becky8300-blog

[becky8300-blog]

4/13

Hello everyone! Sorry that my blogs have been getting further and further apart, my life here has been getting increasingly busy. The last time I wrote, I was on a plane back from Paris. After Paris, we spent about a week and a half in Yaoundé. During this time, we began working on the final project that we’ll be doing for the last month of the program. The project that I’ve chosen to work on is to go back to live in Batoufam and do a part time internship at the chefferie while doing a research project studying the traditional system of conflict resolution and how it has been adapting in the face of westernization. This last week in Yaoundé was mostly uneventful, except for one day that I went to Mokolo market with one of the other students and one of the SIT interns. It was quite the experience. Mokolo market is large and sprawling and windy, with vendors jam packed in indoor and outdoor stores, all calling to get your attention to try to convince you to buy something. This effect was multiplied by the face that the other student and I are white, which is associated with wealth here in Cameroon. We had so much fun looking around at everything that was being sold and bartering to try to get the best price. The intern told me that I must be part Cameroonian because I was so good at bargaining, which was definitely one of the best compliments I’ve gotten here ;)

This past Sunday I moved to Batoufam, which means that we only have one month left of the program! I stated my internship at the chefferie on Monday. I’m one of 12 interns, all of whom are Cameroonian and doing a masters program except me. They are such a wonderful, sweet group of people! They’ve really taken me under their wing, and we’ve had great conversations about everything from traditional marriage ceremonies to what life was like growing up to our dreams for the future. So far for the internship we’ve been taking inventory of all of the historical artifacts in the chefferie (of which there are literally hundreds). Next week I’ll be working on translating documents from French into English. It’s tedious but valuable work. It’s also been a great experience of language immersion. Back in Yaoundé, I only spoke French with my host family and then took classes and talked with the other students in English. But here, I speak French all day, both at the internship and back home with my host family. I was able to come back and live with the same host family I lived with last time I was here in Batoufam, which has been wonderful! I’ve really been feeling the same sense of welcoming and community that I felt last time I was here. Especially now that I’ll be living here for a full month, it really feels like I’m part of the family instead of just a visitor staying for a while. My papa constantly stresses that this is the African way: unity, solidarity, and community. I also have a sister who is about my same age, so it’s cool to get to chat and hang out with her.

This week I also have started my research. I’ve been reading article after article online and did my first interview last night with one of the notables who is involved in the conflict resolution process. I’m not sure exactly how I’m supposed to work 25-30 hours per week at the chefferie and still have enough time to do enough research to come up with a 40-50 page final paper all in four weeks… I guess this is why Christiane always says the month of ISP goes by the fastest. It’s because we’re so busy!

[becky8300-blog]

[becky8300-blog]

3/28

Hello all! Sorry that I’ve really been slacking on blogging lately. I believe the last time I wrote I was in the middle of our stay in Batoufam, the small village in the West region of the country. I really enjoyed the rest of my stay there- which is a good thing, as I’ve made the decision to go back and live there for four weeks. Essentially, our academic program over the last two months has been leading up to the culminating point of my experience: a four-week independent research project/internship. Each student gets to choose a topic of interest and gets to choose where they want to carry out this interest. This means that, for these four weeks, I won’t be living in close proximity with all of the other students and with the SIT staff. I won’t be attending classes, either- instead, I’ll be organizing and carrying out a research project part time while taking part in an internship part time. The research part looks like conducting online research, carrying out interviews and handing out surveys, compiling and analyzing all of this data, and finally writing a 40-50-page paper explaining our findings. For the internship, I’ll be working at the chefferie, probably helping them translate documents into English and applying for international funding for projects they’re working on. Thus, this part of the program offers us the most independent experience we’ve had thus far. I’m honestly a bit nervous about how I’ll handle this degree of independence, knowing that the SIT staff who has thus far been instrumental in taking care of us and the other students who have become an incredibly important support network in my life will be 5 hours away in Yaoundé or in other towns where they’ll be conducting their research. Luckily, one of the students I’ve grown closest with will also be doing her research in Batoufam, so I’ll have that to look forward to.

The research topic I’ve chosen is to examine how the traditional system of justice used in Batoufam is reflective of the values of the Batoufam community. I’m not sure if I’ve already described it or not, but essentially the traditional system of justice here entails a large public community-wide meeting in which anyone involved in the conflict or anyone who has something to say about the conflict gets to say whatever they want to say. The chief hears out both sides, does a lot of consulting with other community members and with the notables, and then makes a decision. What makes this process, in my opinion, so different from the formal legal system we use in the US is its a) inclusivity and b) sense of community that it fosters. In terms of inclusivity, this traditional system of justice allows anyone who wants to contribute do so, including the offender, victim, and people who are not directly involved in the dispute. In contrast, the US’s legal system is dominated by lawyers who speak on behalf of their clients and outsiders are not allowed to share unless called upon by these lawyers. The second unique aspect is how this system of justice fosters a sense of community because its end goal is reconciliation, not punishment or blame. The decision made by the chief reflects this as it most often entails the offender making reparations to the victim and the community rather than imposing sanctions or punishments on the offender. This is all preliminary information I’ve gathered from internet research and from speaking with the chief and some notables during my week in Batoufam- I’m pumped to learn more over the course of a month! If you’re interested in reading my final paper, let me know and I can send you a copy. Fair warning- it will be written in French ;)

But, anyway: during my time in Batoufam I’ll most likely be living with the same host family, which I’m very excited for. They were so overwhelmingly welcoming when I lived there for just a week- I can’t wait to see how truly a part of their family I’ll be by the end of the month! One experience with them solidified this feeling- my departure. When we left at the end of our week in Batoufam, I hadn’t yet confirmed that I’d be coming back for a month. We weren’t sure, therefore, if it was goodbye for now or goodbye for a long time/forever. The morning of my departure, my mama cooked me a big special breakfast, and we spent 20-30 minutes as a family talking and laughing and taking tons of pictures together. Then, my papa called me into his house and gave me a talk about how they had genuinely enjoyed welcoming me as a new daughter and how happy he was that I had been engaging and seemed authentically learning about the culture in Batoufam instead of imposing my own western assumptions on them. He told me that I was always welcome back and gave me his contact information, instructing me to stay in touch. On the other side of the paper on which he wrote his contact information was written a quote he said often to me during the week: “un enfant qui voyage beaucoup devient sage et intelligent,” or “a child who travels often becomes wise and intelligent.” He then told me to wait a minute, went into his house, and came back out with five wooden bracelets. Four were matching, skinny, intricately made by braiding together strips of soft wood. The fifth was a wider, heavier bracelet with a pattern carved into it. My papa held up his wrist to show me that he was wearing two of the smaller braided bracelets, himself. He explained that these bracelets were only worn by the notables of Batoufam and were passed down from one generation to another to show that a family was honored and trustworthy. Usually they are worn by men, he explained, unless a man gives two to a woman to wear. A woman seen wearing these bracelets in Batoufam is then known as a strong, “grande femme,” he explained, someone who had earned the respect of a notable. He then presented me with the bracelets, telling me to keep the larger one and two of the smaller ones, and to present two of the smaller bracelets to a “grande femme” in my life. I have an idea of who I’d like to give them to ;) After, my mama joined us and presented me with a large bag full of bananas and avocados (the two fruits I had told her were my favorites when I first arrived) to share with the other students for the ride home. My mama and I were both definitely tearing up as I drove away. This experience has touched me and stayed with me in a way that I cannot adequately describe. Never before have I been so quickly and genuinely welcomed into a community, a community who asks nothing of me and yet is so willing to share what they have with me. I am sure that I have stumbled into a very unique little village here, someplace I could see myself someday calling my second home. Just writing this is making me so excited to head back in two weeks!!

