Hello everyone!

Currently I am back home with my parents relaxing and catching up on things. I flew home from Cameroon on December 11th and spent the rest of the month with my family and visiting friends. Because of electricity problems in my town in Cameroon, I was unfortunately not able to do many blogs the last few months or keep in touch with many people. In August, we had a very successful girls' summer camp with over 100 girls that attended! After the camp, I had three months left and spent a lot of my time continuing to work with the youth club in the surrounding smaller villages and finishing up with the health project in the health centers. The rainy season started late and therefore went late into 2010. I had to travel to the capitol, Yaounde, twice (a two day voyage) at the very tail-end of the rainy season on very muddy, rutted roads that I thought I would never get through! They were memorable trips to say the least! I worked with the neighborhood girls' group and girls' soccer team right up until my departure date. I had a wonderful send-off party with colleagues and friends one week before I left my town and got to say bye and thank you to everyone. While I knew it was time to move onto something new, I will really miss many aspects of life in Cameroon, starting first with the girls from these groups and my neighbors and friends. They all made the experience so rich and have enhanced my life in many ways. I will not miss the dust, heat, corruption and bad roads that come with being a Peace Corps Volunteer (alas!) but all the wonderful people there and hope to return very soon. I am currently spending my time presenting on Peace Corps and Cameroon to school classes and other local organizations and am really enjoying discussing my experiences there with others. I would be very happy to speak at your group or take any questions you may have-just leave a message on this site or contact me at my parent's house.

I have decided to attend graduate school starting next August to get a Masters in Public Health focusing on Health Education and Behavior/Communication. I applied to Tulane (New Orleans), Emory (Atlanta), Boston University, University of Michigan and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill so I hope to move to the school of choice possibly by early summer. Between then and now I am taking some much needed R&R and staying with my parents as I get readjusted to life in the US. I also hope to be able to visit with lots of people that I have not seen in awhile and spend time with my family.

I would like to say thank you to those in Cameroon who continue to work so hard towards an equitable and sustainable Cameroon and to all those current and future Peace Corps Volunteers who are doing the hard work towards a more peaceful world for all of us. Du Courage!

All my best wishes in 2011 for you and your family and friends.

Sincerely,

Anna Stormzand

Photos of the following: Small transport car stuck in the mud during rainy season on the "national highway" connecting Banyo to Bafoussam, view of Yaounde from above, rainbow before the storm in Banyo, road "en brousse" to Ndiwawa Health Center, myself and the Chef of Ndiwawa, and myself with the youth club teaching in a nearby village.

"En brousse" with the Youth Club in a local village about an hour motorcycle ride from Banyo and a photo of the participants and group leaders of Banyo's second annual All-Girl's Camp held August 9th thru the 14th (we had almost a hundred participants in total!)

Picture of Agriculture/Forestry and Health 2010 Close of Service group in Yaounde!

Monsieur le Lamido (local religous leader)riding in the 20th of May/50 years of independence parade in Banyo, girls' group activities and Mt. Djoumbal, Banyo in the rainy season.

Photos of girls' football team playing in the 20th of May (Independence Day) celebrations, students marching in the 20th of May/50 Years of Independence Parade and girl's group playing hop scotch on my front porch.

Photos of the International Day of Women in Banyo, my cat Sophie (still a kitten), almost-ripe mangoes, a private car loaded to the max with goods between Mayo-Darle and Banyo, nurses teaching an health education class with me at the District Hospital in Banyo and a Youth Club member teaching about sanitation and health for Earth Day at the elementary school.

April 22, 2010 Earth Day: Neighborhood cleanup with about 30 kids. This was the amount of trash we cleaned up in only 25 minutes. Imagine a day long cleanup?!

Photos of my two next door neighbor children wearing the tee shirts I brought back from the US, young boys from my neighborhood after our weekend soccer camp and the girls' club with their banner.

Bonjour à tous! I hope spring and warm weather have come your way by now. I was excited last month when it looked like the rains (and cooler weather) were finally here. Alas, they have been teasing us ever since. We had a week when it seemed like they were here to stay then we had nothing for about 2 weeks and now we are back to the once every three days or so. So, it is still HOT! Not as hot as it is up north but enough to make sun block essential every time I go outside  My vacation plans to climb Mt. Cameroon this weekend were unfortunately delayed again due to my climbing partner being stuck in the US because the volcano in Iceland (it is a small, very interconnected world isn’t?). So I am heading to the nearest (9 hours away) big town with a bank this weekend to have a little repose and recharge my batteries.

Since I wrote, we had our International Day of the Woman festivities here. I marched in the parade again which was fun and then “fêted” with a few women I know here the rest of the day. There was also a cultural afternoon at the “Center for the Promotion of the Woman” with dancing and singing representing groups from all over Cameroon. The girls’ soccer games unfortunately did not go as well as planned. Our first game on Friday evening was almost ousted because of an elementary school boy’s game and then the girls ended up playing in the women’s game on Sunday because there were not enough women to play and half my team was sent to the bench because they were not “big enough” to play (even though they are the best players!). In the end, the girls’ team beat the women 3-0 and they received two envelopes of money so they were happy. We are really hoping that they might get to a play a real, 90 minute, non-harassed game for May 20th, which is National Day here in Cameroon to celebrate their independence. But, do not hold your breathe! You think starting a girls’ soccer team in rural, Cheboygan, Michigan in the late 1990’s was hard!? Geesh!

Speaking of women, Banyo was recently honored by the First Lady of Cameroon’s charity foundation. There was quite the pomp and circumstance as the delegation of the Ministry

of the Woman and the Family was here and they gave about 20 women’s groups about 50 wheelbarrows and small carts along with many other farming equipment. I am really hoping that I got on CRTV that day but I never found out when they were doing the story to watch! While other work has been pretty slow lately, I have been really happy with the youth group I that I have been working with since last year. In anticipation of Earth Day, they did trainings with two neighborhoods about trash disposal and the river along with an elementary school class last week. Yesterday, April 22nd, I ended up doing what I did last year in my own neighborhood and it went really well. About 30 girls and boys came over to my house, along with two members of the youth club, and we watched a bit of Planet Earth and then did an environmental training followed up by a trash clean-up. I am not sure what exactly was said to them but man did they work! I was fairly impressed! One of the boys who won last year won this year again so I think I need to talk to him about keeping this up on a daily basis or something!

I did end up doing an Easter egg hunt with my girls’ group in my recently fixed backyard (fences up, septic tank fixed, all pipes flowing!) which turned out well and the girls keep asking me for eggs now when I am outside?! We have recently changed our health topic in the health centers from water treatment and diarrhea to malaria for the next month and a half. I had some problems with the health centers recently to find people who really wanted to work with me and help with translation into Fulfulde which was really taxing. It felt like every time I go it is a crab shoot whether or not we will actually do the training (even though we have done it there every week for a year?!) but I think I am finding some solutions to at least get us through July when the health project will be complete and we can reevaluate it hopefully. There are other topics like tuberculosis that we have never talked about, along with topics like nutrition and vaccinations that should probably be revisited again. Tracking and evaluating any change in behavior is going to be really hard though which is discouraging but one just has to hope for the best I guess and keep working.

