Here’s a few highlights of my stay in Dschang:

Last Saturday was a pretty amazing day. We hiked to one of the largest waterfalls in Cameroon. It was the most beautiful place I have ever been. I have pictures but it is impossible to upload anything here. You can try to upload 10 pics and maybe 1 will work every 2 hours. Also the electricity randomly goes off in Dschang because it’s a more rural area. Anyhow, we also hiked to a cave that day which was really sweet. There was a little waterfall in the cave as well. I thought I was going to die on the drive back because we were riding in this little bus around these curvy mountain roads that were slippery with mud, but we made it somehow and we didn’t even get stuck!

Saturday night we all went out to a night club. We dolled ourselves up as best we could. Most of the girls went to a hotel first to take hot showers and relax but the cold bucket baths suit me well so I stayed behind to spend the evening with my family. My brothers and I took motos to the hotel and went to the club at 11:30. We split two bottles of whiskey and danced until 3 or 4 am. It was nice to have my brothers there because they helped chase off creepers, but I did dance with some beautiful Cameroonian strangers that night. I’ve also decided that I prefer Cameroonian dance and music to American.

Tuesday was a pretty interesting day as well. We visited a traditional chief not far from our village. By the way, the chief in our village is in the States right now looking for a wife so watch out ladies! So we spent the day with him. He gave us the tour of his home and we drank palm wine and ate goat meat. He has lots of wives. Around 30 that live with him and then a few scattered in the village and even 1 in Spain. There was also something oddly attractive about him. All the girls agreed. He has a band of like 15 people who play drums and African flutes and dance every time he walks by. I’m looking into getting a similar band to follow me around for the rest of my life and play my theme music. If possible.

So I think that’s all for now. I miss everyone and if you want to, send me an email: renee.gulino@goucher.edu.

written by  peep on October 2, 2008 from Dschang, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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Saturday was quite the adventure. I think most of the other girls were pissed but it takes a lot to make me irritated here. So we met with Fru Ndi, who is the leader of the political opposition party called the SDF. Let's just say he is kinda a big deal. He is also said to be the lawful winner of the first presidential elections in Cameroon...anyhow we went to Fru Ndi's compound and he gave a talk and then invited us to visit a tea plant which was allegedly one hour away. Four hours after driving this crotchity bus up and down weaving mountain roads, frequantly having to stop and walk up the mountains to lighten the load of the bus and once having to push it, we arrived to a tea plant. It turns out that the guy who owns the plant is kinda a big deal too, he is the second largest employer of the Cameroonian people. He is very wealthy and owns a lot of land which makes all the traditional chiefs suspicious and jealous so he invited all the big deal fons to his plant and to a party to let them see what he's doing and to let them know that he can always use employees if they have unemployed people in their villages.

Random updates: My camera got stolen and I mourned it like it was a human being.

written by  peep on October 6, 2008 from Bamenda, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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Did I mention there are lap tops with fast internet connection? Anyhow, we are in Yaoundé until next Friday when we go to Kribi. I can't wait! Kribi is the coastal area and we get to go to the beach! After Kribi, we go back to Yaoundé and then up North where we stay for 2 weeks with new families.

I forgot to describe my homestay family in Dschang. So my mom was a tailor and she made me a really funny peacock fabric pants suit which I will totally be wearing in the US. My dad was an elementary school teacher. (He also used old homework as toilet paper which just never ceases to amuse me) I had 4 brothers and 2 sisters and 1 niece. 2 of my brothers were my age- Valare is 20 and Jules is 23. The other two were around 8 or 10. I had an 18 year old sister Marionette, with questionable moral fiber (dont ask) and a 20 something year old sister Clemancethat did most of the cooking and cleaning. There was also an insane 2 year old named Lindsay who enjoyed putting her food in between her toes and then eating it out... she also came into my room one morning and put my foundation all over her body. It looked so silly. It looked like she was trying to dress up as a ghost. I couldnt help but laugh. So Jules and I bonded a lot over the two weeks. I taught him English for a few hours every night. He's brilliant. He is working on becoming a doctor. I really loved my family in Dschang.