I am writing this blog on our flight back to Yaoundé from Paris. We’ve spent the past week here, and it has honestly felt like a vacation (hence the reason why I’ve been slacking on writing blog posts). For years, this week of the program was originally spent in Bamenda, the largest city in the Anglophone region of Cameroon. Due to recent unrest in that region, however, the program substituted it with a week in Paris. Our academic reason for being in Paris was to study the Cameroonian diaspora, examining the economic, social, and political links between expats and their communities back home. To this end, we had two lectures from a well-known Cameroonian academic who researches immigration patterns of central and west Africans. Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of immigration that central and west Africans partake in stays within other African countries. Due to extremely strict (and high-key racist) immigration policies by many European countries, it’s extremely difficult for African immigrants to obtain visas. The pattern of immigration to France, more specifically, occurred in waves after the Cold War when unskilled laborers from former French colonies were allowed to bring their families with them to work in France. Since then, funds sent back to communities in Cameroon and other central-African countries from expats living in France have been an important source of income. Many expats also continue to be very involved in the politics and social life of their original hometowns. For example, on Sunday we spent the afternoon with Cameroonian immigrant families living in Paris. My host papa was a notable in the village of Batoufam, and my host mama was the head of a Batoufam women’s organization which organizes to raise money for various issues in Batoufam (e.g. they’ve furnished hospitals, sent computers to schools in Batoufam, etc.) Both of my host parents had been living in Paris for 30 or 40+ years, but despite this were still important presences in their home community. On the other hand, they also spoke of how living in Paris has changed their relationship with their traditions. I think a good analogy for this is the dinner they served us: rice, vegetables, and plantains (Cameroonian staples) with a side of French cheeses and French wine. Some of these changes, according to my papa, have been beneficial. They greatly appreciate the status of infrastructure in France, the universal healthcare system, and the access to education for their children. On the other hand, they have some regrets about not making more of an effort to hold onto their culture: their now-grown children have visited Batoufam only a handful of times and do not speak the language. While my host parents definitely identified strongly with being Cameroonian, their children identified more strongly with their French nationality. Overall, we were able to spend this week learning about and thinking critically about Cameroonian/central-African immigration to France/Europe: both how it can be beneficial and how it can be harmful.

I think that this week was specifically organized so that we’d have less hours in the classroom, giving us time to explore Paris as tourists. It was our equivalent of a spring break because there isn’t one technically scheduled into the program. This was my first time in France! (As a matter of fact, it was my first time in Europe, if you don’t include the layover I once had in the Brussels airport). We did lots of touristy things: ate crepes in cafés, took pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, climbed the steps of Sacre Coeur, visited some great museums (except the Louvre- my friend and I spent 30 minutes walking/taking the metro to get there one day only to discover that it’s closed on Tuesdays. Oh, well- it’s a good excuse to have to come back!) I walked more than I’ve walked this entire semester- one day I walked over 11 miles! I also impulsively got a new tattoo while two of my friends got their noses pierced ;) By far, one of the best parts of the experience was the food: we tried everything from vegan food to Chinese to Moroccan to Italian to French, etc. Luckily, many of the students on the trip are just as adventurous in trying new food as I am, and just as enthusiastic about it, so it made for a fun time. It goes without saying that the wine was incredible, too. Overall, the week has left me feeling very tired and very satisfied, taking a guilty pleasure in being a tourist for a week.

It’s crazy to think of how quickly the program is going to fly by once we return from Paris. We have 1.5 weeks left with our homestays in Yaoundé to finish up classes, 4 weeks in Batoufam or wherever else people are doing their independent research projects, and then 1 final week in Kribi and Yaoundé doing our final presentations and saying goodbye. And then we fly home! One very exciting thing that I have to look forward to over the next 1.5 weeks is that my Yaoundé host mama is due any day now! I feel so honored that I’ll get to meet my new little sister or brother :)

[becky8300-blog]

3/13

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve been procrastinating because I’ve been struggling to put my experiences into words. I want to be as authentic to my experiences as possible, but in order for you to truly understand what I’m trying to get at you would have to come here, yourself. This is probably going to be a very long post because so much has happened since I last wrote!

We arrived at our third destination in Cameroon, Batoufam, on Saturday. It was about a five-hour bus ride here. Batoufam is a rural village in the West region of Cameroon that has about 12,000-13,000 inhabitants. We spent out first night at the chefferie. Chefferie is a French word that roughly translates to “chiefdom,” but the connotation is a bit different. The chefferie is both the physical palace where the chief lives, and an administrative unit made up of the chief, his family, and his advisors that acts as an intermediary between the state of Cameroon and the people of Batoufam. We learned that it’s actually more polite to refer to the chief as a “king,” because chief can sometimes be used derogatorily with the connotation of being primitive.

Christiane explained that there are three main reasons for us visiting Batoufam during the trip. The first is to expose us to a rural way of life in comparison with our experiences in Yaoundé. The second is for us to compare the Bamileke people with the indigenous populations we previously visited in Kribi to see how westernization has benefitted some groups while hurting others. Finally, we’re here to learn about the chefferie and the way of life of people living in Batoufam in general.

First, the style of living here is definitely different than back in Yaoundé. For example, there is only one paved road in the town, most houses are made of mud bricks with tin rooves, there is no running water, no wifi, most people have outdoor latrines not indoor bathrooms, and the normal mode of transportation is walking or riding on the back of a motorbike. There are some small shops here, no restaurants, and market is only held once each week compared to the daily market in Yaoundé. The majority of women work as sustenance farmers, growing food to feed their families and then selling whatever is left over in the market. At home, families speak Batoufam (which is also the name of the language) with each other and learn French and English in schools. Many families are polygamous- normally having multiple wives demonstrates a man’s higher social status because it signals that he is rich enough to be able to provide for a large family. Extended families live together in compounds, where normally the wealthiest husband has his own house and each of his wives has her own house. Often some of the brothers of the husband and their wives will live in the compound, too. In Batoufam, there aren’t really words for “cousin,” “aunt,” “uncle,” etc. All the parents in a compound are called mama and papa by all of the children, and the parents consider each of the children in the compound to be their own children. It’s a very communal way of raising a family. Life here, in general, is more communal even compared to life in Yaoundé. For example, there are weekly meetings called “tontines” in which members of a specific family or neighborhood meet together and collect money and then give the money to a member of the community who is struggling or who needs help with a specific project. This strong sense of community also means that we were extremely warmly welcomed into the community when we arrived. When walking to school, almost everyone we walk past stops to greet us. The first night I arrived at my homestay my parents said that, for the week I am in Batoufam, I am their daughter, truly part of their family. My experience here so far has had some similarities to my time spent in Yaoundé, but overall has been quite different.

The second reason for coming here is to compare the effects that westernization has had on the Bamileke people with the Bagyeli people. If you happened to read the blog that I wrote on our visit with the two indigenous Bagyeli groups, you’ll remember that westernization has been very challenging for them. Before westernization, these communities relied solely on the forest for their way of life. It provided their food, shelter, and medicine. Westernization, however, pushed these communities out of the forest and into the hands of other ethnic groups and large corporations who deprive them of an adequate standard of living. In contrast to this, the Bamileke are widely thought of as benefiting from westernization. “Bamileke” refers to the ethnicity of the people of the west province in Cameroon, where Batoufam is located. The Bamileke are stereotyped as successful business people because, after the fight for independence in 1960, many Bamileke started traveling and buying up properties across the country. The Bamileke are also known for having been able to successfully maintain their traditions in the face of westernization.

Finally, one of the things we’ve been learning about the most has been the role of the chefferie in Batoufam. Before coming on this program, I held many assumptions about what a chief was like. I imagined him as a big, rich man who single-handedly made decisions and ruled over the village. I imagined that the role of chiefs was slowly becoming obsolete in the face of the state government, as politicians took over decision-making. I thought that all chiefs were the same or at least very similar. Just during my time here, I’ve had many of those assumptions challenged. First of all, chefferies vary widely from one village to another. There each have different structures, powers, and sources of legitimacy. Even though chefferies of the Bamileke people are similar, there are still some differences from village to village.