My cat, Sophie, is still doing well. I promise pictures of her, Earth Day and Easter as soon as technology wants to work with me! I hope all is well in your part of the world. Hello, Mrs. Fornes’s students at Cheboygan Area High school if you are following my blog. I was happy to hear that you received all the letters ok and your pen pals are eagerly awaiting your letters here.

Take Care and my best to all,

Anna

Neighborhood girl in my girls' group enjoying the jump ropes Anna got for Christmas. Youth Day parade with primary girl students. Climbing Mt. Djoumbal with the Youth Club (Club Reglo) for Youth Week. And Girls' Football team (with offical jersies) for International Women's Day. Enjoy!

Hello everyone, sorry I have not been able to write a blog or post any photos yet. My memory card got a virus on it so I have not been able to transfer any photos onto a key to put it on my blog but mom is sending me a new one that should arrive soon! Well, I have ten minutes left on the internet tonight so I will be brief. I have been back in Cameroon since January 4th, two months already! It has been hard getting back into the swing of things coming off a wonderful Christmas at home with friends, family and great food! But, I am getting back into work bit by bit. And I keep telling myself that I only have nine months left here in Banyo so I need to make the most of it. It is dry season right now and it is really, really hot, much hotter than it was last year at this time. Last year it cooled off in the evening when the sun went down and stayed that way until mid-morning. This year it stays hot through the night and is only cooling off in the early morning around 4 am. So I am sweating a bunch! And the dust is really heavy this year. We did have our first real rain last Friday evening so the rains are not far off. By the end of March they should be here. Since we are between the seasons, the weather is bizarre and is real hot and then cools off suddenly. I am looking forward to the rains a lot this year as the heat is affecting me more than last year. Since I have been back in Banyo, we have celebrated youth week (February 11th) with many activities. The youth group I work with here made a sign and marched in the parade and the girls' football team played two games in their new uniforms which the Prefet here gave funds for before Christmas. Next week is the International Day of the Woman worldwide, but it is a big holiday here with activities begining tomorrow and ending with a parade on Monday where many women and women's organizations march. Women buy fabric to make a dress out of and either choose green, pink or yellow colors. I chose green this year since I had pink last year. The women I do areobics with are making my dress so I am excited to see it. The girls' football team is also supposed to play two real games so I am crossing my fingers it goes well. We had 31 girls come last Sunday for practice, WOW! I need many assistants now! Work at the health centers is going well. We just finished up a month of trainings on treating water to make it drinkable and are starting now on preventing dehydration, especially with diarrhea. In April, we will move onto preventing malaria which will coordinate well with the begining of rainy season when a lot of new cases of malaria appear.

I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I hope to post pictures for you all soon. Take Care and keep those letters coming :)

Stay warm,

Anna

Photos of young man I spotted wearing my school's tee shirt in Kenya. Peer Educators and I after our certificate party. Boys from the neighborhood that we play soccer with on the weekends. And photos of girls from the camp (playing soccer and dancing).

Hello everyone! I just counted and it has been four months since I last wrote a good blog. In a nut shell, the last few months have seen the bursting of projects and ideas which is really great to part of. I still feel I am planting a lot of seeds but I also feel that the work is building and things are starting to happen here.

Where to start? Well, rain is a common theme these days. We are at the height of rainy season here. They told me that August was going to be cold and that it would rain each and every day and they were right. Luckily, the rain hasn’t upset too much of my work give or take a few days and in September it will start petering off. And at night in the morning it is actually pretty cool (I won’t use the word cold but I need a sweat shirt!) I prefer the rainy season to the dry season because there is not as much dust and the heat is much more bearable. Plus the rain is a good excuse to stay in and relax. You would not believe how fast things grow here too with the rains. I planted a very small papaya tree next door with my neighbors in March/April and it is now about 7 feet tall-incredible! Unfortunately, my garden has not born the fruit that I had hoped. I just replanted some more squash and tomatoes but the lettuce and cucumbers did well for a while. And for some reason the parsley, dill, basil, and ginger have done awesome but there is only so much one can eat of that. The down side of the rainy reason has been the road and lack of electricity. One of my friends from my group passed through Banyo on his way up north earlier in the summer. He left Banyo at 7:30 am and did not arrive in the next city (Tibati) until 5:30 pm (usually it takes 6-7 hours) and then did not arrive in N’gaoundere until 5:00 am the next morning!!!! Usually that trip takes 12-13 hours not 24 hours. The route out of Banyo the other direction is bad but not quite that bad luckily for me. I do not think I will venturing north on that road any time soon. Due to the rains and a bad motor I believe, we have not had very consistent water or electricity here all summer. For some reason it goes out at night when one needs it the most so I have been making many dinners by kerosene and falling asleep at 8:30 pm lately :) The electrical company seems to have made positive gains lately so we will see if it lasts.

Since my last blog, we held two more community health meetings at my house. The second one did not go as well as planned (there was a major dispute about the efficacy of mosquito nets), but the third did go well and we adapted a health strategy with objectives for the next five years with almost all the health centers here. It is a five point plan centered around decreasing the number of preventable diseases in the district by 20% over the next 5 years with Peace Corps. The five main objectives are increasing the nutritional level of habitants (especially women and children), decreasing the rate of illnesses that come from poor hygiene and sanitation, decreasing the rate of illnesses that come from poor drinking water, decreasing the prevalence and severity of the malaria, and decreasing the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS (especially among youth). Because of this adaptation, I now have a semi-schedule to work with. Once a month I go “en brousse” and visit the women of N’diwawa at the health center there. Every Tuesday I go to a health center at the edge of town and do a health presentation with the nurses there and the women who come in for the children’s vaccinations and every Wednesday I go the District Hospital and work with the nurses there and the women who come in for their pre-natal checkups. We decided to kick off the program with nutrition, so I have been talking about proper nutrition for women and children for the past month (Mom, where are you when we need you?). Next month we will move onto hygiene and sanitation and continue onwards changing the theme within the five objectives every two months. There are a few other health centers that worked with former volunteers so I am only working with them once a month or so but I hope that they continue to do the presentations on their own but we will see. After the project got underway, I did a health interventions training for nurses in the health district one Saturday. We practiced the health interventions and messages we could do during our presentations at the health centers and I hope to do another like this in October. I am also hoping to call another community health meeting to discuss the first few months of the project and start talking about monitoring and evaluation a bit for the future. All in all, I am pleased with it so far.

