That’s a Wrap!
3 Decembre 2008
The 10-day countdown began today as 10 becomes a pretty standard number to looking down to single digits. It’s interesting to me that there are many things about Cameroon that are trying, but I think a lot of what has become mentally draining has nothing to do with being in Cameroon at all. For instance, running around researching, living with a family that isn’t yours, and being in sweltering heat are things that would be draining no matter where one was. So, while I’m ready to just relax, have a break, spend time with people I’ve missed, there are still so many things I’ll miss about the beauty of Cameroon. However, I always pray that my life adventures will never stop no matter how tired or drained I become. I’ll have time to sleep when I’m dead, until then, try me.
1/5 of our group has quit the program… haha, sounds worse than it is, but really 3 girls have left. 1 for malaria; 1 for typhoid and worms; and 1 who didn’t want to finish the research. There weren’t kidding when they said this program was in a “hardship country.”
8 Decembre 2008
As I’m sitting in the office this morning waiting for my final language proficiency exam, and I find myself having so many things to reflect on, even though there are 5 days left for me in Cameroon, this is probably the last time I will have internet before I get to Paris, and therefore my last opportunity to post to my blog while actually being in Cameroon. That being said – here it goes. The ending…
Today is the last day we will spend with our families before we move in the monastery again tonight for the last 5 days. The presentation of my research is at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, and it should last about an hour for a panel of the other students, directors, and advisors. Once I’ve finished that, I’m more or less home free, as one might say, gladly or not.
I had my final standoff with Mekouti today as I was walking to school. Of course he knows where I live now, so he was on my street when I left the house, and he of course began walking with me. He was saying all of these things, like how I had broken his heart, and his soul was burning with some sort of fire for me, and he wasn’t stupid, and he knew I was never going to come back to visit him… finally, he grabbed my umbrella as if to pull me toward him, and I yanked it back, saying, “Mekouti, you are a fool. You have no idea how to love me and you don’t love me. You bother me all the time with your silly texts and metaphorical banter. I’m leaving for America today. That is all.” I turned and walked away as he stood at my back calling things after me. It was a very bittersweet ending to the love affair we really had. He makes beautiful art… I’ll give him that. And, I assume you have to be just a little crazy to be so artistic – but, I’ve got to keep my notoriety for being a heartbreaker.
Friday night was the party my family threw for me and my friends, which was absolutely lovely since my mother prepared all of my favorite Cameroonian foods – grilled fish, SANGA!, chicken wings, plantains, carrot and coconut salad, and she even made a chocolate cake – on the stove top because we don’t have an oven! It was probably the moistest cake I have ever eaten, and we really had a wonderful time.
My mother and I have been frequenting the hospital lately, but I can’t at this time disclose the reason. However, I will… very soon.
Last night was the final party for all of the families. We had a really nice buffet at Foret Bantu, a restaurant in Tsinga, with dancing, a slideshow of family pictures, a fashion show of our African clothes, and all the food and drinks you could ask for. It was really nice to have a final au revoir and merci to our families, and a little sad to think it was the last “out with a bang” so to speak. As Cameroonian as this is, the families cleaned out the buffet and stole all of the wine and whiskey from the tables – certainly not a typical American standard at parties – but that’s why we’re in Cameroon. We crammed a taxi full of 10 people and drove home about midnight – WAY PAST OUR BEDTIME, hah – after all of the festivities. It was just smashing, simply smashing.
Abbie and I got to help at swimming lessons the other day at the American School in Yaounde, which was absolutely like walking into a private elementary school in America. All the teachers are American, and they have 175 K-12 students; most children of Peace Corps and Embassy workers. Shirley told me SO much about getting into Foreign Service – and excuse my French - but it is the shit. They get the most amazing perks in exchange for giving up 2 years in America. For instance, the embassy provides them with a house, free shipping of all their home goods to their service country, shipping of one vehicle from America to the country, schooling for your children, job placement for your spouse, 1 month vacation homestay to America with paid air-fare and lodging, and 2 weeks R&R vacation to your choice of city in the world! Can you believe all of that – plus your salary is almost double in a hardship country (like Cameroon) even with all of these things… crazy perfect.
How did I get here? In this past few weeks, I have often found myself wondering how I even managed to get here so quickly. Time passes so incredibly fast – it seems like yesterday that I was fretting over how much OFF to bring with me so that I could combat the dreaded palu (and yes – mom, I have like 4 bottles leftover). Now, here I am, with 5 days left until I get to Paris, with so much new insight into the world, I can’t possibly decide what to do with it all, and difficulty deciding how to share it. I’m torn between the world I left behind and the world I’ve found that lies only a 12 hour plane ride outside of my comfortable walls, and I’m terribly caught in-between.
Cameroon is such a beautiful country. Between the tropical climate and the (usually) very friendly people, it’s somewhat of a hidden African gem since there are so many misconceptions about Africa in general. It’s unfortunate that Cameroon continues to be a fourth world country with so much poverty and government corruption, but if every westerner could just see the wonderful, inspiring things Cameroonians are doing, I don’t think they would see it as “Africa.”
I think one of my biggest goals for going back to the United States is to de-myth the stereotypes associated with “Africa.” What if as Americans we were always associated with “North America?” Do we have the same history as Mexicans, Canadians, Guatemalans, or Haitians? It’s one of the daily struggles of Cameroonians to separate themselves from other Africans – as if their plight was the same. I think overall, I learned the extremity of being an American, and the world power that it holds. I’ve been born as lucky as they come, and it would be a horrible mistake to forget that. I hope that if you’ve been keeping up with this blog, or when I go to re-read this, that we’ve learned something about the world, Cameroon, or Africa. But it’s my more sincere hope that you’ve learned something about yourself. Sometimes I think the best thing you can do for anyone in the world is to know yourself, and stick by that. If you’re a responsible human being taking responsibility for your actions, whether or not you have the means to do something for someone else, you’re impacting the world.
I hope when I look back on this trip, I will have seen much more of the beautiful, diverse, blooming Earth that has been created. Until then, that’s a wrap.