Secondly, the chefferie is made up of many different people who are supposed to serve the village, not rule over it. There’s the chief, of course, but he is held accountable to the council of nine, which is made up of notables from the village. The chief’s wives also play large roles in the management of the village, particularly in the area of peacekeeping and in connecting the king with the thoughts and opinions of the villagers. There’s also a council of seven, who implement the decisions made by the council of nine. The image of the king that I’ve encountered has truly been one of public service. This opinion seems to be held by the king himself, the notables, and the people of the village with whom I’m talked.

The king is chosen hereditarily, but it is not just the oldest son of the former kind who becomes king. Instead, all of the sons of the current king are closely watched and observed by the king and notables, and one who demonstrates the qualities of being a king is chosen. (And, due to the practice of polygamy, there are usually a lot to choose from. For example, the current king’s father had over 250 children, and the current king was somewhere around number 90!) Once the new king is chosen, he has to undergo a period of intense initiation which lasts, at a minimum, 9 months. During this time period he is taken away from all contact with his family and loved ones, and has to undergo a series of trials and tests to make him strong and ready to rule. For example, during this time period he lives in extremely poor living conditions, so that he can learn how the poorest among his subjects lives, because “a king is not a king only for the rich.” Also during this time period, he is presented with many young women to have sex with, and his period of initiation is over only when he produces both a male and female offspring. Hence why the period is 9 months or longer. The male offspring is important because it shows that he has at least one successor. The female offspring is important because women are essential in the chefferie for giving advice and for keeping the chief connected with his people. That’s partly why a chief has so many wives: it’s more people who can guide him in his decision-making. Finally, after a king has undergone initiation and his father has passed away, he becomes a partial king. He has to wait 16-20 years before becoming a “free” king, however. During this time period he is still learning, taking a lot of advice and guidance from his councils and ministers. Finally, after he has married off his eldest daughter, he becomes a full king, and has more authority.

Overall, the image of the chief that I’ve seen in Batoufam is very different than what I expected. He truly is seen as a servant to the people. This was evidenced when we had the chance today to get to sit down and chat with him, a very rare honor. One student asked him if he was happy when he heard that he was going to be king. He replied that no, he was actually very upset when he learned that he would be king, because he knew of the great responsibilities that came along with it. He said that when he was young he did not appreciate the traditions of Batoufam and did not want to devote his life to service to his village. As he went through his period of initiation and of being a partial king, however, he learned to humble himself to the needs of the people. Next year, according to our tour guide, he will be celebrating 30 years of being chief. I feel like the chefferie is one of those subjects that is really hard for me to adequately explain. So if you have any questions (about anything) feel free to ask!

One of the best parts of being in Batoufam so far has been my host stay family! My papa is a traditional doctor and is one of the most important notables in the village. My mama is a farmer. They have four children, ranging in age from about 8 to 18. Apparently, my papa also has other wives besides the one who is assigned to take care of me, but because of the lack of differentiation of mamas, I haven’t yet been able to figure out how many or who they are. Because my papa is such an important man, he helps support about 6-7 other families who live on his compound. The compound is large, with at least 10 houses on it. Each house is home to either one of my papa’s wives or his brothers and their wives. There are tons of kids running around always. After school, I sit in the kitchen with my mama and my siblings while we chat and peel peanuts or she cooks over a wood fire. We talk about so many different things and laugh a lot. We get along really well! I also get along well with my oldest sister, Sonya, who is finishing up her last year in high school and is anxious to head to university. All of the houses on the compound are made of mud bricks except one which has concrete walls and floors. This is where I live. I think that the building is normally used only by my papa to host important visitors, but there is a small room in the back where I get to sleep. I’ve started learning a little bit of the Batoufam language, and so far, I can say “hello” and “how are you?” I chat occasionally with my papa, usually over dinner, and he loves to talk about the Batoufam culture. Both of my parents are very open to whatever questions I ask- which is a good thing, because I’m constantly asking questions! My papa says that because I’m traveling a lot while I’m so young, I’m going to grow to be very wise and intelligent ;) One of the amusing things is that, because my life in the US is so automated, I have to learn and adapt to a lot of things that children are taught at a young age here. Because of this, my mama jokingly calls me “bébé.” For example, I’ve learned how to light a wood fire, how to take a bucket shower, how to navigate getting to and from school on my own, how to most effectively peel peanuts, how to go to the bathroom in a latrine etc. I think my mama is still trying to figure out how incompetent I really am, so sometimes she does things for me that I already know how to do. For example, this morning she combed my hair and cut up my plantains for me! I think she partly does it as a joke and partly because it’s a way for her to express affection towards me. Last night I sat with her for hours while she cooked dinner and we ate together. We were joking around and laughing so much, when she turned to me and said, “Oh Becky, I’m really going to miss you.” It made me feel so loved!! From conversations we’ve had, it sounds like the 7 other students they’ve previously hosted has a lower level of French ability and/or were shy, so they didn’t interact with the family as much as I’ve been able to.

Something that my papa said last night really stuck with me. He said “even though we don’t have much money, we share what we do have. And that creates a community.” That is definitely a community I have experienced even during my short time here, and it’s a community that I could seem myself coming back to! I think that, in the US, I often take things for granted. Especially with technology and the individualistic point of view that our society takes, people often have to fend for themselves. Take, for example, the rate of homelessness. Homelessness is a huge problem in the US, despite our country being one of the richest in the world. On the other hand, homelessness is much rarer in Cameroon, because when someone is down on their luck, their community takes care of them. I can really see why there’s such a strong trend of people who come from small villages like Batoufam and move to large cities like Yaoundé or Douala or other countries like the US and France eventually moving back to their villages. What they lack in resources, they more than make up for in community and solidarity.

[becky8300-blog]

Pictures from the parade for the Jour de la Femme!

[becky8300-blog]

3/8

Bonsoir tout le monde et bon fete de la femme! Happy International Women’s Day to everyone! This day is truly celebrated in a big way in Cameroon. There’s a huge parade in downtown Yaounde and after all the women get together to dance and share food and party! This whole week has really been dedicated to celebrating women, and to go along with that our thematic seminar theme this week was on women’s empowerment. So, each day this week we’ve had a different lecture or activity to learn about the status of women in Cameroon.

On Monday, we heard from a woman who is the chief manager of a microcredit union called MUFFA. I believe I’ve mentioned this organization in a previous post, because a few weeks ago we actually went to visit the organization. The manager talked about how a huge percentage (something like 70% I don’t remember the exact statistics) of Cameroon’s economy is made up of the informal sector. The informal sector includes all of those businesses who are not legally registered with the government. The overwhelming majority of this sector is run by women, as it includes businesses such as selling food at the market, working as a seamstress, doing hair etc. The reason for this is that, before the 2008 global economic crisis, most households were comprised of a husband breadwinner and a wife who stayed home and cooked/cleaned/raised the children. During the 2008 crisis, however, many men lost their jobs in the formal sector. Thus, in order to be able to provide for their families, many women started leaving the home to work in the informal sector. The problem that many female entrepreneurs are facing today is a lack of credit to grow their businesses. Because they operate on such a small scale, it’s hard for them to find a bank to finance them. That’s where microcredit unions such as MUFFA come in. MUFFA is member-owned, meaning that the interest paid on one woman’s loan goes to finance the loan of another woman. MUFFA gives out loans exclusively to women, and they have special programs to finance the businesses of extremely impoverished women. In this way, women are empowered to grow their businesses while also increasing their socioeconomic status and becoming more independent from their husbands.

On Tuesday, we heard from a woman who does research on land grabbing, specifically looking at how it disproportionately affects women. She talked about how there are two different types of law in Cameroon: formal, “modern” law written and enforced by the state, and informal, unwritten law enforced by local authorities that upholds various traditions. In many rural areas, land is owned not according to formal law, but according to traditional law. Aka there is an understanding among the village that “that plot of land belongs to the ___ family and has for generations” even if ___ family hasn’t gone through the long and expensive process of purchasing a land title for that plot. Land grabbing thus occurs when the government grants large plots of land that are very much inhabited by people but are not formally registered with the government to corporations. International corporations, that is. This creates a huge problem where these international corporations show up in a village one day and say to everyone “get off this land, it’s ours now, we’re going to grow a huge palm oil plantation here, and if you try to come back we’ll arrest you and imprison you in our private jails” and people are left stranded or without feasible farmland. The issue of land ownership is especially compounded for women because, although they can inherit land according to written law, traditionally in many places only sons are given land. This makes it extremely difficult for women to engage in staple-farming and to continue to excel in the socioeconomic sphere.