The rest of the week I would say I am either preparing for the health presentations, talking/organizing/following-up with people (vast majority of the time!), or working with the youth group called Club Reglo. They are an off shoot of the health club here but are an active group in the health project. They have decided that they will work on decreasing illnesses that come from poor water and sanitation, malaria, and also decreasing STDs and HIV/AIDS all from the youth angle. The first thing we did the last week of May was hold a four day Peer-Educator training at my house. We discussed everything from reproductive health to STDs to prevention/transmission/risk reduction to condom use and at the end of the week we visited the District Hospital and talked with the nurses who run the HIV/AIDs testing center and the head doctor. I “graduated” 9 new Peer-Educators after the training and had a little party afterwards to develop our strategy and plan of action until school starts a few weeks ago. The very exciting news is that I sent in a photo and article of the training to 100% Jeune, a youth publication in Cameroon, and they published it-we are famous! The first thing Club Reglo has decided to take on against malaria and water-borne illnesses is neighborhood clean-ups. We have gotten the Delegate of Hygiene behind us and next weekend is our second attempt at actually doing our first clean-up training. Our goal is to do an environmental training, followed by a neighborhood search/clean-up for trash, and hopefully a replacement of the current trash areas to a designated/protected (far from the river) place. This is going to take a lot of time but they are committed to working each Saturday morning for the next two months already to hit each neighborhood so I am excited (I am so lucky to have motivated people to work with).

The biggest accomplishment for me and my post-mate this summer was our girl’s camp, or in French, “Colonie de Vacanes des Jeunes Filles de Banyo 2009.” We held it two weeks ago at the high school he teaches at. The hardest part of the camp was getting the girls to actually commit to coming. I think I said the word, “Colonie de Vacanes,” at least 3 times a day for the 2 months leading up to it. But all the hard work paid off as SIXTY GIRLS ended up coming. Our goal was 40, I couldn’t believe it!!!! It was a major success and I am already planning on what next years will be like. I was most happy that I got 10 girls from my neighborhood to come (and one day 11!). My favorite part of the day was the walk from my house to the center market area where we met all the other girls before we took the bus out together to the school. Most neighborhood girls arrived at my house before 6:30 am every day!! On the walk to the center everyone would ask where the girls were going, what they were doing, etc. It was very liberating to say they are going to school for the morning and the girls were pretty proud too. We did information sessions with the girls (health, goals, planning for the future, role models), taught and played soccer, had a snack time, and then a creative session (dance, drawing, and skits) each day. The final day we had a small closing ceremony where we passed out certificates and took photos. It was mad chaos at times but I am really happy we did it. I began a Thursday afternoon girl’s group a few months ago and the camp has helped a lot with attendance and ideas (plus, the parents allowing them to come to my house and maybe, maybe one day allow them to play soccer with me in the neighborhood). Before school let out for the summer, the Director of Sports at one of the high schools and one of my friends here helped me start a girl’s soccer club in Banyo open to all girls. I am really happy we did not wait for school to restart because about 15-20 girls come every Sunday to play. The Director and I are hopeful that we might get jerseys and have a few tournaments in the fall with a set of dedicated girls. I am really enjoying seeing the girl’s progress (I saw a trap, look, and good first touch pass the other day!) and hope we might be able to build it up enough to play other schools in the Adamaoua Province perhaps.

So, it has been a pretty busy summer but rewarding. I began taking French classes twice a week at night with a high school French teacher here which is helpful and something I really need to continue. I have been able to see a bit more of the country on my banking trips too. It is very beautiful during rainy season-hopefully I can post a few photos to show you.

I also have good news that I am coming home for Christmas, actually almost all of December. All things willing, I will arrive on December 5th in Traverse City, Michigan and then leave January 4th. It sounds like it is going to be a grand family reunion and I can’t wait (I am actually listening to Christmas music right now, haha). If you are going to be any where near northern Michigan for the holidays or can come for a visit I would love to see as many people as possible. I will be found huddled next to the wood cook stove eating large quantities of food :)

Thank you all who have sent letters and packages recently! I am so appreciative. And don’t worry, another water pipe broke today at my house and it took me two hours to pay my rent the other day so it is still life as usual here :)

I hope all is well on your side of the world. Please send news when you can.

Take care and enjoy the rest of summer,

Love to all-Anna

Photo of Banyo during a rain storm (taken from the mountain).

Photos of Banyo's All Girl Camp held August 3-7, 2009. First photo is of the older girls that played soccer during the camp with me. Second photo is of all the counselors and girls during the final ceremony. Third picture is of a few girls from my neighborhood that came waiting for the bus in the morning. Last picture is of me and two friends from here one night.

Photos of tree in Lake Nukuru National Park in Kenya during my visit there, my two friends, Zareen and Nasima, with the women's group of N'Diwawa during there visit to Cameroon, and three girls from my neighborhood after a coloring spree at my house.

Hello everyone from Cameroun,

Hope you are all doing well! For the past month I have been traveling and having visitors so it has been really fun (but tiring!) I had to go to Kenya about a month ago for a doctor's appointment (everything is fine!) that my doctor wanted me to have in Nairobi instead of Yaounde. I can now see why! Nairobi is gorgeous and extremely modern and I received excellant medical attention so it was a pleasant experience. The Peace Corps staff and other volunteers in Kenya were also very welcoming and nice so I had a really great time there. I also was able to get out on the weekend before I took my flight back to Yaounde and see some wildlife. I went to two wildlife parks, Hell's Gate and Lake Nukuru. In the first one, I rented a bike on another volunteer's advice and was able to ride along the canyon and see wild zebras, antelopes, baboons, and giraffes. The second day we went to a much larger park where you had to drive around all day. Lake Nukuru houses the world's largest population of flamigos interesting enough but we were also able to see rhinos, zebras, water buffalos, monkeys, and deer there. We didn't have any luck seeing any wild lions or elephants which I really wanted to see but I guess I still have something to go back for. We also went on a small boat ride and were able to see hippos (wouldn't want to mess with them!) I was really amazed how beautiful Kenya was and how developed most infrastruture I saw was. I am sure it is a different story the further away you get from the capitol and animal parks but there straight paved roads everywhere! And the food!! Ohh man..I ate so well!! Because of the indian influence on the country, their "local road side" is greens, beans, and a stewed cabage just like the food I had in northern India. I also had a wide array of food every nite and went to the movies once as well! Crazy! Very good times and I would recommend Kenya to anyone who has considered visiting there. Plus, there is Barack Obama memorabila everywhere!

When I got back from Kenya, I had two good friends, Zareen and Nasima, come visit me. They just left me and it will be hard adjusting back to life without old friends around again. But, Christmas is in T-minus 7 months so we have that to look forward to. They were troopers because we took all the normal transportation routes I normally take. And it does take four days of travel from the US to get to my post in Banyo come to find out! We were on the very final leg of the journey to my house (only two hours away) and the car had a large wheel problem right in the middle of the mountains and a cold rainy drizzle! We waited four hours until the mechanic came and declared the car unsuitable for further travel. Just at that moment when I was contemplating walking with all our luggage, another travel car passed by with many open seats!! We got so lucky! But of course, only about 20 minutes from Banyo we once again had a the same wheel problem but this time it only held us up about 20 extra minutes. So, needless to say we arrived at 10 pm at my place after starting the journey at 6:00 am!! Aie, Aie! While they were visiting me, I took them out "en brousse" to see the women I am starting to work with out at the rural health clinic and we also spent a lot of time at the hospital seeing the vaccinations and observing the work there.

