were rebelling for a while). English is a tough language to teach, but I figure if I teach it like I was taught french, then hopefully they can get somewhere. Before the holiday break, we talked about Christmas and used the Santa doll that a friend sent from the US to review parts of the body.

The last day of school before the break, there was a retirement party for the physical education teacher who had been there for over 20 years. As part of the festivities, my two classes (the older kids) played a small soccer tournament with three teams and three games. The kids asked if I would play with them, so I rushed home and put on some shorts and shoes and went over to the field. We tied the first game and lost the second. Its been a long time since I've played soccer, but I had a great time running around with my kids.

PEACE CORPS
It seems as though fate is against the business program here in Cameroon. After our semi-effectual founder left last June (he was mentally gone long before then), we have had a series of administrative delays and two final candidates choosing other positions at the last minute (with no backup candidate!) highlighting the inefficient human resource processes of our beloved federal government. It seems they make you jump through so many hoops that many people (and probably the best qualified) just get tired and give up before they reach the end. So, here we are once again with a candidate who has chosen to go elsewhere and have "reopened the search process" which means we couldn't possibly have anyone here before July. Since I leave in August, that means the burden has to fall elsewhere or it falls through the cracks. So far, I and my fellow volunteers have written the program's year-end report, redesigned both the three month pre-service training and the one week in-service training (which will be held here in Edéa the second week of February) and created recommendations to update the project's five-year plan (we can't actually update it without a program director) among many other things. The simple fact is that if the volunteers didn't do it, it wouldn't get done, or at most would get done in name only.

As chairman of the business program steering committee, I've been trying to move the program forward despite these issues. At the training in February, the newer volunteers will be choosing my replacement as I work towards the completion of my service. After that, I can only hope for the best.

Just a quick word on the money situation. It seems that our federal government has delivered to the Peace Corps what public policy folks call an unfunded mandate. In other words, do more with the same amount of money. At least in our case, this is becoming impossible and the seams are beginning to show. Its not clear how it will all resolve itself, but the increasing lack of administrative support, inconsistent payments to volunteers and even reduction in medical support has already caused some volunteers to decide to pack up and go home early. Just wish us luck, and if you feel inclined, call your congressman.

On the bright side, the Peace Corps Africa pagne (fabric) arrived! I bought a couple of "complets" (6 yards each) and decided to have shirts made for George and myself. The tailor finished with them, and George was very happy and I expect he will wear it on a regular basis.