Over the Moon in Cameroon

PST Continued: Weeks 6-10

Week 6: October 17-23

After our week away at site visits, the health PCTs came back refreshed, excited, and ready to continue preparing for life at post. The enthusiasm was almost palpable Monday morning as we all gathered to share experiences, stories, and photos from our successful visits. To keep the momentum going, throughout the week we had several current PCVs come in to talk about projects they had completed, or were planning, related to maternal and child health, female empowerment, and nutrition. We also learned more about nutrition, malnutrition, and how to assess for different forms of malnutrition among children. On Wednesday afternoon, we finally had the opportunity to implement what we had learned at our Grassroots Soccer (GRS) training at the Cetic, the local technical school. We worked with a group of 10 high school girls and 10 high school boys to play games and have discussions related to malaria. Though it was hot and the kids were itching to play an actual game of soccer, the program was a huge success, and every student left with an improved knowledge of malaria prevention. The next morning, again in our clusters, we gathered a group of moto men in a local bar and gave an HIV/AIDS talk and condom demonstration. Though condom demonstrations can always get a little rowdy, our animation was a huge success. For our cross-cultural sessions, we learned about public holidays and cultural ceremonies, as well as ethics and the presence of corruption in Cameroon. We finished the week off with a tofu preparation demonstration at a local health center. French and Fulfulde lessons also continued throughout the entire week. On Saturday, we took a field trip to a local chefferie—the residence of a traditional chief—in Bafoussam. While there, we visited a museum detailing the history and culture of the chiefs in Bafoussam, and even got to visit a stunning waterfall. The chefferie was beautiful, and the waterfalls were breathtaking. We also all had a picnic while there together, and when we got back to our training village, a group of us headed to a local bar for a few beers. Overall, it was a great day to experience the local culture and spend time together.

Just another condom demonstration

Sometimes you gotta try real hard to keep a straight face

Chefferie visit with the best cluster

Chefferie visit

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!

They were cute but we killed them

A murder most foul (haha get it??)

Post chicken massacre

Cooking over an open fire makes you cry a lot

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.

Presenting about birth planning before CPNs

Cluster mixtape cover #1

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.

On top of the world (aka Mt. Bamboudos)

Talking about degrees of risk of contracting HIV associated with specific behaviors

Our language trainers' skit during Diversity Day

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.