So, it is back to life as normal in Banyo for me. I am really excited to get going though because we are so close to starting to execute some of the ideas and projects we have come up with in the past few months. I have one more "brainstorming/target setting" meeting this weekend and then I think we are ready to roll it out. I will also be doing a peer educateur training in a week for the Club Sante (health club) that I am looking forward to. This Wednesday is National Unity Day as well in Cameroun so I will try to post a blog soon, along with some photos of my trip and the holiday.

Take Care,

Best-Anna

P.S. A new internet cafe opened up in Banyo!

Photos of "en brousse" out in village of Ndiwawa (shot taken from health center), me crossing a bridge to climb the mountain, freshy planted garden, and rainbow above Banyo right before the rainstorm.

Photos of grasshopper in my backyard, leaves of a moringa tree, a field of manioc, Earth Day cleanup, International Women's Day Parade, and on top of Mount Djoumbal (women who hiked in honor of Women's Day and me with the HIV/AIDS sign)!

Photos of my neighbor, Saidou, in Earth Day cleanup, women in fields outside of Banyo and wedding party outside my house dancing.

Hello everyone! I have not been able to write in awhile because of the short time I had in Banyo in between trips I have had to make. A lot has happened since the last time I was able to post a blog. About a month ago, I went way up north again for my in-service training with my other fellow volunteers that occurs for all Peace Corps Volunteers after three months at post. It was in the city of Maroua (if you look at a map it is one of the furthest northern towns in Cameroon). It took me almost four days of travel to get there!! It was nice because I had to pass through the city I had lived in for the first three months (Pitoa) and was able to take an afternoon to stop by and see my host family. I was shocked how much the baby (Ijaifi) that was born the same day I arrived had grown in the previous three months since I had left! He is super cute now and a healthy plump kid so I was happy to see that. It was nice to visit with the family and then my friend from my group that is posted hear Pitoa came by and we were off to do all the things we didn’t have time to do during stage. We had some time before we had to take the bus further up so went to the marché and bought Cameroonian soccer jerseys, went to the local artisan and bought silver jewelry, bought nice pagne to make into a formal outfit for parties and such, etc, etc. It was liberating to say the least!!! Then we headed north again for about 4 hours where we reached Maroua. The first thing I noticed as we left my region of Adamaoua was the slow descent into the valley of extreme heat!!! As you descend the plateau you can literally see and feel the heat commence. And of course, March and April are the absolute hottest months of the year up north. The second thing I noticed was the lack of water. There was not an abundance when I left in December, but wow, when I say there is no water, I mean there is zero!!! Everything is dry and brown and all the rivers are just flatbeds of sand. You see women and children digging holes in the river bed to try to dig up water all over. I arrived at a friend’s house about 1 pm in the afternoon on a moto and I thought my leg facing the sun was going to fry off! All you can do between the hours of 11:30 am and 4 pm in the afternoon is drink water and sit under a fan. I hadn’t drank that much water in months!! Luckily, we stayed at a hotel with a pool and air conditioning (AND CNN international..I know all about Secretary of State’s trip to Mexico) so that was very nice. There is also a famous artesian market in Maroua that I basically bought up (lots of leather goods, jewelry, shoes) because I do not plan on going all the way up there any time soon!! Maroua is also very close to the animal reserve, Waza, and so we able to see wild giraffes (but no elephants!). The training went pretty well-my counterpart and I had a lot of good ideas that came out of it and it was nice to hear how everyone else did throughout the past three months since I am so far away from most people in my group.

Almost upon arrival from my trip up north, the rains began in Banyo!! I am very lucky because the rains will not arrive up north for about another month and a half, and therefore the heat will not depart either any time soon! It is hard to imagine how everyone is fairing up there-life is extremely difficult. The rains here did bring more humidity, but everything greened up immediately. It almost doesn’t even look like the same place anymore. I planted my garden in my backyard the first weekend I was back with my neighbors. I planted squash, cucumbers, carrots, basil, thyme, dill, spinach, green beans and broccoli. So far, I have seen a few small squash and cucumber plants. I didn’t realize how much and how hard it would rain so I think I will have to go back and replant a few things as they probably washed away the first time it rained hard. I will just be happy if the broccoli and squash grow though! I am craving the two terribly. It rains almost every day now, usually in the afternoon, and then it cools down a bit. This afternoon a big storm came out of nowhere. I went to close back door because of the wind and there was this huge rainbow that covered the whole city and you could see the rain clouds and sun merging. When the rains start you basically can’t hear a thing because the roof is metal. Often the power goes out too so it is good time to relax a bit.

I have decided that if Cameroon is “Africa miniature” then Banyo is “Cameroon petite.” You can almost experience every part of Cameroon (religion, culture, language) in Banyo. Easter weekend I went to a traditional Muslim wedding of one of my neighbors at night. Within a few hours I was sitting at a Catholic Mass with about 20 baptismals and then attended a party for a friend of ours at the Bamilike House with many people who come from the West Region (next Region over to the west). Banyo has Christians (Catholics, Lutherans, Evangelicals, Baptists), Muslims who are Foulbe, Housa and probably many other sects that I am not aware of yet. It is funny because some afternoons I hear the bells from the church at the same time I hear the call for Muslim prayer. It is really pretty together actually.

Work wise I have been really busy lately trying to get things set up with everyone in between trips. I decided about a month ago that I really wanted to hold a meeting to talk with all interested parties about health in Banyo and to discuss my potential work and the opportunities that exist to work together. So I had a “community health and development” meeting last week with about 15 people who either had worked with the former health volunteers in Banyo or I had met in the first few months and had expressed interest in working together. Seeing how busy people, I was pretty happy with the attendance. Most people who came were either doctors or nurses from the health centers but there was also the director of community groups with the Department of Agriculture, the coordinator and a few members of the health club at the high school, and few other community members who came. I am going to have another meeting at the end of May to develop the project and chose objectives and targets so will see if anyone comes to that one!! Meanwhile, I am trying to do a community assessment around water, hygiene, and nutrition with a broad range of people. So far I have completed around 15 by going to a few health centers and the hospital which have been really interesting. I did a needs assessment with health personnel in March to kick off things. Between the two and the things I have observed and heard it looks like we will try to develop a program both within Banyo in the neighborhoods and out in a few villages to try to prevent the preventable diseases of malaria and all those associated with poor nutrition and drinking water. Now the real work begins!!