So now I am with my Yaoundé family again and I am happy because I get to meet another brother next Thursday. He plays soccor in Tailand but is coming home for his marriage in December. I think I may stay an extra week to go. I would love to see a Cameroonian wedding. Here, there are two patterns of fabrique, one for the bride and another for the groom and everyone thats going has to pick a fabrique and make a dress or suit out of it. It is actually really fun to design a dress and have it made.

So the last 3 weeks of the program are spent by doing independant research. I chose to study the role of women during the independence movement (from colonization). I met a man who has been doing research on the movement for 5 years. He has been really helpful. Hopefully, if all goes well this saturday will be spent looking for Moomie, the wife of a revolutionary leader. She just wrote a book. She went all over Europe during the independence struggle studying fighting techniques which she brought back to Cameroon and trained guerillas with. There were other women who were spies and others who seduced enemies and then killed them. There were even women soldiers fighting in the bushe.

So I have to go now, it is student night, which means we get to hang out at the office until 8 without any responsibilities. I miss everyone. Send me emails if you are bored, they make my day!

written by  peep on October 9, 2008 from Yaounde, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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The police stopped the bus several times, each time picking out people who weren't Cameroonian and asking for their identity cards. A family from Gabon as well as a Nigerian man were left behind, with their luggage on the roof and all. According to women next to me on the bus, they will most likely have to bribe the police with money if they want to continue.

So the past few days have been spent NGO (non governmental organization) and multinational organizations and agencies visiting. It is interesting to hear from small NGOs as well as the World Bank and Peace Corps. I idenitifed heavily with the cause of this organization called CED (Cameroonian Environmental Development) who sells fair trade chocolate and dried fruit and really seems to be motivated by the true needs of the people as well as environmental protection.

I feel the need to share some of my family's pet stories. So they used to have a monkey, who was very mischivious and often escaped his cage and ate all the fruit in the kitchen and took naps on my mom's bed when no one was home. He liked to dance and laugh when he was in a good mood. They also used to have a parrot who imitated everyone's voices and knew family members by name and could even sing parts of the national anthem. I want a pet monkey so badly.

(Sorry for all the grammer and spelling issues, I find that I am losing my English as I gain my French)

written by  peep on October 15, 2008 from Yaounde, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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Miju, is going home tomorrow. She had a really bad experience with Malaria and decided for several reasons to cut her stay in Cameroon short. She will be missed greatly, but especially after having been very ill myself, I respect her decision.

Random sidenote, before leaving for Kribi my Yaoundé family was hosting an odd relative from Olodorf, aparently my father's brother. He is an alcoholic pastor who happens to be an ex-cop. So imagine a juice box, now imagine the box as a bag, kinda like a ziplock bag but with no opening, now imagine it with whiskey instead of juice. My uncle drinks an absurd amount of these every night. I was amused to overhear a conversation between him and my mom where she yelled at him for drinking too much and he blamed it on the dog. BAhahahaha.

written by  peep on October 19, 2008 from Kribi, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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We stayed with new homestay families for a little over a week. I had a mom, 2 sisters, 1 brother and a baby. I spent most of my time with the baby and was tempted to grab her and run when I was leaving because she was so freaking cute. My sisters were very sweet. Both teenagers. I taught them English a little bit every night and they helped me with my Fulfuldé, which is the language of the North. It was bizarre to learn another language in another language, but it was kinda fun. My brother is a tour guide. I was surprised at how many touristes come to the North of Cameroon. He always had clients. Mostly French. Once some Belgians and Italians. My mother was the niece of the Lamido, who is the traditional chief and religious and political leader of Ngaoundéré. My mom was a princess. She also used to be married to a chief, but they were divorced. Polygamy is very common up North, but muslims can only take four wives, so when they want another wife they must divorce. To divorce you only have to say I divorce you three times.

I loved the city. The main attraction was the milk bar, where ironically enough you cannot get milk. But you can get yogurt and I ate it everyday. It is unsweetened but you pour sugar in it and it is wonderful. They also drink a lot of tea, which is lovely. There is a University in the city and I met some really nice students in town. My favorite part of Ngaoundéré was the mosques. The chanting starts around 4am but it never bothered me. It was beautiful. The mosque of the lamido was right next to our house. It is the biggest one in the city. I always wished I could have gone inside, but it is forbidden for women and people who aren't muslim.