On Wednesday, we heard from a young woman who is a consultant for an international firm. What she shared with us was not quite as academic; rather, she shared her own story of growing up as a woman in Cameroon. She grew up in a small village in the Northwest region. Luckily, her father supported her to continue her primary and secondary school education. After that, however, she faced enormous pressure to drop out and get married and start a family. Much of this pressure came from the fact that her family members (male) were either too poor or unwilling to pay her school fees. She also shared with us that women in Cameroon are considered valuable because they belong to someone. She gave the example that, in her local language, there are three different words for “woman” that are used for different stages in her life. The first translates to “daughter of someone.” The second translates to “wife of someone.” And the third translates to “wife of someone who has died.” Despite the odds, she was able to continue on in her education, and is now completing a PhD program. She talked about many of the struggles that she faced along the way, demonstrating how truly difficult it is for a woman in Cameroon to fight the gender roles which force women into a life of domesticity. 

Wednesday night, when I returned home, I told my host parents about all that we had learned this week. We then had a great conversation for a few hours about their opinions on gender issues and the role of women in Cameroonian society. As I’ve previously mentioned, I was very lucky to be placed in a more progressive family. My mom is a big-time advocate for women’s rights, and my papa is too! My papa was talking about how dumb it is that some men oppress their wives, forcing them to stay in the house and being violent towards them. He told me that, when Lilly grows up and a man comes to ask for her hand in marriage, he’s going to insist that he a) allow her to continue her education b) allow her to continue to work if she wants to and c) that he will never be violent towards her. I have such cool host parents!

Overall, it was extremely interesting for me to get to hear these varied opinions on the different challenges that women are facing in Cameroon. Specifically, it was interesting to reflect on what issues we feminists are fighting for in the US, and how they compare to issues that women are facing in Cameroon.

Today was the big day, la Jour de la Femme! Each year there is a new fabric that’s released for Women’s Day. SIT provided us each with a swath of this year’s fabric so we were able to have our own dresses made! We wore them today to march in the parade with a women’s development NGO. But, before we were able to walk in the parade, we had to wait for four hours standing in the sun, crammed in with hundreds of people. It was rough. But, finally the line started moving and we got to march. We marched past camera crews and cheering crowds, and even the first lady, herself! After the parade, we were invited to the Cultural Center of Batoufam, the village that we’ll be traveling to next week. We were so warmly received: the members of the center sang us a welcome song and provided us with food and music and one of the leaders of the center said a nice long speech where she called us “friends of Batoufam” and said “our village is no longer our village, it is your village, too.” I still continue to be amazed by the sense of community that I find here. For this group of people to welcome us, strangers, into their community center, and to share their food and love and culture with us- it was so heartwarming, I almost started crying! Also, for the last 4 weeks of the program we choose a location in which to do an internship/research project, and I’ve been leaning towards doing mine in Batoufam. So seeing the incredibly warm welcome we got from this community made me super excited to possibly live there for a month!

[becky8300-blog]

3/4

This week has flown by! Once exciting accomplishment is that Ally and I were able to complete our first interview. We're doing a project in our research methods class where we had to choose a topic of research and over the next few weeks we'll conduct 3 interviews and 10 surveys on that topic and then compile our findings into a paper. The topic we're working on is the traditional justice system in Cameroon. This is an ancient method of resolving disputes, as an alternative to law. Essentially, from our research so far, it consists of the entire village or those who are interested in a conflict coming together to talk it out, mediated by the traditional chief of the village. It's different from law because it allows everyone to have a say, even if they aren't directly involved in the conflict, and the result is negotiated by the disputants, themselves, rather than being mandated by a third party judge. I've read that this traditional way of resolving disputes is used for everything from land disputes to violent offenses to family disputes.

We did our first interview with the head of an NGO which tries to record and promote different aspects of different african cultures. He talked a lot about how the traditional system of justice has been adapted to the urban context here in Yaoundé, but that it's still rooted in the concept of solving a conflict with your neighbor instead of fighting against them. He said that, even today, people usually try to resolve conflicts among themselves, then if that doesn't work they go to the traditional chief for help, then if that doesn't work they go to the formal legal system as the last resort. He talked about how costly the formal legal system is, both monetarily and in breaking down relationships within families and communities. Seeing as the US has one of the highest rates of use of the legal system, it was very interesting for me to see conflict from such a different perspective!

Friday after classes I went to a bookstore in centre ville with Ale. Everything, of course, was in French! I bought two books: one about an African immigrant's experienced during a trip to Paris, and one which was a collection of short stories by a Cameroonian author. I felt so at home in the bookstore. This makes sense, given how much time i spend in bookstores and libraries during my free time back home lol. I'll definitely be back. Then, yesterday, we went on a mini excursion to a tourist site in the South region. There we got to go on a hike and see a few caves and go horse back riding. It was a nice low key fun day!

Today I didn't have any excursions to go to with SIT nor any classes, so it's been a nice relaxing day. I got to sleep in past 6:30 for the first time in weeks!! My papa also took me shopping which was quite the experience. When vendors here see me, a white girl, they automatically double their price. Thus, it was helpful for me to have my papa with me to help me get a fair price. After centre ville we went to a local fair that's been here for a few weeks. The fashion style here uses much brighter colors and patterns and more flashy jewelry than what I'm used to back in the US, so I didn't find anything that really fit my style. But it was fun to go!

[becky8300-blog]

2/28

In light of the super-heavy subjects I usually address in my blogs, I figured I'd throw in a post for comic relief at my own expense. I am here to tell you about the adventure I took today to get my haircut. I've been meaning to cut my hair for the last 2 weeks, but have been too busy/timing hasn't worked out correctly. Finally, on Monday, I asked Nathalie if she could take me to get mt haircut, to which she agreed. A miscommunication happened, however, so plans fell through that day. Tuesday rolled around and I walked into town with two other students for lunch (spaghetti omelettes are a thing and they are delicious) and we stopped by a few different salons to get price range. At both places that we stopped, however, their schedules were already booked. So, I made an appointment at one of them for the next day. When I got back from lunch, Nathalie was waiting to take me to get a haircut, but we didn't go because I told her I had made an appointment for the next day.

Tuesday night changed these plans. I casually mentioned that I was getting a haircut to my host papa and how much I was quoted for- he started laughing so hard! I had been quoted 10,000 francs for a haircut (approx $20) which I though was a pretty good price. Papa informed me that I should pay no more than 2,000 francs for an upscale haircut, and noted that I had been taken advantage of because I'm white and people here assume that all white people are a) rich or b) ignorant and thus can be tricked into paying too much. I, of course, fell into the second category.

So, Wednesday morning I knock on Nathalie's door and apologetically asked if she could, afterall, take me to get a haircut so that I wouldn't get ripped off. Because she's the sweetest person ever, she agreed. But, the story does not end there! We had to go to four different places before I actually got my hair cut. After walking for 20 minutes in 85 degree weather and direct sunlight, we learned that the hairdresser was not availible at the first salon. We tried a salon right next to it but, when they figured out that it was me who wanted a haircut and not Nathalie, they said that they don't cut "that type of hair."

We turned around and backtracked another 15 minutes and then took a taxi to another salon Nathalie knew of. I got ripped off by the taxi driver and Nathalie yelled at him, but he wouldn't give me the money I was owed. We finally made it to this new salon and, surprise surprise, the hairdresser wasn't there that day. But, luckily, a kind woman who overheared our plight offered to take us to a hairdresser close by.