This past Saturday I held a Earth Day program with the neighborhood kids and a new Youth Group in Banyo. I translated it as, “Fête de la Terre,” or, “Party for the Earth.” I believe most people came to see what this party was all about! We did a small discussion on the history of earth day in the states, the life cycle of trash, and then a trash picking up competition in the area behind my house, next to the river. Unfortunately, it started to rain about 10 minutes after the trash cleanup began but I think they may have worked harder because of it (or was it the promise of prizes??). I am not sure if the theme was picked up by most of the kids who came, but there were around 50 that did come and most everyone participated in the clean-up so I think it was a success. I don’t think anyone cried either so that is good too!! I am hoping to try to do another cleanup soon and hope that maybe we can start working towards to getting the adults involved (at least in getting some trash collection sites started maybe).

Hope you all celebrated this Earth Day well (Happy Birthday Dad!).

Even though we lost in the finals, “GO GREEN, GO WHITE!”

Take care everyone and keep the letters coming!

Love-Anna

Hi everyone! I am not having much luck uploading my photos so we will have wait until next time. I will write more soon but we have started to get our first rains here and I planted my garden this weekend so we will see. I keep having a chicken who manages to fly over the gate and lay eggs and make holes so this may not work!!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!! Hope all my fellow spartan fans are enjoying the games! Best of luck tonite!

All my best-

Anna

This is the blog I wrote Feb. 17th (we have not had internet in Banyo for awhile!) Currently, I am heading up north to Maroua for my in-service training with my other fellow volunteers. I haven't seen any of them since I bid adieu in December so it should be fun. Hopefully, I will get some more internet time while up there to write a more up to date blog about everything that has happened in February and March! Til then, Anna

Feb. 17th, 2009

Hello everyone! Happy Belated Valentines Day! I realize that it has been almost a month since I was last able to get on the internet and post a blog. Time has definitely gone by fast since I last wrote from Yaounde. I returned from my trip (was able to meet other volunteers who live in the west along the way and see another part of the country which was nice) safe and sound and plunged head first into getting my house in order. It took multiple meetings with my landlord to convince him to repaint my house as a first step, but he finally agreed to do the living room, two spare rooms, and the hallway over (bye, bye Pepto Bismal pink). Once I paid for the paint, the painter came over the next day and it was done in a day and a half. Despite the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom remaining the same for now, the new paint job really makes it seem new and I was finally able to hang up some things. I will hopefully be able to upload a few photos of the new place to my blog today so you can see it first hand. I originally wanted lite blue and peach for the rooms. I ended up with slightly bright blue and a mauve/pink color for the living room but the colors seem to work. I also have been buying pagne and had new curtains made for the living room and spare bedroom, along with pillows. And the desk, chair and spare bed came as well! All I am waiting on now is two small mattresses and another bamboo bed and I am golden for awhile. All these things came in due time because I had fellow Peace Corps Volunteers passing through so they had a place to lie down at least. I also had to fix the shower AGAIN when I returned from Yaounde. It worked really well for a few weeks but lately we have been having big problems with the electricity cutting out (and therefore the water not flowing) so it was nice while it lasted. I have had my first nights here without electricity because of the outages-it is dark. Not too much you can do but go to bed. And it makes food prep really hard too if you don’t do it before the sun goes down. I had been going over to my next door neighbor’s house each evening to watch, “La Belle-Mère,” (the stepmother) a Mexican telenovella dubed in french. Now we are all waiting in anticipation to see what has happened when the electricity comes back!

This past week was la Fête Jeunese, or Youth Week. It culuminated on February 11th (National Youth Day) with a very large parade out in the adminstrative neighborhood. Every night for about a week leading up to the fete there were soirées (like our talent shows) that the high schools put on. They lasted from about 8-12 pm each night. I was really tired afterwards!! The week was kicked off with a ceremony at the Lamidat Palace (the lamido is the religious leader of a town-here he is also the major) with all the students, organizations, other elected officials, and delegates from the ministries of Banyo. It is really interesting because all the “commoners” arrive at an event and wait for awhile until all the important people arrive in SUVs in one gigantic dust swoosh. Then at the end the most important people get up first and the SUVs drive through the crowd to retrieve them and then they are gone. There are also a lot of speeches and such at these ceremonies. Very top down shall we say. Whenever there are ceremonies at the Lamidat it ends with the young sons of the royal family riding their horses. All the horses wear orange and pink cotton fabric with tassels and the horse men match their horses. I keep forgetting to bring my camera but next time I will bring it to post some photos of it all. As I understand it, Fête Jeunese (February 11th) was set aside as a day of reconciliation and acceptance/celebration of different cultures in Cameroon. In the 1950s the north and the south of the country broke away from eachother. When the country was reunited, February 11th was set aside as a day to celebrate differences through festivals, dances and songs and to think towards the future with youth.

Since I last wrote, I have also begun taking fulfulde lessons every afternoon with my next door neighbor. It isn’t such a hard language to tackle but it is the initial get up that is hard. I really need to be able to at least communicate about illnesses to local women and do some trainings in fulfulde. Anything above that will be a blessing!! Here are some common expressions heard here (en fulfulde):

Noy?/Jam na? How are you?

Jam (the response) Well

Useko Thank you?

Sey yesso See you later

Sey fajiri See you tomorrow

Jam wala Sleep well

I have been having fun playing soccer with kids in the neighborhood once a week with my post mate and climbed the mountain the other day again with “the youth” of Banyo and the local Croix Rouge-Red Cross (see photos). You also can never be bored here as you can always play with neighborhood kids-they are currently trying to master frisbe-it is dangerous let me tell you! I also planted some trees in the backyard but am waiting on rains to start sometime in March/April to plant the rest of the garden.

Now that I have my house a little more in order and think I have sort-of figured how to get things done around here (at least today I understand what is going on) I am gearing up work wise. Throughout the last month I have been visiting the last of the health centers in my district to meet people there. I also went to the new “Maison de Femme, House of Women, that when opened I hope to work at. I am starting to read all my materials on conducting assessments and hope to develop and role out a few with health workers here in Banyo, out in village, people who live in my neighborhood, people who live out in the villages, high school students, etc soon to see what programs might work in the future and with whom. I can’t believe I have been here for two and a half months already (5 in total in Cameroon). In a month, I will join others from my training group for a week long in-service training. I hope to have more under my belt by then. There is a saying here, “Petite by Petite,” which translates into “little by little.” That saying is very, very true and I think my patience for things has grown by like 100% already. There are definetly lots of work possibilities here though that I am excited to get going.

So, all in all I am doing really well. I spent Valentine’s Day evening (which thankfully most people here don’t celebrate) cooking for my post mate and two guys from Banyo who have helped me out a lot getting settled in-I made my second chocolate cake, pasta with oil, fresh basil, and tomatoes, and salad with avacados, onions, carrots, a cucumber my friend sent up from her town, and vingarette of sugar, vinegar, and oil. Not bad I have to say!! And the electricity went out so it was a candle lite dinner of sorts J Thank you to all who have sent packages my way. I have received a bunch that people sent at Christmas time along with many letters lately. I have been devouring it all! Stay warm there! Bientôt-Much love, Anna

Hi everyone, I am in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, for a quick visit and am taking advantage of the fast internet for a change. Wow, Yaounde is a lot more fun than the first time I was here. I have been able to check out a few restaurants in town, go pagne shopping, and was also able to celebrate (and watch) the inauguration (yeahhh!!) yesterday on CNN all night long. It is a very, very nice vacation needless to say. I went to the grocery store today and almost cried looking at all food in the store (there was a refrigerated dairy section!) Tomorrow I have a few more things to do here and then I will start heading back to Banyo on Friday.