We took a four day excursion to the extreme north, Waza, Maroa and Gidae. We stayed in a hotel the first night and then the next day went on two safaris and camped under the stars. I have never seen so many stars in my life. I couldn't help but stare straight up constantly. We met some friends who gave us ginea hen eggs and we made an interesting omelet. Oh and the safari was SWEET! I think it was my favorite thing we have done so far. We didn't see a ton of animals but being packed into this little pick up truck driving through the grasslands of Waza put me at my prime. Also giraffes in the wild are so different. They aren't yellow and brown they are more white and brown and they are so strange looking. We also saw ostriches, antelopes and a warthog. Ashley and I insisted upon singing the Lion King soundtrack, which just made everything even better. At sunset I was sitting on the roof of the truck with my legs off the side and with the breeze it was wonderful. I could have gone on a safari everyday for a month and then camped out and been completely content.

In Gidae we went on a hike to this river sandwiched between two walls of rock. That is an odd description but it was really nice. The water wasn't too deep so we left our shoes and walked through it for a while. Someone told our director that it was the most beautiful place god had ever created, I don't know about that but it was still fun. One of the SIT employees, Bobo, was watching me and informed me that I fell in the water 5 times. I only remembered the time that I fell up to my neck in water. Just as a disclaimer, the rocks were slippery and there were little mini waterfalls to go around.

So after Gidea we went back to Ngaoundéré for a few days and then headed back to Yaoundé. If I ever make it back to Cameroon, I want to go with my brother to find hippos. You have to go out by Canoe early in the morning before it is light, because hippos hate the light, to see them. My brother is terrified of hippos, which will surely enhance such an experience. I took pictures with my friend Laura's camera, they will get posted one day.

One last thing, our second night at Waza was the night of Obamas win. I was feeling down that day thinking that I wouldn't find out until the morning, but our director came through and we found a hotel with cable and CNN and stayed up all night as the results came in. We drank beer and whiskey to stay up, and to celebrate of course. I cried when he won. We all did. It was partially from a sense of relief that McCain didnt win and partially a shared joy between the Americans, French and Cameroonians at a little hotel in Waza.

written by  peep on November 10, 2008 from Ngaoundere, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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I went to a concert last night with Jaime, Ashley, Andrea (girls from my program) and Anita (our new friend) and my older brother Mira. It was a female vocalist named Marko Singer, she was wonderful. My brother didn't seem too thrilled, but he pretended, which is typical Mira behavior. We went to a party at Jaime's sister's friend's house after the concert. She has an appartement above a club. The party was on a huge balcony overlooking the city. Ashley, our token New York City girl, said she felt at home with all the neon glow of Yaoundé and the music coming from the club. I sat down outside with a beer and my brother came up behind me clearing his throat as if to say, what are you drinking? I then noted the beer in his hand, and cleared my throat in response. This exchange was followed by a great deal of laughter and an agreement that if he didn't tell mom I was drinking I wouldn't tell her he was drinking with me.

My 21st birthday is in two days! We will celebrate Friday because Tuesday partying is socially unacceptable in Cameroon...haha. So all the girls and a bunch of our friends and family are going to go clubbing, which should be spectacular. I have to go to Mokolo, an outdoor market, to find a cute outfit because I want to not look like a missionary when I go to the club. I can't wait for next Friday!

This week is going to be spent doing field work for the NGO (African Network against Illiteracy, Conflict and Human Rights Abuse) in other words, it will be stressful and crazy but great when its over! Their project is to assess the need for enhanced citizenship education and prove that peace studies education can encourage tolerance and respect among students and teachers. I will be interviewing all sorts of people about their conceptions of the current education system and conflict in cameroon due to such intense diversity (over 260 ethnic groups and languages, both French and English as official languages due to different colonial masters, 3 world religions and a vast immigrant population from Nigeria, Chad, the Congo and a bunch of other African countries). I have to write a project report after my field work and I hope that I don't let my advisor down. I really want to help this organisation. For those of you that don't know this, I am a Peace Studies Major, and by a serendipitous encounter I have found myself putting this education to practice.

