The ridiculous heat of the past few weeks ended abruptly yesterday. I woke up to find a morning haze. At first I thought that it was imminent rain, it had stormed in Garoua two nights before and it had been overcast in Kaélé for the better part of the week. It had even smelled like rain which was an otherworldly experience after the dry heat we had been having. But rains in March, a rare

The cold season ended early this year. From a “cool” 13˚-35˚ Celsius temperature range we are now in the full blast of 17˚-50˚ Celsius range, and I am not exaggerating. Clothes drying out on the line don’t dry per se, they combust. I can’t wear jeans an hour after I’ve put them out to dry, not because they are still wet, far from it. It’s because the metal buttons and zippers on them are so hot

Happy New Year to everyone!My apologies to anyone following this blog, I have not kept it up to date since October. Many things have occurred since then, and I will make a greater effort at posting new entries more regularly.So a lot has been going on since I last posted. Throughout the month of October I’ve been settling in more into life in Kaélé. The rains did not stop until November which was

I believe I am correct in saying that it has rained only twice so far this October, and we are approaching the end of the month. It could very well be the end of the rains and it has been getting somewhat hotter during the days, but at least power cuts have been less frequent and a working fan is worth more than its weight in gold (so to speak). When outside though you can only depend on the

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Last Sunday I met a King.His majesty King Fotso Nka’kkho of the Bamougoum Dynasty took the throne in 1981 and is the 20th king of Bamougoum, the first king being Ndjwòngveu who established the kingdom in 1403. The current monarch has over 100 wives some of which he inherited from his predecessor. I found this all out at a visit to a local Chefferie near Baffoussam, the regional capital of the

Last week I found out where I was posted. Any ideas regarding tropical paradises and pristine beaches that I may have entertained myself with before coming to Cameroon are most definitely swept away. To give an impression of what I am talking about, I am currently writing this in the city of Maroua. It is 6:10pm and it is still 40 degrees C outside. I have taken 2 showers, I have seen a lot of

Happy Independence Day!It was a muggy Saturday morning and the mud was little drier than usual. We had been organising the day’s events for a week in a manner that felt more like organised chaos than anything else. Unfortunately the education trainees have left for site visit so it’s only the Business trainees left in Bangangté. We still had hamburgers planned though. Some people went into

More talks on malaria, la paludisme. I have been taking my malaria prophylaxis medication every Thursday for the past three weeks and I have had “vivid” dreams every night I have taken it. My stomach felt somewhat irritated when I took it for the first time in JFK but otherwise no other complications. Nonetheless every medical session we have had sets every trainee in attention mode.

It has officially been a week since I began this journey or maybe a month, depending on how you look at it. Having left Brussels, then Madrid, then Champaign, it all leads to Philadelphia on the 4th of June 2009. It is now the evening of the 11th of June and I am lying in bed in a room generously rented out to me by my host family. Where to begin? Flying into Yaoundé with the

What happened during the past 9 months?Clearly, the aim of keeping this blog up to date took an "unprecedented" turn towards the grave. Nonetheless, I have had it in the back of my mind and need to revive it for its real purpose: to use as a journal and as a window for friends and family to be aware of my fortune and misfortune while I am away for 2 years with the Peace Corps. Here is a quick

I arrived in Champaign six days ago.The trip itself was the usual transatlantic flight; an inordinate amount of time on your hands which you want to whittle away. Heathrow was as usual more of a hindrance than a detail of the voyage. Chicago was actually good though. I took the train for a change, and that was refreshingly different. visiting the city itself was also pretty fun, considering I

2008 has undoubtedly been amongst the most chaotic and effusive of years. And we are only half way through it, so there is more to come, undoubtedly... Change has been the order of the day (or year).The programme so far then:March: The family dog passed away. She was fat. She had gender issues. She was damn cool.April-May: Last time I did papers and exams for university. I studied pretty hard.

Second attempt at blogging...the first was a rather futile attempt made during university. Thing is, if I crash and burned during three years of undergrad mayhem (when time is actually at its most abundant), what will happen from now on?Just wait and see...