Hope you all enjoyed the inauguration celebrations-I really wished I was in DC there but everywhere we go here we see Obama t-shirts and pins and get congratulations. It is amazing the positive impact this election has had on how the rest of the world sees America.

All my best and stay warm!

Anna

Bus ride from N'gaoundere to Banyo.

The route between Tibati and Banyo. (this is a national route!)

Adamaoua Region (grasslands in between Banyo and Tibati).

View outside of Banyo.

A Barber Shop, the "OBAMA" Coiffure.

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say hello. I have to go to Yaounde next week and will have free, hopefully extended periods, on the Internet at the office to write a longer blog and post more photos. Since I last wrote I have been trying to meet with everyone that my predecessors worked with and those vital to working well here. Since everything basically gets done in the mornings here I have been able to go to one, maybe two, offices a day. So far, I have met with the Department of Agriculture, all three high schools (and a elementary/primary school but there are eight+ in total), almost all the health centers in Banyo (but there are 4 plus the central hospital and 3 out in the countryside "en brousse"), a health club at the high school, one of the women's savings groups that my neighbor belongs too, and numerous other ministries and such but without much success on those fronts yet. I went "en brousse" to a health center about an hour away via moto on Monday and am still recovering from the trip (roads are a little bumpy!) It was interesting to see the area (very rural and closer to Nigeria) and I was able to meet the village chief when I was there and climb a small hill to survey the area. As I was leaving the health center to return to Banyo, the worker I was with came back from the village with a chicken that the Chief gave me. The whole ride back he had to not only steer the moto through this really, really bumpy road, but also hold on to the live chicken by its feet! It was really interesting to see! I gave it to his friends to cook up and got to have a little the next day. I don't think I will be able to kill a chicken here so I am glad there are many who can as I sure that is not the last chicken I will receive here!! Man..did that chicken have a wild last voyage :)

My post mate and I climbed the nearby Banyo Mountain last Saturday-recently redone-there were even stairs!! Is this Cameroon?? I have seen worse trails in Canada! We started about 6:30 am and then came down around 11 am. It was straight up at the very end and pretty hard but really cool to see the view below. There are also remnant's of the old German prison and fortress up there that you can still see. I will post photos next time of it all. This hike is also on those who come to Banyo's itinerary (advance warning!)

Hope you are all staying warm!! I hear it is cold there! Minus the immense dust here, it is beautiful! Wish you were here! Til next time, love-Anna

View of Banyo from a distance.

My living room in Banyo (prior to moving in). It has great potential!

My kitchen in Banyo (prior to moving in).

Going out on foot to the last village during the vaccination campaign in Banyo.

Village boys with Christmas Greetings during vaccination campaign.

Young girl from village during vaccination campaign.

On my way to Banyo from the north. This was the last bus to take (with all my worldly possessions behind it).

"Joyeux Noel" from Cameroon (out in villages near Banyo on vaccination campaign).

Host sister and I on Swearing-In Day.

Agro/Forestry and Health Women on Swearing-In Day (in pagne).

Agro/Forestry and Health men on Swearing-In Day (in traditional bobo outfit).

Host sister, Habiba, and I in Pitoa.

1.02.09

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you passed a good holiday season with your friends and family. I spent Christmas Eve and Day with a couple who has lived in Banyo for the last 8 years working with the Baptist hospital here. They live on the out skirts of town near to the hospital and church in a valley next to the mountain-really pretty out there. I went with them to church Christmas Eve. Most of the church goers were from the neighboring baptist community, and therefore anglophone, so most of what happened I understood. First there was time for the children to come up and recite memory verses, then the choir would sing a song with drums and shakers, then there would be a sermon of sorts, and then this repeated. We left during the dramatization of Jesus’s birth and the subsequent events following (lets just say there was definitely some cultural adaptation!) After church was over I could here the drums and dancing that took place outside the church well past one in the morning. I went back on Christmas day and there was a lot more signing and celebrating as well. Everyone dressed up and went door to door saying, “Happy Christmas,” in which you reply, “Happy, Happy.” I maned the door for while handing out popcorn and cookies. Later that day, another baptist family and their kids came over for dinner. Ohh..it was so good! I brought over the stuffing mom sent for Thanksgiving (but didn’t reach in time) and we had mashed potatoes and gravy, and chicken, and green beans and carrots, and a jello mold, and pineapple cake, etc. etc. I was in heaven!! Lots of people stopped by throughout the evening and then we finished the day playing cards together. Needless to say it took a lot for me to leave there the next day! But my post mate arrived a few days later from his in-service retreat just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve together. We tried the local discotheque for awhile with some Banyo friends. And after discovering that he had had maple syrup mailed to him in a care package, we made pancakes from scratch that were pretty darn good. New Years Day we rode our bikes out to the Baptist community and spent the afternoon out there again. So all in all, a pretty different but good holiday season this year. I don’t think I will be spending next Christmas in a sun dress however!

Work wise I have been pretty busy trying to meet with people in the community, job shadowing nurses at the hospital, and getting my house together. I had a minor success yesterday when the chairs and small table I asked to be made finally arrived at my house! And after paying to have the water lines fixed, discovering another break in the line after the water was turned on and gushing water for a day and a half, and then having a very leaky shower head that had to be replaced, I think the water situation is under control (keeping fingers crossed). I am now trying to navigate how to get my house repainted in Cameroon 101. All the former tenants were successful so we will see how long this takes. I am just so thankful every night for the fact that there are green beans, green peppers, eggs, pasta, beans, tomatoes, avocados, and rice at my disposal every day (coupled with the wonderful food I have received in care packages I may survive after all). I am starting to navigate the Peace Corps cook book we have and exploring the idea baking in a dutch oven. When forced to I might learn how to cook after all!

There have been a lot of things to talk about since I last had a chance to get on the Internet. Two weeks ago Banyo held their third vaccination campaign of the year which I mentioned in my last blog. I was able to go “en brousse” on motorcycle (out to nearby villages) one day which was pretty cool to see (very beautiful but very very vast). I am thinking that I will be able to do a lot of work with village women in the neighboring villages. Last week I just observed the district hospital that I am based with. I did rounds with the staff and spent one day in the maternity, pediatrics, and urgent care wards each. It was really good to see the difficulties that the nurses/doctors and patients face and also witness the major causes that bring people in (malaria, malnutrition, and moto accidents mainly). It also gave me a chance to start sitting and talking with patients and I think I could probably could do nothing more than just sit in the pediatrics ward the next two years and talk with mothers about their children's health and I would be very busy. I had some great discussions with a few moms that I think I may try to tap into for the community. I had my first real dose of reality though when I sat with a women who had late stage complications from AIDs (just then diagnosed). She did not make it by the time I returned after the holiday along with one baby who was a twin (brother came in with broken arm) who died of malaria during the night. Both cases that could have been prevented.