So I will now, if Air France permits, be staying in Cameroon until December 27, yes that's right, christmas in Cameroon. Mira gets married the 20 of December and the first availible flight after that is the 27. I am a brides maid for the wedding. I will be sporting a bright pink fitted beyoncé knock-off dress that will surely make me look more absurd then usual. But that's what the freaking wedding planner lady chose so I am going with it. Plus, the other girls who will also be in the wedding are being subjected to the same satin atrocity. And some of us, cough Ashley, are even excited.

At some point I will backtrack and update you guys about Ngaoundere, Garoua, Maroua and Gidea. Highlights include a safari, a new homestay family with a baby, a hike through a river that Laura thinks gave her African River Blindness (she is actually just insane) and watching the election results in a wigwam while drinking whiskey. Trust me, the Cameroonians were as excited if not more so than the Americans about the results.

Hope all is well on your side of the world. While you guys are getting ready for winter, I am getting tanner and enjoying 80°F weather! I so am not looking forward to winter weather, although I do love sweaters and scarves!

written by  peep on November 16, 2008 from Yaounde, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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In other news, I have less than 4 weeks in Cameroon. I have been enjoying the fact that my brother Mira is getting married soon because people have been pouring in from the village to greet the family and spend time with Mira. A few nights ago my brothers had over a big group of their childhood friends and cousins and five guys, including my brother Charles, sang a few songs. Ashley, fellow SIT kid, and I were blown away by their harmonizing! Their singing was followed by a karaoke session with Mira’s music where I sang along (and poorly I might add) to Cameroonian and American music.

So last week was Thanksgiving. I hadn’t expected much, being in Cameroon for an American holiday, but as usual my homestay family out did themselves. One of my sisters, Anne, had a vague conception of what Thanksgiving entailed. All I told anyone was that you eat turkey and everyone says what they are grateful for. So Anne bought a few chickens, to substitute turkey and then went to a European grocery store where she purchased hot dogs, ketchup and coke. It was hysterical, and being the worst vegetarian known to man, I consumed enough hot dogs and chicken to feel Thanksgiving food coma. It was a great night. I will never forget hearing all of my siblings say what they were thankful for. Everyone said something related to the family, it was just like home. It was one of those moments when you realize that people everywhere are the same.

As my trip nears the end, and I say goodbye to most of the other SIT girls next week, everything feels bittersweet. I am torn between wanting to see everyone back home and wanting to stay and not miss out on my life in Cameroon. I realized last night that I hate the idea of missing out on watching Mamaita, my 3 year old niece, grow up. Or being there when Dora, Anne, Titou and Elizabeth get married. I like watching the construction on my parents house and I don’t want to miss out on seeing what it looks like when it’s all finished. It will feel strange not to wake up to the chanting coming from the mosque in Tschinga. I like starting my days by jogging with Jaime up Mount Febe. I even started enjoying cold showers, well sometimes. I will miss getting drinks at the Melting Pot and the adventure of meeting new friends. There are so many things that I love about this place. I wish more people would take the time to explore Africa with open eyes.

The culture is changing because of globalization and westernization. I am scared that one day Cameroonians will only speak French and English and that the 280 ethnic languages will disappear. I can already see traditional religions disappearing thanks to the hard work of Muslim and Christian missionaries, no offense, but I do not understand or respect people’s desire to force their religion down the throats of the rest of the world. Individualism is replacing people’s sense of community, which most people identify as necessary for development. But I just see as converting the world to the selfish every man for himself mentality of the west. People give a shit about each other here. You share what you have. You take in your neighbor’s kid; no questions asked if you have the means to. You pay for your sister’s child’s education if you have the means and she doesn’t. You put some of the bread you just bought for the family in the beggars bowl if there is enough to go around. Why does everyone want to destroy such a beautiful mentality?

written by  peep on December 1, 2008 from Yaounde, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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