Expo

ACREST and I organized an expo to sell their improved stoves among other products. We set it up outside the microfinance bank on big market day, which takes place every 8 days. On big market days, the 30,000 people of Bangang come to sell and buy food, which is usually pretty overwhelming since downtown Bangang is pretty deserted any other day of the week.


Above is a picture of me and my counterpart, Beatrice, setting up. We made posters illustrating the difference in wood usage of the improved stoves vs. traditional stoves (which are just 3 stones that you put a marmite on). We also made tea and boiled peanuts to attract people. Below is a picture of me trying to explain how the improved stove works to the villagers in French and in the few local language words I know.

Youth Day

February 11 is Youth Day where all the children from the schools in the area march in a parade wearing their school uniforms, which come in almost every color. I even saw a school in hot pink:




It started with the primary schools, and then went to the older kids. Many of the schools had clubs that paraded together – the most popular were dance, non-violence, scouts, English, and integrity clubs. The dance clubs usually had more elaborate outfits always consisting of socks, silly hats, and mini hula-hoops:


And what Youth Parade would be complete without a finale of adults parading for the president’s political party (below). You can see the president of Cameroon’s face on the pagne they are all sporting.











And no Cameroonian event is complete without throwing money at dancers, although usually bills are stuck on the dancer’s sweaty forehead:













The final dance:

Waterfalls of Bangang

These are two waterfalls in my village. The pictures were taken during dry season, so the water level was down.

Reaching the bottom waterfall is somewhat difficult since you have to sort of sled down the mountain as it is very steep, but it's a lot of fun when you get there because you can go swimming (although it's freezing)!