When I tell you that this "salon" was a shack, I mean a literal shack. It wasn't more than 6 foot by 6 foot, and was constructed entirely of wood. When we walked inside there was a man shaving the beard of a client. There were no sinks, scissors, or hair products in sight. When I showed the hairdresser the picture of the cut I wanted he agreed that he could do it and had me sit in the chair. He then started talking about me to Nathalie in French, not realizing that I more or less speak the language. At one point, he said "oh don't worry, I cut Asians' hair all the time." At another, he said "wow she must have been shocked coming in here, I'm sure this isn't what she's used to." (Which is a fair point, it was definitely not what I was used to). When he was about to start cutting my hair, he asked Nathalie "what language does she speak, English?" to which I replied "oui, et un peu de français aussi." You should have seen the look of surprise on his face! Priceless.

He then proceeded to cut my hair. With an electric rasor. Instead of using scissors, he took the safety part off of an electric rasor and used that and a comb to cut my hair. I had visions running wild in my head about the blog I'd post later about the awful terrible haircut I got in Cameroon. Luckily, I was proven wrong, and my hair turned out great! And, I only paid 1,000 francs (abot $4) (;

[becky8300-blog]

2/26

Yesterday we traveled the 6 hour bus ride back from Kribi to Yaoundé. It was sad to leave paradise but exciting to get home to our host families again. Before we left on Saturday we did a mini excursion to a nearby waterfall. It was such a fun day! We climbed up on the rocks and sat at the top of the waterfall overlooking the water. We looked at all the beautiful art and crafts that were being sold by local vendors. But the best part was when we took a boat ride across the water to a little island. On the island was a bar where we got to try to local Cameroonian-made beer and just sit back and relax. We noticed that there was a big event going on on the other side of the island so we asked Serge what it was- it turned out to be a wedding! We went over to get a closer look and got to witness the whole beginning of the ceremony. There were about 60-70 people there, which Serge explained is rather small because many people that were invited to the wedding might not want to take the boat over to the island so they chose not to go. We saw them take the groom and then the bride over by boat to the island. The boat that the bride took was all decked out with flowers and plants draped around it. In Cameroonian weddings, normally the bride picks one fabric pattern and the groom picks another and then their two parties wear clothes made from that fabric, so you can tell who’s there from the groom’s side and from the bride’s side. The patterns that this couple picked were bright swirls of purple and blue. When the bride finally came over, all of the guests rushed to the water to greet her and used large leaves to lay on the ground to make a path for her to walk on and used some others to cover her head. She was so beautiful! We didn’t stay to watch the rest of the ceremony, instead we took the boat back to land and got some fresh coconuts before heading home for lunch. We spent the rest of the day chilling at the beach and then watched a movie outside on a projector at night. I think this week in Kribi was a much needed break for all of us. Apart from the visit to the indigenous communities on Wednesday, we spent the rest of our time taking it easy, swimming, eating, and having awesome conversations about everything from our favorite kind of ice cream to what to do about the oppression of th Bagyeli. After the first 3 jam-packed weeks here with everything being so new and overwhelming, it was really nice to get to all be together and bond and take a break. Being back in Yaoundé has been good too! My mama is back from her trip to the extreme north province so it was so great to see her. We all just sat around in the living room when I got back talking and catching up. And they gave me ice cream- which is obviously the way to my heart (; It’s really starting to feel like a home away from home there. I feel so much more comfortable talking with and joking with my family and now that I know my way around (e.g. can do my own laundry, make my own food) I feel more autonomous. It makes me sad to think that I only have about 3.5 more weeks here in total! For those of you who are curious, the itinerary for the rest of our trip is as follows: 2 weeks in Yaoundé, 1 week in Batoufam (a smaller rural village), a few days in Yaoundé, 1 week in Paris, 1 week in Yaoundé, and then we spend one month in a not-yet-determined place while we do our internship/research, and then we have a final week in Kribi before we head home. All of this traveling around is making the time fly by so fast!

[becky8300-blog]

2/22

This week we are staying in Kribi, a town on the Southern coast of Cameroon. On Tuesday we drove for about five hours to get here, nothing too bad. The location that we’re staying at is absolutely breathtaking. It’s a small, private motel on a hill that directly overlooks a private beach. There are three of us to a room that has running water, a shower head, and air conditioning!! We are truly living the lux life.

Disclaimer: I want to make sure that, as I’m writing this, I’m not playing into the stereotypical picture of the continent of Africa as perceived by many people in the West. You know what I’m talking about- the commercials that portray Africa as extremely poor and desperate, showing pictures of starving kids and women walking miles to have access to clean drinking water. I don’t want to make the claim that there isn’t food insecurity and poverty in Africa- of course there is. But, this isn’t the whole picture, and I think there’s a danger in the West only being exposed to these images because then it allows us to look down on Africans as somehow primitive or inferior to the “civilization” in the West. It’s true, for example, that power outages and water shortages are common in Cameroon. But that’s just the way life is here. It’s not primitive or depressing and it’s not a cause for pity- it’s just a different way of life. Personally, I know that I often take the well upkept infrastructure that we have in the US for granted. I tend to think that having luxuries such as electricity and running water is the “norm,” rather than realizing that it is the exception. I would just encourage you, whoever is reading this, to always be skeptical of the images that we are shown of other countries. Don’t even take my perceptions of Cameroon at face value- instead, I would suggest that you search for books/films/poetry by Cameroonian authors and compare what they have to say about their own country against the picture that I, an outsider, am painting.

Our main objective for living in Kribi this week is to learn about the indigenous populations living in Cameroon. As we learned in class, a population is classified as indigenous if it a) self-identifies as indigenous b) has a strong and enduring connection to its cultures, traditions, and homeland c) has a way of life that is distinctly different from that of mainstream culture and d) faces some sort of marginalization or discrimination from the mainstream culture. For me, this was new information. Living in the US, my only experience with indigenous populations has been with Native Americans. Thus, I had the assumption that an indigenous group was the same thing as a group that was native to that country.

In Cameroon, there are three main indigenous groups: the Bagyeli, the Baka, and Bakola. Although each group has a distinct history and culture, they are often lumped together and derogatorily referred to as “pygmies” in Cameroon. Before the 1990s, these three groups lived a nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering in the forest. The groups were completely reliant on the forest as their source of food, water, medicine, and shelter. This traditional way of life has been destroyed, however, by development projects and wildlife conservation efforts. On the one hand, the government of Cameroon does not recognize the groups’ right to the land that they have been living on for hundreds of years, so land titles have been given to rubber companies and palm oil companies which destroy the natural forest to make space for large plantations. On the other hand, wildlife conservations groups such as the WWF have designated what natural forest is remaining as protected land, so when the indigenous groups try to hunt or live in these areas they can be arrested and even jailed. Thus, these communities have been pushed out of their homes and have found themselves landless, under the dominion of large plantation companies or local bantu farmer villages. If you’re interested in learning more about these issues, there are two documentaries about a Baka community that I would highly recommend. The first, “Baka: A People of the Forest” was filmed in the 1980s, and shows what life was like for this community living in the forest. The second “A Cry from the Rainforest,” was filmed in 2013 and shows the contemporary challenges the same community is facing today.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to be able to meet with two Bagyeli communities. These visits were facilitated by a Bagyeli woman who owns a non-profit which works on advocacy for indigenous rights. It took about an hour of driving on dirt roads to reach the first community, called Kilombo. They actually live within the borders of a palm tree plantation called Socapalm, which has caused major issues for them. When we first arrived, for example, we were stopped by the guards of Socapalm and had to wait for 20+ minutes while they confirmed that it was okay for us to visit the Kilombo. The Kilombo do not work for the company, nor do they get any benefits from it. Rather, the Kilombo were living on this land which was then handed over to Socapalm by the Cameroonian government, so now the Kilombo find themselves under the dominion of the company. The visit to this first community was extremely emotionally challenging. The community is numbered at about 90, but more than 3/4ths of them are currently living in the forest, so we only met with the 20 people currently living in their village. This particular community is matriarchal, so we met with the chieftess who answered all of our questions. She spoke of the way that their grandparents used to live in the forest and highlighted the challenges that this community is currently facing due to the privatization and destruction of the forest. The main challenges that they are facing today are food insecurity, lack of access to healthcare, lack of access to education, and alcoholism. As is examined in “A Cry from the Rainforest,” alcoholism is a growing problem among indigenous populations. A cycle of dependence has been created in which non-indigenous bantu farmers brew extremely potent (and illegal) alcohol which they do not drink themselves. Instead, they hire indigenous people to do work on their farms and then pay them in alcohol. Because of the highly addictive nature of the home-brew, indigenous people become trapped in a cycle of working without pay and fueling their addictions. The trip to the Kilombo community made me feel rather uneasy. I felt almost intrusive, as our group of highly privileged Americans marched into this community and asked an extremely vulnerable population sensitive questions about their lives and their struggles. Imagine if a group of foreigners came marching into my neighborhood and felt that they had the right to demand all of this information about me and my family!

