September 24, 2007
The days seem to inch by yet weeks pass before my eyes. Amazingly June turned to July, July to August, August to September and sometime next week, September will end. This meaning that I will have only 2 months left in Cameroon and even less time in Ndu. With that realization slowly settling in I think of all the things I want to do and wish I’d done, while I try to come to terms with the fact that it probably won’t happen. It’s a tough thing to realize and accept (even as I write this I’m compiling a “to-do” list that inevitably will be not fully accomplished).
However, over the past 2 months I’ve felt fairly “successful” and “productive.” (By the way, the meaning of both words had changed significantly for me since coming here nearly 2 years ago). Our HIV/AIDS sessions in the village have gone well—we’ve been very lucky to team up with a duo of very knowledgeable and helpful staff from Banso Baptist Hospital who, working within the parameters of one of their own projects, are giving free tests at our seminars and will try to organize abstinence clubs at the local schools before, during, and after our seminar. This (as all you “international development” connoisseurs will know) makes our project fairly sustainable…which, after all, is the goal of all this work anyway! So far we’ve tested over 100 people and educated about 100 more. Our final session is in a few weeks at the secondary school where there are about 600 youth—we’re hopeful it will go as well there too!
On a slightly different note, I’ve been, once again, faced some interesting cultural and traditional incidents. My favorite was shared with me by a missionary friend who teaches at the seminary in Ndu. Recently during a “forum” it was presented that because of juju a friend of a friend of a friend’s sister (or something like that) actually gave birth to a cabbage…like the kind you make coleslaw out of…
The days seem to inch by yet weeks pass before my eyes. Amazingly June turned to July, July to August, August to September and sometime next week, September will end. This meaning that I will have only 2 months left in Cameroon and even less time in Ndu. With that realization slowly settling in I think of all the things I want to do and wish I’d done, while I try to come to terms with the fact that it probably won’t happen. It’s a tough thing to realize and accept (even as I write this I’m compiling a “to-do” list that inevitably will be not fully accomplished).
However, over the past 2 months I’ve felt fairly “successful” and “productive.” (By the way, the meaning of both words had changed significantly for me since coming here nearly 2 years ago). Our HIV/AIDS sessions in the village have gone well—we’ve been very lucky to team up with a duo of very knowledgeable and helpful staff from Banso Baptist Hospital who, working within the parameters of one of their own projects, are giving free tests at our seminars and will try to organize abstinence clubs at the local schools before, during, and after our seminar. This (as all you “international development” connoisseurs will know) makes our project fairly sustainable…which, after all, is the goal of all this work anyway! So far we’ve tested over 100 people and educated about 100 more. Our final session is in a few weeks at the secondary school where there are about 600 youth—we’re hopeful it will go as well there too!
On a slightly different note, I’ve been, once again, faced some interesting cultural and traditional incidents. My favorite was shared with me by a missionary friend who teaches at the seminary in Ndu. Recently during a “forum” it was presented that because of juju a friend of a friend of a friend’s sister (or something like that) actually gave birth to a cabbage…like the kind you make coleslaw out of…
The new group of trainees (soon to be volunteers…well in 3 months) arrived on Saturday. It is weird to think that only 2 years ago we arrived here seeing as I feel that I’ve learned more in these 2 years than the previous 5 (with that being said I also feel as though I’ve lost significant brain function due to daily use of “special English” and pidgin)…but this is more “worldly knowledge.” Here’s to hoping the next 8 weeks are productive, successful and enjoyable—as much as saying good-bye can be—as I try to wrap up one life and remember what the other one was like!! 
Pictures...the first ones are the road from Ndu to the village where we have been doing our HIV seminar and one from inside the classroom during one of our sessions. Taking pictures while trying to hold on to the back of a motorcycle is always exciting.
And, while in Yaounde a "band" came and play for a few hours for another volunteer's birthday...it was very fun, they even had a cow bell. What more do you need?
