I’m a Volunteer!

After 3 months of training, the Peace Corps thought we were finally ready to be volunteers. After swearing-in as volunteers, we all left the next day to our various posts scattered across the country. I loaded up a bus with my 3 huge suitcases, a water filter, and a bike and trekked across country. It took over 7 hours and multiple forms of transportation, but I eventually made it to my site.

Once there, I had to turn around to go back to the nearest city to buy everything since I can’t find much in my village. There I bought a stove, a gas tank, a broom, pots, pans, plates, etc and then attempted to bring all of that back with me to my village on an hour long moto-ride in the rain. The ride is a really pretty one with great views of the mountains and waterfalls, but it is also terrifying as the dirt roads get super slippery and the road is narrow.

Eventually, I made it with everything to my site, but then I had to set up my gas stove. It took an hour to get the hose to the gas tank on the stove and then 5 minutes into cooking dinner, there was a small explosion underneath the stove. Apparently I didn’t get the hose on well enough and there was a gas leakage. Never fear, another hour later of trying to fasten the hose to the stove, I finally safely got the stove to work sans explosions.

Goodbye Bafia

This is the barber shop in town that was always blasting out Tupac.

The dreaded Forage

I no longer boil my well water, but instead go to the forage (a pump) about 15 minutes away to get my drinking water. The good part is that I only have to filter the water without boiling it. The bad part is that carrying all those gallons of water back to my house is nearly impossible. The forage is only open in the morning, so I have to wake up around 5:30 am. There is always a line, which I used to get preferential treatment because I am a foreigner, but now I have to wait like everyone else. Then, there’s the challenge of bringing the water back: do I carry it in my arms or go native and put in on my head? Well, the first time I just carried it and couldn’t really feel my arms the next day since it took my about 45 minutes to get back to the house. The second time, I put in on my head and almost threw out my back.

Mango Flies

On a good day, it takes me about 2 hours to wash all my clothes in my buckets from the week. I have a soap bucket and a rinse bucket that gets soapy pretty fast, so I replace it frequently with more well water. The laundry must be done in the morning so it can dry in the sun all day for good reason…when the sun goes down, the mango flies come out and lay their eggs in damp clothes. If you don’t iron your clothes before you wear them, the mango fly eggs will crawl in your skin. When they hatch, they pop right out of your skin. Needless to say, my clothes are far better ironed than they ever have been.

Washing our bed sheets is part of Peace Corps Cameroon policy and it takes forever. I am convinced my sheets are dirtier after washing them in the brownish well water, dropping them a few times in the red mud as I try to hang them up to dry, and then dragging them on the ground while I try to iron them so I won’t get the mango flies.