The visit to the second community, Bilolo, felt much less intrusive and much more like an interaction. It was a much smaller group of only 30 people, about half of whom were living in the forest. This community lives on the property of a non-indigenous village. Again, the community’s relationship with its neighbors was a problematic one. When we arrived, we had to visit the non-indigenous chief to ask for his permission to visit the Bagyeli community. Keep in mind, he is not the chief of the Bagyeli. He is of a different ethnicity and is a government-appointed leader who was given the titles to land that the Bilolo community had been living on for centuries. During our visit with him, he referred to the Bilolo as “pygmies” and described them as short, “backwards” people who had tails and acted like animals. The chief also demanded that we give the gifts that we had brought for the Bilolo to him so that he could “guard” them. Jeanne, the leader of the NGO who accompanied us on the visits, refused. Later, she told us that non-indigenous chiefs often view nearby indigenous groups as their property, which they try to exploit and oppress for free or cheap labor or as a tourist attraction. Jeanne agreed to send the chief a thank you gift the next day because, as she explained, if she hadn’t then the chief would have raided the Bilolo’s community and stolen the gifts we brought for them. During this visit, we were able to take part in dancing with the community members, which was so much fun! I think it went a long way in making the second visit feel more like an interaction than an interrogation. One question that I asked them was “what is something that you want us to take away from this visit?” Their response was that we should take the information that we had learned about the current situation of indigenous groups in Cameroon and share it. Through education, they hope that word will spread about the human rights abuses that are being committed against them, and action will be taken to help them.

Today, we had a debriefing session with Jeanne about the visits. Feelings of guilt, anger, and hopelessness were common reactions among us. We talked a lot about parallels between the situation of indigenous groups in Cameroon and in the United States. We talked about how we didn’t want this to just be an experience we had once and then moved on from and forgot about. We talked the bubble that we all live in back home, where we’re privileged enough to not have to hear or think about these issues. We talked about the future of the Bagyeli, wondering if there was any optimism to be found. One shred of hope that we took solace in was when Jeanne started describing her NGO and the work that they’re doing. Back in the 1990s, when Jeanne began doing this work, her original goal was the conservation of forests and getting land titles back for indigenous groups. Now that almost all of the forest has been destroyed or privatized, however, their new goal is to help indigenous communities transition to adopt a lifestyle that is more integrated with mainstream society. We talked for a few hours about the many challenges that come along with this work. For example, Jeanne has received death threats against her and her community for daring to oppose these all-powerful plantation companies. Another major challenge is that many indigenous people were never given identification cards or birth certificates, and, in Cameroon, you can be arrested for not having proper identification. Thus, when indigenous groups are exploited by companies or other ethnicities, they cannot go through legal channels because they do not have documentation. But, Jeanne’s organization has made some progress. The rate of elementary school enrollment is raising among indigenous groups, and they are currently working on projects to help fund small community-owned banana and cocoa farms to help the Bagyeli become economically independent.

In conclusion (thanks for sticking with me and reading this far), indigenous communities are currently facing widespread human rights abuses in Cameroon and around much of the world (including in our own country). After having these experiences, I didn’t feel like I could keep what I’d learned to myself. Now that you’ve read this blog (and hopefully read a book or watched a film on the subject) you cannot count yourself as ignorant, either. I’m not sure exactly what action needs to be taken on this subject, but I know that education without action isn’t helpful to anyone.

[becky8300-blog]

Hey y’all! I don’t have much time to write today (so much homework!!) but I thought I’d share some pictures from our excursion this weekend. We went to a “site touristique” called Ebgo to take a canoe ride down the river. Along the way we chatted with our guide (in French) about the local village and culture. He was telling us about the local village which runs the tourist site and how the site used to be just for locals but it wasn’t making enough money so it was privatized and now caters mostly to tourists (both upper class Cameroonians and foreigners). As we were driving through the village to leave, seeing the conditions of the houses where people lived and worked, I wondered to what extent this economic “progress” actually improved the lives of the locals.

[becky8300-blog]

2/14 (Part 2)

So it turns out that I would have a lot more to write about today than I thought! Trigger warning: the next two paragraphs of this post deal with some heavy topics, including sexual assault, so feel free to skip over them if it will make you too uncomfortable.

First, I wanted to write about the NGO visit that we did today. For a few hours we visited an organization called “RENATA” which stands for “ Reseau National des Associations de Tantines “ or “National Network of Associations of Aunties.” The aim of the organization, according to the presenter, is to “make sure that what happened to us won’t happen to anyone else.” The organization, founded in 2005, recruits sexual assault survivors anywhere from age 12 to 30 and trains them to be mentors to other young Cameroonian girls who are going through the same thing. They provide guidance and referrals for resources such as hospital visits, counseling, and legal advice. Before 2014, when a main donor had to cut their funding, they were actually able to provide many of these services for free or reduced charges. Now, due to the budget cuts, they mostly serve as mentors to the victims who often are not sure what steps to take next. In addition, they conduct widespread educational campaigns in schools, workplaces etc. on the subjects of reproductive health, family planning, the harmful effects of gender roles etc. Right now one of the main campaigns they’re working on is against “breast ironing.” This is a practice that, according to the statistics, more than 20% of females in Cameroon have experienced. It’s pretty much what it sounds like- when a young girl starts to develop breasts, a family member will use different (very painful) tactics such as grinding and burning to try to slow her breast development. The logic behind it is to protect the girl from unwanted attention from men. In my opinion, this practice exemplifies the problem of rape culture that, apparently, exists in Cameroon as much as in the US. When we engage in behaviors such as victim blaming and strict gender roles (saying things like “she was asking for it,” “her skirt was too short,” “boys will be boys”) we put the blame on the victim rather than denouncing the actions of the rapist. This leads women, in general, to internalize these messages of not dressing “like a slut,” not leading men on, and in this extreme case not even allowing their own bodies to “tempt” men. These roles are equally harmful for boys who are victims of rape, because they are often not given channels to express their emotions or think that they are somehow “weak” because of the assault so they keep everything bottled up inside. Disclaimer in case whoever is reading this is getting mad: I do not mean all men. I do not hate men. I don’t think that all men are to be blamed for rape. Rather, I think that we need to examine how we raise boys to be aggressive and assertive (”masculine” traits) and girls to be passive and submissive (”feminine” traits) to see what long term negative effects these gender roles are having on our society.

One of the most impactful and difficult parts of our visit was when the aunties who were giving the presentation opened up about their own histories of sexual assault which, for many of them, was perpetrated by a person very close to them whom they trusted. I won’t go into the details of the assaults- it’s not my story to share. But what was heartbreaking in almost every case was that the reaction of the survivor’s family was to reject them. For example, in one case the victim confided in her grandmother about the reoccurring assaults. Her grandmother believed her, but because the perpetrator was an important high-ranking member of the family, she advised the victim not to tell anyone because it would disrupt the family dynamic. Part of me thinks that perhaps this attitude comes from the extremely communal/familial nature of relationships in Cameroon. Family is everything here, so to disrupt that dynamic can have dire consequences. Another part of me sees parallels of this behavior in our own society in the US- it makes me think of women who were fired for speaking out, women who were disowned for speaking out, or women who simply weren’t believed when they spoke out. Something that one of the aunties said did give me some hope- by sharing their stories, they’re winning. They’re refusing to allow this experience to stop them from going on living their lives. They’re acknowledging what happened and making their peace with it. They’re healing. Needless to say, it was an extremely touching and difficult experience. If you continued reading this far- thank you. I know that topics like these are unpleasant to think/talk about, but I also think that it’s so important to talk about them.

