Corps de la Paix

Tomorrow is the big day where we leave Yaounde and go to live with our host families. I am really excited, but some of the things the instructors were telling us have me a bit apprehensive. Firstly they gave us a huge lesson on boiling water, not eating unwashed/peeled vegatables and rabid pets (including monkeys!) that we may incounter in our homestay. Secondly, my thoughts of losing weight in Africa have gone out the window as they assured us that they will feed us really well because gaining weight is a good sign and they won't want anyone to think that we haven't been happy/well-fed. So, I will write more about my homestay experience later, but I am writing now because I don't know when the next time I will have access to internet will be.

Most of our instructors are Cameroonian and today we have a Cross-Cultural section that was VERY interesting. Some of my observations, and some of the things I have learned so far (that were a little more than a little strange to me at first) include:

Men holding hands: Ok, it is illegal to be homosexual in Cameroon so when I saw my first pair of men holding hands in the street while they walked I thought....ummm...aren't they scared of being arrested? But, as I talked to some people I learned that guy friends hold hands. Not for really long durations, but when walking a short distance together or while talking.

No visible traffic laws: Little cabs toyota camery cabs are crammed with like 7 people. The driver stops and picks up more people regardless of who is already in the car. And traffic laws are more like suggestions.

"The 11th province": In Cameroon where you are born is where you are from not matter what. One of my teachers was saying that he lived in Yaounde for as long as he remembers, but nobody considers him from Yaounde because he was born somewhere else. There are 10 provinces in Cameroon so someone who was born in one province then moved to another is said to be from the 11th province. There are two anglophone provinces and my teacher was telling me that in Cameroon there is a strong Anglophone seperatism movement (maybe that is too strong, at least autonomy movement) is going on and when Paul Biya (current leader of Cameroon) came to power he wanted to squelch this movement so he started moving francophones to anglophone provinces and visa-versa. My teacher was a francophone who ended up in anglophone. This is kind of where that 11th province idea came into being.

Cameroon has about 230 languages.

I was talking to one Cameroonian here that said that in African languages there are not words for colors...like Green, Yellow, Blue, etc. They only have Black (the absence of light), White (light), and Red (I don't know why Red). I looked at him skeptically so he brought over one by one each of the Cameroonian staff (who each speak several languages and each a different mother African language) and he asked them how you would say a certain color in their African langauge. He pointed at some plants and said "How would you say that color in ----?" She thought and she said "Red." All colors are red and each of the other staff said the exact same thing...they called the Bananas red too. They don't use colors to describe things. They use size or they said "The color of the leaves, etc." I thought this was fascinating and hard to comprehend at the same time.

There is no saying really for "That is not fair" or that idea is not articulated. "This isn't fair" is a very American, or Western mind set. In Cameroon saying "This is not Fair" would not really make sense. I think this might have to do with the Rule of Law not being as developed and a cultural appreciation and respect for authority. If someone is in authoriy then "this is not fair" is irrelevant.

Overall Cameroonians are very open and friendly. Peace Corps have been in Cameroon since 1962 so it has a well (and well established) reputation here and is generally respected. I am really excited to move on to training although it is extremely rigorous. For example, in a couple of weeks I will be going to local businesses and MFIs (Microfinance Institutions) and trying to help them formulate business strategies and learn from them...IN FRENCH!

The best things in life are oftentimes the most difficult, so I will keep that in mind as I get through the next couple of months of language, culture and technical training!

Lots of love and Bisous,

Autumn