Oops I chased waterfalls
Week 7: October 24-30
The technical lessons this week were heavily focused around
HIV prevention, support, and treatment, and how various other cultural and
individual factors might interact with them. We discussed the interactions
between gender and HIV, and got to observe a “gender fishbowl.” During this
activity, local high school students split into two groups by gender, with each
group taking turns sitting in the middle. Each time a group was in the middle,
they would discuss how gender impacts their lives, and how they believe it
might impact the lives of individuals of the other gender differently. When one
gender was in the middle talking, the other was not allowed to respond or say
anything—then, the two would switch places, so that individuals of both genders
would have the opportunity to both speak and listen to the experiences of
individuals from the other gender. It was very interesting, and got me excited
to do similar projects at post. In continuation of our discussions about
HIV/AIDS, we talked about HIV care with pregnant women, as well as orphans and
vulnerable children (OVC). We also performed malnutrition assessments in a
local preschool, turned in our third TDAs on malnutrition, and took another
quiz on malnutrition and maternal and child health. Language lessons continued,
and we also were given time to prepare for upcoming presentations at our
cluster health centers. On Saturday, we were given the opportunity for a fun
cultural activity. In our clusters, we visited a local market to buy
ingredients, and then worked together to cook traditional Cameroonian meals. My
cluster cooked chicken and rice with two different types of sauce, plantain
chips, vegetables, and a delicious juice called fullure juice. This activity
provided us with a great opportunity to not only learn to cook Cameroonian
foods, but also to learn about bargaining and shopping at markets. Our language
trainers’ house was out of gas, so we had to cook everything over an open fire
like “true Cameroonians.” Oh, we also had to buy the chickens live at
market—which meant we had to kill, de-feather, and prepare the chickens
ourselves before eating!
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| They were cute but we killed them |
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| A murder most foul (haha get it??) |
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Post chicken massacre
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Cooking over an open fire makes you cry a lot
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The final products
Week 8: October
31-November 6
On Monday morning, my cluster gave a
presentation at our local health center to pregnant women before their CPNs
began. Our presentation was about the importance of creating a birth plan
during your pregnancy, in order to prepare yourself financially, emotionally,
and physically for before, during, and after the birth of your child. The
presentation went really well, and at the end we had the opportunity to engage
in a really important conversation about financial concerns, and how they can
impact your health. We followed this with language lessons and preparation for
our upcoming Individual Exploration Project (IEP) Presentations—presentations
(in French) on topics related to Cameroon that we found interesting. I chose
Cameroonian music, so I spent all afternoon analyzing Makossa, Bikutsi,
Bend-Skin, and Sahelien music. Throughout the rest of the week, we learned
about how to conduct CNAs (Community Needs Assessments) and community care of
OVCs from current PCVs. We also handed in our final TDAs on HIV/AIDS, discussed
community work, and talked about how to work with our counterparts and other
work partners. Along with more language classes, we had our final IEP
presentations on Friday, which went extremely well—everyone’s presentations
were so interesting and gave us a different taste of Cameroonian culture. On
Saturday, we had our final Language Placement Interviews.