Okay on a much lighter note, I wanted to recount a really good encounter I had today with my host family. At about 7:00 PM tonight we lost power (it’s happened pretty regularly since I’ve been here). My papa and tantine went around the house lighting candles. After siting awkwardly in the dark for a couple minutes, my papa started playing music on his phone. Lilly LOVES dancing, so she got up right away and started jamming out. Then, she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to dance with her. We spent a good 20-30 minutes like that, Lilly and I dancing while papa played music, before the lights came back on. It was a really, really sweet moment :)

[becky8300-blog]

2/14

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! So, turns out the sickness that I had over the weekend turned out to be much more serious than I originally thought. I ended up spending Saturday, Sunday, and Monday bed-ridden, and had to go to the hospital to do some tests. I’ll get the results of the tests by Thursday, but in the meantime the doctor prescribed me some heavy-duty antibiotics which seem to be really helping. I was able to go to school yesterday and today- so things are looking up! Although, I am starting to get really tired of eating only bananas, bread, and white rice...

Other than that, things are going pretty smoothly. I had a very interesting discussion with my papa last night about his thoughts on Cameroonian politics- and he definitely has some strong opinions! It’s been really interesting for me to be able to compare the theoretical concepts of development and politics that we’ve been learning about in classes with the opinions of various Cameroonians I meet. Sometimes they reinforce what we’ve been learning, sometimes they contradict it.

The official start of the rainy season isn’t supposed to be until mid-March, but apparently it’s come early this year (climate change!!!). I took a cool video of how hard the rain was coming down the other day- I’ll try to post it later!

[becky8300-blog]

2/10

Welp, the inevitable has happened: I am sick with a stomach thing. Christaine, our academic director, explained that it’s common for students during the first couple weeks here as their bodies get used to the new food, climate, water etc. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve been using the water to brush my teeth, eating fresh vegetables, and eating street food- three things we were advised not to do. I think that if I were just here on vacation for a few days or weeks, I’d make sure to steer clear of all things potentially contaminated with water-borne diseases. But because I’m here for a whole semester, I figured I might as well get my body accustomed. Also, you should see how delicious the street food is- fresh tropical fruits and vegetables, giant avocados everywhere, grilled fish, fried plantains, fresh squeezed juices..mmmm. Impossible to resist. But, with very real consequences :/ It’s nothing too serious though, I don’t have to go to the hospital or anything, so don’t worry about me. I just think that it’s important for me to include everything about my experience on this blog- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[becky8300-blog]

2/8

One great aspect of this program is that each Thursday afternoon we have dance classes. We had our first one today and man, am I exhausted!! Yaya, an engineering student who is trained in more than 5 different forms of dance, came to teach us. He also brought his friend who played drums to help us keep the beat. My expectations were far exceeded- I was not prepared for how serious this dance class was. Yaya started by explaining that the purpose of this course was for us to learn about the various cultures across Cameroon through their dance traditions. He explained that each of the 200+ ethnic groups in Cameroon have their own dance/music traditions, but that for simplicity sake, Cameroon is usually divided into 4 main areas of common dance culture. One dance that we will be learning this semester is called Mbaya. It originates from the Northwest region but is also commonly known across the country.

Before we began learning, Yaya told us that we were going to be ‘initiated’ into the dance community. This involved asking the traditional gods who live in the ground to accept us and help us with the dance. I couldn’t tell how serious he was being- at one point he looked at the student next to him and asked, “do you believe this?” and she said no, and he smirked. So, I think that the point of us doing this initiation ritual was more for us to see what it would be like in a more rural village rather than an actual tradition done in Yaoundé. The initiation ritual was intense. We started by squatting on the ground and banging our hands on the floor. Then we slowly stood up, clapping and snapping and chanting. Then we slowly sat back down again and laid on the floor, continuing keeping the beat and chanting. Yaya told us that what we were chanting was “god, supreme ruler.”

After the initiation, we did a rather intense warm up that had us all sweating. Yaya shut off all of the fans and wouldn’t let us have a drink of water until the specified water break. Very intense stuff.

Finally, we began to learn the dance. So far we’ve learned three parts of it- we’re apparently going to be performing it at some point, so we took it seriously. All three parts included a call-and-response type chanting; Yaya explained that Cameroonians rarely dance without also singing. The first part consists of slowly shuffling backwards and forwards in a straight line while bending and straightening our arms. The second part is when we stand staggered in rows and do something that looks like ‘the twist’ but we move left and right while doing it. The third part is set to 5 beats; for the first 3 beats we jump around making different poses, whatever we want. On the fourth beat we jump high in the air, then on the fifth beat we crouch down to the ground. Finally, we’re supposed to all end in formation standing up straight, looking strong like ‘warriors.’ It’s hard to describe dance moves in words- if you’re interested maybe try searching “Cameroonian mbaya dance” on youtube to see if you can find it.

After we did a cool down, and Yaya explained the dance in more depth to us. The first part, when we’re all in a line, represents us following the leadership. The next part, when we’re all standing staggered in rows, represents a community in which there are different social statuses. The third part, when we jump around individually, represents our strength as individuals. Finally, during the cool down, we all came together and put our arms around each other in a circle, to represent unity.

When I come back to the US I’ll have to perform the dance so y’all can see how much of an expert I’ll be by then ;)

[becky8300-blog]

2/6

It has officially been one week that I’ve been in Cameroon! On the one hand, it feels like I just arrived. On the other, I feel like I’ve already been here forever! I think that’s because the days are so jam packed with activities and I have to feel like I’m “on” all the time in navigating a new culture and a new language. My normal schedule is: wake up at 6-6:15ish, take a taxi to school by 7:30, class from 8:00-3:30 (with some breaks), then the other students and I often go to internet cafés for a few hours after classes to do homework, then take a taxi home before the 6:30 curfew, finish homework and chat with my host family, watch tv (people watch a LOT of tv here… my mama’s favorite is soap operas while my papa prefers soccer), shower, then bed. You can see why I haven’t had a ton of time to post many blogs so far…

This weekend was also jam-packed with many different activities. Saturday, we went to school for a few hours to finish up our orientation. I did laundry by hand for the first time which was much more laborious than I expected. My papa noticed that it was taking me forever, so he had pity on me and sat and helped me. He was talking about his travels to the US- Houston is his favorite city that he’s visited, while San Francisco is much too expensive for his taste. One interesting aspect of Cameroon that I’ve mentioned before is how collective and communal the culture is. This was exemplified for me this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday, there were hundreds of Cameroonians exercising outside: in public parks, on the side of the road, in the grassy circle in the middle of the roundabouts, etc. Many were clustered together doing dance or yoga. My parents explained that Cameroonians take health very seriously, and therefore every weekend people just go out into the street and exercise together. On Sunday morning, we had the opportunity to join them! We traveled to the local public park, “Parcours Vide,” and participated in an exercise class. There were probably 60-70 people spread out on mats on the ground looking up at a hill, where an exercise instructor stood. Loud music was blaring, and there were a few small shops selling food and water. We all grabbed mats and joined in. This particular class must have been quite advanced because we were all struggling with the exercises, laughing at each other for how out of shape we all are (carbs are the primary food, here). After, we went for a long walk on a beautiful public promenade. It was a really fun bonding experience with the other students and our host families!

