I hope that you were able to read my November posting because it has not been showing itself on the main blog page, but if you go into the archives on the right hand side, you should see it listed there. Also, if you haven’t already, please take note of my new address here in Fundong!
Let me see how I can sum up the remainder of training in the West region...
We finished up technical training, wrapped up our work with our community groups (my group was working with a “youth group” that was really men of a wide variety of ages, to help them gain knowledge and the tools to be community agents for malaria prevention), and I began learning small small (a little bit of) Pidgin – I am not very good at it and will have to get a tutor in order to more effectively work in the various communities around here.
The last few weeks of PST (Pre-Service Training) were bittersweet because we were all excited to move on, have some freedom again, and begin our new adventures but at the same time had all grown to enjoy each other’s company and the routine we were in together. Needless to say we all put on a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, more traditional than was imagined with local ingredients, and unfortunately a few suffered from what we think was food poisoning (me included, but only one short bout out of both ends).
Our swearing in ceremony took place on December 2nd in downtown Bangangte, after we had packed up our home-stay rooms and got all of our belongings ready for the big trip to post! It was a very nice day; the US
Two members from each of our host families were invited to attend and I had extended those to both of my host sisters (Carole & Sabine), but only Sabine came (with their aunt), which was unfortunate that the both of them weren’t there to spend some final time together, in celebration. I am hoping/planning to visit them again over the course of my time here – it’s not that far from where I am posted and there are other volunteers in that area that I will be visiting over time! There was a celebratory luncheon, which felt like a BAD family reunion, there wasn’t much conversation at the individual tables, they were playing Lady in Red, but the food was good (and of course my sister and her aunt slipped some extra in their napkins to take home) and it was greatly appreciated!
After spending a wonderful final afternoon and evening together (we stayed at a hotel in Bangangte that night) we bid adieu to each other the following morning. Peace Corps arranged for buses/vans to take groups of us to various parts of the country, depending on our posts, and it felt like the end of summer, saying goodbye at sleepover camp! I spent a day and night in Bamenda (Northwest regional capital) doing banking and a bit of shopping and then had an extraordinarily easy trip with all of my belongings to Fundong – renting out an entire taxi – with my bike sticking out of the trunk and my other bags in the backseat with me. I was told it was going to be the worst experience of my Peace Corps service – it’s going to be smooth sailing for the next two years if that’s the case!
Now onto Fundong, my home for the next two years!!!
The title of this posting is because in the less than two and half weeks that I’ve been here, I have attended a part of a funeral, an entire burial and funeral, and a traditional wedding! That’s also not mentioning all of the time I have had to observe, interact, eat and spend time with locals since arriving here. This first month is basically for settling in (which I’d definitely say I’ve been doing) and I will begin official Peace Corps work after the Christmas weekend. Now when I say “official work” I mean that I will start spending time in the BFF (Better Family Foundation – the NGO I’ll be working with) office, observing the goings on at the District Hospital and Urban Health Centre, various community groups already in existence, and more. All of this observation is for me to decide what projects/groups I will want to continue working on/with and gaining insight for other needs in other areas. That information will probably be in the next posting, once that period of work is underway.
Before I get to the traditional Kom (the ethnic group and language of the people in this area) events that I have thus far attended, I just want to say how welcomed I have been here (again, a lot of greetings of, “you are welcome!”) and how happy I feel to be posted here and living here. I live in a compound with VERY friendly, warm and welcoming people. My neighbors who share my duplex are Francois and Peggy (Francophone, so I practice my French with them), he works for the light company and she owns a boutique in town. They have two children, Joe and Cabrelle, 3 and 1 ½ years, respectively. Peter and Carine live in the compound as well, sharing the duplex with my landlord (Everestus and his wife, Marta). Peter and Carine are teachers in a village 17 km from here and thus are away for a good portion of the week, but are very sweet, giving and speak French as well. My landlord has six children, only one who still lives at home, the others are away at University or at boarding school (but everyone is home now for the holidays) and there are relatives of them who also live in the compound, many of them, I’ll spare you their relations and names (plus I don’t quite yet know how they are all connected). Needless to say, there a plenty of children and they sure enjoy when I am home and reading on my veranda and they get to color, play cards, play Kooshball and use whatever I have in a basket for them. Some are not so good at sharing, others want me to “dash” them one thing or another (dash in Pidgin means to give a gift), but on the whole it gives me pleasure to see them having fun. At times it gets to be too much and I say that I am going inside and have them clean up and leave my premises, but it’s typically nice to have the company.
I have been spending a lot of my daytime with Simon and Rose (my counterpart and his wife, they also have three children who typically spend some time at the store after school), typically at Rose’s blanket/shoe/sock/curtains store on the main drag in Fundong. Actually, I told Rose that I would help her out this past week by working in the store for her while she rested and got things done (after working hard and lovingly for her sister’s husband’s funeral last weekend). Business hasn’t been so good, I think because people are spending their money elsewhere at this time, but Rose also just told me that it could be because cocoa in the Southwest Region hasn’t been so successful this year and thus people have less money. Being at her store has given me a great opportunity to be visible, greet many people, and have some key observation time of the goings on in Fundong from 8 am through until the early evening. I also have gotten a lot of reading accomplished (!a huge feat for me – 2 books in a week!) since business has been slow!
I continue to shake A LOT of hands, am saying the one greeting I know in Kom (tu-LIE-mah --- good morning) and hardly speaking Pidgin. I really need to get on that! Simon and Rose think that I will pick it up and they say they will only speak to me in Pidgin, but then we end up conversing in Grammar (English). After the New Year, I’m going to find someone to teach me.
This posting has become long enough without even going into some details about the funerals and wedding. Therefore, I will post after Christmas (which I am spending with my French teacher from high school, Dr Ghogomu and his family) and really describe some traditional ceremonies!
Happy Chanukah/Christmas/New Year to all of you!
Be in touch because internet exists here in Fundong and I’d love to regularly hear from you. Take care and I’m sending all of my love!
No comments:
Post a Comment