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| Presenting about birth planning before CPNs |
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| Cluster mixtape cover #1 |
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| Dressed up and ready for IEPs |
Week 9: November 7-13
Monday and Tuesday consisted of mostly language
lessons, plus a discussion on gender and equality. We also took a little field
trip to hike Mout Bamboudos, a beautiful mountain whose base was about an hour
and a half moto ride from our village. The hike was pretty intense—especially
given the fact that we were incredibly out of shape and wearing sandals and
jeans—but was so worth it once we finally got to see the view from the top. It
was one of the most beautiful views I had seen since arriving in country, and I
felt so lucky to be experiencing it with some of my closest friends. On
Wednesday, we remained in clusters, where we prepared our demonstrations for a
community health fair that we would be holding the next day with all of our
health stage. My cluster-mate, Tuesday, and I were assigned a bed net
demonstration, so we spent the day preparing facts on malaria and dividing up
tasks. Later that day, we gave a lesson on HIV/AIDS prevention and risk at the
local technical school (the Cetic). My cluster-mate D’Arcy led the lesson on
HIV/AIDS basics and patterns of transmission; I led a game in which students
identified the degree of risk associated with certain behaviors; and my other
cluster-mate Tuesday performed the ever-favorite condom demonstration. On
Thursday, we spent the entire day at the community health fair. The fair was a
huge success, and people seemed to really enjoy all of our different stations
and demonstrations. A lot of people originally came up to Tuesday and I to ask
if they could nap on our demo bed, but ended up staying to hear about malaria
and proper bed net usage. There also were several cultural performances from
local dance groups at the end, which provided for a really fun time for both
fair attendees and us volunteers. On Friday, we had our final test on all
lecture material, as well as a review of the past 9 weeks. On Sunday, we had
Diversity Day, which was an opportunity for both trainers and trainees to
demonstrate aspects of our cultures to one another. There were dance
performances, skits, and even a surprise fashion show/dance performance. The
trainers also hired several cultural music groups to come in and perform for
us, and I even got dragged on stage to dance with them! At the end of the day,
we had a huge feast of traditional meals from all over Cameroon, and even some
American-inspired meals. After we were stuffed with food, we had a huge dance
party, before boarding a bus to Bamenda—the capital of the Northwest region—to
finally meet our counterparts.
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| On top of the world (aka Mt. Bamboudos) |
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| Talking about degrees of risk of contracting HIV associated with specific behaviors |
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| Our language trainers' skit during Diversity Day |
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| Somehow ended up on stage during a dance performance |
Week 10: November
14-19
On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the health
stage was in Bamenda—or, “Bamerica,” as PCVs like to call it—meeting and
beginning to work with our assigned counterparts. Counterparts are individuals
from our sites that the Peace Corps has assigned us to work with—they can be
anyone from hospital directors to community members that participate in health
campaigns. Now, we are not required to do every single project or piece of work
with our assigned counterparts—their job is mostly to act as starting points to
help us become comfortable in village and give us ideas of what kind of work we
can do there. My supervisor, the chief of my health center, was the one who
ended up coming to the workshop. I immediately clicked with him, and we were
joking around in no time. Over these three days, we got to know one another,
talked about major health problems in village, and strategies for determining
and addressing these problems. It was an excellent way to teach our
counterparts some of what we had learned about data collection and project
planning, and gave many of our counterparts a better understanding of what our
work would actually entail. Thankfully, we had a little free time at night
during the workshop, and a bunch of us went out clubbing to celebrate how close
we were to finishing PST. The rest of the week consisted of packing, wrapping
up, and conversations with staff regarding details of how we would all get to
post. Then finally, on Friday, November 18, the big day arrived—Swearing In! It
was a lovely ceremony, consisting of speeches from the US Ambassador, our PC
Country Director, our Project Managers, and many other important figures from
our training community. Three PCTs were also selected to perform speeches in
French, Fulfulde, and Pidgin. I was selected to give the speech in Fulfulde,
and though nobody could understand what I was saying (including myself), it
still felt really cool to be giving a speech at this important ceremony. We
were also required to give a performance, which we were not incredibly prepared
for, so we offered a pathetic rendition of “Seasons of Love,” from Rent.
Finally, after that was over, we recited the same oath that every president,
government official, and soldier must recite before officially occupying their
positions. When it was over, we all cheered and hugged one another, as our
titles officially changed from “PCTs” to “PCVs.” After a long night of
celebrating following the ceremony, we woke up early the next morning to catch
a bus from Yaoundé, and from there, transportation to our final sites.
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| My Fulfulde speech (which even I didn't understand) |
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| Cheering because we're volunteers but also because PST is done |
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| Swearing in with the official oath |
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| Final cluster mixtape photo... for now |
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