One of the things I’ve been finding challenging is connecting with my host family. During orientation, our directors told us that our families were told that the reason we international students are here is to integrate into and learn the true way of life of Cameroonians. They were instructed not to give us special treatment or adjust their way of living. My family has definitely followed those instructions. As I mentioned, they watch a lot of tv. This makes it rather difficult to initiate conversation. In addition, having meals as a family unit isn’t common at all here- people serve themselves and eat when they’re hungry, so there’s not much conversation over meals. Finally, I just learned today that, unfortunately, my mama’s mother is very sick, so she’ll be leaving tomorrow to travel to visit her. She’s not sure how long she’ll be gone for. Out of all of my family members, she’s the one who I usually talk with and interact with the most, so I’ll have to try extra hard to engage with my papa and grandmere. I think perhaps I had unrealistic expectations of what the homestay would be like coming into it- my family back home twice hosted exchange students from France for a few weeks each, and we really made the effort to get to know them, take them on small day trips, etc. Two things that make my homestay experience different are a) my family doesn’t speak any English and b) they don’t have children my age that I can hang out with. It’s been a bittersweet realization because, on the one hand I signed up for this program with the intention of avoiding any type of tourist experience so I’m glad that I’m not receiving special treatment and am getting to see an authentic representation of Cameroonian life. On the other hand, I feel like I can’t get to know the Cameroonian culture and feel integrated just from observing it- It would be better for me to have people to talk to and ask questions and exchange life experiences with. But then again, I have only been here for 1 week. Hopefully over the next 14 weeks I’ll meet some really cool Cameroonians my age that I can befriend!

One of the aspects of this program that has not disappointed so far is the academics. They’re extremely challenging and I have a lot of homework (this is despite everyone I’ve ever known who studied abroad telling me that the homework and classes are wicked easy) but the subject matter and professors I have are fantastic. The main subject of study for this program is development and social change. That being said, the curriculum is centered around a very critical lens of traditional development theories. For the last two days we’ve analyzed concepts such as globalization, international aid, concepts of development, economic inequality etc. One thing that I’m beginning to only now fully come to terms with is the long lasting effects of colonization on the “third world.” We’ve been analyzing how the rapid development of Europe and the US during the industrial period was based heavily on the exploitation of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In other words, Westerners stole the natural resources from these countries, sold many of their people into slavery, and then used these natural and human resources to finance their own economic growth. What’s even more shocking and frustrating is that this legacy continues today- many of the foreign “aid” institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank, actually end up negatively impacting the economies of the countries they purport to help. Their basic model is to loan a country huge sums of money, contract workers and companies from Western countries to come in to do a ‘development’ project that ends up benefitting only the richest families of that country, and then the developing countries find themselves drowning in mountains of debt that they can’t repay to these international aid organizations. These countries then end up spending huge chunks of their budget repaying this debt rather than helping their own citizens with social welfare, public health, and education programs. Then, we (“we” being the West) go and accuse these countries of corruption and dictatorship- when we’re the ones who have perpetuated these institutions in the first place. It’s fucked up, man. If you’re at all interested in learning more about this, I would highly suggest that you read “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins. It’s a book that talks about a very important, serious subject but in a very easy to read style for people who may be intimidated by these kinds of subjects. Or, you could watch the documentary “The End of Poverty,” for free on Youtube, which is also quite eye-opening. And infuriating.

Anyway, on a lighter note, I totally embarrassed myself today. As part of my French class, we went to the marché en plein air. I’m still getting used to the currency difference (1 USD = approx. 550 CFA) and I’m also not used to bargaining. So, I bought a dress from a vender for 18,000 CFA, or about $33. When my French teacher found out, she marched back to the stall and accused the vender of taking advantage of me. She argued with the woman until she finally gave me my money back and I returned the dress. Apparently, I shouldn’t have paid more than 5,000 CFA for the dress. The two Cameroonian students were making fun of me so much when they found out! Lol well anyway, life tip #1: if you’re a white person in Cameroon, people will think that you’re rich and gullible and will way overcharge you for stuff. It this happens, immediately find another kind Cameroonian who will help you negotiate the price better.

P.S. I finally got a fan in my room yesterday, Last night’s sleep was hands down the best I’ve had since I got here.

[becky8300-blog]

2/1

I finally moved in with my host family today!!!!!!!! This is the moment I’ve been waiting for for months. We had more orientation and French classes during the first part of the day. Then at 5:00 our host families came to pick us up! My family is composed of a mother and father (who I get to call Maman and Papa), an adorable little two year old named Lilly, papa’s grandmother, and a house maid whose name I’m forgetting at the moment. Maman is originally from the extreme north province, while Papa is a native of Yaoundé. Papa was originally Christian but switched to Islam when he married Maman. They’ve been married for four years now, and don’t appear to be older than late 20s/early 30s. Papa and Lilly came to pick me up because Maman is pregnant, due in April, and was too tired to come for the ride. Papa and I talked in French for the whole ride home, and I was pleasantly surprised with my ability to keep up a conversation with him! He speaks very fast and very quietly, so it can be hard to understand him, but he doesn’t seem to mind when I ask him to repeat himself. I was surprised when we arrived at the house. Our academic director had told us ahead of time that we would be hosted by families from the upper class- but I was not prepared for how huge and gorgeous their house is. They own a plot of land that is probably less than an acre large and is surrounded by a tall wall. About 2/3 of that land is covered by two houses- the bottom level of the largest one in the front is where Papa, Maman, Lilly, and Grandmama live; they rent out the top level; and Papa’s uncle lives in a small house in the back. I have my own room that’s bigger than my room back home and has a queen size bed. In addition to my room, there is another guest bed room, Maman and papa’s bedroom, grandmama’s bedroom, Lilly’s room, a kitchen, living room, two bathrooms, and a massive living room. I’ll try to take a video of me walking through the house so you can see what I’m talking about.

When I first arrived home I felt very awkward and didn’t really know what to do with myself. Maman had her sister over, and at first, other than saying bonjour and welcome, they didn’t try to include me that much in their conversation. They were speaking too quickly for me to be able to understand what they were saying and join in. Papa gave me a tour of the house and sat talking with me for a while. Then we moved into the kitchen while Maman cooked and had a delicious dinner of fish, sautéed peppers and onion, fried plantains, and another mysterious food that they explained to me is ground up to make cuscus. After dinner they prayed on their prayer mats which was interesting to watch. It wasn’t until after Maman’s sister left and Papa went out somewhere that I finally had the chance to sit down and talk with Maman. My first impression of her is of a kind, gentle woman. We talked about our backgrounds and childhoods, education, why they decide to host international students (I’m their 9th SIT student!), why I wanted to come to Cameroon, etc.  All of this was completely in French, as neither of them speak more than a few words of English. The whole time I was also playing with Lilly, who is SO cute. Maman told me that she is usually shy, but that she must have “chosen” me because she was climbing all over me and kissing me and fighting for my attention. At one point, Maman brought over her wedding albums that we looked through together. They are such a cute couple :) It was an awesome moment of cultural exchange as she explained to me different religious and cultural traditions that they did and I reciprocated by explaining what I’ve experienced at weddings in the US. Finally, when Papa came home the two of them gave me a long lecture about safety in Cameroon. It was all stuff I’d already heard in orientation, but it was sweet to know that they cared enough to take the time to explain it all to me. I think that one of the things I’m really going to have to adapt to is how hierarchical this culture is in terms of gender and age. The man is very much considered the head of the household who gives orders to his wife and children. The mother does the traditional labor of cooking, cleaning etc. The children are obedient in a way that is totally unlike children in the US. Our academic director said that if a child talks back to their parents, they will call a meeting with all of their extended family members to address the behavior. This strictness was illustrated when Papa explained to me that, besides going to and from school, I needed to ask his permission to go anywhere else, especially after dark. He said that he wants to know where I’m going, when I’ll be back, who I’m going with, who their parents are etc. I, for one, am very used to coming and going pretty much as I please at home, and telling my parents where I’m going is more of a courtesy measure than asking for permission. But in this culture, children are considered under the strict authority of parents until they no longer live in the house. And, as I’m learning, I am very much considered part of the family here. It will be extremely interesting for me to keep navigating these cultural differences- for better and for worse- while I’m here!

P.S. It is SO damn hot here. As soon as I step out of a cold shower (they don’t have hot water in most places) I’m already sweating again. SOS, I miss the snow!