In lighter news, my neighbor's teenage girls did my hair the other day in braids (och!!) that I will try to post a photo of today. And I have a mouse in the house that I am aiming to get rid of soon! I also played my first soccer match with the neighboring boys with my post mate and scored, which was pointed out does not count because the goalie only came up to my waist :) It was fun though and I am hoping to get a girls match going in the near future perhaps (that will be a lot harder to do!)

I hope you are all well and enjoying the New Year. I hope to write back within two weeks or so. I have to go to Yaounde around mid-January (I will get to see the inauguration via CNN on the 20th) so will hopefully write then. All my best!

Love, Anna

November 14, 2008

Hi everyone,

Well, I made it back from site visit (Banyo) last Sunday alive so that is a great feat in its self. I started off on Friday afternoon taking a bus for 4 hours to Tibati where I stopped for the evening. Got up the next morning and did the long haul from Tibati to Ngaoundere (7 hours). And then I stayed there for the night, recuperated a bit (ate some great french fries with a beef, mushroom, cream sauce), and then continued onwards the next morning for another 5 hours to Garoua where the group was reunited. That would be a 3 day journey !! I was/am really tired from the trip but glad that it was a whole lot easier than the way there. I won’t have to do that trip too many more times because I can take another route to Yaounde through the west in the future and can do my banking in a town about 6 hours away from me (Bafoussam) instead of the other direction where the road is really bad. Apparently right now (directly after rainy season) and during the rainy season is the worst time to travel that route so it should get better. We are getting, ¨this is as worst as it can gets, ¨all out of the way I hope !

The post-election atmosphere here is very exciting. Everywhere we go we get, ¨Obama, Obama !! ¨with outcrying of cheers ! Everyone is very anxious to see what will happen when he becomes President. I was not able to see or hear the news on election night but I guess many, many people here stayed up all night (6 hour time difference from the east coast) to get the results. We keep joking that it will only be a matter of time until we are seeing Obama Pagne here (colorful cloth with photos of Obama on it that are made into shirts and dresses). I don’t get too much news here so send news and magazine articles my way !

We have three more weeks here before we are officially sworn in as volunteers. I will miss living with my host family, especially since the little kids are finally warming up to me. So much, that I am pretty sure I have gotten cold number two from them today !! Oh well ! The other night one of the little girls (5 years old) tried to begin braiding part of my hair-no such luck but it was entertaining. At night I usually watch tv with them while eating dinner and all the kids sit there and point things out to me in Fulfulde (not making much progress in that langauge yet but will need to since most of my neighbors in Banyo only speak Fulfulde).

It is hard to beleive that everyone there is getting ready for Thanksgiving traveling and such. Know that I wish I was there with you all. We are preparing a small feast here and with the help of the stove and refridgerator in the office we might be able to pull it off. I will write hopefully again next weekend.

All my best. Love, Anna

Landscape outside of Pitoa.

All the Peace Corps trainers and trainees with the Ambassador to Cameroon in September.

Katie and I preparing for bike ride in Pitoa a few weeks ago.

My host mom with Cheboyan, Michigan tee shirt.

View from my soon to be backyard in Banyo.

Local foliage outside of training site in Pitoa.

Rain storm approaching during a soccer match in Pitoa.

Hello everyone!!! What a busy week or so since I last had a chance to write or post anything on this site! We found out our posts this week and I am currently on "site visit" at my post right now. I am in a town called Banyo which is in the Adawama province-it is a lot different than where I was the past month or so. It is further south and much more mountainous and cooler (I actually used a blanket last night). You should be able to find it on a map of Cameroon-it is due east from a town called Tibati and sort of northeast of a town called Bafoussam. I am staying with the girl who has been here for the past two years-her name is Nadia and she is really great. I have taken lots of photos of the house and town and will post them next week when I can. I posted a few photos below from the last week's bike ride and my celebration after the U of M loss!!

I am posted to be working with the local district hospital here in Banyo and my counterpart is the head nurse who is originally from the western part of Cameroon. There is a new doctor there and Nadia says he has really got the place in shape since his arrival last year so it sounds like I should be in a good spot to be working on a lot of things in Banyo and the surrounding villages. During the last two years, Nadia has been working on training nurses, working with a men's group, working with neighborhood children, and also working with prisoners and improving the conditions there. Hopefully I will be able to continue some of her work after she leaves. Banyo is a really pretty town. It is approx. 25,000 people and a medium sized town in a hilly area (lots of climbing!). There is one main stretch of town that is is paved and has shops and such and then there are some schools and health clinics on the out skirts-the rest is all residential neighborhoods. Great news thought-they are currently building a bakery and small supermarket which should be completed in the next few months. My house has a big living room, a smaller kitchen that overlooks the hills with a back yard, a bathroom, and THREE bed rooms!!! There is a lot of painting and decorating that will need to happen once I move here officially in December but it should work out (right now most of the walls are painted Bright pink!) One of the draw backs to living here is that I am really isolated from my other health and Agro volunteers that I came in with. I do have a post mate who is a high school teacher here and will be here for most of my time here and there is another health volunteer who has been here for a year that is apparently an hour east of me. There are three other health volunteers I know posted in Adawama but Jessie and Brian are about 5 hours west of me and I don't even know how far away Allison is in the east!! Lets just say the roads are pretty incredible. To get here, we all took a 5 hour bus ride and spent the night with other volunteers in N'Gaoundere which is the provincial capitol of Adawama. The next morning we started at 7 am for Tibati and arrived there at 3 pm in the afternoon. And then I continue on from there for another 5 hours or so! Things didn't go exactly to plan so I didn't arrive until Tuesday morning!!! GEESH! It took three days to get here! I don't think I will be visiting the north much after this! I am going to take it in 3 steps to get back to out training site this weekend so it shouldn't be as bad! Ahhh..travel in Cameroon!

So I hope everyone is doing well! Such great news on the elections!!!! Please send any news you have!! Hope to write back soon with more photos-miss you all, love, Anna

My bed (with mosquito net) in Pitoa.

Bike ride last weekend in rural Pitoa area.

Yahoooo!!!! GO STATE!! Sorry Nathan for your terrible season this year, but go MSU! Wish I could have watched it live-this photo is for you!

Hi everyone, It is October 23rd, 2008. Sorry I have not been able to write or post in awhile. I have not had much luck with internet connections lately! All is going well here-We are in our fifth week of training here. Half way through! We are still with our host families but will be finding out our posts next week as to where we will be living and working the next two years. We will actually go and stay at that site with our counterpart or the current volunteer posted there the first week of November. Yes-the week of the election so I will be bringing my radio with me so I can hear the all the news on BBC in case I am without a TV that week. Send all the news you can my way!! My days are filled with French and Fulfulde lessons along with health and cultural sessions as well. We all went to a football (soccer match) last weekend together. It was the local city’s club team against a club team from Zimbabwe and the local team won 4-0-pretty good match! I think four litres of water evaporated from my body during that game though! It is still really hot here! The children in my host family are warming up to me. The little boy (see entry below) has gotten over his fears and is happy to see me now! After classes all day I usually play with them in the courtyard before the sun goes down (around 6:30 every night) and then I get ready for dinner and bed. They are super cute and the brand new baby (who is a month old now) is getting bigger every day. There is a market every Sunday in our town that brings in hundreds of people from all over northern Cameroon. It is reallys something to see. Hundreds of little stalls selling onions, mangoes, tomatoes, small electronics, meat, fish, kitchen pots and pans, buckets, and the colorful cloth called pagne that women have tailored here into dresses and such. I have had two dress/skirt combos made so far (see entry below too!) which is quite an experience from negotiating the price to negotiating the pattern to have the cloth made into! Hopefully I can post more photos of me soon in my outfits (given working technology!) I went for a run last week around the field while everyone else played soccer. It was the first time I have run here and it was so funny because young boy or guy I came across said, “Have a good run Madame” or “Good Luck Madame.” Very formal! In the bigger cities you will find men and women running for exercise in the streets. So dad you have can have a career here too! J I hope you are all well-I received two letters this week and was so happy to get them! Keep them coming! Knowing you are all there thinking of me really helps! I have sent many letters your way as well so I hope you receive them soon! I will write hopefully within the next two weeks. Love-Anna Here is a posting from Oct. 10, 2008 that I did not get a chance to post:As I write this a huge rain storm is brewing above me. It is Friday night and we just finished up with course for today and I am staying late at the training house to write this with a “safe outlet”. Ok, the rains have begun and I keep losing power so this may have to be short. Things are going well here. This week was a lot better. We had some interesting sessions on behavior change, health communication, and language picked up a bit. We also got to visit the local district hospital and talk with clients and doctors which was really interesting. I also played in this weeks soccer match with other trainees and trainers-so nice to just run around a bit and not just be sitting. I did have a cold for most of the week but I think it may be finally passing! It is still real hot here but everyone says it will cool down soon (but the rains will stop then so take your pick!) Here are a few things that come to mind that have been memorable thus far: My host brother-he is about 2 years old and is deathly afraid of me (because I am so deathly pale I assume!) Whenever he is alone in the same room with me he starts whimpering and runs away. It is much better however than one child that was dragged screaming bloody murder to me by his mother the other afternoon-apparently we are very scary to the babies J The older ones love us though and constantly follow you down the street saying, “Bonjour, Bonsoir Nassaro.” Nassaro I believe is the local word for foreigner. I think I may have talked to the right person though because I am getting a lot of “Bonjour Anna” now instead. Progress! The rains! Man when a storm comes in it really comes in. The skies darker (hopefully I can download some photos as well to this showing this) and it cools down considerably and then the winds pick up and then, “Wooosh!” Sheets of rain. Pagne dress: I went with my host sister/cousin the first weekend I was here and purchased some cloth to make some dresses out of. That was the last time I saw the material as it was whisked away to the tailor that night. A few days later I was handed a dress that you will see me in the photos. It actually turned out pretty nice but I believe that the tailor is making the exact same dress again with the extra material! Guess what mom will be getting as a present-hahah! I liked the material at first because I thought there were trees on the material and it was green and blue. Come to find out is actually fruit! Whops!

Two other girls from Peace Corps and I -Aubrey and Jessie at the local establishment!

Town of Pitoa

View of Youande during rain storm.

Hello everyone! Well, after almost two weeks in country we finally got a chance to get to an internet café this morning. I wanted to give everyone a brief overview of what has been happening since I left the US a few weeks ago. In short, WOW!

We arrived in Cameroon after a thankful noneventful flight from NY to Brussels and then to Douala in Cameroon. The first thing I noticed from the plane was the red dirt and lush green. We spent the night at a hotel in Douala before taking off the next morning in a tour bus for Yaounde. Imagine 30+ people with at least one big pack and a medium suitcase and you will be able to get a grasp of the logistics needed to get us from point A to B! Pretty impressive! We stayed at a nice hotel in Yaounde for about four days while we completed official business at Peace Corps headquarters. We didn’t get to see much of the city but was able to at least see the soccer stadium and few of the neighborhoods while there. Most of us will be posted in the northern provinces of Cameroon so that is where our three months of training is being held. To get up north we had to take an overnight train (14 hours plus!) and then take another two tour buses for another five hours to get to our final destination which is two small towns near the bigger town of Garoua (you can find it on most maps). And then at the end of it we were wisked away with our host families. Holy cow-what a trip!

I am living with a small family. The parents are young (I believe I am almost 8 years older than the mom and possibly the same age as the father) and they have three children. They only had two before I came! Yes, that is right the third was born at 10 am the day I arrived in town! I kept asking on my walk to the house how many children the father had and he kept laughing saying something like, “Well, today I have three.” I didn’t pick up on that until they handed me a newborn baby boy when I entered the house! There are also two girls who I believe are sisters and cousins of the parents (one is young and the other is 15 and the one I talk with the most and who also makes all my meals for me). And then occasionally other relatives are there as well but I think I have figured out the core base for now! It is hard to describe the house structure but you enter a bigger courtyard area with brick and motar walls and then enter a smaller courtyard where my host family lives. There is a room for cooking, a latrine area in the back, my room, a sheltered open air area, and then the main structure with a living room with a television and carpet to sit on, and a bedroom.

Our training is very long and everything is pretty challenging right now for us but all of us are in this together so we will get through. I just need it to cool down!!! I did get a fan the other day and that has made my life much better!

Sorry that this has to be short. While writing this blog last night I started smelling a burning smell. Possibly could be my computer so I will have to investigate that! Three of us went into the bigger city this morning and walked around about an hour until we found a hotel that has one very slow internet connection-we are so happy!!

Any one that would like to call or text me or send a letter or package I would be indebted to you for life. Any sort of food supplements, gum, granola bars, vitamins, etc as I basically am eating some rice with tomato paste and beans every day with some coca cola thrown in there! Ohhh what a time! Any news from home is always welcome! To call from the US you dial 011 237 74199809. I miss you all and hope I can at least get to the internet one a week on the weekends to be able to write you all. Much love, Anna xoxox

We have arrived in the capitol safe and sound! Flights all went well and we arrived on time with mostly everyone's luggage (both my bags made it!) Hope all is well on your side of the Atlantic! I will write from the north after we are placed with our host families soon. Best-Anna

Can't even spell Philadelphia right these days! :) Despite some more hiccups I think I am still on my way in T-minus 16 days!

Hello all, it is a month from today that I will take off for my stagging in Philadelhpia and begin my Peace Corps experience in Cameroon! My brother is teaching me how to blog so lets see if this works! Let the packing begin!! -Anna